Courtesy of: Associated Press
This week: Since his secretive return to Venezuela, confusion and uncertainty have surrounded Chávez’s health; while Chávez remains hidden from the public eye, the possibility of a new presidential election looms; members of the opposition march to demand answers on the president’s health; and vice president Nicolás Maduro admits on national television that Chávez is “is fighting for his health, for his life.” Price and currency controls cause pharmacy drug shortages to reach 40 percent; an electricity crisis and constant power cuts stir anger towards the Venezuelan government; price hikes continue in Venezuela, with the black market price of the dollar now at four times its official value; reports surface that 27.5 percent of Venezuelan imports reported by the government in 2012 in fact never happened; and Venezuela’s comptroller finds multiple administrative irregularities in two state-owned TV networks. Lastly, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights urges Venezuela to reconsider its withdrawal from the respected human rights commission; authorities violently disperse student demonstrations demanding answers on Chavez’s health; US officials believe the US will have to play a role in any forthcoming transition of power in Venezuela; and opposition leader Leopoldo López is arrested as part of what he calls a “political persecution” by the Chávez government.
Confusion reigns over Chávez’s condition, Financial Times
There has been no sign of Hugo Chávez since the stealthy pre-dawn return to Caracas of Venezuela’s ailing leader a week ago, but at least one person is confident of his wellbeing.
As Chávez’s silence persists, Venezuela mulls new elections, Miami Herald
President Hugo Chávez spent his first week back in Venezuela too frail to be seen in public and too weak to receive well wishers. But despite his precarious health, few doubt Chávez’s prowess at the ballot box.
Opponents to Hugo Chavez Continue to Demand Answers, Fox News Latino
Hundreds of opponents to the government of Hugo Chávez demonstrated Saturday to demand answers about the condition of the Venezuelan president while he remains out of the public eye.
Venezuela’s Chavez clings to life, vice president says, NBC News
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is clinging to life, according to the country’s vice president. “The commander is fighting for his health, for his life,” Nicolas Maduro said on national TV Thursday.
Drugs shortage in Venezuela accounts for 40%, El Universal
Through letters and conversations with the Government, the Venezuelan pharmaceutical sector has warned it is “choking” as medicine shortage is reaching a critical level.
Venezuela: power cuts stir resentment, Financial Times
The problem may have gone largely unnoticed in Caracas, where everyone is fixated by the ongoing Hugo Chávez drama, but Venezuelans living in the provinces are getting fed up with blackouts that inconvenience their everyday life.
Price hikes in Venezuela, Al Jazeera
Scores of Venezuelans descended from the hillside slums of Caracas 24 years ago on this day, burning cars and looting to protest a hike in gasoline prices, the last straw in a series of austerity measures.
An estimated 27.4% of Venezuelan gov’t imports never happened, El Universal
Ten years after forex restrictions were put in place in Venezuela, distortion accentuates. Imports at a low exchange rate seem to be increasingly encouraging overbilling and other procedural practices.
Venezuela’s comptroller finds irregularities in state-run TV networks, El Universal
Lack of internal controls and supervision of budget and assets, absence of personnel management manuals and award of no-bid contracts without justification whatsoever are just some of the administrative irregularities found by the Controller’s Office of Venezuela in state-owned TV networks Ávila TV and Vive TV.
IACHR hopes Venezuela to rethink withdrawal, El Universal
The president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), José de Jesús Orozco Henríquez, said he hoped “respectfully” that the Venezuelan state reconsiders its intention to leave the American Convention on Human Rights.
Student demonstration dispersed by authorities in Venezuela, El Universal
One more time, the student opposition movement Operation Sovereignty took the streets, a week after a protest at the Cuban Embassy in Caracas.
Venezuela Charges Opposition Leader With Misuse of Funds in 1998, Bloomberg
Venezuelan opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez faces as much as four years in prison for alleged misuse of public funds more than a decade ago as President Hugo Chavez’s health prompts speculation about new elections.
US says it has a role to play in transition in Venezuela, El Universal
Roberta Jacobson said the aim is to convey to “Venezuelans of all political stripes” the message that it is important to hold elections on an equal footing.