Caracas Chronicles

Nicolás said nothing about inflation and how it ravaged our currency’s purchasing power. He said nothing about the amount of Bs.100 bills needed to pay for anything other than a Metro fare. He forgot to talk about the shortage of cash and the impact it’s had on the amount of payments being made with credit and debit cards, the simplest explanation for the electronic platform’s collapse. It was better to stick to the cyber-sabotage narrative and create culprits “that have already been arrested,” which makes any brigade of the Bolivarian Service of National Intelligence (SEBIN) a cast far more efficient than any in the CSI franchises.

We’ve proven that Credicard’s actions were deliberate. The people that Credicard left directly in charge of these actions against the Republic and social peace, were arrested yesterday

Reinforcing idiocy

Nicolás reported that Credicard managers were arrested this Friday night, after having being accused of cyber-sabotage: “We’ve proven that Credicard’s actions were deliberate. The people that Credicard left directly in charge of these actions against the Republic and social peace, were arrested yesterday,” he said, adding that there’s surely a political sector linked to “Credicard’s sabotage related to the cybernetic war,” so they have to increase their cyber-security. Sure.

SEBIN’s contribution

Gustavo González López, head of SEBIN, hasn’t issued any statements about the political police’s investigation regarding the technological failure, but he wrote several tweets about the case, in which he claims that the authors and perpetrators of a “plan of economic treason against the country” were apprehended in flagrancy; that the crimes of dishonest handling of electronic platforms are part of the war against the country, that there’s an ongoing financial war in and out of the country which seeks to damage banking operations. He also said that this “attack of malicious omission against the platform of banking transactions” is perverse, and claimed that they’re investigating Credicard’s alleged complicity in crimes, besides remarking that there are MUD members involved in the attack. All of this after less than 24 hours of investigation.

The tormented mustache

Nicolás acknowledged that 2016 has been a complex and difficult year, but he considers himself the main victim, the one who has made the greatest efforts to ensure that the country keeps running, to overcome the attacks against the currency and to halt foreign interference. Claiming that he won’t allow anybody to set prices based on DolarToday, he said that Venezuela has “everything so as to not depend on anything.” Sadly, he didn’t clarify how much imports have dropped and how much more they still have to drop in order to fulfill next year’s payments. Check out economist Asdrúbal Oliveros’ Twitter feed for more information.

And so, Mercosur

The Foreign Affairs ministers of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay notified their counterpart Delcy Rodríguez yesterday about the suspension of Venezuela’s inherent rights as a Member State of Mercosur. From this moment on, the country will be able to participate in meetings and new agreements only if invited by other member States. Since Mercosur’s Protocol of Asunción doesn’t foresee a country’s suspension for not adopting the bloc’s rules, Mercosur based its decision on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. What went wrong? The fact that, in addition to receiving a notice, the country has at least three months -if there are no objections- for its suspension to be carried out, which means its invocation can’t be immediate. Mercosur countries didn’t proceed well, but sadly, Venezuela has done worse.

An awful partner

Using power at will without judicial consequences must’ve convinced PSUV that they could act the same way in any scenario and get away with the same results. With statements, communiqués and tweets, the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs minister disturbed the common market and has insisted on denying reality, all the while insulting the other member nations. Nicolás said yesterday that the country has fulfilled 95% of its legal requirements and that -prepare your best expression of astonishment- “the Triple Alliance has committed a coup d’Etat imposed by Brazil’s golpista government.” According to him, this decision was promoted by the Venezuelan opposition and Mercosur obeys the United States government. He claimed he had evidence of the lobbying against Venezuela -time to show it, Nico- and repeating that nobody’s going to pull him out of Mercosur, he addressed Uruguayan president Tabaré Vázquez, who is the only one with ethics, according to him: “Don’t do this to Venezuela, president Tabaré, Chávez loved you.” Very moving.

Dr. Müller released

On December 1st, SEBIN arrested Dr. Gonzalo Müller, head of Gynecology in the Hospital Magallanes de Catia, for receiving a donation of supplies from Lilian Tintori. Before him, they arrested union leader and hospital employee José Espitian, who was also present during the donation. The medical community moved fast and wisely, condemning the abuse and clearly explaining the years of service and the passion with which Dr. Müller has worked for public health. This Saturday, they were taken to the Palace of Justice for receiving the donation. The Prosecutor’s Office demanded that they be released because they had committed no crime. The judge agreed. Justice was served.

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Nicolás returned to Cuba to continue paying homage to Fidel Castro, but no, he’s never left his office.