“Measuring prices is not a crime”

That’s the title of this Monday statement from the Venezuelan Finance Observatory (OVF), which we quoted last week for reporting that inflation in May reached 26%, with the 2025 figure hitting 105.5%. Hostility toward the kind of work OVF is definitely growing, and economist Daniel Cadenas and business manager Gerardo Cacique are now missing.

Rodrigo Cabezas, a former chavista official, was also arrested on Thursday, June 12. Cabezas is an economist and staff at Universidad del Zulia—and, notably, a former Finance Minister under Chávez who has openly criticized chavismo’s economic policies since 2018.

In a statement published on June 14, the OVF condemned the criminalization of professionals involved in collecting and sharing economic data. The organization clarified that none of the individuals “recently arrested” are formally part of the NGO, but rather collaborated with it in the past.

As surreal as it sounds, today’s statement includes a basic explanation of the Laspeyres Index, the formula used to calculate the national Consumer Price Index. Something that obviously should have official approval since it covers the prices of 13 groups of goods and services outlined by the Venezuelan Central Bank.

Former Venezuelan political prisoner arrested by ICE

In Houston, ICE agents arrested 31-year-old Gregory Sanabria on Thursday, June 12, as he voluntarily attended a routine appointment as an asylum-seeker in the US.

Yes, the same Gregory Sanabria arrested by the Maduro regime during the 2014 protests, back when he was a 20-year-old IT student in Táchira.

And yes, the same Gregory who was tortured in El Helicoide. We still remember that harrowing episode in May 2018 (see post above), when guards stormed his cell and beat him so severely that his face was disfigured, an assault that sparked a revolt among fellow political prisoners and a number of demands for better treatment.

According to Runrunes, Sanabria fled to the United States in 2022, applied for asylum in Texas, and was granted authorization to work in the construction sector. Republican Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart is urging the Trump administration (specifically addressing Kristi Noem) to review Gregory’s case and prevent his deportation to Venezuela.