Chef describing sexual assault by former Venezuelan Ambassador: "SYRIZA told me to be silent"

By 3 years ago

In speaking with MEGA, a chef that worked for the Venezuelan Ambassador to Athens tried to isolate her while only wearing underwear.

The serious allegations was made by the former chef at the Venezuelan Embassy, Xenia Bouzaranidou.

Bouzaranidou testified that an official from SYRIZA asked her not to report the incident and to show "political maturity."

She said that she had been working at the Venezuelan Embassy in Athens since 2011, but "in 2012, Mr. [Franklin Ramon] Gonzalez came and made our lives hell."

"Not just me, but four other women," the chef added.

Bouzaranidou said that when she went to work she would try and remain out of sight to avoid harassment from Gonzalez.

"I was unlucky because I worked at the ambassador's house and it was not very easy to avoid my boss," she explained.

"When something like this happens to you, it is leveling... it flattens you as a person and is something you carry with you every day," Bouzaranidou said.

The chef stressed that it took her "about seven years to get over it inside me."

According to her, the president of SYRIZA, and at the time a leader of the official opposition, Alexis Tsipras, intervened with a letter to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in order to remove the ambassador and cover up the case.

Franklin Ramon Gonzalez with Alexis Tsipras.

"An attempt was made to cover up the matter," she said.

"It was a politician from SYRIZA, I do not want to say his name, who asked me to show political maturity and to resolve the issue internally," said the chef.

"At that time, SYRIZA was on the rise and SYRIZA-Venezuela relations were very good," Bouzaranidou explained.

"It was a pre-election period, so if such a scandal came out, it would have probably tarnished the image of SYRIZA in the country," she added.

The ambassador was replaced but the chef was fired and then had difficulty finding work as her former employers discredited her and Greece was at the peak of the economic crisis.

Of the five women that were sexually abused and harassed by the Venezuelan ambassador, only she and another appealed in Court over the firing.

Bouzaranidou was acquitted in court and her case was finalised.

However, so far the decision has not been executed.

"The decision solemnly justifies me," she said.

"It says I was fired because of the sexual harassment and abuse suffered," the chef said.

READ MORE: Former Deputy DM: Greece should not support American imperialism against Venezuela.

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