Danish Refugee Council confirmed the arrest of one of its Colombian workers in Venezuela

The Danish Refugee Council organization explained that the Colombian citizen entered the country to carry out “programmatic work”, which is why it assured that they are exploring all possible avenues to resolve the case | Photo: @drc_lac / Reference

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) organization confirmed this Friday, October 18, 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 entities of the Organization of the United Nations (UN).

Statement from the Danish Refugee Council on the detention of an official in Venezuela: https://t.co/MBIhqcnQDJ pic.twitter.com/y5jUR6vGJ1

— Danish Refugee Council – DRC (@drc_lac) October 18, 2024

The Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, announced on October 17 the arrest of 19 foreigners accused of allegedly conspiring against the national government and attempting 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.

“Destabilizing plans”

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.

“It is a policy of imperialism, without any doubt, in this case with its action elements, directed by the (United States Central Intelligence Agency) CIA and the Spanish CNI (National Intelligence Center), which is the one that is directly in charge of the operation,” he insisted.

Cabello denounced that the CNI leads “the recruitment”, “the search” and “the supply of weapons” for this operation, although without showing evidence in this regard and despite the fact that Spain has denied that its two nationals detained in Venezuela are part of the organization. of Intelligence.

The CNI “introduces mercenaries into Venezuela, introduces weapons, they establish contact in Venezuela with criminal gangs to attack strategic points in the country, to assassinate leaders and leaders of the revolution (…), to depose the revolutionary government,” he asserted.

When asked about the alleged relationship of the main opposition coalition – Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) – with these plans, he assured that “this connection with sectors of the opposition is very clear”, and directly mentioned the main figure of that bloc, María Corina Machado, as responsible for this “conspiracy”.

Cabello announced that the investigations continue and that the government will make new progress in this regard, although he did not specify dates, nor did he give details about the other five detained foreigners, whose identities are still unknown.

The NGO operates neutrally

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 about the identity or whereabouts of the humanitarian worker.

With information from EFE