Caracas Chronicles

• On Tuesday, the Iranian economy minister, Mohsen Kousheshtabar, said the regime handed Iran one million hectares of farmland for cultivation. Maduro visited Teheran in June and signed a 20-year cooperation agreement in science, technology, agriculture, oil, gas, tourism, and culture. Yesterday, Maduro talked about treason and conspiracy and reiterated his request to the Armed Forces and police corps to remain alert because of “last-minute terrorist threats” coming from Bogota and said there are conspiracy plans with terrorists and traitors born in Venezuela. So, according to Maduro: Iran sows, Colombia plots, and Venezuelans betray (although he’s the one giving away our land. 
• Maduro’s National Assembly (AN) ratified and sworn in Daniel Ramírez Herrera as Ombudsman.  Jorge Rodríguez emphasized that he must look out for rights, due process, and that every citizen gets oportune justice.  
• The AN approved agreements for the 239th anniversary of Simón Bolívar’s birth, 119th anniversary of the Maracaibo Lake Battle, the Day of the Armed Forces, you know, priority issues for the country. 
• Ramón Guillermo Aveledo, former secretary general of the Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (MUD) considers that the opposition has three main challenges: holding the primaries, define a communal, credible strategy and “define what does ‘change’ mean, what’s the promise for the future they’re making.” He warned that consensus is important, but there’s too much political fragmentation and little authority to reach a consensus. 
• The vice president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Enrique Márquez, said that the CNE doesn’t get involved in primaries: “They’re not obligated to use the CNE to hold them, they’re autonomous organizations and can do their primaries however they want. The CNE is there, available and willing to receive any request.” He said they’re involvement wouldn’t entail organizing the process but providing technical and technological support. 
• Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) said that the unitary candidate should be elected in two rounds of primaries. “Hopefully, this unitary candidate will also use a unitary platform on the ballot, said Felipe Mujica, MAS secretary general. 
• The Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict registered 3,892 protests in the first half of the year, an average of 22 per day, a 15% increase compared to 2021: “Venezuela is still going through a complex humanitarian emergency, society rejects social control and closing down of civilian and democratic spaces.” 
• On their last public utilities report, Cedice Libertad reported that 85% of users of Cantv-ABA internet service reported between two and eight internet outages per day. They denounced that “some Cantv teams charge up to $300 to reconnect internet service and landlines.” 
• The PNB subpoenaed journalist Ernestina García, to reveal the source she used for a piece about a traffic accident where a five-year-old boy died, said the National Press Workers Guild. According to Noticia Al Día, a CICPC officer on an Empire RKD motorbike was involved. 
• Special attorney Enrique Sánchez Falcón (the attorney general of the Guaidó caretakership) accused Primero Justicia of obstructing his work, saying that they’ve refused to cooperate with the office and attacked him as they’ve attacked the caretaker government. He confessed he wasn’t optimistic regarding the fate of Monómeros, because Gustavo Petro recognizes Nicolás.

Journalist Roland Carreño’s hearing was postponed for the second time because the PNB officers that had to be interrogated didn’t show up. 

• The Armed Forces deactivated 30 explosives installed by irregular groups in Apure, on the border with Colombia, according to a statement by CEOFANB commander  Domingo Hernández Lárez.
• The Delegation of Israeli Associations in Argentina (DAIA), asked the justice system to forbid the crew of the Iranian-Venezuelan plane from leaving the country. The aircraft has been retained because of alleged ties to international terrorism. 
• The EU approved extending sanctions against Russia for six more months. Moscow is threatening to quit dropping out of the International Space Station after 2024, a scientific project with tremendous symbolic value. 
• The EU achieved an agreement on reducing gas consumption for the winter. The IMF thinks that Russia will feel the burden of the sanctions in 2023.