The announcement came three days after the Supreme Court of Justice, controlled by the government of President Nicolás Maduro, ordered a restructuring of the Venezuelan Red Cross, as well as the immediate cessation of the duties of its president, Mario Villarroel, and the other members that made up the previous directive.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab, a close collaborator of Maduro, indicated on July 28 that he had appointed a national prosecutor to investigate and punish those responsible for the alleged “harassment and mistreatment” of volunteers and workers of that institution by Villarroel and members of your team.
Saab’s complaint came a day after congressman Diosdado Cabello, considered the second most powerful man in Venezuela after Maduro and vice president of the ruling party, accused the head of the Venezuelan Red Cross and his team of “conspiring” against the government and “mafia activity” in the management of funds.
In the statement in which the names of the personalities who agreed to be part of the “ad hoc restructuring board” were released, it was indicated that it will request the accompaniment of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The steering committee will also focus on “the creation of transparency mechanisms for its processes and the integrity of volunteers,” the letter said.
Their work will be observed by a group of representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in the country,” the statement added, without further details.
The Constitutional Chamber of the highest court declared itself competent last Friday and admitted a lawsuit filed by the Attorney General’s Office.
The previous board of directors of the Venezuelan Society of the Red Cross “categorically” rejected in a statement Cabello’s accusations against Villarroel, who presided over the Venezuelan branch of that international organization since 1978.
The new directive, according to the sentence, must guarantee continuity in the service provided by the humanitarian organization, respect for the workers and volunteers of the institution.
In its resolution, the court appointed businessman Ricardo Filippo Cussano, former president of the Federation of Chambers and Associations of Commerce and Production of Venezuela, the largest chamber of companies in the country, as president of the ad hoc board.
Cussano was also in charge of coordinating the appointment of the remaining members of the board, among which is now the fencer Rubén Limardo, gold medalist in the London 2012 Olympic Games.
In the seven-member board, Alberto Vollmer also stands out, a wealthy businessman dedicated to the production of rum whose family has a link with the humanitarian organization. The land where the headquarters of the Red Cross, which arrived in Venezuela in 1895, was built, were donated by the Vollmer family.
The rest of the board is made up of the obstetrician-gynecologist, Griswill Fonseca; the surgeon Juan Simón Muñoz; the doctor in biochemistry María Fátima Garcés, recently elected academic vice-rector of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), the largest and oldest in the country. In addition to Jhoanna Pantoja, a nursing student and Red Cross volunteer.
The sentence, which had Judge Tania D’Amelio as rapporteur, ordered Cussano to collaborate with the Public Ministry in the investigation and prosecution of the criminal process that is being carried out against the outgoing Steering Committee, as well as in any other related process that thus require it.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
