Briefing

Hibernating Venezuelan Industries

The Venezuelan Confederation of Industries reported that 87% of companies didn’t grow at all during 2020; 372 senior citizens died violent deaths in Venezuela in 2020; Domingo Vivas González, a 51-year-old Venezuelan migrant, died after crossing the Bolivia-Chile border on foot.

Naky Soto
  • The Venezuelan Confederation of Industries reported that 87% of companies didn’t grow at all during 2020. 
    • The Qualitative Survey of Industry for the last quarter of 2020 showed that over half of the companies surveyed are operating below 20.5% of their installed capacity, and only 1.9% indicated that they are working at over 50% capacity. 
    • 57% of mid-size companies and 63% of small businesses reported drops in production and sales. 
    • They revealed that the industry has shrunk by 94% in ten years and demanded a reprivatization of the oil industry. 
    • In 2020, 88 industries were forced to close for good. 
    • In 1997, before chavismo, there were 12,471 industries in Venezuela. By the end of 2020, there were only 2,121, which implies an 83% reduction. 
  • Maduro said that the economic war forced him to abandon his price control policy, but that he’ll soon re-establish this policy. 
  • Jorge Rodríguez, speaker of Maduro’s Assembly, said yesterday that he’ll start approving a set of agreements subscribed with the ILO and assured that the National Assembly elected in 2015 didn’t do it because they didn’t want to. 
  • The Commerce Ministry kept playing the State’s punitive role. This time, they went out to “supervise the profit margins of bodegones” in Caracas. Eneida Laya said that she wants to avoid economic distortions in a country going on its fourth year of hyperinflation. 
  • ANC-imposed prosecutor general Tarek William Saab tweeted that the Public Ministry issued an arrest warrant against lawyer Jesús Silva, for promoting hate and harassment, in addition to psychological and physical violence. Silva, who used to be a favorite on state media, has beaten his wife on several occasions and has caused multiple fractures. 
  • The infection rate increased by 10% this week in the whole world, reported the WHO. Last week, was the third week in a row when we saw an increase of cases after we’d had six weeks of a steady decrease in cases. America and Europe registered over 80% of cases and deaths this week. 
  • The EU proposed a virus passport so its 450 million residents can travel freely. 
  • The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is recommended in countries where there are new variants of coronavirus, said WHO experts. 
  • “So far, the process to access vaccines is running smoothly for all counties that are part of COVAX, including Venezuela,” said Ciro Ugarte chief of PAHO’s emergency response department.  
  • NGO Monitor Salud reported that during the fourth week of immunization, 61% of hospitals in Venezuela haven’t received doses for their personnel. Only 23 hospitals out of 60 surveyed hospitals, reported the doses arrived between March 8th and 15th. 
  • Mauro Zambrano, union leader of Caracas’ Private and Public Hospitals Association said that three workers of JM de los Ríos Hospital have died of COVID-19 this week: nurses Grisel Quiñones and José Gregorio Marín, and administrative worker Nancy Sanz. He demanded that all healthcare personnel be vaccinated.
  • NGO Ventana a la Libertad said that three inmates died of malnutrition and tuberculosis in Carabobo. 
  • 372 senior citizens died violent deaths in Venezuela in 2020, said Convite: 178 were victims of crimes, 69 died of negligence or accidents, 46 starved to death, were tortured or didn’t get medical care and 79 by suicide or accidents. 
  • CEPAZ registered at least 48 acts of persecution and criminalization acts against Venezuelans when they were exercising their rights, including threats, arbitrary detentions, violent attacks and censorship. Among the victims, there are 14 press workers, political leaders, an NGO director and five members of  Azul Positivo.
  • The authorities in Curaçao announced that Venezuelan citizens who don’t have documents but have resided in the island for over a year and meet certain requirements like having jobs and kids in school can apply for a temporary residence permit. They didn’t announce when the process to register would begin.
  • Domingo Vivas González, a 51-year-old Venezuelan migrant, died after crossing the Bolivia-Chile border on foot. 
  • OAS Commissioner for the Venezuelan Migrant Crisis David Smolansky assured that the only solution to stop forced migration is accelerating Venezuela’s transition to democracy.
  • Víctor Mones Coro, a pilot from Florida; will spend four and a half years in prison creating a plan to evade sanctions, and providing services to Tareck El Aissami, Samark López and Maikel Moreno with his company American Charter Services. 
  • Cape Verde’s Supreme Court authorized Álex Saab’s extradition to the U.S. Cape Verde will allow the defense to appeal the extradition, a last legal resort that can take up to a few weeks.

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.

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