The appointment was made at the Siderúrgica del Orinoco Alfredo Maneiro (Sidor) amphitheater, in Ciudad Guayana. The reason: to present the new supervisory board of the Venezuelan Corporation of Guayana (CVG). Leading the act was Nicolás Maduro’s executive Vice President, Delcy Rodríguez.
Pableysa Ostos // Correspondent lapatilla.com
The board is made up of lawyer Héctor Silva Hernández, congressman Alexis Rodríguez Cabello (Vice President) and other members identified as Gloria Basanta, Colonel Villarroel Rodríguez, Larry Devoe, Diana Castillo, Adriana Rodríguez and Gladys Gómez.
During the event, Rodríguez requested the support of the workers of the basic companies that were present in the place. She requested collaboration for the new board of directors and affirmed that Nicolás Maduro “is working hard and generating important alliances to give an investment boost to these essential companies for the development of the Republic.”
“Those with high morale continue to produce. As you say: to produce is to win! And we are winning, in the midst of the worst economic blockade that the country has experienced, where foreign currency income fell by up to 99 percent,” she thus highlighted the work of the Productive Councils of Workers and Workers (CPT).
For their part, union leaders from the “Intersectorial de Trabajadores de Guayana” (ITG) denounced from the outskirts of the CVG, that in the face of cases of corruption in the country, the National Attorney’s Office has the duty to review and verify these irregularities, since these companies belong to the State.
Luis Espino, General Secretary of “SutraCarbonorca” (union), requested that not only all basic companies be inspected, but also the mayors and governors.
“It is unbelievable that the National Anti-Corruption Police has existed since 2014 and has never been applied. Basic companies, large or small, must also be reviewed, as well as governorships and mayors’ offices.
While Ramón Gómez, General Secretary of Sunep CVG, pointed out that “this corruption is the most harmful of all, because it touches all sectors and strata of the social structure, the infrastructure of the judiciary, business and politics at the legislative level, as is the case of what is happening here in Venezuela.”
“It is not surprising because for a long time we have been denouncing before the corresponding instances all the acts of corruption that have occurred both in CVG and in each of the basic companies,” added Gómez.
Two decades of looting
The General Secretary of the Union of Ferrominera Workers (Sintraferrominera) and General Coordinator of the ITG, Rubén González, wondered: “How will the robbery that was done to each of the workers of the basic companies of Guayana turn out? Now there is talk of crime, but this is not new. They have been stealing and looting our wealth for two decades.”
“All State institutions are kidnapped and are complicit in corruption. This reality is not a hoax, they should investigate all the corrupt. The buddies of this commission that is investigating hopefully will be transparent. The people suffer misery. The guys in front of the institutions are looting everything. In two decades they found more than 50 corrupt? In other words, 50 people embezzled Venezuela. That is a lie,” González said.
For the union leader “in this investigation, the big shots are not falling, only the bottom is falling, since the regime protects them.”
For his part, Leonardo Azócar, Secretary of Labor and Claims of “Sutiss” (union), called on all workers: “We are going to maintain unity, the “Futseb” construction workers, the different unions of the basic companies. Here is the Sutiss union fighting with its workers, fighting hand in hand with the people, fighting hand in hand for those workers who took to the streets, those who etired with a pyrrhic salary, those who really gave their lives for the company, moving the companies forward, and today they all are suffering with this economy that is destroying our salary. That criminal dollar that is destroying the salary of the workers.”
What happened?
Officials from the National Anti-Corruption Police (PNCC) and the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) had been investigating Bolívar State for three days.
They moved from Caracas to Ciudad Guayana and gained support from the Sebin troops who are assigned to the area.
On Wednesday, March 29th, they began with some raids on some houses, and on Thursday, March 30th, they went into the headquarters of the Venezuelan Corporation of Guayana (CVG).
There, Pedro Rolando Maldonado Marín, was holding a meeting with part of his Board of Directors and some presidents of the basic companies when the police commission arrived looking for them.
It was not until after noon that the President of the CVG, Pedro Rolando Maldonado Marín, and five members of his board of directors were transferred to the patrol cars. These were: Johan Sequera (Office Director), Isaac Mouhamad Salazar (legal advisor), Carlos Moreno (General Manager of Traffic and Customs), Edgar Sánchez (Strategic Planning and Marketing), Felipe Contreras (Vice President of the Iron-Steel Sector) and the President of the Siderúrgica del Orinoco (Sidor), Néstor Rolando Astudillo Leal.
Hours later, they apprehended the Executive Vice President of CVG, Lino Mora, and the Finance Manager (CFO), Tulio Medina, for a total of nine detainees.
This same March 30th they were transferred to Caracas, where it is estimated they will be presented before a court.
Investigations
For their part, on March 31st and April 1st, these commissions were carrying out inspections of the companies and offices of those apprehended.
Some of the offices of the addresses inspected were marketing, planning and administration, but the homes of the detainees were also inspected.
One of these raids was carried out in Building 3 of the Florida Lake Residential Complex in Terrazas del Caroní in Puerto Ordaz, and the other occurred on the 7th floor of the Altos de Granada building, Villa Granada sector. Edgar Sánchez and Tulio Medina lived in the latter.
According to a source linked to the investigation, both subjects had rented that apartment through a real estate agency in the city.
Currently on the top of the door there is a piece of paper attached with the initials “PNCC, SECURED. NATIONAL POLICE AGAINST CORRUPTION”.
The source added that the properties are “secured” until the investigation is complete, “and whoever occurs to remove the paper will be arrested.”
For its part, the Public Ministry appointed national prosecutors 50, 67 and 73 with full jurisdiction to investigate the alleged acts of corruption that occurred in the CVG.
Appointments
Through the Extraordinary Official Gazette No. 6741 dated March 31st, 2023, by means of Presidential Decree No. 4799 the intervention in the Venezuelan Corporation of Guayana (CVG) was announced.
Héctor Silva Hernández will serve as President of the auditing board, and Alexis Rodríguez Cabello (cousin of Diosdado Cabello) will be Vice President.
Silva has served as Vice Minister of Productive Economy, Foreign Trade, while Rodríguez Cabello is a deputy of the illegitimate National Assembly, President of the Permanent Comptrollership Commission and Head of the Guayana Region of the Presidential Commission for the Revolution of the Justice System.
According to the Gazette, the intervention will last for one year, extendable for the same time, and the positions will be free to remove and appoint.