International Venezuela, The Socialist Dystopia, v2: The region's worst humanitarian crisis in decades

cincymma79 said:
One thing I know is if we don’t take in every single person from Venezuela we are racist and Venezuelaphobes
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We tend to choose the wrong people for office, Venezuelans need to resolve this own their own.
 
Arrested Chevron workers could face treason charge in Venezuela
Marianna Parraga, Alexandra Ulmer | April 23, 2018

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Chevron's office in Caracas, Venezuela​


Two Chevron Corp. employees detained in Venezuela last week could be charged with treason for refusing to sign a parts contract for a joint venture with state-owned oil company PDVSA, according to two sources familiar with draft charges against the U.S. firm’s executives.

The arrests, by national intelligence agents, marked the first at a Western oil firm in Venezuela and represent a dramatic escalation of growing tensions between PDVSA and foreign companies over control of supply contracts, the sources told Reuters.

The widening dispute could worsen operational chaos that has caused the OPEC nation’s oil output to plunge by 23 percent, or 450,000 barrels per day, since October.

“These detentions are going to accelerate the operational crisis,” another source with knowledge of Chevron’s operations told Reuters. “Procurement could end up in paralysis if nobody wants to take the risk of signing or authorizing anything.”

The draft treason charges - seen by Chevron lawyers last week, the two sources said - raised concern that the oil major could get caught in the crossfire between Washington and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who accuses the U.S. government of sabotaging the economy to topple his administration. The United States has imposed sanctions on senior members of Maduro’s government and PDVSA.

The two Chevron employees were jailed when they refused to sign a supply contract written by PDVSA executives under an emergency decree - which skips the competitive bidding process, according to a half dozen sources close to the case. Such decrees have been cited by Venezuela prosecutors as a means of extracting bribes in some recent PDVSA corruption cases.

The Chevron employees balked when the parts were listed at more than double their market price in a contract worth several million dollars, one of the sources told Reuters. The workers oversaw operations and procurement at Petropiar, an oil upgrading project co-owned by PDVSA and Chevron to transform Orinoco Belt’s extra heavy crude into an exportable product.

Venezuela’s national intelligence service, Sebin, arrested the Chevron workers, Carlos Algarra and Rene Vasquez, in front of stunned co-workers in a raid of Chevron’s office in Puerto La Cruz and the upgrader on April 16.

Venezuelan authorities have yet to comment on the arrest of the men, both Venezuelans, and no charges against them have been made public.

The Venezuela public prosecutor’s office declined to comment, and PDVSA did not respond to several requests for comment.

The arrests follow a purge that has seen more than 80 executives at PDVSA and its suppliers jailed for alleged corruption as the state firm’s new chief, Major General Manuel Quevedo, has sought to stamp his authority on the sector - the financial lifeblood of Venezuela’s unraveling socialist government.

Tensions between PDVSA and foreign oil companies have steadily risen since Quevedo took charge in November and appointed military officers who had little or no oil industry experience to senior jobs.

Foreign firms have pushed for a greater say in procurement to combat inefficiencies and graft, oil industry sources said, but disputes over governance standards have caused operational delays, raising tensions over Venezuela’s falling oil output.

In February, the Petropiar upgrader had been temporarily halted because of problems scheduling its exports, and PDVSA executives were concerned it could be forced to stop again due to lack of spare parts, one of the sources said.

When the imported furnace parts did not arrive on time, PDVSA executives blamed the Chevron employees for the delays, according to the two sources familiar with the draft charges.

The men are being represented by Chevron lawyers. The charges against them have not been formalized and could change, the two sources said.

A spokesman for Chevron declined to comment.

Venezuela defines treason as conspiring with foreign enemies against the state and proscribes punishment of up to 30 years in prison. Defendants are not entitled to due process protections afforded to those accused of other crimes, according to the statute.

As of Sunday, the two men were being held in the offices of the intelligence services in the coastal city of Barcelona, according to the two sources with knowledge of the draft charges.

The detentions highlight the growing difficulties for foreign oil firms amid a deepening economic crisis in Venezuela, allegations of rampant corruption, a power struggle within PDVSA and an increasingly authoritarian government.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Maduro had granted extra powers to Quevedo to “create, annul or modify” deals involving state energy company PDVSA and its subsidiaries.

Foreign oil firms, at a meeting in Caracas this month to discuss how to tackle production problems at joint ventures, expressed their concerns over procurement and governance to Quevedo, according to documents seen by Reuters.

PDVSA has a minimum 60 percent stake in joint ventures and has been slow to share operational control, despite large-scale staff resignations in recent months.

About 25,000 PDVSA workers resigned between the start of January 2017 and the end of January 2018, out of a workforce last officially reported at 146,000, Reuters reported last week. The resignations - including high-level professionals that are now almost impossible to replace - have only accelerated since Quevedo arrived, two dozen industry sources told Reuters.

Oil majors such as Chevron and Eni SpA, Total SA and Repsol SA still operate in Venezuela, home to the world’s largest oil reserves. Although no foreign workers have been detained in the purge of the sector until last week, some companies have previously withdrawn expatriate workers over security concerns.

Many foreign workers’ families are reluctant to stay in Venezuela for long periods, one executive from a company operating in the Orinoco Belt told Reuters.

“We no longer have any guarantee that expatriates will not be sent to jail,” the executive said.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...son-charge-in-venezuela-sources-idUSKBN1HU2N3
 
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In Venezuela, inflation quadruples to 18,000 percent in two months, with no end in sight
By Antonio Maria Delgado | May 02, 2018

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Accompanied by his son Nicolas, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro raises a fist as he arrives at a military parade in Caracas on Friday, April 13, 2018​

Venezuela's inflation rate, already by far the world's highest, spiked from 4,966 percent to nearly 18,000 percent in just March and April — a trend that, if it continues, could push the country's annual rate to more than 100,000 percent by year's end, economists say.

The 17,968 percent rate registered at the end of April already surpassed the 13,864 percent rate predicted by the International Monetary Fund for all of 2018.

“What we're seeing at this point is a giant jump in inflation,” Steve Hanke, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and one of the world's top experts on inflation, told el Nuevo Herald.

“And it could go much higher than what we're seeing today,” added Hanke, who calculated the 17,968 percent figure. He keeps a daily record of inflation in Venezuela.

Compared to world records on hyperinflation, what is happening in Venezuela now is modest. Hungary suffered through 207.19 percent inflation per day in 1946. Venezuela's inflation in March and April was about 80 percentage points per month.

But the high inflation has been devastating for Venezuelans, whose salaries often are not enough to pay for one meal a day.

One kilogram (2.2 lbs) of meat today costs about 2 million bolivares, or about $2.35. But the monthly salary of a surgeon stood at less than 6 million bolivares in mid-April.

Worried by the growing discontent among Venezuelans, the Nicolas Maduro government nearly doubled the minimum salary on Monday, raising it to 2.5 million bolivares per month.

That hike is expected to quickly double all salaries in Venezuela, and pour more gasoline on the flames of hyperinflation, according to experts.

The giant surplus of bolivares circulating in Venezuela, the result of printing more and more currency to cover a monumental government budget deficit, is one of the key drivers of the country's inflation, said Alexander Guerrero, a Venezuelan economist who lives in the United States.

The salary increase ordered by Maduro will simply put more bolivares in the hands of consumers, who will rush to buy the few products available in stores and thereby drive prices even higher.

The government also has increased spending on populist programs as it tries to encourage Venezuelans to vote in controversial presidential elections scheduled for May 20.

“These elements are pushing the country into a hyperinflationary spiral that is gaining strength,” said Caracas economist Orlando Ochoa.

“Right now we're seeing an average rate of inflation that ranges from 60 to 90 percent per month,” Ochoa added.

If inflation remains steady, Venezuela could end 2018 with an annual rate of 100,000 percent, Ochoa said, using the estimate of 80 percent a day compounded over the year.

Hanke said hyperinflation is so unstable that it's impossible to predict a rate for 12 months.

The IMF prediction was nothing more than raising “a wet finger to the wind,” he added.

But for now it's clear the Maduro regime is not taking any steps to slow the rise of consumer prices.

What's more, his policies over the past five years have only worsened the economy and sparked complaints that Maduro is following in the footsteps of Zimbabwe. The African country suffered the second highest rate of inflation in history — 98.01 percent per day, meaning that prices doubled every 24.7 hours.
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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article210282264.html
 
Venezuela's Maduro threatens 'armed revolution' ahead of May 20 election
By Jim Wyss | May 03, 2018​

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is warning that he’ll take up arms and lead a revolution if a government comes into power that wants to hand the country’s "riches" to “imperialist” forces.

In a campaign speech Wednesday, Maduro — who is hoping to win a new six-year term in a highly questioned May 20 election — accused his nearest opposition rival, Henri Falcón, of wanting to sell the country out to “the gringos.”

“If someday a government was in power that intended to hand over [our] riches, I would be the first one to raise the alarm, grab a gun and start an armed revolution with the people, if necessary,” he told a crowd of supporters in Vargas. “I would be the first one to do it, and call the people to arms.”

His opponent, Falcón, a one-time government supporter turned dissident, is struggling to attract voters who are wary that going to the polls will legitimize a deeply flawed electoral process. And most of the major opposition groups are calling for an outright boycott of the election.

Falcón has talked about dollarizing the economy and ramping up foreign investment to overcome a deep economic crisis that features hyperinflation and sporadic food and medicine shortages. Those woes have also generated an exodus, as more than 1 million people have fled the country in recent years.

On Wednesday, Maduro said the opposition’s “only offer” is to “hand over the country to the gringos and the European oligarchs.”

Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, has often said he’d resort to violence to defend the “Bolivarian Revolution” started by his late predecessor Hugo Chávez.

Venezuela is pushing ahead with snap elections as the United States, the European Union and many of its neighbors in the region have said the vote will neither be free nor transparent. In the run-up to the election, the government has sidelined key opposition parties and jailed or disqualified some of its most prominent opponents.

Maduro said he didn’t care if the elections were recognized around the world.

“I don’t give a damn what Europe says. I don’t give a damn about what Washington says,” he told the crowd. “I only care about what Venezuela’s youth, Venezuela’s women and Venezuela’s workers say. That’s what’s important to me.”
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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article210363554.html
 
Fucking Maduro. I am sure the military would blink if everyone amd their grandmother starts a proper dialogue to oust Maduro.
 
I hope he gets Gaddafied by Venezuela
 
loyalyolayal said:
Fucking Maduro. I am sure the military would blink if everyone amd their grandmother starts a proper dialogue to oust Maduro.
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I can't believe the Military is risking their butt protecting this asshole Maduro, they are really risking destroying their country and literally murdering their own people either directly or directly thru starvation and sickness.

Maybe Madoro is giving them money but what is the use if they can't buy anything? If the military still protect him to the end then the miltar should also be prosecuted and be eaten alive by the hungry masses.
 
ShinkanPo said:
I can't believe the Military is risking their butt protecting this asshole Maduro, they are really risking destroying their country and literally murdering their own people either directly or directly thru starvation and sickness.

Maybe Madoro is giving them money but what is the use if they can't buy anything? If the military still protect him to the end then the miltar should also be prosecuted and be eaten alive by the hungry masses.
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Not even joking... but he is giving them stuff like toilet paper, which is now a luxury over there.
 
cottagecheesefan said:
Not even joking... but he is giving them stuff like toilet paper, which is now a luxury over there.
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Yup I have read about that a few pages back in the older revision of this thread.

It seems to the soldiers they are just doing their Job El Duro is the elected President by the Venezuelan people, they just want continuity and its human nature in the civilized world to just conform and maintain that continuity Maduro giving them the basics like Toilet Paper and other necessities gives them semblance of normalcy by just following the Maduro.


Making a move like Joining a Coup needs some extra work and not to mention could be dangerous so its much easier for them to follow Maduro than do all that extra work where they might get killed to oust Maduro.

My other more cynical theory

Is that a lot of people who join the military have some sort of sociopath inner barbaric instinct as the Military culture of Manufacturing aggression to train soldiers attract a different breed of people and those people will be content and would not care if they can't buy a 50" TV set or can't have money to go to the movies as long as they can fuck many women and have the guns they will feel empowered and that is all that is important to them.

But offcourse guns will need repairs and they will need to turn to industrialist and more cultured people to make their guns for them and once that happens thats when they get butchered by the masses, since numerous military personnel around the world loves tattoos that tattoo will be a permanent marker that they once serve and protected a vicious bastard like Maduro and they will forever be targeted for lynchings and public executions.
 
ShinkanPo said:
Yup I have read about that a few pages back in the older revision of this thread.

It seems to the soldiers they are just doing their Job El Duro is the elected President by the Venezuelan people, they just want continuity and its human nature in the civilized world to just conform and maintain that continuity Maduro giving them the basics like Toilet Paper and other necessities gives them semblance of normalcy by just following the Maduro.


Making a move like Joining a Coup needs some extra work and not to mention could be dangerous so its much easier for them to follow Maduro than do all that extra work where they might get killed to oust Maduro.

My other more cynical theory

Is that a lot of people who join the military have some sort of sociopath inner barbaric instinct as the Military culture of Manufacturing aggression to train soldiers attract a different breed of people and those people will be content and would not care if they can't buy a 50" TV set or can't have money to go to the movies as long as they can fuck many women and have the guns they will feel empowered and that is all that is important to them.

But offcourse guns will need repairs and they will need to turn to industrialist and more cultured people to make their guns for them and once that happens thats when they get butchered by the masses, since numerous military personnel around the world loves tattoos that tattoo will be a permanent marker that they once serve and protected a vicious bastard like Maduro and they will forever be targeted for lynchings and public executions.
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I think there is a lot of your first comment with some mixture of your cynical theory. There is definitely people like that in the military, and it only adds to the conformity. They are the ones that actually do the first acts considered barbaric, which then just sets the bar higher and normalizes sickening behavior.

Those who have pleasure hurting others, will do so. Then others will follow suit, as they see it as normal and conform. Moreover it makes people scared, and they also conform out of fear. Psychmology is terrifying at times.
 
Chavez's sins are coming back to bite PDVSA in the ass, now that the ICC is handling ConocoPhillips the assets that was stolen from them:

Exclusive: Conoco moves to take over Venezuelan PDVSA's Caribbean assets
Marianna Parraga, Deisy Buitrago | May 6, 2018

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U.S. oil firm ConocoPhillips has moved to take Caribbean assets of Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA to enforce a $2 billion arbitration award over a decade-oil nationalization of its projects in the South American country, according to three sources familiar with its actions.

The U.S. firm targeted facilities on the islands of Curacao, Bonaire and St. Eustatius that accounted for about a quarter of Venezuela’s oil exports last year. The three play key roles in processing, storing and blending PDVSA’s oil for export.

The company received court attachments freezing assets at least two of the facilities, and could move to sell them, one of the sources said.

Conoco’s legal maneuvers could further impair PDVSA’s declining oil revenue and the country’s convulsing economy. Venezuela is almost completely dependent on oil exports, which have fallen by a third since its peak and its refineries ran at just 31 percent of capacity in the first quarter.

The Latin American country is in the grip of a deep recession with severe shortages of medicine and food as well as a growing exodus of its people.

PDVSA and the Venezuelan foreign ministry did not respond on Sunday to requests for comment. Dutch authorities said they are assessing the situation on Bonaire.

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Conoco’s claims against Venezuela and state-run PDVSA in international courts have totaled $33 billion, the largest by any company.

“Any potential impacts on communities are the result of PDVSA’s illegal expropriation of our assets and its decision to ignore the judgment of the ICC tribunal,” Conoco said in an email to Reuters.

The U.S firm added it will work with the community and local authorities to address issues that may arise as a result of enforcement actions.

PDVSA has significant assets in the Caribbean. On Bonaire, it owns the 10-million-barrel BOPEC terminal which handles logistics and fuel shipments to customers, particularly in Asia. In Aruba, PDVSA and its unit Citgo lease a refinery and a storage terminal.

On the island of St. Eustatius, it rents storage tanks at the Statia terminal, owned by U.S. NuStar Energy, where over 4 million barrels of Venezuelan crude were retained by court order, according to one of the sources.

NuStar is aware of the order and “assessing our legal and commercial options,” said spokesman Chris Cho. The company does not expect the matter to change its earnings outlook, he said.

Conoco also sought to attach PDVSA inventories on Curacao, home of the 335,000-barrel-per-day Isla refinery and Bullenbay oil terminal. But the order could not immediately be enforced, according to two of the sources.

Last year, PDVSA’s shipments from Bonaire and St Eustatius terminals accounted for about 10 percent of its total exports, according to internal figures from the state-run company. The exports were mostly crude and fuel oil for Asian customers including ChinaOil, China’s Zhenhua Oil and India’s Reliance Industries.

From its largest Caribbean operations in Curacao, PDVSA shipped 14 percent of its exports last year, including products exported by its Isla refinery to Caribbean islands and crude from its Bullenbay terminal to buyers of Venezuelan crude all over the world.

PDVSA on Friday ordered its oil tankers sailing across the Caribbean to return to Venezuelan waters and await further instructions, according to a document viewed by Reuters. In the last year, several cargoes of Venezuelan crude have been retained or seized in recent years over unpaid freight fees and related debts.

“This is terrible (for PDVSA),” said a source familiar with the court order of attachment. The state-run company “cannot comply with all the committed volume for exports” and the Conoco action imperils its ability to ship fuel oil to China or access inventories to be exported from Bonaire.

At the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Conoco had sought up to $22 billion from PDVSA for broken contracts and loss of future profits from two oil producing joint ventures, which were nationalized in 2007 under late Venezuela President Hugo Chavez. The U.S. firm left the country after it could not reach a deal to convert its projects into joint ventures controlled by PDVSA.

A separate arbitration case involving the loss of its Venezuelan assets is before a World Bank tribunal, the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Exxon Mobil Corp also has brought two separate arbitration claims over the 2007 nationalization of its projects in Venezuela.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...pdvsas-caribbean-assets-sources-idUSKBN1I70RA
 
Venezuela's once-proud oil industry is collapsing
by Stefano Pozzebon | May 9, 2018

180504132945-venezuela-oil-refineries-780x439.jpg
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Venezuela's oil industry is in crisis.

What was once the backbone of Latin America's most prosperous nation is now a constellation of rundown projects, shuttered infrastructure and empty stillness.

The workers, who years ago enjoyed some of the best benefits among Venezuela's public and private employees, have paid the highest price for their country's spiral into hyperinflation. Their salaries are now worth just a handful of dollars.

The small northeastern town of Punta de Mata, in the state of Monagas, used to be the heart of the industry. Now it's a microcosm of the nation's crisis.

"When we started working in 2005, there were several wells working. Now you rarely see five or six wells working, at least in this area," says Jose Luis Ramirez, a rig operator at one of the wells Chinese oil company CNPC operates as part of a joint venture with Venezuela's state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA.

Ramirez, speaking in a calm voice, detailed his daily struggle to get to the end of the month.

"We have to sell our trousers to live. The boots, the gloves, every time we receive the kit, every few months, we have to sell it to buy food," Ramirez said.

Most of his colleagues, too scared to get into trouble or lose their jobs if they speak out, preferred not to speak to CNN.

"An arepa with just butter is still better than an arepa with nothing," Ramirez said, referring to the omnipresent corn pancakes that are Venezuela's staple food.

Many of Ramirez's colleagues can no longer afford arepas. An oil worker who did not wish to be identified recalled that his salary used to be more than enough to feed his five children, and buy extras.

A family like his would need almost 30 million bolivars per month, according to consumer groups. His salary as an oilman earns him approximately 2.5 million Bolivars.

"Sometimes I cry alone, because I can't give my kids what they are asking for," the oilman added.

Only selected entities can exchange bolivars at the government's privileged rate. Most exchanges operate on the black-market dollar rate, which is illegal but commonly used all over the country.

At the beginning of November 2017, one dollar would buy 50,000 bolivars on the black market. Today, the rate is between 650,000 and 800,000 bolivars.

Even though the government has repeatedly increased it, the monthly minimum wage cannot keep up with inflation, causing the price of food to increase.

The value of a salary has collapsed.

To supplement his income, the oil worker doubles as a taxi driver in the semi-deserted streets of Punta de Mata. When he started 10 years ago he had a decent salary as an oilman, but gradually his income became more and more dependent on his second job. As a cab driver, he can set prices according to inflation, while his fixed salary working the oil wells stays the same.

Venezuela's oil company, PDVSA, used to be the main source of foreign income for the government. When crude was trading at more than US $100 per gallon, earnings for the company were counted by the billions, according to company reports.

Now, PDVSA can barely stay afloat, forced to import light crude from the United States to dilute the heavy oil it drills in Venezuela.

Crude production has been falling for the past 25 months, OPEC numbers show. In April, neighboring Colombia surpassed Venezuela as a net exporter of oil to the United States.

Venezuela now produces almost half the oil it did in the late 1990s, when late president Hugo Chavez rose to power and launched his "Bolivarian Revolution."

"PDVSA is broken for lack of investment, lack of maintenance in all its processes, for years. Now, the crisis is deepening every day," said José Bodas, a union leader at a PDVSA refinery on the northern coast in Puerto La Cruz.

"The capacity is for 187,000 barrels per day, but actually refining are only 30,000 barrels per day, just in the first plant. The second plant holds 60,000 barrels per day, but they are not refined. This refinery doesn't sell refined product, it sells raw material," Bodas said, quoting the production figures in his refinery to show the dimensions of the crisis. Bodas suggested that the oil exported from the Puerto La Cruz refinery would have to be re-refined at other refineries before being ready to be used.

Production figures for PDVSA's facilities are not public, and the company did not answer several requests for comment on this story.

The numbers that tell the tragedy of the Venezuelan crisis are comparable to those of a civil war or a foreign invasion.

Iraqi oil production crumbled to zero in March and April 2003 following the US-led invasion, but by January 2004, it had already rose to pre-war levels. Venezuela's production, instead, is slowly collapsing. It lost approximately 1 million barrels per day in the last two years, according to figures from OPEC and Standard & Poor's.

These numbers translate into a concrete jungle in the countryside around Punta de Mata, where most oil wells are not in operation.

The narrative follows a common pattern. A mechanical part breaks down, but there are no replacements so the oil well falls into disuse. Once a well is exhausted, no new wells are drilled. If an accident requires a well to be shut, it is not reopened.

But there's something much worse than wells shutting down. Several workers related tales of criminal bands targeting the wells in the middle of the night, stealing everything from the oilmen's mobile phones to excavators and trailers.

One well operated by Chinese company CNPC was attacked in the second week of January. Three of its workers confirmed, speaking on the condition of anonymity, that several masked criminals entered the well precinct and subdued eight workers and a National Guard soldier on patrol and stole about three vans full of computers, TV screens and office machines. One these men witnessed the attack, while the other two said they heard about the incident through colleagues. CNPC did not respond to requests for comment.

For many workers, this type of criminality is too common.

"The criminals are armed, I even think they are better armed than the government," the oilman-turned-taxi driver said. "Everything they find they take it. And nobody fights against them because it's not that they come just in two or three, sometimes 15 people come in, or more," he added.

Caught between a worthless salary and the fear of being harmed, many of the oilmen have been asking themselves why they're still holding on.

"The only thing I am proud for being an oilman," the oil worker said, "is the health insurance. Nothing else."
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http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/09/news/companies/venezuela-oil-industry/index.html
 
Venezuela's Maduro says will win in 'economic war' post-election
Reuters Staff | May 9, 2018

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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday he intended to defeat the “oligarchs” responsible for the country’s crisis and that he would win the “economic war” they are waging against the once-wealthy country should he be re-elected next week.

The unpopular president, who is seeking a second term in office despite an economic and social explosion in the OPEC country, blamed “criminal mafias” for hyperinflation and recession at a campaign rally.

Despite millions suffering food and medicine shortages, Maduro is expected to win in next week’s vote due to widespread abstention.

“If you hand me victory on May 20, I swear I will end the economic war,” said Maduro in front of hundreds of people who attended a Socialist Party event in the center of the country.

“You’ll get your comeuppance in a week’s time,” he said pointedly to critics.

He accused the business community of raising prices in recent days in order to create more discontent among voters.

The county’s opposition National Assembly puts annual inflation at more than 13,000 percent in the year to April. Critics blame strict price and currency controls for the mess.

Maduro threatened stronger measures, while government officials visited pharmacies and supermarkets in Caracas to sanction vendors for selling at high prices.

Last week, the government took over the country’s largest private bank and arrested 11 top executives, as part of an operation that seeks to curb black market foreign exchange trades.

The primary opposition parties are boycotting the election, calling it a sham.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...n-in-economic-war-post-election-idUSKBN1IA3KM
 
With military desertion happening, how long can the regime hold on? It's not NK, people know it's better elsewhere, and aren't that afraid of death camps, yet
 
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