{"id":2510,"date":"2018-04-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armando.info\/?p=2510"},"modified":"2018-04-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-04-15T00:00:00","slug":"two-panamanian-clap-intermediaries-safe-from-tornado-of-sanctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armando.info\/en\/two-panamanian-clap-intermediaries-safe-from-tornado-of-sanctions\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Panamanian CLAP Intermediaries Safe from Tornado of Sanctions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The ban that the Venezuelan Government recently \r\nimposed to almost a hundred Panamanian companies is showing its true colors. The \r\nfuss and dialogue of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro Government officials suggest a trade breakup \r\nwith Panama. But a thorough review of the Caracas blacklist reveals the \r\nprecision with which Venezuelan authorities avoid to incur \"collateral damage,\" \r\nthus evading the incorporation of registered companies or companies operating in \r\nthe isthmus that act as intermediaries in the supply business of imported food \r\nfor the Local Supply and Production Committee (Clap) in Venezuela. Incidentally, \r\nthey do not appear among the companies sanctioned by the Panamanian Government \r\nof Juan Carlos Varela either.
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Some \r\nexample are FB Foods LLC and Wellsford Trading Corp, two shell companies \r\nincorporated in the Panamanian capital that have been active in the shipment of \r\nsupplies for the Claps, a program implemented two years ago, aimed to ease the \r\nravages of the chronic shortage of essential goods among the low-income \r\npopulation - the electoral customers of Chavism. <\/p>\n\n\n
Caracas sanctions were focused - at least on the first \r\nlist of 46 companies - on big names of the binational trade, like Compa\u00f1\u00eda \r\nPaname\u00f1a de Aviaci\u00f3n (Copa)\u2014one of the few airlines that still flight to \r\nVenezuela\u2014, and Samsung, the Korean electronics company, and the Swiss Sanofi \r\nAventis, both with headquarters in Panama. They are prevented from operating in \r\nVenezuela for 90 days, effective April 6, but the period could be extended. All \r\nin retaliation for the penalty previously imposed in Panama City to 55 officials \r\nand 16 companies from Venezuela related to Carlos Malpica Flores, nephew of the \r\nVenezuelan first lady, Cilia Flores.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
While new \r\npunitive measures are being suggested in both countries, the surge already went \r\nup one step with Panama banning Venezuelan airlines from landing in that \r\ncountry, and the publication on Friday of a second list with 50 other Panamanian \r\ncompanies banned by the Venezuelan authorities. \"The Bolivarian Government \r\nrejects the unacceptable aggression of the anti-grass roots and corrupt \r\ngovernment of President Juan Carlos Varela against the people of Venezuela. The \r\npresident @JC_Varela aims to divert attention from the serious moral breakdown \r\nthat his government is going through,\" Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El \r\nAissami attacked on Twitter on the afternoon of April 5.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Minutes later, the Central American Head of State \r\nresponded on the social media with a poisoned dart by suggesting that \r\nVenezuela's ruling leaders are lining their pockets at the expense of the hunger \r\nof its citizens. \"I do not know what is more difficult to understand, seeing a \r\nrich country which most of its population depends on the distribution of food \r\nbags to feed itself, or seeing a top authority of this country enrich himself \r\nwith the sale of these bags,\" Varela said and spread the \r\nsuspicions.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
But, in the \r\nmidst of the fierce crossfire, FB Foods and Wellsford emerged \r\nunscathed.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
Formula to Go Unnoticed<\/h2>\n\n\n
There are two companies registered in Panama, \r\noperating as contractors of the state-owned Corporaci\u00f3n Venezolana de Comercio \r\nExterior (Corporvex), which in 2017 invoiced millions of dollars in exchange for \r\nthe food combos. FB Foods LLC, incorporated on March 24, 2017 by the law firm De \r\nLa Fuente & Salda\u00f1a, Abogados (Delasa), which unlike the Morgan & Morgan \r\nlaw firm, was not on the list of companies banned by the Venezuelan \r\nGovernment.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
By \r\nthe date FB Foods LLC was founded, the idea of the Claps had taken off. With the \r\nCLAPs conceived in late 2016, the Government of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro fed the people by \r\nmeans of massive food imports through intermediaries from Barbados (Postar \r\nIntertrade Limited) and Hong Kong (Group Grand Limited) from Mexico, the country \r\nwhich most of the so-called combos or Clap bags came from, and which was the \r\ngreat beneficiary of the Venezuelan state program. To be part of the millionaire \r\nbusiness, the $ 10,000 capital with which FB Foods LLC was created \r\nsufficed.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Just months \r\nbefore the incorporation of FB Foods LLC, in July 2016, the then Vice President \r\nof the Economic Area, Miguel P\u00e9rez Abad, and the Major General of the Air Force \r\nand still President of Corpovex, Giuseppe Yoffreda Yorio, sealed an agreement in \r\nPanama with the Minister of Commerce of that nation, Augusto Arosemena, for just \r\nover 16,000 tons of food that would allow putting together up to three million \r\nClap combos. The military man and Venezuelan ambassador to Panama, Jorge Dur\u00e1n \r\nCenteno, who due to the recent diplomatic tension, was called to Caracas for \r\nconsultations, was present at the signing of the agreement. But in September \r\n2016, Dur\u00e1n Centeno was celebrating the progress of the agreement. \"The \r\nVenezuelan and Panamanian community accelerate the rhythm to fulfill the \r\ncommitment with the Claps from the isthmus,\" he posted on Twitter along with \r\nsome photos showing the now popular Clap boxes stacked.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
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