What Happened Last Week in Venezuela? ⛓️ Tareck El Aissami Was Jailed
El Aissami is in prison, Rosales and Machado haven't reached an agreement and oil production fell.
Tareck El Aissami is in prison
Attorney General Tarek William Saab confirmed the arrest of former ministers Tareck El Aissami and Simón Zerpa as well as the businessman close to Chavismo Samark López. El Aissami, previously the powerful oil minister, had not appeared publicly in more than a year: when his Chavista faction was purged following a massive corruption scandal at PDVSA.
Saab accused El Aissami and other detainees of "being directly linked to Washington to destroy the Venezuelan economy" (El Aissami has been sanctioned by the US since 2017 and faces drug trafficking charges in the Manhattan Federal Court since 2019). In addition, he said that the rise of the parallel dollar, the destruction of the national currency and the failure of the Executive's economic policies were driven by the “mafia headed by Tareck El Aissami” that sought to “implode ” the Venezuelan economy.
Further north, former Venezuelan general Clíver Alcalá Cordones was sentenced to more than 21 years in prison in the United States for supplying weapons to the rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
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The opposition in its labyrinth
Colombian President Gustavo Petro traveled to Caracas and met with Nicolás Maduro and “opposition sectors.” Later, his Foreign Minister Luis G. Murillo confirmed that he met only with Manuel Rosales. However, Murillo said that he has spoken “confidentially” with María Corina Machado and that they maintain “permanent communication” with the Venezuelan opposition. "Political peace in Venezuela can mean armed peace in Colombia," Petro later said.
Also, an expected meeting between Machado, Rosales and the Unitary Platform –to define the future of the opposition candidacy– did not end up happening over the weekend because an agreement was not reached on whether it should be a meeting only between the two or with the rest of the representatives of the parties. Several parties confirmed the meeting proposal, but different versions of what happened were given, alleging that discussions are ongoing or that a confirmation is being awaited.
Primero Justicia, Voluntad Popular and Encuentro Ciudadano assured that Machado called the meeting and invited the Unitary Platform and Rosales. Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT), on the other hand, says that Rosales has not received a "formal invitation." However, UNT said they were willing to talk to Machado.
Meanwhile, the non-intervened branch of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) denied that its party is supporting Rosales' candidacy, as the Zulian governor claimed. The non-judicialized PCV had tried to register its own candidate, but was blocked by the CNE.
Remote assassination
Héctor Barros, prosecutor in charge of the case investigating the murder of former Venezuelan military officer Ronald Ojeda in Chile, stated that according to his investigation, the crime “was organized and requested from Venezuela.”
“Venezuela and its Ministry Public has the most absolute willingness to cooperate in the fight against crime transnational and offers Chile all his experience in the fight against these crime groups organized,” said the Venezuelan attorney general.
Will oil and gas sanctions return on April 18?
As the six-month license on Venezuelan oil and gas draws to a close, a group of Democratic and Republican U.S. senators urged President Joe Biden to reimpose sanctions on the Venezuelan government because, they say, the presidential elections will not be free or fair.
According to economist Asdrúbal Oliveros, director of the firm Ecoanalítica, “there will not be a significant drop in production (…) rather, production stagnates, its ability to grow is limited” if the license is revoked. According to Oliveros, oil will have to be sold at discounts again, generating estimated losses of $1.5 billion between April 18 and the end of the year. “The implications for me are not so short term, they are more medium and long term," he said.
Oliveros also pointed out that expectations of a significant injection of public spending have fallen due to the shortened electoral schedule. The economist said that the low public spending affected the results of the first quarter: “We do not see a drop in the numbers (…) they do not reflect levels of contraction, but neither do they reflect a great expansion of the economy that more or less remains stagnant in sales".
However, Jorge Rodríguez confirmed meetings in Mexico between the governments of the United States and Venezuela –as previously reported by Bloomberg– to discuss sanctions, migration of Venezuelans and “what was agreed upon in the Doha talks.”
Meanwhile, OPEC reported a drop in Venezuelan production in March: 14,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) less according to secondary sources and 3000 bpd less according to the official source. The drop may be due to numerous electrical faults that have affected refineries recently.
Also, Venezuela is discussing compensation with at least two Colombian companies whose assets were confiscated during Hugo Chávez's government, said Colombian Trade Minister Germán Umaña. The companies would be Cementos Argos and a subsidiary of Ciamsa.
The fight for the Esequibo
Although for months Venezuela rejected the case of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on its territorial dispute with Guyana, the Venezuelan State presented its counter-memorial on Monday before the ICJ to defend its claim over the Esequibo. However, Venezuela reiterated that it maintains its position of not recognizing the jurisdiction of the ICJ.
Postcards of repression
Four people were arrested in Mérida after being accused of "inciting hatred" after sharing a video on WhatsApp that talks about corruption and links the governor of this entity, Jehyson Guzmán, and his associates.
Conatel ordered the closure of Radio Krystal FM 105.1. According to the regulatory body, the concession has expired, although the owners of the station claim to have carried out the procedure.
A prosecutor, accompanied by security officers, raided the headquarters of the TNO Radio station in Caracas and ordered the station to be taken off the air.
Maduro proposed a “constitutional reform” to establish life sentences in Venezuela, allegedly against corrupt people.
The humanitarian response in Venezuela
OCHA, the United Nations humanitarian agency, said that more than 791,000 people in Venezuela received humanitarian aid in February: 15% of the goal set for 2024 (5.1 million people). This is a significant increase from February 2023 (365,000 people). The clusters that served the largest number of people were Food Security and Livelihoods (504,000 people), Health (277,000 people), and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (80,000 people). Together with 94 humanitarian organizations, OCHA reached 262 municipalities. However, only $9.6 million of the $617 million required to execute Venezuela's Humanitarian Response Plan has been received.
Fires
Fires continue throughout the country. According to the Ministry of Ecosocialism, 3,115 fires have affected 61,000 hectares since December in different states of Venezuela. Between 4,500 and 5,000 hectares of high mountains have been affected in national parks.
The schools are falling apart... But they are decolonized!
The Minister of Education said that 6,415 educational establishments in Venezuela have changed their names since a year and a half ago as part of a "decolonization" plan. However, not all the names removed are colonial: Monsignor Sixto Sosa, the name of one of the renamed schools, died in 1943.