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Venezuela's Interim President Juan Guaidó on March 9, 2020 in Caracas, Venezuela. (Carlos Becerra/Getty Images)

Once the wealthiest country in Latin America, Venezuela has been crippled by political turmoil and poverty under the predatory regimes of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro. Violence, hyperinflation and food shortages have created a major humanitarian crisis, while Maduro has courted the support of other authoritarian regimes, including Iran, China, Russia, and Cuba.

In advance of the second anniversary of the popular attempt to restore democracy to Venezuela, Venezuelan Interim President Juan Guaidó and Commissioner Carlos Paparoni joined Hudson virtually to detail the destruction of Venezuela at the hands of the Maduro kleptocracy. In a panel moderated by Hudson's Nate Sibley [[link removed]] and Marshall Billingslea [[link removed]], former U.S. Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, President Guaidó and Commissioner Paparoni discussed how the U.S. can continue to support democracy and the rule of law in Venezuela.

See key takeaways from their discussion below, and join us next week for discussions with Australia's Ambassador to the U.S. Arthur Sinodinos [[link removed]] and UK Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston [[link removed]].

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Key Takeaways

Featured quotes from Venezuelan Interim President Juan Guaidó and Presidential Commissioner Against Terrorism and Organized Crime Carlos Paparoni. Their remarks have been translated from Spanish to English and original quotes are available in the transcript [[link removed]].

1. According to President Guaidó, the Maduro regime used the country's food program, CLAP, as a money laundering vehicle to enrich regime officials at the expense of starving Venezuelans:

We welcomed the agreement with the UN World Food Program a few days ago in Venezuela. [That offered] the recognition that all those social programs of the regime through CLAP were used to generate corruption, bribery schemes for officials, maintain the authoritarian system and [enable] money laundering by the regime in our country; even the use in one way or another of certain assets at this time to launder money, which is part of what we also have to investigate in Venezuela and that show what the formal and informal scheme that has sustained the dictatorship today is like.

2. The constitutionally-appointed interim government is tracking down billions in illicit funds that have been siphoned from state coffers and held in overseas accounts, notes President Guaidó:

We are making an effort in Venezuela to defend democracy and freedom, [and analyze] the issue of flooding financial markets with dirty capital. The incentives for dictators and autocrats to maintain and sustain power to the detriment of human rights, freedom, and fundamental rights of citizens...

We have reported approximately $32 billion dollars [stolen by the Maduro regime] located both in countries that have taken action, such as the United Arab Emirates, Europe, Panama, and Andorra. But there is also a large amount of approximately $ 22 billion that is in Russia and that is in China. And today, although we have been able to identify it, actions have not yet been started to try to protect this money. This money is solely and exclusively the product of corruption.

3. According to Commissioner Paparoni, Iran is helping the Maduro regime avoid sanctions and is increasing military sales to Venezuela:

To understand the Iran-Venezuela relationship, naturally the first thing to note is that approximately in bilateral contracts it has meant more than 7.2 billion dollars, from 2002 to date. The companies that we see in Venezuela today, the Megasis supermarkets, are supermarkets that are directly linked to Mohamad Ostabalni, a recognized military officer identified as a member of the Revolutionary Guard.

We have not only seen [Iran's influence] in the diversion of sanctions or in the advice to be able to violate the sanctions imposed by the international community, but also, we have seen how they have started military cooperation in Venezuela through programs such as air defense. There is a program in Venezuela through which weapons and drones have been purchased. In recent months we have seen new Iranian drones in Venezuela. But also how they have been the ones who, along with Russia, in recent months have been giving advice on the recovery of military equipment that has been quite explicit and that has been seen a lot both in social media and in reports that have been presented before the international community.

When we talk about how this relationship works, we have seen that pro-Iranian groups, such as Hezbollah, were simply the first [step] to generate this relationship that both Iran and Venezuela maintain today. And in that group, or in this terror alliance, that Nicolás Maduro has had, we also see how some countries, such as Russia or China, lend part of their system to be able to launder money and to continue financing these types of operations.

Quotes have been edited for length and clarity.

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