Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Venezuela: Duncan, Sires Send Letter Urging Protection of U.S. Energy Security

In the U.S.,
Duncan, Sires Send Letter Urging Protection of U.S. Energy Security

Chairman Jeff Duncan (SC-03) and Ranking Member Albio Sires (NJ-08) of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere sent a letter to the U.S. Department of the Treasury urging immediate attention to a potential threat to critical U.S. energy infrastructure as a result of a recent asset transfer between Venezuela’s PDVSA and Russia’s Rosneft. This development impacts PDVSA’s U.S.-based subsidiary, Citgo, and vital U.S. national security interests.

Here’s Russ Dalen’s testimony to Congress on Venezuela’s Tragic Meltdown.

As you may recall, Venezuela’s Supreme Court granted Nicolás Maduro the power to bypass the National Assembly and approve new joint ventures with foreign oil companies. Late last December, Venezuela’s PDVSA Mortgages US Refinery Citgo to Russia’s Rosneft.

Stratfor (subscription only) analysis: The government is scrambling to find money to help the national oil company meet its debt payments and avoid a disastrous default

Standing in the way of the government strategy to ride out a default is the United States. Any moves Caracas makes to further delay elections or crack down on the opposition — necessary actions to rule a one-party state — could invite further U.S. sanctions. Venezuela’s rulers, alert to this threat, have tentatively reached out to Washington. In March, a Stratfor source said the Venezuelan government was planning to open a back channel of communication with the United States. As part of its outreach to Washington, Maduro instructed Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez and Venezuelan Oil Minister Nelson Martinez, the chairman and CEO of PDVSA’s U.S. subsidiary Citgo, to explore the possibility of further opening Venezuela’s energy market to U.S. corporations.

This tracks closely with media reports that emerged Monday claiming that business executives close to Donald Trump Jr., son of the U.S. president, had discussed with National Security Council officials the possibility of loosening sanctions on Venezuelan officials in exchange for business opportunities in Venezuela. The intent by Venezuelan officials appears to have been to buy them some time to decide how to proceed with regional and presidential elections. Still, the offer, made in early February, did not prevent Washington from sanctioning El Aissami that month. There also have been indications that the Trump administration may be willing to enact additional sanctions against Venezuela.

Frank Muci writes about How Chavismo Mágico is Swallowing PDVSA

In Venezuela, a college student was shot dead during anti-government demonstrations:
Venezuela clashes leave one man dead, dozens arrested in Caracas

College student dies during Venezuela protest

Youth shot dead during protest against Venezuela President Maduro

Venezuela confirms young man killed during anti-Maduro protests

Over at the National Assembly,
Venezuelan lawmakers avoid military blockade to start recall of pro-government justices

Venezuela’s national legislature Wednesday began the process of removing pro-government justices on the constitutional branch of the Supreme Court, after opposition lawmakers gathered before dawn to avoid a National Guard blockade

The opposition majority in the National Assembly, some of whose deputies were injured Tuesday in attacks by government agents, also approved a declaration that Venezuela is suffering a coup d’etat and demanding the release of all political prisoners. It also urged the Venezuelan armed forces to listen to the people’s demands for democracy.

In other news,
Liliana Tintori met with Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico

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Mexico: $50 million to fight deportation, $39 million for flat-screen tvs

Mexico’s mismanagement is one of the reasons why Pres. Peña Nieto is so unpopular:

Mexico’s congressional audit office has ruled that a controversial government program to give away some 10 million flat-screen TV sets to the poor wasted an estimated $39 million of taxpayers’ money.

The audit found that some 339,000 of the televisions in President Enrique Peña Nieto’s nearly $1-billion program were defective. The subsidy program was aimed at helping the poor during the country’s 2015 switch from analog to digital signals for television.

Around 12,200 television sets are missing altogether

Mexico’s congressional audit office estimates that $39 billion was wasted.

Mexico is turning more to the left, spilling raw sewage on California’s beaches, and its largest source of revenue is remittances totaling US$29 billion, outpacing petroleum exports (US$18.7 billion) and revenue from foreign visitors (US$17.4 billion).

95% of remittances come from the United States.

No wonder the Mexican government wants to keep the remittances coming. They made a video: “How to prepare in case you are detained for immigration [violations]

The first item is (my translation):

“01 HAVE AN EMERGENCY PLAN
take care of your family,, especially underage children. If they were born in the US, go to the nearest consulate and register them as Mexicans.”

The US$50 million campaign will

hire lawyers for migrants facing deportation in the United States.

The money will also go to outreach programs “to promote respect for Mexicans’ rights.”

Think of the program as a business expense for the Mexican government, which gets more money from those who leave than from those who stay.

Then there’s the US Tax code. According to IRS Publication 501, Table 5,

The provision allows the U.S. taxpayer to claim an exemption and deduct $4,050 from taxable income for such relatives living in Mexico, so long as the relative’s gross income is less than $4,050 per year, and the U.S. taxpayer taking the exemption provides more than half the person’s total support for the year.

Parting question,

Who verifies that the claimed exemptions are legit?

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Mexico: Demonstrators want respect

Headline from El País:
Mexicans take to the streets to protest against Donald Trump. Non-partisan demonstrations throughout the country bring thousands out to demand “respect” and “dignity”

Marchers demanded “respect” and “dignity” from Trump and his government, with an estimated 20,000 people pouring onto the streets of Mexico City, with students from the capital’s UNAM state university joining in protest for the first time since 1968, when dozens were killed and injured in demonstrations. Among the intellectuals at the march were Enrique Graue, Enrique Krauze, Héctor Aguilar Camín, and Enrique Ochoa, presidents of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

Mexico’s ruling class has ignored the plight of the rest of the country for as long as Mexico has been a country, and I include the period where Mexico was under the French. I have said before, for decades Mexico has not even protected its own citizens from the cartels’ deadly human trafficking business; Jason Poblete writes,

Mexico and other Central American nations need to get serious about border security within their region, as well as fixing the primary reason people try to leave: poverty and lack of economic opportunities, as well as rampant corruption and crime, lack of rule of law, among many other indicators that make life tough in these countries. This latter issue is a more long-term issue (one that the U.S. companies can help with), but border security within Central America can start today.

Ricardo Valenzuela agrees [my translation]

Our anguish at Trump ought to be an opportunity, and, rather than continue riding this mass hysteria, let’s change our attitudes, let’s focus on identifying this chance that the event presents, and which we are not seeing. We are enraged that Trump threatens to deport millions of our countrymen. Let’s identify the real problem. Why did those millions were expelled by Mexico? Trump wants to build a wall. How come tons of drugs cross the border each year? Why are millions of young girls kidnapped by the same mafias who, after getting them across illegally sell them to the sex traders? Why has the border become a war zone where weapons and illegal money are exchanged, and even ISIS members are crossing?

Lest we forget,

Mexico had a major role in fostering guerrilla groups in Central America during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, backing off only when it became a hindrance to the NAFTA deal with the United States, and when some of the groups began operating in Mexico. Mexico is feared and resented throughout Central America as a bully and for its mistreatment of Central American migrants. The horror stories these migrants tell of their passage through Mexico are hair-raising and heartbreaking.

Peña Nieto’s popularity plummeted (and has not recovered) following the 2014 disappearance of 43 student teachers killed in Guerrero, a crime yet not resolved. The remains of only one student have been identified. In Mexico,

Only 4.5% of reported crimes in Mexico are ever investigated and just 1% ever go before a judge, according to a recent study by Mexico’s National Autonomous University. The criminal conviction rate in Mexico is 1.8%.

Headline from the WSJ:
Thousands March in Mexico City to Protest Trump, Peña-Nieto

Thousands took to Mexico City’s central thoroughfare to protest U.S. President Donald Trump and his plans to build a 2,000-mile border wall, while also blasting Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and the ruling PRI party.

Meanwhile, Andrés Manuel López Obrador gains in polls amid backlash against new U.S. administration, because electing a far-left candidate and blaming the U.S. has worked so well elsewhere.

Again: Respect is earned. When Mexico and the Central American countries stop seeing the U.S. as a pressure-release valve for their own countries’ problems, they won’t need to be asking for respect, they will be earning it.

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Mexico: Peña Nieto and the Juarez cartel

In the flurry of news and criticism over the cancelled Peña Nieto visit, Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby remind us that the Juarez Cartel used shell companies to finance Peña Nieto’s presidential campaign; their article from March last year explains how,

The bombshell revelation was made this week by the independent news outlet Aristegui Noticias who claim that top officials of the Juarez Cartel financed thousands of cash cards that were handed out by Mexico’s Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI) during the 2012 political campaign that resulted in the victory of Enrique Pena Nieto. According to the Mexican journalists, the cash cards were provided by a company called Monex. They were reported to be financed through a series of shell corporations by key players with the Juarez Cartel.     

Through a three part series, the Mexican news organization identified Rodolfo David “El Consul” Avila Cordero as a key figure in the financial scandal that implicates the leading figures in Mexico’s ruling party the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI).

Avila Cordero was arrested in 2005 in Mexico City in connection with the seizure of almost $750,000 in cash. At the time authorities had identified him as a top tier operative with the Juarez (Carrillo Fuente) Cartel who worked as their financial operator an a key figure in their connections with Colombian drug lords.  Avila Cordero had earned the nickname “The Consul” because of his links to high ranking officials within the Mexican government and acted as an ambassador of sorts, Aristegui Noticias reported.

Eight years after his arrest, Avila Cordero became a contractor for a government funded program called Crusade Against Hunger. Using a company called Conclave SA de CV and Prodasa SA de CV, Cordero was able to secure more than $396 million pesos or $25 million in government contracts through rigged bidding processes by government officials.

The Crusade Against Hunger is a pet project of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto who claimed that with that program he would improve the quality of life for his people.

According to the investigation by the Mexican journalists, Conclave and Prodasa are shell companies that do not have real offices or staff.

Ortiz and Darby posted yesterday that

Mexico’s President Cancels White House Visit After Trump Hits CartelsMexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has cancelled his planned visit to the U.S. where he was expected to meet with President Donald J. Trump. The cancellation comes after Mexico’s government denounced Trump’s new border security measures aimed at interfering with the cash flow of the very Mexican cartels believed to have financed the current Mexican president’s campaign.

There’s room for discussion on whether or not the cancellation is directly related to this.

However, Peña Nieto’s approval ratings last week were at 11%. Every minute the media in the U.S. and in Mexico spend berating Trump and/or what Trump may or may not do is a minute they don’t spend examining the reasons why Mexico’s government has failed – and continues to fail – its own citizens.

Remember also that Peña Nieto’s popularity started its precipitous decline after the 2014 disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa students. Only the remains of one student have been found.

The Ayotzinapa massacre, not Donald Trump, is emblematic of Mexico’s failures.

Related:
Southern exposure: The costly border plan Mexico won’t discuss

UPDATE
Linked to by Maggie’s Farm. Thank you!

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Mexico wants respect UPDATE

Mexican president to Trump: My nation ‘demands respect’, while offering Mexicans illegally in the U.S. help in defying immigration laws (emphasis added):

Peña Nieto also highlighted Trump’s pledge to control migration into the U.S., reassuring Mexicans that their government will offer the protection Mexican immigrants require when they are in the United States. “I’ve ordered the Secretary of Exterior Affairs to reinforce the safety measures for our co-nationals. The 50 Mexican embassies will become authentic legal defense for immigrants,” Peña Nieto added

Last time I looked, there was one embassy and the rest are consulates, but I digress.

The government of Mexico has also spent money on a pamphlet that instructs migrants how to safely enter the United States illegally and live there without being detected. (I actually read one, on my own hands.)

For decades Mexico has not protected its own citizens from the cartels’ deadly human trafficking business,

To cross the Sasabe desert and go on to Arizona, migrants are told they must pay about $4,500 to the coyote, who is appointed by the cartels. They are also forced to pay an additional $700 in a separate “tax” to the criminal groups themselves.

At the church-run shelter, there were rumours that the week before, two Honduran migrants were murdered after they took the fatal decision to embark on the journey north without paying.

Indeed,

little attention is devoted to the role that the empowerment of Mexican drug cartels has played in reshaping the human smuggling dynamics in the last years. Until 2009, at least 47 independent cartels dedicated to human smuggling and human trafficking operated in Mexico. However, with the emergence of Los Zetas as an independent cartel in 2010 and the empowerment of the Cartel Del Golfo (CDG) in the last five years, the smaller cartels have been absorbed or destroyed, producing a dramatic change in the dynamics of human trafficking and human smuggling in the country.

Mexican drug cartels have identified a lucrative niche of opportunity in the geostrategic position of Mexico as “bridge country” for migration flows towards the U.S., and are now actively exploiting it. These organizations have vigorously seized the human smuggling activities in the southern and northern borders of Mexico, and have transformed them into diverse forms of trafficking and exploitation. Every year thousands of Central Americans fall prey to drug cartels while crossing the southern border of Mexico. The victims are frequently extorted, assaulted, and trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation within the country and in the United States.

Jason Poblete writes,

Mexico and other Central American nations need to get serious about border security within their region, as well as fixing the primary reason people try to leave: poverty and lack of economic opportunities, as well as rampant corruption and crime, lack of rule of law, among many other indicators that make life tough in these countries. This latter issue is a more long-term issue (one that the U.S. companies can help with), but border security within Central America can start today.

Respect is earned. When Mexico and the Central American countries stop seeing the U.S. as a pressure-release valve for their own countries’ problems, they won’t need to be asking for respect, they will be earning it.

Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.

RELATED
Mexican woman arrested in Spain for inciting ISIS jihad

UPDATE
Mexican stand-off: Peña Nieto cancels next week’s meeting.
I was surprised Peña Nieto wanted to come this early in the game. Considering his popularity ratings, it would be insane for him to risk it.

And,
POBRE MEXICO, TAN LEJOS DE DIOS, TAN CERCA DE TRUMP

Nuestra angustia ante Trump debe ser una oportunidad y, en lugar de continuar montados en esa histeria colectiva, cambiemos nuestras actitudes para, enfocados, identificar esa oportunidad que el evento nos ofrece y no la vemos. Estamos furiosos porque Trump amenaza con deportar millones de paisanos. Vamos identificando el verdadero problema ¿Por qué esos millones de mexicanos fueron expulsados por Mexico? Trump quiere construir el muro ¿Por qué toneladas de droga cruzan esa frontera cada año? ¿Por qué miles de jovencitas son secuestradas por las mafias para, luego de cruzarlas ilegalmente, ser vendidas a los mercaderes del sexo? ¿Por qué la frontera es una zona de guerra por donde se trafican armas, dinero ilegal y cruzan hasta miembros de ISIS?

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Mexico: O’Grady weighs the options

Mary O’Grady writes about Mexico’s Options in a Trump Trade War. The country could impose retaliatory duties and look for new trade partners. Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo

told Reuters on Nov. 10 that his government is “ready to talk so we can explain the strategic importance of Nafta for the region. Here we’re not talking about . . . renegotiating it, we’re simply talking about dialogue.”

He also said Mexico will look for new markets, adding to more than 40 existing free-trade agreements. It had hoped for expanded opportunities via the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation accord that includes the U.S. and much of Asia. But President Obama wasn’t able to get TPP through Congress and Mr. Trump has promised to kill it. Mr. Guajardo said that Mexico will pursue the possibility of completing a smaller TPP with the countries that are expected to have ratified it by the end of 2016. He named Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia. Australia would probably be eager to replace the U.S. as Mexico’s chief food supplier.

I’m more of a wait-and-see person. Trump famously starts negotiations with outrageous demands, and Peña Nieto had also mentioned he wanted NAFTA renegotiated.

In other headlines:
Mexico Lifts Rates Amid Peso’s Fall, Trump’s Rise. A weaker peso and the U.S. election weigh on the economy, driving action by the central bank

Frontman for disgraced Mexican governor handled $7m property portfolio. Further details emerge about activities of Moisés Mansur and his links to Javier Duarte. Mansur is now on the lam,

The Mexican authorities allege Mansur is part of a complex network of more than 30 companies and proxies set up by Duarte, who disappeared on October 15 after being accused of embezzling some $26 million during his tenure as the ruling Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI) governor of Veracruz, where he left a public debt of $837 million.

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Mexico: Finance minister resigns following Trump visit

Luis Videgaray, Mexico’s Finance Minister Resigns in Wake of Trump Visit.Resignation comes a week after Donald Trump’s controversial visit to Mexico

Donald Trump’s recent visit to Mexico, widely seen in the country as a humiliation, claimed a high-profile political victim on Wednesday with the resignation of Finance Minister Luis Videgaray, President Enrique Peña Nieto’s closest adviser.

Mr. Videgaray, who played a key role in helping orchestrate the Trump trip, was succeeded by José Antonio Meade, the country’s social development minister and former finance chief, Mr. Peña Nieto told a news conference.

When I first heard that Peña Nieto’s had invited both Hillary and The Donald, I imagined that Enrique expected two no-shows. Now I can imagine a conversation in the likes of,

Luis: Let’s get Hillary here so you and her can beat up Trump on immigration.

Enrique: Great idea!

where neither Luis nor Enrique took into account that a. Hillary’s not placing herself into any situation she can not control, b. she’s better off running out the clock until election day, and c. no [Clinton Foundation donation] money, no honey.

But enough daydreaming.

Videgaray’s resignation is not good news, as

The former investment banker was widely seen as the brains behind the Mexican president and the driving force behind a series of high-profile overhauls in the past few years, including opening Mexico’s closed oil industry to private investment for the first time since 1938.

Videgaray’s resignation means the return of Jose Antonio Meade, who served under Felipe Calderón. The WSJ:

On his first full day in office, Mexico’s new finance minister, José Antonio Meade, has the task of presenting Congress with a budget proposal for 2017 that will slash government spending to confront further declines in oil revenue and rein in growing public debt.

Over at the WaPo Aaron Blake writes about Trump’s reply to Matt Lauer’s question in last night’s foreign policy forum,

MATT LAUER: When you’re commander-in-chief, you can spark a conflict, you can destabilize a region, you can put American lives at risk. Can we afford to take that risk with you?

Trump replied with a non-sequitur,

TRUMP: Well, I think absolutely. I think if you saw what happened in Mexico the other day, where I went there, I had great relationships, everything else. I let them know where the United States stands. I mean, we’ve been badly hurt by Mexico, both on the border and with taking all of our jobs or a big percentage of our jobs.

And if you look at what happened, look at the aftermath today, where the people that arranged the trip in Mexico have been forced out of government. That’s how well we did.

Blake posts,

Mostly, though, it’s an odd claim because Trump insinuates very clearly that his goal was to shake up the Mexican government.

Maybe, maybe not. We’ll never know because Lauer didn’t press on the point and went on with other questions on his list.

Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.

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Mexico: Media lose their sh*t over Trump

Mexico’s media, which have been taking out the sledge-o-matic and going full Gallagher on Donald Trump, are now in a full-froth frenzy.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto had invited both Trump and Hillary Clinton. While it’s possible the Mexican president never expected either to accept the invite, Trump decided to show up anyway.

Prior to Trump’s visit, this week Mexican media had been obsessing over the sudden death of singer Juan Gabriel. The visit erased Juan Gabriel’s name from the headlines, and replaced it with Trump’s. Grief turned into wrath.

Twitter lit up like the hay truck in Breaking Bad,

while the TV talking heads and newspapers joined in.

There may be five stages of grief, but Mexico’s media have three stages of wrath:

Stage One: Before Trump landed,
The visit was announced late on Tuesday, and the initial reaction was, as it is in grief situations, denial,

“Mexicans invited Trump to visit?!?! BUT WHY?!?! Do they want to find out what the wall will look like?”

Stage Two: The actual visit,
The morning appointment was rescheduled to start at 3pm Mexico time. A few protesters took to the streets to express “indignation, shame and anger,”

“How can the president invite someone to our country who has offended us, who has humiliated us, who has treated us badly as Mexicans?”

Former president Vicente Fox piped in,

“We don’t like him. We don’t want him,” former Mexican President Vicente Fox told CNN. The former president called Peña Nieto a “traitor” for extending the invitation to Trump, who has repeatedly attacked Mexico over the last year and has vowed to force the nation to pay for construction of a massive border wall.

Open-borders activist and so-called journalist™ Jorge Ramos piled on both Trump and Peña Nieto,

Here’s the press conference,

Pay close attention to the 21:00 point where the press ask questions. Trump seamlessly took over the question and answer section. Peña Nieto looked like he had been hit with a 2 x 4 on the side of the head.

Stage Three: The aftermath,
Trump was already in his plane flying to Arizona by the time Peña Nieto roused himself enough to tweet that Mexico’s not paying for the wall:
“From the start of the conversation, I made clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall.”

Open-borders activist and so-called journalist™ Jorge Ramos is crying bitter tears. In today’s WaPo,
Jorge Ramos: Peña Nieto was meek with Trump. Latino voters in the U.S. won’t be. He questions the timing,

The timing for the hurried meeting was completely off: It was just hours before Trump’s speech on immigration in Phoenix, and just one day before Peña Nieto’s State of the Union address. Not only that; Mexicans are still mourning the death of a musical legend, Juan Gabriel.

Because matters of state should take second tier to pop singers? At least Ramos reminded his audience (emphasis added)

(A disclosure I’ve made before: My daughter, Paola Ramos, works for the campaign of Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic opponent.)

During Trump’s immigration speech last evening, Mexican historian Enrique Krauze resorted to name-calling,

“Trump should have never set foot on Mexico. I’m now listening to him [speak] against immigrants. Our “friend’s” fascist essence has never been clearer.”

Maybe Don Enrique forgot the time then-president Calderón showed up at the U.S. Congress condemning U.S. law.

Krauze’s son, León, who is currently promoting his new book on Mexican immigrants to the U.S. (most are undocumented), this morning admits that Donald Trump went to Mexico and won – begrudgingly, since according to him,

International bullying got the presidential seal of approval.

Trump went to Mexico, and perhaps what the pundits fear most is that “The world is run by those who show up”, and Trump did.

Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.

RELATED:
The Diplomad:

Trump’s not even president and he has gotten Mexico to agree to “improve” NAFTA! Not to mention, of course, that Peña did not reject the idea of a wall to protect “both countries.”

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