Caracas Chronicles

• Farmers use their crops as payment methods because of hyperinflation, cash shortages and lack of trust in the bolivar. Poor internet connection and constant electricity outages are factors that affect electronic payments, so Venezuelans pay anything from gas to doctor’s appointments with their crops. 
  • In some Lara municipalities, for the last two years, inhabitants use coffee crops as a payment method, a trueque (bartering) system that’s been outdated since the 19th century. “The price of the kilo of ground coffee when there’s no crop is a dollar (…) People exchange it for food, meat, gas and even a dentist appointment,” said farmer Luis Artigas. In Sanare, they also use lettuce, broccoli and potato crops to buy gas, which can cost up to two dollars per liter. 

• Delegates of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) arrived on Monday to hold meetings with deputies of the National Assembly elected in 2015 and with Maduro’s deputies elected in 2020. The president of the IPU, Duarte Pacheco, met with deputy Delsa Solórzano on Monday evening. 
• The IPI agenda includes visiting detained deputies like Gilberto Sojo and Juan Requesens, because this institution has documented violations and attacks against over 100 deputies elected in 2015. Iris Varela said that the deputies’ human rights haven’t been violated in the country, and Duarte Pacheco himself refuted her claim. The IPU will also have meetings with other public powers with ties to chavismo and led by people imposed by the extinct ANC. 

CNE board member Tania D’Amelio said that politicians barred from running for office won’t be able to be candidates in the November election. 

• CNE vice president Enrique Márquez assured that postponing the elections hasn’t been discussed. He assured that the number of candidates enrolled so far has been low. 
• Primero Justicia secretary-general Tomás Guanipa assured that the over 30 parties that make up the unitary platform will soon make a decision on running or not in the election. 
• Maduro has been using public resources and campaigning for the PSUV for the last eight months, denounced Súmate before the CNE. They also requested an investigation on the facts and applying the sanctions against this conduct. 
• José Brito, former opposition deputy who was later elected to Maduro’s Assembly, pretended to be challenging the “protector” and PSUV candidate for Anzoátegui.

In Guárico and Bolívar states, hundreds of people have been affected by rains and floods. 

• Monagas doesn’t have a governor since Friday, when Yelitze Santaella was sworn in as Education minister. It’s up to regional deputies to appoint the new governor with two-thirds majority of their regional chamber. 
•  Dr. Marino González said that having 70% of the population being vaccinated by November isn’t feasible without a solid vaccination plan. Venezuela is the only country in the Americas without vaccination figures. 
• The director of Maracaibo’s University Hospital, Alfonsina Romero, said that there are four patients under observation for presenting symptoms of mucormycosis also known as Black Fungus. 
• The IACHR said it’s willing to accompany the negotiation process in Mexico and offered technical assistance in the implementation of the agreements they reach, with a human rights focus. 
• The health of FundaRedes director Javier Tarazona is deteriorating, after spending 53 days in El Helicoide, said his lawyer Alonso Medina Roa, who reiterated Tarazona needs a humanitarian measure. 

The coordinator of the Marine Biodiversity Center of Simón Bolívar University, Eduardo Klein, said that there’s a new oil spill in the Costa Oriental del Lago de Maracaibo, coming from facilities in the mainland. 

• Adán Celis, Fedecámaras vice president, said that decree 4,552m which includes exoneration of import, VAT and customs taxes, doesn’t satisfy the sector’s demands. 
• Professor Mabel Mundó, a specialist in public policy for education, said that going back to school in person is very difficult, considering the conditions of public utilities, low wages and the low vaccination rate. 
• According to Semana magazine, Colombian National Police and Armed Forces obtained information revealing that FARC dissidents led by Miguel Botache a.k.a. Gentil Duarte had requested a weapon shipment from Maduro, in addition to freedom of transit in municipalities on the border. 

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Venezuelan baseball player Miguel Cabrera hit his 500th home run on Sunday in Toronto: “You have to keep your focus on baseball’s little things,” he assured. Miggy is 45 hits away from 3,000 hits.