We’ll go Down The Rabbit Hole shortly but first…Merco Press reports that Venezuela President (dictator), Nicolas Maduro, spoke of a new campaign against his country and called on all citizens to prevent fascism and a coup d’etat from filling the streets with violence.

 He also he has ordered the activation of the “Peace Squads”, with more than 4 million militiamen, to guarantee the civic-military union.

 In addition he called on the “Bolivarian Militia”  to be “activated in the Special Anti-Coup Plan , to guarantee tranquility and peace…we will heed these calls for hatred and division and this call for foreign military intervention.”

 He went on to say that “FANB (the Army) would defend the country’s resources and confront illegal mining activities (which he blamed on Colombian mafias) until we have completely liberated all the national parks, the Amazon, and all those protected areas”.(No mention of his “Mining Arc” which is the cause of the illegal mining problem)

 He reminded everyone of the failed coup attempt against Hugo Chavez in 2002 and the civil unrest in 2014, 2017, and 2019. It’s worth noting that while the coup against Chavez was an actual political coup attempt the protests of 2014, 2017, and 2019 were simply people taking to the streets because they could no longer stand starving and dying at the hands of the Maduro regime. (Remember, Maduro’s security forces killed 40 protesters in 2014 and 140 in 2017)

 So…Why the fuss? He sounded very upset, like he always does when he rants against fascists, imperialists, capitalists, right-wing oligarchs, etc. but this was more than usual. Well, former Mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, who fled to Spain from Venezuela in 2017 while under house arrest for conspiracy and criminal association (Yes, another plot to overthrow Maduro), was on TV talking about contacts with the military the opposition may have made in Venezuela. He said that a civil rebellion must be established with the support of the military and assumed talks were going on with military cadres.

 A member of opposition leader and leading primary candidate, Maria Corina Machado’s Vente Venezuela party (Remember, the Maduro regime banned her from holding public office for 15 years when she became a political threat), Ledezema called for the activation of “civil disobedience”. He said in the interview ” The only way to be able to carry out the registration of a woman who is being vetoed by the regime is to launch civil disobedience and she is talking to the military, and that is normal and that is not conspiracy…There is a new stage and our struggle has adapted”.

 So that’s it…the opposition is doing what you might expect in the face of the Maduro regime’s unconstitutional and undemocratic activities and maybe I missed something but I didn’t hear anyone talking about foreign military intervention, except Maduro, of course.

 Now lets head Down The Rabbit Hole…

 Chapter 6/ continued…

 …The barrage of “el Petro” announcements continued…

 “Maduro announces economic overhaul tying new currency and minimum wage to Petro”

 “Petro will be unit of account for banks” (Banks listed both bolivares and Petros on account statements and balances)

 “Maduro claims Petro will be used for international commercial transactions”

 “Maduro announces special cryptocurrency teams to conduct crypto mining nationwide”

 “Maduro announces official Petro sales to begin November 5th” Note: No mention is made of the previous launches nor the previous whitepapers, the total was seven for something that usually requires one.

 “Maduro says he has a schedule for oil to be sold in Petros in 2019”

 “Maduro announces fuel for airlines to be sold in Petros”

 “Maduro decrees public authorities and entities must also promote and guarantee the use of cryptocurrency in the public sector”

 “Maduro announces central crypto mining registry” Note: Without getting into the specifics of crypto mining, it is essentially adding a block in the blockchain which works as a de facto auditing process as well as facilitating trading and earning the miner cryptocurrency. It’s a flawed explanation but it’s all I’ve got.

 I could go on with the announcements, decrees, changes, etc…but my head would explode. Why don’t we just say that nobody really seems to be exactly sure what el Petro is, what it’s worth, how it can be used and/or traded, how much has been sold, and most importantly, what other changes/ re-configurations are coming and are there any protections for the buyer (other than oil/whatever that, for now, doesn’t really exist)? We already know that the government has been raiding crypto miners, jailing them, confiscating their equipment, or extorting them into working for the government.

 There are also conflicting versions of exactly who is, and isn’t, required to accept “el Petro” as payment for goods and services, exactly what those goods and services are, and if you are required to accept them how do you do so since there’s no mechanism in place for processing payments in “el Petro”?

 At this point it doesn’t appear that there are online transactions occurring for purchasing PTR. There have been some individuals, much-hyped by the government, that have purchased PTR in person, at the office, you know, old-school style. There were photos of a Chinese official leaving the office with his certificate of ownership in hand splashed everywhere. As with all things Chavismo- related, nobody asked the question, “So what can that guy do with that piece of paper?”

 As far as I’ve been able to confirm, there were about $300,000 sold, that’s dollars, not units. They are doing everything they can to generate any kind of sales or use for “el Petro”. In a highly questionable move the government forced “el Petro” into the retirement system. This was a low blow even for the Chavistas.

 More tomorrow….