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Last week saw some of the most gruesome videos / pictures of police brutality and military repression against unarmed civilians in Venezuela. The dead count is already 38. While President Nicolas Maduro plays ball with chavista strongman Diosdado Cabello, dances on national TV, or talks to cows, the situation in the country is nearing failed state status.
While this was happening I received a leak that revealed a rather odd transaction: Zuma Seguros, an insurance company owned by Gustavo Mendiri, Ciro Amesty and Renny Calderin, issued documents (see below), in which it presents itself as a guarantor, on behalf of Sinotrade Global Group Ltd, of $1.7 million USD to supply the Venezuelan army with "logistical support material". Sinotrade is a fly-by-night company registered in Hong Kong, with no track record. Its director, Gabriel Miño Mendoza, purportedly in the business of car upholstery, lacks any credentials in the provision and procurement of said material.
When I asked Gabriel Miño Mendoza to confirm / deny this information, he closed his Twitter and Facebook account, and immediately removed his picture from his Whatsapp profile (too late). I then asked General Giuseppe Yoffreda Yorio PA, to confirm / deny involvement. No answer has been received. Yoffreda Yorio has a history of involvement in corruption, and in granting millions of dollars to Miño-like thugs.
What I find criminal about this little deal, is that Venezuelan children are dying of hunger, people are dying for lack of basic medicines, and yet the Maduro regime finds appropriate to grant $1.7 million USD -at preferential exchange rate (1$ = 10 BsF)- to an unknown thug, so that the army can carry on with their brutal abuse and killings of protesters.
