Before we head Down The Rabbit Hole here’s what’s in the news feed. Remember Leopoldo Lopez warning that without sufficient conditions and guarantees, if the EU agreed to send an electoral observation mission for the November elections it would signal that the EU had lowered it’s standards? As we know they subsequently did and EU Foreign Affairs Representative was asked about it. He responded, “…If the opposition decides to go to the elections….am I going to say that I’m not going to send an observation mission because elections are fraudulent? Uhh…in a word, Yes! As we stated last week and in previous posts, it’s irrelevant what members of the mission see or don’t see if the election fraud has already occurred, and it has. Even the Communist Party is crying “foul” along with the opposition.

 For the Maduro regime this is all about the appearance of legitimacy. They won’t address the fraud in the Mexico negotiations with the opposition because the talks won’t be concluded before the elections. They won’t address the Communist Party at all. It’s important to note that the Venezuela Transition Statute, which has allowed Juan Guaido and the 2015 National Assembly legitimate caretaker status, expires in January. The Chavistas are already preparing and positioning to establish new relationships with the international community.This election will be fraudulent as was the last and Maduro’s presidential election before that. Will the world just forget it? If the latest from the EU is any indication it seems they are likely to do just that.

 Raw Story reports another thread of the Odebrecht scandal has been revealed in the Pandora Papers. Lost in the shuffle of the billions of dollars involved was this little nugget. Through a Portugal company, Odebrecht paid $92 million in bribes to the Venezuela Transportation and Public Works Minister. Another day,another bribery or money laundering scandal. Just another day in the world of Chavismo finance.

 And speaking of finance, Bitcoin.com reports that Venezuela’s Maiquetia International Airport will soon be accepting cryptocurrencies such as Dash and Bitcoin as payment for airline tickets. As always, they also mentioned “el Petro” as acceptable. I think the government won’t allow any statement to be made public about crypto unless “el Petro” is included. In 2019 Venezuela’s government owned airline, Conviasa, announced it would accept “el Petro” but nothing ever really happened because nobody uses el Petro. Like the upcoming elections,past elections, and Chavismo itself, “el Petro” is a total fraud.

 Also from the world of finance we have this from FX Street. The new “Digital Bolivar”, remember…the one with six zeros lopped off, is no more a digital currency than the Sovereign Bolivar, the currency it’s replacing,as far as functionality. In an effort to keep it’s value from cratering the BCV, Venezuela’s Central Bank, has used $50 million to purchase the new currency and keep the exchange rate low. They will not be able to continue this practice for the simple reason…they have no money. Soon it will be left to valuation on it’s own merits and as we’ve seen with past iterations of the bolivar and “el Petro” it’s real valuation is…how do I put this? ….worthless!

 Let’s get going Down The Rabbit Hole…

 ….After the fanfare and the photo ops there was a period where the 15 motors were referred to constantly.To this day they are still referenced on the government’s website however, after the initial media blitz the whole thing just,well… it kinda’ disappeared.No announcements from the chiefs, Tareck,Maduro,nothing. As we know, production continued it’s downward spiral.

 Perhaps one day Maduro will connect the dots between work and productivity.The ongoing power crisis has forced the official workday to be shortened to 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM and that’s on the good days. (note: the official workday remains in a state of flux so we’ll keep you posted) When there’s a widespread blackout workdays are simply cancelled. Workdays are also frequently cancelled to extend holiday periods in an attempt to boost Maduro’s popularity.Without work there is no productivity and Chavismo’s “shared prosperity” is “shared poverty.”

 Hey, did you know that back in the day the “Concorde” flew to Caracas?

 This will tell you everything you need to know about the corruption of Chavismo. (note: it was recently mentioned in our news feed) With virtually no functioning economy to speak of Venezuela ranks #8 in the world in private jet ownership.

 Here’s something you don’t think about. Venezuela used to produce a lot of Zinc. Zinc is used in coffin liners.With the drop in production there have been coffin waiting lists for a while now which creates a problem due to the extended time bodies must be stored, not to mention the power problems. The good news is the coffin rental business is booming. Due to the shortage most people can’t afford a coffin. (or anything else for that matter) They just rent one for the service to keep up appearances. After that it’s a bag or a box. I would say “Is nothing sacred?” but we’re talking about Chavismo here so it doesn’t apply.

 In our discussion of the lunacy that is Venezuela’s TSJ (Supreme Court) this one got lost in the shuffle. In 2009 the TSJ imprisoned a judge for “spiritual corruption” because Chavez didn’t like her ruling that a prisoner had to be released because, according to law, the time limit for holding him in custody had expired.

 To meet the government’s housing projection for the year 2019 to build housing for the poor the government would have to build 1,554 units a day or approximately one per minute! As always, no official numbers were released regarding reaching that goal although I’m sure that each year following there was another massive projection.

 To be continued….