Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Yván Gil. File photo.
With the approval of Venezuela’s new Law on Supervision, Regularization, Action, and Financing of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Non-Profit Social Organizations, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and National Endowment for Democracy (NED) will no longer be able to use their funds to finance terrorism in Venezuela, said the Foreign Minister of Venezuela, Yván Gil.
In a message posted this Monday, August 19, on his Telegram account, Gil called on the United States government to use the funds it uses to destabilize Venezuela to invest in the people of the US who “need it very much.”
The statement by the top diplomat was issued in response to recent statements by the assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs of the US Department of State, Brian Nichols, who claimed that this recently approved law was a “direct attack against civil society and freedom of associatios.” Nichols refrained from noting that the US has a very similar law, known as the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which was enacted in 1935 and has been applied extensively.
In this regard, Gil said that the people of Venezuela, on the July 28 election day, provided a lesson in dignity to the country’s fascists, a lesson from which the extreme right wing has not yet recovered.
“Mr. Nichols counted on fascism in the Venezuelan elections,” wrote Gil on Telegram. “The Bolivarian people gave him a lesson in dignity, a beating from which he has not yet recovered. Now defeated and depressed, he aims his hatred and malice against the sovereign National Assembly, which will regulate, as all countries do, including the US, the actions of NGOs. We are sure that your dirty funds from USAID or NED will not continue to finance the terrorism of your lackeys. Dedicate them [these funds] to attending to the needs of the US people who need it very much.”
Last Thursday, the deputies of the National Assembly approved the aforementioned law to regulate the financing received by NGOs in the country.
Venezuela: National Assembly Passes Bill on NGO Supervision and Regulation
This Monday, President Nicolás Maduro instructed Vice President Delcy Rodriguez to expedite the process in order for the new law to be enacted as soon as possible.
The provisions of this law establish that the Ministry of the Interior, Justice, and Peace must establish and maintain a national registry of NGOs and non-profit social organizations. This registry will include information related to NGOs’ constitution, financing, operation, and statute modifications.
(Últimas Noticias) by Gustavo Rangel with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
