Lunch Break: Non-Accountability and Lies

The illegitimate president presented his accountability speech before the illegitimate National Constituent Assembly, which he continues to see as a parallel parliament due to the impossibility of controlling the legitimate National Assembly

Photo: Prensa Asamblea retrieved
  • Nicolás Maduro, again, disregarded the constitutional mandate and didn’t give his 2019 accountability speech at the National Assembly, as he was supposed to do on Tuesday, January 14th. He went to the National Constituent Assembly, the sham institution that chavismo imposed to overthrow the Legislative Branch. The excuse is that the AN is still “in contempt”, a judicial measure imposed by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice in 2016, in which they stop recognizing the National Assembly’s decisions. Nicolás also failed to deliver the numbers, the only variable that would allow to confirm the achievements he mentioned. He renewed his favorite unfulfilled promise: the recovery of our economy. He openly lied about his democratic will and his governing capabilities, he chastised the opposition and the international community for supporting the democratic cause and used the announcement of parliamentary elections to achieve headlines in international media. He assured that CLAP deputies are “outstanding leaders, top quality, leaders in their regions.” He asked his opposition’s negotiating roundtable to channel the conflict generated in the AN by chavismo itself. 
  • He dedicated part of his speech to insist on the petro’s strength, and to promote a more efficient use of the world’s only cryptocurrency that isn’t mined and isn’t backed by anything. He talked about: selling 4,5 million barrels of oil in petros and then the entire oil production in petros, charging for the gas Pdvsa sells in petros for aircrafts with international routes, the CVG selling  a million tons of iron in petros and that every service provided by the state be sold in petros: Saime, Saren, Sapi, Inea, Inac, airports and ports. 
  • Meanwhile, and as his was a true government, a normal government, he gave the ANC (which is illegitimate and can’t issue laws) a series of legislative proposals and asked them to accelerate their debate. Official media said it’s a reform of the Tax Law, to strengthen sanctions for violations; a Productive Wallet Law, to organize preferential financing; a reform of the Customs Law, to centralize it and it includes a decree modifying the customs fee to make exports easier and a law to organize national credit and puts businessmen who are “committed to the Bolivarian Economic Agenda” first. 
  • He ended by sharing his dreams of presenting his accountability speech next year before a chavista National Assembly. Diosdado Cabello announced a special session in the Federal Legislative Palace on Wednesday, blocking the session announced by 
  • Juan Guaidó. Cabello asked the ANC commissions to take over the Palace every day. 
  • Juan Guaidó went to Barquisimeto for the Divina Pastora parade. 
  • Meanwhile, the PNB raided Prepara Familia’s headquarters, the NGO whose main goal is to collect supplies for J.M. de los Ríos Children’s Hospital. For a moment, we feared they’d detain their director Katherine Martínez (who has received awards from the Canadian government, among others), but the officers finally left and didn’t take the supplies. 

 

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.