Ordinary session of the Venezuelan National Assembly on Tuesday, November 26, 2024. Photo: W. Errades/Últimas Noticias.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—The president of the National Assembly (AN) of Venezuela, Jorge Rodríguez, has announced the reactivation of the Special Commission to investigate crimes against the Venezuelan company CITGO Petroleum Corporation. CITGO had been illegally dispossessed by the imperial US government following their failed regime change operation using former opposition deputy Juan Guaidó.
During the ordinary session of parliament held this Tuesday, November 26, opposition deputy Carlos Melo condemned the so-called “ad hoc Central Bank of Venezuela,” which he described as the “petty cash” of Venezuela’s far-right opposition, used to funnel money to their operations.
The head of the Legislative Branch said that Melo’s complaint “is serious enough” for the AN to pursue the investigation, “as none of the investigations and actions that have been taken by the highest offices of the state against this gang of thieves, criminals, crooks who got their hands on public funds for their own private ends have done so far.”
Rodríguez announced the reactivation the Special Commission to investigate crimes against CITGO, which will be chaired by the AN’s First Vice President Pedro Infante, “so that it can immediately address the investigation.” Rodríguez also instructed that Deputy Carlos Melo be incorporated into this Special Commission.
Fake Central Bank
The National Assembly also agreed to appoint a special commission that will be in charge of investigating the complaint made by Deputy Melo on the existence of a parallel or ad hoc website of the Central Bank of Venezuela. This allegedly enabled the Venezuelan opposition abroad, led by Juan Guaidó, to carry out numerous illegal operations in the name of the Republic, including financing opposition political figures and organizations, thereby causing serious financial damage to the nation, as reported by Últimas Noticias.
This complaint was previously made by opposition deputy Luis Eduardo Martínez in an interview on La Iguana TV, in which he condemned the fact that the ad hoc board of the fake Central Bank of Venezuela, created under the guise of the so-called “interim government” led by Juan Guaidó, manages a sum of $2.976 million.
Martínez said that he “just saw the financial statements that they themselves published on the website and that were signed by the five directors, some of whom are here [in Venezuela]. Don’t you think that those millions would be useful to solve many of the problems in Venezuela?”
Gender violence
The Venezuelan parliament session on Tuesday also approved an agreement to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Deputy María Rosa Jiménez said that since Commander Hugo Chávez came to power, women have been recognized, represented, and vindicated as important actors in the development of the country.
Furthermore, the Venezuelan state, in compliance with international signed agreements, has developed policies to sanction and condemn all forms of violence with the support of social movements, something that seems to clash with recent figures released by the Venezuelan Public Ministry showing a significant number of cases of violence against women that seems to reflect the deep machista (male chauvinist) culture that still exists alongside the Bolivarian Revolution.
The attorney general of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, reported that by the end of October, the Public Ministry has received 317,584 complaints of cases of gender violence since 2017.
Saab explained that from these complaints, “we have managed to prosecute and charge 74,037 individuals who have committed these regrettable acts against women, and 62,392 accusations have been processed, of which 6,788 have been for convictions that become sentences.”
Saab’s figures show that less that 25% of the complaints have resulted in legal prosecution of the alleged attackers, and that less than 9% of the complaints have ended up in convictions, something that the Venezuelan state is eager to improve.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/AU
