Between The Misery and The Miserables

The week began with the news that Ruperti also paid for the defense of El Pollo Carvajal and with a scandal of alleged pedophilia

Photo: ABC retrieved

Councilman Fernando Albán died on October 8th, 2019. ANC-imposed prosecutor general, Tarek William Saab, gave three different versions to explain his death while in state custody, later claiming that he allegedly killed himself by jumping from a window on the tenth floor of Sebin headquarters in Plaza Venezuela. Even though Saab said in 2018 that the officers were just negligent, on Monday (11 months later) the Prosecutor’s Office formally charged Sebin officers Miguel Dos Santos Rodríguez and Keiberth Cirelli Moreno, for their alleged responsibility on breach on necessary custody protocols. According to the press release, the officers didn’t consult their superiors about removing Albán’s handcuffs. 

A Proposal on the Table

The AN’s Second Vice-President Stalin González, said today that negotiations with regime representatives haven’t resumed, and that they are expecting chavismo’s reply to the proposal the opposition brought to Barbados: “They left the table without caring what’s happening to Venezuelans, that’s Nicolás’s regime (…) we have a clear plan and a route to achieve it. We left a proposal on the table and they’re the ones who have to accept it,” said 

González, who declined to give further information about what those proposals were. González said they’re in contact with Norway, “because we’re committed to finding solutions for Venezuelans’ problems, change begins with Maduro’s ouster from power.” 

The Republic’s Savings 

World Bank’s Ciadi just announced that they decided to reduce by 227 million dollars Venezuela’s indemnization to U.S. company ConocoPhillips for expropriating three production projects during Hugo Chávez’s government. Guaidó’s and Maduro’s representatives were present in the legal proceedings, and since both parties were asking for the same thing, Ciadi resolved to consider both of them without choosing which was the republic’s legitimate representative: “There’s no conflict regarding the base of the matters subject to the tribunal’s rectification,” the institution said. Now, the debt now stands at 8,505,945,292 dollars.  

The Non-Country

– Elvis Amoroso, Nicolás’s comptroller, said that 33,331 officers have not conformed to the law, regarding their sworn state statement: “The law, the Constitution and the Comptroller’s resolutions will apply the corresponding sanctions,” he said. He also informed about the 15-day deadline to adjust any sworn statements. The fact that there are 6,072 high-ranking officers that aren’t mandated to declare in a country with a record-breaking corruption rate is horrifying. 

– “A family needs $300 a month to buy products of the basic basket,” said Cendas director Oscar Meza, reminding everyone that with the current minimum wage there’s a 98.8% deficit for buying food with July prices. Meza said he doesn’t think that this situation will change and foreseer a terrible Christmas season.

– Ana Rosario Contreras, president of Caracas’ Nurses College, said that they’d go on strike in Capital District hospitals starting September 5th, because of the terrible health crisis and lousy working conditions. 

– The case of a modeling school called Belankazar went viral because of a Twitter thread condemning the relation between the agency and pedophilia networks. The agency is charging membership fees in dollars to have access to exclusive portfolio, including children and teenagers. That parents expose their children to this is unfortunately not a crime, but sharing photos and videos on pedophilia networks is. 

– The office of former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón allegedly charged 1,850,000 euros for designing a defense strategy for former Sebin director and head of Hugo Chávez’s security for Hugo Carvajal, says Spain’s ABC. According to the newspaper, Maroil Trading, owned by Wilmer Ruperti, hired Garzón’s services in June 2016.

We, the Migrants

Venezuelan Ambassador to Colombia Humberto Calderón Berti and Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo, inaugurated Migration Week on Monday. Holmes Trujillo questioned that UNHCR published a video about five countries where the most refugees come from and didn’t include Venezuela, considering that it surpasses the numbers from Somalia, Somalia, Myanmar, South Sudan and Afghanistan by a lot. “We have to make an enormous effort so the international community understands, as it should, the magnitude of the migration crisis coming from Venezuela,” said the Foreign minister, who also stated that Venezuela is going through the second worst migration crisis in recent memory. It’s so bad that, on Monday, Federica Mogherini, and UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, coincided about needing more humanitarian aid and talked about our diaspora’s effect in the region. 

Movements on the board

– On Monday, Russia assumed the pro tempore UN Security Council presidency, in one of the most delicate months for the institution, because of General Assembly high-level events will convene in September. Russian ambassador before the UN Vasili Nebenzia will present Russia’s plan in the Council after it’s approved by its members.

– Nicolás’s Defense minister, Vladimir Padrino López,  arrived to Nicaragua to support dictator Daniel Ortega, where he plans to attend several meetings. Padrino López said that he’s there with Major General Alexis Rodríguez Cabello, who’s been general commander of the Army since July. 

– Holmes Trujillo said that capturing dissident ELN or FARC commanders wouldn’t be so hard if Nicolás weren’t in power and repeated he protects these groups.

– Believe it or not, Nicolás offered all his support and cooperation to the people and state of Bahamas for the damage caused by hurricane Dorian. Nicolás asked his vice-president,  Delcy Rodríguez to coordinate this.

Barely a year ago, the official Dicom rate was 61 bolivars. On Monday, BCV’s official rate hit 23,330 bolivars. Starting August it was worth half that amount. It’s called hyperinflation and it’s the government’s decision.

Naky Soto

Naky gets called Naibet at home and at the bank. She coordinates training programs for an NGO. She collects moments and turns them into words. She has more stories than freckles.