Briefing

The Campaign’s Over

CNE board member Pedro Calzadilla assured that there hasn’t been any incident since the start of the campaign. Professor Leonardo Buniak warned that Venezuelan banks aren’t capable of having any influence or impact in an economic recovery.

Naky Soto

Photo: Venezuela Analysis

  • Technical personnel of the National Electoral Council (CNE) now control the material to install 30,106 voting stations in 14,202 voting centers in the country. CNE board member Pedro Calzadilla assured that there hasn’t been any incident since the start of the campaign. Calzadilla thinks that the election has been ruled by “the dialogue agenda, recognition and understanding.” Around one and a half million people are involved in this election, said the CNE. 
  • The industrial sector showed the first signs of recovery between July and September, when it reached 23% of its installed capacity, on average, according to CONINDUSTRIA. Two factors explain this: dollarization and the flexibilization of State controls. 
  • The Wall Street Journal published a piece evaluating if, after four years of contraction and four years of hyperinflation, Venezuela has arrived at an inflection point that includes casinos, the lifting of price controls and improvised dollarization as a weird mix of alleged economic freedoms that don’t compete against the regime’s authoritarian control. The question is if they’re sustainable. 
  • Professor Leonardo Buniak warned that Venezuelan banks aren’t capable of having any influence or impact in an economic recovery because of the levels of financial mediation and profitability: having the highest legal reserve (85%) on the planet keeps the banks unable to finance anything. 
  • Diosdado Cabello complained again about EU electoral observers asking why there are protectors appointed by Maduro in states where the opposition won. “This isn’t their problem, you aren’t here for that purpose,” he said. Cabello assured that, no matter who wins, the PSUV will govern.
  • Foreign minister Félix Plasencia condemned the extension of  EU sanctions on 55 regime officials, which were first issued in 2017. He also said that the election will prove Maduro’s “legitimacy”. 
  • The commission from Maduro’s National Assembly that investigates crimes against Venezuelan migrants abroad installed a sub-commission called Caso Colombia to investigate crimes against Venezuelan cities in the country. 
  • Venezuela registered 61,861 cases of malaria between January and September, according to the OCHA, with the most cases being in municipalities in Bolívar. They also warned about cases of yellow fever in Monagas and Anzoátegui. Venezuela hasn’t published an epidemiology bulletin since 2016. 
  • About COVID-19, OCHA said that the infection rate increased between August and September, with almost 1,300 cases on average per day. OCHA said that 23,156,914 doses of the vaccine have been applied and 32.30% of citizens are fully vaccinated. 
  • There’s still a shortage of PPE and medical supplies in hospitals and that there’s a 62% deficit of healthcare personnel. 
  • October registered the highest censorship of the year. Radio stations were the most affected, since several shows and one radio station in Portuguesa were shut down for political reasons, reported NGO Centro de Justicia y Paz
  • A video by the PSUV candidate to Sucre went viral. It’s a misogynistic video where they say they have a Women’s Institute so “every female can get a male” and that women are “cuaimas and cuaimas must be controlled.” 
  • Espacio Público reported that El Hatillo mayor Elías Sayegh and councilmen Omar Nowak and Jorge Suárez, rejected Savignano Café’s request for permits to open a barista school in the municipality because they claim that the owner runs a Twitter account that criticizes the officers’ work. 
  • Two protected witnesses testified before the Spanish Audiencia Nacional that Podemos founder Juan Carlos Monedero received funds from Maduro’s regime. Chavismo sent him suitcases filled with cash to the Meliá Caracas Hotel. One of the witnesses saw it happen and said that the funds came from PDVSA. 
  • The institution in charge of overseeing the financial market in Switzerland FINMA announced they’re taking measures against banks Banca Zarattini and Compagnie Bancaire Helvétique, for not fulfilling their obligations in the fight against money laundering using PDVSA accounts. 
  • The president of the comptrollership commission of the National Assembly of Ecuador, Fernando Villavicencio, revealed a flight manifest from 2013, showing that former Colombian senator Piedad Córdoba and Alex Saab, traveled together. Her son was also on the flight and the plane is owned by a company whose owners have been taken to court for drug trafficking. 
  • The financial crimes unit obtained the private correspondence of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s former ambassador Raúl Morodo with high-ranking officials of the regime and handed it over to the Audiencia Nacional. Morodo asked for payments for his son and brokered in favor of large companies and businesses of the State. 
  • Crónica Uno said that three voting centers in Apure had to be moved because Plan República can’t guarantee the safety of voters since there’s a presence of irregular groups in the area. 
  • “I may not know that much about psychiatry, but I know a lot about elections. Write this down: they will never take our defeat from us!” said the speaker of Maduro’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, during the last campaign event in Miranda. 
  • EU observers have been deployed all across the country. The head of the mission, Isabel Santos, explained that the logistics are complicated but that everything is well organized and has run smoothly. 130 people will be covering over 1,000 voting stations. 
  • The World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank announced credits for over 800 million dollars to help with the integration of Venezuelans in Colombia. Vice President Marta Lucia Ramírez announced a temporary system for revalidating their degrees in Colombia. 
  • Venezuelan pianist Kristhyan Benítez won the Latin Grammy for Best Classical Music Album. 

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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