International Trade
Mexican companies in Venezuela in trouble as devaluation
eats profits
Mexican companies operating in Venezuela are enduring
a failing foreign-exchange system that’s draining profits. The outlook for local units of companies such
as MEXICHEM and COCA-COLA FEMSA is dimming as plunging crude prices and the
world’s fastest inflation erode the value of the local currency. The bolivar
has tumbled 64% on the black market, while a third official rate is adding to
distortions. The petrochemical maker lost US$ 33 million on Venezuela’s
currency last year after adopting 12 bolivars per dollar as its rate versus 6.3.
This quarter, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in
Venezuela will be 20%-35%t of year-ago levels, Chief Financial Officer Rodrigo
Guzman said in an interview. Similarly, FEMSA’s results are being buffeted by
adjusting to a rate of 50 per dollar. (Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-17/venezuela-keeps-hold-on-mexichem-to-femsa-as-bolivar-eats-profit)
Commodities
Wheat inventories for three weeks
Juan Crespo, head of the Flour Industry’s Workers’
Federation’s (FETRAHARINA) reports the sector has declared itself in emergency as
they only have wheat inventories for three weeks. Venezuela is the fifth global
consumer of bread and pasta. (Veneconomy, http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=43165&idc=3)
Economy
& Finance
Government and industry representative meet to plan
strategies to increase production
José David Cabello, Minister of Industries, José David
Cabello Rondón and Miguel Pérez Abad, who heads the pro government Federation
of Small and Medium Industry and Artisans of Venezuela (FEDEINDUSTRIA), to
discuss and outline new strategies to increase national production. They
discussed investment and production recovery projects, plus new proposals
brought forward by the Executive Office, the Ministry of Industries said in a
press release. (El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/economia/150318/venezuelan-govt-industrialists-plan-strategies-to-increase-production)
Politics and
International Affairs
Latin American leftist leaders back Venezuela over US
spat
Members of the Alba regional group have expressed
their support for Venezuela in the face of increasing tensions between the US
and Venezuela. At an emergency summit, Latin American left-wing leaders urged
the US to repeal an executive order which declared Venezuela a threat to the
national security of the US. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stressed his
country was no threat: "Venezuela
has no plans, did not have, nor will it ever have plans to attack the United
States or hurt anyone", he said. He received strong backing from the
Cuban leader, Raul Castro, who announced a rapprochement between his government
and that of the US in December after decades of animosity, said that "the US needs to understand once and for all
that it cannot seduce or buy Cuba, just as it cannot intimidate
Venezuela.....Our unity is indestructible". Bolivian President Evo
Morales said that "the US government
must understand we are not living in imperial times of the past". Nicaraguan
President Daniel Ortega said that it was the US and not Venezuela which was
"a threat to global security, this
is not rhetoric, it is reality". Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo
Patino questioned what the US, a country which he said "has made torture legal and (...) developed
the most powerful mass surveillance system", could teach Latin
American nations about human rights. Meanwhile, at a Senate hearing in
Washington, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary for South America and Cuba, Alex
Lee, meanwhile urged Latin American nations "to emphasize to the [Venezuelan] government the absolute importance of
holding free and fair elections". (BBC News: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-)
...and agree to establish group of facilitators
The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America
(ALBA), Member States reached an agreement to create a "group of facilitators" from several
Latin American integration mechanisms in order to "foster a diplomacy of engagement" between the governments of
the United States and Venezuela. The group of facilitators will comprise the
ALBA, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), the Union
of South American Nations (Unasur), and the Caribbean Community (Caricom). It
will be aimed at "easing tensions
and ensuring an amicable settlement." (El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150318/alba-to-establish-group-of-facilitators;
http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150317/president-maduro-the-us-wants-to-re-colonize-venezuela;
Latin American Herald Tribune, http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2379681&CategoryId=10717)
U.S. insists it doesn’t
seek Maduro’s ouster and wants regional solutions for Venezuela
The U.S. government insisted before Congress
that it is not seeking the fall of Nicolas Maduro’s government, but it called
on its Latin American partners to join forces to find a solution to the crisis
besetting Venezuela. The deputy assistant secretary for South America and Cuba,
Alex Lee, said that the U.S. aim is not to “sabotage
the Venezuelan economy” and he noted, during a Senate Subcommittee on
Western Hemisphere Affairs hearing, that the United States continues to be
Venezuela’s main trade partner. “I want
to be clear: It is not our policy or intent to promote instability in Venezuela
or to endorse solutions to Venezuela’s political problems that are inconsistent
with its own legal system,” said Lee, alluding to the recent sanctions
imposed on several top Venezuelan officials for alleged human rights
violations. A group of senators urged the State
Department to extend the sanctions to include more Venezuelan officials
involved in human rights violations, beginning with Defense Minister Vladimir
Padrino López. Also, they warned Venezuela’s economy is on the verge of
collapse due to the corrupt ways of its government. (Latin American Herald Tribune, http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2379603&CategoryId=10717; Veneconomy, http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=43170&idc=1;
Veneconomy, http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=43171&idc=1)
IACHR orders precautionary measures for Venezuelan HR
defenders
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has
requested precautionary measures for three Venezuelan human rights advocates,
as the commission believes their lives and physical integrity are at risk. The
IACHR asked the Venezuelan government to adopt precautionary measures for human
rights defenders Alfredo Romero, Luis Betancourt, members of non-governmental
organization (NGO) Foro Penal (Criminal Forum), and for Yoseth Comenares, a
sister of the coordinator of one of the regional chapters of the organization. (El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150318/iachr-orders-precautionary-measures-for-venezuelan-hr-defenders)
Appeals Court upholds Ledezma detention, Holdack
released
A court of appeals has quickly upheld the detention of
Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma in a military prison while the Prosecutor
General's office decides to try him for being involved in a plan to overthrow
President Nicolás Maduro. At the same time, Christian Holdack, one of the four
students on trial for the alleged attacks to the Prosecutor General’s Office
building in February 2014, was the last one to be paroled Tuesday evening. Of
the five defendants, only Leopoldo López is on remand for the duration of that
trial. Holdack had experienced serious health problems. (Veneconomy, http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=43172&idc=1;
El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150318/christian-holdack-detained-during-protests-released-on-probation;
Fox News, http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/03/18/venezuela-court-orders-release-student-protester-whose-arrest-has-been-widely/;
and more in Spanish: El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150318/corte-de-apelaciones-avala-detencion-preventiva-del-alcalde-ledezma)
120 candidates sign up for opposition parliamentary
primary elections
The Elections Commission for the opposition Democratic
Unity Conference has received 120 registrations from candidates who will run in
primary elections to be held in 38 circuits on May 17th, to elect 42 candidates
for the National Assembly. Primaries will be held in 12 states. Voluntad
Popular, the party led by Leopoldo López, has registered 21 candidates. Vente
Venezuela, led by María Corina Machado, has registered 7 candidates. More in
Spanish: (El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150319/a-primarias-de-la-mud-se-inscribieron-120-candidatos)
