Juan Guaidó willing to invoke foreign military missions in Venezuela

The opposition parliamentary leader Juan Guaidó, recognized as President in charge of Venezuela for more than fifty countries, said on Saturday that he could request military intervention in Venezuela in the presence of Russian and Cuban military without permission from Parliament.

The interim President of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, announced on Saturday to be willing to invoke an article of the Constitution that allows to summon foreign military missions in the country. However, under the framework of cooperation, EFE reported.

The statements of the head of the Parliament were made in front of a group of followers gathered in the state of Miranda. In the present day simultaneous protests were developed throughout the country, called by the opposition and in rejection of the electric power cut suffered by a good part of the Bolivarian nation since last Monday.

"When we speak for example of 187 and we said, of course we are going to invoke it, now, in the framework of cooperation because it is also part of what our allies can do or not, not us," he said.

"We are going to insist on cooperation," he added.

According to news agency reports, the constitutional regulation "187.11" authorizes the use of "Venezuelan military missions abroad or foreign in the country." Some sectors of the opposition had asked, in the last days, to put into practice this legislature.

The Government of the United States has been, to date, the administration that has put in greater evidence its interest in supporting the Venezuelan opposition through a military intervention.

In a recent press conference, held after the meeting between the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, and Donald Trump, the president of the White House said that "all options" were on the table regarding the political crisis in Venezuela.

On the other hand, the Brazilian representative has said that his country has no interest in carrying out an interference of this type in the Latin American nation.

This, however, contradicts the statements of his son, the federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro. In an interview with the Chilean media, La Tercera, the official warned that "in some way" the use of force "will be necessary against the regime of Nicolás Maduro.

Most Venezuelan cities have suffered power cuts

Last Wednesday, Guaidó announced the beginning of the preparatory phase of "Operation Libertad". The operation seeks to remove, definitively, Chavismo and Maduro from power.

This week the "Committees of Aid and Freedom" will be set up in different states, with a view to future mobilizations. These actions also seek to involve the officers of the Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB), whom they requested to be attentive to the call of the National Assembly.

During his speech, the interim president once again encouraged Venezuelans to mount a protest whenever there are shortages of supplies, after a week of constant blackouts across the country.

At the same time, he asked those present to organize to express their dissatisfaction with the Maduro government, to which he once again took responsibility for the problems in the electricity grid.

"There are some people out there who are saying that this has gone off, do not laugh, the only thing that went out is a regime that left the streets of the country in darkness," he said. "Here we are not asking for patience, on the contrary, we are asking for organization and actions now."

                                    

Source:

Cybercuba

Potafolio

Chile signs Free Trade Agreement with Brazil

Main recipient of Chilean investment and largest trading partner in the region: The figures of the economic relationship with Brazil.

Last November, both countries signed a free trade agreement, which was negotiated in "record" time, and which must be ratified by Congress.

This agreement between both countries addresses issues as diverse as telecommunications, electronic commerce, services, environment, employment and gender, as well as economic cooperation.

"The agreement incorporates new chapters on technology, cybersecurity, in terms of Antarctic collaboration, in many fields that we have managed to advance, including the firm will of our countries to unite the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, from Puerto Murtinho, going through Paraguay and Argentina, to the ports in the north of our country, "said President Sebastián Piñera, on that occasion.

Hence, the importance for both countries of maintaining solid commercial relations, whose commercial exchange last year amounted to USD 10,066 million. Brazil - a market of 208 million inhabitants - is Chile's first commercial partner in Latin America, and the main recipient of direct investment abroad, which stands out for its capacity to generate employment, which already reaches 159,000 people, according to Direcon figures.

The attractiveness of Brazil as a destination for Chilean investments has been evident during the sexennium between 2010 and 2017, when Chilean companies accumulated investments for USD 17,231 million, that is, the figure represents 36.2% of the total invested in the world in that period. "The agreement, negotiated and signed last year, due to the sense of urgency imposed by both governments, will enter into the Congress in the coming weeks.

But not only at the government level are constant efforts to expand political and economic relations. In fact, under this framework of Jair Bolsonaro's visit to Chile, a delegation of national businessmen met with the Brazilian President.

To see some of the most important figures of the commercial relations of Chile and Brazil check the infographic below:

Source: Emol.com 

https://www.emol.com/noticias/Economia/2019/03/23/942085/Las-cifras-que-marcan-las-relaciones-economicas-entre-Chile-y-Brasil.html

PROSUR - Chilean President calls on South American leaders to defend ideas of freedom and respect for human rights

Santiago de Chile - Chilean President Sebastian Piñera encourages the Latin American right and calls his supporters to be "warriors" in the face of 21st century socialism.

During his speech at the Santiago Forum, the President summoned the leaders of the sector to defend the ideas of freedom in each of their countries to "counteract" the influence of the left in the continent.

President Piñera made a clear call to the leaders and right-wing parties in Latin America to defend freedom and respect for human rights in their countries, with the aim of "counteracting" the ideas promoted by the socialism of the 21st century that led to failure in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

During his speech at the Forum of Santiago, organized by the Chilean conglomerate "Chile Vamos", in which they called representatives of different collectives and study centers of the sector at the regional level, the President underscored the need for everyone to act in a coordinated manner to defeat the ideas that the left has permeated in the countries of the continent.

After referring to the political crisis in Venezuela, Piñera recalled that "ten years ago virtually our entire continent was under the influence of misguided ideas of the Sao Paulo Forum, under the auspices of the Cuban Communist Party and the Brazilian Workers' Party, which preached ideas that have failed in the whole world. "

"The fall of the Soviet Union is the best expression of the failure of twentieth century socialism: Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, are the best expressions of the failure of 21st century socialism and for that reason, because there is no evil that lasts 100 years, I am sure that the dictatorships and especially that of Venezuela has his days numbered", he said.

In this context, the head of state said that "today we are sowing a seed to counteract the bad teachings and bad ideas that unfortunately spread and dominated our Latin America from the Forum of Sao Paulo and replace them with the ideas of freedom, respect for people. "

"The State must be at the service of the common good and of the people, and not try to use them or manipulate them in causes that we all know have not only been wrong, but have only led to pain, suffering and death wherever they may have been applied", he said.

In his opinion, "we have to play the mission that corresponds to us: To be the warriors, the ideologists, those who defend our ideas with conviction, with will and with enthusiasm and in that way we will be able to build a Latin America and in each one from our countries more free, prosperous and just societies".

Cuba and Venezuela are dictatorships

During his speech, the president stopped in the Venezuelan situation, saying that "today we have brutal dictatorships and that is something that for a long time the countries of Latin America did not know how to confront: 60 years in Cuba and more than two decades of a democracy that it was transformed into a dictatorship, as it is the case of Venezuela. "

"Because Venezuela and Cuba, let's say it with force and clarity, are dictatorships: there are no political freedoms, no human rights are respected, no separation of powers, no freedom of expression and today we have known sad news, which is the kidnapping of Roberto Marrero, who is the chief of the cabinet of President Juan Guaidó", he stressed.

The President stressed that "once again the Venezuelan dictatorship shows its most miserable and most perverse face to the whole world, I was in Cúcuta and many people ask what was achieved." Many things were achieved: unite, motivate and revive the opposition democracy in Venezuela"

"The world saw a President trying to get humanitarian aid in a peaceful way, medicine and food that the Venezuelan people needed urgently, and it saw, on the other hand, a dictator who brutally repressed his own people and who showed the ugliest and most miserable face of that dictatorship", he concluded.

Source: emol.com

The Collapse of the Venezuelan Economy and the Plan of the Inter-American Development Bank

Venezuela's economy depends mainly on the heavy oil it produces. This is processed in specialized refineries, concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico, in the state of Louisiana, although something is processed in China and India. By the year 2000, Venezuela was producing over three million barrels per day.

The strikes by PDVSA (Venezuelan oil company) in 2002 and 2003, organized by a front of businessmen, managers and engineers to stop Chavez's reforms, were followed by the massive dismissal of its administrators and technicians, which negatively affected production in more than half a million daily barrels. 

Putting loyal chavismo groups without adequate training, to manage a very complex business in itself was deteriorating the capacity of the state company, which was also milked to finance social gifts and subsidize the consumption of gasoline in the Caribbean countries.

When Maduro assumed power, in 2012, production was at 2.4 million barrels per day to deteriorate much more from then on: in 2017 it was 1.5 million daily and last year it was reduced to one million barrels, when it was handed over to the Bolivarian Guard to administer it. 

With the US financial boycott and the loss of control over its CITGO subsidiary in the United States, the prospects of the state company are darker. The collapse of the electrical system is associated with the same tendency to dismiss the technical and experienced body of the administration, with the consequent disorder and unpredictability in the maintenance of what was one of the most modern integral electrical systems in the world.

Under Chávez, inflation ranged between 20 and 40% per year, while imported products with oil at USD 130 a barrel abounded. In 2015, inflation was around 160%, the printing presses of the regime could not cope and millions of bills were imported, each time worth less. 

In 2018 inflation ended at approximately 1.3 million%, because nobody can measure it, rationing the few assets available to the militants, because they did not even reach for the supporters of Maduro, quite alienated from the original Chavism. Each Venezuelan citizen has lost about 11 kilos of weight.

The impact that Maduro's incompetent and corrupt administration has had, it has been the destruction of more than half of the Venezuelan economy. According to figures published by the BBC, the economy contracted 16% in each of the last three years, to which it is necessary to add another 10% of contraction in 2014 and 2015. 

The expropriations of the private sector that Chávez made from 2003, plus the terrible administration in the socialized sector, explain this enormous tragedy, marking one of the most acute economic contractions recorded in the history of mankind.

The consequences for public health have also been negative: it is estimated that there are more than 600,000 cases of malaria, when this disease was practically controlled in Venezuela. Diseases such as measles threaten to become endemic, with more than 3,500 cases reported in 2018.




The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has a plan to resuscitate Venezuela's economy when Maduro leaves

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is willing to work with the government of Juan Guaidó to recover the potential of the Venezuelan economy. It is estimated that USD 4 billion a year will be needed to relaunch the Venezuelan oil sector. But priorities are clear. First? Address the humanitarian problem. Second? "Restore the conditions so that the productive apparatus of the country works fairly well". 

Luis Alberto Moreno: The IDB has not had relations with Maduro for 15 months (Photo: WEF)

Although Venezuela remains officially a shareholder of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), it has been more than 15 months since Nicolás Maduro's regime paid the IDB the commitments it had acquired. In May 2018 the default reached such a point (212.4 million dollars) that this multilateral bank automatically suspended all relationship with the regime: disbursements on loans, missions to the country, donations for projects ... The relationship was frozen.

The IDB also criticizes the fact that Venezuela's fiscal deficit is 25%, that 56% of households do not have the capacity to buy food, and that the stock of flours and oils does not meet the demand of more than a week. "That is the kind of reality that President Guaidó is going to find," stresses the IDB president.

But there is an even more "impressive" fact, as Moreno describes it. And it is that "94% of Venezuelans are in poverty," he says. A harsh reality in an economy that today barely adds USD 100,000 million of GDP and with a debt of almost USD 145,000 million, according to IDB data.

To resuscitate the Venezuelan economy, this multilateral bank has clear priorities. The first, address the humanitarian problem. The second, to restore the conditions so that the productive apparatus of the country works fairly well. "In the case of electricity, almost 50% of the generation capacity that Venezuela has it is paralyzed for different reasons.

As for the plan to relaunch the oil sector, crucial in the Venezuelan economy, this is to invest "at least USD 4,000 million a year, to continue producing the same million barrels they currently have." "If you want to raise that production, you would have to significantly increase those investments."

And although the plan is designed, the slogan is clear: "You can not do everything at the same time, you have to start sector by sector. There has to be a stabilization process in the first year, and then gradually go on doing more things. 

Source:  UTADEO - University of Bogota El Espectador newspaper Alnavio.com

The History of Rock - The Beginnings

The Beginnings of Rock

The war economy and the development of industry had brought more people from the countryside to the city, forcing the relationship between whites and blacks and social and racial tension, but also favoring the mutual influence between black music (blues) and white music (mainly country and jazz).

Rhythm and blues emerged from the fusion of the original blues with the more danceable rhythms of whites, which brought black music to the knowledge of the consumer population.

In the early 1950s, with the end of World War II and the Korean War, the United States emerged as a great world power. More than at any other time in history, the enjoyment of life was encouraged, a way that society had to overcome the years of suffering of war. The population in general and even minorities for the first time had money to spend on superfluous items such as music.

With the announcement of the explosion of atomic bombs by the Soviet Union and a possible "end of the world" at any moment, the general order was to take advantage of each moment as if it were the last.

In full capitalist economic growth consumption was considered a prime factor for the generation of jobs and foreign exchange, as well as the best antidote against communism, and the search for new consumer markets was incessant.

Obviously the youngest part of the population quickly became more easily influential and for the first time the adolescent public was given the right to have products destined for their exclusive consumption, also as a power of choice. Strangely, the white youths largely refused to consume the music normally consumed by the white majority and began to look for something different in the music of the ghettos.

With the large record industry not ready to supply the consuming public with this type of music, small labels of black music have gained importance. The acceptance of this type of music by the public of greater purchasing power led the incipient record industry of the time to invest in the evolution of style and the search and hiring of new talents, mainly in the search for a young white man who could tame that style allying to him an image that could be sold more easily.

Re-releases of songs by blacks re-recorded by white artists became common, which ended up taking the true creators of the style from the top of the charts.

Another great revolution of manners was in progress. Sex was no longer taboo and was considered fun (both for men and women). The songs of love by pressure of the buying public happened to give rise to more vulgar letters, although many times it was necessary to create attenuated versions of more direct verses. The explosive mix of thrilling black music with teenage white consumerism had been created ... the explosion was a matter of time.

But who would have been the man who deserved to be crowned as responsible for the "creation" of rock and roll? Obviously such a complex musical style could not have its invention indisputably attributed to a single individual or group of individuals. But if someone deserved to have his name associated with the "creation" of rock as we know it, this would not be Elvis or Bill Haley or Chuck Berry or any other leading singer or band. The "inventor" of the term rock and roll and responsible for the dissemination of the style was the disk jokey Alan Freed, promoter of rhythm and blues programs in Cleveland, Ohio, who first captured and invested in the lack of the young consumer for a new type of music more energetic and first perceived the commercial potential of black music.

The term rock and roll was a slang for black Americans, referring to the sexual act, present even in many blues lyrics. Allan Freed was responsible for using the sound name to name the new musical style in which he was investing.

While young people adopt the new rhythm as their trademark, adults mainly from the most conservative sectors of society, blamed it as a cause of all juvenile delinquency... despite the exaggeration of the protests, they were not so wrong, the taste for rock was really part of the youth gang style.

Alan Freed on Spotify