Caracas Chronicles

• Chavismo’s discourse on the Iranian-Venezuelan plane in Argentina lacked its culprit. They decided it would be President Alberto Fernández, because of his clear institutional weakness or the frailty of the coalition that got him in power. Nicolás asked for support from political and social movements of “Argentina peronista”  to recover the plane and release the crew. On Tuesday, the propaganda system was devoted to the topic, including a protest by public workers in uniform to demand the return of the plane. 
• Their internal communications effort won’t change the judicial circumstance of the Emtrasur plane. So, chavismo conditioned the negotiation in Mexico with the opposition to what might happen with the plane: “We won’t move on with the dialogue, or the negotiation or anything like that,” warned Jorge Rodríguez at Nicolás’s National Assembly. They already did it with Álex Saab and it didn’t work. Rodríguez didn’t say that the plane was owned by Mahan Air, sanctioned by the U.S. for operating as the logistics arm of terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Quds Force, but he did insult Argentina’s Prosecutor General Cecilia Incardona, who’s in charge of the investigation, called her a thief and said she’s an employee of the U.S. He said the judicial system is controlled by the U.S. Pedro Carreño insulted President Alberto Fernández, and he asked him to say “if he’s a puppet of the empire” or if he governs the country. Chavismo doesn’t understand branch independence.
• On Tuesday, there were protests in several states. Teachers and workers of the education sector demanded respect for their labor rights. They gathered at Universidad Central de Venezuela and denounced the damage inflicted by the Oficina Nacional de Presupuesto (Onapre) to salaries, spoke about new protests and ratified the call for the national protest on August 11th, to demand Nicolás honor payments to all public employees. They’ll also demand the release of imprisoned union leaders. After the assembly at UCV, they took over the highway and restricted traffic for a couple of minutes. 
• Maduro’s defense minister Vladimir Padrino López said he’ll establish contact with his Colombian counterpart, Iván Velásquez Gómez, to re-establish military relations. 
• Ruling out the rumor on Colombian media, President Gustavo Petro assured that he’s not thinking about holding a meeting with Nicolás and confirmed talks to normalize relations. 
• The Unitary Platform asked Petro to join Venezuelans’ fight for respect for human rights
• and free elections. They also asked for solidarity with Venezuelan citizens in Colombia. However, 41 NGOs spoke of their concern for a potential plan of “voluntary” return of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia. They fear that “voluntary” is a euphemism for collective deportation plans. 
• “On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we celebrate the memory and fight of native populations…” reads a tweet by one of Nicolás’s ministers, even though four Indigenous citizens were murdered recently and impunity reigns. Chavismo violates their rights often, in action and omission. 
• Luisa Pernalete, Fe y Alegría member, explained that Venezuelans who live in extreme poverty don’t go to school because of lack of access. He estimates that the gap between public and private education got even worse during the pandemic. 

NGO Control Ciudadano points at a new problem: active military officers are being appointed to head regional police forces. 

• Three Venezuelan migrants, including a 16-year-old teenager, died in Panama after being dragged by Armilla River, in Darien. 
• The tenth stop of the Diamond League 2022  starts in Monaco today. Yulimar Rojas seeks to break her records and consolidate her legendary status. 
• Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal asked Spain’s Audiencia Nacional for his release yet again, which they denied for risk of absconding. He said he needs to be free in order to better coordinate his defense before the extradition. 
• It’s been 167 days since the war in Ukraine started. Ukraine reported over 42,000 Russian casualties and Taiwan accused China of preparing an invasion on the island.