Message to INFODIO readers: investigative journalism, which is what this site does, takes lots of time. Visiting media looking for a quick run down on Venezuela's gargantuan corruption, have the decency to at least cite the source when plagiarising this site's content without attribution (exhibit Reuters here and here, exhibit Bloomberg here, exhibit OCCRP here). To all readers, do the right thing, the honest thing: support independent investigative journalism, help us expose rampant corruption. Note added 28/06/2021: impostors are using this site's former editor's full name, and a fake email address (alek.boyd.arregui@gmail.com) to send copyright infringement claims / take down requests to web hosting companies (exhibit Hostgator). The attempt is yet another effort paid by corrupt thugs to erase information about their criminal activities. Infodio.com has no issues with other websites / journalists using / posting information published here, so long as the source is properly cited.

venezuela

Leopoldo escapes, chavismo stays

Count us among the suspicious, the incredulous. In early 2019, even before Juan Guaido declared himself interim president of Venezuela, we met with senior officials of the Trump administration. Very early in our meeting words to the effect of "we like Leopoldo" were uttered. I remember it vividly, having thought "oh man... where do we start?" For Leopoldo, before his puppet Guaido became a thing, was already, arguably, the most toxic politician in Venezuela. Alas that was the hope then.

Hopeless Juan Guaido comes with a plan, for a new plan, which rehashes old plan...

Juan Guaido isn't very bright, that much is more than evident already. He's come up with a 'new roadmap', which is a consultation plan -with same useless politicos that have allowed Nicolas Maduro to lord over Venezuela, for a new plan, which will rehash / relaunch the old plan of "1) cese de la usurpacion, 2) gobierno de transición, 3) elecciones libres"... well, better to listen from the horse's mouth:

Trump should drop Guaido

Check this out: after picking Juan Guaido, the Trump administration placed a bunch of sanctions on Venezuela / PDVSA. Said sanctions regime put the fear of god on a number of international energy players that ended up leaving the scene. The objective was to remove Nicolas Maduro, but the riskier it got for established companies to engage in business with Venezuela / PDVSA, the faster the void was filled by nimble shells run by thugs eager to cash in.

Putschists in Venezuela: more Charlie Wilson less John Bolton please

The recent record of U.S. government intervention in Venezuela sucks. Is out with Operation Condor and Washington Consensus, in with putsch by tweet. Regime change nowadays is by betting on the wrong horse, siding with cabals of entirely useless allies, while continously overestimating charlatans and underestimating chavismo, which is the most formidable foe to have ever come out of Latin America. What the world needs, what the region and Venezuela, in particular, need is more Charlie Wilson and less John Bolton.

Fisking Francisco Rodriguez on Venezuela assets

Trying to stay relevant in politics is quite difficult in the best of times and places. Imagine how it looks for those with such aspirations, when, in the middle of current pandemic, their area of expertise is a banana republic cum failed State submerged in an abyss of corruption, like crisis-ridden Venezuela. Case in point Francisco Rodriguez, who went from an advisory role in Venezuela's Congress, to academia, to earn a living talking up -in stressed bond circles- chavismo's trustworthyness and ability to service its piling debt.

Adam Kaufmann retained by narco Cliver Alcala Cordones

With ~1.35 million lawyers, the United States of America has one of the world's largest percentages of lawyers per capita, and it is widely considered to have one of the most litigious societies in the planet. Imagine then my shock, when learning that Adam Kaufmann, former understudy of legendary New York prosecutor Robert Morgenthau, is representing narcoterrorist Cliver Alcala Cordones.

Thank You U.S. Department of Justice

I've always believed that one has to be as frontal in praise as in criticism. Depending on where one stands, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) may have many aspects that deserve criticism, I am sure. With respect to Venezuela and the bunch of chavista narcoterrorists in power, nobody has a cumulative catalogue in exposing galloping and gargantuan corruption that compares to the one published by us in nearly two decades, and no law enforcement or justice system has come close to DoJ in prosecuting the thugs that have literally destroyed our nation.

Senator Rick Scott: where's the outrage at Rudy Giuliani?

Florida Senator Rick Scott would like to portray himself as some sort of ethical guardian of what's good and proper when it comes to legal representation retained by chavista thugs in America. His protestations in this respect started with a public letter to Foley & Lardner, where he claimed: "It has recently come to my attention that your firm was hired by Inspector General Reinaldo Muñoz, the top lawyer for Nicolas Maduro’s brutal regime in Venezuela.