Caracas Chronicles

• The OAS commissioner for the Venezuelan migration crisis David Smolansky highlighted that the figure reported by the UN (6 million people) would mean that one out of five Venezuelans has left the country. 

After the impact caused by the figure published by the  Plataforma de Coordinación Interagencial R4V, the UN said that the figure was 5.7 million Venezuelans. Out of all the figures published yesterday, they only changed the number of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, which went from 2.1 million to 1.7 million Venezuelans. 

• Ecuadorian president Guillermo Lasso said that the plan his government is designed to legalize around 450,000 Venezuelans goes beyond a migratory measure because it seeks the incorporation of these migrants into society through employment and education. He warned he needs help because he can’t face this challenge alone. 
• On Thursday, 37 organizations choose their spots on the ballot for the November elections. The Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (MUD) spot’s will be in the top left corner, below Tupamaros, above the Communist Party and Un Nuevo Tiempo’s left.
  • The ballot is plagued with fake opposition alternatives, options designed to confuse voters. 
• The Venezuelan Observatory of Finance (OVF) said that 10.6% was the inflation rate in August. Interannual inflation was 1,743% and 470.3% since January. The basic food basket reached $305, while the minimum wage is $1.71, so 178 minimum wages are required to buy the basic food basket, 16 more salaries than in July. 
  • Economist José Guerra said that “inflation, the destruction of the bolivar and the purchasing power continue.” He thinks inflation slowed down because of the restrictions on liquidity that the Central Bank has applied and the restrictions on credit because of the high cash holdings. 

Read more about Venezuela’s hyperinflation, soon to be the longest in modern history: Heading to the Longest Hyperinflation in History

• Maduro received the athletes that represented the country in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. 
  • He announced that the National Sports Games will take place in December and the National Para-Sports Games will take place in March 2022.
  •  He also said that he already has the plan for Paris 2024 which he said will improve the athletes’ preparation. In Zurich, Yulimar Rojas achieved the world championship, established a new record and won her first diamond in the final of the Diamond League. 
• Maduros’ Assembly rejected the statement of U.S. Senator Bob Menéndez, when he supported the negotiation between the regime and the Unitary Platform in Mexico. 
• The vice president of the Central Bolivariana Socialista de Trabajadores (CBT), Víctor Zamora, reported that only the refineries of Puerto La Cruz and Amuay are operational and their capacity has reached almost one million barrels per day. He thinks it’s necessary to improve the model of gas station management because there’s “too much disorder.” 
• The PSUV mayor of La Cañada de Urdaneta municipality in Zulia, Orlando Urdaneta, resigned yesterday. 
• Moderna announced the beginning of a program to develop a one-dose vaccine that combines reinforcing protection against COVID-19 and against the flu. 
• Táchira protector Freddy Bernal said that he’s starting vaccination in the Boca de Grita sector as part of the measures to reopen the border with Colombia. Bernal uses the vaccination plan as part of his campaign. Meanwhile, several sectors protested outside the WHO offices in Caracas to demand a mass vaccination plan after the spike in the number of cases in the country. 

The CICPC raided the homes of comedians Napoleón Rivero and Reuben Morales for a parody of regime figures. They have arrests warrants against them for exhorting jate and cyber crime. They both live abroad. 

• The Coalición por los DDHH denounced that political prisoner Yolmer Escalona, detained in El Rodeo, started a hunger strike protesting the conditions in which he’s kept and the tortures endured by his wife Emirlendris Benítez. 
• U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela James Story said that reactivating direct flights between both countries depends on the progress of the Mexico negotiation. Story thinks that participating in the November elections doesn’t imply recognizing Nicolás’s AN and assured that “there are people in the CNE that are doing everything they can to achieve better conditions.” 
• Álex Saab’s defense team criticized the ruling of the Constitutional Court of Cape Verde, which said that his extradition to the U.S. to go to trial for money laundering was constitutional. 
• Yesterday, in a joint operation with the DEA, the Spanish National Police arrested former chavista intelligence chief Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal. The U.S. had issued a warrant for his arrest for his ties with drug trafficking operations and they had offered a 10 million dollar reward for information that led to his arrest.