Oil & Energy
Venezuela oil exports
slump to a 28-year low
Venezuela, once Latin America’s largest oil
exporter, ended 2018 with a whimper as overseas sales dropped to the lowest in
nearly three decades. Home to the world’s biggest crude reserves, the country
exported 1.245 million barrels a day last year, the lowest since 1990, as
production tumbles amid an economic and humanitarian crisis. Falling exports
compound the pain, as oil is the country’s main source of revenue and bankrolls
the regime of president Nicolas Maduro. The country’s crude production fell by
more than half in the past five years to a daily average of 1.346 million
barrels this year, according to OPEC secondary source data. The country is also
bracing for more sanctions, as the Trump administration is said to mull new
actions against Venezuela by Jan. 10, when Maduro’s current term expires. (Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-02/venezuela-oil-exports-slump-to-28-year-low-on-falling-output)
Venezuela: A real
threat to Guyana's oil boom
The day after the Guyanese government fell
after a no-confidence vote Venezuela’s navy approached two Norwegian vessels
conducing seismic work in Guyanese waters on December 22, forcing the ships to
flee to safer waters. The ships, under contract by EXXONMOBIL, are surveying
the area and working to develop massive oil discoveries that could transform
Guyana. Venezuela says the activity is illegal because it is in disputed
territory, but Guyana, and much of the world, views the harassment by Venezuelan
ships as illegitimate. The move comes as EXXONMOBIL and its partner HESS Corp.
are spending heavily to develop a string of oil discoveries off the coast of
Guyana. The discoveries encompass some 5 billion barrels of oil reserves, and
offshore Guyana has quickly jumped to the top of the priority list for EXXONMOBIL.
As such, Guyana – a very small and poor country on the northern coast of South
America – is home to one of the most active and attractive offshore plays in
the world. The fact that Guyana stands at the center of one of the largest oil
companies in the world illustrates the size of the prize. Over the past half-decade,
EXXON has made discovery after discovery in Guyanese waters, repeatedly
revising up its estimate for how much oil might lie beneath the seabed. As
recently as early December, EXXON and HESS hiked their estimate for Guyana’s
offshore reserves by 25% after announcing their tenth discovery. That has the
Maduro regime seething. Venezuela claims ownership over some of the maritime
territory in which EXXONMOBIL is working, but Guyana says that the territorial
dispute was settled over a century ago. Venezuela has held outstanding claims
over some territory in Guyana for quite a long time, but the disagreement was dormant
for decades. EXXONMOBIL was forced to suspend exploration activities after the
move by Venezuela and Guyana has referred the case to the United Nations. Despite
the attempt by Venezuela’s navy to disrupt drilling operations in Guyana, the
move is unlikely to have a lasting impact on EXXON’s developments in the
country. Indeed, on Wednesday, EXXON said that its operations were unaffected,
despite the retreat by the seismic ships a few days earlier. The episode is
mostly a distraction from the larger story unfolding in Venezuela. Oil export
revenues fell by a fifth in 2018 from a year earlier and are likely set to
continue to decline. Harassing oil vessels in neighboring waters won’t change
that dynamic. (Oil Price: https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/South-America/Venezuela-A-Real-Threat-To-Guyanas-Oil-Boom.html)
Commodities
Raising cattle, a
risky business for Venezuela ranchers
Rotting hides on the road are all that is left
of three butchered cows. Such carnage is common in Venezuela's cattle country,
where thieves, squatters and government policy threaten a vital food resource. Venezuela's
severe economic crisis is felt keenly in cities — where food sources are
limited — but it's also cutting a swath through what should be the country's
food basket. Farmers in the cattle-rearing region of San Silvestre, in the
western state of Barinas, say they are in a state of siege — from squatters,
gunmen and government price controls that make their farms unprofitable. "I can't sleep on the farm anymore because
I'm scared," said Jose Antonio Espinoza, owner of a 600-head herd in
San Silvestre. "They have come
around here and tied people up, and then stolen everything — chainsaws, water
pumps, cattle." He said as many as 74 bulls have been stolen over the
past year from his family farm. Cowboys on horseback herd his traditional
Venezuelan Brahman and Carora breeds, as well as buffalos, to and from their
fertile grazing land. But they are powerless when the rustlers strike. Meat
produced in Venezuela now barely accounts for 40% of domestic consumption, less
than half the 97 percent of two decades ago, according to the National
Federation of Cattle Ranchers. Per capita meat consumption went from 20 kilos
per year in 1999 to only seven kilos at present, the federation says. Even
then, farmers can't fulfill demand. Venezuela, a country of more than 30
million people, raises less than 10 million head of cattle, the federation
says; in 1999, when the population was 20 million, there were 14 million
cattle. Dwindling resources makes meat more expensive in the capital Caracas,
560 kilometers (350 miles) away, where it costs the equivalent of the minimum
monthly wage to buy two kilos of meat. The socialist government has
expropriated five million hectares (12.4 million acres) of agricultural land,
the cattle rancher federation says. Price controls mean farmers get little for
the meat they produce. Land invasions are another problem. Emboldened by
government policy, armed squatters invaded a large maize farm in San Silvestre
and ransacked it in the space of three days. In border areas, farmers can be
even more exposed, regularly becoming the target of extortion by armed groups,
engaged in running contraband or drug trafficking. Late last month, the government
took over the running of a score of slaughterhouses. Officials accused their owners
of speculation and promptly slashed prices by two-thirds. There have also been
cases of pro-Maduro state governors demanding that farmers sell part of their
production, setting the prices themselves, to distribute to their supporters at
low cost. (VOA: https://www.voanews.com/a/raising-cattle-a-risky-business-for-venezuela-ranchers/4724800.html)
Economy & Finance
Venezuelans had a brutal year. The outlook for
2019 isn’t any better, experts say.
Venezuelans said
goodbye Monday to one of their worst years ever. And 2019 could be even worse,
according to analysts who predict a deeper collapse of the economy and higher
levels of violence and repression. Venezuela was bad enough in 2018. The
economic collapse that started with Nicolás Maduro’s presidency finally
exploded last year with an inflation rate of nearly 1 million percent, sharp
shortages of food that have more than a third of Venezuelans eating only once a
day and 5,000 citizens leaving the country daily. More than 3 million
Venezuelans have already abandoned their country in an exodus described as the
worst immigration crisis in the history of Latin America. The forecasts for the
coming year are even worse. Estimates by the International Monetary Fund, the
United Nations and other multilateral organizations point to an inflation rate
of more than 10 million percent in 2019; an 18% drop in the Gross Domestic
Product; a deeper collapse of the oil industry; an increase in the already high
levels of violence; and the departure of another 2 million Venezuelans. Experts
also predict new and tougher foreign economic sanctions on the Maduro regime
starting Jan. 10, when he starts a new term in office won in elections rejected
by much of the international community because of broad evidence of fraud and
other illegalities. He was first elected president in 2013. One of the key concerns
is Venezuela’s plummeting oil production, once the principal motor of its
economy, that could drop to 500,000 by the end of 2019. That low production and
the continuing drop in private economic activity could lead to the collapse of
the health system, the power network and the water and other public services —
areas already hard hit by the economic crisis. The economic crisis and the
international pressures all but guarantee that 2019 will be a year of great
turbulence. The future will depend on what proportion of the armed forces will
continue supporting Maduro on his road to a Castro-styled dictatorship, or if
at some point they will decide to stop supporting him. (The Miami Herald: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article223796500.html)
Maduro claims Venezuela lost US$ 20 billion in 2018
due to sanctions
President Nicolás
Maduro claims US economic sanctions have caused Venezuela the loss of some US$
20 billion: “There are multimillion
losses. Our bank accounts are persecuted, our purchases of any product are
persecuted worldwide: food, medicines – it is a savage persecution, what they
are doing against Venezuela is criminal”, he says. Maduro says that all of
this has been denounced with the UN and its Secretary General, along with
several international organizations, “and
no one says anything”. More in Spanish: (El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/economia/29542/maduro-venezuela-perdio-20000-millones-en-2018;
AVN; http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/sanciones-internacionales-le-hicieron-perder-venezuela-20-mil-millones-d%C3%B3lares-2018)
OP-ED: Venezuela may reach a 10 million percent
inflation rate — and 10 million refugees, by
Andres Oppenheimer
After several decades
of writing about Latin American affairs, I thought I couldn’t surprised by
anything anymore. But when a leading international economist told me that Venezuela
is likely to have a 10 million percent inflation rate in 2019, I almost choked.
Alejandro Werner, director of the Western Hemisphere department of the
International Monetary Fund, says: “Yes, 10 million percent, because prices in
Venezuela are doubling or tripling every month. And that, when you take it to
12 months, generates an exponential inflation rate”. He added that the
Venezuelan economy collapsed by 18% in 2018, for a total contraction of 50%
over the past four years. And he projected that it will fall by 5% more in
2019. If the latest IMF and World Bank projections materialize, hunger and
violence will escalate even further in Venezuela, and millions more will try to
flee the country. According to a Brookings Institution study released this
month, 8.2 million Venezuelans — including the 3 million who have already left
the country — will flee over the next two to three years. But Luis Almagro,
secretary general of the 34-nation Organization of American States, told me
last week that the Venezuelan exodus may be even larger than estimated in the
Brookings report. That would be a much larger migration disaster than the
Syrian refugee crisis that has shaken the European Union, and that contributed
to the rise of right-wing anti-immigration governments and political parties
across Europe. It certainly would be an unprecedented mass exodus in Latin
America in recent times. Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro may be more than
happy with the prospect of millions more leaving his country and being left
with a mass of impoverished people who can be easily controlled with government
food subsidies and receive U.S. dollars from their relative abroad. Cuba
started doing that nearly six decades ago, and it has allowed Cuba’s
dictatorship to remain in power ever since. But Maduro may not get away with it
as easily. There is no way that Colombia, Brazil and other countries in the
neighborhood will agree to absorb 8 million to 10 million Venezuelan refugees. If
projections of 8.2 million to 10 million refugees materialize, Venezuela will
become an international hot spot like the Middle East. (Twin Cities Pioneer Press:
https://www.twincities.com/2018/12/28/andres-oppenheimer-venezuela-may-reach-a-10-million-percent-inflation-rate-and-10-million-refugees/)
Politics and International Affairs
Maduro's second
inauguration puts U.S., other foreign critics in conundrum
During his first term as president, Venezuela’s
oil production has dropped to 1947 levels, the currency has lost 99.99997% of
its value, the U.S. and Europe sanctioned a growing number of top government
officials, and millions of desperate residents fled the country, sparking
refugee and humanitarian crises in several neighboring states. Nevertheless, on
Jan. 10, Nicolas Maduro is set to be sworn in for another six years in power in
Caracas. The embattled leftist’s second inauguration, the result of a May
election widely considered fraudulent, presents a conundrum for the Trump
administration and governments across the region, which are now trying to weigh
whether the crisis is best addressed by cutting off diplomatic ties or by
continuing to engage with his regime. In a Dec. 20 meeting in Bogota, the
informal “Lima Group” of Maduro critics — whose key members include Argentina,
Brazil, Canada and Mexico — agreed that it would no longer recognize Mr. Maduro
as Venezuela’s head of state after Jan. 10, though it tabled more concrete
decisions until a meeting of foreign ministers later this week. But cohesion
within the group has been complicated by the electoral victory of leftist
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Lopez Obrador had invited Maduro
to his own Dec. 1 inauguration, and his top adviser for regional affairs,
Maximiliano Reyes Zuniga, insisted in Bogota that Mexico would not break off
diplomatic relations with Venezuela under any circumstances. In his own
end-of-year address to the nation, Mr. Maduro sounded almost chipper, saying he
would press for a renewed dialogue with the political opposition and the
business community and touting the government’s six-year economic plan through
2025. The Trump administration, which blasted the May election as a “sham,” has been largely mum on what
might be in the cards for Maduro in his second term. Just how much he will get
away with in the first year of his second term, though, depends on just how
fast Venezuela continues to disintegrate. At least for the time being, Maduro
still benefits from a fractured opposition, allies whose political survival
depends on unity — or the appearance thereof — and an international community
unsure of just what to do with him. Ultimately, his 15 percent approval rating
underlines that it is force, not popular support that will propel him to his
second oath of office on Jan. 10. (The Washington Times: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jan/1/nicolas-maduro-venezuela-president-defies-critics-/)
Pompeo, Brazil's new
government target Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed
supporting a return to democracy in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua with Brazil’s
new government on Wednesday, in a joint effort against what he called
authoritarian regimes in Latin America. Pompeo and Brazil’s Foreign Minister
Ernesto Araujo considered deepening cooperation in the region at a meeting in
Brasilia following Tuesday’s inauguration of President Jair Bolsonaro. They
discussed “supporting the people of
Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua in restoring democratic governance and their
human rights,” State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said. Pompeo
later met with Bolsonaro, and also broached the question of “reinforcing democratic governance and human
rights” in those three countries. Speaking to reporters in Brasilia, Pompeo
said Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua were countries that do not share the
democratic values that unite the United States and Brazil. “We have an opportunity to work alongside
each other against authoritarian regimes,” he said at a news conference. In
response, Venezuela’s foreign ministry said in a statement it “categorically rejected” Pompeo’s “interventionist attitude,” accusing him
of seeking to rally support among Latin American countries for “forcible regime change” in Venezuela. Cuban
Communist Party leader Raul Castro on Tuesday blasted the Trump administration
for returning to an outdated path of confrontation with his island nation and
of intervening in Latin America, in a speech marking the 60th anniversary of
Cuba’s revolution. Pompeo did not address a reporter’s question on whether
military intervention would be an option. (Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-brazil-venezuela/pompeo-brazils-new-government-target-cuba-venezuela-nicaragua-idUSKCN1OW0VQ; Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-brazil-venezuela/u-s-s-pompeo-discusses-venezuela-with-brazils-new-right-wing-government-idUSS0N1XG014)
US, Colombia aim to
restore Venezuela's 'democratic heritage'
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Colombian
President Ivan Duque discussed Wednesday how to help restore democratic rule to
crisis-wracked Venezuela and reject its "dictatorship." Pompeo followed up a trip to Brazil to meet
with new far right President Jair Bolsonaro with a visit to Colombia for talks
on the migrant exodus from neighboring Venezuela, and its regime led by
President Nicolas Maduro. "Our
conversations today covered how we can collaborate with regional and
international partners to help those fleeing and help Venezuelans recover their
democratic heritage," Pompeo said from the Caribbean city of
Cartagena. He described Colombia as "a
natural leader on regional efforts to support democracy and the rule of law in
Venezuela," its neighbor. Duque said that "all the countries that share the value of democracy should unite to
reject the Venezuelan dictatorship and do everything necessary to restore
democracy and constitutional order." Pompeo praised Colombia for its
support of the 1 million Venezuelans that have crossed the border and "fled the crisis caused by the Maduro
regime's authoritarian misrule." During his visit to Brazil, Pompeo
agreed with his Peruvian and Brazilian counterparts to increase the pressure on
Maduro, with Venezuela's government reacting by decrying interference. (AFP: https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/01/03/19/us-colombia-aim-to-restore-venezuelas-democratic-heritage)
Greenidge meets US
official on Venezuela border controversy
Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge,
on Tuesday in Brasília met with Senior director of the United States National
Security Council’s Western Hemisphere Affairs, Mauricio Claver-Carone. The
meeting, a release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, was held on the
sidelines of the inauguration ceremony for the President-elect of Brazil, Jair
Bolsonaro. The discussions centered on the Guyana/Venezuela controversy,
particularly the Venezuelan Navy’s recent interception of an Exxon contracted
vessel conducting seismic surveys in Guyanese waters on December 22, 2018. The
US State Department issued a statement following the incident, “Guyana has the
sovereign right to explore and exploit resources in its Exclusive Economic
Zone.” They further urged Venezuela to respect international law and the rights
of its neighbors. (Stabroek News: https://www.stabroeknews.com/2019/news/guyana/01/02/greenidge-meets-us-official-on-venezuela-border-controversy/)
Maduro calls Guyana EXXON
Oil ship incident “outrageous”
President Nicolas Maduro says an incident between
a Norwegian ship doing oil exploration work for US oil giant Exxon and a
Venezuelan Navy warship was “outrageous”,
claiming the event was part of a strategy to “weaken and divide” Venezuela. His statements come more than a week
after the incident in Guyana coastal waters December 22nd, Venezuelan media was
quick to note also Friday. “They want to
weaken Venezuela in order to put their claws on our country and steal oil and
riches from us,” Maduro told his second military parade this month. “And there’s a token to demonstrate (the
incident). That was outrageous. When I was informed…I ordered Commander Remigio
Ceballos and the Navy to proceed and apply all of the protocols, no matter what
the cost and that’s what we did.” (Latin American Herald Tribune, http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2472276&CategoryId=10717)
OP-ED: Is Venezuela willing
to start a Caribbean war? by Scott B. MacDonald
On December 22, 2018, the Bolivarian Navy of
Venezuela “intercepted” the ExxonMobil research ship, the Ramform Tethys, in
the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of the Cooperative Republic
of Guyana. The ship is flagged by the government of the Bahamas and was
contracted to conduct seismic work by ExxonMobil and has a crew of seventy.
Relations between Guyana and Venezuela have deteriorated considerably since
Nicolas Maduro came into office in 2013. This incident could be the beginning
of a more sustained push by the authoritarian Maduro regime to stir up
nationalism in the run-up to the beginning of a new presidential term in
January 2019. Guyana and Venezuela have a longstanding border dispute, dating
back to the early nineteenth century but since settled by international
arbitration. Venezuela has periodically challenged that settlement, claiming
about half of the country. The recent discovery of large quantities of oil off
the shore of Guyana conducted by major oil companies, in particular EXXONMOBIL,
has led to a new oil rush for the Caribbean country. The Guyanese government is
deeply concerned that Venezuela could continue to push on the border issue. On paper,
the Venezuelan military is much larger than Guyana’s. However, the terrain
through which any large-scale Venezuelan incursion would proceed is
challenging. Would the Venezuelan military be ready and able to make war
against Guyana? The answer is probably no; the preference would be more likely
to conduct bullying operations, such as the seizure of oil exploration ships. Making
the situation more complicated is the involvement of the major powers in the
region. Both China and Russia have been and continue to be actively engaged in
keeping the Maduro regime in power, although it is questionable that Beijing or
Moscow would favor backing Caracas in a shooting war with Guyana. If Venezuela
were to escalate the situation from the seizure of an oil exploration vessel to
a land grab or an attempted naval blockade of the offshore oil fields, the
situation could turn ugly. The United States has already let it be known that
it disapproved of the Venezuelan action and stands behind Guyana. How far does
the Maduro regime want to take this? In December, the previous government fell
and Guyana heads toward new elections in three months. Central to the election
is how the projected oil money will be spent. Venezuela's action cast a dark
shadow over this; something no doubt calculated in Caracas. Indeed, ExxonMobil
has suspended operations. Considering the unpopularity of the Maduro regime,
its need of military support and assistance from Cuban security personnel, a
foreign policy distraction could be seen in Caracas as just the right thing to
take people’s minds off the socioeconomic chaos and misery that their country
has become under the socialist banner. Although the odds of an actual war are
not likely, there is room for escalation, something that in the short term could
help Maduro begin his new term. The Caribbean has long been off the U.S. radar,
but China’s and Russia’s growing role in the region means that can no longer be
the case. Guyana could be a test case of U.S. resolve to maintaining its
strategic dominance in the Caribbean. (The National Interest: https://nationalinterest.org/feature/venezuela-willing-start-caribean-war-39987)
Venezuela offers help probing alleged planned
attack on Colombia president
Venezuela’s government is willing to help
investigate a plot to assassinate Colombian President Ivan Duque, in which
three Venezuelan nationals arrested in Colombia may be suspects, foreign
minister Jorge Arreaza said. The alleged assassination attempt comes amid tense
relations between the two neighboring South American countries. Duque has been
a strong critic of the socialist government of Venezuela’s President Nicolas
Maduro, who he calls a “dictator,”
and Maduro regularly accuses Duque of plotting to overthrow him. In a late
Saturday night statement, Arreaza said Venezuela was willing to provide “the necessary police and intelligence
cooperation” and had asked Colombian authorities for more information on
the three Venezuelans arrested. (Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-colombia-duque/venezuela-offers-help-probing-alleged-planned-attack-on-colombia-president-idUSKCN1OT0GU)
Spiraling Venezuela
crisis threatens to infect entire region, analysts say
“It first started as a trickle, but really in
the last year, it became a wave of people fleeing both for reasons of
persecution and simply because they could no longer sustain themselves,”
Todd Chapman, the U.S Ambassador to Ecuador, told Fox News. “People don’t leave their children behind
because they want to. It is because of the dire circumstances on the ground in
Venezuela are causing people to take this consequential and dangerous and
desperate decision to seek a better life elsewhere.” The depth of the
catastrophe threatens to unravel the stability and wreak financial havoc beyond
just Latin America - with little end in sight. It's quite simply "the worst crisis the region has seen in
modern history," according to Moises Rendon, associate director and
fellow for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). “You have a humanitarian and economic
collapse, mass immigration and the government cracking down along with
institutional collapse,” he said. “Combine
all these aspects together, and Venezuela is fast becoming a threat for the
civility of the whole region.” Response for Venezuelans, the coordination
platform for refugees and migrants, documents at least 16 countries that now
need assistance in tending to the ever-burgeoning mass migration flow. Neighboring
countries have subsequently been forced to deal with spikes in crimes, sex, and
drug trafficking, and criminals – both from Venezuela and from home nations –
seeking to take advantage of those most desperate amid the calamity. Although
more than 3.3 million Venezuelans are estimated to have left the country since
2015, only a small portion has applied for asylum. “Many just can’t feed their children so their focus is on just getting a
job, anything until they can go home again,” explained UNHCR’s
Representative in Ecuador, María Clara Martín. “I have rarely seen a Venezuelan who says they don’t want to return.”
Antonio Ledezma, a former political prisoner, mayor of Caracas and opposition
leader now exiled in Spain, told Fox News more than 64% of the migrants are
below 30 years of age, and more than 52% have received higher education. The
impasse has torn families apart – with some migrant describing how certain
members had gone to Chile or Colombia, while others ventured to Peru or
Argentina – all i bid to send whatever they could home to their other loved
ones, sick and starving in their homeland.
Both government and non-governmental professionals tending to the
regional calamity concurred that this year there has been a “profile shift” in those fleeing. In the
first few years of the meltdown, which gained momentum in 2015, those with some
finances and education were able to buy plane tickets out. But as the situation
has slowly deteriorated, those from poorer backgrounds started to escape. The number of Venezuelans fleeing is expected
to reach 5.3 million by the end of 2019, according to the United Nations, “in what has become the largest exodus in
modern Latin American history.” (Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/world/political-infection-how-venezuela-crisis-threatens-to-unravel-the-whole-region;
BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-46524248)
A lonely quest for
survival, the elderly left behind in Venezuela
If life in Venezuela is tough, it’s even worse
for the elderly. The nation is plunging deeper into economic crisis fueled by
corruption, failed socialist policies and lower oil prices, generating historic
levels of hyperinflation that has left the old and infirm scrambling to find
and pay for vital medicines. They face standing in hours-long lines to cash
pension checks that don’t adequately cover nutrition. Many have watched as
their families have left this oil-rich country, leaving them to face lonely
quests for survival. Nationwide, the elderly are confronting major shortages of
medicines that are indispensable for their age, even as their purchasing power
has fallen around 90% in 2018. (The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2018/12/28/a-lonely-quest-for-survival-the-elderly-left-behind-in-venezuela/)
Venezuela on track to
be Latin America's most violent country in 2018
Venezuela is expected to become Latin America's
most violent country in 2018 after reports show the nation's homicide rate
surpassed that of Honduras and El Salvador, according to an organization's
report. "We will clearly become the
most violent country in Latin America and the one with the most homicides
worldwide," Roberto Briceno, director of the Venezuelan Observatory of
Violence said in a report. This year, Venezuela has had a rate of 81.4
homicides per 100,000 people, he said. What is more worrisome, Briceno said, is
that of these deaths, 7,523 correspond to people killed "resisting authority." That means
that a third of the violent deaths in the country can be attributed to the
country's security forces, he said. Briceno said that the Venezuelan government
has not only increase repression of its population but also, starting in 2015,
carried out actions that appear to indicate it has adopted a policy to
exterminate criminals, rather than fight crime. There is also growing rural
violence as criminal gangs take over highways and move from town to town to
commit thefts. Theft on highways is so prevalent, particularly in the east of
the country, that trucks go escorted, if they have cargo, and when they are not
carrying cargo, they open doors to show they are empty. (UPI: https://www.upi.com/Venezuela-on-track-to-be-Latin-Americas-most-violent-country-in-2018/1701546018259/#ixzz5bYFvnRUo)
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.
