{"id":65197,"date":"2021-06-14T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armando.info\/?p=65197"},"modified":"2022-03-09T19:40:58","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T19:40:58","slug":"the-2019-blackout-derived-in-a-network-in-mexico-to-evade-sanctions-against-maduro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armando.info\/en\/the-2019-blackout-derived-in-a-network-in-mexico-to-evade-sanctions-against-maduro\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2019 blackout derived in a network in Mexico to evade sanctions against Maduro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On March 7, 2019, Venezuela sank into darkness. What was supposed to be another blackout went on and on \u2e3a one, two, five hours; one, two, three days... Amidst accusations of sabotage, the pro-Ch\u00e1vez government moved surreptitiously and resorted to the cooperation of some friends earned over decades, among them, a group of Mexicans. What seemed to be at first an approach to try to lessen the power shortages of a system undermined over decades of corruption and wrecked during the blackout, gave rise over the months to an international network used to try and sometimes successfully move huge amounts of oil, money and other resources, such as gold, coal and aluminum, disguised as humanitarian aid, constantly evading the U.S. sanctions \u2e3a a scheme that involves dozens of people and companies, travels through almost thirty countries and transfers of money between tax havens. An investigation by EL PA\u00cdS and Armando.info<\/strong>, based on a dossier with thousands of documents obtained on that network, reveals how the plot was hatched, thus allowing Chavismo<\/em> to evade the sanctions of the greatest power on the planet and generate a shady yet a multi-million dollar business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2019, a month after Venezuela burned out into darkness, Vice President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez picked up the phone and contacted a group of Mexican businessmen that mastered the electricity sector. Originally, the idea was to see how they could bring power plants to Venezuela to ease the effects of the electricity crisis. However, from the first trip of the businessmen to Caracas, it was clear that their business intentions went beyond the acquisition of power generators. Several members of the Venezuelan government and operators of the Chavista <\/em>leadership proposed what would become the germ of an international plot to generate an untraceable business. EL PA\u00cdS and Armando.info<\/strong> have thousands of documents that, together with dozens of interviews\u2015including some persons involved who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliations\u2015attest to how this shady network was created and developed. A scheme that first exchanged oil for food and drinking water tankers, and then went on to collect money from oil exports through financial circuits outside the control of the United States of America. All those involved have a common link, Alex Saab, a contractor of Chavismo<\/em> since 2011, who is said to be Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s front man, and is awaiting extradition in Cape Verde<\/a> to be tried on money laundering in the U.S.
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Alex Saab, together with Mexican businessmen, weaved a business network to move Venezuelan raw materials and millions of dollars disguised as humanitarian aid.
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The origin of this network lies in the sanctions imposed on Venezuela since late 2014, mainly by Washington, under Obama\u2019s and then Trump\u2019s administration, to exert pressure on Maduro\u2019s government in an attempt to stop the human rights violations, and openly forcing a political change that never came. Today, with Joe Biden recently installed in the White House, the sanctions are a bargaining chip in a potential negotiation between the opposition and the heir of Ch\u00e1vez to find a way out of the crisis in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These exertions did reduce the leeway of Chavismo<\/em> to do business with many companies, as they fear being the target of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. And PDVSA has been the bull\u2019s eye of all the pressure, as it is the great source of foreign currency to Venezuela, the country with the largest proven oil reserves in the world, sanctioned since early 2019 by the Trump administration. After the state-owned oil company reached a point where foreign currency was scarce after the government spent it in all sorts of operations, Chavismo<\/em> resorted to business transactions that allow them to pay with crude oil instead of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delcy Rodr\u00edguez G\u00f3mez was key to activate the Mexican link. Along with her brother Jorge\u2015current president of the National Assembly and former minister in several occasions-, they constitute one of the pillars of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s government and a duo whose power has allowed them to displace Diosdado Cabello, as the unofficial number two of Chavismo<\/em>. The former foreign minister and current vice-president scheduled in April 2019 a series of meetings between state officials and operators who were close to the Chavista<\/em> leadership and a group of Mexican businessmen, including politician Jos\u00e9 Adolfo Murat, whom she knew from international forums of leftist organizations, like the one in Biarritz. With Sim\u00f3n Zerpa, the then Minister of Economy \u2015now in decline after accusations of disloyalty-, the possibility of an exchange of crude oil for tankers of drinking water and food was verbalized. Moreover, the minister asked the Mexicans whether it was possible to have a key post in Veracruz\u2015the main port of Mexico from where companies linked to Alex Saab<\/a> dispatched millions of low-quality and overpriced foodstuffs<\/a> in CLAP boxes to Venezuela from 2016 to 2018\u2015, which would allow large-scale shipments to get in and out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In April 2019, after the blackout endured in Venezuela, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez scheduled meetings between state officials and a group of Mexican businessmen. Credit: Yamil Lage \/ AFP.
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The next meeting was between the Mexicans and Ricardo Mor\u00f3n \u2015sanctioned by Washington in July 2020<\/a>, a businessman close to Nicol\u00e1s Maduro Guerra, son of the President\u2015 and Jos\u00e9 Luis Sandoval, a PDVSA official. They raise the point of the need to exchange oil for white corn and durum wheat through Colombia \u2e3athe price and payment would be quoted in gold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also met with Omar Abou Nassif, brother of a businessman close to Delcy Rodr\u00edguez. Nassif suggested the Mexicans the possibility of moving some foodstuffs with transactions to be made through Hong Kong, assuring them that he counted on the collaboration of some suppliers in Mexico. Nassif\u2019s statement was not trivial. He had also participated since 2016 in the CLAP scheme, precisely with companies registered in Hong Kong. Between 2016 and 2018, Alex Saab and his partner, the also Colombian \u00c1lvaro Pulido Vargas \u2015whose real name was Germ\u00e1n Rubio, but changed it after being involved in 2000 in a drug trafficking operation linked to the Bogota cartel\u2015 devised a structure of shell companies in Hong Kong, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The Mexican businessmen benefited<\/a> from these companies, some of which -as it has been proved- were linked to the new network that began to be woven in April 2019. The figure of Alex Saab also appears in those meetings in Caracas, since the Mexican businessmen met with one of his operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That series of contacts was taking shape upon his return to Mexico. Then, according to the reconstruction made through this investigation conducted by EL PA\u00cdS and Armando.info<\/strong>, Joaqu\u00edn Leal<\/a> appeared on the scene \u2015a 29-year-old businessman, who the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned since June 2020 for his business with Venezuela, and who, at that time, worked at Diversidad, the company of the above mentioned Jos\u00e9 Adolfo Murat, with whom he began to develop the business proposed to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May 2019, Murat flies to Caracas with Leal. The Mexican businessmen meet again with Sim\u00f3n Zerpa. The aim is to materialize the operations that have only been discussed until then. Although Zerpa proposes to the Mexicans to receive direct payments in rubles or euros, the formula adopted is the exchange of oil for food and drinking water tankers.<\/p>\n\n\n