Briefing

Price Controls Are Coming Back

The regime announced an upcoming list of controlled prices and developed a propaganda and inspection operation to blame the private sector, again, for inflation

Naky Soto

Photo: NTN24

  • Tareck El Aissami said on Saturday that this time we really are moving towards a real economy (maybe the one we had so far was a virtual economy and we didn’t know) and on Monday, April 27th, they’d announce the list with prices set for 27 products. He also talked about the National Fiscalization Plan “to contain criminal speculation” and assured that food enterprise Coposa, which has been occupied by the government for at least 180 days, “started selling to the entire CLAP distribution system”. 
  • Delcy Rodríguez announced five more cases of COVID-19 in Táchira state, the patients are Venezuelans returning from Colombia. There’s a total of 323 confirmed cases now. Delcy repeated that Venezuela is the country with the most early detection tests in Latin America and said that, until Saturday, they had done 423,592 (14,120 tests per million inhabitants). Even though it’s evident how many people haven’t been able to respect the confinement measures, she explained the measures that Maduro proposes to relax the rules in the case of children, young folks and the elderly. Since Sunday, children can leave their homes in a 1km perimeter when they’re accompanied by a parent and starting today, people over 65 years old will be able to walk outside, too.
  • On Saturday, the Armed Forces started to oversee stores, making sure the price controls are enforced. The amount of photos uploaded on Twitter is astounding. 
  • The National Superintendency for the Defense of Socio-Economic Rights (SUNDDE) published a list of regulated prices for beef. In dollars. 
  • In Cumaná’s Perimetral Av., Puerto España sector (Venezuela’s eastern coast), there were protests and looting attempts. There was repression by the National Police and a warehouse property of Preca in the San Luis industrial area was vandalized on Saturday. They took groceries and appliances. Looting was reported in Alto de Soapire, Santa Lucía del Tuy (Miranda state) and in some stores in Juan Griego, Nueva Esparta state. 
  • Alimentos Polar demanded the regime cancels the intervention announced on Friday, calling it an arbitrary measure that will jeopardize food availability in the country in a moment as critical as this. 
  • A well of oil waste caught fire over the weekend in a PDVSA dock, in Bachaquero de Valmore Rodríguez, Zulia state (western Venezuela). To control the fire, the assistance of Valmore, Santa Rita, Lagunillas and Baralt fire departments were required. 
  • Journalist Román Camacho said that, until Friday, it was too hard to supply gas for ambulances, rescue bikes and vehicles, but on Saturday, they started refusing the service to the fire departments of the Capital District and Miranda state, and to EMT vehicles. “If there’s an emergency, there’s no way to answer the call. They’re threatened to keep quiet about the situation,” he said. 
  • Reuters reported that Nicolás appointed a new vice minister of Petrochemical and Refinery, Jorge Sicatt González, a chemical engineer with a PDVSA Oriente management background. He’s replacing General Erling Rojas, amid a gas crisis. Rojas announced on Thursday that two Iranian planes would be arriving with a catalyst to produce fuel in Cardón. He deleted the tweet soon after.
  • Mrs. Yaneth Moreno denounced her son’s disappearance, Captain Reny Olivares, kidnapped by Military Intelligence (DGCIM) officers on Monday, April 20th, because of the alleged uprising of the 441th unit in Los Teques, Miranda state.
  • The brother of National Guard lieutenant Richard Alemán Castellanos asked for proof of life. Alemán has been held in Fuerte Tiuna with members of his family since he was detained on Thursday, April 23rd in Puerto Cabello, Carabobo state.
  • NGO Espacio Público denounced that DGCIM officers tried to take the manager of news site Entorno Inteligente, Ana Belén Tovar (arrested on November 19th, 2019, for “revealing personal information of a high official), to the INOF female prison in Los Teques, another violation of due process. 
  • Defeating the pandemic is “the most massive public health effort in history,” said UN secretary general Antonio Guterres. Vaccines must be safe and available for everyone, emphasized Guterres. The WHO insisted that it’s not the time to relax and that a second wave of the pandemic may arrive at any moment.
Briefing

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.

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