Brazil says terrorists threaten Venezuela, doctors lambaste Maduro regime

Caracas — Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo said Wednesday that “concern” exists about “the presence of terrorist elements in Venezuela” that, he said, could represent a “threat” to the security of the country and the region.

“Up until recently, it had not been admitted that there was terrorism in South America and today it is known via intelligence (departments) ... that that is a threat for Venezuela,” Araujo said at a press conference in Brasilia after returning from an official trip to the United States.

Araujo denied that the issue had been discussed during the meeting on Tuesday between Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his US counterpart, Donald Trump , in Washington, but he emphasized that the existence of “terrorist organizations” should be “monitored.”

However, the foreign minister, who accompanied Bolsonaro on his first official trip abroad since taking office, guaranteed that the US and his country share the same view about how to deal with the crisis affecting Venezuela.

“It was extremely clear that we completely agree on the unacceptable nature of what is happening in Venezuela in terms of human tragedy,” said Araujo, who lambasted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro , calling his government a “dictatorial regime.”

Although “there is a conviction that it is necessary to act,” the foreign minister did not provide any details of what was discussed at the Trump-Bolsonaro meeting regarding what measures could be taken.

He did say, however, that Brazil and the US “are working together ... toward the same objective,” although “not necessarily in the same way.”

Araujo said that while the US has the ability to act via economic sanctions, Brazil is taking the “diplomatic and political” route.

Almost two months after the president of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled Parliament, Juan Guaido, proclaimed himself Venezuela’s interim president, garnering the recognition of more than 50 nations around the world, Venezuela’s armed forces (FANB) continue to be the focus of everyone’s attention.

With no sign of internal divisions - at least in public - the FANB is at the center of all calculations in Venezuela, with the opposition trusting that the calls to the military to withdraw its support from Maduro will at some point cause them to split with the regime, while the Chavistas see the FANB’s public stance in support of Maduro as a stabilizing factor amid the Venezuelan crisis.

Hundreds of troops have deserted from the FANB since Guaido proclaimed himself interim president on Jan. 23. Most, if not all, of these former FANB soldiers are currently in exile in Colombia.

In February, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said that more than 100 troops had been expelled from the FANB and demoted for having deserted and crossing the border into Colombia.

On Tuesday, Venezuela’s Official Gazette reported that 27 officers and non-commissioned FANB officers had been demoted and expelled from the ranks.

The Venezuelan Medical Federation on Wednesday said that the Maduro government is maintaining an “ongoing attack” against medical personnel who are demanding medicines and healthcare materials for public hospitals, which have been severely affected by the crisis.

The attack is continuing on the order “given from the highest levels of government against Venezuelan physicians,” said the president of the Federation, Douglas Leon, at a press conference at which he also condemned the firing of some of his colleagues.

For the past five years, at least, Venezuela has had a scarcity of medications and healthcare materials that unions critical of the government estimate at between 80-90 percent.

Health care workers have also complained that hospitals are experiencing infrastructure problems, damaged equipment and cutoffs of water and electricity.

According to the latest National Hospital Survey published by the organizations Physicians for Health, between Nov. 19, 2018, and Feb. 9, 2019, 79 people died at Venezuelan hospitals during power blackouts.

Meanwhile, in Geneva, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, asked the Maduro government to guarantee that experts from her office who are currently in that country be given access to the places and people they request and that no reprisals be taken against the people they speak with.

The technical mission is in Venezuela to study the possibility of a trip to the country by Bachelet, given that the Maduro government had extended to her an invitation but the UN wants to ensure that she will have free access to opposition figures and dissidents if she travels there.

In Caracas on Wednesday, the Maduro government accused Trump and Bolsonaro of “being apologists for war” after rejecting the remarks the two leaders made about Venezuela during their White House meeting on Tuesday.

“It is grotesque to see two heads of states with high international responsibilities being apologists for war ... in flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter,” the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that the two presidents’ remarks were “dangerous.”

“Without doubt, both presidents reflect the most reactionary ideas for the peoples of the region as well as for world peace and security,” the ministry said.

During his meeting with Bolsonaro on Tuesday at the White House, Trump said that “all options” are on the table regarding Venezuela, presumably including military intervention.