The Minister of Interior Relations, Justice and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, accused on Wednesday, October 29, Cardinal Baltazar Porras of trying to commit a “scam” with the purchase of a home in El Hatillo, Caracas.
During his television program With the gavel givingCabello showed an alleged purchase-sale document in which the property, with 1,982 square meters of land, was registered for 7.5 million bolivars, equivalent to nearly $30,000 at the time of the operation, but which, he said, Porras tried to buy for $7,500. He stated that, after a previous complaint, the buyer’s name was changed.
“Two weeks ago, when I made the complaint, Baltazar Porras changed the buyer, he placed another, but he was the one who bought. Why did the buyer change? Why did he say that the house is worth $7,500?” Cabello questioned, adding that the cardinal “called the registrar to speed up the sale.”
The Chavista leader assured that his observations are “innocent questions like those any Venezuelan can ask,” but insisted that it is “a scam on the country,” suggesting that the real price of the property would have been modified outside the official record.
Personal attacks and accusations against the Church
During transmission, Cabello also made personal insinuations about the cardinal’s private life by stating, without evidence, that “he is going to get married.” with a woman identified only as Maria.
“Clear your thoughts, stop scamming the country and say who you will live with in that house,” Cabello said in a mocking tone.
Likewise, he attacked the Catholic Church, which he accused of acting like a political party and of being “stuck waiting for something bad to happen in Venezuela.”
“All of them are bad, they are not men of God. Men of God are the people of Venezuela who are capable of sitting in prayer,” he said.
Cabello once again links Porras with the opposition
Cabello accused Baltazar Porras of placing himself at the command of María Corina Machado to conspire against the governmentciting an alleged informant whom he called “Patricio el Maracucho.”
He also stated that the ecclesiastical hierarchy tried to block the canonization of José Gregorio Hernández and believed that this was only achieved through the efforts of Nicolás Maduro.
In the same space, Cabello supported Maduro’s proposal to constitutionally evaluate the withdrawal of Venezuelan nationality from those who “ask for a foreign invasion”, alluding directly to the opponent Leopoldo López.
The official cited articles 130 and 36 of the Constitution to argue that whoever supports external military actions “tacitly renounces” their nationality.
“He doesn’t need anyone to take it away from him, he is already resigning,” he said, reiterating that the issue will be considered by the Supreme Court of Justice.
