Corporación Venezolana de Guayana state-owned mining company headquarters main building in Ciudad Guayana, Bolivar state. Photo: File photo.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, demanded that the investigatory bodies of the state were to find all resources and assets held by the mafias and groups involved in the recently unveiled corruption network, in order for it to be reinvested into the state and in attention to the Venezuelan population. “They have to guarantee it,” he said, “that all the wealth stolen from the people will be found and reinvested.”
Maduro called for the resources to be redistributed so that “we can put them into social programs for our people.” The announcement was made this Wednesday, March 29, during the opening of the Second National Buffalo Husbandry Expo 2023, inaugurated in Simón Bolívar Park, located in La Carlota, Miranda state.
Maduro compared the event he was presenting, which reflected the work and effort of the country’s agricultural producers hand in hand with heads of government, against what has happened in the corruption case known as “PDVSA-Crypto.”
“One can see the contrast between the transparent Venezuela of hard work and effort, that loves, that creates, that produces, and that is capable of embracing the values of solidarity in the face of these mafia groups that entrench, corrode and rot,” the president pointed out. “I feel outrage and filled with indignation in the face of corruption, in the face of the people we gave our confidence to who ended up robbing our people, [who are already] in such difficult circumstances.”
President Maduro has personally directed the investigation of the PDVSA-Crypto case, together with an important group of officials from the National Anti-Corruption Police (PNCC), the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), and the Public Ministry, handling the case “with patience, with a lot of intuition, patience, and depth,” he said. “When we started this anti-corruption operation, we were certain that we were dealing a blow to the rotten corruption mafias.”
Maduro added that the detainees are already confessing. “We have the confession of almost half of those who were captured for the misdeeds and robberies they were committing against our Republic,” he stated. “They have accepted the legal benefits of delation (providing names of accomplices) and they are telling us everything.”
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The head of state said that this blow against the corruption rings is just the beginning. “This is just the first step of many more actions that we are going to take against these entrenched mafiosi gangs,” he stated, “wherever they are, however they dress, whatever political color they have. We are not going to stop against the bad guys, against the corrupt, the bandits. We are filled with outrage.”
“There is no sadness, only more strength for the battle”
The Venezuelan president noted that some will feel sad to think of those officials who would never have been thought to have been involved in acts of corruption and banditry of such magnitude.
“I don’t have time for this (sadness),” he stated. “What I am is “pissed off” (enraged) with all these bandits. I am going to work the best I can as president against those who have robbed a people in truly exceptional, special circumstances. The combined blockade and constant sanctions, the persecution of North American imperialism, is added to the corruption of these gangsters, and causes a lot of damage to the country.”
#ÚltimoMinuto🔴 Se informa al pueblo venezolano que la Policía Nacional Anticorrupción ha solicitado al MP el encausamiento judicial de un conjunto de funcionarios y empresarios de la CVG. Lea el siguiente comunicado ⬇️⬇️#MaduroEsUnDuro pic.twitter.com/fMf8KSxIMN
— Alfred Nazareth (@luchaalmada) March 30, 2023
President Maduro stated that these acts of corruption by senior officials, in whom he placed full confidence, did not make him sad; “this only gives me strength, encouragement, and energy to get ahead and put an end to them,” he said, “to not cease in the fight for republican morality and public morality. We must work so that the values of honesty, good administration, and selfless public service prevail, to form a virtuous relationship between the public and private sectors.”
What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander
Maduro highlighted the need to punish both “bandit-like and corrupt” public officials, as well as the other half of those captured, who are “very powerful” businessmen. “You are going to know them,” he said, “living the life of a mobster, cheating; they believed that they were going to be eternal, with formidable amounts of ill-gotten riches.”
The president reported that they have barely managed to capture “a part of the wealth that these groups possess,” he said. “There are mansions where they had terrible orgies. The time will come to tell all this, when we overcome this first phase. When all those involved tell the truth and accept the law and the delation mechanism, we will be able to show all their multimillion-dollar assets.”
#CONFIRMADO| Presidente de #Sidor, Nestor Astudillo y Presidente de la #CVG, Pedro Maldonado fueron detenidos en la segunda fase de la operación contra la corrupción “caiga quien caiga”. pic.twitter.com/milE4kvWNv
— Madelein Garcia (@madeleintlSUR) March 30, 2023
Maduro left open the possibility that much more exists than has been seized thus far. “I am certain that this is only a part,” he said. “The thick [part] is hidden, they hid it.”
The Venezuelan president further pointed out the need to recover public values and respect the work of honest people. “It is a commitment that we have, a hard struggle, that we are obliged to win,” he said, “between the absolutely honest majority of Venezuela, the worker who gets up to work every day, and the corrupt minorities, who try to steal the work of others. This is the way, I have no doubt. The path of the great future of Venezuela is that of work and honesty and the union of the country and see the homeland reborn and prosper.”
Hoy trasladaron a Caracas, desde Anzoátegui, a la directora ejecutiva de la División Faja de PDVSA, ingeniera Jackeline Perico, y su adjunto José Lima Cedeño. Esa es la instancia de dirección sobre un extenso territorio de donde se extraen crudos pesados y extra pesados. pic.twitter.com/OWHZ3iWcpA
— La Tabla (@latablablog) March 30, 2023
New detainees from CVG and PDVSA
This Thursday, March 30, the PNCC reported that, as a result of the investigations and statements offered by those involved in the PDVSA-Crypto plot, the second phase of the special anti-corruption operation began, with its core in the Corporación Venezolana de Guayana (CVG) state-owned mining company.
“We have initiated a new request to the Public Ministry for the judicial prosecution of a group of officials and businessmen who, violating the sacred oath of honesty and ethics, could be involved in serious acts of administrative corruption and embezzlement,” read a statement released by the minister for communication and information, Freddy Ñáñez.
In another social media post made soon after, Telesur correspondent Madelein Garcia confirmed that the Siderúrgica de Orinoco C.A. (SIDOR) (state-owned steel company) president, Nestor Astudillo, and CVG president, Pedro Maldonado, were captured in the second phase of the anti-corruption operation. The police operation took place in Ciudad Guayana, Bolivar state, in Southern Venezuela.
Asimismo, más al sur, se realizó al menos una decena de capturas de funcionario de la Corporación Venezolana de Guayana #CVG, qué es la entidad que dirige las compañías estatales de los sectores hierro-acero y aluminio. Entre los detenidos estaría el presidente Pedro Maldonado. pic.twitter.com/5ZWxLmUoV6
— La Tabla (@latablablog) March 30, 2023
The Venezuelan news outlet La Tabla published another post soon after, announcing the detention of two PDVSA executives based in Anzoátegui state (eastern Venezuela). Jackeline Perico, executive director for the Orinoco Belt division of PDVSA, and her assistant, José Lima Cedeño, were shown being handcuffed by PNCC agents in Anzoátegui state and taken to a private jet that was allegedly bringing them to Caracas.
In another post, La Tabla published photos of the police deployment in Ciudad Guayana that led to the apprehension of the CVG executives and the securing of key accounting areas in CVG headquarters in order to safeguard the investigation.
(Alba Ciudad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU
