Tag Archives: Venezuela

Sep
8
2011
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The SDN list continues to grow with Venezuelan newcomers

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls (OFAC), today placed four high-ranking Venezuelan officials on the list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) under the Kingpin Act for providing assistance to the Colombian terrorist group known as FARC.  The list was created to designate individuals who the United States has identified as participating in activities related to drug trafficking or terrorism.  The four Venezuelan newcomers are:

- Cliver Alcala Cordones, Major General of the Fourth Armored Division of the Venezuelan Army;
- Freddy Bernal, a prominent political ally of President Chavez who is currently a congressman for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and former Mayor of the Libertador municipality in Caracas;
- Amilcar Figueroa ,a deputy from the PSUV to the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO)
- Ramon Madriz Moreno, officer for the Venezuelan Intelligence Service (SEBIN).

Adam Szubin, OFAC director, said in a statement that “Today’s action exposes four Venezuelan government officials as key facilitators of arms, security, training and other assistance in support of the FARC’s operations in Venezuela. OFAC will continue to aggressively target the FARC’s support structures in Venezuela and throughout the region,”

These top-ranking officials join at least half a dozen other prominent Venezuelans who have been added to the SDN list for participating in drug or terror related activities. The others include Walid Makled, a business tycoon accused of running a major narco-trafficking operation; General Hugo Carvajal, Chief officer of the Military Intelligence Offices   for the Bolivarian Armed Forces;  Henry Rangel Silva, Chief of Operational Strategic Command for the Bolivarian Armed Forces; and Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, former minister of Interior Relations.

Inclusion on the list means that these individuals will have any assets they have in the U.S. frozen. It also prohibits U.S. citizens from dealing with the individuals on the list.

 
Sep
8
2011
Posted by
editor
Comments

The SDN list continues to grow with Venezuelan newcomers

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls (OFAC), today placed four high-ranking Venezuelan officials on the list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) under the Kingpin Act for providing assistance to the Colombian terrorist group known as FARC.  The list was created to designate individuals who the United States has identified as participating in activities related to drug trafficking or terrorism.  The four Venezuelan newcomers are:

- Cliver Alcala Cordones, Major General of the Fourth Armored Division of the Venezuelan Army;
- Freddy Bernal a prominent political ally of President Chavez who is currently a congressman for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and former Mayor of the Libertador municipality in Caracas;
- Amilcar Figueroa ,a deputy from the PSUV to the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO)
- Ramon Madriz Moreno, officer for the Venezuelan Intelligence Service (SEBIN).

Adam Szubin, OFAC director, said in a statement that “Today’s action exposes four Venezuelan government officials as key facilitators of arms, security, training and other assistance in support of the FARC’s operations in Venezuela. OFAC will continue to aggressively target the FARC’s support structures in Venezuela and throughout the region,”

These top-ranking officials join at least half a dozen other prominent Venezuelans who have been added to the SDN list for participating in drug or terror related activities. The others include Walid Makled, a business tycoon accused of running a major narco-trafficking operation; General Hugo Carvajal, Chief officer of the Military Intelligence Offices   for the Bolivarian Armed Forces;  Henry Rangel Silva, Chief of Operational Strategic Command for the Bolivarian Armed Forces; and Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, former minister of Interior Relations.

Inclusion on the list means that these individuals will have any assets they have in the U.S. frozen. It also prohibits U.S. citizens from dealing with the individuals on the list.

 
Sep
2
2011
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editor
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In Case You Missed It… Articles Roundup Week of 9/2/11

In this week’s roundup… President Hugo Chávez’s expropriations continue to raise the ire of multinationals, resulting in more international arbitration claims against Venezuela; pro-Chávez officials are reportedly setting up camp in Panama; $29 million goes unaccounted for in the government’s “petty-cash” fund; and Venezuelan authorities are once again pressed by human rights groups to protect freedoms.

Venezuela: when multinationals sue, The Financial Times

There’s nothing Hugo Chávez likes more than to shake his fist at the private sector. Nationalizing businesses is one of his favorite pastimes, with his Queen-of-Hearts-like cry of “expropriate it!” dreaded in boardrooms across Venezuela. But it has its consequences.

Chavez says he’s doing great, but the Venezuelan economy isn’t, Foreign Policy
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez says he feels “great” after another dose of chemotherapy for his as-yet-unspecified cancer. If only the Venezuelan economy was in as good shape as Chávez says he is in. In fact, his vaunted “21st Century Socialism” bears an uncanny resemblance to the garden-variety 20th century kind: replete with widespread inefficiencies, declining production, and rampant shortages.

Chavez Says Venezuela to Move Against Land Holdings of Ireland’s Smurfit, Bloomberg
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez orders the removal of Irish cardboard maker Smurfit Kappa Group Plc (SKG) from all its farm land in an agricultural state as he deepens a push to seize large land holdings from private owners. Shares declined.

Are pro-Chávez Venezuelans setting up a ‘Plan B’ in Panama?, Christian Science Monitor

With Hugo Chávez’s status uncertain, some Chávistas are looking to relocate to Panama. It’s another chance for Panama to gain from other countries’ crises, as it has for more than a century.

Is $29 billion missing from Hugo Chavez’s Fonden development fund?, The Christian Science Monitor

An Excel spreadsheet of projects financed by Fonden – the “development” fund that President Hugo Chávez created and uses as his sort of petty cash fund for immediate needs goes public to show a $29 billion discrepancy.

HRW: Venezuela should protect rights activist, The Associated Press

A human rights group demanded Monday that President Hugo Chávez’s government provide protection for an activist who had to flee Venezuela after being threatened for alleging human rights abuses in prisons.

Venezuelan gov’t is urged to respect free media, El Universal
The Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), urged Venezuelan authorities to take the relevant actions to ensure free operation of media and respect for critical or dissenting expressions, in accordance with international treaties on human rights, to which Venezuela is a party.