Caracas Chronicles

• Yesterday, authorities of the Maduro regime killed Carlos Luis Revete, a.k.a. El Koki, leader of a criminal gang of la Cota 905 in Caracas, infamous since 2015. 
  • Journalist Román Camacho reported he was killed in the La Arenera sector in Aragua, where there have been shootings since Sunday, in an operation called Guaicaipuro II. It was confirmed by Remigio Ceballos. 
  • “El Koki controlled several Caracas areas since 2010 (…) He led a mega gang of over 100 criminals (…) He’s been in Las Tejerías since late 2021, with his allied gangs led by El Conejo and El Vampi,” explained Camacho. 
  • In July 2021, we saw what his gang’s firepower truly was, after clashes that left 26 dead and 38 wounded. He left La Cota 905 and evaded capture ever since. 
  • In December, Maduro accused the U.S. and Colombia of protecting and financing El Koki. He was wanted for theft, homicide, and drug trafficking.
  • They killed El Koko, but he has “heirs” like Vampi and Garbis. 
  • The Cicpc also killed Carlos Enrique Gómez Rodríguez, alias El Conejo, on Tuesday. He was also the leader of the dangerous criminal gang that operated in the city of Las Tejerías, in the state of Aragua.

• BCV said inflation was 6.7% in January, a 0.9% decrease compared to December. It’s the fifth month in a row with single-digit inflation, which hasn’t happened since 2015. 
• BCV carried out a mixed currency intervention, with 25 million euros and 43 million dollars in the market. In 2022, the BCV has done seven interventions for an estimated total of 434 million dollars to keep the price of the dollar low. 
• Political scientist John Magdaleno assured that the financial trouble the State is in forces chavismo to participate in negotiations with the opposition, to achieve sanctions relief that could help alleviate the financial crisis. 
• Clients denounced that Banco Occidental de Descuento (BOD), has limited the amount of money they can use every day: each client can use up to 30 bolivars (6.5 dollars) every 24 hours, for transfers and points of sale. 4.6 million users are impacted by the bank’s liquidity issues. Their money is being held hostage and nobody protects them. 

UN coordinator for Venezuela Gianluca Rampolla assured that the murder of Yaelvis Santoyo Sarabia, the Venezuelan migrant baby murdered by the Trinidadian Coast Guard, is evidence of the risks that Venezuelans fleeing the country face. He ratified the UN’s commitment to assist in guaranteeing peace and dignity. 

• The IACHR exhorted Trinidad & Tobago to investigate the case, sanction the people responsible and offer reparations to the family. 
• “A murder isn’t an incident. Opening fire against a civilian boat isn’t an incident,” said Juan Guaidó today. He said the death of this child was a murder. Citizens protested in front of the Trinidadian Embassy in Caracas. 

Trasplantes de Venezuela confirmed that Ángel Céspedes, 15 years old, died today at the JM de los Ríos Hospital. He waited over four years for his transplant. It’s the second patient in the Nephrology unit to die this year, because transplants haven’t reactivated. 

• USB and UCV professors’ associations demanded respect for university autonomy and guaranteeing their labor rights. 
• One more person died in El Amparo, Apure. A lost bullet  killed him, amid the clash between FARC and ELN dissidents and the Venezuelan Armed Forces. 
• Monitor Salud reported that almost 7,000 healthcare workers have tested positive for COVID-19 between November 2020 and January 2022. 
• Giuseppe Alessandrello, the president of the committee nominating justices for the TSJ,said that they’ll publish the preliminary list before March 15th. After the nominations, they’ll open the objection period and the final list will be sent to the Moral Power to review before it goes back to the Assembly. All those institutions are ruled by chavismo. 
• Neighbors denounced senseless deforestation in Chacao again. Plantados, a coalition defending trees in the city, explained to the Municipal Council what the consequences of deforestation of this magnitude can be. Impunity is the guarantor of keeping up this practice. 
• Diosdado Cabello called for a march from Petare to Downtown Caracas on February 12th. The march will compete against one called for by the opposition. 
• Russian ambassador to Colombia Nikolay Tavdumadze assured Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez that there’s no risk that Russian cooperation in Venezuela serves illegal armed groups operating on both sides of the border.