Caracas Chronicles

• Chavismo is obsessed with changing history and symbols to fit their ideology.  On Monday, the Municipal Council didn’t celebrate the 455th anniversary of Caracas, but “the day of Caracas’ resistance, by awarding the Waraira Repano decoration to Fundapatrimonio president María Elisa Domínguez, who didn’t speak about protecting cultural heritage, but about the Caribe Indigenous tribe, while the cases of four murdered Indigenous citizens remain unsolved. Chavismo imposed a new coat of arms, anthem, and flag for the city of Caracas. Municipal authorities are submerged in their own projects for destruction. The authorities of the Universidad Central de Venezuela question the monument to honor Nicolás’s vice president and disrespect Carlos Raúl Villanueva’s original project and the mechanisms to determine if this monument qualifies or not. The Rodríguez siblings inspected the project yesterday… But let’s not forget that Diego de Losada founded Santiago de León de Caracas on July, 25th, 1567.
• Economic activity grew by 12.3% during the first two quarters of the year, compared to the same period in 2021, reported the Venezuelan Observatory of Finance (OVF) which indicates this growth can be explained by the increase of oil production, the end of hyperinflation and the increased spending by the government. 
• The OVF highlighted a 36.3% oil production increase, which they attributed to production having stabilized at around 700,000 bpd. The BCV hasn’t reported anything on it. 
• The BCV increased by 26% (up to $120 million) the dollars it’s selling to the banking system to try to stop the exchange rate. In 2022, the BCV has used $2,650 million just for that purpose. 
• Oil trafficking figures have put Colombia and the U.S. on alert: in 13 illegal operations tracked by the Colombian police in the last five years, they found a network opened an illegal route to export Venezuelan oil using Ecopetrol infrastructure. 
• Diosdado Cabello asked PSUV members to denounce corruption since he disagrees with retaliation against those who speak out. He also said that he’ll ratify his lawsuit against 
• Guatire mayor Raziel Rodríguez said that PSUV will attack anyone who uses a political position to abuse anyone. 

About the Monómeros case, Cabello expects that Gustavo Petro’s government will open an investigation. He said Monómeros is an example of how the opposition would govern Venezuela. 

• There were 214 attacks and safety incidents against human rights activists during the first half of the year, reported the Centro para Los Defensores y la Justicia. It’s 43% less than last year, but Marianna Romero explained the government has perfected its criminalization policies and those who defend human rights are at risk. 
• ANC-imposed prosecutor general Tarek William Saab said that they’re making progress in terms of justice and human rights and assured that they’re working on improving service for vulnerable populations. 
• The court hearing on the case of FundaRedes activists was postponed for August. Director Javier Tarazona is still in prison and he had finally been taken to court for the hearing. 
• The Venezuelan regime just submitted its candidacy for the UN Human Rights Council for 2023-2025.
• Humberto Figuera, president of the Asociación de Líneas Aéreas en Venezuela, said that Iberia operations will resume on October 30th, and that the INAC authorized three flights to Madrid per week for Plus Ultra, Air Europa and Conviasa. 
• The Venezuelan Communist Party denounced that aggressions by PSUV have increased, even in the National Assembly, where PCV deputy 
• Kenia released three Venezuelans that were arrested last week with electoral materials. 
• Federal judge Federico Villena ordered the Argentinean customs department to release all cargo that was on the Emtrasur plane.