Why is Houston siding with a dictatorship?

A doctor I know who works at Venezuela’s JM De Los Ríos Children’s Hospital moonlights as a smuggler. Hidden in her backpack are medical supplies her patients desperately need. In the crippling humanitarian crisis ravaging Venezuela, these supplies are almost impossible to find. However, according to the Venezuelan regime’s official line, there is no crisis. And accepting aid from international groups makes you a criminal.

To ensure the doctor’s safety, I’m not using her name. But she is very real, and is part of a network that has been receiving aid from a group of Houstonians alarmed by the conditions in Venezuela. I am part of this community as co-founder of Saludos Connection, a nonprofit with the mission to connect people in Venezuela with safe sources of health and nutrition. From our garage in a Houston neighborhood, we work tirelessly to raise funds, send supplies and spread awareness. Although we face a ruthless and powerful regime, we are prepared to do all we can to help.

We were not prepared, however, for the betrayal of our own city. We were left in disbelief upon learning the city of Houston chose Citgo as the primary sponsor for Houston’s Fourth of July “Freedom Over Texas” celebration. Our city, our home and our refuge chose to accept money from a corrupt dictatorship’s corporation to fund the celebration of America’s freedom.

The Citgo Petroleum Corp., though based in Houston, is 100 percent-owned by Petróleos de Venezuela Sociedad Anónima, the Venezuelan state-owned oil company. Citgo has devolved into a financial tentacle that legally operates in international markets for the corrupt Venezuelan dictatorship. This is the very dictatorship that created the humanitarian crisis we are working to address, that denies existence of the crisis, and rejects all institutional international aid. It’s the dictatorship that has violently repressed peaceful protests for the past several months, leaving dozens dead, thousands injured and thousands arrested.

The magnitude of the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis has left despair in its wake, and has affected the South American region, forcing countries to address it in their policies and adapt to the influx of fleeing Venezuelans. Thousands have crossed the border to the Brazilian state of Roraima by foot.

Lately, it has escalated into the worst institutional crisis, making Venezuela the most visible example of a failed state development in our hemisphere, and we can’t ignore this failed state’s relationship to the city of Houston.

For Houston, accepting Citgo’s sponsorship of Freedom Over Texas is tantamount to taking sides in the Venezuelan conflict. Citgo was at the center of a deal between Venezuela and Russia that many regard as unconstitutional and whose political aftermath resulted in the current violence. Alarmingly, Cuba has infiltrated the Venezuelan army, communications, national registry, airports and naval ports, also plays a part in this conflict. Venezuela’s regime is tied to international drug trafficking and dangerous groups — Venezuela’s vice president was designated a “specially designated narcotics trafficker” by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and the FARC Colombian guerrilla all publicly support the regime. Houston’s deal with Citgo puts the city in association with these international criminals and oppressive regimes.

As a Venezuelan, Houstonian and American, I am deeply offended by this deal between Houston and Citgo. The city of Houston and the state of Texas — beacons of freedom — accepted money from a regime that embodies the complete opposite — a regime that undermines its nation’s institutions, incarcerates its political opposition and promotes rampant impunity in the face of ubiquitous crime.

To Mayor Sylvester Turner and City Council, we ask for a public statement indicating where the city of Houston stands under your leadership. To Citgo, we ask that, instead of spending money on publicity in the U.S., that its resources instead be used to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. And to our Houston friends and neighbors, we ask for you to express your indignation over our city’s association with the Venezuelan dictatorship and its band of international outlaw allies.

Will Houston champion the values of freedom this Fourth of July?

Ariana Cubillos / Associated Press A woman holds up a sign that reads in Spanish “No more dictatorship” near Venezuela’s General Prosecutor’s Office in Caracas, Venezuela, in March.