Julio Chavez, the president of the Comision de Medios del Parlamento (Parliamentary Media Commission) called for a debate on the use of social media in the country. Julio said that he hopes to “open a debate in the country so that we may arrive at an understanding regarding the proper use of social media“.
Deputy Abelardo Diaz (COPEI – Tachira) spoke out against the proposed debate, saying:
An… antidemocratic government such as the one that we have in Venezuela is very inconvenienced by criticism and the possibility that events and situations that affects them will be made public… they always seek to silence through the almost absolute control they hold over the media, which overwhelmingly already belong to the State…
At the heart of the PSUV’s attack on social media lies article 60 of the constitution, which states:
Article 60: Every person is entitled to protection of his or her honor, private life,
intimacy, self-image, confidentiality and reputation. The use of electronic information shall be restricted by law in order to guarantee the personal and family intimacy and honor of citizens* and the full exercise of their rights.
According to Julio Chavez, article 60 of the constitution could be re-interpreted to achieve the goal he is proposing: that is, limiting what can be said through social media.
Alleged Conspirator Denies Allegations
Pedro Burelli, an ex-PDVSA executive who currently lives in the United States, was named last month as one of the latest alleged conspirators against Maduro’s life, along with Maria Corina Machado and several others. Burelli gave an interview to El Universal, which was published today. Burelli quickly dismissed the validity of the e-mails, pointing out that it is ‘really easy” to forge e-mails, and suggesting that his lawyers were working on contacting Google to somehow prove that the e-mails are not real. Below is one of the questions asked, along with Burelli’s answer:
Why do you say that the e-mail that mayor Jorge Rodriguez attributed to you are false?
Burelli: The first reason is that I did not write them. The second, because of how they presented them. It is obvious that they were not in possession of the digital fingerprint or header of those e-mails. It appears to be really easy to forge an e-mail, but it is impossible to forge in terms of the trail that it leaves by passing from the sender to the receiver. All of the e-mails they provided come from Google accounts. We are following all of the established procedures, along with my lawyer, with the goal of finding the technical means and then the certification to prove that all of these are forged e-mails.
Inflation Could Reach 70% in 2014
Economist and ex-manager of economic studies at the Banco Central de Venezuela Jose Guerra estimated today that the inflation rate for 2014 might reach 70%. In a television interview, Guerra said:
Initially, it was estimated that inflation would close around 50-55%, but I think we will reach 70%.
Among the economic problems facing the Venezuela, Guerra critisised the country’s convoluted foreign currency exchange system, currently known as SICAD II. Guerra qualified the country’s four different official exchange rates as “a huge corrupt distortion”, and underlined the “evaporation” of 20 billion dollars through CADIVI over a period of two years as another symptom of the crippling corruption that is dragging Venezuela down.
In Venezuela 