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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Venezuela, Crime and Punishment?</h1></div>
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<img src="https://orinocotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/DoYlQjfX0AU5t-L_20052438.jpg" alt=""Revolution without corruption" reads this mural in Venezuela. Photo: Venezuelanalysis." style="margin-right: 0px;" width="392" height="237">
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"Revolution without corruption" reads
this mural in Venezuela. Photo: Venezuelanalysis.
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<p>By Maria Paez Victor – Apr 14, 2023</p>
<p>During the past couple of weeks, Venezuelans have witnessed something
unheard of before in their country: many people in high-ranking
government positions have been arrested for corruption. An entire
network was discovered of public officials and private businessmen who
have allegedly robbed the nation of billions of dollars centered around
three key government enterprises, the public oil company PDVSA, the
entity supervising the cryptocurrency (SUNACRIP), and the public steel
industry.</p>
<p>In a heartfelt address to the nation, an indignant President Nicolás
Maduro called them a mafia, and it was obvious he feels deeply betrayed
by people who up to now had his full confidence. He vowed that no stone
will be left unturned to catch all the criminals and to regain the
people’s stolen funds. The citizens have been very attentive to the
proceedings, giving much support to the government against criminals
deemed also as traitors and demanding no impunity.</p>
<p>It all started last October with the discovery that government
accounts were missing $US 3 billion that should have been transferred
there from PDVSA. That was the little breadcrumb that investigators
started to follow leading to the oil company, the cryptocurrency agency,
the important steel state industry, to private businessmen, one former
deputy of the National Assembly (who had at some point been a minister),
a former governor, a mayor, and even a few judges. Up to now, near one
hundred people have been arrested awaiting trial.<a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_edn1" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_ednref1">[1]</a></p>
<p>Money laundering operations have been discovered and illicit goods
shown on TV: warehouses full of hundreds of brand-new automobiles,
several buildings under construction in an upper-class section of the
capital, half a dozen aeroplanes (one found stuffed with dollars) and
several mansions in the most exclusive Caracas neighborhood where,
allegedly, orgies were held and a prostitution network maintained. Many
of the accused are now confessing and giving information to obtain
leniency in their sentencing.</p>
<p>The National Assembly speedily passed (by unanimity) an
anti-corruption law that mirrors the Assets Forfeiture Law model
promoted by the United Nations, whereby the assets of those who have
been sentenced for corruption are returned to the state. This is
important because up to now, said assets had been auctioned off allowing
lackeys of the corrupt to buy them to safeguard them for later use or
sale by the criminals. <a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_edn2" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_ednref2">[2]</a> As
well, the Penal Code was modified allowing the maximum sentencing for
corruption and treason to be extended from 30 to 50 years. (Venezuela
does not have a death penalty.)</p>
<p>These well-placed individuals are not the first to steal from the
people, but it is the first time that in Venezuela that an operation of
this magnitude against corruption within the government files has been
attempted.</p>
<p>Corruption has existed since the Europeans arrived at those shores,
robbing, killing, enslaving, taking all that was not theirs under
grandiose pretexts to cover their sins. But also, in later years
government officials and politicians have stolen a great deal from their
own people. This is why, with frequent corruption in the political and
economic culture, it is necessary to exert constant vigilance. To have
honest judges, a nation needs honest lawyers. To have honest politicians
and officers one needs honest citizens. As Simón Bolívar famously
stated that “morals and enlightenment” are our greatest needs.” However,
this is all predicated on an infrastructure of just laws and
impartiality in their enforcement. No one, whatever their position can
be above the law.</p>
<p>The Bolivarian Revolution started by Hugo Chávez obtained landslide
victories at the polls because it stood against the two-party system
that ruled in Venezuela for 40 years which allowed corruption to thrive.
And yet how little this is understood outside the country. For example,
a writer in The Times Higher Education Supplement, recently stated that
“… back to the 1980s. Venezuela is by the definitions of the time
among the most prosperous countries in Latin America, and certainly one
of the most Democratic.”<a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_edn3" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_ednref3">[3]</a>
This is wishful thinking on the part of those who are adverse to the
socialist Bolivarian government The demographic data on inequality and
poverty of that time shows that prior to the Bolivarian Revolution ,
Venezuela was anything but an idyllic place as revisionist opposition
people like to think, but a veritable swamp of corruption “which was not
being confronted by the state; instead it was being encouraged and
justified… Thus, one of the main priorities of the Bolivarian
Revolution, of its constituent process, as well as of all the
initiatives of the Chavista forces, was aimed at eradicating
corruption.”</p>
<p><a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_edn4" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_ednref4">[4]</a> The
supposed “capitalist” economic system of Venezuela was reduced to a
bacchanal, not real useful production, but of individual sacking and
enrichment at the expense of the public welfare. This supposedly
prosperous nation in 1999 had a poverty rate of up to 80%, despite the
immense petroleum income of the government.<a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_edn5" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_ednref5">[5]</a></p>
<p>Not only did economic corruption flourish, but violations of human
rights were commonplace under previous governments: from 1960 to 1998
constitutional human rights were suspended 21 times.<a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_edn6" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_ednref6">[6]</a>
The Bolivarian government, in contrast, has never once suspended human
rights guarantees, despite tremendous US sponsored terrorism, mercenary
invasions, cyber-attacks, and numerous coup d’état attempts.</p>
<p>Now the enemies of the Bolivarian government of Venezuela are
screaming: “Look at how corrupt the Chavistas are!” But those are voices
of hypocrites and liars, who have a very biased and selective memory,
who never complained about human rights violations, robbery and fraud by
previous governments led by Acción Democrática or COPEI, in which the
criminals -high ranking as they were- were not held accountable and
punished for their crimes.</p>
<p>Here are some alleged crimes in the pre-Chávez era that have come to light.<a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_edn7" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_ednref7">[7]</a></p>
<p>Alleged crimes of former presidents, who supposedly governed an idyllic Venezuela before Chávez and Maduro:</p>
<p><strong>Carlos Andrés Pérez</strong>, president (Acción Democrática
Party): he was impeached, and prosecuted for embezzlement of public
funds, but fled the country rather than serve his sentence:</p>
<blockquote><p>Theft of funds destined for Nicaragua, $US 100 million</p>
<p>Theft of $US 400 million with purchase of the ship “Sierra Nevada”</p>
<p>Theft of $US 1.2 billion of communal accounts, along with his mistress Cecilia Matos</p>
<p>Theft of Bs 1.8 billion at the workers’ bank (BTV) along with Carlos Ortega president of the workers union</p>
<p><strong>Theft of Bs 600 million at the Simón Bolivar Centre relating to purchase of busses</strong>, along with Diego Arria.</p>
<p><strong>Theft of Bs 1 billion of cement enterprise Andino, with Williams Davila</strong></p>
<p><strong>Theft and</strong> <strong>bankruptcy of VIASA, national airline, the state lost more than Bs 65 billion</strong></p>
<p>Theft of Bs 1.7 billion in privatizing the telephone company CANTV.</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Luis Herrera Campins</strong>, president (COPEI Party):</p>
<blockquote><p>Theft of $US 100 million destined for corn to Africa</p>
<p>Theft of Bs 90 billion in banks Progreso and Latino, along with Orlando Castro</p>
<p>Theft of $US 300 billion on Black Friday increase of the dollar, along with Leopoldo Díaz Bruzual</p>
<p>Theft of Bs 700 million, with Vinicio Carrera</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Jaime Lusinchi</strong>, president, (Acción Democrática Party):</p>
<blockquote><p>Theft of $US 180 million buying jeeps and arms for the Acción Democrática party, with Manzo González.</p>
<p>Theft of Bs 122 million in RECADI (foreign exchange agency)</p>
<p>Theft of Bs 1.5 billion of workers’ benefits institution (INH) along with his wife Blanca Ibáñez</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Rafael Caldera</strong>, president (COPEI Party):</p>
<blockquote><p>Theft of Bs 20 million in gold bars of the National Bank of Venezuela, deposited in the Chase Manhattan bank, with Pedro Tinoco</p>
<p>Theft of Bs 10 billion in workers’ bank (INCRET), for workers’ vacation city.</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Antonio Ledezma</strong>, (Acción Democrática), presidential
candidate, former parliamentarian, former mayor of Caracas, coup
plotter, escaped from custody and lives in golden self-exile in Spain:</p>
<blockquote><p>Theft of Bs 300 billion from building bus terminal La Bandera</p>
<p>Theft of Bs 5 billion from the Municipal Markets Institute</p>
<p>Fraud for Bs 1.5 billion per year for 20 years, with Hai-China company in the Main Southern Cemetery</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Crime of Leopoldo Lopez</strong>, (founder Primero Justicia
party), coup plotter, fugitive of justice having been sentenced for the
death of 43 people in the riots he provoked, darling of the extremist
opposition, in golden self-exile in Spain, stole with the help of with
his mother:</p>
<blockquote><p>Theft of Bs. 5 billion per year from PDVSA to bolster his party Primero Justicia.</p></blockquote>
<p>The esteemed Venezuelan historian Luis Britto Garcia points out that
the conquest was a colossal looting operation, and the grossly
stratified colonial society that ensued, left a legacy of inequality and
larceny. “With the explosion of the petroleum and mining based economy,
public goods and earnings overtook the private economy, and a batch of
newly rich and newly corrupt people came out of the trafficking of
concessions and the milking of the state.”<a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_edn8" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_ednref8">[8]</a> The
previous governments, can be accurately regarded as oligarchies,
governing for the benefit of an elite that had minimum public spirit,
that absorbed all the individualism and consumerism obsessions of
capitalism, but not the minimum work ethics or any sense of social
responsibility.</p>
<p>But why is this corruption network operating now? Although not
having tangible proof, there is a plausible explanation. Based on the
fact that the USA is the prime haven for Venezuelan thieves involved in
the former PDVSA, RECADI, and the banking debacle, and known coup
plotters, terrorists, and many fugitives of Venezuelan justice. They
have found political support in the USDA which has become the place
where all sorts of conspiracies against Venezuela are plotted with US
government approval. So, it is worthwhile to note what Britto García
recently says, “The way to destroy socialism is to infiltrate its
leadership with neoliberalists. As an example: the Soviet Unión.”<a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_edn9" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_ednref9">[9]</a></p>
<p>Therefore, it is not too farfetched to surmise that the sinister hand
of the CIA has been corrupting, tempting, offering all sorts of
incentives, looking for the officials of lesser morality, honesty, and
principles, to try to corrupt and bring down Venezuela’s socialist
government. They have not realized, however, that the “good ones” are
much more abundant than the “bad ones”, and that the Bolivarian
Revolution will not be defeated by the hand of Judas.</p>
<p>The Dutch sociologist Rutger Bregman in his excellent book
“Humankind” presents overwhelming evidence “That most people, deep down,
are pretty decent.” <a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_edn10" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_ednref10">[10] </a>What
happens is that the media (seeking always profit and sensationalism)
and the elites, fearful of their positions, do not really want to
understand this. Author Rebecca Solinit explains it thus: she proposes
that panic and pessimism, and we may add corruption, is abundant in
unscrupulous people in positions of power who consider humankind in
their own image. That is, they assume that the ordinary citizen behaves
only according to their own selfish interests, just as they do. They
steal because they think everyone else are thieves too. And this is not
so. <a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_edn11" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_ednref11">[11]</a></p>
<p>The Venezuelan Bolivarian social and political transformation has
been, in its very essence, a revolution for education, for the opening
of conscience, for extending the arms of solidarity throughout society,
for the quest to liberate and construct a country that is peaceful, free
and sovereign.<a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_edn12" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_ednref12">[12]</a>
And a few thieves and traitors will not destroy 20 years of this broad
work of official and grassroots nation building that we have seen, time
and again, is resilient having survived, and even flourished, in the
face of illegal and cruel US sanctions, numerous attempted coup d’états,
terrorism, a pandemic, and the malice of the empire.</p>
<p>Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly, has assured,
“Maduro is the president in the history of Venezuela from 1830 to date
who has most fought against administrative corruption in all of its
forms.”<a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_edn13" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_ednref13">[13]</a>
However, through education, grass-roots actions, political
participation, and community organization, the fight against corruption
has not just been confined to government files, but has affected the
outlook and behavior of the citizenship itself that now has a sense of
what is owed them and what is expected of them also.</p>
<p>As to the ordinary citizen’s probity today, the humble fishermen of
the tiny coastal village of Chuao are a shining example. In May 2020,
with only one rifle among them, they singlehandedly brought down the
armed Colombian and US mercenaries that sought to kill the president and
overthrow the government. When offered dollars in exchange for
releasing the mercenaries, the fishermen firmly rejected the bribe
saying their integrity was more important than any dollar.<a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_edn14" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_ednref14">[14]</a> They are proof enough of what the Bolivarian Revolution has accomplished.</p>
<p>The future is good for Venezuela with people like that.</p>
<p><strong>Notes.<br>
</strong><a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_ednref1" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_edn1">[1]</a> Orinoco Tribune, “Anti-corruption Campaign: 142 raids in last 72 hours”, <a href="https://orinocotribune.com/anti-corruption-campaign-142-raids-in-last-72-hours/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://orinocotribune.com/anti-corruption-campaign-142-raids-in-last-72-hours/</a></p>
<p><a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_ednref2" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_edn2">[2]</a> Orinoco Tribune, “Venezuela’s National Assembly Approves Law to Seize Assets linked to Coruption”, 1 April 2023, <a href="https://orinocotribune.com/venezuelas-national-assembly-approves-law-to-seize-assets-linked-to-corruption/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://orinocotribune.com/venezuelas-national-assembly-approves-law-to-seize-assets-linked-to-corruption/</a></p>
<p><a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_ednref3" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_edn3">[3]</a> Alex Usher, “Venezuelan Higher Education”, The Times Educational Supplement, 6 April 202</p>
<p><a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_ednref4" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_edn4">[4]</a> Jesús Farías, “The Fight Against Corruption, the Banner of Chavismo”, Orinoco Tribune, 1 April 2023, <a href="https://orinocotribune.com/the-fight-against-corruption-the-banner-of-chavismo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://orinocotribune.com/the-fight-against-corruption-the-banner-of-chavismo/</a></p>
<p><a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_ednref5" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_edn5">[5]</a> “Venezuela celebra 12 años de la Revolución Bolivariana”, Gobierno Bolivariano de Venezuela, <a href="https://www.austria.gob.ve/oldsite/noticias_1.php?leer=1¬iciaid=179" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.austria.gob.ve/oldsite/noticias_1.php?leer=1¬iciaid=179</a></p>
<p><a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_ednref6" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_edn6">[6]</a> Priselen Martínez, “Desde 1960 hasta 1998 se suspendieron 21 veces las Garantías Constitucionales “, Panorama, 28 Oct. 2007, <a href="https://www.aporrea.org/actualidad/n103792.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.aporrea.org/actualidad/n103792.html</a></p>
<p><a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_ednref7" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_edn7">[7]</a> Correo del Orinoco, “La IV República se caracterizó por la corrupción descarada e impune”, 6 diciembre 2017, <a href="http://www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve/la-iv-republica-se-caracterizo-por-la-corrupcion-descarada-e-impune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve/la-iv-republica-se-caracterizo-por-la-corrupcion-descarada-e-impune/</a> Correo del Orinoco is a Venezuelan newspaper launched in 2009 with government backing.</p>
<p><a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_ednref8" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_edn8">[8]</a> Luis Britto Garcia, “In Order t Overcome Corruption in Venezuela”, Venezuelanalysis.com, 3 September 2013, <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/9997" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/9997</a></p>
<p><a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_ednref9" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_edn9">[9]</a> Luis Britto García, ‘Corrupcieon en Venezuela: caiga quien caiga”, Nodal, 10 abril 2023, <a href="https://www.nodal.am/2023/04/corrupcion-en-venezuela-caiga-quien-caiga-por-luis-britto-garcia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.nodal.am/2023/04/corrupcion-en-venezuela-caiga-quien-caiga-por-luis-britto-garcia/</a></p>
<p><a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_ednref10" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_edn10">[10]</a> Rutger Bregman, “Humankind”, Little, Bown and Company, 2019, p. 2</p>
<p><a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_ednref11" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_edn11">[11]</a> Rebecca Solnit, “A Paradise Built in Hell”, 2009, quoted by R. Bregman, op.cit.</p>
<p><a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_ednref12" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_edn12">[12]</a> Venezuela has created 42 new universities; and according to UNESCO is the 5<sup>th</sup> nation in the world and 2<sup>nd</sup> in the region with the highest university enrollment. Since 2005 it eliminated illiteracy. TELESUR, Dec. 2020, <a href="https://www.telesurtv.net/news/revolucion-boliviariana-logros-sociales-venezolanos-20201205-0025.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.telesurtv.net/news/revolucion-boliviariana-logros-sociales-venezolanos-20201205-0025.html</a></p>
<p><a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_ednref13" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_edn13">[13]</a>
El Nacional, “Jorge Rodríguez: Maduro es el presidente que más ha
combatido la corrupción en Venezuela”, 21 marzo 2023,
<a href="https://www.elnacional.com/venezuela/jorge-rodriguez-maduro-es-el-presidente-que-mas-ha-combatido-la-corrupcion-en-venezuela/">https://www.elnacional.com/venezuela/jorge-rodriguez-maduro-es-el-presidente-que-mas-ha-combatido-la-corrupcion-en-venezuela/</a></p>
<p><a href="https://cb6db4f2-6241-4192-9189-ae0323f5fb0e/#_ednref14" target="_blank" rel="noopener" name="_edn14">[14]</a> VIDEO: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANZdmRfTwDc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANZdmRfTwDc</a></p>
<p>(<a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/04/14/venezuela-crime-and-punishment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Counter Punch</a>)</p>
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Maria Paez Victor </span>
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<p>María Páez Victor, Ph.D. is a Venezuelan born sociologist living in Canada.</p>
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