From left to right: Fired IDB President Mauricio Claver-Carone, former Venezuelan deputy Juan Guaidó and his ambassador to Washington Carlos Vecchio. File photo.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that it is investigating Venezuelan coup plotters Juan Guaidó and Carlos Vecchio as well as their collaborators for corruption and embezzlement of funds that they received from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
According to media reports, the FBI is trying to find out where the approximately $1 billion provided to them between 2018 and 2020 under the pretext of “humanitarian aid” ended up.
According to leaked files from the US Embassy in Venezuela, the Venezuelan opposition politician and wanted fugitive, Carlos Vecchio, received $116 million through USAID. These funds were delivered during the so-called “interim government” of Guaidó as “assistance” for citizens in Venezuela, who were to receive the funds through various non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
However, the funds were diverted and it was later revealed that these NGOs belong to other Venezuelan politicians and family members who live abroad and live off that money.
The files detail that USAID signed an agreement in 2019 with the “interim government” of Guaidó in order to provide $98 million in so-called “humanitarian aid.” Vecchio was present at the signing of the agreement as “Venezuelan ambassador” in Washington.
Another video revealed an event in which Vecchio, along with the opposition figure and wanted fugitive Julio Borges, received a total of $56 million from the then director of USAID, Mark Green.
Previously, the vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, revealed that the US government is investigating corruption in the management of funds during Guaidó’s “interim government.”
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Venezuelan opposition party supports investigations against Guaidó
The leader of the Venezuelan opposition political party Alianza del Lápiz, Antonio Ecarri, expressed his support for the FBI investigations against corruption in the “interim government” of Guaidó.
In statements to the press, Ecarri said that it is “good that they are investigating it” because of the amount of money involved. “Where is it? I mean, I want them to tell me where that money is!” he wondered.
“We are talking about billions of dollars that were handled,” he stressed. “We got tired of condemning what was happening in Citgo and Monómeros, but at that time a faction of people called us all kinds of things.”
Ecarri also demanded that the US government lift all coercive measures imposed against Venezuela, stressing, “We are against these economic sanctions, Mr. Trump. Lift the sanctions. They have been a blunder and generator of corruption … they have become a business.”
(Últimas Noticias) by María Eugenia Rodríguez
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/BR/SC
