“This government, and the Attorney General of the Republic, which is the same thing in this case, have not yet said what happened in PDVSA, much less where Tarek El Aissami is, who, by the way, is the first to should answer to the country for all this skein of corrupt rampage”.
This statement came from Professor Miguel Reyes, a native of Barquisimeto who has lived for a little over 30 years in the city of San Cristóbal, Táchira State, where he currently works as sectional general secretary of Acción Democrática (AD-Gutiérrez), and in where he is also a deputy to the Legislative Council of that federal entity.
Reyes was referring to what is currently on the country’s political table, such as the billion-dollar corruption scandal uncovered by the national government itself in the country’s gigantic oil company, and to Tarek El Aissami, former Minister of Petroleum of Venezuela and , at the same time, former president of PDVSA.
As previously indicated, Reyes is a native of the Larense capital, where several of his closest relatives reside, whom he came to visit precisely taking advantage of the Easter holiday.
He is a professor of physics and mathematics, graduated from the “Eleazar López Contreras” Industrial Technical School, in the capital of Tachira, where he later taught, and from where he also retired.
There, he married a Tachirense lady, and that is the fundamental reason for his already long residence in that federal entity.
At the time of his statements, by the way, he was accompanied by the lawyer Roberto Sánchez, who, as is known, is also from Barquisimeto, and who, after having served as general secretary of the white awning in Lara State, now occupies the first vice presidency national of that political organization.
just a button
From the outset, Reyes wanted to point out that the estimated amount of “this last uncovered pot of corruption”, which supposedly amounts to some 3,000 million dollars, “is just a button, a sample, compared to the 14,000, or 20,000, or I don’t know how many millions, also in dollars, that Rafael Ramírez took.”
He recalled that he was also Minister of Petroleum and President of PDVSA for 11 years with Hugo Chávez, and two years with Nicolás Maduro; “And they didn’t know he was stealing?”
–And it turns out that now Ramírez is leading the high life abroad, while millions of Venezuelans go through more hardships and calamities every day to be able to subsist.
The Adeista leader then reiterated his opinion that, “from what can be seen, in this last framework, despite the fact that, according to the Attorney General of the Republic, Tarek William Saab, there are already 51 detainees, it seems that they are not all who are, nor are all those who are”.
–And, if not, where is Tarek El Aissami, who is the one who should be showing his face first, and is the first to be investigated? However, it seems that he has already been acquitted.
What happened at PDVSA?
-But it is also that Venezuelans -he continued- have the right to know what exactly happened in PDVSA: How they managed to steal so much money, what were the mechanisms they used, what and who they used, and what fate they received It will give the recovered goods, be they planes, helicopters, apartments, buildings, luxurious trucks and cars, and even cash.
–That is to say, they have tried to pretend that they are fighting corruption head-on, but, ultimately, there are many questions that they have not answered, and yes, rather, many doubts that they have sown, and continue to sow. .
-Because, by the way, we Venezuelans also have the full right to ask ourselves: And the control mechanisms that the country has? Where were they, that they didn’t realize their messy size? And even the same control mechanisms of PDVSA, where were they…?
–But it is that here in Venezuela something very funny is happening, with this supposed “revolutionary process”, by the way, modeled on the Cuban model, through which the ruling political class consumes imported natural water, mobilizes in the best vehicles, both air and terrestrial, and lives in the most exquisite condominiums in the country.
a great self-righteousness
–But, in addition –continued our interlocutor–, these “revolutionaries” eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in the best restaurants in the country; they dress in the best quality imported clothing, and, incidentally, they corrupt left and right, using their political and economic power, humble Venezuelans. A tremendous self-righteousness, then.
-And the latter occurs because the current political model in Venezuela is corrupt and corrupting, and they know it, and, of course, they put it into practice.
-And, as an example, nothing less than the grenade that exploded in their own hands some two weeks ago, with the frightful corruption of PDVSA, of which, I repeat, the main actor, Tarek El Aissami, nobody knows where he is or why he is not being investigated about this embarrassing and reprehensible corruption plot.
AD and the presidential candidacy
Will your party go with its own candidate for the upcoming 2024 presidential election? We asked him, and he replied:
–Look: We continue to be part of the so-called Democratic Alliance, made up of 22 political parties and movements, which already participated in the last parliamentary and gubernatorial elections on November 21, 2021.
–Well, we –I mean, AD– have planned for the next few weeks the realization of a National Steering Committee of the party, where the one we select as our political standard-bearer of the moment will be chosen.
–But –he clarified– that name we are going to present it to the consideration of the Democratic Alliance, so that it is the definitive candidate of the same.
And how will the Democratic Alliance choose that definitive presidential candidate?
Well, that’s where the detail is. That could be, I think, either through primary elections, or through a consensus. In other words, it will be the Alliance itself that will decide the mechanism for choosing the final presidential candidate of our opposition political coalition.
In any case, Reyes wanted to remember that his political organization has the endorsement of 81 years of struggle “for the country”, which, “in summary, can translate into 33,000 outpatient centers and 12,000 hospitals that we have provided to Venezuela, as well as schools , high schools, polytechnics and universities.
– Likewise, we bring electricity and drinking water to 98 percent of Venezuelans, but, currently, with this “revolution”, all those figures have been reversed, because what those who govern have done is destroy the country.
The defeat in Táchira
What do you think caused the defeat in those 2021 elections of the governor of the State of Táchira, Laidy Gómez, who apparently developed a positive management and, in addition, had a good image?
–Look: The culprit of the defeat of the compañera Laidy Gómez is Henry Ramos Allup. There is no other. Take a look: Compañera Gómez lost to Freddy Bernal by just 2,800 votes, but the head of those adecos who left the party managed to get the so-called G-4 to launch the candidacy for governor there of a former copeyano whom nobody knew, a man named Fernando Andrade.
–Well, this gentleman –he continued– obtained 57,000 votes. So you draw your own conclusions.
the border situation
It is worth noting that Reyes also spoke, and with enough knowledge of the facts, about the much-vaunted opening of the border between Táchira and Colombia, about which he extended his thoughts on the matter.
However, in what we could call a summary of the subject, he recalled that the Táchira border with Colombia became, at some point, the liveliest and most dynamic in Latin America.
Why did he fall and why hasn’t he gotten up? he asked himself, and he himself answered:
–Well, because the Venezuelan industries are working only at five, ten or fifteen percent of their productive capacity.
–By the way, when Hugo Chávez came to power, Venezuela sold 150 kilowatts of electricity to Colombia from the Uribante-Caparo, but it turns out that, now, we depend electrically on what they, the Colombians, send us and, by the way, there are no clear rules of the game for trade with Colombia.
–Thus, all this, and many other things, make the border crisis, instead of advancing positively, deepen more and more.
reinaldo gomez
The entry General Secretary of AD (Gutiérrez) in Táchira: “They have not yet told us what happened in PDVSA, nor where Tarek El Aissami is” was first published in El Informador Venezuela.
