Caracas Chronicles

• The vice president of the National Electoral Council (CNE) Enrique Márquez justified the decision to not process the substitution of Carlos Ocariz for Miranda governor on the MUD card. He said they had posted a timeline saying changes could be made until November 11th and assured that the changes made by political parties to adapt to the resignation were out of the deadline. Márquez talked about their schedule as if it were part of the Electoral Law. Gerardo Blyde assured that the CNE is acting illegally and that CNE’s rules or schedules can’t violate the law. Former CNE board members Andrés Caleca and Vicente Díaz also criticized the CNE’s decision. Márquez later said that they’re investigating VTV, Tves and Globovisión for not being balanced in their coverage. 
• Plan República officers were deployed yesterday, and CNE board member Pedro Calzadilla said this election will “strengthen the principles established in the Constitution.” 
• ANC-imposed prosecutor general Tarek Saab said that 1,090 ministry officials will be working on Sunday and will install situation rooms to process any electoral crimes. 
• Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López talked about the effect of this election on democracy and assured there are no reasons to doubt or question the elections. 
• CEOFANB commander Domingo Hernández Lárez said Plan República is a joint endeavor of the FANB and the Interior Ministry, with 356,586 officers being deployed. 

The Banco Central de Venezuela policy to control the exchange rate meant that the country lost 776 million dollars of its international reserve in the last 12 months, now 5,908 million dollars, 72% less than in 2013. To keep the dollar artificially low, the BCV injects 50 million dollars every week into currency exchanges to increase the supply. It’s one of the reasons the dollar has lost purchasing power in Venezuela. 

• CITGO reported losses of 4 million dollars during the third quarter of the year. The firm Argus Media says it’s possible that the U.S. is getting ready to stop protecting CITGO, depending on the results of November 21st. 
• The company Aluminios Nacionales S.A. (Alunasa), owned by the State and controlled by chavismo, fired all its workers in Costa Rica and announced a complete shutdown of operations, but they didn’t say why. 
• Venezuela received 2.5 million doses from COVAX and 1.6 million doses of Abdala, the Cuban vaccine candidate. 
• Dr. Manuel Figuera reiterated that going back to school amid a pandemic is an unprecedented situation that forces us to strengthen precautions at home and in schools. He emphasized that Sinopharm, Sinovac and Sputnik V are available in the country but that Sputnik V hasn’t been approved for children. 
• ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan announced that he met with Michelle Bachelet and that he was pleased by the constructive conversation. 
• The IACHR determined the responsibility of the Venezuelan State in the arbitrary detention, and violations of the integrity and judicial guarantees of a Wayuu family in 1998. The victims insisted on their own, without help, until they succeeded. 
• The Delegate Commission approved an agreement defending the universities and supporting university autonomy and created a commission to protect it. 
• Luis De la Sotta, who’s been a prisoner in DGCIM for over three years, hasn’t received medical attention after an endoscopy proved he has severe injuries, said his sister. 
• Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal gave his testimony to two Italian prosecutors at the Spanish Audiencia Nacional, on the case of financing the Italian 5 Estrellas movement with funds of the Venezuelan regime. 
• Professor Bruce Bagley, 75 years old, was sentenced to six months in jail for laundering money for Alex Saab. Bagley, an expert in organized crime in Latin America, told the judge he had accepted a transfer from Saab in 2019 and then sent it to Jorge Luis Hernández, to hide it under his request. 
• Saab’s trial has a date: January 3rd, 2022. He has the possibility of asking for more time and there’s an ongoing case on whether he has the right to diplomatic immunity or not.  
• Maduro called on citizens to vote to “slap” the U.S.: “It’s an embarrassment how the State Department intends to interfere in internal affairs and wants to undermine the elections (…) I have to warn the world and reject their insolent statements against the impeccable planning of the elections,” he said.