<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-01.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>First Justice deputy Luis Parra orchestrated the actions of the Comptroller\u2019s Commission on behalf of Carlos Lizcano Manrique, an entrepreneur linked to Alex Saab\u2019s plot.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-02.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>First Justice deputy Luis Parra orchestrated the actions of the Comptroller\u2019s Commission on behalf of Carlos Lizcano Manrique, an entrepreneur linked to Alex Saab\u2019s plot.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-03.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>First Justice deputy Luis Parra orchestrated the actions of the Comptroller\u2019s Commission on behalf of Carlos Lizcano Manrique, an entrepreneur linked to Alex Saab\u2019s plot.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\nConstant \r\nnegotiations between Luis Parra and Carlos Lizcano led to the makeup of an \r\ninformal group of deputies from different opposition parties in favor of \r\nthe \r\nColombian \r\nentrepreneurs and their vast business network with Chavismo<\/I>, ever expanding \r\nsince \r\n2013<\/A>. \r\n<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
They Invoke Guaido to Gain Indulgences<\/h2>\n\n\n
One \r\nof the most recent actions of the informal group of deputies coordinated by \r\nParra occurred on October 9. That day, deputies Adolfo Superlano ?who \r\nwas still a member of the Together for Change (Cambiemos) party, expelled weeks \r\nlater, on November 11, from the novel organization led by Timoteo \r\nZambrano? \r\nand Jos\u00e9 Brito, of the Justice First party, went to the seat of the General \r\nProsecutor's Office of Colombia, in Bogota, to deliver a letter exempting Carlos \r\nLizcano and Salva Foods from any irregularity or relationship whatsoever with \r\nAlex Saab. Last year, the Colombian Prosecutor's Office formally accused Saab \r\nfor tax evasion and keeps the clan's business with Maduro\u2019s government under \r\nscrutiny.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
\u201cThis \r\nis to make official that after verifying the files of the entries in the book of \r\ncomplaints, it is concluded that to the date of the inquiry, there is no action \r\nfiled against the aforementioned Carlos Rolando Lizcano Manrique or his business \r\nSalva Foods 2015, C.A.,\u201d as read on the letter of September 20, 2019. Along with \r\nthe signatures of Adolfo Superlano and Jose Brito, there are those of their \r\nfellow deputies Conrado Perez Linares of the Justice First party; Richard \r\nArteaga and Guillermo Luces of the Popular Will (Voluntad Popular - VP) party; \r\nand Chaim Bucaram, Hector Vargas and William Barrientos of the A New Era (Un \r\nNuevo Tiempo - UNT) party. By the way, the last name of the latter is misspelled \r\non the letter.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Lizcano \r\nappears in the complex organization chart created by Saab and Pulido as the \r\nowner of CLAP Stores in Venezuela through Salva Foods and as a director of \r\nMezedes Holding Ltd, registered in the United Arab Emirates, also involved in \r\nthe business scheme behind the CLAPs.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-04.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Deputies Adolfo Superlano of the Together for Change party, until days ago, and Jose Brito of the Justice First party, submitted a letter on behalf of Carlos Lizcano and Salva Foods - the owner company of CLAP Stores - to the Prosecutor's Office of Colombia.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-05.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Deputies Adolfo Superlano of the Together for Change party, until days ago, and Jose Brito of the Justice First party, submitted a letter on behalf of Carlos Lizcano and Salva Foods - the owner company of CLAP Stores - to the Prosecutor's Office of Colombia.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-06.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Deputies Adolfo Superlano of the Together for Change party, until days ago, and Jose Brito of the Justice First party, submitted a letter on behalf of Carlos Lizcano and Salva Foods - the owner company of CLAP Stores - to the Prosecutor's Office of Colombia.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-07.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Deputies Adolfo Superlano of the Together for Change party, until days ago, and Jose Brito of the Justice First party, submitted a letter on behalf of Carlos Lizcano and Salva Foods - the owner company of CLAP Stores - to the Prosecutor's Office of Colombia.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-08.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Deputies Adolfo Superlano of the Together for Change party, until days ago, and Jose Brito of the Justice First party, submitted a letter on behalf of Carlos Lizcano and Salva Foods - the owner company of CLAP Stores - to the Prosecutor's Office of Colombia.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-09.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Deputies Adolfo Superlano of the Together for Change party, until days ago, and Jose Brito of the Justice First party, submitted a letter on behalf of Carlos Lizcano and Salva Foods - the owner company of CLAP Stores - to the Prosecutor's Office of Colombia.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-10.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Deputies Adolfo Superlano of the Together for Change party, until days ago, and Jose Brito of the Justice First party, submitted a letter on behalf of Carlos Lizcano and Salva Foods - the owner company of CLAP Stores - to the Prosecutor's Office of Colombia.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\nThe \r\nso-called certificate of good conduct of the Venezuelan-nationalized Colombian \r\nentrepreneur, born in Cucuta, Norte de Santander Department, 48 years ago, was \r\napproved in \u201cregular session\u201d of the Comptroller\u2019s Commission, on September 18, \r\n2019, in response to Lizcano\u2019s request in a communication of July 25 of the same \r\nyear, as per the text. However, there are no records of that session in the \r\ncommission. The last two sessions were held on August 14, just before the \r\nparliamentary recess, and last week, on November 20.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
In \r\nthe letter submitted to the document control office of the Colombian \r\nProsecutor's Office, identified with number 20196110908052, the signatories \r\nspeak on behalf of the entire legislative body and even its president Juan \r\nGuaido, appointed as acting President of Venezuela by the National Assembly, on \r\nJanuary 23, 2018. \u201cThe acting President (of Venezuela)<\/I> and President of the \r\nNational Assembly, Juan Guaido, and us, overcome many obstacles from this \r\nhighest control agency of the Executive and we are aware of and guarantee the \r\nfundamental changes and restoration of ethics in the official function that we \r\nmust put at the service of the Venezuelan society,\u201d they \r\nboasted.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
Mileage Earning<\/h2>\n\n\n
This \r\naffair in Colombia is not the only recent process of deputies abroad to clear \r\nthe record of Carlos Lizcano.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
In \r\nlate September, a similar communication was sent at Lizcano\u2019s request to the \r\nDepartment of the Treasury in Washington. At the closing of this report, it was \r\nnot possible to confirm receipt of the document at the offices of that US \r\nequivalent to a ministry of finance. The purpose of persuading this entity about \r\nLizcano's innocence seems logical. The Department of the Treasury had imposed \r\nfinancial sanctions on Alex Saab and Alvaro Pulido last July, hence, Lizcano \r\nwould try to protect himself from future measures against him. The documents \r\nreviewed by Armando.info only allow to affirm that the document was mailed - not \r\ndelivered to the agency in person - on September 26, 2018, from a post office in \r\nthe US capital city.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
In \r\naddition, according to those files, some of the coordination meetings between \r\nentrepreneur Lizcano and deputy Luis Parra were held in a house in El Valle \r\nParish, southwest of Caracas, in apartments in the east of the Venezuelan \r\ncapital and in several stores of the CLAP Stores chain. The entrepreneur did not \r\nrespond to the interview request for this report.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
On \r\nthe other hand, deputy Luis Parra denied knowing the Colombian entrepreneur or \r\nhaving participated in conversations for the Comptroller\u2019s Commission to support \r\nLizcano. \"I invite you or whoever else to submit any proof that Luis Parra is \r\nrelated to these cases,\" he said when interviewed for this report. In fact, he \r\nonly affirmed about Carlos Lizcano, \u201cI have been told that he is the alleged \r\nfront man of the man you named (Editor\u2019s note: Alex Saab) and that the other \r\nthief out there named (Editor\u2019s note: Rafael Ramirez).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-11.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>At the request of entrepreneur Carlos Lizcano, the deputies of the Comptroller\u2019s Commission of the NA also sent a letter to the United States Department of the Treasury.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-12.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>At the request of entrepreneur Carlos Lizcano, the deputies of the Comptroller\u2019s Commission of the NA also sent a letter to the United States Department of the Treasury.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-13.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>At the request of entrepreneur Carlos Lizcano, the deputies of the Comptroller\u2019s Commission of the NA also sent a letter to the United States Department of the Treasury.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\nGold Line<\/h2>\n\n\n
The \r\ndocuments obtained for this report include invoices of company Agroleon Molinos \r\nde San Felipe (capital of the state of Yaracuy) to Salva Foods, Carlos Lizcano\u2019s \r\ncompany. The owner of Agroleon Molinos de San Felipe is Roger Leon, a well-known \r\nentrepreneur of that state and friend of Deputy Parra, who represents Yaracuy in \r\nthe parliament. Both have been seen in political activities in that \r\ncentral-western region of Venezuelan.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
One \r\nof the invoices, issued on March 12, 2019, shows Agroleon Molinos de San Felipe, \r\nmainly engaged in the sale of all types of grains, dispatching a 30-ton shipment \r\nof \u201ccarcass meat, placed on site\u201d to Salva Foods for a total of 120 million \r\nbolivars. Months earlier, on December 17, 2018, Agroleon Molinos de San Felipe \r\nhad issued another proforma invoice to Salva Foods Fze - registered in the \r\nUnited Arab Emirates and also part of the CLAP business plot - for almost \r\n500,000 euros. The concept of the invoice is for the purchase of a \u201ccentral \r\n1,340 square-meter land\u201d and the payment was made to an account in Banesco \r\nPanama. Neither the company nor its owner responded to the request for an \r\ninterview about those transactions.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-14.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>While deputy Luis Parra helped Carlos Lizcano, another entrepreneur friend of the deputy made transactions with Salva Foods, the company of the Colombian entrepreneur.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-15.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>While deputy Luis Parra helped Carlos Lizcano, another entrepreneur friend of the deputy made transactions with Salva Foods, the company of the Colombian entrepreneur.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-16.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>While deputy Luis Parra helped Carlos Lizcano, another entrepreneur friend of the deputy made transactions with Salva Foods, the company of the Colombian entrepreneur.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-17.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>While deputy Luis Parra helped Carlos Lizcano, another entrepreneur friend of the deputy made transactions with Salva Foods, the company of the Colombian entrepreneur.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-18.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>While deputy Luis Parra helped Carlos Lizcano, another entrepreneur friend of the deputy made transactions with Salva Foods, the company of the Colombian entrepreneur.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\nThe \r\ncontact between Luis Parra and Carlos Lizcano could be even more confusing if \r\nconsidering that almost simultaneously to these efforts, Emilio Fajardo, another \r\ndeputy of the Justice First party and member of the Environment Commission, like \r\nParra, announced last June in a press release that he would open an \r\ninvestigation into Lizcano for the \"illegal exploitation and commercialization \r\nof gold\" of the so-called Mining Arc. \"We must take action against those who \r\nillegally exploit and commercialize our natural resources disregarding the \r\nenvironmental devastation of our country.\"<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Fajardo \r\ndid not respond to the interview request for this report.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Regarding \r\nthe announcement of his commission colleague and party partner, Luis Parra said \r\nthat \u201cit was a press release that said that Carlos Lizcano has mines and a gold \r\nmafia, and we are open to the rendering of evidence.\u201d However, when asked about \r\nthe progress of this possible investigation, he said, \"you cannot investigate \r\nwhat does not exist.\"<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-19.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Emilio Fajardo, deputy of the Environment Commission, like Luis Parra, announced to the media that Carlos Lizcano should be investigated for participating in the illegal commercialization of gold.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-20.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Emilio Fajardo, deputy of the Environment Commission, like Luis Parra, announced to the media that Carlos Lizcano should be investigated for participating in the illegal commercialization of gold.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\nSince \r\nlast year, Alex \r\nSaab and \r\nhis network also appear linked to the commercialization and extraction of \r\nVenezuelan gold<\/A>. \r\nThe \r\nincursion into this business would have a double purpose, to offer Nicolas \r\nMaduro a way to bypass the economic sanctions imposed by the United States on \r\nthe Caracas regime, but also ensure a hard-to-track form of payment for imports \r\nmade for CLAPs. Sources who recently learned about the structure of the \r\nColombian entrepreneurs say that Carlos Lizcano usually travels to the mining \r\narea in southern Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
The Source of a \u2018Modus Operandi\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n
The \r\nproforma invoice for almost 500,000 euros of Agroleon Molinos de San Felipe to \r\nSalva Foods Fze gives an additional hint about the plot hatched between Alex \r\nSaab's group and the opposition deputies. The invoice was sent by email from the \r\ncompany to deputy Luis Parra and to Carlos Herrera, former councilmember of the \r\nCaracas Metropolitan District, director of the Primicias24.com website and \r\npromoter of the self-styled Bloque de Prensa Digital Venezolano (Venezuelan \r\nDigital Press Block). The issue does not seem casual.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Luis \r\nParra and Carlos Herrera are friends and they traveled to Europe in April this \r\nyear along with deputies Conrado Perez and Richard Arteaga. On April 17, the \r\nfour had to return from Madrid to Caracas on an Air Europa flight, with a stop \r\nin the Dominican Republic. The tickets were purchased at a travel agency in \r\nBogota. \"It is as if I ask you where you get the money to support yourself, \r\ntravel and do the things you do; who pays you to conduct investigations. I think \r\nyou are crossing a few lines,\" Parra replied when asked about that trip. Neither \r\nthe editor of Primicias24 nor deputies Conrado Perez and Richard Arteaga \r\nresponded to the interview request.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
In \r\nApril, Conrado Perez and Richard Arteaga also traveled to Paris, France, with \r\nAir France tickets purchased at the same travel agency in Bogota. There was no \r\npublic information by the parliament members of these tours. Sources close to \r\nthe deputies also said that in those days they traveled to Bulgaria, Portugal \r\nand even the Alpine enclave of Liechtenstein, possibly to deliver official \r\nnotices announcing the close of the investigation against the scheme of Alex \r\nSaab. Precisely in some of these jurisdictions, there are inquiries against the \r\nfinancial movements of the Colombian entrepreneurs and their companies. The \r\nBulgarian newspaper Dnevnik.Bg reported in June ?after \r\na minute sent from the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry\u2019s Office to a deputy of the \r\nsocialist party of that country? \r\nthe visit made by the parliament members on April 12, although without further \r\ndetails of the requests of Venezuelan officials to Bulgarian authorities.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-21.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>The tickets of the deputies and Carlos Herrera, director of Primicias24, were bought at a travel agency in Bogota.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-22.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>The tickets of the deputies and Carlos Herrera, director of Primicias24, were bought at a travel agency in Bogota.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\nDays \r\nafter the initial trip to Spain, the three deputies - Parra, Perez and Arteaga - \r\nappeared again in Europe. They were accompanied by colleagues Jose Brito, Chaim \r\nBucaram and Adolfo Superlano, all signatories of the letter delivered at the \r\nProsecutor's Office of Colombia, on October 9, 2019, on behalf of Carlos Lizcano \r\nand Salva Foods.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
The \r\ndeputies were on May 10 in Rome and on May 14 in Madrid to ask authorities of \r\nboth countries to investigate Rafael Ramirez, the former Oil Minister and former \r\npresident of the state oil company PDVSA during the Government of Hugo Chavez, \r\nas well as former Vice President of Economic Affairs with Nicolas Maduro, among \r\nother positions. Indeed, there are photos of this Spain-Italy tour, statements \r\nto the media of those countries, and even explanations when they returned to \r\nVenezuela. \"He lives like a prince in a castle that costs from six to seven \r\nmillion euros (...) I summon prosecutor Tarek William Saab to make the request \r\nto Interpol,\" deputy Chaim Bucaram said on May 22 about the accusation against \r\nRafael Ramirez, after resuming his work at the Comptroller\u2019s \r\nCommission.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Deputy \r\nJose Luis Pirela, representative of the state of Zulia and current member of the \r\nso-called parliamentary fraction of July 16, dissident of the majority \r\nopposition led by Maria Corina Machado and Antonio Ledezma, was in Madrid and \r\nRome too. However, Pirela quickly clarified that his participation was to \r\naccompany them to file the complaint against Ramirez and another complaint for \r\nthe Derwick case, associated with corruption in electricity investments in \r\nVenezuela. \u201cI do not accept my name or honor being associated to a matter I have \r\nnothing to do with. I have not done anything else with the members of that \r\nComptroller\u2019s Commission,\u201d he also said.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-23.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Members of the Comptroller\u2019s Commission traveled to Rome and Madrid to report Rafael Ramirez, among others. At the end, the trip ignited other suspicions about the performance of some of those parliament members.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-24.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Members of the Comptroller\u2019s Commission traveled to Rome and Madrid to report Rafael Ramirez, among others. At the end, the trip ignited other suspicions about the performance of some of those parliament members.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>
![](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01122019-26.jpg\"){kind=link}