This Friday, February 19, the Venezuelan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jorge Arreaza, criticized the position adopted by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), which he called an attempt to boost the image of Colombian president Iván Duque before the international community.
Foreign Affairs Minister Arreaza wrote in his Twitter account @jaarreaza that, “The operation to try to whitewash the image of @IvanDuque, a man who has promoted the blockade against Venezuela (which creates suffering and migration), has organized military aggressions with mercenaries, gives refuge to terrorists, is despicable. This from #UNHCR is too much hypocrisy.”
Es infame la operación para tratar de lavarle la cara a @IvanDuque, un hombre que ha promovido el bloqueo contra Venezuela (que genera sufrimiento y migración), ha organizado agresiones militares con mercenarios, da refugio a terroristas. Lo de #ACNUR es demasiada hipocresía.
— Jorge Arreaza M (@jaarreaza) February 19, 2021
In another tweet, the Minister for Foreign Affairs asserted that “with this gross operation some governments, important figures and the media are falling into a booby trap. What Duque and #UNHCR want is to receive fresh money from the ‘donors,’ which in turn are the governments blockading Venezuela to make the people suffer. Pure cynicism!”
It should be noted that in a press conference held last Wednesday, Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro criticized the legal status of temporary protection for 10 years for Venezuelan migrants, announced by the Colombian administration. He argued that, “in our country there are six million Colombian migrants and they have never needed a provisional protection arrangement. They have never needed anything clownish” like that announced by the Colombian president. Duque intends to use it to restore his image on the international stage and receive money that will be barely seen by Venezuelan migrants in Colombia.
Featured image: File photo by Andrew Kelly/ Reuters.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
