VOA慢速英语--美国调查人员:委内瑞拉官员通过进口食品牟取暴利

US Investigators¹: Venezuelan Officials Suspected of Getting Rich from Food Imports

The United States is working with Latin American countries to investigate possible corruption² by Venezuelan officials.

The Associated Press says the two sides held two days of talks on the issue in June at a hotel in Panama. Several other meetings are reported to have taken place since April.

The discussions are part of an effort by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump³ to pressure Venezuela’s political leadership.

Venezuela is rich in oil and a member of OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum⁴ Exporting Countries. But it faces major economic problems, including high inflation, debt and a lack of basic goods. Many Venezuelans have fled to neighboring countries, causing a humanitarian⁵ crisis.

The socialist⁶ policies of President Nicolas Maduro are widely blamed for his country’s problems.

The Trump administration is sharing information about Venezuela with officials from Mexico, Panama and Colombia. They are looking at business ties to the Venezuelan government. They believe that some of the companies are taking money from food import programs.

Since January 2017, the U.S. Treasury⁷ Department has taken steps to punish a number of Venezuelan officials. They have faced sanctions over reported corruption, human rights abuses and trafficking in illegal drugs.

U.S. officials look at Venezuelan food program

Several of the people who took part in the Panama meeting spoke⁸ to The Associated Press. They asked that their names not be made public because the talks were private.

At the meeting, financial investigators looked at the business dealings of Venezuelan companies said to be under the government’s control. They also wanted to study the dealings of businessmen tied to the government.

Last year, Trump suggested to aides and Latin American leaders that Maduro should be removed from office by force. The administration has more recently sought to increase pressure on Venezuela’s government with the help of allies in the area.

Marshall Billingslea is the treasury department’s Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing. He spoke to reporters at the June meeting. He said the administration chose to pay close attention to Venezuela’s food program.

The AP reported in 2016 that top government officials were diverting money from food import deals. Since that time, reports of hunger in Venezuela have spread.

Maduro’s government has moved to give out containers of staple⁹ foods, such as cooking oil, flour, rice and canned goods. The containers are said to be provided by Local Committees for Supply and Production. They are known as CLAP boxes, from their Spanish acronym¹⁰.

The CLAP boxes, however, have become a highly disputed issue.

Maduro says the food is a way to fight, what he calls, the “economic war” carried out against him by the U.S. government and its allies.

His critics say the food supplies are a form of social control in which food is given only to Maduro’s supporters.

Millions of Venezuelans now depend on the CLAP boxes. They are especially important because of Venezuela’s high inflation. A local research company notes that more than 60 percent of Venezuelan homes said they received CLAP boxes in the past three months.

Reports of corruption linked to the way food is given out have led to increased attention.

“This goes beyond just corruption,” Billingslea said, “This is literally¹¹ looting the one social safety-net program left in Venezuela.”

Investigators have turned their attention to a Colombian businessman, Alex Saab from Barranquilla. Saab gained attention a few years ago by signing an agreement to build social housing in Venezuela. At the time, he appeared with then-president Hugo Chavez, Maduro and then-Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

Investigators say Saab entered the food business through a Hong Kong-based company, called Group Grand Ltd. But investigators say the group appears to be linked to Saab’s building company back in Colombia. Group Grand has received a contract to provide at least 11.5 million CLAP boxes.

The AP says it has received information that Group Grand charged Venezuela’s food ministry¹² $41 million for powdered milk in September of 2017. The price was more than 100 percent higher than the market price at the time, the AP report said.

One former Venezuelan law enforcement official, Luisa Ortega, has called for an investigation¹³ into Saab’s dealings.

Billingslea would not discuss individuals or groups that are under investigation. But he said that going after money stolen from food imports by Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores is a top concern.

The AP reports that U.S. and Colombian officials have been investigating Saab for more than one year. His lawyer, Richard Diaz, has rejected accusations¹⁴ of wrongdoing. Diaz said that if the accusations were true Saab would have been charged long ago.

Billingslea has said that Maduro has refused to deal with the growing problem of hunger in Venezuela by blaming others.

Leaders of Argentina, Colombia and Chile have called for Maduro to be tried in an international court for crimes against humanity.

I’m Mario Ritter.

Words in This Story

sanction – n. measure put in place to cause a country to obey international law, usually by limiting or banning trade

divert – v. to change the direction or use of something

staple – adj. used, needed or enjoyed by many people all the time

acronym – n. a word formed from the first letters of each one of the words in the phrase

looting – n. to steal from a place such as a store or house during a time of unrest

contract – n. a business agreement or deal

1 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

5 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

6 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

7 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

10 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

12 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

13 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

14 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。