The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) organization confirmed this Friday that one of its workers, a Colombian national, was detained in Venezuela and that they are “exploring all possible avenues to resolve this case.”
“At the time of his arrest, he was entering the country to carry out programmatic work,” the NGO said in a statement, adding that they have been in contact with the Colombian authorities, as well as with the worker’s family and UN entities.
The Minister of the Interior of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, announced on Thursday the arrest of 19 foreigners accused of allegedly conspiring against the Government of that country and trying to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro, with the aim of causing destabilization.
Cabello specified the nationality of 14 of them: two Colombians, three Americans – one of them with Bolivian nationality – one Peruvian and one Lebanese. This group joins the four Americans, two Spaniards and one Czech, whose arrests were reported last September.
“All these foreign citizens are guaranteed their rights, but their governments must assume that they are coming to Venezuela to conspire against a country, to attack civil and military objectives, public service objectives, to harm our country,” Cabello stressed. .
During an appearance, the minister showed some of the war material supposedly seized from the detainees – which includes nearly 500 weapons – and assured that, although they were captured in different operations, dates and places, they are all linked to each other and, in his opinion, time, with the supposed destabilizing plans.
In this context, the DRC stated that “as a humanitarian organization it operates with strict neutrality and impartiality.”
“Our work focuses exclusively on the provision of humanitarian aid, without interfering in any political matters,” concluded the organization, which did not provide further details on the identity or whereabouts of the humanitarian worker.
Bogotá / EFE
#Danish #NGO #confirmed #arrest #Colombian #workers #Venezuela
