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The Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (the Supreme Court) issued a ruling today nullifying the National Assembly's motion last week that nullified the appointment of 34 magistrates to the court. The appointments were made back in December by the PSUV-controlled National Assembly. Some of the magistrates appointed don't meet the educational/employment experience requirements to be a TSJ magistrates. Plus, a whole bunch of them were/are members of the PSUV, and some of them even ran for office for the PSUV in prior elections. Anyway, the ruling essentially means that the TSJ has nullified the nullification, and that the 34 magistrates will remain with the court. surrender posted:PDVSA can't really do poo poo in the US because they owe several of their vendors millions of dollars. My dad worked for their Houston office last year, and shortly before he was laid off, they couldn't do any work because their bills to SAP were way overdue. That's interesting. I knew PDVSA was in a lot of trouble, but I didn't know it was that bad. I read recently that they're getting ready to start selling a lot of their assets. Anything that isn't 100% directly connected to oil operations is on the chopping block, I think.
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Jul 20, 2016 22:42
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Plastic_Gargoyle posted:Which, despite what FlightAware indicates, is almost certainly a Venezuelan Air Force flight. Which is odd, because most militaries, particularly those in countries with such volatile social situations, don't tend to broadcast where they're moving their aircraft around to. Is there any particular reason Maduro or other higher-ups would be traveling to Managua, if that is indeed what this is? Military aircraft or not it needs to have a transponder if it's going to be interacting with air traffic control at civilian airports.
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Jul 21, 2016 10:28
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The military controls the entire airspace btw, they are the ones who decide if a plane's flight plan is revealed or not, there are no civilian controllers.
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Jul 21, 2016 15:55
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El Hefe posted:The military controls the entire airspace btw, they are the ones who decide if a plane's flight plan is revealed or not, there are no civilian controllers. Honest question. At this point how much is under under civilian control and how much is military? It feels like every time a check this thread some new civilian aspect of government has been indefinitely placed under military authority. Also I saw that the IMF has revised their forecast for this year. They are now saying inflation is set to rise 700% instead of 480% and the economy will contract 10% instead of 8%. I dont know fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Jul 21, 2016 |
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Jul 21, 2016 18:34
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I'm sure this has been mentioned before, but many here would be happy to help if you run into money issues and can figure out a way we can fund you from the outside. I know I would
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Jul 21, 2016 19:07
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I dont know posted:Honest question. At this point how much is under under civilian control and how much is military? It feels like every time a check this thread some new civilian aspect of government has been indefinitely placed under military authority. It's hard to say. The military has been winding its way into civilian government for quite a while now, but they've only begun to be overt about it during the past couple of years. For example, ever since Maduro was named president, the government has made an ever bigger deal than Chavez did about the civic-military union and how it's the road that Venezuela must take to defend itself against imperialistic attacks. Active military officers have held important posts in various Ministries in Maduro's cabinet, but arguably, the two biggest blows against civilian government came in the form of the creation of CAMIMPEG and Padrino Lopez's appointment as the de-facto president of the country. This sounds like an exaggeration, but allow me to elaborate. The first blow placed the control of all activity related to the extraction of mineral resources under the direct control of a military board which is appointed by the defense minister, Padrino Lopez. The second blow came in the form of Maduro decreeing that all ministries must answer directly to both him and Lopez, and clarifying that Lopez could make decisions in real time concerning industries. The combination of these two facts basically means that Venezuela is already under military rule, with the Maduro government acting as its cover. To be clear, I don't think that the military is behind every decision the government makes. But it's pretty much certain that any major moves don't happen unless they're okay with them. The saddest part out of this whole mess is that several opposition figures have publicly expressed their support for Padrino Lopez's appointment as co-president (or whatever we choose to call it), which ties into the fact that a lot of Venezuelans have a love-affair with military strongmen. Labradoodle fucked around with this message at 20:12 on Jul 21, 2016 |
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Jul 21, 2016 19:13
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poty posted:I'm sure this has been mentioned before, but many here would be happy to help if you run into money issues and can figure out a way we can fund you from the outside. I know I would Yes, 100%.
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Jul 21, 2016 20:28
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Labradoodle posted:To be clear, I don't think that the military is behind every decision the government makes. But it's pretty much certain that any major moves don't happen unless they're okay with them. The saddest part out of this whole mess is that several opposition figures have publicly expressed their support for Padrino Lopez's appointment as co-president (or whatever we choose to call it), which ties into the fact that a lot of Venezuelans have a love-affair with military strongmen.
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Jul 21, 2016 22:09
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Chortles posted:How much of that is the idea that an explicit junta would be at least dispensing with the pretension of Maduro? What would be the point of dispensing with Maduro? The guy is the best scapegoat ever made. He's apparently dumb, utterly unlikeable and willing to say whatever is necessary. That's the guy you want taking the blame while you loot the nation in the background. The key to understanding the current situation in Venezuela is considering what's at stake if the current system of exchange and price controls gets dismantled. Lots of people — many of who are in the military — would lose their import monopolies, which hinge on one exchange rate being set at Bs10, for products they resell at black market rates, which are nearly a hundred times more expensive. That's not an exaggeration. If you have that sort of income, Venezuela suddenly becomes very attractive. You can afford all the black market prices and live like a king in every sense of the word, including hordes of bodyguards.
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Jul 22, 2016 03:05
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This is how I feel like whenever I go to the bank https://twitter.com/HistoryInPics/status/756300347585462273
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Jul 22, 2016 03:15
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You get dirt smeared all over your forehead?
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Jul 22, 2016 04:00
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El Hefe posted:This is how I feel like whenever I go to the bank Lusting to repudiate the Versailles treaty and start a new Deutsches Reich?
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Jul 22, 2016 05:32
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Replacing Legos with packs of bills for your kid to play with would be like a million times cheaper, yeah.
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Jul 22, 2016 08:29
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El Hefe posted:This is how I feel like whenever I go to the bank https://twitter.com/TheConfurvative/status/756300655183089664
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Jul 22, 2016 09:28
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lol
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Jul 22, 2016 14:08
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You might remember that Leopoldo Lopez is the leader of the Voluntad Popular party, and that he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in the 2014 protests. Lopez turned himself in to authorities on February 18, 2014 after they issued an arrest warrant for him following the events of February 12 at the Public Ministry headquarters in Caracas. The gist of the case against Lopez was that he had instigated violence through his political speeches in the weeks prior to the outbreak of the protests. One of the two prosecutors of the trial is a man named Franklin Nieves, and he fled Venezuela shortly after Lopez's conviction. He's since spoken to the media about how he was ordered to falsify evidence against Lopez in order to secure a conviction, and how the entire case from the prosecutor's perspective was a sham designed to jail Lopez. The single most important piece of evidence against Lopez was expert testimony from a linguist named Rosa Amelia Asuaje. Since the government's case was that Lopez had essentially created the violence through his speeches, Asuaje was the prosecution's most important expert. In the end, the trial judge found that Asuaje's testimony proved that while Lopez hadn't overtly called for violence, he spoke with such force and such passion that it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility that his words might cause his listeners to become similarly impassioned and perhaps go on to commit violence. The report that Asuaje provided to the court was the key in sentencing Lopez. El Mundo published an article today in which Asuaje states that the report she prepared for the court should never have been used as evidence in the case. She's written a letter explaining her position, and it's got a couple of interesting points (the letter is here in Spanish):
Chuck Boone fucked around with this message at 21:16 on Jul 22, 2016 |
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Jul 22, 2016 19:19
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I had to go to a few banks today to withdraw a bunch of money and then to another bank to deposit the money for the U.S visa and I didn't get murdered, color me surprised. I hate that the U.S embassy insists on using a single bank and requiring cash deposits to boot, I had to carry around two bags to hold all the money.
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Jul 23, 2016 00:48
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Did you draw dollar signs on the bags? I've always wanted to do that
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Jul 23, 2016 08:06
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Scaramouche posted:Did you draw dollar signs on the bags? I've always wanted to do that  Echoing earlier statements, I'm also willing to help out any Venezuelan goons with money to get out of dodge.
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Jul 23, 2016 09:21
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Scaramouche posted:Did you draw dollar signs on the bags? I've always wanted to do that lol you joke but here people get killed for $10 sometimes right inside the bank
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Jul 23, 2016 14:13
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I know this has been discussed before, but is there a reliable way of sending a care parcel to a Venezuelan goon and not have it be stolen by the customs people?
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Jul 23, 2016 14:24
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BeigeJacket posted:I know this has been discussed before, but is there a reliable way of sending a care parcel to a Venezuelan goon and not have it be stolen by the customs people? Yeah, there are a few reliable door to door companies and also DHL but all the options are expensive.
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Jul 23, 2016 14:27
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Wow DHL is reliable in some country? Moving to Venezuela!
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Jul 23, 2016 14:28
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El Hefe posted:Yeah, there are a few reliable door to door companies and also DHL but all the options are expensive. Jesus, you aren't wrong. I don't believe I've ever used DHL before (I'm in the UK and use Royal Mail for everything), but the quotes on their site are steep. Almost £60 for a 3kg parcel and £80 for 7kg (the next price band). If we were to do this as a goon project then it'd make more sense for me to PayPal money to one of the Americans here.
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Jul 23, 2016 14:52
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El Hefe posted:Yeah, there are a few reliable door to door companies and also DHL but all the options are expensive. That's what I've heard. quote:Some wealthier consumers have resorted to having food shipped to Venezuela. Soraya Cedillo, the owner of a courier company, said that 70 percent of her customers are Venezuelans living in the United States buying products such as corn flour, sugar, powdered milk, toilet paper and tampons for relatives back home. Only in Venezuela can shopping that way make sense.
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Jul 23, 2016 17:44
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My dad sent me a box with a bunch of stuff last week, I don't like asking him for stuff though because he only just got there and he has his wife and my two brothers who are still underage and he doesn't have a lot of money anyway, but I'm glad he did because I really needed some head & shoulders.
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Jul 23, 2016 17:50
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El Hefe posted:My dad sent me a box with a bunch of stuff last week, I don't like asking him for stuff though because he only just got there and he has his wife and my two brothers who are still underage and he doesn't have a lot of money anyway, but I'm glad he did because I really needed some head & shoulders. Very Fine Finnish Tar Shampoo by Cederroth is a thousand times better but possibly availability isn't that great.
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Jul 23, 2016 18:05
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You can't find any shampoo other than some awful no brand poo poo...
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Jul 23, 2016 18:43
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El Hefe posted:You can't find any shampoo other than some awful no brand poo poo... Youre gonna have to use the real poo instead
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Jul 23, 2016 18:56
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The nephews of Cilia Flores that were caught smuggling cocaine in Haiti have apparently declared themselves guilty. I'm looking for a source in English. For the record, Cilia Flores is Maduro's wife.
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Jul 23, 2016 20:26
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As far as I can tell they have not changed their plea to guilty. I think that what the news is reporting today is this, which is the district attorney's response to pre-trial motions by the defendants. The file reveals a ton of info on the case from the government's perspective, including what appear to be honest admissions from the accused to the agents that they were in fact attempting to smuggle drugs into the United States. The file contains a bunch of pictures of the investigation, including shots of the accused allegedly handling the drugs used in the sting, as well as a shot of the two accused standing alongside authorities who are clearly identified as "Police" and "DEA". The accused said a few weeks ago that they didn't even know they had been arrested when it happened because they thought they were being kidnapped for ransom. It's a super interesting document. I've only skimmed it but it's full of really juicy details. EDIT: The last half of the document is the government's response to pre-trial motions by the defense to dismiss certain bits of evidence as inadmissible. The first half of it contains all kinds of new details about the case, some of which I've highlighted here:
Chuck Boone fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Jul 23, 2016 |
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Jul 23, 2016 21:09
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And this keeps happening, people looting food trucks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBZUiuYOZK8 and going to the supermarket looks like this 
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Jul 23, 2016 22:38
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El Hefe posted:My dad sent me a box with a bunch of stuff last week, I don't like asking him for stuff though because he only just got there and he has his wife and my two brothers who are still underage and he doesn't have a lot of money anyway, but I'm glad he did because I really needed some head & shoulders. I have a bachaquera on speed dial for toilet paper, shampoo, soap, and razors. She hooked me up with a couple Head & Shoulders a few months back, and I'm still squeezing the last drops out of them. Literally, every time you make a post I feel like the luckiest guy in Venezuela, since the center of Caracas is still a great place to find all kinds of poo poo and even ATMs aren't so crowded. poo poo, I can even go out at like 7-8PM to the nearest chinese place and buy a couple of beers. Back in the residential area where I used to live earlier that would've been begging to get mugged or kidnapped. Labradoodle fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Jul 24, 2016 |
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Jul 24, 2016 00:15
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I have tp, soap and razors but shampoo is pretty much impossible to find. But look at how we live, if someone has all of those things they can consider themselves "lucky", luck shouldn't be a factor there, if you work you should be able to buy those things peacefully like in every other country in the Americas.
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Jul 24, 2016 00:46
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El Hefe posted:I have tp, soap and razors but shampoo is pretty much impossible to find. Well except the United States. You have to work two or three jobs to afford basic amenities there.
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Jul 24, 2016 00:52
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Jerry Cotton posted:Well except the United States. You have to work two or three jobs to afford basic amenities there. Go away Borneo Jimmy
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Jul 24, 2016 00:57
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El Hefe posted:I have tp, soap and razors but shampoo is pretty much impossible to find. I don't disagree with you at all. It's just a shock for me because I've been posting in these Venezuela threads since before Chavez died now. Back then I used to be low-middle class, I didn't go hungry but I didn't have a good time either and now suddenly I'm in that low percentage of the country that doesn't go hungry or lack poo poo just because I decided to start freelancing years ago and know how to exchange currencies. Hell, since then I've helped most of my friends who haven't emigrated get their start working online and it's just such a big shock. Middle-class families I've known my entire life are now going hungry and we're spared the brunt of the shitstorm because Caracas always has poo poo to buy if you've got the money. Degrees and hard-work don't mean poo poo anymore and most people are just barely making ends meet. I can't imagine what the country will look like in six months, let alone a year. Who's going to keep showing up to work if they can't find or afford poo poo? It's terrifying.
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Jul 24, 2016 01:01
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Can you talk more about what you did specifically when you said you know how to exchange currencies and freelance online? Seems like a good option in many areas these days.
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Jul 24, 2016 02:06
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Pryor on Fire posted:Can you talk more about what you did specifically when you said you know how to exchange currencies and freelance online? Seems like a good option in many areas these days. Well, the freelancing aspect of things involves the same advice you'd find anywhere, avoid low-paying sites like Fiverr and such, and build a solid portfolio. The currency aspect of things is where things get interesting as far as Venezuela is concerned. We have an exchange control system, this basically means that if you get paid via Paypal, for example, you have to find a way of getting that money into an account in bolivares. So over the years a black-market currency exchange system has developed, which usually involves getting contacts which buy your dollars or euros for their own international accounts and pay you a reduced rate in bolivares. It's utterly useless for anyone outside of Venezuela, because the premiums charged are pretty steep. For example, for every $100 I earn, I get the equivalent of $85. But even that is a million times better than working locally and earning bolivares.
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Jul 24, 2016 02:21
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Labradoodle posted:Middle-class families I've known my entire life are now going hungry and we're spared the brunt of the shitstorm because Caracas always has poo poo to buy if you've got the money. Degrees and hard-work don't mean poo poo anymore and most people are just barely making ends meet. What I haven't understood is how all the Venezuelans on the border with Cucuta have the money to go across the border and pay Colombian (i.e. real) prices for all those goods and take them back. The BsF minimum monthly wage will buy you like... some toilet paper and a bit of flour at market rates.
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Jul 24, 2016 11:06
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