Caracas Chronicles

• Maduro’s National Assembly (AN) heard ANC-imposed comptroller general Elvis Amoroso’s report. He said he barres 179 people from running for office, including 2015 deputies for alleged corruption. He announced he was charging Juan Guaidó, since, according to him, the last board stole “everything.” Despite the outrage and criticism against the tax on large financial transactions (IGTF), like lack of information, legal loopholes, and lack of time to adapt the systems, Amoroso threatened Fedecámaras and Consecomercio with audits and penalties on companies that don’t accept dollars as a response to the tax. He said, “businessmen are hurting the country’s patrimony.”

The Central Bank said that inflation in March was 1.4% even though the Venezuelan Observatory of finance registered 10.5%.

• A group of NGO representatives and civilian leaders met with Maduro on April 5th and almost all of them have spoken to the press. One part of the civil society is trying to process why a decision this big wasn’t consulted, spokespeople said it was a “respectful, cordial and positive” meeting. Only after the event took place, did they divulge a document summarizing their requests. There was a lot of talk about “all sides” and hope, because allegedly, everything they’ve done has been in the name of returning to the negotiation table, whose main goal used to be the return to democracy but that seems to have been forgotten.
• Hola Alex:
  • Alex Saab’s lawyers introduced an appeal in Atlanta to try to prove his diplomatic status, obtained six months after Saab was detained in Cape Verde, despite being a foreigner and a contractor of the State.
  • On Thursday, some documents were leaked to the public, detailing Saab’s cooperation arrangements with the DEA and the FBI since 2018. Among other things, the documents ratify that Saab didn’t comply with the date he was set to turn himself in: May 30th, 2019.
  • Maduro’s National Assembly, which is discussing how to hand out power quotas in the TSJ, approved an agreement to demand the U.S. justice system respect Saab’s diplomatic status.
• IPYS counted 14 attempts to limit free press in March, among which are intimidation, arbitrary acts, and blocking access to sources. The cases affected four media outlets, one human rights NGO, 32 press workers, and one activist.
• Several public sector workers and industries protested outside the offices of the Ministry of Labor in cities around the country to demand being heard by authorities, because the new minimum wage and the food bonus don’t cover their basic needs.
• NGO Acceso a la Justicia denounced that Maduro’s National Assembly has delayed the process to appoint TSJ justices. By not holding sessions to do this task, the National Assembly is violating the Constitution and TSJ regulations.

Monómeros, the Venezuelan company that makes fertilizer in Colombia, reported that in 2021, it had its best results in the last five years. They said they made a net profit of over 5 billion Colombian pesos.

• Chilean president Gabriel Boric said that the Venezuelan presidential election must be legitimate and assured it will be an important milestone if Venezuelans abroad can participate. Boric said that the 6-million people exodus was a “continental and global tragedy.”
• NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned that the war can last months or even years. The United States and the United Kingdom announced new sanctions against Russia because of the massacre in Bucha, including sanctions on Putin’s grown daughters and his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s wife and daughter. The EU said they’ll take new measures and reveal them on Thursday. German chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned what he called “war crimes” on the population committed by Russian troops before retreating.
• Almost 4.3 million citizens have fled the war in Ukraine, said the UNHCR.