The general secretary of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Psuv), Diosdado Cabello, questioned this Wednesday the criticism that, he assured, has arisen within Chavismo after the resumption of Venezuela’s relations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, announced last week.
«Some of our colleagues are offended by that. When I say companions, I speak of companions of the revolution. Ah, but they just want to see the bad,” Cabello criticized during an event against US sanctions in the state of Cojedes (west), broadcast by the state channel Venezolana de Televisión.
During his speech, the Minister of the Interior also stressed that Venezuela has to return to the IMF “system” to regain access to the 5 billion dollars that the country has in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of that organization.
«The only way to return the 5,000 million that belong to the people of Venezuela is for us to enter the IMF system; If someone has a better idea, bring it up,” he added.
In this sense, he insisted that the return to these organizations will allow “recovering money” that corresponds to Venezuela and that the country has the right to claim.
“No one is talking about debt, no one is talking about packages, no one is talking about any of that,” he stressed, and reiterated that these funds will be used to invest in public services, hospitals and improve workers’ salaries.
The acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, reported on Tuesday that she had a conversation with the director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, whom she asked for access to Venezuelan funds.
His request came after the IMF confirmed to EFE on Friday that Venezuela will now have, upon its return to the institution, access to its Special Drawing Rights and its holdings that “amount to approximately $4.9 billion.”
In a message published on Sunday, on the occasion of the first hundred days of his Government in charge, Rodríguez celebrated that Venezuela has “returned to the international stage” and recovered its representation in the IMF, which, he said, would open access to “resources for health, basic services, strategic national production and stabilization of international reserves.”
Last Friday, the president in charge assured that she does not plan a debt program with the IMF; after the director of the organization stated that they will act “with great speed” to give Venezuela access to financing instruments.
Georgieva then pointed out that among the main challenges is for the South American country to once again share reliable macroeconomic data, and considered that the priority is support for the development of capacities and strengthening of institutions.
With information from EFE
