ZCZC
BCN-19
VENEZUELA-JUSTICE-ECONOMY
Venezuela arrests 131 accused of economic sabotage
CARACAS, Aug 31, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Venezuelan authorities have arrested 131
people accused of attempting to sabotage reforms implemented by President
Nicolas Maduro to alleviate a crippling economic crisis, the attorney general
said on Thursday.
Tarek William Saab said the arrests included “several managers of large
chains” accused of “speculating and hoarding basic products” that are subject
to prices fixed by the government.
The detainees are accused of trying to “destabilize the economy,” Saab
added.
Of those arrested, 29 have been permitted conditional release and 10
others exonerated.
Maduro has launched a raft of reforms aimed at ending four years of
recession and arresting hyperinflation the International Monetary Fund
predicts will reach one million percent this year.
One of those policies was to fix prices on 25 basic products, including
beef, chicken and eggs, all of which have since disappeared from supermarket
shelves.
The socialist government says the prices were agreed following talks with
businesses and took into account production costs, but the Consecomercio
trade union insists that only 35 companies were consulted and they did not
represent the whole sector.
Shortages have forced hundreds of shops to close.
“Some merchants and businessmen made the decision to close, others are
waiting to know the rules of the game that will govern us from now on,”
Consecomercio president Maria Uzcategui told AFP.
Even before the uncertainty caused by Maduro’s measures, 40 percent of
shops had closed this year, according to Consecomercio.
Meanwhile, people have been leaving Venezuela in droves: 1.6 million since
2015, according to the United Nations.
The exodus has created a migration crisis in other South American
countries, particularly Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil.
Industrial output has dropped to just 30 percent while oil production is
at a 30-year low of 1.5 million barrels a day, according to OPEC, way down
from its record high of 3.2 million 10 years ago.
Maduro’s reforms included hiking the minimum wage by 3,400 percent and
removing five zeros from the currency, which was also devalued to the tune of
96 percent and fixed to the value of Venezuela’s largely discredited
cryptocurrency, the petro.
There’s also been an increase in value added tax (VAT) and reduced petrol
subsidies — Venezuelans pay the lowest prices in the world for fuel.
An extra levy has also been slapped on remittances sent home from expats,
while banks have been ordered to adopt the petro as a unit of account.
BSS/AFP/HR/0950