Public threats, raids, arrests, and harassment against Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and their members by Venezuelan authorities have been on the rise in recent months.
Human rights activists warn that these actions, rather than harming an NGO, affect the most vulnerable sectors of the population who benefit from food and medicine programs. They demand “the cease of criminalization” of the humanitarian work in Venezuela and warn that social work will not stop despite persecution and government intimidation.
The most affected
Marino Alvarado, lawyer and member of the Venezuelan Program for Education-Action in Human Rights (Provea), points out that perceiving NGOs as a sort of “enemy” is not an exclusive feature of 20 year-long Chavista government, but also of previous administrations before Hugo Chávez.
“The Venezuelan State has failed to understand the role that NGOs play, the positive role of helping vulnerable sectors,” he assures. Alvarado attributes it to the fact that NGOs also exercise public policy surveillance, denounce abuses of power and present proposals to the State on how to improve human rights and strengthen institutions.
But he points out that in the last six years, especially with the arrival of Nicolás Maduro in Miraflores, NGOs have encountered more obstacles to their work in Venezuela and human rights activism has become a very risky job because they have been linked to terrorism and destabilization.
“The first consequence of the attacks against NGOs is that the most vulnerable no longer receive benefits, including food, medicines and civilian guidance. It ends up affecting people more than the organization ”, warns the lawyer.
Francelis Ruíz, project director at Civil Association Convite, maintains that NGOs have developed the capacities to assist the most vulnerable sectors during the complex humanitarian emergency, within their fields of action and possibilities. The NGO she represents assists 800 elderly people in Caracas and Barquisimeto.
In this sense, she warns that the assisted population and the aid that alleviates their situation are directly affected whenever an organization is attacked. She warns that many elders do not have the means to access medicines such as antihypertensives or medical supplies or, in the case of the 83 care homes assisted by Convite, biosecurity implements to prevent COVID-19 infections.
“14 million people in Venezuela require humanitarian aid, and many of them will be affected if the work of NGOs is impeded,” she says.
Threaten by the law
The main spokesperson against the work of NGOs in Venezuela has been the president of the National Constituent Assembly (ANC), Diosdado Cabello. On February 20, 2020, after accusing Provea of receiving international funding to conspire against the government of Nicolás Maduro, he threatened with the approval of a law that would prevent the organizations from receiving resources from abroad.
The proposal did not move any further within the Constituent Assembly, which ceased to function at the end of last year. As a candidate for the 2020 parliamentary elections, Cabello took up the threat and ratified it on December 9, once elected as a member of parliament in the contested elections.
During a broadcast on national public television, the first vice president of the Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV), accused a group of NGOs of “stealing the money” that came to the country through the interim government of Juan Guaidó. He directly mentioned Alimenta La Solidaridad, Fundación Futuro Presente, Manos al Aire, Provea, Transparencia Venezuela and Foro Penal.
He also named Acción Solidaria, Rescate Venezuela, Caracas Mi Convive, Meals 4 Hope Alimentando Esperanza, American Venezuela Engagement Foundation, I Love Venezuela Foundation, Vendato Humano and Un Mundo Sin Mordaza.
But it was not just words. On September 7, 2020, officers from the Special Action Forces (Faes) broke into the Acción Solidaria headquarters in Caracas and detained eight of its members, who were released after a few hours. The organization provides comprehensive support (from medical services, donation of medicines to legal assistance) to people with HIV.
Earlier in August, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted precautionary measures to Katherine Martínez, lawyer and director of NGO Prepara Familia, after she had been harassed for denouncing the deterioration of the services at the J.M de Los Ríos Children’s Hospital since 2017.
Martínez denounced that the collection center of the NGO that assists with food, medicine and supplies and defends the rights of hospitalized children and adolescents with chronic diseases and their families, was invaded in early 2020, for which it had to be shut.
“They are not going to eliminate us”
For Alvarado, the worrying thing is not a law that prevents international financing, because if it becomes a reality, NGOs will find a way to adapt and continue working. He accuses Cabello of being “obsessed” with non-governmental organizations, for their resolution in assisting the population in the face of a State that does not guarantee their basic rights.
“We try to keep the job no matter how much they want to suppress us, and in terms of international contributions, we have nothing to hide. Our greatest concern is to continue working for human rights in Venezuela; that law would increase obstacles but they are not going to eliminate us, ”he assures.
As an example, he cites the decree nullifying the legal personality of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) by the National Assembly of Nicaragua in 2018; despite the move, the NGO continues to work two years on.
Ruiz agrees that despite the inconveniences, NGOs work every day to ensure that aid reaches its destination.
“We face obstacles regularly. Recently, a team transporting insulin to Barquisimeto was stopped at several checkpoints with the risk of having the product confiscated or losing the temperature conditions for its preservation. We suffer from the lack of fuel, and if you add these harassment measures the work becomes even more difficult, ”she says.
Raids have intensified
The NGOs Alimenta la Solidaridad and Caracas Mi Convive were also victims of raids at their headquarters in El Rosal, Caracas, on November 24, 2020, by officers who identified as members of the National Police against Corruption.
Members of both organizations, dedicated to assisting children and families, nursing mothers and elders at risk of food insecurity, indicated that they had been harassed since November 20.
Also, their bank accounts were frozen by orders of the Superintendency of Institutions of the Banking Sector (Sudeban) and on November 25, 2020, the home of the founding director, Roberto Patiño, was also raided.
Through a statement, both organizations warned that the measures “seriously compromise the care of more than 25,000 children in 239 soup kitchens across 14 states of the country.” They also highlighted that they have provided more than 65,000 meals to more than 14 hospitals and health centers during the pandemic.
A more recent action against a Venezuelan NGO was carried out by the FAES again on Wednesday, December 15, 2020. The headquarters of civil association Convite, located in Los Dos Caminos, Caracas, was raided by orders of the 4th Control Court, which investigates crimes associated with terrorism.
The NGO director, Luis Francisco Cabezas, and its manager, Patrizzia Latini, were ordered to testify at the headquarters of the security body attached to the Bolivarian National Police (PNB) on San Martín Avenue. After two hours of “interviewing”, they were allowed to leave and the equipment seized in the procedure was returned.
NGOs demand an end to harassment
In a statement released on Wednesday, December 16, Convite assured that its activities comply with the legal regulations of the country and it is willing to provide the information required by the authorities, since all the documentation and back up of the legal origin of the funds are available, according to Ruiz.
At the same time, they demand an end to the harassment and criminalization of social work because it harms those who need it most, which in this case is the elderly population.
“All the humanitarian aid that has been distributed with the support of the United Nations, among other organizations, has served to save lives and alleviate the suffering of people during the Complex Humanitarian Emergency, further aggravated by the pandemic. It has had a limited impact due to the lack of resources and the obstacles to the operation of organizations like Médecins Sans Frontières in the country”, adds Alvarado.
In the case of Convite, the organization has brought food, medicine and free medical consultations to the elderly, mainly in public nursing homes forgotten by the State, but also in private centers that face serious difficulties, making any action that limits its activities reprehensible.
Translated by José Rafael Medina
