Briefing

Bloomberg: ‘Darwinian Dollarization in Venezuela’

On our way to 100,000 COVID-19 cases in Venezuela, 242 healthcare workers have died; There are more political prisoners in Venezuela today than what we had a month ago; The regime uses humanitarian aid to win some votes

Naky Soto
De facto and merciless.

Photo: Andina

  • Delcy Rodríguez reported 395 new cases of COVID-19 and four new deaths in Venezuela, for a total of 93,100 cases and 810 deaths they’ve admitted to. 
  • Foro Penal denounced that there are 370 political prisoners in Venezuela, 11 more than a month ago. 346 men and 24 women; 243 civilians and 127 military personnel. The NGO has documented 15,646 detentions for political reasons in Venezuela since 2014. 
  • Deputy Carlos Valero denounced that PSUV is handing out resources donated by UNICEF in the electoral campaign of next December 6th. UNICEF made a call to “not use the humanitarian aid distributed to Venezuela, its goal is strictly to support boys, girls, teenagers and their families.” 
  • 242 healthcare workers have died of coronavirus, according to NGO Médicos Unidos Venezuela, five of them in the last five days. 
  • Dr. Gerson Mancipe, chief of cardio at Táchira’s Central Hospital, died yesterday. 
  • The regime has consolidated its power by promoting a “darwinian dollarization,” according to Bloomberg. It applied a way to decrease shortage rates with imported products for the few who can afford them. In a country with 90% poverty, you can find, as you also can in Cuba, industrial wonders, which they started selling in small bodegones and now have several investors: “The government no longer harasses the small private sector,” said economist Omar Zambrano, adding that it creates “a comfort bubble that reduces the political pressure of having to maintain an economy that can supply the minimum.” This dollarization has served to provide stability to the market of those with dollars and it supposes a relief after years of severe shortages, but people who don’t have access to dollars keep suffering, as Risa Grais-Targow from Eurasia Group said, because four out of five Venezuelans can’t buy the basic food items (known in Venezuela as the “food basket”). Inequality gets worse. PSUV is only committed to hanging on to power, sacrificing the population. 
  • PSUV kicked off the parliamentary campaign at the Diego Barra Sq. in Caracas, with no social distancing, no sanctions on stages, but with music, flags and t-shirts for their members. Meaning: there’s money. Candidate Jorge Rodríguez assured that “the future, life and sovereignty are at play” and they’re defending “independence.” According to him, they already have 12 draft laws. Nicolás’s wife and candidate, Cilia Flores, blamed the opposition for all the problems in the country and described her husband as some kind of Avenger (overweight and without the technology, of course), who has been sabotaged in all public utilities but not in the presidency. The promise made by Cilia was that the National Assembly will end “the sabotage against public utilities” (why haven’t they done that already?), that they’ll build more housing and improve health and education. Cilia said: “we are guarantee of change, we are the guarantee of what can be done, we have the experience, we have a project and a plan.” She forgot to mention that they’ve also been in power for 21 years, and there’s 5.5 million of Venezuelan migrants and thousands of millions of dollars in public debt.
  • The president of the National Electoral Council imposed by the Supreme Tribunal, Indira Alfonzo, announced a second electoral drill that Jorge Rodríguez asked for barely nine days ago. It’ll take place on November 15th. The third one will be on December 6th. 
  • On Tuesday, November 3rd, deputies of the National Assembly: Approved the first report of the Observatorio Parlamentario on the electoral fraud called by Nicolás’s for December 6th: “This is an act of cooperation and integration in search for the truth,” said deputy Guillermo Palacios; Debated the agreement on Nabarima, the risks, the lack of maintenance by PDVSA, the urgency of unloading oil. Italian oil company Eni will be in charge of dealing with PDVSA’s mess; Debated and approved the agreement on the Valencia Lake situation, calling to vacate and purge the lake; Rejected the detention of journalist Ronald Carreño and assured that Nicolás’s regime wants to frame him through fake evidence; Announced two phases of the process for the Popular Consultation regarding the upcoming “elections” chavismo is planning: it’ll be in person, on December 12th, and online, from December 5th to December 12th. They say that both ways are in place because of the pandemic and to make participation easy. 
  • Nicolás’s Foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza, said precisely on the day of the U.S. election: “For whatever reason, our democracy made news and headlines all over the world.” Do something, just for fun: google “Venezuela.” You won’t find it near the word “democracy.”
  • Samuel Moncada, the regime’s ambassador to the UN, denounced that the British government is working with Donald Trump to “recolonize Venezuela” with the only goal of “imposing a fascist regime that prioritizes the UK in stealing national assets.” 
  • The Supreme Tribunal approved a request of extradition to Colombia for five people who allegedly participated in the Macuto disembarkment that ended in a massacre for which we don’t have an explanation yet. 
  • Jorge Arreaza reported that they delivered 7,000 coronavirus tests to the Health Minister of Suriname, Amar Ramadhin, to strengthen bilateral relations. Meaning, Venezuela reuses the tests that have been donated. 
  • Juan Guaidó met with UK Ambassador Andrew Soper. “We had a productive meeting with the ambassador of the UK, Andrew Soper, to consolidate relations and alliances with the caretaker government and in favor of the renewed commitment for peace, democracy and freedom in Venezuela,” tweeted Guaidó. 
  • The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, from the Partido Popular party, received Leopoldo López: “Madrid is a land of democracy and freedom. It’s an honor to receive Leopoldo López, a true warrior or freedom, and so many Venezuelans that dream of a free, peaceful Venezuela. You’ll always have our support in this city,” tweeted Martínez-Almeida.
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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