08.27.18: Voice Mail

President Santos spoke out against Maduro’s repeated assertions that Venezuela’s scarcity crisis is the result of activities from Colombian paramilitaries. Speaking at an event at the Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia, Santos said:

Venezuela’s problems are made in Venezuela, not in Colombia or any other part of the world.

Santos also said that the scarcity crisis facing Venezuela is worse than “in Kabul or Syria”, but lightened his tone when he said:

I respect Venezuela’s model when it comes to economics, and they should respect our model.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Cucuta after meeting with some of the deportees, Santos said:

We’re expressing our protest and demanding that Venezuelan authorities respect the dignity of Colombians, that they respect these families. They are not paramilitaries. They are poor families, humble, and the only thing they want is to be left alone to live and work.

For his part, former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe said that he has asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to take action to protect the over one thousand Colombians deported from Venezuela in the past few days. Uribe’s Centro Democratico party pointed out that the humanitarian crisis caused by the displacement of the Colombian citizens is unprecedented in the history between the two countries. Centro Democratico also criticized Maduro for “violating” international human rights protocols during the deportations.

Santos Calls Maduro; Maduro Doesn’t Call Back

Colombian Foreign Affairs Minister Maria Angela Holguin said today that President Juan Manuel Santos has called Maduro to discuss the border issue, but that Maduro has yet to return his call. Holguin told Caracol Radio:

[Santos] called him on the weekend and he hasn’t received a call back [from Maduro].

Colombian AG Looking to Take Venezuela to International Criminal Court

The Attorney General of Colombia, Alejandro Ordoñez, said today that he was compiling the required paperwork to file a formal complaint against the Venezuelan government before the International Criminal Court.

Ordoñez told a Colombian radio station earlier today:

We’re collection information over these aggression so that we can bring them to the attention of the International Criminal Court because what we’re looking at is crimes against humanity.

Cabello Threatens People Who Insult His Wife With the SEBIN

Speaking on his television show Con El Mazo Dando last night, Diosdado Cabello addressed a recent video that showed a large crowd of angry Venezuelans booing and hurling insults and sand at his wife, Minister of Tourism Marleny Contreras.

In stark contradiction to the images the video clearly showed, Cabello said:

She went to work at an area near Morrocoy with the Preisdent of Inparques. There, when the event was wrapping up and she was heading back, a little group showed up. They started to attack them. They threw rocks, bottles, and sand. It was a small group of about 10 or 15 people.

In a series of videos posted on YouTube showing the event, a group of what appear to be at least dozens of people angrily yell insults and throw sand at Cabello’s wife and her entourage.

Speaking on the fact that five people were subsequently arrested for the act, Cabello said:

We won’t allow anyone to disrespect anyone… now they’re all saints and they won’t assume responsibility. Let them assume it now before the courts. The Minister [Contreras] eventually went back and she stayed there. Look, I actually know Marleny Contreras. We’ve been married for 26 years, thank God.

Diosdado also said that he was thankful for the fact that the event was recorded:

It doesn’t matter. It was all recorded. Now, everyone has a cellphone and we’ve got all those faces on video. No matter where you are, justice will find you. “Knock knock!”, who’s there? “The SEBIN”.

At Least 328 Murdered in Caracas This Month

So far this August, 328 murder victims have been admitted into the Bello Monte morgue in Caracas, the only such facility in the city. There were thirteen murders in Caracas over a period of 24 hours between Tuesday and yesterday.

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