Caracas Chronicles

• On Wednesday, the National Electoral Council (CNE) changed the electoral registry to reassign Jorge Arreaza and Claudio Fermín to new voting centers. The candidates used to vote in Caracas and Miranda. They’ll now vote in Barinas, meaning they’re allowed to vote in two places in the same election, which is an electoral crime. Chavismo has used this tactic before to favor some candidates and hurt voters, which makes the fact that the CNE said it was a unanimous decision even more enraging.
• Freddy Superlano won with less than 200 votes before the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) ordered holding elections again in January. Then, the office of the Comptroller barred four candidates and now the CNE moved two candidates to a different voting center. They abuse their power more blatantly and the tragedy for voters is that if more voters are moved or Plan República kidnaps voting tallies again there’s no institution to help them. The Electoral Chamber of the TSJ dismissed Freddy Superlano’s request to review the rulings against him. 
• Josep Borrell praised the Venezuelan electoral system despite everything that’s been reported. On the same day as Borrell’s statement, Maduro’s vice president accused EU and Carter Center observers of “sabotaging the elections.” 
• Maduro appointed José Biomorgi as his new Industry minister, taking over for Jorge Arreaza. 
• Táchira governor Freddy Bernal will take over Politáchira, reported Remigio Ceballos Ichaso. Managing the state police was always one of the governor’s responsibilities, but they had reassigned it because an opposition governor had won Táchira. 
• Deputy Luis Eduardo Martínez said that they’ll present a new budget proposal on Friday and said that their proposal is based on opening the economy and approving some measures that investors from the country and abroad can trust. 

14 healthcare workers died of COVID-19 from November 15th to December 6th, reported Médicos Unidos. A total of 806 healthcare workers have died during the pandemic.

• Economist Asdrúbal Oliveros assured that one of the biggest mistakes this year was the exchange rate projection, which wasn’t expected because of the government’s dollar spending and injecting cash artificially. He emphasized that if financial dollarization happens in 2022, the government could charge taxes in dollars 
• Delcy Rodríguez assured that “Venezuela is producing 90% of its food.” 
• The National Supermarket Association reported a positive balance in 2021, with a 12% consumption increase this year. “The trend has grown, even with the impact of the pandemic, and it’s brought new entrepreneurs, actors and dynamization despite the structural issues that are still to resolve,” said Italo Atencio.

Venezuela is ranked 128th out of 129 countries on the Property Rights Index 2021. Haiti was ranked last. 

• UCV students protested against Jaqueline Farías: “There’s no such thing as a protector for UCV. She’s equal to inefficiencies, like Guaire River, Cantv and Libertador municipality” said Luis Palacios, president of the student council federation.
• Primero Justicia’s Carlos Paparoni is one of the winners of the U.S. Anti-Corruption Awards 2021.
•  Brazil has granted refugee status to 46,412 Venezuelan citizens in the last ten years, reported the Brazilian Justice Ministry.