International
Trade
Cargo
that has arrived at Puerto Cabello:
- 30.000 tons of raw
sugar
- 60.000 tons of paddy rice
- 60.000 tons of baker
wheat
- 10.000 tons of crude soybean oil
- 30.000 tons of cake
of soy
Trade with Colombia down another 20%
Data
from the Colombia’s National Statistics Department (DANE) indicate trade
between Colombia and Venezuela during Q1 2016 was only US$ 311 million, down
20% from US$ 389 million last year. (El
Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/noticias/economia/intercambio-comercial-entre-colombia-venezuela-contrajo_312602)
Logistics
& Transport
Airlines
suspend more flights to Venezuela as economic crisis worsens
Venezuela
has for years seen airlines reduce capacity to this country as they struggled
to repatriate revenue. Now, two more airlines are calling it quits altogether. LATAM
Airlines Group SA, Latin America’s largest carrier, said Monday that it would
cut all flights to Caracas by August. LATAM also highlighted economic
conditions, saying it wouldn’t resume flights when things improved. A day
earlier, Deutsche LUFTHANSA AG had said it would suspend its three weekly
flights to Venezuela next month “until
further notice.” The German airline’s spokesman, Andreas Bartels, pointed
to the challenge of repatriating revenue from Venezuela and a sharp drop in
ticket demand -- especially among business travelers -- with the nation mired
in its third year of a deep recession. Venezuela owes Lufthansa over US$ 100
million in ticket revenue. Carriers have struggled for years to transfer back
profits from Venezuela, leaving billions of dollars trapped in bolivars -- the
local currency. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has been
pushing Caracas to free trapped airline revenue. (Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-29/lufthansa-to-suspend-flights-to-venezuela-starting-next-month;
Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-latam-airlines-venezuela-idUSKCN0YL1SZ;
El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/noticias/daily-news/latam-airline-begins-gradual-suspension-flights-venezuela_312593;
Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/venezuela-airlines-lufthansa-idUSL8N18R2PM;
El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/noticias/daily-news/venezuela-owes-lufthansa-usd-100-million-spokesperson-says_312579)
Economy & Finance
Venezuela’s
oil income drops to under US$ 100 million per month
The
drop in oil prices, the weight of foreign debt service cost, and lower
production levels have drastically closed the stream of oil dollars that used
to flow into Venezuela’s state coffers, lowering real income contributions to
mere drops. Experts report that PDVSA contributions to Central Bank accounts
are now below US$ 100 per month, after costs and debt service. This is in
contrast to US$ 2-3 billion the company used to contribute two years ago. Russ
Dallen, managing partner at Caracas Capital Markets, explains that “the numbers do not work”, leading the
Maduro regime to sell off its few remaining foreign assets and spend reserves
on importing around US$ 1 billion in food each month. Maduro himself has
acknowledged the gravity of the situation, and said: “If we look to January 2010, income was US$ 1.790 billion; it was US$
2.463 billion in January 2011; it was US$ 3 billion in January 2014; US$ 815
million in January 2015; and in January 2016 we only have US$ 77 million”. More in Spanish: (El Nuevo Herald: http://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/mundo/america-latina/venezuela-es/article80184117.html#storylink=cpy)
Economic
czar hints at FOREX release
Economic Affairs Vice President Miguel Pérez Abad has
seemed to hint that FOREX operations will soon be liberated. He told media “we will soon release, set in motion, the
FOREX system, particularly that which is of highest interest to the domestic
economy, the supplementary exchange system”. He added that the “exchange rate relies on the market behavior
and it acknowledges other stockholders, not only the government, because it is
twofold: capture foreign currency, manage foreign currency to accomplish two
fundamental goals, such as import substitution and promote exports.” However,
expert economist Henkel García, of ECONOMÉTRICA, clarified that Pérez Abad did
not promise to fully liberate the exchange rate, “what he meant was that DICOM would soon be implemented, something which
has not yet happened…what he is talking about is that the new system would
really be one of free access”. (El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/noticias/daily-news/forex-venezuela-could-set-free-soon_312476; and
more in Spanish: El Nacional, http://www.el-nacional.com/economia/refirio-ministro-Perez-Abad-liberacion_0_857314592.html)
Politics and International Affairs
OAS
head Almagro seeks emergency meeting on Venezuela
The
head of the Organization of American States (OAS) has called for an urgent
meeting to see if crisis-hit Venezuela's socialist government had breached
democratic rules, which could lead to a process of suspension. Luis Almagro, a
former Uruguayan foreign minister, has called Venezuelan President Nicolas
Maduro a "petty dictator,"
accusing him of disrupting democracy by blocking the opposition-controlled
congress and putting loyalists in the Supreme Court. A statement from the
Washington-based OAS said Almagro was invoking the body's Inter-American
Democratic Charter and had requested a meeting of the permanent council between
June 10-20 to analyze the situation in Venezuela. Venezuela views the OAS as a
pawn of hostile U.S. policy, and Maduro has dismissed Almagro as a turncoat
working for its ideological adversaries in Washington. A two-thirds vote in the
34-nation OAS' General Assembly would still be needed to suspend Venezuela.
Caracas has lost the support of diplomatic heavyweights Brazil and Argentina
following their recent shifts to the right. But it still enjoys strong support
from small Caribbean and Central American nations, including those who benefit
from preferential oil and fuel sales, which could ensure it a numerical advantage
in any vote. (Reuters: http://news.trust.org/item/20160531152906-1ybqo/?source=hpbreaking)
National
Assembly President to ask for the floor at OAS meeting
Henry
Ramos Allup, President of the National Assembly, says he will request the floor
at the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) to raise
the issue of the current crisis here. Ramos says initiatives by OAS Secretary
General Luis Almagro are “invaluable”.
(El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/noticias/daily-news/venezuelan-congress-speaker-ask-the-floor-oas_312498)
UNASUR
sponsored efforts toward a dialogue here appear to be failing
The
Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) has been promoting talks between the
Venezuelan regime and its opponents, using the good offices of former
Presidents José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spain); Leonel Fernandez (Dominican
Republic) and Panama (Martín Torrijos). A statement by UNASUR Secretary General
Ernesto Samper says the talks are designed to strengthen the economy, preserve
the rule of law, democracy and national sovereignty. Exploratory talks were
held with both sides – separately - in the Dominican Republic last week, but
Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez went on media to falsely report
both sides had met, which drew a wave of criticism. Opposition representatives
called Rodríguez a liar and said that past UNASUR efforts have failed. They
stressed that they did meet with UNASUR representatives to emphasize their four
key conditions for entering into talks: Immediate freedom for political
prisoners, a democratic solution this very year, respect for the National
Assembly, and official recognition of the domestic humanitarian crisis. The
Democratic Unity coalition (MUD) further said that any effort towards a
dialogue is not viable if these demands are not accepted. For its part, the
government priority is to block or delay a recall referendum against President
Nicolas Maduro. Given the high level of polarization and confrontation for more
than 15 years there are no bridges between the government and the opposition
here. Civil war talk prevails on both sides, with “chavistas” accusing the opposition of coup-mongering and being the
allies of imperialism; and the opposition refusing to recognize any legitimacy
in the regime. UNASUR Secretary General Ernesto Samper reported the separate meetings
and said they would continue. (Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-28/venezuela-government-opposition-exploring-talks-to-end-crisis;
El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/noticias/daily-news/unasurs-samper-believes-possible-talks-venezuela_312540;
and more in Spanish: (Infolatam: http://www.infolatam.com/2016/05/30/venezuela-un-dialogo-con-escaso-futuro/Ultimas Noticias, http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/politica/pj-no-hubo-ni-hay-dialogo-con-el-gobierno.aspx#ixzz4AEBn9pWv;
http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/politica/unasur-confirmo-voluntad-de-dialogo.aspx; America Nuestra: http://americanuestra.com/ultimahora-los-4-puntos-de-la-mud-la-verdad-sobre-la-reunion-de-santo-domingo/;
El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/noticias/politica/unasur-haran-nuevos-contactos-para-dialogo-fechas-proximas_312354)
Roman
Catholic hierarchy says UNASUR is not adequate to promote talks here
Venezuela’s
Roman Catholic hierarchy is willing to lend its good offices for talks needed
to meet the national crisis, and believes the Union of South American Nations
(UNASUR) is not adequate as a facilitator for contacts that began last week in
the Dominican Republic. The bishops believe that “UNASUR can do little to promote talks, it lacks the strength to further
a dialogue, and is not an adequate participant since the government had a lot
to do with its formation. In addition, at other times UNASUR efforts came to
nothing. A strong player is needed, or several international organizations,
that are accepted as valid by both sides”.
More in Spanish: (El Nacional, http://www.el-nacional.com/politica/Conferencia-Episcopal-Unasur-adecuado-dialogo_0_857314617.html)
Elections
Council calls off key meeting with opposition representatives
Miranda
state governor and opposition leader Henrique Capriles reported that the
National Elections Council (CNE) called off a scheduled meeting with opposition
representatives to discuss the requested recall referendum. He called for new
demonstrations to demand action by the CNE, which he accused of stalling. More
in Spanish: (El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/noticias/politica/poder-electoral-suspende-encuentro-este-martes-con-oposicion_312614)
Kerry
welcomes bid to spur talks between Venezuela, opposition
U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis
Rodríguez Zapatero on Thursday to welcome the efforts he is leading to facilitate
dialogue between the government of Venezuela and members of the Venezuelan
opposition. Kerry said the United States stands ready to help Zapatero,
alongside former Dominican President Leonel Fernandez and former Panamanian
President Martín Torrijos, in their efforts. (Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-usa-idUSKCN0YI2BY; El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/noticias/daily-news/senator-marco-rubio-adds-names-venezuelan-sanctionable-officials_312523)
Mexico calls
for inclusive talks in Venezuela
The Mexican
government welcomed “the first encounters
for talks” between the Venezuelan government and the opposition and made an
appeal for an “inclusive” dialogue. The
Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it hopes the initiative will help “Venezuelans find a solution to the tough
situation in their country.” (El
Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/noticias/daily-news/mexico-asks-for-inclusive-talks-venezuela_312481)
Argentina
could seek MERCOSUR meeting on situation in Venezuela
Argentina’s
Foreign Affairs Minister Susana Malcorra has announced that her government is
calling for a meeting of foreign ministers of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR)
to tackle the current situation in Venezuela. Malcorra said that the democratic
clause of the economic bloc is likely to be enforced in Venezuela, but
reiterated that “the only solution”
to the situation here requires “talks”
between the government and the opposition. (El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/noticias/daily-news/argentina-backs-mercosur-meeting-situation-venezuela_312518)
Argentina, Chile and Uruguay appeal for an urgent
political dialogue in Venezuela
Argentina,
Chile and Uruguay in a joint statement released on Friday issued “an urgent call for an effective political
dialogue and a genuine civic understanding among all political and social
actors called for political dialogue in Venezuela” and offered to help with
a “national reunion” of the political
and social forces of the country, The appeal was made extensive to the
government, the National Assembly, under opposition control, and all political
and social groups. (Mercopress: http://en.mercopress.com/2016/05/21/argentina-chile-and-uruguay-appeal-for-an-urgent-political-dialogue-in-venezuela)
Opposition
lawmakers report on Venezuela’s crisis in Paraguay
Opposition
legislators from Venezuela met with the head of the Paraguayan Chamber of
Deputies, Hugo Velásquez, to report that Venezuela is facing “a humanitarian crisis” because the
government “has destroyed the country’s productive apparatus.” The delegation told
journalists that Venezuela “lacks basic
products” and that nationals “are
going through an inconceivable situation verging on atrocity,” Efe reported.
(El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/noticias/daily-news/opposition-lawmakers-report-paraguay-venezuelas-crisis_312500)
Washington
Post Editorial: The agony of Venezuela continues
Numerous
governments, including the Obama administration, last week called for political
negotiations in Venezuela to head off an incipient and potentially catastrophic
breakdown of political and economic order. Former Spanish prime minister José
Luis Rodríguez Zapatero traveled to Caracas with other statesmen to urge
President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leaders to start talking. But Maduro
was otherwise occupied. At the end of the week, he ordered tanks, aircraft and
soldiers to patrol the country, claiming — not for the first time — that he was
trying to head off a U.S. invasion. Thus does the delusional heir of Hugo
Chávez drag a country of 30 million people, with the world’s largest oil
reserves, over a cliff. By most measures, Venezuela is already a failed state:
Amid crippling shortages of food, medicine, power and water, every societal
ailment is soaring. Inflation is headed toward 700%, and the murder rate is probably
the world’s second-highest, after El Salvador’s. According to the New York
Times, deaths of infants under a month old in public hospitals are 100 times
more common than three years ago, while a coalition of nongovernmental
organizations says at least 200,000 people with chronic illnesses lack the
medications for them. An April poll, reported by the Miami Herald, showed that
86% of Venezuelans said they bought “less”
or “much less” food than they used
to, while only 54% said they ate three times a day. No wonder there have been
numerous reports of mobs sacking food warehouses, as well as dozens of
instances of vigilante lynching of suspected thieves. Thanks to Maduro and the
corrupt and incompetent coterie that surrounds him, this chaos is likely to grow
steadily worse. Calling for “political dialogue” is one way to
respond to this unfolding crisis. Yet Maduro and other top regime officials,
many of them implicated in drug trafficking or other major crimes, have
repeatedly failed to respond seriously. It’s time for more pressure to be put
on them, such as through sanctions by the Organization of American States under
its democracy charter. (The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/venezuelas-agony/2016/05/24/4db6c3e6-21d9-11e6-9e7f-57890b612299_story.html)
Venezuela
drifts into new territory: hunger, blackouts and government shutdown
Step by
step, Venezuela has been shutting down. This country has long been accustomed
to painful shortages, even of basic foods. But Venezuela keeps drifting further
into uncharted territory. In recent weeks, the government has taken what may be
one of the most desperate measures ever by a country to save electricity: A
shutdown of many of its offices for all but two half-days each week. But that
is only the start of the country’s woes. Electricity and water are being
rationed, and huge areas of the country have spent months with little of
either. Many people cannot make international calls from their phones because
of a dispute between the government and phone companies over currency
regulations and rates. COCA-COLA FEMSA, the Mexican company that bottles COKE
in the country, has even said it was halting production of sugary soft drinks
because it was running out of sugar. There is often little traffic in Caracas
simply because so few people, either for lack of money or work, are going out.
Last week, protests turned violent in parts of the country where demonstrators
demanded empty supermarkets be resupplied. And on Friday, the government said
it would continue its truncated workweek for an additional 15 days. The growing
economic crisis has turned into an intensely political one for President
Nicolas Maduro, who looks increasingly encircled. American officials say the
multiplying crises have led Maduro to fall out of favor with members of his own
socialist party, who they believe may turn on him, leading to chaos in the streets.
(The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/28/world/americas/venezuela-economic-government-collapse.html?ribbon-ad-idx=2&rref=world/americas&_r=0)
Harrowing
scenes of Venezuela on the brink of collapse – in photos
The
lines outside Venezuelan supermarkets can stretch for hours, snaking down
sidewalks and right-angling around corners. Each one is like a hissing fuse.
Will they explode? Venezuela withers away a little more each week. Another food
staple or medicine or industrial part goes missing, bringing the breaking point
closer. The national guard troops policing the supermarket lines grip their
riot shields and truncheons tighter, looking ever more jittery. It all is a
waiting game. The government of President Nicolas Maduro is waiting for a rise
in oil prices to save it from catastrophe. It is waiting for rainfall to rescue
its hydroelectric plants and end the rotating blackouts that have cut the work
week for state employees from five days to two. The government is holding on to
hopes of another loan from China, or any other creditor willing to lend it a
little breathing room. Venezuela’s political opposition is also watching the
fuse, and sometimes trying to fan it, but its street protests look small beside
the food lines. The opposition took control of parliament in December, but that
didn’t matter. Maduro disregards their laws, their votes, their condemnations
and warnings. They’re bystanders too, for the most part. For how much longer?
The waiting game goes on. Venezuela’s neighbors are playing it, too, wondering
if the crash can be softened and how far it may ripple. U.S. officials think the
end is close. But all manner of experts and outsiders have been saying that
about Venezuela for a while now, and the lines just get longer. The weariness
looks like exhaustion in these images from Venezuelan photographer Alejandro
Cegarra. His pictures show the Caracas park where he played as a kid, now in
ruins, and a nearby McDonald’s, empty of customers because runaway inflation
means a Happy Meal costs nearly a third of an average monthly wage. There is no
shortage of street crime and violence in this dystopia. While Cegarra found
plenty of battle-clad guardsman to keep the supermarket lines in formation, the
cop in a nearby park was a cardboard cutout. Venezuela is running on an empty
tank. The government can’t stop the slide, and the opposition can’t stop the
government. All that’s left to do is wait until something gives. (The
Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2016/05/25/venezuela-is-running-on-empty/?hpid=hp_no-name_photo-story-c%3Ahomepage%2Fstory)
Spain
to monitor situation of its nationals living in Venezuela
Spain
will closely monitor the situation of the nearly 200,000 Spanish nationals
living in Venezuela in view of the deteriorating conditions in the Andean
nation, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Friday.
She cited the “very significant deterioration” of public safety in Caracas and other cities and said Spaniards living in Venezuela are suffering from the same shortages of basic necessities affecting the rest of the population. (Latin American Herald Tribune, http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2413134&CategoryId=10717)
She cited the “very significant deterioration” of public safety in Caracas and other cities and said Spaniards living in Venezuela are suffering from the same shortages of basic necessities affecting the rest of the population. (Latin American Herald Tribune, http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2413134&CategoryId=10717)
Is the Venezuelan regime committing genocide by omission?
Oliver
Sánchez, an 8-year-old child who participated in a demonstration because he was
not receiving the chemotherapy procedure he required due to the lack of
appropriate medicines, has passed away. Sánchez had Leukemia and, in his last
days, he was rushed from one hospital to another because any of them ensured
medical attention because of the lack of supplies. He died after 10 days of
intensive care in a private clinic. At the same time, patients of Hospital
Vargas in Caracas have to buy everything (even their own drinking water), while
the company that used to provide food to that public health center stopped
doing so simply because the Government does not pay. (Latin American Herald
Tribune, http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2413251&CategoryId=10717)
