Francesco Rocca: "You can not deny what the Venezuelan people are suffering"

Italian lawyer Francesco Rocca, 53 years old and president of the Red Cross since 2017, was deeply shocked by what he saw weeks ago during his visit to

Venezuela

when he was received by the president

Nicolás Maduro

. "It was an emotional shock," he admitted in an interview with
THE NATION.

"No one can deny the suffering of the Venezuelan people, and beyond any banner, I visited the country 18 years ago and, compared to the current situation, I had a considerable impact, especially on the health situation, "he said.

A month ago, the Red Cross was in the center of attention when the Chavez regime refused to receive help and that Maduro himself denied the humanitarian crisis. After tense negotiations, the government authorized the entry of the convoy, but rejected those of other donor countries.

While visiting Buenos Aires for the XXI Inter-American Conference of the Red Cross, during which the humanitarian agenda of the region was discussed, Rocca also spoke about the challenges related to the conduct of the largest humanitarian network in the world, founded in 1863, which has 17 million volunteers. "Sometimes I have the impression that we are reversing the advances of modern humanism and I must explain that protecting a life is not a political act," he said. .

– The controversy over aid to Venezuela has been used politically not only by the government but also by the opposition. How did they do to take care of the neutrality of the Red Cross?

Unfortunately, the issue of humanitarian aid has become a very sensitive issue worldwide, from Syria to Yemen to Yemen. This is seen as an opportunity to reach consensus on one side or the other. In what I insisted on the dialogue with Chavez and the opposition, it is that all the Venezuelan people is suffering. There is a political differentiation in the badysis of the causes of the situation. But the result is that people are suffering and no one can deny it.

-But Maduro denied the humanitarian crisis.

-With me it was different. He only asked me that the income from the help should conform to Venezuelan standards. In dialogue with him, I took care never to mention the phrase "humanitarian crisis". I am very careful with the terminology because I know that there is a lot of sensitivity. I only spoke to him about the "needs" of the population. Of course, we could not subsequently avoid that political manipulation be committed to each act of accomplishment with a leader who takes the opportunity to deliver a fiery speech based on his political position.

-What is the most serious aspect of the humanitarian situation?

-The health problem. What has impressed me the most is the number of people who died due to lack of electricity in intensive care or dialysis hospitals. I travel to many countries and many places do not have direct access to electricity, but Venezuela has been an emotional shock to me. My previous visit was in 2001 when I saw the shopping centers of Caracas full of people. Today everything is closed. But our priority was health. That's why we have already registered 16 electric generators for hospitals. We have a plane ready in Panama and another member of the Italian Red Cross who is waiting for the government's permission to bring more generators and hospital infrastructure, our goal being to help some 650 000 people a year. But a country as big as Venezuela is very small.

-The situation is also affecting the entire region. How do you work with the issue of immigration?

-Our goal is in the border area of ​​Cucuta, Colombia. But the numbers throughout the region are impressive. It should be noted that 700,000 Venezuelans arrived in Peru in one month, including 100,000 new children in Peruvian schools. These figures change the political and social life of any country.

– He is very affected by the situation

They are not words of circumstance. I have a personal empathy with Venezuela. An uncle of mine went with the family from Italy to Venezuela in the 60s and they had to leave. It is very painful to see in this situation the country that has the largest oil reserves, with minerals, gold and huge tourism potential. They say it's the biggest economic collapse of the last 50 years in a country without war.

-Other of the axes of the Buenos Aires conference is the humanitarian problem generated by climate change. How do you work on this issue?

– Climate change is a reality and the international community is not responding as it should. It's like the story of the frog inside the pot that does not realize that it's going to be cooked. What we are doing is seeing how to change the modality for governments to pbad from consequences to consequences to prevention.

-And what answers do you get?

– In all the areas in which we work, humanitarian aid, climate change or migration, we must fight against the issue of politicization, as there are no problems that concern us all. That 's like they thought that a firefighter who wants to help put out a fire and save people is interested in the nationality or ideology of the people who are in charge. he will save. Our priority is to protect and save lives. In this, I remember the founding motto of our organization: "Tutti fratelli". Suffering makes us equal. We are all brothers before suffering, regardless of ideological, ethnic or religious differences.