Briefing

Venezuelan Banks May Soon Offer Loans in Dollars

NGO Fundaredes shows data proving how the Venezuelan Army cooperates with irregular armed forces; The Gcr2p insisted on asking for urgent action for the Venezuelan case; Coronavirus (and the vaccines against it) advance

Naky Soto
The plan is currently in consideration at Venezuela's Central Bank.

Photo: Efe

  • Delcy Rodríguez reported 387 new cases of COVID-19 in Venezuela, and four deaths, for a total of  97,739 cases and 855 deaths they’ve admitted to. She also wrote that they have ratified the alliance with Russia for “more than 10 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine.” 
  • The five dollar bonus on the Patria System allegedly started paying off yesterday; Nicolásalso  expects to transform this platform into a social media platform while censoring real social media. This injection of capital generated a considerable devaluation in the last week.
  • NGO Fundaredes published its bulletin on the Armed Forces. They cooperate with irregular armed groups and said that over eight terrorist organizations from Colombia operate in 20 Venezuelan states, with knowledge of the Army, said lawyer and activist Javier Tarazona, president of Fundaredes. According to data, these groups push illicit activities like drug trafficking, smuggling, drug production, indoctrination, targeted killings and kidnappings; Tarazona assures that the authorities’ complicity is proved on the report, gathering information from other organizations like Human Rights Watch and Insight Crime. He’s also requesting the OAS Inter American System of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Commission to act according to the process that these illegal organizations’ deserve. They’ve been operating in the country since 2005. 
  • The most recent report by the Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect (Gcr2p) warned that atrocious massive crimes have been happening in Venezuela and that urgent action is required. This month, the Gcr2p elevated Venezuela to the Current Crisis category, with countries like Afghanistan, Cameroon, China, Mali, Burkina Faso, Syria and Yemen. “Maduro’s government doesn’t comply with its responsibility to protect all Venezuelans, regardless of their political affiliation,” said the report, exhorting states to continue imposing sanctions on officials of the regime, responsible for violations of human rights. However, the organization requested the lifting of measures that forbid the population’s access to goods and basic services. The Gcr2p warns that the stagnation of the political crisis between the regime and the opposition aggravates the multidimensional crisis in the country, and the international community should comply with its commitment agreed on at the UN of protecting the society from a state that doesn’t want to fulfil its obligations. 
  • On Sunday, the CNE celebrated the second drill of the “elections” of December 6th, with which they allegedly adjusted the automated system and logistics. Deputy Olivia Lozano, coordinator of the Electoral Fraud Observatory, denounced that “Participation in both drills has been minimal and politicized, abusing retirees and forcing them to participate, even transporting by the Bolivarian Militia alongside public workers and teachers in vehicles property of the state.” 
  • Despite complaints of civil association Súmate and parties like MAS and Prociudadanos, the CNE hasn’t said anything about the violations of the Constitution, the Anti-Corruption law and the Electoral laws committed  during the drill. The CNE failed to report that there were public workers at the service of PSUV, and there was use of public resources for propaganda, transportation of chavista voters with official vehicles, patria IDs being scanned, and role calls with lists provided by the PSUV, with the offering CLAP boxes in exchange for participation. That’s how far Venezuela is from having real elections. 
  • Jorge Rodríguez, candidate and chief of the PSUV campaign, announced that “despite them being legal” they won’t install “puntos rojos” during the election on December 6th—meaning the control stations that chavismo usually deploys near voting centers during elections. They aren’t really needed because the actual voting centers are puntos rojos already. 
  • ANC-imposed prosecutor general Tarek William Saab expects that the ICC keeps from becoming “a de facto interventionist organization” after evaluating the actions of Venezuelan justice regarding crimes against humanity. 
  • FAES was trending on social media on Monday, after a video recorded by a police officer from Sur del Lago, in Maracaibo (Zulia state), leaked. The video was recorded while the police interrupted an abnormal FAES operation at the farm of Américo Ledezma on Sunday; according to Fundaredes, municipal police officers prevented the extortion and possible execution of Américo Ledezma. 
  • Tarazona explains that FAES “has been doing joint operations with irregular armed groups like ELN and FARC, which control the area and battle over extortion activities.” State tv channel VTV deleted a tweet where prosecutor Tarek William Saab said he didn’t understand what was happening with the FAES and echoed the complaints. Provea managed to save the video. 
  • Deputy Sandra Flores Garzón reported that security officers raided the home of Ana Mercedes Aponte, deputy by AD for Vargas state. According to Garzón, officers broke the locks and threw down the doors. 
  • Venezuela’s Central Bank is analyzing plans to create a compensation and liquidation system in dollars, starting next year, with at least five private banks. The system would also allow banks to offer loans in dollars. Who would deposit their dollars in a banking system controlled by Nicolás’s regime? 
  • Donald Trump’s government called oil companies to compete in the next month for concessions of perforation in Alaska, protected territory for polar bears, an endangered species. 
  • Pablo Iglesias had an appointment with Nicolás’s Foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza, on November 8th in La Paz, Bolivia. Interesting, because Arreaza didn’t sign the statement in favor or democracy. Vozpópuli states that Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya, “was furious” when she heard about the Iglesias-Arreaza meeting, done out of the official schedule. 
  • On Monday, Moderna announced that its vaccine against COVID-19 has a nearly 95% efficacy. If this level is maintained among the general population, it would be one of the most efficient vaccines in existence, comparable to the rubella vaccine, which is near 87% when two doses are applied. The exponential spread of the virus in its second wave is making governments impose restrictions on social life, transportation and businesses.
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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