Venezuela

• Sunday, January 7th 2018 - 08:14 UTC

  Chaos in Venezuela as shops are ordered to cut prices to last month's levels

  

  Mobs gathered outside some Caracas supermarkets on Saturday after the government ordered shops to slash prices, creating chaos as desperate Venezuelans leapt at the chance to buy cheaper food as the country’s worsening economy causes severe shortages.

• Friday, January 5th 2018 - 10:57 UTC

  Maduro announced the bonus of Reyes Magos of almost a minimum wage

  

  Four days before the beginning of an election year in Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro announced on national television that he will grant a bonus of 500,000 bolivares, the equivalent of US$ 3.9, to those who possess the Carnet de la Patria, an identity document created by the government that serves to regulate the purchase of food and tools with which users can access pensions or bonuses of this style in exchange for their loyalty to the government party.

• Tuesday, January 2nd 2018 - 10:20 UTC

  Hyperinflation that degrades any salary increase

  

  A new salary increase arrived to Venezuela -the seventh in a year-, but the purchasing power of Venezuelans continues insignificant compared to the high price of low supply due to hyperinflation. While it is not possible to slow down the variation of prices in the different products of the basic basket, any wage increase is insufficient and exacerbates the problem. In one year, salary increased 511%, while inflation in 2017 closed at 2.735%, the highest in the world.

• Saturday, December 30th 2017 - 11:49 UTC

  Fire in the Venezuela’s biggest refinery

  

  A fire was registered late Friday at the Refining Complex of Amuay, northwest of Venezuela. The accident baddly affected a distiller. El secretary of the Petroleum’s workers federation, Iván Freites, denounced irregularities due to the lack of maintenance and investment in the oil industry by the State’s PDVSA

• Saturday, December 30th 2017 - 11:32 UTC

  Democratic Unity Table (MUD) recognizes not having reacted efficiently

  

  The main coalition of opposition parties, Democratic Unity Table (MUD), made this Friday a self-critical statement on its balance of 2017 in which it admits not having reacted efficiently to the people suffering, in addition to not having been able to accompany the people who have protested these days for lack of food and other items

• Friday, December 29th 2017 - 10:35 UTC

  Venezuelan Observatory of Violence published its annual report

  

  This Thursday, the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (VVO) published its annual report, in the hands of its director, the sociologist Roberto Briceño León, which shows a 2017 full of irregularities by the State and a high rate of abuse of the same and towards it.

• Thursday, December 28th 2017 - 09:49 UTC

  Brazil supports Guyana's boundaries which are challenged by Venezuela

  

  Brazil maintains that the settlement of the Guyana/Venezuela Border is final and must be respected, according to the country's Foreign Minister Carl Greenidge. Following his attendance at the recently concluded Mercosur Summit held in Brazil, Greenidge said Brasilia has been updated on Venezuela’s contention that the 1899 Award is null and void, and remains resolute to its original position.

• Thursday, December 28th 2017 - 09:40 UTC

  Brasilia/Caracas tit for tat: Venezuelan top diplomat declared “persona non grata”

  

  Brazil has declared Gerardo Maldonado, Venezuela’s top diplomat in the country, persona non grata in a tit-for-tat move that comes just days after Caracas expelled the Brazilian ambassador.

• Wednesday, December 27th 2017 - 19:56 UTC

  “Operación Genesis” calls to rebellion of military and police forces

  

  “Venezuela: God and Christ gave us the victory. Lets go to the streets to take our freedom” says Oscar Pérez, an ex-inspector of the CICPC, the national police force in a new video diffused by himself with a group of rebellious officials. In the video he calls on the population and the national security agencies to join them in the fight and rebel against the regime of Nicolás Maduro.

• Wednesday, December 27th 2017 - 14:54 UTC

  Gasoline, another kind of business in Venezuelan scarcity

  

  It is paradoxical how a country with the largest oil reserves in the world has a shortage of gasoline. Of course, Venezuela does not produce gasoline as such, but sells crude oil and imports gasoline, so with the sanctions imposed by various nations and the very crisis that PDVSA (State Company) suffers - which according to the unions works approximately 13% of its capacity- complicate the problem.