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With the presence of representatives from the European Union, the U.S., Latin American governments, and (some) Venezuelan opposition figures, the regime led by Nicolas Maduro agreed this week in Barbados to a "set of electoral guarantees" for the "upcoming presidential election" in the second semester of 2024. Maduro also submitted to electoral observers from the EU, U.N., African Union, and Carter Centre, and, crucially, agreed to audits of the electoral system.

Further to media announcements in late September about development of Dragon Field by Trinidad and Venezuela, the Maduro government is yet to give any indication as to what was signed and how the deal, which has to comply with U.S. Treasury's sanctions, will structure a non-cash paying mechanism to Venezuela. Deals of this nature signed by the Executive only become official, as far as current Venezuelan law is concerned, once Congress approves and orders publication in Official Gazette. That is yet to happen.

The Venezuelan e-voting company Smartmatic features prominently in United States of America v Juan Andres Donato Bautista, a criminal complaint filed recently by Markenzy Lapointe, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. The complaint describes how Smartmatic, Antonio Mugica and other top executives of the firm bribed their way into a $199 million contract granted by Juan Andres Donato Bautista (bribes recipient). Bautista is a former head of Philippines's Commission on Elections (COMELEC).

"Venezuela formally applies to BRICS"... "China welcomes Venezuela's intention to join BRICS"... "Brazil's Lula favors bid by Venezuela to join BRICS"... "Nations queue up to join BRICS, to promote 'multipolar world'"... "Maduro meets Dilma and says that “sooner or later Venezuela will be part of the BRICS”"... Venezuela joining BRICS is one of those questions of when rather than if.

In October 2018 this site posited that Victor Vargas' Banco Occidental de Descuento was a Ponzi. Shortly after, Curaçao’s Central Bank acted decisively against Banco del Orinoco, a fully-owned subsidiary controlled by Vargas.

Think about it: sanctions are just the perfect justification. There's nothing quite so flexible, encompassing and revolutionary as being the target of U.S. Treasury sanctions. Everything can be explained under the purview of sanctions. Lack of food? Unemployment? No gasoline? Derelict hospitals and crumbling infrastructure? Malnutrition? Teachers striking? Power cuts? All of that, and more, happens because of sanctions. Like the Cuban dictatorship, chavismo has not lost, but reaffirmed the credibility of its now 24 year old criminal regime thanks to sanctions.

There's all this talk about how the Biden administration is working on a plan to ease sanctions on Venezuela. Coupled with the "scoop" about Jorge Rodriguez and U.S. National Security Council's Juan Gonzalez having met in different parts of the world, for back channel negotiations, it has driven the commentariat to conclude that Venezuela is about to add hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day to the market, which ultimately caused a (momentary) drop in prices.

An "anti graft" drive was launched by Nicolas Maduro in March this year, after "realising" that Tareck El Aissami was, like all its predecessors, looting PDVSA and billions of dollars were unaccounted for. El Aissami was removed and hasn’t been seen since. Pedro Tellechea, PDVSA's new CEO, is meant to be driving a clean up operation that won't leave a stone unturned in its "fight against corruption". For instance, Wilmer Ruperti's petcoke contracts have been scrutinised.