RM410 AID PLEDGED TO VENEZUELA
Opposition leader trying to bring in supplies by Feb 23
TWENTY-FIVE countries have pledged US$100 million (RM410 million) in aid to Venezuela, a top United States official said on 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 US is among more than 50 countries that have recognised 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 adviser John Bolton announced the aid pledged to Venezuela following an Organisation of American States (OAS) conference on assisting the country.
According to David Smolanksy, coordinator of an OAS working group on migration and refugees from Venezuela, the money will go directly to aid collection centres 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 US, Carlos Vecchio, said the priority was to get aid into Venezuela on Feb 23 — a month after Guaido declared himself as interim president.
On Wednesday, the oppositioncontrolled 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 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”, “organised crime” and “terrorism”.
The Supreme Court decision set in motion the process of extraditing the accused, most of whom are in the US, 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.