The headquarters of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV), a Catholic organization that has loudly protested the socialist regime, was ransacked by an unidentified group in Caracas, Venezuela last Friday.
“The headquarters of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference were the victim of the mob this morning,” the conference’s Twitter account announced following the incident:
Although the CEV has not provided details on the attack, photos suggest that there was no significant damage, but various items were stolen from the offices:
It is thought that the perpetrators might be a pro-government gang, one of the many colectivos who in recent years have repeatedly sustained attacks against Catholic churches in Venezuela amid the church’s opposition to the socialist dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro.
The head of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, Diego Padrón, told news reporters last month that Maduro’s rewriting of the country’s constitution “will be imposed by force and its result will be that constitutional status will be given to a military, socialist, Marxist and communist dictatorship.”
In June, Caracas’s Santa Rosa de Lima fell victim to a looting incident that left an altar of Mary destroyed and the church without its tools to perform Communion, including the Eucharist and chalice used to take in the holy wine.
Meanwhile, last month Chavista gangs stormed Caracas’ Carmen Church and held Archbishop of Caracas Jorge Urosa Savino and hundreds of worshippers hostage for hours.
In recent months, both Nicolás Maduro and Venezuela’s Catholic bishops have appealed to Pope Francis for his support and mediation of the conflict.
“I assure this dear nation of my prayers and express my closeness to the families who have lost their children in the protests,” Pope Francis said in a statement last month. ” I appeal for an end to the violence and for a peaceful and democratic solution to the crisis.”
Venezuela is currently going through the worst political and humanitarian crisis in its recent history, with skyrocketing inflation leading to chronic shortages of food, medicine, electricity, and sanitary products, while the socialist regime tightens its grip on power with the creation of an illegal law making body.
Last week, government officials in neighboring Colombia began preparations for a potential exodus of Venezuelans by drawing up plans for refugee camps. As many as 20,000 people have been recorded crossing the border in one day.
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