Did the MUD admit to sabotaging the economy?

Did the opposition give in to the government’s conspiracy rhetoric about an economic war and destabilizing paramilitaries? At least in two key points read in yesterday’s joint agreements with the government it seemed to do so.

Among the five agreements reached by the government and the opposition in the first sessions of the dialogue roundtable, the Vatican Nuncio, Claudio María Chelli, read that both parties agree on “working jointly to combat any form of sabotage or boycott against the economy.”

According to the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias (AVN), although not mentioned among the five agreements made public, the opposition also admitted to the need of pushing for a “joint effort in the struggle against citizens’ insecurity and criminal violence, paramilitarized bands and violent groups…”

The AVN also interprets point 2 of the agreement –which literally says: “In the political area, it was agreed to overcome (superación) the situation of contempt (desacato) by the National Assembly ruled by the Supreme Justice Tribunal” –as meaning that “the MUD also admitted the need to overcome the situation of contempt by the National Assembly, which has resulted from the breaching of the Supreme Justice Tribunal rulings by the parliamentary majority.”

Not surprisingly AVN reports the agreements under the headline “Opposition admits that violence and siege of the economy must stop.”

Here is the full text:

Oposición admite que debe frenarse la violencia y el asedio a la economía

Caracas, 12 Nov. AVN.- La oposición venezolana, que participa en el proceso de diálogo entablado por el Ejecutivo, suscribió este sábado dos documentos en los que se insta a poner fin al boicot contra la economía venezolana, que se traduce en escasez y especulación de bienes esenciales, y a erradicar la violencia promovida a través de figuras como las bandas paramilitarizadas.

Tras la segunda plenaria de las mesas de diálogo, celebrada este viernes y sábado en Caracas, representantes de la llamada Mesa de la Unidad (MUD) se adhirieron junto al gobierno a una hoja de ruta que establece, entre otros aspectos, "trabajar de manera conjunta para combatir toda forma de sabotaje, boicot o agresión a la economía venezolana."

Al aceptar esta tarea, la coalición se compromete a "priorizar en el corto plazo la adopción de medidas orientadas al abastecimiento de medicamentos y alimentos sobre la base de contribuir a promover su producción e importación. Promover el diseño y aplicación de políticas de cooperación entre los sectores público y privado para monitorear, fiscalizar y controlar los mecanismos de adquisición y distribución de insumos y mercancías", acciones que ya viene impulsando el gobierno nacional a través de mecanismos como la Gran Misión Abastecimiento Soberano.

La MUD, además, reconoce la necesidad de superar la situación de desacato en la que se encuentra la Asamblea Nacional (AN), producto del incumplimiento de la mayoría parlamentaria opositora de decisiones del Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (TSJ).

Además de la hoja de ruta, la oposición también suscribió junto al Ejecutivo la Declaración Conjunta "Convivir en Paz", texto con el que sectores conservadores se comprometen a dirimir diferencias dentro del orden constitucional y contribuir a la defensa de la soberanía.

Al compartir el contenido de este texto, la oposición admite la necesidad de avanzar hacia un "nuevo esfuerzo conjunto en el combate frente a la inseguridad ciudadana y la violencia criminal, las bandas paramilitarizadas y grupos violentos, así como la urgencia del desarme de la población."

La actuación de grupos delictivos que asumieron prácticas del paramilitarismo ha dejado víctimas como el dirigente revolucionario Robert Serra, asesinado el 1 de octubre de 2014 en su residencia, ubicada en La Pastora, Caracas.

También, esas bandas se han vinculado con planes desestabilizadores denunciados y desmontados por las autoridades venezolanas.

© AVN - 2016

Economic War intensifies

President Nicolás Maduro claims that risk rating agencies are deliberately “attacking the image of the Bolivarian government.” According to the president, United States rating agencies have persecuted Venezuela so as to force it to declare default on its debt and thus “justify a foreign intervention.”

“This is the only country in the world that pays 60 billion dollars, a very high percentage, and that has absolute financial, political, institutional, and moral solvency, and even so the criminal rating agencies raise the country’s risk, because that their way of attacking us and making our natural credit, the credit to which we have the right to access, inaccessible,” said Maduro.

The president specifically accused Ricardo Hausmann, a Venezuelan born Harvard Professor, of being the “financial operator” behind the alleged attack against Venezuela: “What did the Venezuelan bourgeoisie do? They went and lobbied against Venezuela. There is a person called Ricardo Hausmann who I think should be put under code red alert, he should be prosecuted because he is the main financial operator against Venezuela.”

Maduro also accused the Venezuelan intellectual and author Moisés Naim of being part of the financial conspiracy against Venezuela.

Hausmann responded to the accusations in an open letter. “It seems Venezuela’s financial problems have nothing to do with decisions taken by him (Maduro) –a fiscal deficit of 20% of the GDP, price controls, exchange rate difference of more than 2600%, 3 digit inflation, expropriations, –instead they are the consequence of an alleged conspiracy lead by two Venezuelan intellectuals. (…) Moisés Naim and I are not the source of Venezuela’s problems, if Maduro is looking for someone to blame, he should look himself in a mirror,” wrote Hausmann.

According to the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias, the presidents will offer a press conference in the next few days to give details about the “financial war” being waged against Venezuela and to ask the public prosecutor’s office to “investigate and act against the conspirators.”

Government media is devoting much space to explain Maduro’s accusations. TeleSUR quotes an analyst, Miguel Jaimes, who says that “the current situation of economic war lived in Venezuela has its roots in the oil industry royalties.” According to Jaimes during the Bolivarian Revolution, multinationals have seen their interests affected and therefore have reduced their investments in the country. “The Venezuelan opposition and business sector have limited their production of goods in order to create a situation of economic and social conflict to force the overthrow of President Nicolás Maduro,” quotes TeleSUR. Jaimes also claims that the current financial distortions in Venezuelan were created by the “economic culture in place before the Bolivarian Revolution.”