Caracas Chronicles

Prosecutor General Luisa Ortega Díaz met yesterday in Costa Rica with Roberto Caldas, head of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights, and handed him evidence incriminating Nicolás, detailing the systematic violation of fundamental rights in Venezuela.

This happens on the anniversary of the illegal arrest of political leader Yon Goicoechea, who remains in prison even though he’s been granted an unconditional release warrant and is protected by UN and IACHR resolutions, all of which have been ignored by SEBIN, a body that’s been above the law and the Constitution long before the ANC.

Meanwhile, Lilian Tintori revealed some figures about the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis, showing that “this humanitarian crisis didn’t start three days ago,” for instance: we’re experiencing 85% shortage of medicines and 83% shortage of food; 75% of citizens have lost at least 9 kilos, 15 minimum wages are required to purchase the basic food basket and 54% of children are suffering from malnutrition.

More on human rights

The imposed prosecutor general, Tarek William Saab, had the nerve to deny the forced disappearance of general Raúl Isaías Baduel, arguing that he “was indeed originally held in Ramo Verde, but was transferred to a different detention facility,” without saying where it is or explaining why his family hasn’t been able to see him. Saab added that he’ll hold a hearing with Baduel’s children to talk about the case, information which the children promptly refuted.

Later, he tweeted about the meeting with the father of David Vallenilla, the young nursing student who was murdered on June 22nd in the Francisco Fajardo highway, in front of La Carlota military airbase, during a protest. Saab offered “institutional guarantees of justice and punishment for the officer responsible for the murder,” and remarked that an arrest warrant was issued against Arli Méndez, the Air Force officer involved in the incident.

Rerouting guilt

Delcy Rodríguez claimed that the United States’ economic sanctions are meant to allow them to take over Citgo, promising a broad debate about the non-existent blockade, the lie they need to spread in order to explain our collapse.

Several economists have cautioned about how much inflation rose in August, but in the ANC, Jesús Faría spoke of designing a plan to halt price speculation.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Services singled out Venezuela as the country with the most obvious credit impact due to political risk, since we’re experiencing the worst economic crisis in our history and economic prospects are distorted by political instability, protests, and a profound recession, which has made default highly probable: the famous default that Nicolás has avoided thus far by cutting key imports of food and medicines in favor of debt payment.

When you have the chance, check out the article written by María Emilia Jorge (@EmiliaJM) about how many vaccines could be purchased with the cost of tear-gas canisters used against us during protests, which includes notable price gaps between vaccines purchased from Cuba and those purchased from the Revolving Fund or the WHO.

Attack on Versión Final

The same day that Propaganda Minister Ernesto Villegas revealed a meeting he held with representatives of the Venezuelan Chamber of the Broadcasting Industry, only to extend the regime’s threats about the risks of spreading messages in favor of foreign intervention or sanctions against Venezuela, there was an attack on Diario Versión Final’s headquarters in Maracaibo, Zulia. Someone threw an explosive device in the newspaper’s parking lot, setting four vehicles on fire (including one owned by a girl attending a job interview), although fortunately, the building’s structure as well as the newspaper’s staff were unharmed. The minister didn’t even mention the incident, even though he claims to be a staunch advocate of freedom of the press.

Good hate

“We won’t allow expressions of fascism, hate and discrimination,” said Delcy on Sunday and early yesterday, chavista diplomat Roy Chaderton compared dissident leaders with nazis on VTV:

No State media outlets echoed his words, they only summed up his opinion regarding the usefulness of diplomacy as a dissuasive mechanism in view of international sanctions and the “security rings of peace” allegedly created by el finado since 1999, so efficient that they leave regime militants free to unleash their hate but, of course, with educational aims.

Abroad

French president Emmanuel Macron said:

Yesterday, European Parliament Speaker Antonio Tajani restated that the European Union must take measures against Nicolás’ anti-democratic regime, a way of defending European values with concrete actions.

After Colombia submitted a protest note to Venezuela for the military incursion during last weekend’s drill, vice-minister Yván Gil submitted a note of protest yesterday to Colombia’s chargé d’affaires Germán Castañeda, in response to what they call false accusations. But he omitted the complaints made by Maicao mayor José Carlos Molina, who confirmed that a National Guard helicopter entered Paraguachón, flying over the local police department for several minutes. There are videos showing the incursion.

All lives matter

A group of civil society institutions organized a walk for today in honor of the victims of violence during protests and political prisoners, to retake the original protest agenda. We’ll set out from Parque Cristal at 4:00 p.m. to the Plaza Bolívar in Chacao, Caracas.

…

Yesterday, the IACHR celebrated the ruling of a court in Mendoza, Argentina, sentencing four former judges to life in prison for crimes against humanity committed during the military dictatorship (1976-1983), calling it “A historic step forward in the fight against impunity of serious human rights violations.”

These crimes never expire, thugs, these crimes are never forgotten.

We go on.