{"id":2381,"date":"2017-08-13T11:00:42","date_gmt":"2017-08-13T11:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armando.info\/?p=2381"},"modified":"2017-08-13T11:00:42","modified_gmt":"2017-08-13T11:00:42","slug":"the-venezuelan-army-won-the-tuna-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armando.info\/en\/the-venezuelan-army-won-the-tuna-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"The Venezuelan Army Won the Tuna Battle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The \r\nbusiness preferred by the Venezuelan military in the self-named Bolivarian \r\nRevolution is that of food. The origin of this preference could go back to 2004, \r\nwhen Hugo Chavez created the Ministry of Food. Since then, food dispatch and its \r\naffiliated companies have been directed, almost exclusively, by the uniformed \r\nofficers. With Ch\u00e1vez's successor Nicol\u00e1s Maduro since 2013 in the presidency, \r\nthat situation has been maintained to the point that last year he promoted the \r\nMinister of Defense Vladimir Padrino L\u00f3pez to the position of head of the \r\nGran Misi\u00f3n Abastecimiento Soberano<\/I> (Great Sovereign Supply Mission), a \r\nplan aimed at overcoming \u2013 so far, unsuccessfully \u2013 the chronic shortage of \r\nfood, among other basic consumer products, that Venezuelans have suffered for \r\nyears. But the binomial between the military and food has been so significant \r\nthat for years, a mirror company of the Savings Bank of the Army imported and \r\nmarketed canned tuna thanks to the US dollars and preferential treatment \r\nreceived while the former Foreign Exchange Administration Commission (Cadivi) \r\nwas in place.

Since 2003, when Hugo Ch\u00e1vez imposed a strict exchange \r\ncontrol system due to political reasons, Cadivi was the agency responsible for \r\nallocating foreign currency amounts that private or public companies or \r\nindividuals requested for their businesses. By managing currencies in the midst \r\nof a convoluted system of exchange rates and for an import-prone country, those \r\nin charge had virtually unlimited opportunities to participate in corruption \r\nschemes. When President Maduro closed the body in 2013, it was accused by known \r\nformer chavismo <\/I>officials of being the escape window of billions of US \r\ndollars.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

The symbiosis between the savings bank and the company is maintained.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n

At \r\na point, Cadivi was also governed by the military. Thus, the colonels of the \r\narmy Manuel Barroso (promoted to General in 2015) and V\u00edctor Flores Correa, \r\npresident and vice president of Cadivi, respectively, paved the way for his \r\ncomrades in arms from the Savings Bank of the Bolivarian Army (Caejerb) to \r\nobtain cheap currencies through Inversora Caejer, a subsidiary with the autonomy \r\nof any private company.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

Inversora \r\nCaejer was born on February 21, 2008, and was registered by the president of \r\nCaejerb, the then army colonel Antonio Rafael Guti\u00e9rrez Campos. The symbiosis \r\nbetween the savings bank and the company is maintained: the president of one is \r\nalso the president of the other. Since December 2012, the then colonel, former \r\naid-de-camp of Ch\u00e1vez and current brigadier general, Alfredo Rom\u00e1n Parra Yarza, \r\nis in charge of both responsibilities, according to the mercantile register of \r\nInversora Caejer.<\/p>\n\n