Cardinal Baltazar Porras denounced the abuse of power after being blocked by the military when he tried to travel to Trujillo for a mass for the canonization of José Gregorio Hernández. Minister Diosdado Cabello accused him of trying to sabotage religious events
Cardinal Baltazar Porras questioned the deployment of military personnel that prevented their arrival in the state of Trujillowhere he planned to celebrate a mass of thanksgiving for the canonization of Dr. José Gregorio Hernández.
“It is a question that a single person generates a mobilization of hundreds of soldiers to simply prevent a mass,” said the cardinal this Wednesday, October 29, when referring to the obstacles imposed on him both by air and by land.
Porras considered that these types of actions reflect the abuse of power and lies as tools of intimidation. “They want to generate in us an attitude of fear and withdrawal”warned and stressed that the deployment seemed disproportionate.
The cardinal recalled that the role of the authorities should be to serve the citizens, not harass them: “Public servants are made, in principle, to be at the service of the people and not to be against the people,” he insisted.
The cardinal’s statements come after he publicly denounced that the Venezuelan authorities prevented him from entering Trujillo, both by road and by plane, which prevented his participation in the religious ceremony of gratitude for José Gregorio Hernández.
According to what Cardinal Porras was informed, “there was news of disturbances or things that were going to take place there,” despite the fact that – as he explained – it was made clear to him that the event consisted only of a Eucharist. They were also told that their presence was “a danger.”
The Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, accused the ecclesiastical hierarchy of trying, both in Rome and in the country, to sabotage the events in honor of San José Gregorio Hernández and Carmen Rendiles. «Their interests are aligned with those of the United States. It is the same behavior of the opposition, they applaud invasions against their own country,” he said.
In Cabello’s opinion, the church seeks to “have the leading role, to say things and make them the news and forget” about the new saints. “Those who had intentions of sabotaging were left wanting, they couldn’t.”
*Read also: Cabello: It’s okay for Lula to worry and raise his voice to defend our America
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
Post Views: 204
