(Bloomberg) -- One of Venezuela’s most experienced opposition figures says National Assembly chief Juan Guaido needs to root out corruption in his inner circle.
Humberto Calderon Berti, who was recently replaced by Guaido as his envoy to Colombia, said the opposition must enforce higher standards than the government of Nicolas Maduro does.
“We have been saying we are different and we have to show it,” he said in a phone interview. “Honesty and ethics require permanent behavior.”
Calderon, 78, a former foreign minister and a past president of the state oil company, said he continues to back Guaido’s leadership, but that he needs to “clean up his entourage and act like a president.”
Calderon, who spoke by telephone from Spain, declined to mention any corrupt people by name. His dismissal two weeks ago stunned many backers of the Guaido-led movement.
Guaido’s office declined to comment on Calderon’s allegations.
Guaido said in his dismissal letter to Calderon that the move was part of a set of foreign policy changes. The U.S. and about 50 other countries recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s legal president, giving him control over some of its embassies, even though his power inside the country is limited.
With the backing of the U.S. and its allies, Guaido has been trying to push aside Maduro, whose 2018 re-election was widely condemned as rigged and illegitimate. But the endeavor has been faltering and, despite tough U.S. sanctions, Maduro still seems securely in power.
Misused Funds
Calderon said he was, in fact, dismissed over disagreements with Guaido and his mentor, Leopoldo Lopez, regarding his outspokenness on several matters. These included the misuse of money earmarked for military men who deserted and fled to Colombia last February; nominations for board membership of Monomeros, an important Venezuelan fertilizer company in Colombia; and whether the opposition should have met with Maduro representatives at negotiations in Oslo, which ended in failure.
Calderon said he reported the misused funds to Guaido and Lopez, as well as to Colombian authorities. The story leaked and Lopez accused Calderon of being the source of the leak. He denies this.
“The problem was not the leak but what was done,” Calderon said. “Journalists have a right to publish and the people have a right to know.”
Unqualified Staff
On Monomeros, he said Guaido allies nominated several unqualified people to the company, and then sought to make deals through them. He objected. Regarding the negotiations with the Maduro government, he openly said that he thought it was a waste of time, which angered Guaido’s top aides.
The Spanish newspaper ABC recently reported that Calderon was part of a scheme to push aside both Maduro and Guaido for an interim ruling junta. Calderon said this was false, that he had nothing to do with any such plan, although he had been aware of discussions about setting up such a structure.
Calderon said that while some Maduro allies have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars, the corruption in the opposition is on a much smaller scale.
“For me, it’s not about the amount,” he said. “We can’t be permissive with any acts of corruption,” he said.
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