13.06.19: Manipulative Behaviour

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has revealed that according to secondary sources, Venezuelan oil production fell to 741,000 barrels per day (bdp) in May, down 35,000 bpd from April and 1,170 bpd from the 2017 average.

The figures came in OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report for June, which was released today.

In its monthly reports, OPEC cites two kinds of sources: primary and secondary. Secondary sources are those with no direct connection to oil-production operations in member states, and include organizations like S&P Global Platts, Argus Media, and the Energy Information Agency.

Venezuelan oil production has been in free-fall for years given massive corruption and gross mismanagement at PDVSA, the state-owned oil company. Recent sanctions against the company by the United States government have likely exacerbated this decline.

NGO: 773 Political Prisoners in Regime Jails Today

The Foro Penal Venezolano (Venezuelan Penal Forum, FPV) provided its regular update on the number of political prisoners in Venezuela, placing the figure at 773. The figure came from Alfredo Romero, the head of the FPV, who provided the update through a tweet on his official account.

According to the information collected by the FPV, the make up of these 773 prisoners is as follows:

• Age: 1 teenager, 772 adults
• Gender: 56 women, 717 men
• Occupation: 106 soldiers, 667 civilians

UN Not Participating in Switzerland Meeting on Venezuelan Situation

The United Nations announced today that it was not a party to a meeting that took place today in Switzerland to discuss the ongoing crisis in Venezuela. The meeting was attended by officials from Russia, the European Union, and the Lima Group.

The fact came from Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the UN secretary general, who also said that the organization supports

… any effort that tries to bring parties together, and that tries to open up a dialogue to bring about a political solution.

Twitter Deletes 33 Venezuelan Accounts

Twitter announced today that it had deleted 33 accounts “engaged in manipulative behaviour related to Venezuela”. Today’s deletions are the second time since October that Twitter has taken action against accounts linked to Venezuela.

In a blog post, Twitter provided more details on the nature of the 33 deleted accounts. The blog post says:

While there were initial indications that these accounts were associated with the Russian Internet Research Agency, our further analysis suggests that they were operated by a commercial entity originating in Venezuela. We are sharing further data on this group to update the public on our attribution efforts.

In the same blog post, Twitter said that the accounts were linked to a batch of 764 accounts that were removed late last year/early this year.

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