Venezuela / Venezuelan Affairs

After three weeks of protests, living conditions in the South American nation are more precarious than ever   

Caracas, Apr.24.─ The anti-government protests that have rocked the Venezuelan capital of Caracas over the last three weeks have created an increasingly polarized city where two distinct realities live in parallel. In Petare, one of the country’s poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods, residents at the local market look for fruit and vegetables, while people stand in line outside a grocery store that has shutters across its windows.

Customers are limited to four packets each of rice and sugar, as well as the same number of bottles of cooking oil. People are taking advantage to stock up ahead of the continued street protests. A packet of rice now costs 4,700 bolívares, equivalent to $1, with the price creeping up as it works it way through the chain of hands in the black market.

El presidente venezolano está atrapado entre la presión externa y sus urgencias financieras

 El gobierno apostó a que Vladimir Putin lo rescataría, asociando a la petrolera Rosneft con PDVSA   

Abr. 4.─ En el principio, en Venezuela, fue el petróleo. También está detrás el golpe que dio Nicolás Maduro a través del Tribunal Supremo. La principal motivación coyuntural para arrebatar atribuciones al Poder Legislativo fue la crisis terminal de la petrolera PDVSA. Maduro necesita doblegar la resistencia de la Asamblea Nacional a aprobar la asociación de esa empresa con compañías extranjeras para explotar yacimientos del Orinoco. PDVSA está al borde de la cesación de pagos. Si ese colapso se produce, la suerte de Maduro estaría echada. La asonada fue un nuevo paso del chavismo hacia la radicalización definitiva. Pero para entenderla hay que advertir que, desde el punto de vista económico, la dictadura ha quedado acorralada.

Si el avance sobre la Asamblea fuera insuficiente para probar la subordinación del máximo tribunal al Poder Ejecutivo, el sábado ocurrió una demostración más contundente. Los magistrados volvieron sobre sus pasos a gran velocidad apenas un Consejo de Seguridad, encabezado por Maduro, les dio la orden. Así y todo, el presidente acusó a “sectores apátridas” de presentar una imagen deformada de la institucionalidad venezolana.

Dominican Republic, Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Bolivia voted with Venezuela in trying to cancel the OAS meeting   

Washington DC, Mar.29 (DP.net).─ Some Member States of the Organization of American States (OAS) urged Venezuela's government and opposition to settle their differences through dialogue Tuesday, backing off from threats to suspend the country according to the Inter-American Democratic Charter and providing President Nicolas Maduro some short-term relief as he struggles to keep power over a nation polarized by a deep economic, social and political crisis.

Faced with Maduro's record of deepening authoritarianism, the countries of the Americas had voted 20 to 11 this Tuesday (Mar.28) to open a formal debate on whether Venezuela is democratic enough to remain a full member of the Inter-American System.

 March 9.─ Hugo Chávez owed much to Raúl Baduel. When in 2002 Chávez was forced to step down as Venezuela’s president following a massacre of protesters in Caracas, it was General Baduel, an old political ally, who restored him to power after an opposition junta had illegally suspended the constitution. In gratitude, Chávez made General Baduel defence minister. But in retirement the general dared to oppose Chávez’s drive to abolish term limits. He was accused of stealing $10m and jailed. Two days before completing his sentence, this month General Baduel was charged with treason.

His treatment shows how cornered the government of Nicolás Maduro, Chávez’s chosen successor, feels. Mr Maduro has an approval rating of just 18% according to Datanálisis, a pollster. The economy is in freefall because of mismanagement and lower oil prices. To service its foreign debt, the government slashed imports to a third of their level in 2012.