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We appreciate your ongoing support and interest. At the moment, we are undergoing some transitions regarding our coverage of Venezuela and Latin America. We thank you for your patience while we reorganise our blog in accordance with other Amsterdam & Peroff interests. In the meantime, our main page continues as per the norm.
More to come shortly.
Those living in the country's interior said the decision to suspend power cuts just in the capital is discriminatory. Authorities, customers, students and workers demonstrated their anger in states such as Anzoategui, Bolivar and Carabobo. They said they have been experiencing an energy crisis for more than a year. In Zulia, Enelven decided to suspend the service for two hours. Source: El Universal
Here's Freedom House Research director Arch Puddington, speaking to the AP on the just-released Freedom House report: "The most powerful authoritarian regimes have become more repressive, more influential in the international arena and more uncompromising."
Among these more repressive regimes are Iran, Russia, Venezuela and Vietnam.
From the report itself:
Venezuela received a downward trend arrow due to the politically motivated disqualification of opposition candidates and the abuse of state resources by incumbent politicians during state and local elections.
The government is suspending electrical power for four hours every other day throughout Venezuela as a move that intensifies rationing amidst an energy shortage in the country. The presidents of the state electricity companies of Caracas, Zulia and Tachira states announced plans to ration four hours that will apply immediately. The head of the state-run company Electricity of Caracas, Javier Alvarado, told reporters that starting today the outages will last for four hours every two days, that they are seeking to address the "energy deficit of 12%" generated by failures in the Guri dam. Confronted with the risks that the Guri dam has begun facing, the government imposed a reduction in the hours of stores and shopping malls and obligated residential, commercial and industrial areas to reduce monthly energy consumption by 20 percent. The government has also closed some lines and cells of state-owned enterprises Aluminio del Caroni SA (Alcasa) Industria Venezolana de Aluminio CA (Venalum) and Siderurgica del Orinoco (Sidor), which are important in the local construction industry.
From Hamsayeh:
The Venezuelan government announced it has removed visa requirements for Iranian nationals wishing to visit the Latin American nation, yesterday. The announcement followed an agreement signed in March 2009, between the presidents of the two countries.
Venezuela is now the third Latin American country that lifts visa requirements for Iranian visitors after Nicaragua and Ecuador enacted similar measures last year.
Iran and progressive Latin American countries have expanded mutual ties in economic, political and cultural fields. However, Iran's cooperation with Latin American countries has become a major concern for Washington, which regards South America like its own backyard and a region to wield influence at will.
Caracas, Jan. 11 (El Mundo) .- Former Central Bank governor Domingo Maza Zavala estimated that inflation for 2010 could reach between 50 and 60% as a result of Friday's devaluation. To Maza Zavala, the parallel market "will remain of great importance in setting prices if officials maintain the current scheme of limitation and delay in the liquidation of official dollar settlement. "The parallel market will not disappear, because those who fail obtain official dollars will have to resort to barter to get dollars, especially if problems persist with Cadivi transactions," he said. Last year the sector faced delays of 180 days in the delivery of Cadivi dollars, which resulted in many people going to the parallel market. The result, according to Maza Zavala, was that the price of imported wholesale products increased 35.7%.
"If a good part of imports were bought at 2.15 and now will be priced at 4.30, it is inevitable that inflation will double," said Maza Zavala, and for that reason he estimates that prices this year will be between 50 and 60% higher than last year. He based his analysis on two fundamental facts: a fall in purchasing power of between 30 and 40% for Venezuelans - which will reduce consumption - and increased demand for parallel market dollars. "If with a floor of 2.15 bolivars to the dollar the alternate market reached values three times higher, the rise will be much greater with a floor of 4.30 bolivars to the dollar," he said. For products in stock, he believes people are trying to buy everything they can and that means depletion of inventories that will need to be replenished. "The problem is that without knowing what the replacement cost will be, prices will surely rise."
Original report accessible (in Spanish) here.
Afiuni, who has in detention at INOF, was taken to court handcuffed and wearing a bulletproof vest, said attorney Juan Garantón. They awaited the results of today's hearing, although the court's decision has the possibility of being adopted. Source: Noticias 24
For MP Nerio Romero it is irresponsible and an environmental ecocide which PDVSA is committing in its inadequate functioning that has led Lake Maracaibo becoming a garbage dump. The situation that exists along the east coast of the lake is "very serious" thanks to the large amount of oil spills in Lake Maracaibo, the breakdown of networks, pipelines, dead fish, economic losses, gas leaks, among other things, causing concern and despair among residents and businesses in the area. Access the website of the Legislative Council for Zulia State (Clez) here.
Por Zapata, diario El Nacional:
Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni was taken in handcuffs and a bullet-proof vest from the National Institute of Feminine Orientation (INOF) to Control Court #50 of Caracas to notify her that she will remain in detention while the prosecution collects evidence for processing her for allegedly participating in a plan to allow the escape of banker Eligio Cedeño. According to testimony offered by her lawyer Sandy Guevara, Judge Afiuni was guarded by 17 National Guard soldiers. "Overall the doctor was calm, quiet, cheerful, with her head held high," Guevara said. Moreover, the director of the Human Rights Office of the Catholic University Andrés Bello (UCAB), Ligia Bolivar, reported yesterday that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued an emergency protective measure for Afiuni which solicits the Venezuelan government to adopt the necessary measures to guarantee the life and physical integrity of the judge, to transfer her to a safe place and report on the proceedings of the case.
Honestly, who really knows what the truth is about this whole alleged US spy plane fiasco that Primo Hugo is harping about. What we do know is where he obtained the photo he flashed at the press conference on the topic the other day.
Um, Wikipedia?
Or, if you want a full trace-back of where the photo came from, just go here.
And then there's US Chargé d'Affaires John Caulfield's statement to El Universal:
"I was summoned by Foreign Minister (Nicolás Maduro) and he expressed his concern over what he considered a violation of the Venezuelan airspace, but I explained to him that based on the information I received from my government there was no airspace violation. I told him that the news that has been published is related to an event that occurred two years ago and some media have reported it as if it had happened recently."
Curious, no? Not really. Just another attempt of the Chavez government to distract and diffuse.
From the members of RELIAL:
The members of the Liberal Network for Latin America (RELIAL) condemn the adoption of the Popular Participation and Empowerment Act in Venezuela's National Assembly, executed on the orders of President Chávez.
The adoption of the Law violates the sovereign will of the Venezuelan people, who through the 2007 referendum rejected what is now sanctioned by parliament. With this move, the Chavez government uses the methodology of authoritarian regimes, dictating laws by surprise and disobeying the country's own constitution.
If you've been paying attention at all to the energy situation in Bolivia, there isn't much new in this New York Times report on the situation, but I thought the following quotes were worth some emphasis:
Carlos Alberto López, an energy secretary in a previous administration: "We are awakening to the reality that our energy nationalism is shooting us in the foot."
"Evo's nationalization was an astute move politically in the short term," said Roger Tissot, a specialist in South American energy politics at Gas Energy, a Brazilian consulting firm, citing the increase in social spending made possible here by higher revenues. "But in the long term Bolivia is boxing itself in."
In keeping with the previously posted Venezuela edition, following are a few regional stories that came out during the holidays that are worth keeping in mind.
"I think and I hope this is the beginning of the end of a long process that began in 1983 with the return of democracy." - Gastón Chillier, director of the Buenos Aires-based Center for Legal and Social Studies, as told to the Washington Post's Juan Forero in a report on Argentina's Dirty War trials.
* * *
"Would you rather destabilize small countries in the Caribbean or Mexico, which shares a 2,000-mile border with the U.S., is your third-biggest trading partner and has 100 million people?" - anonymous Mexican government official
The Wall Street Journal's David Luhnow discusses growing support for legalising marijuana as a measure to fight drug trafficking, Mexico's supplanting of Colombia as the locus of power for the business, price discovery mechanics and much much more:
Anyone with any p.r. sense will tell you that the most ignored news is that which is released when everyone is heading to a holiday or already there. This past holiday season saw some interesting news both in Venezuela and elsewhere in the region that I just want to make sure didn't go unnoticed. Here are a few items:
Congratulations to Brian Nelson for making the Economist's Books of the Year list:
A scrupulous account of one of the most important, yet most misunderstood, events in recent South American history. It should be read by all those who believe that Hugo Chávez is a worthy champion of democracy and the oppressed.
See our interview with him last August here.
Jeremy Morgan of the LAHT takes a stroll into Caracas' most dangerous neighbourhood and finds the following:
The day before the application of economic measures announced by the government, hundreds of Venezuelans stood in long lines yesterday at appliance stores and supermarkets to buy food and products for fear that prices rise when it comes into force today devaluation announced by the President Hugo Chávez. Source: Diario 2001
By Luis, Diario de Guayana:
As part of the measures announced on Friday, President Chavez established a dual exchange rate system which provides a rate of 2.60 bolivars for essential imports and 4.30s bolivars for the rest of its external purchases. The latter is referred to as oil dollars, because starting today PDVSA will sell dollars to the Central Bank of Venezuela at that rate. This will increase by 100 percent the payment of royalties and income tax. To finance the budget this year, the oil contribution is expected to be 39.4 billion bolivars, assuming an oil price of $40 a barrel and output of 3.1 million barrels a day. In the estimation, the bolivar exchange rate was 2.15, but now the industry will be using the exchange rate of 4.30 bolivars. Therefore, the adjustment would allow the total contribution will be close to that provided at the beginning of 2009, which is more than Bs 70 billion.
