The FARC Issue Gets Louder, Gold and Oil Prices Drop

The AN declares agrees to authorize international satellite monitoring over Venezuelan territory to find guerrilla camps, after officially declaring them terrorist groups

Photo: BBC retrieved

On Tuesday, the National Assembly declared the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), the National Liberation Army(ELN), Hamas, Hezbolá and ISIS terrorist groups, and assured that the agreement approved by the appointed commission would combat their presence in the country with “decisive and collective action” in coordination with other countries in the region. Besides, they declared Nicolás’s political responsibility in allowing these terrorist groups to remain in the country, violating UN resolutions. Caretaker President Juan Guaidó, said these groups took advantage of our institutional weakness and exhorted the Armed Forces to exercise sovereignty and vigilance on our territory, saying that if the military “lacks the balls (sic) to face this crisis, then it has to step aside.” 

Cooperation and intelligence

Guaidó accused Nicolás of treason for supporting former FARC commanders, and said that the AN has information regarding clandestine airplane runways in Zulia and Apure that groups tied to the FARC and ELN use. He explained that some of these groups finance their activities with money laundering allowed by Nicolás, illegal mining and drug trafficking. The president of the Foreign Policy committee, Francisco Sucre, said that on a visit to Bolívar State in 2018 they saw active ELN presence, previously warned by Army officials. Check out OGlobo’s work on the topic. Guaidó promised to authorize using satellite technology to identify the terrorist groups’ as well as drug trafficking flights, in addition to cooperating with Colombia with information that Venezuelan intelligence officials that, according to him, support the opposition. 

Talking about Their Own Crimes

– Diosdado Cabello rejected Colombia’s accusations of paramilitary in Venezuela and said the opposite: “Colombia protects terrorists, feeds them and gives them weapons to commit crimes in Venezuela.” He also said that 60 years of conflict made it impossible to “blame this on others.” Yesterday, the commander of the Colombian Army General, Nicacio Martínez, said that he has classified information confirming that Iván Márquez and Jesús Santrich are in Venezuelan territory. 

– Nicolás’s Interior minister, Néstor Reverol, said that they’d dismantled an oil contraband network operating in Merida y Tachira, with clandestine routes to Colombia. It allegedly involved high-ranking Pdvsa and Corpoelec workers, and the paramilitary group Los Rastrojos. Freddy Bernal called them “traitors” for “trading the people’s resources.” 

– “The world has to focus on the main points that detract from it; one of them is drug production and the states that sponsor it. Multilateral organizations, should then look at Colombia!”, tweeted Vladimir Padrino López.

Orange Alert

Yesterday’s variety show was focused on celebrating the 209th anniversary of the Army’s Military School, the one that Chávez turned into the Bolivarian Military University nine years ago. Nicolás’s dissertation included too many compliments about the Armed Forces’ training (the audience’s reactions were hilarious) and said that Venezuela is in the eye of the storm and this is where “the fate of the world will be decided.” He questioned the chief of the U.S. Southern Command Craig Faller’s declarations, and proposed that Remigio Ceballos talk to Faller un “face to face.” Nicolás declared an “orange alert” in the border with Colombia qnd accused Duque’s government of preparing “false positives” to start a military conflict. “We’ll take on all military activity that maintains Venezuelan peace,” he said. He also announced military exercises from September 10th to September 28th on our Western border, said he had nothing to do with FARC’s return to arms, asked an updated study about the concepts of “multiform and non conventional war” and informed that he expects to get a proposal to develop a contest between military officers that reflect on “Bolivarianism versus Monroism” in 48 hours.

Red Alerts

PDVSA’s crude and refined product shipping dropped in August to around 770,000 bpd, the same month that Russian oil company increased its share in Venezuelan oil exports, with China as a main destination. Meanwhile, Bloomberg says that Chevron Corp. is preparing to abandon Venezuela in case the U.S. denies extending the exemption that allows it to continue operating in the country after October. Now think that the BCV’s gold reserve value dropped by one billion dollars in six months, $ 4,620 million, the lowest in 75 years. The real estate market has seen a drop of 75% in prices in the last 20 years, making them the lowest in Latin America. According to BCV’s most recent figures, this activity ended the third quarter in 2018 with a drop of 13%, meaning contraction for 19 consecutive quarters. 

Hat and All

Diosdado Cabello said that Venezuela faces a similar situation to that of Vietnamese people, “the difference is that we’re not being bombarded with traditional bombs but every day we have a new war, an information war, a manipulation war,” he said before he expressed his admiration for Ho Chi Minh, on the 50th anniversary of his death and saying that people in the world see Venezuela as an example. “They see us like Vietnam in the 60s for pushing through, if we fall the people will fall, if we are victorious, people will erupt like a free folk volcano,” he said, and asked to make Vietnam an example for those who seek freedom. 

This Weird Country

– Cicpc director Douglas Rico announced an investigation against Belankazar modeling agency, accused on Monday to promote sexist use of children and teenagers, and being connected to pedophile networks. 

– Economist Francisco Rodríguez who helped Torino Capital become one of the best firms delivering information about the Venezuelan debt market, announced that he’s stepping down in order to find solutions to the crisis. Maybe those years in Congress’ budget office during el finado’s government will help him. 

– Former deputy Walter Márquez said that the head prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, “is morally barred and should be forbidden to participate in judiciary processes” investigating charges against Nicolás’s government. Márquez accused her of negligence and not doing her job. 

We go on.

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.