Caracas Chronicles

After parading the olympic athletes in the back of a truck, like day labourers returning from the field, Nicolás decorated the medalists and diploma-holders in Miraflores, fulfilling the requirement of turning each athlete’s achievement into an act of political proselytism, tarnishing the noble impartiality of sports.

Without dwelling on the ratio of funds spent to results obtained, the Sports minister declared the mission accomplished while Nicolás asserted that “our sporting prowess goes toe to toe with the best in the world,” a lie that takes us farther away from improving performance.

He announced the approval of every resource to activate the olympic cycle for Tokyo 2020, which includes creating the Center for High Performance, an incentive in dollars according to the qualification level of each delegation athlete, homes for those who participated in Rio 2016 and a 50% raise for all high performance scholarships.

“You bear the country’s liberators on your shoulders,” said Nicolás. Francisco de Miranda, the namesake of the order he granted, may not be so convinced.

With total impunity

From the Colonial Art Museum at Quinta Anauco, another public space taken over by the PSUV for its events, Jorge Rodríguez announced that ministers have 48 hours to review the list of people who hold high-ranking bureaucratic posts and remove those who signed against Nicolás, because “those are the ones who hurt the people, who delay the processes, those who hide the documents, who don’t face the people in their moment of greatest need,” said the signature verifier, acting on Diosdado Cabello’s will, supported by the Moral Branch’s silence. This fascist operation will begin in the ministries of Food, Basic Industries, Finances, Labor and the President’s Office. Each ministry was given a list of employees who must be laid off.

With their creative team’s capacities exhausted, the PSUV announced the “Takeover of Venezuela,” their best response to the march currently being organized by the opposition for September 1st. The problem lies in the “massive” nature demanded by the party. But relax, because according to Rodríguez “chavista presence on the streets is the definitive guarantee of the Republic’s peace.” The victims of their armed groups must know something about that.

The MUD’s latest request was approved

This Monday, the CNE’s Committee of Participation and Finances delivered their report with suggestions about the request presented by the Democratic Unity Roundtable, approving the request to call for the collection of the 20% signatures to activate a recall referendum against Nicolás.

Now the CNE will take 15 working days for the five rectores to decide when this next step will take place. The MUD demands for the signature collection process to be held as soon as possible, while Tibisay Lucena announced during her presentation that, with some luck, it will take place by late October.

Elemental

Néstor Luis Reverol, minister of Interior, Justice and Peace, offered a press conference to respond to the United States’ indictment and their drug trafficking investigations. The first peculiarity, according to the accused minister, was the information released about the case, because these are regularly discreet proceedings, but the important thing is that he condemns the statements, declares the offense against his dignity -and the military’s morality- and expresses his suspicions about the synchrony between the accusation and his appointment as minister. Reverol justified the DEA’s expulsion from Venezuela soil; he said that all the drug that enters the country comes from Colombia, and that Venezuela’s among the leading countries in cocaine confiscation, besides being one of the few with incinerators for drugs. It seems we’re a global power.

Wisdom

Juan Arias, Basic Industries minister, was trending on Twitter for saying what labor unions in the companies managed by his office have been saying for years: Sidor has too many employees on the payroll and many get paid without working. He also spoke of the bolívar as a destroyed currency and of the need for many companies to import raw materials in order to produce. But with Pérez Abad’s lesson still so fresh, he balanced the truthtalk with a more reassuring line on the need need to force the country to export finished products and saying that they’ll soon replenish markets “without investing a single dollar,” in a country with no food or medicine. Isn’t he cute?

Equal baskets

The Food Basket increased to Bs. 363,866.73 in July, which adds Bs. 86,433.85 (31.2%) to the price in June. Cendas adds that, in the last 12 months (from July 2015 to July 2016,) it the price rose 773.0%, requiring over 24 minimum wages to pay for it.

For the first time since this indicator’s been calculated, the price of the Food Basket equals that of the previous month’s Basicd Basket. For a change, the price of all items rose and the price gap between controlled prices and market prices is 2,985.0%, with most products missing from the basket due to shortages.

Another defeat for Delcy

Although Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs ministry presented the preliminary schedule for the six months presidency it still doesn’t hold, Mercosur’s founding countries are set to discuss  the judicial consequences for Venezuela after its self-proclamation today (Tuesday) in Paraguay.

All experts agree that countries that oppose this situation can resort to Mercosur’s democratic clause -contained in the Ushuaia Protocol-, to temporarily suspend the country from the bloc by declaring the violation of constitutional order, because their reasons for opposing Venezuela’s appointment to the presidency are fundamentally political; even though they insist on non-compliance with the Treaty of Accession’s regulations to remain as a full member of the bloc. This vacant presidency has become the institution’s most serious discord since its foundation in 1991. Any decision requires the consensus of all member states and Uruguay will either have to persuade or yield.

The facts are what they are

Two armed malandros entered Crónica.Uno’s offices —one of the most solid digital news outlets recently founded in the country, in my opinion— and, after overpowering a couple of employees and locking them in a restroom, they stole ten computers, a TV, a decoder, two routers and an flash drive.

Crónica.Uno is a member of NGO Espacio Público, dedicated to promoting defense for free speech. In their statements, they say that the criminals were familiar with their operation routines, this wasn’t a casual robbery. Despite this, the team remains committed with their cause and went back to work before noon.