The Supreme Court in Venezuela has sacked the president of the country’s Red Cross, and independent watchdogs on Saturday decried the move as endangering humanitarian work in the impoverished nation.
The Supreme Court a day earlier ordered the “immediate” removal of Red Cross chief Mario Enrique Villarroel, 75, who had led the charity for 45 years.
It accused Villarroel of “harassment and ill-treatment” of the charity’s employees.
Also behind his removal was a powerful politician, Diosdado Cabello, the number two leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) of President Nicolas Maduro.
Cabello accused Villarroel of conspiring against Maduro and “mafia-style activity” in the handling of the group’s budget.
Installed to replace Villarroel as head of an ad hoc restructuring committee was Ricardo Cusanno, former head of Fedecamaras, the nation’s main business union.
Human rights monitors voiced alarm at the shakeup in the Red Cross.
“The Venezuelan Red Cross is a nonprofit civil association, not a dependency of the government. This court decision sets a dangerous precedent for the Venezuelan people’s right to freedom of association,” Rafael Uzcategui of human rights NGO Provea told AFP.
“This is an absolutely irregular procedure,” regardless of “the innocence or guilt of Mr Villarroel,” Uzcategui said.
He noted that the shakeup comes before the 2024 presidential election, and with jockeying intense for release of some $3 billion in frozen assets abroad following sanctions against the country.
The government and the opposition had agreed that the $3 billion would be earmarked for social or humanitarian funds once freed up.
“The UN proposed to receive these $3 billion and this generated an internal conflict… Another supposedly independent entity, the Red Cross, is going to be promoted to receive this money and manage it at an electoral moment and, of course, in coordination with the authorities,” Uzcategui said.
“Everything is very suspicious… and the precedent this generates puts us on absolute alert.”
Other watchdogs also voiced concern.
“If there is a problem with Villarroel, it must be resolved by the Red Cross itself,” said Mauro Zambrano of the NGO Monitor Salud (Monitor Health). “Many humanitarian programs are managed by the Red Cross in the country.”
“The political issue, unfortunately, often prevails over health.”
Cusanno met Saturday with the outgoing secretary general of the Venezuelan Red Cross, Mario Santimone.
“They held a fluid dialogue on the current situation of the institution,” the group said on social media.
An article published Friday on the website of Cabello’s television program said the Venezuela Red Cross “works together with actors interested in overthrowing” the Maduro government.
The article said the US Agency for International Development finances humanitarian groups in Venezuela with an “intervention agenda.”
US authorities in 2020 charged Cabello with conspiracy to traffic cocaine and offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
Political scientist Ricardo Sucre told AFP that what has unfolded shows the government is willing to “act” against any organization that it perceives as a potential threat.