Briefing

Lima-Aid

Your daily briefing for Wednesday, August 9, 2017. Translated by Javier Liendo.

Naky Soto


The Foreign ministers and representatives of 17 American and Caribbean nations met this Tuesday in Lima to discuss the Venezuelan crisis. 13 of them resolved to condemn the rupture of democratic order in Venezuela; to not recognize the national constituent assembly or any of its decisions; to fully support Parliament and respect the fact that all of the nation’s legal decisions must be legitimized by its approval. They also resolved to support the deposed Prosecutor General and to request the application of the protective measures issued by the IACHR; condemning violence, the systematic violation of human rights and essential liberties, repression and political persecution. They repudiated the existence of political prisoners and the lack of free and fair elections and declared that Venezuela doesn’t fulfill the requirements and obligations for being a member of the UN’s Human Rights Council. It’s important to note that they refused to support Venezuela’s nomination to any membership in any multilateral body, requesting world nations to deny the Venezuelan government access to weapons and deciding to move on with the application of the Inter American Democratic Charter against Venezuela.

Ouch

The Foreign ministers also expressed their concern for the country’s humanitarian crisis and condemned the government for refusing to accept shipments of food and medicines, promising to monitor Venezuela’s situation until democracy is fully restored, to meet again during the UN General Assembly’s upcoming session in September, emphasizing their willingness to urgently support “any credible negotiation effort” meant to restore democracy with the consensus of all parties involved. The statement was signed by the representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Guatemala, Jamaica, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Paraguay. The representatives for Guyana, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Uruguay were also present but did not sign the statement.

Futility

Lawmaker Stalin González denounced that National Guardsmen prevented him from accessing the Federal Legislative Palace, contradicting Delcy Rodríguez’ calls for “peaceful cohabitation” between existing public powers and the constituyente. Rodríguez said that according to article 349 of the Constitution, all powers are subordinated to the ANC, claiming that one of their goals is to prevent and suppress “irrational and intolerant postures that seek to undermine justice and the rule of law in Venezuela,” which is precisely what the government’s been doing.

They also approved an agreement supporting Nicolás in view of the “unilateral measures imposed” by the U.S., as well as an agreement in solidarity with the Armed Forces after Sunday’s assault on Fuerte Paramacay. While the ANC exercised its futility, Cendas-FMV reported that the Food Basket’s price for July reached Bs. 1,443,634, a 17.4% hike compared to June, 2017, and a 296.7% increase since July, 2016. It takes a family 14.1 minimum wages to feed itself, or Bs. 48,121 a day. Every single item in the basket increased in price.

Briefs

  • General Raúl Isaías Baduel was taken from Ramo Verde military prison early this Tuesday, his whereabouts are still unknown. Illegal detentions and searches continue in Carabobo after the attack on Fuerte Paramacay.
  • A man was shot to death at the Maiquetía Airport.
  • SEBIN still denies the 14 PoliChacao officers in jail their freedom, ignoring the judicial order for their release since over a year ago, despite their hunger strike, their sewn lips and even the habeas corpus filed by the Prosecutor’s Office.
  • Jorge Márquez was appointed as the new chief of broadcast/telecoms regulator Conatel, replacing Enrique Quintana who in turn had replaced Andrés Eloy Méndez a few weeks ago. Márquez didn’t even have a Twitter account six hours before his appointment was announced.

Systematic human rights violations

The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, denounced the general and systematic use of excessive force by security forces against protesters in Venezuela. The report released by the ACNUDH team details how security forces are responsible for at least 46 out of the 124 deaths acknowledged by the Prosecutor’s Office up until July 31st, while colectivos -paramilitaries- are responsible for 27 deaths.

“Several thousand people have been arbitrarily detained, many reportedly subjected to ill-treatment and even torture,” the report adds, indicating that these violations take place because of the rupture of the rule of law, with the government’s constant assaults on the National Assembly and the Prosecutor’s Office. Zeid points out that “the responsibility for the human rights violations we are documenting lies with the highest levels of Government.”

Abroad

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos said that he’s not discarding the possibility of breaking diplomatic relations with Venezuela because Nicolás is establishing a dictatorship, emphasizing that the decision to break relations should “be taken in consensus with the rest of the presidents.”

Argentine president Mauricio Macri said that history won’t forgive Nicolás for the consequences of his administration; he also ordered financial entities and companies based in Argentina to report whether they have records of assets belonging to Nicolás and other 13 other members of his government.

Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández called for elections in Venezuela to overcome the crisis and find a solution, ratifying that Honduras will continue supporting this alternative.

The Andean Parliament submitted to Foreign Ministers at the Perú meeting in a proposal to remove the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) headquarters from Venezuela to show their condemnation for Venezuela’s situation.

The north

The U.S. State Dept. ratified its condemnation of the ANC that Maduro imposed despite accusations of electoral fraud. It also repudiated the Prosecutor General’s ousting. Spokeswoman Heather Nauert tweeted that “the United States will continue using economic and diplomatic tools to tackle threats against democratic institutions in Venezuela.”  The U.S. is expected to sanction another group of Venezuelan officials close to Nicolás.

 

Meanwhile, this Tuesday the PNB fired tear-gas against Canadian embassy headquarters in Altamira.

…

Yesterday, several opposition leaders explained why they’re going to register their candidates for gubernatorial elections, the issue surpassed the scandal of the electoral fraud committed by the CNE. The international community is helping with the instruments at their disposal, with the pressure they can contribute, but solving this crisis is still our responsibility.

We go on.

Naky Soto

Naky gets called Naibet at home and at the bank. She coordinates training programs for an NGO. She collects moments and turns them into words. She has more stories than freckles.

Related