In Venezuela, once again, the debate is opening on the humanitarian aid that is sent from abroad and administered by the political opposition of the South American country, led by former deputy Juan Guaidó, who hasn’t accounted for the destination of the funds.
The discussion heated up after Venezuelan media published parts of a report by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), in which the US institution revealed that it didn’t know the whereabouts of the funds delivered.
The report, titled “Enhanced Processes and Implementer Requirements Necessary for the Challenges and Risks of Fraud in USAID’s Response to Venezuela,” was published last April; however, the local Venezuelan media have hardly published about it in recent days.
According to USAID, its funding amounted to $ 507 million for fiscal years 2017-2019, of which $ 260 million was for “humanitarian assistance” and $ 247 million for “development assistance.”
These funds were destined for the Venezuelan opposition to be invested in their country and also for other nations, such as Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago, which in the opinion of the US institution, provide “a response to the regional crisis of Venezuela”.
Aid in Colombia and sent to Somalia
The humanitarian assistance was administered by the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), the Office of Food for Peace (FFP), and the Office for Latin America and the Caribbean ( LAC Office) of USAID.
In the report, USAID refers to a specific case and notes that OFDA and FFP spent approximately 2 million dollars to purchase and transport 368 metric tons of humanitarian products to the border between Colombia and Venezuela and Curaçao, from February 2019 to April 2019.
But, he notes, “by August 2019, only 8 metric tons of products were delivered to Venezuela, and the remaining 360 metric tons were either distributed within Colombia or shipped to Somalia.”
In other words, only 2% of humanitarian aid reached the hands of those in need, while the remaining 98% had uses other than its original purposes.
According to the US agency, “an in-kind grant agreement” was also signed with Guaidó in February 2019 to provide $ 334,000 in humanitarian items for transportation from Cúcuta, Colombia, to Venezuela.
The attempt to pass this alleged humanitarian aid occurred on February 23, 2019, but a day before, the Venezuelan Government ordered the closure of the border, due to threats and in the face of what President Nicolás Maduro classified as a “cheap show.”
Ese día, uno de los camiones fue quemado y la oposición venezolana se lo atribuyó a la Guardia Nacional Bolivariana (GNB); sin embargo, luego se descubrió que se trató de un falso positivo, puesto que el incendio fue provocado por los mismos opositores. De acuerdo con la USAID, entonces hubo pérdidas por 34.000 dólares en productos.
Lo que había en el camión “humanitario”
Asimismo, la USAID reprochó que “no todos estos productos humanitarios se colocaron previamente sobre la base de evaluaciones de necesidades”. Por ejemplo, añade, se incluyeron alimentos complementarios listos para usar que la OFDA y la FFP “ya habían determinado que eran innecesarios, porque el estado nutricional de los niños venezolanos no justificaba su uso en ese momento”.Este no es el primer escándalo en torno a recursos manejados por Guaidó y otros dirigentes opositores venezolanos.
A mediados de junio de 2019 se conoció el denominado caso ‘cucutazo’, que hacía referencia a que representantes de Guaidó se apropiaron de fondos para la ayuda humanitaria, proveniente de EE.UU., Canadá, Alemania, Suecia, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Puerto Rico y la Comisión Europea, así como los fondos recaudados durante un concierto realizado en Cúcuta.
Se mostraron las evidencias
El autodenominado “gobierno interino”, liderado por Guaidó, además de la ayuda humanitaria, maneja fondos de las empresas públicas venezolanas en el exterior, entre ellas, CITGO Petroleum Corporation y Monómeros Colombo Venezolanos, pero hasta ahora no ha presentado cuenta sobre el uso de esos recursos a nadie.
Conoce cómo ópera la USAID y su papel en lo que denominan operación Cóndor II
El vídeo es del 2015 pero su modo operandis no cambia
