Tag Archives: bribery

May
10
2013
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In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 5/10/13

Maduro In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 5/10/13

Courtesy of Reuters

This week: The Venezuelan government starts an expanded audit of the disputed April 14 presidential election as Henrique Capriles files a legal challenge of the results; the Obama administration continues to monitor Venezuela’s crackdown on political opposition; Nicolás Maduro reacts angrily to Barack Obama’s comments about the political crisis in Venezuela; the family of Timothy Tracy, the American filmmaker held in Venezuela on charges of alleged espionage, calls the situation a “nightmare”; and U.S. diplomats are finally granted access to Tracy in Venezuela. Senior Venezuelan banking official is held on charges of accepting at least $5 million in bribes to funnel business to two Miami broker-dealers; the U.S. Treasury punishes Iran-Venezuela Binational Bank for helping the Iran government evade international sanctions; the Venezuelan government scrambles for answers to the country’s homicide rate, creating concerns about possible human rights abuses; and representatives of 130 countries believe Venezuela fails to meet the minimum democratic requirements. Venezuelan inflation soars toward 30 percent, the highest since August 2010, as the central bank’s scarcity index reaches a record high; according to mathematicians, the tally in Venezuela’s disputed election presents logical and numerical inconsistencies; Venezuela falls to seventh place in scientific research in Latin America, ranking below Cuba; and Venezuela’s only opposition TV station announces management changes after being taken over by the government.

Venezuela Starts Election Audit, The Wall Street Journal

Authorities on Monday began an expanded audit of the disputed April 14 presidential election even though the opposition candidate who called for the review has since withdrawn his support and instead filed a legal challenge of the results.

U.S. Monitoring Venezuela’s Political Crackdown On Opposition, Obama Says, Reuters

The United States is watching “crackdowns on the opposition” in Venezuela, President Barack Obama said in a television interview aired on Friday when asked if he considered newly elected Nicolas Maduro to be the country’s legitimate president.

Venezuela’s Government Condemns Obama’s Comments, The Associated Press

Venezuela’s government on Saturday angrily rejected comments made by U.S. President Barack Obama about the South American country’s political crisis and accused Washington of being behind violence that has followed its recent presidential election.

Family of American held in Venezuela says experience ‘a nightmare;’ embassy has had no access, The Associated Press

U.S. diplomats have been given no access to a California man held in Venezuela for nearly two weeks in what his family on Monday called a “nightmare” that unfolded after he was accused of being a spy fomenting postelection unrest.

US officials are granted access to American detained in Venezuela, Associated Press

Venezuela’s government has granted U.S. diplomats access to a California man who is being held while he awaits trial on charges of espionage and fomenting unrest.

Venezuelan banking official and 2 Miami broker dealers charged in $5 million NY bribery case, The Associated Press

A senior Venezuelan banking official is being held in Miami on charges that she accepted at least $5 million in bribes to funnel business to two Miami broker-dealers, federal authorities in Manhattan announced Tuesday.

US punishes Venezuelan-Iranian bank for helping Tehran, El Universal

The US Department of the Treasury punished on Thursday the Iran-Venezuela Binational Bank (IVBB) for helping the Iranian government to “sort out” international sanctions because of its controversial nuclear program.

Justice minister says Venezuela’s military to form part of anti-crime initiative, The Associated Press

Venezuela’s top security official announced Sunday the government of President Nicolas Maduro will use the military to fight rampant violent crime, raising concerns among activists who warned the initiative could lead to human rights violations.

No democracy in Venezuela, according to 130 countries, El Universal

Representatives of 130 Foreign Offices of countries viewed as democratic met last week in Mongolia, at the Summit of the Community of Democracies.

Venezuela Inflation Soars Toward 30% as Maduro Cuts Dollar Sales, Bloomberg

Venezuelan consumer prices soared the most in three years last month as President Nicolas Maduro’s government reduced dollar sales to importers and the central bank’s scarcity index reached the highest on record.

Mathematicians claim that election numbers in Venezuela do not match, El Universal

The results released by the board of the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) in several bulletins about the presidential election of April 14 exhibit “logic and numerical inconsistencies.”

Venezuela ranks below Cuba in scientific research, El Universal

Venezuela ranked seventh in scientific production in Latin America in 2011, according to international indicators such as SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR).

Sole Opposition TV Channel in Venez Makes Changes, The Associated Press

Venezuela’s only opposition television channel says it is bringing in new management after its sale to new owners, but pledges to maintain its critical line against the government.

 
May
11
2012
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Another Former Judge Alleges Drug Trafficking Ties in Venezuelan Government

Velasquez Alvaray SoiTV Another Former Judge Alleges Drug Trafficking Ties in Venezuelan Government

After weeks of controversy surrounding Eladio Aponte Aponte’s testimony that high-ranking Venezuelan officials were complicit in the illegal narcotics trade, a second former Venezuelan Supreme Court judge, Luis Velásquez Alvaray, has stepped forward. On Wednesday, Velásquez Alvaray publicly accused Venezuelan government officials and members of the judiciary of corruption and of aiding drug traffickers and guerrilla organizations, via SoiTV, a Miami online channel.

Velásquez Alvaray, who currently resides in Costa Rica after having himself been charged with corruption, accused a group of judges and prosecutors that operate under the name “Band of Dwarves”, of extortion and bribery. He claims that the groups is led by former vice-president José Vicente Rangel, and known for penetrating the whole country with their influence. Velásquez Alvaray calls them a criminal gang, describing them as the “worst perversion from the judicial point of view that could exist.”

He also accused Rangel of being the mastermind behind the controversial murder of prosecutor Danilo Anderson, who died after a device under the driver’s seat of his car containing an explosive erupted. The bomb was apparently activated remotely by a cell phone.

Velásquez Alvaray showed the camera several incriminating documents; the worst was the actual record of Hugo Chávez ordering the arrest of his former presidential rival, Manuel Rosales. “The order was to arrest Manuel Rosales however possible, even though there was no proof against him,” he claimed. Politics has long been a contact sport, but to actually arrest one’s political opponent without cause is not an act that most democratically-elected leaders would countenance.

He went on to describe the two biggest drug trafficking groups operating in the country: “the Cartel of the Suns,” which he believes is composed primarily of generals, and the “Syrian-Lebanese Cartel,” which he argues is comprised of senior government officials. There apparently is proof of the involvement of many of these civil and military personalities in drug trafficking, extortions and homicides. It is this “war of cartels,” as Alvaray called it, that is tearing Venezuelan civil society apart. He claimed that the president of the Supreme Court, Luisa Estella Morales, is fully aware of the situation, but has done nothing to resolve or address the issue.

Links between many members of Chávez’s regime and the Colombia guerrilla organization FARC were also drawn; “I rely on information from the Colombian intelligence bodies on the current operation of the FARC in Venezuela,” and presented evidence of an alleged report which says that “the guerrillas are operating in Venezuela with more force than ever before.” Chávez’s brother, Adán, was one of the many accused.

These declarations emerge three weeks after another former Venezuelan Supreme Court judge, Eladio Aponte Aponte, accused Venezuelan officials of drug links and corruption, and turned over proof to the DEA. This is not the last we can expect to hear about this discouraging issue: according to a U.S. official, Aponte is preparing to speak publicly on these issues in the coming weeks.