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$100 million in humanitarian aid pledged to crisis-hit Venezuela
CARACAS, Feb 15, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Twenty-five countries have pledged $100
million in aid to Venezuela, a top US official said Thursday, as the crisis-
hit country’s Supreme Court took aim at oil executives appointed by the
opposition.
Venezuela is plagued by hyperinflation and major shortages of basic goods,
and two men — opposition leader Juan Guaido and President Nicolas Maduro —
are vying for control of the country.
The United States is among more than 50 countries that have recognized
Guaido as interim president, but Maduro — backed by the country’s military
as well as Russia, China and dozens of other states — has so far refused to
relinquish his office.
US national security advisor John Bolton made the announcement on the aid
pledged to Venezuela following an Organization of American States conference
on assisting the country.
“Today, 25 countries, united at the OAS-hosted Conference on Humanitarian
Assistance in Support of Venezuela pledged $100 million in humanitarian
assistance,” Bolton tweeted.
According to David Smolanksy, coordinator of an OAS working group on
migration and refugees from Venezuela, the money will go directly to aid
collection centers set up on the borders with Colombia and Brazil and on the
Caribbean island of Curacao.
At the opening of the conference in Washington, Guaido’s representative in
the United States, Carlos Vecchio, said the priority is to get aid into
Venezuela on February 23 — a month after Guaido declared himself Venezuela’s
interim president.
– Blockade at the border –
Guaido and Maduro have been locked in a battle over allowing aid into the
country, and the military reinforced a blockade on Thursday at the border
with Colombia, where the opposition leader has vowed to bring in desperately-
needed goods.
AFP journalists saw several new freight containers blocking the road that
connects the town of Urena in Venezuela to Cucuta in Colombia, where tons of
US aid has been piling up for a week.
Venezuela is enduring the biggest economic crisis in its modern history,
with hyperinflation predicted to hit 10 million percent this year, according
to the International Monetary Fund.
On Wednesday, the opposition-controlled National Assembly — which is
headed by Guaido — appointed executives to form new boards for Venezuelan
state oil firm PDVSA and its US-based affiliate Citgo.
Venezuela’s Supreme Court took aim at the move the following day, ordering
that the new appointees face criminal prosecution.
The high court — which is packed with Maduro loyalists — ruled that the
executives were named by a legislature whose decisions are “null,” and that
the appointees should face prosecution for crimes including “usurpation,”
“corruption,” “organized crime” and “terrorism.”
The Supreme Court decision set in motion the process of extraditing the
accused, most of whom are in the United States, and freezing their accounts.
Guaido celebrated the appointments as a “step forward in the
reconstruction of PDVSA,” but Maduro had warned that those accepting
“illegal” appointments would face justice.
A company executive insisted nothing has changed at PDVSA.
“The oil company is operating as it always does and we are aware of the
imperialist attacks to which we are being submitted,” said PDVSA’s director
for overseas operations, Yurbis Gomez.
The United States, which is leading the push to topple Maduro, has
sanctioned key regime financial assets including the Citgo subsidiary, and
President Donald Trump has refused to rule out military action against the
leftist leader.
BSS/AFP/RY/12:02 hrs