Russia is building arms plants in the Venezuelan state of Aragua to produce AK-103 automatic rifles and cartridges and is finalising contracts to send 53 military helicopters to the Andean nation, a project that would employ more than 1,500 workers, Moscow's envoy to Venezuela said Monday. In recent years, Venezuela has bought over $4 billion in weapons from Russia, including 24 Sukhoi fighter jets. Critics say Caracas is fueling an arms race in Latin America. Chavez says he is modernising the military for defensive purposes. When Chavez he returned from his latest trip to Russia in September, he said Russia had agreed to lend Venezuela $2.2 billion to purchase 92 tanks and an S-300 missile system that can shoot down fighter jets and cruise missiles.
Henry Ramos Allup, secretary general of Acción Democrática, filed a complaint naming government officials and businessmen associated with the current administration who have committed acts of corruption that led to the current banking crisis in the country. Minister of Energy and PDVSA President Rafael Ramirez leads the list, accompanied by Arne Chacon, brother of the Science and Technology Minister Jesse Chacón; Ricardo Fernandez Barruecos, banker and insurance company owner; Pedro Torres Ciliberto, banker; and Alejandro Andrade, treasurer of the republic. According to Ramos Allup, the government's takeover of four banks is just the "tip of the iceberg" of "complicity" or "co-authorship" of public officials to amass "gross fortunes", who now constitute the so-called 'Boligarchy'. On behalf of the unity of the opposition, Ramos Allup gave details of the research that has been done to date. He noted that there were some irregularities with debt issuance, namely that a handful of people was previously chosen to buy the debt at an artificially low price in order to then resell it at a markup in the secondary market. "The most serious matter here is that the government deposited its own actual deposits in those banks to purchase that debt so that it did not risk a penny nor its assets, the businessmen sold the debt on the secondary market and profited tremendously from the intermediation and did not pay the government for the borrowed money."
Given that any recovery is impossible as a result of the liquidation the government ordered of Banpro and Banco Canarias, 2,223 workers will lose their jobs and 725,000 savers will be guaranteed up to only 10,000 bolivars. Uncertainty and concern was the mood among people who queued up at 9 o'clock yesterday morning outside the bank branches. Employees expected an explanation of why their accounts were blocked, and they will not be able to access their deposits to pay utilities or receive their paychecks. Iris Noriega, a small business officer from Banco Canarias in El Rosal said that managers must continue working until the liquidation is finalised. Assistant manager José Luis Pérez reiterated that the only thing that workers have been informed of is that they must wait until the liquidators have commenced action.
Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma denounced on Monday night the fact that his office's resources that would be used to pay workers laid off from Banco Canarias, one of four financial institutions taken over by the government and which has been targeted for liquidation. According to Ledezma beginning the day after the takeovers were announced, city officials asked bank management to allow deposits, to no avail. As a result of the government's takeover and forthcoming liquidation of Canarias, the Mayor's office finances are in a legal vacuum.
Francisco Alarcón, secretary general of the National Electricity Federation (Fetraelec), in conjunction with Luis Bocaruido of the Bolivar Electricity (Elebol) and a Cadafe delegation rejected the assertion that there is no money for signing a collective bargaining contract for the power sector. Alarcón again questioned the measure to leave workers hanging, for the second time since last week while a working agreement was supposedly meant to be consummated. After the change of leadership President Chávez ordered, union leaders consider it unacceptable that among there are insufficient funds among 11 companies. "It is not acceptable that only 20 million bolivars is available," Alarcón said, while indicating that this not only warrants concern but a thorough investigation.
Former Inter-American Court of Human Rights judge, Venezuelan national Asdrubal Aguiar, said the government is guilty of a double standard when it protests against U.S. bases in Colombia on the one hand, while at the same time allowing Cuban officials to work in Venezuelan government agencies on the other hand. "We have 60,000 Cubans covered by Miraflores and two rings of the president's security and not a modicum of respect for national dignity." Aguiar said that in the meantime, there is a relaxation at the border. He considered it a serious cause of concern within the international community that a possible war scenario between Venezuela and Colombia is being discussed. He criticised Organization of American States Secretary General José Miguel Insulza for occupying himself with Honduras, "but not concerning himself to any extent" with the tension between the Venezuela and Colombia.
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