What Happened Last Week in Venezuela? đŽđ» The Opposition Has a New Candidate
Edmundo GonzĂĄlez Urrutia will be the opposition's candidate, the (long) return of sanctions and persecution continues.
White smoke from the Unitary Platform (again)
Unanimously, the Unitary Platform, MarĂa Corina Machado and Manuel Rosales agreed that former diplomat Edmundo GonzĂĄlez Urrutia âalready registered in the National Electoral Council (CNE) as a âplaceholderâ candidate for the MUD card â will be the opposition candidate. On Saturday, representatives of Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) went to the CNE to officialize the resignation of Manuel Rosales, who declined to support GonzĂĄlez Urrutia.
For now, the decision to join GonzĂĄlez Urrutia's candidacy would not include the former CNE rector and candidate Enrique MĂĄrquez, said the Platformâs Secretary Omar Barboza. "We don't know what decision he is going to make. He announced that, if we supported a candidate, he would continue running at least for a while," he added.
The decision came after a series of long meetings that included the presence of Machado, Rosales and MĂĄrquez as well as the opposition's chief negotiator Gerardo Blyde and the leaders of the Unitary Platform parties. MĂĄrquez previously said he hoped to be considered the Platformâs candidate.
The consensual decision was surprising after a series of public disputes between the different factions of the opposition: from public criticism by Luis Florido of UNT towards Leopoldo LĂłpez and Julio Borges to a comment by Rosales where he accused members of Vente Venezuela âMachado's part â of supporting âabstention and violence.â In fact, Machado compared Rosales' comments to those of Tarek W. Saab, the Attorney General of Venezuela who has presided over a crackdown against Vente.
Following the opposition's decision, the CNE gave a 72-hour extension for the replacement of candidates: generating speculation that Chavismo will replace Maduro with Governor Rafael Lacava or that the loyal 'oppositions' will unify their candidacies. Likewise, days before, President Gustavo Petro proposed to Brazilian President Lula Da Silva, the Venezuelan government, and sectors of the opposition the possibility of including a plebiscite in the elections to guarantee âa democratic pactâ and âcertainty and security [for the loser of the elections] about their life, about their rights, about the political guarantees that any human being should have in their respective country.â
The CNE also published a gazette rejecting four appeals challenging the nomination of candidates against: Rosales, Javier Bertucci, NicolĂĄs Maduro and Antonio Ecarri . There were no appeals against the MUD card or GonzĂĄlez Urrutia.
Elvis Amoroso âpresident of the CNEâ also reported that 604,964 new registrations were preliminarily registered in the Electoral Registry. That is, more than half a million new voters: or about 380,000 more than those who defined the 2013 presidential elections. Amoroso also said that some 847,999 changes of residence were registered. Previously, electoral experts had estimated that up to a million voters could have been affected by internal migration, keeping them away from their polling stations.
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The (long) return of sanctions
The United States replaced General License 44, which temporarily relaxed sanctions on Venezuelan oil and gas, with General License 44A, which authorizes a period until May 31 to wind down transactions related to oil and gas operations in Venezuela, reestablishing in June the sanctions regime prior to October. However, it allows those who have started oil operations in Venezuela to apply for specific licenses. The United States also renewed the suspension of General License 5, which protects Citgo âproperty of PDVSA controlled by the oppositionâ from bondholders. In response, Jorge RodrĂguez announced the suspension of the migrants repatriation agreement with the United States.
Meanwhile, the 2020 National Assembly approved the creation of the joint ventury Petrolera Roraima SA which will have an investment business plan of $13,576 billion. The Venezuelan State will have a 51% participation and a private company will own the remaining 49%. Roraima will take control of the assets expropriated from ConocoPhillips and is related to the company of a former SAIME official linked to a Brazilian emporium.
No country for human rights
Community leader and journalist Carlos Julio Rojas was detained in Caracas by two men dressed in black. Subsequently, the Public Ministry accused him of being an "instigator" and logistical "operator" in an alleged assassination attempt against Maduro on March 25. The alleged chats used as evidence show signs of digital manipulation, said the fact-checking siteCazadores de Fake News . Rojas will be charged with terrorism, association, conspiracy, instigation to commit a crime and attempted assassination, announced Tarek W. Saab . âRojas is not a terrorist. âHe is a journalist, human rights activist and community leader,â said the National College of Journalists.
Also, the Monitor on the Use of Lethal Force in Venezuela (MULFLVEN) found that a quarter of the homicides in the country are committed by the State. âIt is a clear indication of an abusive use of force,â said Keymer Ăvila, from MULFLVEN, âThis is something that has not been observed in any other country. Not to mention that these cases are just underreporting.â
A study by the NGO Mi Convive also found that 57% of students in low-income areas of the Libertador municipality in Caracas dropped out of school due to the country's economic crisis. 81% of them dropped out even though they wanted to continue studying but did not have the resources.
Good news: the presidents of the Venezuelan Academies met with the rector of the Central University of Venezuela, Victor Rago, to establish an alliance to ârebuildâ higher education in Venezuela.
The purge continues
Also, the Public Ministry confirmed the death of Colonel Marino JosĂ© Lugo Aguilar who was detained as part of the PDVSA-Crypto corruption plot. According to the prosecution, the evidence points to hanging as the cause of death. It would be the third death, and the second alleged suicide, related to the PDVSA-Crypto plot. Also, the three De Grazia SuĂĄrez brothers âowners of national bank Bancamigaâ were arrested and will be charged with âtreason to the fatherlandâ for participating in the scheme.
Other arrests, of former vice ministers, have been unofficially reported but have not yet been confirmed by the Ministry.
Open veins of Indigenous America
Health authorities investigate the deaths of Warao children in Delta Amacuro. At least 12 deaths have been reported from a disease that, according to the chief of the Nabasanuka community, shows symptoms such as fever, headache, neck pain, and seizures.
Also, in Zulia, the protests by the Yukpas of the Sierra de PerijĂĄ restarted for the alleged failure to comply with the agreements raised in a meeting they had with a government mediation commission on April 13.
Recommendations
Given the return of sanctions, Caracas Chronicles analyzed more than a dozen reports and studies âcomplex and sometimes contradictoryâ to review their effect on the society and economy of Venezuela. I invite you to read the overview.
The Wall Street Journal recounts how a group of Wall Street bondholders, whose access to buying Venezuelan debt was prohibited by sanctions, demonstrated to the US government that Russian buyers were replacing them. Thus, they managed to lift the ban.