Spanish – The interim government of Juan Guaidó in Venezuela has gained access to funds that the Trump administration had frozen in the United States. Recently, the Venezuelan Assembly passed legislation to set up a fund with 80 million USD from those funds. Both President Guaidó and some deputies have said that these resources will be audited by the Organization of American States. However, the last bit of information is false.
A source at a senior position in the Organization of American States told the PanAm Post that the institution would not serve as a comptroller of resources. The source noted “statutory and legal difficulties in doing that work.”
On April 16, Guaidó said that the distribution of these resources would take place “per international processes, to guarantee transparency.” He assured that funds would be managed through a “virtual wallet” from the Organization of American States.
Deputy Alfonso Marquina, president of the Finance Committee, also said the fund “for the liberation of Venezuela” will be “under the control of the OAS.”
These claims were denied by the source at the Organization of American States. The organization will not provide audit services or manage a virtual wallet.
Venezuela: hoy anunciamos que durante 3 meses de la pandemia daremos un pequeño pero significativo apoyo, sin pasar por la dictadura, a nuestros médicos, enfermeras y trabajadores de los hospitales, para que puedan proteger a los venezolanos y salvar vidas. #VzlaEnNuestrasManos. pic.twitter.com/s64kTYtTcV
— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) April 16, 2020
On April 23, the Associated Press published an article, based on information they obtained from various sources, revealing that as part of the payout, the deputies agreed to pay themselves 5,000 USD, retroactively from January to December of this year.
The AP article caused a scandal that prompted the interim government to step out at 9 p.m. the same day to refute the international media’s reporting. The press release corroborates that an 80 million USD fund has been approved, of which 13 million USD will go to the Assembly, but they maintain that the amount that each deputy will receive has not yet been approved. The end of the press release says that citizens should only go to “official sources” to “avoid being victims of disinformation.”