Caracas Chronicles

• The increase in the price of diesel fuel will profoundly impact the agricultural sector, warned Fedeagro president Celso Fantinel. 
  • He explained that gasoil is needed for emergency power generators, public transportation units and machinery. 
  • He hopes the increase from 0.01 bolivars to 0.5 dollars per lt. doesn’t affect the corn, rice, coffee and sugar cane crops: “We haven’t finished the harvest and we’re already negotiating to buy supplies for next year,” said Fantinel. 
  • He said that small and mid-sized producers couldn’t store enough fuel because there are no credits. 
  • Economist Asdrúbal Oliveros warned that the increase in the dollar prices of food is 50% due to the fuel shortage and black market. He recommended changing how dollars are handled in our economy and adapting the regulatory framework in our banking system to allow for loans in dollars. 

Read more about how the diesel crisis is causing delays in supplies chains and boosting inflation: Diesel Shortage Strangles Venezuelan Wholesalers

• Lawyer and human rights activist Marino Alvarado assured that “the government has taken some measures to make it seem like there’s justice in the country,” but that there isn’t “true will to do justice or political will to charge those responsible for crimes against humanity.” He said that the “ICC prosecutor’s visit reflects the magnitude of human rights violations and structured impunity in the country.” 
  • In Fatou Bensouda’s report—who was Khan’s predecessor—she said that there were enough reasons to think that crimes against humanity were committed in Venezuela. 

Spain’s El País published a piece on José Luis Parada, former PDVSA director for production and exploitation, who hid 1.7 million dollars in Switzerland in July 2014, according to documents found and reviewed by El País. 

• • In this corruption scheme, the money went from Swiss banks to Andorra. El País said that Parada had received money coming from Nervis Villalobos, Hugo Chávez’s Energy vice minister and 2.5 million from Diego Salazar, who’s Rafael Ramírez’s cousin. 
  • Part of that money was used to buy stock and expenses in luxury hotels. Salazar and Villalobos have been charged with corruption. 
  • The authorities are still investigating the origin and destination of millions of dollars that have entered their financial systems and caused the Venezuelan crisis. 
  • Parada is allegedly in Canada after he escaped house arrest in Venezuela. 
• The family of captain Luis De La Sotta, in jail without trial since May 2018, demanded he is taken to the Fuerte Tiuna clinic to receive urgent medical care.
• Reporters Without Borders asked for the immediate release of journalist Roland Carreño, who’s been in prison illegally for a year. 
• ICC Chief Prosecutor  Karim Khan expressed his full support for the international justice system born from the peace agreement between the FARC and the Colombian government and called for its validation and financing. 
• Monitor Salud estimated that 48.5% of ICU beds in 31 “sentinel” hospitals are occupied by COVID-19 patients. 
• The Carter Center is officially going to be an observer in the November elections. 

The chavista regime is part of the list of “press freedom predators” but Maduro’s communications minister spoke about the public media outlets’ commitment for a balanced campaign. He also warned about creating a “surveillance team” for social media. 

• The regime, through the Office of the Comptroller General, retroactively barred members of dissident chavismo from running in the November elections, said journalist Eugenio Martínez. 
• CTV secretary general José Elías Torres, called on unions to increase pressure on the streets and give visibility to labor problems before international institutions. In 2019, the ILO exhorted the regime to abandon its persecution strategy, promoting dialogue and reevaluating the parameters for establishing wages. Chavismo ignored them. 
• Maduro’s Assembly approved, in a twenty-minute debate, the draft law for attention and reparation of victims of human rights violations. 
• Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal accused leaders of the Spanish political party Podemos of receiving irregular payments when Maduro was president. Before his imminent extradition to the U.S., Carvajal is a witness and gave his statement in the case investigating Podemos’ finances, this time with PDVSA funds. Carvajal said he was committed to giving all the information and documentation he possessed but highlighted the difficulties he has in obtaining them. 
• Alex Saab’s defense asked judge John O’Sullivan to restrict access of media outlets with a “reputation” to the Zoom trial. They also asked the judge to consider investigating those who disobeyed the prohibition to record in a federal court and supplied a list of journalists, media outlets and individuals who had shared Saab’s photos. They even requested they be interrogated by American prosecutors. 
• Diego Molano, the Colombian defense minister, said that Maduro’s regime is one of the largest threats to his country’s stability, that chavismo generated the worst humanitarian crisis in the 21st century and that it also affected fundamental freedoms. He reiterated that the regime protects ELN terrorists and FARC dissidents and highlighted that it’s necessary to collaborate in Venezuela’s democratic transition.