International
The Government of Venezuela says that detained former officials diverted funds to opposition campaign
The Government of Venezuela accused on Tuesday former officials of the municipality of Maracaibo (northwest) – Zulia state -, among them, the former anti-Chavista mayor Rafael Ramírez Colina, of diverting public resources to finance acts of the campaign of the majority opposition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD).
The Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello, said that Ramírez Colina – arrested on October 1 – “directly financed” “political and proselytising” activities, as well as “staff payments” outside the payroll of the Mayor’s Office, with resources obtained through the collection of the urban toilet service by seven companies hired for its collection in the capital of the state of Zulia.
Accusations of the Minister of the Interior of Venezuela
The provision of that service “was charged” despite the fact that they “did not collect” the garbage, and that money, as Cabello explained, “was used to finance the First Justice party,” of which the former official is part, and to “finance mobilization activities of Edmundo González’s campaign” in Zulia.
In a press conference, broadcast by the state channel VTV, Cabello reproduced a video showing the opponent Pedro Guanipa, former director of the Mayor’s Office of Maracaibo -detained in September-, confessing that he was aware of the “financing (…) authorized by Mayor Rafael Ramírez for the campaign activities of Edmundo González and María Corina Machado.”
They involve Juan Pablo Guanipa
In addition, Cabello said that former deputy Juan Pablo Guanipa is also involved in this corruption plot, who “was given” about “50,000 dollars a week”, even though his brother Pedro Guanipa said in the video reproduced that the “financing” to “political activities” of the former parliamentarian “throunder’s Mayor’s Office” was about “6,000 dollars a month.”
In total, the embezzlement, according to the minister, exceeds 2.7 million dollars, and “only in the hiring” of the seven companies.
In the last elections, Ramírez Colina supported the candidacy of González Urrutia, leader of the largest opposition coalition, which recognizes him as the winner of the elections, even though President Nicolás Maduro proclaimed him the electoral entity the winner.
International
María Corina Machado kidnapped and forced to record videos before being released, says opposition
The Venezuela Command, the campaign team of opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, denounced the “kidnapping” and subsequent release of political leader María Corina Machado after she led a protest in Caracas on the eve of the Venezuelan presidential inauguration.
In a post on X, the opposition team stated that the former lawmaker was “intercepted and knocked off the motorcycle she was traveling on” after leading a rally in the Chacao area of the Venezuelan capital.
“Gunshots were fired during the incident. She was forcibly detained. During her kidnapping, she was forced to record several videos, and then she was released,” the statement added, which was made public nearly two hours after Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela, reported that she had been “violently intercepted.”
International
Governor Jenniffer González expresses solidarity with Venezuela’s struggling opposition
Puerto Rico’s Governor Jenniffer González expressed her sorrow over Venezuela’s political crisis on Thursday and voiced her support for Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, just one day before President Nicolás Maduro is set to take office following the controversial July elections.
“I think it is sad that the Venezuelan people have to suffer the consequences of a dictator who came to power by deceiving the people. I recognize Edmundo González for his leadership,” the governor stated during a press conference, coinciding with a day of protests by Venezuela’s opposition.
“The Venezuelan community has my full support, and, as we have done in the past, we will maintain that line of communication with whatever we can collaborate on,” assured the Puerto Rican head of government.
González Urrutia is currently in the Dominican Republic, the last announced stop on his American tour, where he was accompanied by Dominican President Luis Abinader and former Latin American presidents from the Spain and Americas Democratic Initiative (Grupo Idea).
International
Hundreds of venezuelan protesters demand ‘democratic change’ in Rome
Dozens of Venezuelans demonstrated in central Rome on Thursday to show their support for opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia and demand a “democratic change,” on the eve of the presidential inauguration that has deeply divided the country.
The protest took place in the Roman square of Largo Argentina and gathered several members of the Venezuelan diaspora and refugees, who sang their national anthem and displayed signs with the slogan “Glory to the brave people.”
Around 150 participants were present, according to one of the coordinators of the protest, Celeste Puerta from the ‘Aiuto Venezuela’ Civic Movement, who spoke to EFE.
Similar actions have been organized in other Italian cities, including Bologna, Florence, and Milan in the north.
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