International Trade
Cargo that has arrived at Puerto Cabello:
- Over 16,000 tons of
barley malt from PROVENCESA for Empresas Polar
- Over 9,000 tons of
soybean meal from Bunge Latin America for Agro Consorcio Orograin and
Seravian C.A.
- Over 8,000 tons of
yellow corn from Bunge Latin America for Agro Consorcio Orograin and Seravian
C.A.
- 1,700 tons of personal care items such as
diapers, soap, sanitary napkins, shampoo, conditioner, and hair care
products sent by Procter & Gamble Mexico to its local affiliate.
- Over 669 tons of doors in
40 containers from POSTAR for government agency Servicio Fondo Nacional
del Poder Popular (SAFONAPP)
- Over 377 tons of Scotch
whisky in 16 containers from Diageo Brands BV for Corporación Venezolana
de Comercio Exterior (CORPOVEX)
- 268 tons of baby towels
from China for Lilly & Associate Int.
- Over 203 tons of powdered
milk from García Hermanos Agroindustrias for Inquinosa Láctea S.A.
- Over 107 tons of
transformers in 4 containers from Colombia for the National Electricity
Corporation (CORPOELEC)
- Over 85 tons of coffee
processing equipment for state owned Café Venezuela.
Brazil wants debt repayment in oil
Brazilian government sources have said they are to
negotiate with Venezuela to pay some US$ 5 billion debt with oil. The sources
estimated it is necessary to “demonetize”
the trade relation between Brazil and Venezuela, given the lack of foreign
currency of Nicolás Maduro’s regime. (Veneconomy, http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=42585&idc=4)
Brazil asks Venezuela to change the rules of bilateral
beef trade
Brazil has asked Venezuela
to expand the duration of licenses granted to beef processors certified to
export their products to Venezuela. Current beef exports from Brazil to Venezuela
are made under temporary two year licenses. More in Spanish: (El Mundo, http://www.elmundo.com.ve/noticias/economia/internacional/brasil-pide-a-venezuela-cambio-en-las-reglas-del-c.aspx#ixzz3Q72YvaBu;
El Nacional; http://www.el-nacional.com/)
Logistics & Transport
American Airlines hopes to repatriate US$ 656 million
American Airlines has reported it has US$ 656 in Venezuela,
awaiting repatriation, according to their latest quarterly report. More in
Spanish: (El Mundo, http://www.elmundo.com.ve/noticias/negocios/empresas/american-airlines-espera-poder-repatriar--656-mill.aspx#ixzz3QCpPAGbf)
Oil &
Energy
Dominican Republic paid off 98.5% of its total debt to
PDVSA, by paying only 48%
The Dominican Republic has
paid off 98.5% of its debt to. Dominican Finance Minister Simón Lizardo
announced that Venezuela was paid US$ 1.933 billion which is 48% of that
nation's total debt of US$ 4.027 billion. By taking advantage of the financial
benefits which are part of PETROCARIBE, the Dominican Republic saved 52% of the
total bill, and its debt to PDVSA is now merely US$ 96.5 million. More in Spanish: (El Mundo, http://www.elmundo.com.ve/noticias/petroleo/pdvsa/republica-dominicana-paga-el-98-5--de-su-deuda-con.aspx#ixzz3QIo17ydE; El Nuevo Diario, República Dominicana, http://www.elnuevodiario.com.do/app/article.aspx?id=409250; 2001, http://www.2001.com.ve/en-la-agenda/89391/gobierno-reduce-a-republica-dominicana-deuda-petrolera.html; Ultimas Noticias, http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/economia/republica-dominicana-paga-con-bonos-el-98-5-de-su-.aspx)
CITGO offering US$1.5 billion in bonds, 10-11% yield
CITGO Petroleum, a unit of Venezuela's refining
company in the United States, is offering US$ 1.5 billion in bonds maturing in
2020 with a 10% to 11% yield, according to sources consulted by Thomson Reuters
IFR. The bond is initially offering a pick-up of up to 100 basis points over a US$1
billion, 5-year term loan that is being launched jointly and marketed with
price talk of about 800 basis points over Libor, for a yield of around 10%, the
sources said. CITGO and Deutsche Bank, which is managing the transaction, last
week announced in New York some details of the US$ 2.5 billion credit package
that will raise money for CITGO's parent company, state-run PDVSA, amid falling
crude
oil prices and difficulties accessing foreign credit.
(Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/28/citgo-pete-debt-idUSL1N0V71QT20150128;
Veneconomy, http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=42578&idc=2)
US$ 10 billion added income expected from raising
domestic gasoline prices
Government party legislator
Ramón Lobo, Vice President of the Administration and Finance Committee at the
National Assembly says adjusting domestic gasoline prices could bring in an
additional US$ 10 billion to government coffers. More in
Spanish: (El Mundo, http://www.elmundo.com.ve/noticias/economia/politicas-publicas/-10-000-millones-esperan-por-el-alza-de-la-gasolin.aspx#ixzz3QCozwiZx)
Commodities
Hospitals' association: 92.4% of medical supplies are
imported, debt to drug industry up to US$ 3 billion
Cristino García, Executive Director of the Venezuelan
Association of Private and Public Hospitals (AVCH), has welcomed a decree
providing for simplification of procedures to import medical supplies. He says upply
issues had to do with the fact that "92.4% of supplies are imported",
and added that the debt accrued to foreign providers of medical supplies amounts
to US$ 379 million, while the debt owed to the drug industry totals US$ 3
billion. (El
Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/economia/150129/hospitals-association-924-of-medical-supplies-are-imported)
Economy
& Finance
Finance Ministry fine tuning new exchange system
Finance Minister General
Rodolfo Marco Torres has met with private bank representatives to fine tune a
new foreign exchange system the government plans to implement this year. After
another meeting with financial market operators it was reported the new system
will operate through the government's Bicentennial Public Stock Exchange and
will be supervised by Venezuela's counterpart to the Securities & Exchange
Commission (SEC). Representatives of the market operators association said
"the system for this new market will
be a transparent process and will speed up operations, clearing away
uncertainties" Jorge Roig, President of Venezuela's main business
federation (FEDECAMARAS) says "The most important part of what President
Maduro has said, and if they get it right it could work, is to free up the
exchange system to other economic players in the country" More in Spanish: El Mundo, http://www.elmundo.com.ve/noticias/economia/banca/finanzas-define-con-la-banca-nuevo-esquema-cambiar.aspx#ixzz3Q70gvnS6; Ultimas Noticias, http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/economia/ejecutivo-afina-con-los-bancos-el-nuevo-sistema-ca.aspx; http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/economia/roig-nuevo-esquema-cambiario-podria-funcionar-sati.aspx#ixzz3QCrIgZLi; El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/economia/150130/mercado-en-bolsa-bicentenaria; El Mundo, http://www.elmundo.com.ve/noticias/economia/banca/gobierno-se-reunio-con-las-casas-de-bolsa.aspx)
Venezuela has the lowest international reserves among OPEC member countries, according to data from
The Economist’s Intelligence Unit. Venezuela had US$ 23 billion in 2014 in
reserves, followed by Angola and Nigeria, with US$ 28 and US$ 37 billion,
respectively. The Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV) now reports the country's
reserves are going down US$ 288.5 million a day on average during January to a
little over US$ 20 billion. (Veneconomy, http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=42579&idc=2)
Poverty level in Venezuela reaches 48.4% of the
population
A study conducted by the
three main universities in Caracas - Venezuela's Central University, the Andrés
Bello Catholic University and the Simón Bolívar University - shows poverty here
has risen to 48.4% of all homes. More in Spanish: (Ultimas Noticias, http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/economia/pobreza-en-venezuela-llega-a-48-4-de-los-hogares-s.aspx#ixzz3QIpMtW00)
Rationing card may soon go into effect
President Nicolás Maduro says he has given precise
orders to Food Security and Sovereignty Vice President General Carlos Osorio
and Agriculture and Lands Minister Yván Gil “to immediately set the secure supply system, fingerprint scanners and
secure supply cards,” he said. (Veneconomy, http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=42568&idc=3)
The high price paid for errors in Venezuela
Hunger and death are spreading across Venezuela
because of a political project that was supposed to represent a panacea for the
poor, and rather ended up being a factory of poverty, misery and marginality. One
way to measure the situation is paying attention to the voices of agrifood
specialists calling for an emergency to be decreed in the sector; or listening
to government spokesmen such as Food Security Regulator General Carlos Osorio,
who has admitted that food reserves will only last two and a half months, an
extremely serious claim when it is clear that there is no guarantee of enough
production to replenish shelves everywhere in the country with food products,
or the necessary foreign currency to import them. The magnitude of the
disinvestment problem in the national productive system, and hence its
depletion and dependence on imports, is that inventories of medical-surgical
equipment and materials stocking the public and private healthcare network
without inventories have run out already, said María Yánez, head of the Network
of Scientific and Medical Societies of Venezuela, this week. But, the debacle
of the productive sector, as a result of 16 years of sustained expropriations
of lands, properties and businesses of all types and sectors, as well as all
the violations to the rule of law and economic freedoms, is not only confined
to food and pharmaceutical products. (Latin American Herald Tribune, http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2371611&CategoryId=10717)
Politics and
International Affairs
Defense Minister authorizes the military to use lethal
force in "disturbances",
HRW denounces Venezuela
General Vladimir Padrino, Minister of Defense has
issued a resolution which authorizes military staff to break up protests and
use “potentially lethal force, by use of
a firearm or any other potentially lethal weapon,” as a last resource to “prevent riots, support the legitimate
authorities and reject any attack, facing it immediately and with the necessary
means.” In its annual Human Rights Watch has denounced the Venezuelan
government for the excessive use of force against unarmed demonstrators during
protests in 2014. 40 civilians were killed and mass arrests were carried out,
as they were deprived of due process. HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth says
"Human rights continue deteriorating
as the economy continues to sink". Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,
Chairperson of the US House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee
calls the military order "Another
sign of Maduro's desperation". (Veneconomy, http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=42582&idc=1;
and more in Spanish: El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150130/hrw-senalo-al-gobierno-por-el-uso-excesivo-de-la-fuerza; and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:
@RosLehtinen)
Is the Salazar scandal the proof that Venezuela has
finally become a narco-state?
The Spanish newspaper ABC and Miami's Nuevo Herald
have reported that an ex-bodyguard of Diosdado Cabello, the speaker of the
Venezuelan parliament, has provided information to U.S. authorities implicating
his former boss as a kingpin in the drug trade. Prior to turning state’s
witness, Leamsy Salazar, a well-connected officer within the Venezuelan armed
forces, spent over a decade as the head of Hugo Chávez’s personal security
detail and sometime personal assistant. Following the death of Chávez in early
2013, Salazar was reassigned to Cabello, whom he is prepared to depict in
court, according to ABC, as the capo di tutti capi of the “Soles” narcotics cartel, named for the sun emblem embroidered on
high-ranking Venezuelan military uniforms, an alleged drug trading organization
nested inside the armed forces. Emili J.
Blasco, author of the ABC report, quotes Salazar as saying Chávez’ son and the
son of the Cuban Ambassador to Venezuela used PDVSA planes to transport drug to
Cuba. Outside sources seem to back at least the overall thrust of the story.
The Wall Street Journal confirmed that Salazar had been in talks with U.S.
authorities for months. William Brownfield, a former U.S. ambassador to
Venezuela who now heads the Department of State’s anti-drug unit, said the ABC
narrative was “not inconsistent” with
evidence of high-level Venezuelan government complicity with cartels. The
regime, which quickly confirmed Salazar’s defection, otherwise reacted to the
accusations with predictable defensiveness. Cabello has threatened to sue ABC
and Venezuelan media that have printed the story, claiming that no proof of the
accusations has been presented. (Foreign Policy, https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/28/is-this-scandal-the-proof-that-venezuela-has-finally-become-a-narco-state/;
Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/28/us-venezuela-cabello-idUSKBN0L102P20150128;
El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150129/cabello-rejects-unfounded-accusations-intends-to-sue-media-outlets;
http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150128/cabello-salazar-will-have-to-prove-what-he-said; http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150128/congress-vp-us-embassy-offered-me-money-to-betray-chavez;
http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150128/president-maduro-defends-diosdado-cabello-from-smear-campaign; Veneconomy, http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=42569&idc=1;
http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=42580&idc=1;
http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=42570&idc=1;
and more in Spanish: Infolatam, http://www.infolatam.com/2015/01/29/cabello-dice-que-demandara-diario-abc-y-varios-medios-nacionales)
Maduro says he will have the chance to speak with
Obama in Panama
President Nicolás Maduro said in Costa Rica that he
would head for Panama on April 10-11 to attend the Summit of the Americas.
"(US President Barack) Obama will be
there; we surely will have the opportunity to exchange views." He highlighted
the "courageous step" taken
by President Obama to restore relations with Cuba. "We will exchange, honestly and respectfully, views about future
relations (of the United States) with Latin America and the Caribbean,"
Maduro said. (El
Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150129/maduro-we-will-have-the-chance-to-speak-with-obama-in-panama)
Freedom House sees a growing threat against democracy,
with claims the democratic model is experiencing its
worst danger in 25 years due to authoritarianism and terrorism in its annual
report on freedoms. In the case of Venezuela, it decried a substantial increase
of political prisoners who are in many cases accused of terrorism as a “justification
for new repressive measures without any evidence”. (Veneconomy,
http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=42583&idc=1; El
Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150128/venezuela-regarded-as-a-model-of-political-and-economic-dysfunction)
Venezuela says "Colombia is an accomplice to unfriendly actions", but Maduro
meets with Santos
Venezuela´s Foreign Minister has publicly decried that
her counterpart in Colombia has supported positions it claims go against "Venezuelan democracy" in what it
termed "a dangerous regression"
in bilateral relations. The statement came after Colombia's Foreign Ministry expressed
support for former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana - whom President Maduro
accused of being financed by drug money - and called Leopoldo López a political
prisoner". Subsequently, President
Maduro met in Costa Rica for 30 minutes with Colombian President Juan Manuel
Santos. He also met with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. More in
Spanish: (El Nacional; http://www.el-nacional.com/; AVN; http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/presidente-maduro-se-reunió-sus-hom1ólogos-brasil-y-colombia)
Reactions continue to Venezuela's mistreatment of the
former presidents of Colombia and Chile
Reactions continue to the treatment of the former
presidents of Colombia and Chile, Andrés Pastrana and Sebastián Piñera by the
Venezuelan government. Opposition parliamentarians of both nations have
demanded that their governments take a firm stance with Venezuelan President
Nicolás Maduro. In Chile, legislators from both major parties asked President
Michelle Bachelet to file "a formal
complaint" with Venezuela for preventing Piñera from visiting
opposition leader Leopoldo López in a military jail and for calling Piñera all
sorts of names for participating in a forum on democracy hosted by ousted
deputy María Corina Machado. The Conservative Party of Colombia asked President
Juan Manuel Santos to confront his Venezuelan counterpart over the rights of
five million Colombian residents who are being hurt by the current crisis in
Venezuela. They also asked Santos to go to the OAS and call in the
InterAmerican Democratic Charter. For his part, OAS Secretary General José
Miguel Insulza welcomed Pastrana and Piñera "to the club of those insulted by Venezuelan presidents" and
added that "it seems anyone who says
anything concerning Venezuela is to be condemned and that seems to be idiotic".
He added "the main problem here is
human rights.. and the atmosphere for a dialogue would improve a lot if
Leopoldo López and the others imprisoned were to be set free." (El
Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150129/dissenters-request-firm-stance-from-bachelet-santos-vis-a-vis-venezuel;
http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150128/lopez-asks-pastrana-pinera-to-keep-on-supporting-the-venezuelan-endeav; and more in Spanish: 6to Poder, http://www.6topoderweb.com/2.0/1/9386/insulza-considera-una-idiotez-condenar-a-quien-diga-algo-contra-venezuela)
The following brief is a synthesis of the news as
reported by a variety of media sources. As such, the views and opinions
expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Duarte Vivas & Asociados and
The Selinger Group.
