Caracas Chronicles

Photo: America Digital, retrieved.

• Three deputies of the CLAP faction (under investigation for corruption after ArmandoInfo published an article about the AN Comptrollership Committee: Leandro Domínguez, José Gregorio Noriega and Gabriel Peña) requested from the TSJ a revision of the Internal Debate Rulebook approved this week by the National Assembly, which will allow exiled deputies to vote. According to them, making that change violates the Constitution, a stance which frankly seems closer to chavismo’s obstruction of the National Assembly. The TSJ, quick and efficient in undermining parliamentary initiatives, already called for Juan José Mendoza to declare on Thursday about the objection; Voluntad Popular expelled Gregorio Noriega. Other three members of the  CLAP faction, Conrado Pérez, José Brito and Luis Parra, issued a statement declaring the modification illegal and unconstitutional.
• The SNTP, the press workers union, reported that the government closed Venepress’ offices. In 2019, pressure against the press has increased dramatically and 55 journalists have been arbitrarily detained. CIDH’s special spokesperson, Edison Lanza, condemned this action before the Prosecutor’s Office: “This type of ambiguous action, without due process, has been used in other cases as ways of censoring the media and detaining journalists.” This happens the same day that Bachelet updated her report about human rights in Venezuela.
• Sub Commissioner Marco Hurtado did his time, 16 years and 8 months, what Hugo Chávez imposed on Metropolitan Police officers who defended citizens around Puente Llaguno on April 2002. His wife, María Paz Castillo, decried the “judicial kidnapping” the judge is causing, by not delivering the court-mandated release documents.
• Venezuela got the last spot in the Human Liberty Index, out of 162 countries where they measured personal, civil and economic liberties’ indicators. Even if it’s obvious: we’re the less free country in Latin America.
• Bolivian Prosecutor issued on Wednesday an arrest warrant for Evo Morales. Jeanine Áñez’s interim government has accused him of sedition and terrorism. Morales’s refugee status was confirmed in Argentina so, according to Alberto Fernández’s government, there won’t be an extradition. 
• The U.S. House of Representatives debated and voted on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice to start President Donald Trump’s impeachment, who became the third president in history to be on trial. Neither Andrew Johnson nor Bill Clinton had to leave power.
• On Wednesday, the entirety of Plan País was presented to the country, to be applied on day one after the end of usurpation. Plan País has solutions, plans and strategies to apply immediately to areas like agriculture, infrastructure, citizen security, institutional reform of the state, macroeconomy, services, energy and mining. 
• What did Michelle Bachelet say in her oral update before the UN human Rights Council? She said that the regime allowed two of her representatives in and granted them access everywhere, except Sebin and Dgcim prisons. She quoted Cáritas: 11.9% of children with acute malnutrition (a 56% increase compared to 2018) and a 32.6% delay in growth; 48.5% of pregnant women have nutritional deficiencies. She talked about the drama of electricity and the J.M. de los Ríos Hospital. She talked about improvements in supply chains and the de facto dollarization, executions committed by state institutions, the Ikabarú massacre and the control of territory for illegal mining. She expressed her concern for the migration increase and even mentioned the price of passports. She also talked about 102 Venezuelans who disappeared in the Caribbean sea between April and June, people detained in protests, the intimidation of journalists, abuses against the justice system, deputy Juan Requesens’s freedom and attacks against the National Assembly. She expressed her concern about the government’s plan to supply militias with weapons. Except Nicaragua, Cuba, Russia and China, all the countries who had the floor later condemned the serious situation of human rights in Venezuela.