venezuela

While Rudy Giuliani rushed to Bill Barr to get Alejandro Betancourt off the hook, and closest relatives of Juan Guaido provided bona fides, Nicolas Maduro had a realisation of profound consequences: Venezuela can move on from its oil dependence into money laundering. Venezuela is perfectly placed and is, in fact, the launching pad of choice for most of the cocaine produced in neighbouring Andean region that enters international markets.

UPDATED* - The first major scandal involving humanitarian aid funds was exposed by Orlando Avendaño, at Panampost, in June 2019.

What exactly are Russian military contingents doing in Venezuela? Nicolas Maduro's justifies the whole thing on baseless claims about U.S.

#ConMiCorruptoNoTeMetas is undoubtedly one of the most accurate ways to describe politics in Venezuela, a criollo "some corrupt thugs are more equal than others" version. The hashtag was coined by Daniel Lara Farias, a former Acción Democrática (AD) party member, who was assaulted with a baseball bat for exposing in his radio program the sons of Henry Ramos Allup (AD's eternal leader).

There was much conversation during Xmas about what will happen in Venezuela come January 5. When Juan Guaido came out of Leopoldo Lopez's direct negotiations with the State Department, and appointed himself as "interim President" in the middle of the street, clients and friends alike started asking: "what would happen now?" My answer, then and known, remains the same: absolutely nothing. Guaido never stood a chance.

In the realm of independent investigative journalism, very few compare with this site's track record. It sounds odious, but how many can claim that investigations published over the years have ended up with actual arrests, indictments, seizures, extraditions, bankruptcies, and criminal probes in various jurisdictions? This site can. It is the only relevant mark, the sole valid vindication for what we do here.

Hi Donald,

you don't strike me as a man concerned by the rigid formalisms of convention, so I take the liberty to address you by your name.

Venezuela, my country, is this irrelevant banana republic in South America you may have heard about through aides. It is a failed petrostate ruled, with great and enduring success, by a kleptocratic criminal collective known commonly as chavismo. They've been in power since 1999.

Raul Gorrin Belisario, it could be argued, is the one boligarch with access to circles that matter in Venezuela: presidency, supreme court, army, intelligence, and boliburgeoisie. As such, he was right in the thick of an "arranged" coup, whereby Juan Guaido and boss Leopoldo Mandela were going to topple Nicolas Maduro. Trump administration officials were au courrant, encouraging the enterprise. Venezuela's Supreme Court Chief, Maikel Moreno, arguably an employee of Gorrin, was in on it. Vladimir Padrino, Venezuela's National Armed Forces boss, also took part.

Check out the stuff below. Further, let's give it the benefit of the doubt. So an "unidentified buyer" buys "several hundred million" worth of otherwise useless debt. We are not told who traded / transacted this either. Almost simultaneously, Guaidó's debt people announced that all debt will be treated equally, that IMF will be asked for help, and funds, and that Venezuela will renegotiate the lot without regard to whether some creditors have favourable rulings. So let's venture a few guesses.

It's got be said: Donald Trump's administration's policy vis-a-vis Venezuela is a monumental failure. It epitomises the saying "empiezan con brío y terminan con escalofrío." By now it is clear that its intended original goal, of removing Nicolas Maduro, has not only failed its objective, but has rallied Russia, China, Cuba, Turkey, Canada, Lima Group and most countries in Europe into an overtly anti Trump's "all options are on the table", baseless stance on acceptable and achievable solutions for Venezuela.