Venezuela, The Starving Socialist Dystopia (Part 1)

China condemns US sanctions against Venezuela
Aug 28, 2017

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China has denounced the newly-imposed US sanctions against Venezuela, saying unilateral measures would be of no avail and could only make things more complex.


The condemnation was made by the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a daily news briefing in the capital Beijing on Monday, after the White House announced a new range of economic sanctions against Caracas, including a ban on business dealings with the Venezuelan government and its oil companies.

Asked about the new US measure, Hua said China's position has consistently been to respect the sovereignty and independence of other countries and not to interfere in their internal affairs.

"The present problem in Venezuela should be resolved by the Venezuelan government and people themselves," the Chinese official said at the news briefing.

"The experience of history shows that outside interference or unilateral sanctions will make the situation even more complicated and will not help resolve the actual problem," she added.

China and Venezuela are close allies and have a close diplomatic and business relationship, especially in energy.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order that prohibits dealings with Venezuela, a measure taken to halt financing what the White House called President Nicolas Maduro's "dictatorship."

Maduro says the US is seeking to stifle oil exports through sanctions and a "naval blockade" on the Latin American country. He also says the US and its allies in the region are fomenting instability to bring down his government.

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/08/28/533230/China-slams-US-sanctions-Venezuela
 
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‘Hope Is Gone’ as Venezuelan Protesters Vanish From Streets
Anti-government protests have dissipated and the president faces few short-term challenges to his rule
By Ryan Dube | Aug. 31, 2017

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Clockwise from top, opposition activist Wuilly Arteaga played the violin during a antigovernment protest in Caracas, was in a hospital in July after being injured during a protest and sat in August after spending three weeks in detention.

CARACAS, Venezuela—Wuilly Arteaga became a symbol of Venezuela’s protest movement as he played patriotic hymns from his violin in the face of tear gas and rubber bullets. Then he was arrested and beaten.

When the 23-year-old was released after three weeks, he was stunned to find the protest movement had died and President Nicolás Maduro in greater control than ever.

“It looks like hope is gone,” said Mr. Arteaga this week, bruises visible on his left cheek. “I feel like everything is so dark, I don’t see an exit.”

Five months of violent antigovernment demonstrations have dissipated and the epicenter in Caracas, Plaza Altamira, sits eerily quiet. The barricades that opponents once set up to slow government armored vehicles are gone. Rumors of a military uprising are gone. And life has returned to normal, with people struggling to find enough to eat in a country stricken by shortages.

Despite an 80% disapproval rating, Mr. Maduro seemingly faces few short-term challenges to his rule just a month after he drew international condemnation by installing his allies into a new rubber-stamp assembly.

The government’s crackdown on protesters—including widespread arrests and torture, human-rights groups and victims say—has broken the once-potent protest movement. The protests claimed more than 125 lives and nearly 2,000 wounded, including scores with permanent injuries.

Some of the government’s leading political adversaries have fled the country and left the opposition coalition in disarray. The new so-called constituent assembly, stacked with Mr. Maduro’s supporters, has in recent weeks declared the opposition-run congress void of power, replaced a dissident attorney general with one supportive of Mr. Maduro, and is now investigating opposition leaders for alleged treason.

Emboldened, Mr. Maduro’s lieutenants now publicly debate how to censor social media while kicking off the air two Colombian TV broadcasters that were critical of his government, in what the channels called censorship.

“In the short term I think it’s paid off because they have effectively gained control over the whole government,” said David Smilde, a Venezuela expert at Tulane University. Longer term, he added, it remained to be seen whether the moves to maintain control will suffice.

Amid a deepening economic crisis, protests could always begin again at any moment. The crisis is expected to deteriorate, with the administration struggling to pay both its debt obligations and food imports amid dwindling reserves and soaring inflation.

“The economic crisis is the unpredictable element going forward,” said Harold Trinkunas, an expert on Venezuela at Stanford University. “How that evolves I think will be the critical variable.”

Still, many analysts say it is difficult to see what could get a large number of Venezuelans to mobilize on the street again. Presidential elections aren’t scheduled until October 2018.

Mr. Maduro argues that the constituent assembly was needed to unify the country against an opposition it accuses of trying to destabilize the country alongside Washington. His supporters say they are happy some in the opposition are fleeing the country. “This Venezuelan opposition is being left isolated with only its boss in Washington at its side,” said Delcy Rodríguez, the president of the constituent assembly.

Zamir Rojas, 47, said he is still holding out hope for political change even after he said he was beaten and tied to a column for five days following his arrest by the National Guard during a May protest in Barquisimeto, about 230 miles west of Caracas.

“One day, this will have to change,” he said at his home. “We have faith.”

But most former protesters feel helpless after the failure to dislodge Mr. Maduro or prevent the installation of the assembly. A recent poll showed 90% of Venezuelans say it is too risky to join street demonstrations, said Felix Seijas, director of the pollster Delphos.

Romelys Sánchez, a 23-year-old engineering student who regularly protested, gave up on the streets after being detained by the authorities for a month. Now, she works at a children’s summer camp or stays at home, fearing that going out could lead to her arrest.

“Every time that I hear about the things that are happening, I feel like I want to leave [Venezuela],” said Ms. Sánchez. “I don’t know if there is a future for me.”

Many of those who once felt that change would come from within Venezuela now say only international pressure can effect change.

Latin America’s biggest countries have declared Venezuela an outcast, suspending it from a trade group and labeling it a dictatorship. The Trump administration recently leveled its fourth round of sanctions on Venezuela, this time prohibiting it from accessing U.S. debt markets. Mr. Maduro has responded with military exercises and a call-up to reservists.

“It’s clear that the battle now is on the international front,” said Ramón Muchacho, an opposition mayor who fled to Miami in July after courts allied with Mr. Maduro sentenced him to prison for allegedly failing to control antigovernment protests. “We need international help and the level of pressure has to be very, very high because this is a government that will not go easily. Dialogue doesn’t work. There is no democratic solution.”

During his three weeks in detention, Mr. Arteaga, the musician, said soldiers bludgeoned him with his instrument, burned his hair and forced him and other dissidents into sewage. Thinking of the protests had helped keep his spirits up, he said, but that animus has now dissipated.

“A lot of young people lost their lives, and it seems like that has been forgotten,” Mr. Arteaga said.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/hope-is-gone-for-venezuelan-opposition-1504171802?mod=e2fb
 
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Are there really videos of people eating from garbage cans and eating dogs and cats (in some cases raw) due starvation? I don't have the heart to look into these things

I will never understand how Venezuela with the great example of Cuba only miles away has fallen this hard. Well I understand it but I wish it wasn't at this point
 
Are there really videos of people eating from garbage cans and eating dogs and cats (in some cases raw) due starvation? I don't have the heart to look into these things

I will never understand how Venezuela with the great example of Cuba only miles away has fallen this hard. Well I understand it but I wish it wasn't at this point
It always sounds like a good idea and they believe that this time will be different.
 
"The experience of history shows that outside interference or unilateral sanctions will make the situation even more complicated and will not help resolve the actual problem," she added.​

The experience of history also shows that communism and socialism don't work, to the tune of millions of stacked dead bodies.

But these are minor details, I'm sure.
 
“These days, the American dream is more apt to be realized in South America, in places such as Ecuador, Venezuela and Argentina, where incomes are actually more equal today than they are in the land of Horatio Alger.”

-Bernie Sanders
August 5, 2011
To be fair, that was when Hugo Chavez was in power and Venezuela was swimming in oil money. The problem was Chavez allowed corruption to spread and failed to diversify the economy. Picking an incompetent Maduro was Chavez's greatest mistake, and things went downhill fast after oil prices crashed in 2015.
 
To be fair, that was when Hugo Chavez was in power and Venezuela was swimming in oil money. The problem was Chavez allowed corruption to spread and failed to diversify the economy. Picking an incompetent Maduro was Chavez's greatest mistake, and things went downhill fast after oil prices crashed in 2015.

Jordan Peterson makes a good analogy, and I paraphrase: putting your own life in order is pretty hard for some people, but it can be done. Trying to put your family in order, for example, is much, much harder. Many people can't even do it. When they try, though, they get immediate pushback and consequences to prove they were wrong.

When you try to put an entire country in order, the delay between the time you implement your ideas and the negative consequences can be quite long, so you can be very wrong for a while and get away with it. Venezuela is a perfect example of a long slide downhill, in this case beginning with the moment Chavez was elected until the time that other people's money ran out.
 
The problem was Chavez allowed corruption to spread and failed to diversify the economy.

The Venezuelan economy was already diverse when Chavez rose to power. They were even exporting foodstuff to other countries, for God's sake.

A much more accurate assessment would be "Chavez nationalized all of Venezuela's vital industries from the private sector and promptly ran them all to the ground".

You guys did read all the articles I posted about that, right?

As Venezuela's farms and factories falter, the country struggles to feed its people
By Chris Kraul and Mery Mogollon
August 11, 2016

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Just a decade ago, Venezuela was producing nearly all of the sugar it needed.

But this week, 30,000 tons of imported Guatemalan sugar is being offloaded at the port city of Puerto Cabello for delivery to government-run supermarkets across the country, where desperate shoppers typically line up for hours to buy basic foodstuffs.

In some ways, the sacks of sugar being lowered on pallets to waiting trucks at Dock 10 symbolize the plight of a country that has seen the production of sugar and other products plummet. Venezuela now imports 80% of all the sugar it consumes, and many economists say 17 years of socialist policies are to blame.

Last year, the country produced 242,306 tons of refined sugar, less than one-third of the 740,000 tons produced in 2006 when the country came close to meeting annual consumer demand of 900,000 tons, according to figures from Fesoca, the Venezuelan sugar trade association.

But 2006 also was the year that President Hugo Chavez nationalized 10 of the 16 privately owned sugar refineries and turned them over to worker cooperatives, part of his “21st Century Socialism” agenda. After taking office in 1999 and until his death in 2013, Chavez also seized thousands of acres of sugar cane plantations and made them communal properties.

Comradely gestures to be sure, but sugar production has rapidly declined ever since the seizures. In May, scarcities got so bad that Coca-Cola temporarily suspended production of its popular line of soft drinks, saying it couldn’t buy enough supplies of the industrial sweetener.

Sugar production isn’t the only sector battered by the policies instituted by Chavez and continued under his successor, President Nicolas Maduro. Beef, coffee, toothpaste, auto parts, toilet paper and various medicines are just some of the items that Venezuela once produced on a large scale and that now must be imported to meet domestic demand.

At the same time productivity is plunging, the steep drop in global oil prices over the last two years has cut into oil revenue on which Venezuela depends for foreign currency and to bolster its budget. As a result, Maduro can’t afford to sufficiently increase imports of basic goods, which have already doubled from the mid-1990s, to meet consumer demand.

The upshot: long lines of shoppers waiting hours outside stores to buy increasingly scarce household items.

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People line up to buy basic items outside a supermarket this week in Caracas. Once-booming Venezuela now suffers from shortages of food, medicine and basic goods.


Maduro insists it’s all the fault of an “economic war” waged by the United States. Juan Pablo Olalquiaga, president of Conindustria, the largest trade group of Venezuelan manufacturers, counters that industry has been decimated by nationalizations, government-imposed price and currency controls, as well as difficulties in obtaining component parts or materials to make things.

The latter factor was cited by Kimberly Clark in July when the U.S.-based company announced it was closing its factory where it manufactured toilet paper, disposable diapers and feminine hygiene products. In a statement, the company said economic conditions in Venezuela made it “impossible” to do business here.

Maduro called the closure illegal and promised to reopen and staff the factory with 1,000 laid-off workers, but analysts were skeptical that the factory would fare any better than the nationalized sugar mills.

Kimberly Clark’s departure follows those of other multinationals since Maduro took office in 2013, including Clorox, Bridgestone, Procter & Gamble, General Mills and Ford, not to mention hundreds of domestic firms. Conindustria estimates that Venezuela has lost 1.2 million direct and indirect manufacturing jobs since 1999.

“Two decades ago, Venezuela had 12,700 industrial companies,” Olalquiaga said. “Only 4,000 are left….The government of President Maduro has been absolutely incompetent in taking correct policies and so the deterioration of the few companies left has continued.”

The auto industry has been hit especially hard. According to Cavenez, the Venezuelan automobile trade association, this year Venezuelan assembly lines are on course to produce around 4,000 cars. During the 1980s, Venezuela sometimes averaged upwards of 200,000 autos assembled yearly.

Minister of Industry Carlos Farias, the Cabinet official in Maduro’s government responsible for managing the supply of consumer goods to the nation, is the latest to occupy the hot seat. His predecessor, Miguel Perez Abad, only lasted seven months on the job, and the minister before him, Luis Salas, for one month.

Maduro’s appointment of Abad in January led some to think industrial policies might be redirected to stimulate private investment as a way to restart the country’s poor productivity.

But his abrupt firing Aug. 2, after making statements that seemed to presage free-market-friendlier policies, put an end to such optimism. Abad had favored liberalizing Venezuela’s currency laws and said in May that the government would cut down on imports to be able to pay its debts.

Maduro has hosted conferences with government officials and business leaders to attempt to “reactivate productive motors” and called on entrepreneurs to “break their piggy banks and bring your dollars.” But critics say he had done little to rectify the effects of nationalizations, price controls and scarcity of spare parts.

So, any short-term reactivation of Venezuelan industry is a long shot and the economy could take years to recover. The International Monetary Fund expects inflation to reach 700% this year and the economy to shrink by 10 percentage points. The government will be hard pressed to pay $10 billion in foreign debt obligations this year.

Meanwhile, Maduro’s Cabinet ministers accentuate the positive.

“Everything we have recovered is in the hands of the people,” said oil and mining minister Eulogio Del Pino, another Maduro hard-liner. “No steps backward.”

http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-venezuela-imports-20160809-snap-story.html



How today's crisis in Venezuela was created by Hugo Chávez's 'revolutionary' plan
Pedro E. Carrillo, Georgia State University | July 5, 2016

Venezuela is a nation rich with natural resources such as oil, gold, diamonds and other minerals. Yet, it is experiencing a crisis in which most people cannot find food or medicine.

In the past several months, there has been great social unrest in Venezuela. Venezuelans are going out on the streets demanding their basic needs, and storming delivery trucks and stores to get their hands on supplies. Their daily activities are disrupted by water rationing and electricity cuts, which have resulted from long-term neglect of basic infrastructure.

Most people would take this as a sign that the government has simply failed. Many onlookers may assume Venezuela’s leaders are just incompetent. Why else would they not able to provide the people with the basic necessities like water, electricity, security and opportunity?

As a Venezuelan expat having served in the Venezuelan foreign service for two decades and directing a program for the Inter-American Development Bank, I know the crisis is the result of an effort to gain and maintain power, just as the Castro brothers have successfully done in Cuba.

Chávez came to power, after unsuccessfully attempting a coup, by winning an election in 1998. He won by selling the idea of giving power to the people, and ending the corruption of the traditional political parties that had governed Venezuela for the last quarter-century.

He won the election by a convincing margin. He started his presidency with the support of the people and a barrel of oil going for more than US$100. His original popularity and success permitted him to accomplish many of his goals that in other circumstances would have been very difficult.

In 2012, a member of the former Venezuelan president’s inner circle went public, alleging details of a plan he did not want to be a part of and rejected.

Guaicaipuro Lameda, a former general under President Hugo Chávez, shared details of how Chávez and his supporters allegedly intended to carry out the Bolivarian Revolution he campaigned on. Chávez’s call for revolution expressed a rejection of imperialism that sought to establish democratic socialism for the 21st century.

But, Lameda claimed, Chávez’s plan to accomplish this involved taking control of all branches of power – the executive, legislative, judicial and military.

Once in power, Chávez replaced the existing Congress by creating a new National Assembly, which he controlled. He used his new National Assembly to rewrite the constitution to perpetuate himself in power. The presidential periods were originally five-year terms without the possibility of immediate reelection. Former presidents could run again only after two terms had passed. The National Assembly changed it to six-year terms, with unlimited reelections, and extended these new parameters to governors and other elected officials.

Chavez served as president for 14 years, until his death in 2013.

The new National Assembly also reshaped the Supreme Court. They alleged the existing justices were corrupt, and inserted Chávez’s followers in their place.

Chávez created an image of an enlightened world leader, selling oil at a discount to many Latin American nations to buy good will. For example, he struck a deal to provided Cuba with deeply discounted oil in exchange for Cuban doctors.

He started a war against the private sector. He nationalized thousands of private companies and industries, to the amazement of his followers and to the astonishment of business owners and consumers who did not see it coming.

Chávez’s style was confrontational, disrespectful and self-centered. He would spend countless hours on national TV offending anyone who would dare to disagree with him, and was known for reprimanding and firing cabinet ministers on live TV. Countless hours of the show Aló Presidente were produced.

Nicolás Maduro, current president of Venezuela, was previously a bus driver, union leader and unconditional follower of Chávez. In return, Chávez appointed him as a member of the National Assembly, the secretary of state, vice president and then his heir.

Maduro has tried to imitate Chávez’s style, making Chávez an immortal figure, promoting rituals and making his burial place a center of worship and spending lavishly to create a cult centered on the “Eternal Commander.“

Unfortunately for Maduro, who does not have the charisma or the political instincts of his predecessor, the barrel of oil is now $40 instead of $100. The population is restless with poverty, which did not improve as Chávez promised. Rampant and very public corruption has beleaguered the public sector and armed forces.

There is no opportunity in the private sector, since it was destroyed by nationalization, using confiscation or expropriation of private companies. The local currency is totally worthless.

Thanks to Chávez’s legacy, Maduro still holds control over the Supreme Court of Justice and the Armed Forces. His followers have organized civilian groups called “collectivos" to mobilize against opposition. He also has the support of the Militia, a large group of paramilitaries, well-trained and uniformed and unconditional followers of the “eternal commander,” Chávez.

How long will this perpetuation of power last? Only time will tell, but the tides may be turning.

In December, Venezuelans expressed their discontent and voted a sea change into the National Assembly, which is now controlled by the opposition. The international community is questioning the procedures by which several well-known opposition leaders have been jailed, and decisions of the election commission to delay a referendum.

Last month, the Organization of American States, an organization with 35 member nations in the region, approved a resolution to review the social, political and economic reality of Venezuela. They may apply their Democratic Charter to force the Venezuelan government to call a referendum that could end Maduro’s term as president.

Meanwhile, the situation continues to worsen, and pressure from the Venezuelan people who are seeking an end to their hunger is growing by the day.

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/How-today-s-crisis-in-Venezuela-was-created-by-8342315.php

 
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Honestly, it's painful how willfully ignorant you choose to be, given that you're smarter than most of your moron compatriots.

Even if Venezuela's administration isn't socialist by any means, but are still certainly economic populist, I do feel bad that they have to field the reactionary insults of US citizens who just don't understand, or choose to ignore, the facts and issues at hand.
So many words and so little substance
 
So many words and so little substance

I think his username gives away his sentiments on this subject pretty handily; he's nothing more than a communist/socialist sympathizer.

Communism: it takes a few million broken eggs to hopefully one day have a shot at making an omelet.
 
Are there really videos of people eating from garbage cans and eating dogs and cats (in some cases raw) due starvation? I don't have the heart to look into these things

I will never understand how Venezuela with the great example of Cuba only miles away has fallen this hard. Well I understand it but I wish it wasn't at this point

Cuba has always been much more effectually ran than Venezuela. However, it's hard to ignore how much political/economic unpredictability may have been historically staved off by political repression and the effective banishing of the former Cuban oligarchy/insulation from (their) neoliberal influence. That is, a large part of Venezuela's current political crisis is owed to the meddling of old money, from their forcing Chavez's hand in furthering illiberal policies post-coup to the current stoking of violence.

I have not seen such videos, but they may well exist. The frantic political battles and subsequent fears are isolating the markets further and making a bad situation worse.

So many words and so little substance

>Makes post accusing another of lacking substance
>>Doesn't specify what area of discussion needs substantiating
>>>Tips hand on a poorly veiled ad hom
 
Cuba has always been much more effectually ran than Venezuela. However, it's hard to ignore how much political/economic unpredictability may have been historically staved off by political repression and the effective banishing of the former Cuban oligarchy/insulation from (their) neoliberal influence. That is, a large part of Venezuela's current political crisis is owed to the meddling of old money, from their forcing Chavez's hand in furthering illiberal policies post-coup to the current stoking of violence.

I have not seen such videos, but they may well exist. The frantic political battles and subsequent fears are isolating the markets further and making a bad situation worse.



>Makes post accusing another of lacking substance
>>Doesn't specify what area of discussion needs substantiating
>>>Tips hand on a poorly veiled ad hom
You literally had a wall of text that said nothing at least I kept it to 7 words when I responded with nothing. Pro tip using more words doesn't make your shit profound
 
You literally had a wall of text that said nothing at least I kept it to 7 words when I responded with nothing. Pro tip using more words doesn't make your shit profound

So, again, what would you like explained? If I recall correctly what you quoted, I was talking about the post-coup Venezuelan regime being state capitalist.

Also, yes, I am certainly a "communist sympathizer" insomuch that I view communist history with some nuance. You'll also find I'm very critical of purported communist organization throughout history as well, not that that really has anything to do with Venezuela.
 
So, again, what would you like explained? If I recall correctly what you quoted, I was talking about the post-coup Venezuelan regime being state capitalist.

Also, yes, I am certainly a "communist sympathizer" insomuch that I view communist history with some nuance. You'll also find I'm very critical of purported communist organization throughout history as well, not that that really has anything to do with Venezuela.
Ok ill play what is it we don't understand about Venezuela?
 
Cuba has always been much more effectually ran than Venezuela. However, it's hard to ignore how much political/economic unpredictability may have been historically staved off by political repression and the effective banishing of the former Cuban oligarchy/insulation from (their) neoliberal influence. That is, a large part of Venezuela's current political crisis is owed to the meddling of old money, from their forcing Chavez's hand in furthering illiberal policies post-coup to the current stoking of violence.

I have not seen such videos, but they may well exist. The frantic political battles and subsequent fears are isolating the markets further and making a bad situation worse.



>Makes post accusing another of lacking substance
>>Doesn't specify what area of discussion needs substantiating
>>>Tips hand on a poorly veiled ad hom

You cannot forget that capitalist countries and military industrial complexes in the west have tried their best to sanction and destroy communist or socialista type goverments.

Soviet union was underminded by the west and big bankd ad the west helped ruin Russia in the 90s.

Putting sanctions against a country that dosnt and is not seeking weapons to destroy USA id pointless. USA is bad to do this and wrong. But to a idiots in here who buy capitalist propaganda they are happy to see Venezuela starve ajd be hit with sanctioja.

There are some right wingers cheering at Venezuela suffering.
 
Cuba has always been much more effectually ran than Venezuela. However, it's hard to ignore how much political/economic unpredictability may have been historically staved off by political repression and the effective banishing of the former Cuban oligarchy/insulation from (their) neoliberal influence. That is, a large part of Venezuela's current political crisis is owed to the meddling of old money, from their forcing Chavez's hand in furthering illiberal policies post-coup to the current stoking of violence.

I have not seen such videos, but they may well exist. The frantic political battles and subsequent fears are isolating the markets further and making a bad situation worse.



>Makes post accusing another of lacking substance
>>Doesn't specify what area of discussion needs substantiating
>>>Tips hand on a poorly veiled ad hom

While we don't agree much I can dig this post.

What is happening to the Venezuelan people is horrible and I hope they get it together soon but I fear like Cuba nothing will change peacefully it's going to take blood to bring about change
 
Venezuela arrests top oil executive, eight other PDVSA employees
Alexandra Ulmer


CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela has arrested the state oil company’s boss for the western region and eight other executives at PDVSA, according to an internal company memo and a half-dozen sources in the OPEC member’s oil industry.

It was not immediately clear why Gustavo Malave and the other employees were apprehended, though a series of corruption probes are under way at PDVSA and have entangled other employees.

The sources said Malave was arrested on Monday in Zulia state, Venezuela’s traditional oil-producing region near Colombia, in what would be one of the highest-profile detentions of a PDVSA executive.

PDVSA, the prosecutor’s office, and Malave did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Separately, Venezuela’s new chief prosecutor Tarek Saab on Thursday announced he was investigating “spectacular” overpricing in a dozen contracts in the nation’s Orinoco oil belt, on the other side of the country.

The reputation of PDVSA - short for Petroleos de Venezuela SA - has been tarnished in recent years by graft investigations involving high-profile staff.

The company has blamed the problems on a small group of employees and executives, and promised a war on corruption.

Last year, the opposition-led congress said $11 billion was lost at PDVSA between 2004 and 2014, when Rafael Ramirez was in charge of the company. He denied the allegations.

The Caracas-based company is the financial motor of leftist President Nicolas Maduro’s government, but is reeling from low oil prices, mismanagement, and lack of investments.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...t-other-pdvsa-employees-sources-idUSKCN1BG2TZ
 
Venezuela leader won't attend UN rights council meeting
By The Associated Press | GENEVA — Sep 5, 2017,​

The United Nations says Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro won't attend a U.N. Human Rights Council meeting next week as originally planned.

Council spokesman Rolando Gomez said in an email Tuesday to reporters that Maduro "will not address the Human Rights Council."

Gomez said the Venezuelan government had indicated in a diplomatic note a day earlier that the president would speak to the council at the start of its new session on Monday.

Instead, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Alberto Arreaza Montserrat is set to speak to the council on Monday.

http://abcnews.go.com/International...leader-attend-rights-council-meeting-49625499
 
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