INRAV (Venezuelan Assets Recovery Initiative) launches #UnFondoPorVenezuela (#AFundForVenezuela) campaign to create a movement to ask Washington to pass a law to protect assets looted from Venezuela
Around 1.5 billion dollars could be safeguarded if Washington passes a law to create A Fund For Venezuela.
Miami - March, 2021
As a citizens initiative, the “UnFondoPorVenezuela” (”AFundForVenezuela”) campaign will be launched on social media in mid-March to encourage Venezuelan-Americans residing in the U.S. to ask their Representatives and Senators to pass a law to protect the money recovered from the prosecution of corrupt Venezuelan officials and safeguard it in a Special Fund.
This will be a social media campaign that was designed and organized by INRAV (the Iniciativa para la Recuperación de Activos Venezolanos or, in English, the Venezuelan Assets Recovery Initiative), a non-governmental organization.
On the campaign’s website that will be online in March, Venezuelan-Americans will be provided information on their representatives and how to petition them for the Fund via phone calls, Twitter posts and Instagram.
At the end of 2020 there were at least $1.5 billion seized and frozen after more than 20 federal court cases against officials of the Venezuelan government, PDVSA (the state oil company) and contractors, according to a report prepared by the Inter-American Dialogue.
#UnFondoPorVenezuela seeks to protect these assets from creditors and other uses, and wants them to be safeguarded in a Fund managed by the U.S. government that will allow for their expedited return only when transparency and accountability measures are met.
Thanks to the VERDAD Act passed in December, 2019, the U.S. commits itself to give assets looted by corrupt Venezuelan officials back to the Venezuelan people. This law contemplates the creation of a Fund to protect and return the recovered assets. However, this Fund has not yet been created.
Without a Fund, the return of the recovered assets is not feasible. The process is very slow, costly and requires extraordinary dedication on the part of the Venezuelan interim government. Venezuela has neither the resources nor the time to take on such a task. The Venezuelan crisis cannot wait, and the participation of civil society could make the difference.
Due to the continuing political and economic crises in Venezuela, the Venezuelan population in the U.S. has increased 352% between 2000 and 2017. The number of Venezuelan residents increased from 93,000 to 421,000 in this period according to an analysis of the Hispanic population carried out by the Pew Research Center. Of these, 52% live in Florida, 11% in Texas, and 4% in New York.
About INRAV
The Iniciativa para la Recuperación de Activos Venezolanos (INRAV or, in English, the Venezuelan Asset Recovery Initiative) is an independent, non-governmental organization founded in the U.S. by Venezuelan-Americans whose mission is to recover assets stolen from the Venezuelan people.
INRAV seeks to mobilize and promote cooperation among governments, international institutions and civil society to recover assets lost due to acts of corruption allowed or supported by the current regime in Venezuela.
After the recovery of the assets stolen from Venezuela, INRAV supports the development of projects focused on the economic, social and institutional reconstruction of the country through measures that permit transparency and accountability; citizen participation and collaboration; and social innovation.
Contact:
Maria Alejandra Marquez
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