Nicolas Maduro prepares to go through the last quarter of the year until the parliamentary elections on December 6 in Venezuela. Amid massive and growing protests throughout most of the country over increasingly precarious living conditions, this Tuesday he announced an anti-blockade law to “Shield” against Washington’s economic sanctions against your government. The Venezuelan president presented the norm before the National Constituent Assembly, the parallel Parliament elected without the participation of the opposition in 2017 apart from the existing legislative one, for it to be approved as a matter of urgency. “We have devised, drafted and created a constitutional law of a special nature against the blockade and criminal sanctions of the United States and of the extremist and fascist right wing of Venezuela that harm and make our Venezuelan people suffer,” he said in an appearance by television.
Maduro assured that the legislation seeks to “reverse all the effects” left by the sanctions. “It is the legal framework to adapt the institutions to the war situation we are in.” She did not give details of what the law will regulate, but said that it will be focused mainly on the economic area. “This regulatory and temporary framework seeks to protect our assets from looting and the threat of imperial confiscation.” Among the proposals of the norm, according to Maduro, it seeks to accelerate the management, make more flexible the participation of the State in joint ventures, as well as provide incentives for investment and the use of the petro – also sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury – which So many times it has tried to massify without success, in addition to other cryptocurrencies for internal and external trade. The instrument was drawn up together with the Vice President and, for a few days, Minister of Finance, Delcy Rodríguez.
Chavismo has resorted to sanctions to justify the collapse and the humanitarian crisis that began to take place in Venezuela at least five years ago, after the failed centralization policies and the price and currency controls that led to a contraction of two thirds of the economy of the oil country that at one time it was one of the richest nations in Latin America. Maduro assured that due to the blockade, the country has stopped receiving income in the order of 130,000 million dollars since 2015, although the oil and economic embargo began in 2019.
The president pointed out that the law “will bring three months of improvement in the quality of life” of Venezuelans with a view to the parliamentarians on December 6. But he added that, after that period, the law will allow the country to be led to a “new stage” as of January 5, when the new Parliament must be installed. Those elections are questioned by the opposition that is grouped around Juan Guaidó and various international bodies due to the lack of transparency guarantees and a majority sector of the opposition has refused to participate. “Venezuela marches in peace to the 6D process,” said Maduro, despite the fact that only on Monday there were 76 protests throughout the country, harshly repressed by the security forces.
The South American country, about to turn three years in hyperinflation, has been badly hit in recent months by the economic crisis that has left more than 96% of Venezuelans in poverty. The monthly minimum wage came to less than a dollar, the precariousness of public services has worsened with more power outages and water supply amid the pandemic. Added to this is the fuel shortage throughout the country, as the most palpable sign of the effect of the sanctions. The collapse of the state oil company, PDVSA, due to years of corruption and mismanagement, brought production to the precipice and has now put the Maduro government in trouble to supply the country.
The siege that Washington imposed last year has made it difficult to import gasoline with which the oil company had been covering the demand of the country and Cuba, one of its main allies. Between May and September, Iran has assisted with the shipment of two shipments after long journeys in which they have had to maneuver to avoid US controls. After weeks of huge lines at gas stations across the country, the second shipment is scheduled to arrive in the next few days to ease some of the social tension.
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