Caracas Chronicles

• U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived to Colombia yesterday. Maduro’s Assembly announced that they’d appoint a commission to re-establish economic and diplomatic relations with Colombia and according to Jorge Rodríguez, the Assembly has received a notification from the Colombian Senate proposing a bilateral relationship where both parliaments would discuss re-establishing commerce, diplomatic relations, protecting Venezuelan companies in Colombian territory and vice versa. 
• On October 14th, chavismo tweeted four pictures of the alleged national budget for 2022, that the Executive allegedly presented to the Assembly. 
  • UCAB’s dean of Economic and Social Sciences Ronald Balza said that we haven’t had a budget since 2015 and regretted that the lack of information prevents citizens from knowing what resources all levels of government have. 

Asdrúbal Oliveros assured that the 7+7 system has a direct impact on the increase of prices and the type of currency used during radical weeks because stores stop using their points of sale or accepting bolivars to avoid fiscalization processes. He thinks that, in the short term, getting rid of the 7+7 system is good news, but insisted that in the medium to long term, if we don’t take necessary measures, the pandemic will become more aggressive, and so will a paralyzed economy in a collapsed country. He warned that the growth of the economy isn’t real, because the contraction of credit is still aggressive. 

• Henrique Capriles called on opposition leaders to unify the vote for the November election. 
• The EU electoral observation mission met with the National Electoral Council (CNE) to tackle the deployment of their teams. 
• Interior minister Remigio Ceballos met with CNE board member Pedro Calzadilla to advance the security plans for guarding electoral materials. 
• The spokesperson of Partido Popular on the European Parliament Dolors Montserrat accused Josep Borrell of favoring Maduro by sending observers and demanded an explanation: “We don’t know who has gold mines, what we know is the Venezuelan regime has plenty of support from socialists like Borrel,”  she said. 
• After five years of impunity, the Carabobo police officers who murdered student Daniel Queliz during the 2017 protests were sentenced to 26 years and three months in prison. The chain of command wasn’t touched. 
• The Executive sent a report to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, denouncing the alleged persecution and xenophobia against Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, said Delcy Rodríguez. 
• The president of the Retirees and Pensioners Federation, Emilio Lozada, said that they’ll collect the necessary evidence to denounce the violation of their rights before the International Criminal Court. 
• Maduro threatened to build a communal city in El Ávila, a national park that’s been protected since 1958, which means building said city without breaking the law is impossible. 
• According to the 2021 Corruption Perception Index, Venezuela is one of the three most corrupt countries in the world. 
  • It registered the worst disposition to fight corruption, which is also incentivized by the government. 

Camila Fabri, Saab’s wife, assured that she isn’t under pressure to stay in Venezuela, contradicting Revista Semana, which had published that the regime is controlling her to prevent Saab from giving more information to the U.S. 

• The UK exhorted Maduro’s regime and the Unitary Platform to take up the Mexico negotiation again, “quickly and in good faith.” 
• The Spanish justice system agreed on the extradition of  Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal, wanted for weapons and drug trafficking in the U.S. Before his extradition, Carvajal will likely give his deposition as a witness in the case of alleged payments made by the Venezuelan government to former Podemos officials. 
• Former treasurer Alejandro “El Tuerto” Andrade, who had been sentenced to ten years in prison in the U.S. for money laundering, could be released as early as 2022, for cooperating with U.S. authorities in their investigation. 
• The Colombian Supreme Court is investigating the relationship between Álex Saab and former senator Piedad Córdoba, according to La FM.