Brazil’s government will send urgently needed supplies for dialysis patients in Venezuela after a U.S. bombing destroyed a center responsible for renal treatment and medicine distribution. The announcement was made on Monday (5) by Health Minister Alexandre Padilha during a press conference in Brasília.



“We are mobilizing, through our public health system and in coordination with private companies in Brazil, dialysis supplies and essential medicines,” Padilha said. “This is humanitarian support for the Venezuelan people, whose distribution center was attacked.”



According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the U.S. airstrike destroyed a facility in the state of La Guaira that served both as a medicine depot and a treatment center for kidney patients.



Padilha stressed the humanitarian and reciprocal nature of the assistance. He recalled that during the collapse of oxygen supplies in Manaus at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Venezuela sent 135,000 cubic meters of oxygen to Brazil to save lives. In 2021, the Venezuelan government coordinated directly with Amazonas state authorities to deliver oxygen trucks, after Brazil’s federal government at the time refused to accept the aid.



Border preparedness in Roraima



Padilha also said Brazil’s Health Ministry is prepared for a possible increase in migration at the Venezuela-Brazil border. After the January 3 attack, teams from Brazil’s National Health Force were dispatched to Roraima to assess hospital capacity, staffing, vaccines, and medical supplies. So far, the migratory flow remains stable, according to the ministry.



“Our teams, with extensive experience in emergency situations, are already on the ground identifying hospital capacity and evaluating whether expansion is needed,” the minister said. Since July 2025, the ministry has maintained around 40 permanent health professionals in Pacaraima, at the border, and in Boa Vista, Roraima’s capital, to support Venezuelans arriving in Brazil through Acolhida Operation. If necessary, Padilha said, Brazil will set up field hospitals or expand existing facilities to reduce pressure on the public health system.



Created in 2018 to respond to Venezuelan migration, Acolhida Operation was fully taken over by Brazil’s Health Ministry in 2025, after the United States suspended funding for international agencies that had supported the humanitarian response.



Background



In the early hours of Saturday (3), U.S. forces launched an attack on Venezuela, striking civilian and military targets in Caracas and other regions. The operation resulted in the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, who were taken to the United States. The Venezuelan government declared a state of external emergency and called for mass mobilizations in defense of national sovereignty.



Later that day, U.S. President Donald Trump said the White House intended to “administer” Venezuela until what he called a “democratic and fair transition” could take place, praising the seizure of Maduro as an “extraordinary attack” and openly signaling interest in controlling Venezuela’s oil reserves.



Accused by U.S. authorities of involvement in drug trafficking, Maduro declared himself innocent during his first court appearance in New York on Monday (5). The U.S. government has so far presented no evidence to support the charges.