Caracas Chronicles

This Friday, open assemblies were held in Anaco, Barinas, Coche, Cumaná, Lechería, Lobatera, Los Teques and Colonia Tovar, among other locations, repeating the phenomenon of mass attendance (more sensible now with the certainty that they haven’t been repressed,) while a video of National Assembly Speaker Juan Guaidó asking citizens to pay attention to the instructions the lawmakers will give about the January 23 protest went viral. Later, in an interview with Efecto Cocuyo, Guaidó said that he won’t succumb to pressures and will follow the route that’s already established to exercise the competences of the Presidency. The National Assembly’s Board met with Swedish ambassador Tommy Strömberg and with honorary general consul Robert Rehder, while Puerto Rico’s governor Ricardo Rosselló Nevares recognized Guaidó as interim president (?) honoring his “commitment to democracy,” saying that Puerto Rico “is ready to cooperate with the necessary aid and logistics to set in motion the Humanitarian Rescue Plan.” By day’s end, an extraordinary session of the OAS Permanent Council was convened for Thursday 24, by request of eight member states, to consider “the recent events in Venezuela.”

Official negligence

The teachers of the Central University of Venezuela protested for their miserable salaries and to complain that they haven’t received the year’s first payment, nor payment for the debts pending since last year. Herve Verhoosel, spokesman of the United Nations World Food Programme, said in Geneva that Venezuelan migrants are suffering a high risk of food insecurity, so they fear that “the mass exodus, one of the greatest in Latin America’s history, will continue in 2019.” The programme’s aid has been focused on Colombia because Venezuela hasn’t requested help; however, UNICEF announced the distribution of 100 tons of nutritional supplies for 150,000 children in the country, an evidence of how much we need the humanitarian aid that the regime has so far refused to request and/or accept. Similarly, later in the day, official outlets reported the arrival of medicines for hemodialysis, showing that there’s never been an economic blockade but rather a profound negligence.

Barking loyalty

This Friday, Diosdado Cabello issued a statement about almost every sensible topic in the chavista agenda: the ELN’s presence in the country and the mention made by Colombian authorities about this in the official report of the attack suffered in Bogota; the “threat” that they’ve made out of what they originally called a “media show”; the impossibility of scaring chavismo because they “come from the street” and the Armed Forces’ unflinching loyalty. “If they think that we’ll surrender just because they disregard Nicolás Maduro, they’re wrong,” he explained while calling for an “open assembly” for early this Saturday.

Other growls

After the report of the payment that PDVSA made to Repsol with six oil shipments to clear a part of the accumulated debts with the Spanish firm (the default is still selective) several government accounts tweeted each picture that the Venezuelan delegation took of Tareck El Aissami in Ankara with the Turkish President, Recep Erdogan, with whom he allegedly agreed the refinement of Venezuelan gold in Turkey. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Néstor Reverol announced a Security Plan in the University Hospital of Caracas “to eradicate criminal practices”; sadly, he didn’t explain whether this includes the exotic dancers and the blackouts. Omar Prieto, Zulia’s imposed governor, threatened to split the state from the country in case there came a transition government. His reason is that the entity contains the largest oil reserves and best agricultural lands, as well as gold and diamonds in the lake’s basin, but he didn’t mention blackouts, smuggling or violence.

A appeal disguised as an accomplishment

Nicolás tweeted on Friday night: “I had a productive meeting with European Union ambassadors. We talked about topics of common interest and opened channels for dialogue and understanding, in the context of respect and people’s self-determination.” The fun part is that the tweet was posted with a picture of the meeting and the EU’s delegation’s proxemics show obstinacy. Still expecting the reply to the appeal he sent to President Donald Trump through an interview in Univisión, the usurper and his team remain very mistaken regarding the political moment and their strategy; so much so, that the campaign on social networks showing the testimonies of “loyalists” using the presidential sash seems to have been made by traitors. Such a dreadful thing!

…

The National Assembly keeps setting the usurper’s agenda and we hadn’t seen that situation for a long time. Chavismo doesn’t have new offers, only coercion, fear and blackmail. It’s absurd to deny the legitimacy of the opposition’s requests which, in the end, are the requests of all the people regardless of their political tendencies: the inflation this week has increased its voraciousness and we’re all desperate in view of the impossibility of dealing with the phenomenon and overcome it. Misery makes us equal, who wants to be loyal to hunger?