What Happened Last Week in Venezuela?
The courts could take down the primaries, Chevron's reduces its end-year projections and Colombia's ambassador is fired.
Will The TSJ Kill The Primaries?
Luis Ratti –a little-known politician associated with Chavismo, who presided over the Hugo Chávez Bolivarian Front, and today claims to be in the opposition with a non-existent party that usurps the images and logo of a Mexican party– filed a constitutional complaint before the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) to intervene in the opposition primaries, which he described as a "flawed process" of "marked partiality" controlled by "organized opposition mafias." Ratti expects the TSJ to impose a new National Commission of Primaries, as it has done with the leadership of opposition parties that were later co-opted. Jesús María Casal, president of the National Commission of Primaries, assured that "there has not been any type of exclusion" against Ratti. Freddy Superlano, Voluntad Popular’s precandidate, proposed an opposition consensus candidate if the TSJ prevents the primaries from taking place.
Casal also explained that the contenders will be asked for a voluntary donation to finance the process and frozen funds from the State will not be accepted. On Friday, the National Primary Commission announced that it will request technical assistance from the National Electoral Council (CNE) for the primaries once they confirm with the CNE specifications on various aspects and guarantees, including protection of voter identity (eg: use of fingerprint scanners).
In addition, the debate of opposition pre-candidates at UCAB was postponed to July 12 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. So far, four pre-candidates had confirmed their participation without objection. Three more expressed their willingness, but due to their schedule they could be absent on the original date. The confirmed four were César Pérez Vivas, Tamara Adrián, Roberto Enríquez and Carlos Prosperi. Maria Corina Machado, Delsa Solorzano and Freddy Superlano had shown their willingness.
Also, Henrique Capriles –pre-candidate for Primero Justicia– was physically attacked by Chavista women while touring a town in the state of Carabobo. Other opposition leaders, such as Juan Guaidó and Pérez Vivas, expressed their solidarity. Andrés Caleca, who was president of the National Electoral Council before Chavismo, also announced his pre-candidacy.
Question Of Narratives
Nicolás Maduro, after months without leaving the country, visited Brasilia for a summit of regional leaders. Brazilian President Lula da Silva said Venezuela suffered from "prejudice" and that allegations of "anti-democracy and authoritarianism" in the country were a "constructed narrative." Luis Lacalle Pou, the center-right president of Uruguay, called for the region "not to cover the sun with a finger" on Venezuela. Gabriel Boric, the center-left president of Chile, said that the human rights situation in Venezuela is "a serious reality" and not a "narrative construction." Even four former ministers of Hugo Chávez questioned Lula's statements. Maduro, for his part, offered electricity to Brazil: although blackouts are daily in Venezuela.
And Colombia? Removing from office his controversial ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti. The decision is due to a long political scandal that also involves Laura Sarabia, Gustavo Petro's Chief of Staff who was removed from her post, in which she accused her son's former nanny of stealing a briefcase containing large monetary sums. The babysitter was subjected to the polygraph irregularly and Sanabria accuses Benedetti of blackmailing her. The United States withdrew Benedetti's visa.
Chevron is not so chévere
Chevron is reducing its estimated year-end oil production target in Venezuela from 200,000 bpd to 175,000 bpd, according to sources familiar with the operations consulted by Argus, due to problems with the infrastructure to transport the crude in Zulia. In addition, Venezuelan crude exports fell 14% in May. The reduction cuts the expectations regarding the new phase of exploitation of crude by the American company.
Meanwhile, Trinidad is asking the United States for financial amendments to the license that allows it to develop with Shell and PDVSA a gas field in the Venezuelan maritime territory. The authorization issued in January prohibits payments to the Maduro government.
In Venezuela, Pedro Tellechea – the new president of PDVSA and Minister of Petroleum – is seeking to improve employee benefits at the national oil company and has appointed new managers who have been described by employees as more open and collaborative. However, moving the company forward will require a massive project that demands more than a new team.
And to the north, claims in US courts targeting Citgo assets exceed $20 billion, making it difficult for the PDVSA company to compensate them all, said the head of the company's managing board, Horacio Medina. Meanwhile, the opposition continues its budget fights: Primero Justicia reduced the 2015 National Assembly budget to merely defending assets, leading to Voluntad Popular's Yon Goicoechea to comparing PJ to Chavismo. Henrique Capriles, the PJ candidate, also fought weeklong with detractors on Twitter, comparing a critical outlet with the Chavista channel VTV.
The Good, The Bad... And The Weird?
The good
The Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas exceeded its fundraising goal in the UCAB 2023 Becatón (“scholarship fest”) and managed to raise $305,000 dollars: well above what it raised in the first Becatón in 2021. The funds will grant scholarships to 2,400 students.
The National Armed Force reported that it maintains deployed the contingent of more than 5,000 officers assigned to scrutiny and patrol operations against illegal mining in the Guiana Shield.
The bad
Human rights activist Linda Loaiza resigned from a project at the Metropolitan University in Caracas after an honorary degree was awarded to the historian Germán Carrera Damas, uncle of the attacker who kidnapped, sexually assaulted and tortured her in 2001.
The rains are raging again. 500 families are affected in four municipalities of Barinas. Ten communities –with 450 affected families, including 60 who’ve lost their belongings– flooded in El Callao. 101 families are affected in Táchira. And it's only the beginning of June.
The trial of Roland Carreño, a journalist linked to the interim government of Juan Guaidó and considered a political prisoner, was postponed once again.
At least 12 people died after they ran out of oxygen in a mine in El Callao, in Bolívar.
The weird
24,223 Russian tourists –counting 452 who arrived last weekend– have visited Margarita since 2021, reported the Deputy Minister of International Tourism Leticia Gómez.
Recommendation
“93% of the Venezuelan population would prefer not to have to depend on the bags or boxes of food from the Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP), however, the current economic crisis means that at least 43% of the population in the communities sees the need to receive them,” reports [in Spanish] Crónica Uno. Mirla “Pérez [director of the Alejandro Moreno Center of Popular Research], indicated that these two areas coexist within the communities. The communitary focused on traditions and the support between neighbors. And the communal, framed in the social control that the State exercises towards the population. She added that the relationship of the neighbors with the communal institutions is solely for benefits and not because they really believe in the Chavista political project. Proof of this is the presence of the CLAPs in 89% of the communities, versus the Sociopolitical Articulation and Action Networks (RAAS) which are purely ideological and which are only reported in 14% of the communities.”