Caracas Chronicles

For Wednesday, August 24, 2016. Translated by Javier Liendo.

Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States, said this Tuesday that if the recall referendum doesn’t take place this year, the OAS and other regional organizations could take harsher sanctions against Nicolás’s government, since it would be unacceptable for the international community, Venezuelan would face all democratic mechanisms and clauses in the continent. He made it clear that this pertains the institutional dimension, demanding the use of all judicial instruments in favor of Democracy, available to international organizations like the OAS, adding that nobody will defend Nicolás, whose allies in the region are few.

Conscious absentees

Mercosur’s general coordinators met yesterday to try and define what to do with the temporary presidency. Venezuela was invited to the meeting, but they decided not to go arguing that the meeting wasn’t legitimate. Announcing some agreements, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay merely settled for a schedule of meetings to guarantee the bloc’s minimum operation while they decide what to do with the presidency. It’s obvious that Uruguay isn’t yielding or persuading anyone and Venezuela keeps stubbornly fantasizing with the de facto presidency.

Where was the Canciller?

Getting ready for Nicolás’s cadena. Things must be pretty rough in the country for them to decide to do it in the headquarters of the Corps of Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigations (CICPC.) The production team could’ve found inspiration in any CSI episode to support their choice to use this institution, but they’d rather stick to Nicolás’s ad-libbing skills, with soldiers going up and down the stairs to show that security quadrants worked well on screen.

The first 24 hours toward the layoffs in public institutions have elapsed, and Nicolás spoke of the need to respect everyone; he said that the U.S. embassy advises and finances paramilitary groups in Venezuela, just before claiming that Miranda state has the highest crime rate in the country because its governor, besides being a criminal, is gay.

“Venezuela has a magic formula that has allowed it to enjoy oil stability this year,” said Nicolás before giving the floor to -and later mercilessly interrupting- Delcy and Eulogio Del Pino, who remarked that they were received with open arms in every country they visited, and sent words of admiration to Nicolás for his efforts to stabilize oil prices. That inspired him to speak about his international achievements, which include occupying a seat in the “three most important posts of the UN’s system,” saying that never before has any nation attained such a feat, besides the presidencies of UNASUR, Mercosur and the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries. Sadly, he doesn’t know how to say “lies” in English, and understood it as light and then concluded with a: “Lai don nou.”

Defending the PSUV

The 48 hour period for the forceful layoff of public employees who signed in favor of the recall, is a Human Rights violation. The Ombudsman, Tarek William Saab, said: “The Ombudsman’s Office considers that the right to employment must always be evaluated on the basis of the efficiency of both free removal and non-free removal employees, on the basis of their commitment with the institution, with the country, with peace, with stability and there, the evaluation can focus on someone who might or might not have a political affiliation. If the person isn’t efficient at work and has known political ties with the opposition or the government, they might be evaluated.” Meaning that not even the direct order from the PSUV’s spokespeople is enough to make the Ombudsman work in favor of Human Rights. Mind you, Luis José Marcano, Communication and Information minister, emphasized the difference between free appointment and removal posts, and career posts, explaining that the apartheid will only go against the 99.

Obvious defeats

Aristóbulo Istúriz, the ornamental vice-president, said that the PSUV will win the “economic war” in the year’s last four months, but in case they prove unable to beat back inflation, they’ve already planned a new wage hike, while they work to create a productive economic model to substitute the oil rent model. He added that the opposition march on September 1st will “cause someone to be shot, they’ll cause someone’s death.” If an opposition member said that, he’d already be in prison. But in stark contrast, according to Aristóbulo, the PSUV can turn September into an opportunity to “eradicate the opposition.” Meanwhile, Carlos Faría, Economy vice-president, said that the Executive Branch’s line of action is “defeating scarcity,” although he only spoke about the organization to distribute food, not about production or agriculture, not about imports, as if by magic.

A broken system

The organization Médicos por la Salud made a poll in 23 Venezuelan hospitals and uploaded the report to their blog (enh2016.blogspot.com,) summing up the disaster that passes for a public healthcare system here. All the information is firsthand because it was sent by doctors and residents that work in polled hospitals. Participants answered a digital survey and the data immediately passed to the platform which counted it.

Five crucial indicators out of all those collected: the shortages of medicines and surgical material reach 76% and 81%; the issues in the hospitals’ nutrition systems is 70.97% and out of the 15.230 installed hospital beds, only 34.8% are operational. Additionally, only 69% of hospitals have a stable drinking water service. This explains why Venezuela is considered the country with the greatest backlog in primary attention in the last five years, according to the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization, which will receive Médicos por la Salud’s report, along with the National Assembly. They invite all Venezuelans to review their report to understand what happens with the country’s healthcare system, with better details and indicators.

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Nicolás makes up achievements while the international media strains to report what happens in the country. Yesterday was the turn of Jaime Campoamor, from Deutsche Welle, summarizing what’s been happening to us and how others have told it, in his article “Chavismo’s collapse.” Those with time, look it up and read it; it’s a powerful vaccine for the government’s enormous stupidity.