Government says Provea claims naval incursion in Venezuela

The Venezuelan Human Rights organization, Provea, has been accused by the government of being an “organization under pay of the United States’ intelligence services.”

The accusation comes in the wake of a failed incursion led by a former Green Beret, Jordan Goudreau, who claims to have contacts with US president Trump and to have been hired by opposition leader Juan Guaidó. Gourdreau has said he “signed a contract” with Guaidó but the National Assembly appointed President of Venezuela has denied links with the operation.

Provea posted on Twitter (@_Provea) a comment that the Venezuelan government read as a defense of the incursion. Provea said: “Faced with the closure of peaceful channels for the resolution of the conflict in Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro is mainly responsible for any violent event due to political reasons in the country.”

The post was part of a thread in which Provea also stated: “Provea will only support and promote constitutional, peaceful, and citizens’ mechanisms for the restitution of democracy in the country. Political and civil leadership must, unambiguously, ratify a nonviolent political strategy for a transition form authoritarian to democracy. The international community must reject any violent path for Venezuela by increasing diplomatic pressure and individual sanctions against violators of Human Rights. The Human Rights of detained persons in the latest events should be respected. We make Tarek William Saab and Alfredo Ruiz responsible for possible force disappearance and tortures against those apprehended.”

The Web page of the ruling party PSUV leader Diosdado Cabello, “Con el Mazo Dando”, published this: “Payed NGO Provea claims the mercenary incursion in the Country. This franchise [Provea] condemns the use of legitimate defense by Venezuela and speaks for the mercenaries. Provea, an organization funded by intelligence agencies of the United States, wrote a message claiming the failed naval incursion of Sunday morning, which was repelled by security bodies of Venezuela. In a contradictory message the self-proclaimed ‘Non Governmental Organization’ makes the legitimate government of Venezuela, led by President Nicolás Maduro, “mainly responsible for any violent event” which would be generated in the country by mercenaries. This attempt to justify terrorism and to condemn the legitimate defense of the sovereignty of the country by authorities, reveals the true political and ideological intentions behind this North American franchise, under the cover of the ‘defense of Human Rights’.”

Venezuelan ruler Nicolás Maduro has claimed that the US anti-drug agency DEA is behind the attack through the private security company Silvercorp.