Is the concept of economic crimes against humanity too much for governments to handle?

Sir, Andres Schipani writes that Henrique Capriles, with respect to the government’s actions on the recall referendum says: “they will be blocking the only democratic solution we have now. That will be throwing petrol on to the fire.” “Maduro rival rallies revolt in Venezuela”

But, what about throwing some petrol on the hunger in Venezuela? Even after it was raised a mindboggling 6.000 percent in February this year, petrol is still mindboggling being sold at less than $2 cents per liter.

Luis Almagro, the head of the Organisation of American States finally speaks out on the issue of Venezuela, good for him. The previous decade, under the chair of José Miguel Insulza, OAS’s silence was just too embarrassing.

But Almagro should also ask the Inter-American Commision on Human Rights: Is not the giveaway of petrol in a country where there is lack of food and medicines, an economic crime against humanity?

I formally asked IACHD that in 2015, and in 2009 by means of an Op-Ed in Caracas, but I never received any response. I wonder, is the sole concept of economic crimes against humanity just too much for governments to handle?

In Venezuela I have proposed to increase the locally sold petrol to at least its world price as a commodity, and share out with all citizens the new revenues. In this way most citizens would be a bit better positioned to deal with the de-facto state of emergency that exists. And petrol consumption would go down, and more petrol could be exported.

@PerKurowski ©

Venezuela must stop being a nation so amenable to Goliaths

Sir, I refer to Moisés Naím’s“Goliath wins, but Venezuela is at a turning point”, October 10. 

In Venezuela, the central government, meaning the president, receives and decides now over 97 percent of all the nations export revenues. Clearly that makes a mockery out of any democracy, and there is no constitution able to generate the checks and balances that could reign in an oil autocrat willing to exercise his powers to the fullest extent. 

In this respect I have always wondered why intelligent fellow Venezuelan citizens like Moises Naím, spend so much efforts trying to change who is to be the democratically elect oil autocrat and basically none on trying to change the system so that we could have a regular president, for instance by promoting oil revenue sharing among all Venezuelan citizens. 

Could it be that for all the Davids the possibility of becoming a Goliath, or one of his ministers, is something too tempting to abandon?

When the oil curse is just too potent

Sir, Edward Luce in “The ghoul of half truths is not America’s real problem”, October 7, referred to a scholar opining that “[Poland’s electorate is divided between people who feel morally superior and people who fell intellectually superior”. 

But, making reference to your “Chávez challenge”, and John Paul Rathbone´s and Benedict Mander’s “Chávez hails election results as a perfectvictory” October 9, in the case of Venezuela, that division is better described as being between people who feel morally and intellectually superior, and those who do not care one iota about that, since they are too busy keeping their eyes fixed on the checkbook in the hands of the chief of turn which contains the oil revenues, and, quite often, they do so, only out of sheer imperative necessity. 

To understand what is happening in Venezuela just try to think about what would happen in your own country if 98 percent of all the nations export revenues were received by a centralized government. There is no Constitution anywhere that can provide for the sufficiently powerful societal checks and balance to handle something like that. 

And if you really want to get upset, just think about the missed opportunity to install in Iraq an oil revenue sharing with the Iraq citizens. Not only would that have set an example for the rest of oil cursed nations, but it could also help to avoid that a future neo Saddam Hussein could be receiving 3 times or more oil revenues as Saddam Hussein ever received.