Following the occupation of FLB shoe stores across the country, the government today took over a Toyota dealership in Maracaibo, Zulia state. Andres Mendes, the superintendent of fair prices, announced a 180 day occupation of the dealership after the government claims to have discovered it was engaging in usury.
One Soto, the head of the western department of the Superintendencia de Precios Justos (SUNDDE), explained:
They processed the financing through Toyota Service, which is the mechanism they use to give out credit to their clients up to 100%. However, they were charging people more than double through an additional deposit made to the company. This caused vehicle prices to inflate.
According to the same source, the dealership would sell a Toyota Corolla for Bs. 3,200,000, well above the government-dictated Bs. 1,400,000 fair price. “Fair prices” are decided according to the Ley Organica de Precios Justos, a law that prohibits anyone from making more than a 30% profit through any kind of economic activity.
Aside from being being taken over for the next 180 days, the dealership must pay a fine of Bs. 1,200,000. The manager also faces a charge of usury, which carry a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.
Striking Workers Dispersed with Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets
Striking dock workers at the Bolivariana de Puertos in Puerto Cabello, Carabobo formed a human chain in front of Gate 7 of the dockyards starting at 7:00 AM this morning. The workers were demanding talks regarding the drafting of a new collective agreement.
Shortly thereafter, National Guard soldiers arrived in the scene, and then proceeded to disperse the workers with tear gas and rubber bullets. Two union leaders and two workers were arrested, and three suffered injuries from rubber bullets.
Ysley Mirett, an administrative analyst with Bolivariana de Puertos, explained the worker’s demands:
What we’re asking for is that they increase the value of our cesta tickets [a kind of government bonus used for buying food] like they promised they would do more than two months ago.
Below, pictures from the strike and subsequent confrontation:
Police Reform Underway
Freddy Bernal, the president of the Presidential Commission for the Transformation of the Police System announced today that the process of reforming the nation’s police bodies is well underway. Bernal explained that three municipal police bodies will be absorbed into the Ministry of the Interior, which will take over their operation. While Bernal could only say that the name of the municipalities in question would be made public at a later date, all three takeovers are happening at the request of the respective mayors.
In addition, eight more police forces will receive special technical assistance to supplement their policing duties.
The police reform process will have five stages. One of the stages includes the creation of the “Bolvarian Profile”; in other words, the standards by which new officers should be selected and modelled after.
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