Caracas Chronicles

“What’s really behind this is an excuse for unchecked violence”

                                                                                        – Jorge Rodríguez,                                                                                               mayor of Libertador municipality.

The National Electoral Council finished verifying the 80 boxes containing the 200,220 signature forms requesting the activation of the recall referendum. Carlos Ocariz, mayor of Sucre municipality, said that there’s more than enough verified material to get an answer regarding the validation of these signatures, so that the CNE announces the fingerprinting locations for each citizen to validate their will.

Meanwhile, the PSUV’s members insist on their common effort to lie and harass. They lie every time they say that time won’t allow for a recall referendum and they harass every citizen they consider vulnerable. They’ll argue that there are fake signatures based on the difference between those submitted and those ratified. Plus the Economic Emergency Decree issued on March 11, expired on Monday. It was absolutely useless in fulfilling its stated purpose: economic recovery, social rights security, the destruction of both bachaqueo and scarcity. As useless as Nicolás.

We must march

The Democratic Unity Roundtable called for a march next Wednesday, May 11, to demand the CNE -in every city where it has an office- to hasten the procedures to activate the referendum. Henrique Capriles Radonski said that the amount of submitted signatures far exceeds the required 1%, forcing the CNE to announce the signature validation locations, which will be active for five days after their installation.

Jorge’s roles

This Monday morning, sociologist Francisco Coello talked with César Miguel Rondón and started out on a memorable phrase “In Venezuela we have these two Stephen Kings, Diosdado Cabello and Jorge Rodríguez,” explaining that the PSUV has four assets to feed the tensions: fear, despair, provocation and parallel reality. Today, after a meeting with the PSUV, Rodríguez -who’s in charge of validating the signatures- announced that the people will march this Wednesday to defend their unrestricted conviction that they don’t need to be granted ownership of their homes, because they live better being blackmailed by the government.

In the mayor’s words, the referendum isn’t a right , it’s a cock-and-bull story.  By his calculations, time and signatures won’t add up. As former head of the CNE, he doubts that the institution can properly monitor the process. He also said that he hasn’t received any request from the MUD for permission to march to the CNE and, in his cynicism, he added that they’ll request the CNE to “suspend the recall process” as a preventive measure in case of any violent manifestation. For him, this is “a dialogue with gun in hand” and that’s inadmissible.

No work, no school

Tareck El Aissami was the chosen spokesman to announce a two-week extension for the special non-working days regime, something that the Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace knew how to celebrate well, with their loud rumba. The public administration will only work half Mondays and Tuesdays, and schools -from kindergarten to High Schooll- will be closed on Fridays, May 20 and 27. He also promoted the PSUV’s march on Wednesday. Freddy Bernal contributed as well, saying that the opposition seeks to provoke violence with their call to march to the CNE on Wednesday and threatened the National Assembly’s Speaker, Henry Ramos Allup, with this Tweet: “If you believe you’ll reach the CNE with violence, you forget that there’s a revolutionary People that awaits you.”

Beneficiaries of the same philanthropist.

The referendum is not the only process being delayed; the trial for Cilia Flores’ nephews found another reason for lateness. The D.A.’s office denounced before the judge in charge of the case, Paul Crotty, the existence of a possible conflict of interests in Efraín Campo Flores and Francisco Flores de Freitas because both legal services are being paid for by the same person. That’s why the D.A.’s office proposed a “Curcio” hearing to determine if the lawyers can provide an adequate legal representation and whether there are any interests from third parties that could hinder the trial’s development.

Low inventories

El Palito refinery, one of the most important oil processing complexes in Venezuela, is to be shut down for a “major maintenance.” Robert González, executive secretary of the Unitary Federation of Oil Workers, said that the scheduled shutdown is due to the low hydrocarbons inventory recorded in the plant and it will attend conversion and industrial services processes during 45 to 60 days. For González, sabotage by some contractors and managers is to blame for the refinery’s structural problems. But it’s alright, there’s enough inventory for the entire national territory.

Constitutional order?

Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela’s representative before the Organization of United Nations, compared Israel to nazi Germany. prompting severe diplomatic reactions within the UN.  Meanwhile, vice-president Aristóbulo Istúriz spent the day with representatives of South Africa’s communist party, and Nicolás took pictures with Ecuador’s minister of Foreign Affairs.. Uselessness is inherent in the PSUV.

So the National Assembly has convened the plenary today to discuss a single point: the rupture of Venezuela’s constitutional order and a summons resolution to be sent to the National Executive Branch, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and the National Electoral Council for the systematic and repeated violation of the Constitution, damaging the Venezuelan people’s interests.
And this was just Monday, my friends.