There was a commentary piece from WLRN by journalist Tim Padgett that got me thinking (Uh Oh). It was regarding the use of the term “Dictator.” He says,”Calling leaders like Nicolas Maduro ‘President’ feels like complicity in their dark charade. But what’s the protocol?…I could sure use more guidance…about when to go ahead and call them what we all know they are.” If yesterday’s story about the TSJ (Venezuela’s Supreme Court) arbitrarily annulling the victory of Freddy Superlano in the governor’s race over Hugo Chavez’s brother in Barinas wasn’t enough to show who,and what, the Maduro regime really is (despite their protestations to the contrary) here is a bit of this and that from the news feed showing Chavismo being Chavismo.

 A Mexican international observer (for the Maduro regime) says “Venezuela poverty is a lie!” Uhh…is that why Maduro got so upset when Univision’s Jorge Rodriguez showed him a video on his ipad of Venezuelans eating out of the back of a garbage truck?

 Sputnik had this from Maduro regarding the EU Observatory Mission : “They spied on social, economic,and political life in Venezuela.” I have to wonder why one has to “spy” just to see the truth?

 CONATEL (government communications) shut down a radio station in Zamora. They say it’s for lack of permits but doesn’t it seem suspicious that the station is owned by the mayor-elect who beat a Chavista?

 Henri Falcon (an OPPINO, opposition in name only) is asking for a new election in Lara state in light of the TSJ ruling in Barinas.

 DW reports Maduro as saying “…those who came as enemies…trying to stain the electoral process in Venezuela.” Ohhh…he’s so misunderstood.

 Caracas Chronicles reports state security forces intimidated the elected mayor of Guarico and briefly detained an elected mayor in Merida state. I guess they felt the need to remind them who is still in charge.

 And the court hearing for the Fundaredes Human Rights activists has been postponed again (12 times now). SEBIN, part of Maduro’s 3 headed monster of secret (or not) police didn’t bring them to the hearing.

 In case you thought all the critics of Chavismo were right wing imperialists, colonialists, or whatever how about this…The Communist Party of Venezuela calls the latest move by Maduro’s TSJ “A giant political scam.”

 Then we have Luis De la Sotta,who has been in the custody of DGCIM (another part of Maduro’s 3 headed monster) for three years. His lawyers requested he receive medical attention after an endoscopy showed severe injuries. No action has been taken. Granted, this isn’t as blatant as the prisoner that SEBIN threw out of a tenth story window a few years ago. They claimed he was despondent and committed suicide by jumping from a bathroom window on the tenth floor. The only problem was the bathroom on the tenth floor had no windows.

 We could go on about Chavismo being Chavismo but let’s get to some other news before we close out the week.

 In economic news we have Alunasa (Venezuela government owned) in Costa Rica, firing all it’s workers and shutting down operations. No explanation was given.

 And Oilprice.com tells us that the new PDVSA (Venezuela government owned) oil production target is unrealistic. Remember, it’s 1 million bpd (barrels per day) revised down from a million and a half bpd by the end of the year. Even with the increase in October  they are still under 600,000 bpd. We’ve said it before…they can’t do it themselves and it doesn’t appear any foreign investment is coming. Nobody believes Maduro’s “new attitude” toward foreign investment.

 And the IMF ( International Monetary Fund) predicts the Venezuela economy will finish out the year down 5% and will drop another 3% in 2022. Another reminder, since Maduro took power in 2013, the Venezuela economy has contracted every year.

 And don’t look for the banking sector to bail out the continually failing economy. Venezuelan banks can’t impact economic recovery because they can’t loan money. They are required to maintain 85% reserves which is the highest in the world.

 Speaking of banks, Law360 tells us that two more Swiss banks are tied to the myriad Venezuela money laundering scandals.

 Law360 also reports that bondholders have filed to attach $118 million from CITGO. They claim PDVSA (hence CITGO) are essentially the country’s “alter egos”.

 But the good news is there may be an end in sight to Venezuela’s crippling hyperinflation. The Venezuela Observatory of Finance predicts that due to de facto dollarization hyperinflation should end in February, 2022. If so, that would put Venezuela’s hyperinflation experience at 53 months, ranking it second all time in terms of longevity. Ouch!

 In medical news we have AP reporting that except for a few charity cases with NGOs there have been no organ or bone marrow transplants for poor children in Venezuela since 2017. Venezuela had a very successful transplant program overall until 2016. It’s a double whammy for those awaiting things like kidney transplants. If no transplants are being performed you need dialysis.There are very few machines available and if you are fortunate enough to find one you are often without power …but you can use generators…if you can find diesel to power them.

 The Secretary of NGO, RGP, tells us that Venezuela is not an ideal place to have HIV (if there is such a thing). Since 2016 the Venezuela government hasn’t purchased anti retrovirals needed for HIV patients. That leaves it up to NGOs who say they need $33 million and they are lacking resources. This must be that great healthcare in Venezuela the Code Pink guy was referring to the other day.

 To finish on an optimistic note Newsmax reports that casinos and dollars are helping the Venezuela economic recovery. Now that Maduro has decided to allow casinos to reopen there are 30 in operation with another 12 scheduled to open. Hey… you take what you can get.

 That will do it for this week. We’ll be back Monday. Have a great weekend everybody!!!