Venezuela, The Starving Socialist Dystopia (Part 1)

Venezuela mulls 'law against intolerance' aimed at dissenters
Hugh Bronstein | August 16, 2017

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Venezuela's chief prosecutor Tarek William Saab talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela August 16, 2017.


CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans who express "hate or intolerance" will be jailed for up to 25 years under a bill pending in the country's newly-formed constituent assembly, a measure the opposition fears will be used by the government to further crack down on dissent.

President Nicolas Maduro has faced a cacophony of international criticism, from the United Nations to Pope Francis, since he installed the 545-member assembly stacked with Socialist Party allies earlier this month.

The OPEC member nation has been rocked by anti-government unrest that has left more than 120 people dead while the country sinks further into a recession compounded by triple-digit inflation and acute food shortages.

Maduro defends the new legislative superbody as Venezuela's only hope for peace and prosperity.

"The question is whether this is the peace he's looking for: creating a law that gives him and his obedient supreme court judiciary powers to lock up dissidents for 25 years," Tamara Taraciuk, head Venezuela researcher for Human Rights Watch, said in a Wednesday telephone interview.

"The proposal includes incredibly vague language that would allow them to jail anyone for almost anything," she added.

Local rights group Penal Forum estimated the government was holding 676 political prisoners as of Wednesday, a number that could rise once the hate crimes measure becomes law.

The assembly on Wednesday empanelled a "Truth Commission" headed by Maduro loyalist and former Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, to prosecute those responsible for violent anti-government protests.

Rodriguez said the assembly will have "a cleansing effect" on the country. "We have seen tweets, messages on social networks and photographs of opposition leaders responsible for convening and organizing violent events in Venezuela," Rodriguez told the assembly.

"As a consequence we have decided to open an investigation into those who are responsible," she added.

'ENTRENCHED IMPUNITY'

In its first session after being elected on July 30, the assembly fired Venezuela's top prosecutor Luisa Ortega and appointed a Maduro loyalist to replace her.

With chief prosecutor Ortega, who had accused Maduro of human rights abuses, out of the way, the assembly on Tuesday ordered that cases of protesters detained this year be held in civilian rather than military courts.

The Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists said in a report on Wednesday that Ortega's dismissal "removes one of the last remaining institutional checks on executive authority."

The country's new chief prosecutor, Maduro's ex-human rights ombudsman Tarek Saab, on Wednesday outlined corruption accusations against his predecessor Ortega, her husband and members of her team of prosecutors.

The opposition, in control of the original congress, boycotted the election of the assembly, meaning that all candidates for the new body were Maduro allies.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-idUSKCN1AW2A1

>socialists asking for laws against "intolerance" so they could redefine "intolerance" to include anything the dont like

im noticing a trend here
 
So all these pan-American, south American and other organizations are useless.

How fucked up we are when fucking sub-Africa is doing better than us to restore democracy through international efforts.
 
The bonds were held by the Venezuela state-owned oil company.

They werent bought in the secondary market, thats why they were called hunger bonds.

Maduro is literally throwing the house through the window in order to get the cuban style type of government down to a point, once he gets there he wont give a shit about anything and just disappear people who protest Cuban style.

Chavez may had been a new style communist but Maduro is an open admirer of Stalin for god's sake, he claims he talks to birds and the such, total nutjob.

At this point Chavez seemed like a reasonable man.
"Hunger bonds" is a political name that protesters branded into order to shame any who invest in Venezuelan bonds-- secondary markets or otherwise-- because they argue it lengthens Maduro's grasp on his country.

Again, show me a source.
 
So how long before they drag maduros corpse through the streets Mussolini style
 
"Hunger bonds" is a political name that protesters branded into order to shame any who invest in Venezuelan bonds-- secondary markets or otherwise-- because they argue it lengthens Maduro's grasp on his country.

Again, show me a source.

I did showed you a source, it wasn't held in a secondary market, it was held by the Venezuela government.

The secondary market would imply that these bonds were in the hands of other investors who sold them on the cheap.

EDIT

Looking for more sources i think you are right, there is nothing clear about it, some sources claim they were held by Venezuela central bank, others in the secondary market.

EDIT 2

The only source for GS buying in the secondary market is GS itself, what its telling though is that Venezuelan international reserves grew by 749 millions a couple days after the sale.

With Venezuela's inefficient state-led economic model struggling under lower oil prices, Maduro's unpopular government has become ever more dependent on financial deals or asset sales to bring in coveted foreign exchange. Venezuela's international reserves rose by $749 million (£585.7 million) on Thursday and Friday, reaching around $10.86 billion (£8.5 billion), according to the central bank.

http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-venezuela-debt-deal-bonds-2017-5
 
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...la-zoo-animals-kass-0818-20170817-column.html

Eating the zoo creatures in Venezuela


"In Venezuela, they're eating zoo animals for food.

That is what's happening in the socialist paradise that was once the pride of the political left. Ultimately though, socialists run out of other people's money.

And now the people of Venezuela are starving.

First they ran out of toilet paper, and then the rule of law, with political opponents of the leftist dictator Nicolas Maduro thrown in jail. Hundreds already have been killed as Maduro gathers power and uses force to get his way..."

 
why is south america so fucked up
 
This is what our Leftist Bernie bros want for America. This is what AntiFa is smashing faces for, and being allowed to do by Leftist leaders.

Meanwhile, because the founding fathers put such an awesome country together I can buy a 70" television for 500 dollars. lmao.

Capitalism and competition means things get endlessly better and cheaper and the quality of life never stops improving, but that isn't good enough for the lazy people who don't work.
 
I did showed you a source, it wasn't held in a secondary market, it was held by the Venezuela government.

The secondary market would imply that these bonds were in the hands of other investors who sold them on the cheap.

EDIT

Looking for more sources i think you are right, there is nothing clear about it, some sources claim they were held by Venezuela central bank, others in the secondary market.

EDIT 2

The only source for GS buying in the secondary market is GS itself, what its telling though is that Venezuelan international reserves grew by 749 millions a couple days after the sale.

With Venezuela's inefficient state-led economic model struggling under lower oil prices, Maduro's unpopular government has become ever more dependent on financial deals or asset sales to bring in coveted foreign exchange. Venezuela's international reserves rose by $749 million (£585.7 million) on Thursday and Friday, reaching around $10.86 billion (£8.5 billion), according to the central bank.

http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-venezuela-debt-deal-bonds-2017-5
The opening paragraph of that article:

Goldman Sachs's statement that it never transacted directly with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro when it bought $2.8 billion (£2.2 billion) of bonds for pennies on the dollar was dismissed by the country's opposition on Tuesday as an effort to "put lipstick on this pig."


You're literally regurgitating Venezuelan opposition rhetoric, and even they don't attempt to refute what I've said. They just criticize it as purely rhetorical. While my sympathies lie with the opposition, I understand now isn't the best time to be looking to them for journalistic accuracy. You have provided no evidence towards your claim.

Concession accepted.
 
The opening paragraph of that article:

Goldman Sachs's statement that it never transacted directly with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro when it bought $2.8 billion (£2.2 billion) of bonds for pennies on the dollar was dismissed by the country's opposition on Tuesday as an effort to "put lipstick on this pig."


You're literally regurgitating Venezuelan opposition rhetoric. While I'm with them, I understand now isn't the best time to be looking to them for journalistic accuracy. You have provided no evidence towards your claim.

Concession accepted.

And you are regurgitating GS rethoric

I think GS is telling the truth in the sense that he bought from "secondary market" but the fact that the Venezuela central bank claimed it had increased its reserves by $700~ millions just 2 days after they sold the bonds at $800~ millions is incredibly suspect.

Most likely they bought it from a broker working with the Venezuelan central bank to place those bonds.

But its just speculation, so ill concede.
 
Hillary Clinton should go run for office in Venezuela, she might be able to get enough votes there.
 
Venezuela mulls 'law against intolerance' aimed at dissenters
Hugh Bronstein | August 16, 2017

r
Venezuela's chief prosecutor Tarek William Saab talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela August 16, 2017.


CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans who express "hate or intolerance" will be jailed for up to 25 years under a bill pending in the country's newly-formed constituent assembly, a measure the opposition fears will be used by the government to further crack down on dissent.

President Nicolas Maduro has faced a cacophony of international criticism, from the United Nations to Pope Francis, since he installed the 545-member assembly stacked with Socialist Party allies earlier this month.

The OPEC member nation has been rocked by anti-government unrest that has left more than 120 people dead while the country sinks further into a recession compounded by triple-digit inflation and acute food shortages.

Maduro defends the new legislative superbody as Venezuela's only hope for peace and prosperity.

"The question is whether this is the peace he's looking for: creating a law that gives him and his obedient supreme court judiciary powers to lock up dissidents for 25 years," Tamara Taraciuk, head Venezuela researcher for Human Rights Watch, said in a Wednesday telephone interview.

"The proposal includes incredibly vague language that would allow them to jail anyone for almost anything," she added.

Local rights group Penal Forum estimated the government was holding 676 political prisoners as of Wednesday, a number that could rise once the hate crimes measure becomes law.

The assembly on Wednesday empanelled a "Truth Commission" headed by Maduro loyalist and former Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, to prosecute those responsible for violent anti-government protests.

Rodriguez said the assembly will have "a cleansing effect" on the country. "We have seen tweets, messages on social networks and photographs of opposition leaders responsible for convening and organizing violent events in Venezuela," Rodriguez told the assembly.

"As a consequence we have decided to open an investigation into those who are responsible," she added.

'ENTRENCHED IMPUNITY'

In its first session after being elected on July 30, the assembly fired Venezuela's top prosecutor Luisa Ortega and appointed a Maduro loyalist to replace her.

With chief prosecutor Ortega, who had accused Maduro of human rights abuses, out of the way, the assembly on Tuesday ordered that cases of protesters detained this year be held in civilian rather than military courts.

The Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists said in a report on Wednesday that Ortega's dismissal "removes one of the last remaining institutional checks on executive authority."

The country's new chief prosecutor, Maduro's ex-human rights ombudsman Tarek Saab, on Wednesday outlined corruption accusations against his predecessor Ortega, her husband and members of her team of prosecutors.

The opposition, in control of the original congress, boycotted the election of the assembly, meaning that all candidates for the new body were Maduro allies.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-idUSKCN1AW2A1

Decent idea imo. Who likes hate, amirite? And intolerance? Not only is it anti-Venezuelan but anti-American. I think we should pass some anti-hate laws ourselves.
 
lol 100 billion in debt is starving in bankruptcy? What about America who is TRILLIONS in debt?
 
Venezuela’s Former Attorney General Flees to Colombia
Her flight comes after the constituent assembly, an entity created by Nicolás Maduro, seized legislative powers from Congress
By Kejal Vyasand Mayela Armas | Aug. 18, 2017

BN-UT190_3bHwT_OR_20170818220710.jpg

Former attorney general Luisa Ortega was fired earlier this month by the constituent assembly.​


CARACAS—Venezuela’s former attorney general Luisa Ortega fled to neighboring Colombia on Friday, seeking protection from President Nicolás Maduro’s administration that is tightening its hold on power and cracking down on political rivals.

Colombian immigration officials said Ms. Ortega and her husband, German Ferrer, a congressman, flew to Bogotá in a private jet from the Caribbean island of Aruba, after Venezuela’s government leveled corruption allegations on Wednesday against the two former ruling party loyalists. The couple says the accusations are in retaliation to their break from Mr. Maduro and their condemnation of his efforts to dissolve congress.

Ms. Ortega was fired earlier this month by the constituent assembly, an all-powerful government entity created by President Maduro’s supporters through a vote widely condemned as fraudulent. The same 545-member assembly on Friday voted unanimously to take over legislative powers from the opposition-controlled congress in the latest sign of what critics say is the country’s fall into totalitarian rule.

The assembly voted to grant themselves lawmaking functions for loosely defined themes, including socioeconomic matters and finances, as well as preserving security and sovereignty.

Opposition lawmakers and human-rights groups had warned for months that Mr. Maduro’s creation of the governmental body was aimed at helping his administration stay in power by silencing rivals and indefinitely postponing elections as the country grapples with an economic crisis.

“The constituent assembly has demolished democracy in Venezuela,” Julio Borges, head of the country’s congress, said in an interview. “We do not recognize their decision.”

Mr. Borges said opposition legislators on Saturday will address foreign diplomats in Caracas in a bid to ramp up international pressure on Mr. Maduro.

The president’s efforts to reduce the power of congress led Ms. Ortega, who served as Venezuela’s top prosecutor for a decade, to break ranks from Mr. Maduro in late March.

Since then, she has become a persistent critic of the government, denouncing rights abuses by security forces that were used to quell four months of antigovernment demonstrations and led to the killing of more than 120 people, most of them protesters. Recently, she has threatened to expand corruption investigations linked to top aides of Mr. Maduro and even share information with foreign governments.

Earlier this week, Venezuela’s intelligence police, the Sebin, raided the home of Ms. Ortega who told The Wall Street Journal in a recent interview that she has been moving between friends’ apartments.

More than 60 other prosecutors from the ministry that she used to run have also been banned from leaving Venezuela and are facing investigations by Mr. Maduro’s allies, Ms. Ortega has said.

To sideline Ms. Ortega as well as congress, Mr. Maduro has turned to the constituent assembly, a body whose powers supersede all other branches of government and aims to redraft the constitution. The assembly was formed last month in a vote that was deemed a fraud by opposition leaders as well as the company that sells Venezuela its voting machines.

Governments across the region have refused to recognize the assembly and its creation has led the U.S. to impose sanctions on Venezuelan officials, including Mr. Maduro.

Opposition lawmakers on Friday boycotted a session of the constituent assembly, drawing the ire of Delcy Rodriguez, the Maduro aide who is leading the assembly.

“Get to work, you bums,” she said during a televised session of the assembly, pointing to a row of empty chairs reserved for the assembly’s rivals in the Legislative Palace. “No one will be able to impede our decisions.”

Critics say that one of the goals of the cash-strapped Maduro government is to obtain the ability, held by congress, to authorize international loans. For months, opposition lawmakers have called upon major financial institutions to blacklist Venezuela for the government’s actions, including alleged human-rights abuses.

Any agreements signed by the assembly will be deemed illegal, congressional leaders say.

“This is a very difficult legal question,” said Caracas-based political analyst Dimitris Pantoulas. “The constituent assembly is supposed to be the supreme power of the state, but what they do won’t be totally legal because so many countries don’t accept it.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/venezu...tive-powers-from-congress-1503092121?mod=e2fb
 
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U.S. Weighs Restricting Trades in Venezuelan Debt to Punish Maduro
Move would ban U.S.-regulated institutions from dealing in bonds from government and state oil company
By Anatoly Kurmanaev and Ian Talley | Aug. 22, 2017​



WASHINGTON—The U.S. government is considering restricting trades in Venezuelan debt as it seeks to punish President Nicolás Maduro for undermining the country’s democracy, according to people familiar with the matter.

The unprecedented move would temporarily ban U.S.-regulated financial institutions from buying and selling dollar-denominated bonds issued by the Republic of Venezuela and state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA, according to a person who was briefed on the proposal.

Another person familiar with the matter cautioned that the measure was one of several steps under consideration regarding Venezuela. The person said the final decision would rest with President Donald Trump.

One option being considered is banning the trading in just some papers issued by the state oil company to limit its access to external funds, said a third person.

The ban would be the first step against the Venezuelan financial system since President Trump promised “swift economic action” against Mr. Maduro for installing a parallel parliament staffed with loyalists earlier this month.

Up to now, the progressive waves of U.S. sanctions have targeted dozens of Venezuelan officials, banning them from traveling to the U.S. and freezing any assets in the country for alleged human rights abuses and corruption.

On Wednesday, Vice President Michael Pence is scheduled to speak to Venezuelan expatriates in Miami.

The ban is designed to damage Mr. Maduro’s support among military officers and government contractors who hold Venezuelan bonds, without immediately hurting the wider population, said the person briefed on the matter.

Mr. Maduro’s government has continued making bond payments despite undergoing the world’s deepest recession, rewarding risk-tolerant investors with the world’s highest yields. Many major U.S. fund managers rely on Venezuelan debt for growth at a time when most rich countries offer negative interest rates on their bonds.

The Venezuelan government has about $65 billion of outstanding debt, which is among the most frequently traded in the emerging markets.

Mr. Maduro has prioritized international debt payments at all costs, even as the country sank deeper into an economic crisis and his government cut back on imports of food and medicine.

Venezuelan bond trading attracted public scrutiny earlier this year after the asset-management business of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. bought $2.8 billion-worth of the country’s debt at about 30 cents on the dollar.

Venezuelan opposition accused the investment bank of financing the Mr. Maduro’s repression of peaceful protesters. Goldman Sachs had said the bonds were bought on the secondary markets and did not add any fresh funds to the government.

Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs’s rival Credit Suisse Group said it prohibited its traders from buying and selling certain Venezuelan bonds because of the risk the trades would finance human rights abuses.

The policy forbids employees from trading or using as collateral two specific bonds, one issued by the Venezuelan government due in 2036, and one by state oil PDVSA due in 2022, as well as bonds from government entities issued after June 1.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-we...lan-debt-to-punish-maduro-1503458455?mod=e2fb
 
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