Puerto Rico Coast Guard Nabbed Venezuelans Trafficking Cocaine & more –7th Sep 2023

Buenos días from BA! This is the Rorshok Venezuela Update from the 7th of September twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Venezuela.

On Friday, the 1st, the Puerto Rico Coast Guard had quite an adventure. They nabbed three Venezuelans after a pursuit in the Caribbean Sea, not too far from Puerto Rico. The citizens had approximately seven hundred pounds of cocaine, about 775 kilograms on their boat.

The Coast Guard seized the cargo and handed over the three alleged smugglers to federal authorities on the island.

According to the Coast Guard's press release, the individuals now face criminal charges and they will be trialed in the United States Federal District Court in Puerto Rico. The estimated market value of the confiscated cocaine, which was divided into thirty-one bales, amounts to approximately nineteen million dollars.


Justice was served! On Thursday, the 31st, Venezuela's Scientific, Penal, and Criminal Investigations Body (or CICPC) dismantled a human trafficking network. This network had been sexually exploiting young women whom they had lured from within Venezuela and subsequently sent to Colombia.

In a press conference, Douglas Rico, the head of CICPC, said that they had arrested two guys, aged nineteen and twenty-one, plus a seventeen-year-old girl who was in charge of finding the victims, who were mainly between sixteen and twenty-one years old.

This isn't an isolated case. Human trafficking has been on the rise in Venezuela. According to a report from the NGO Mulier Venezuela, in twenty twenty-two, they managed to rescue a whopping one thousand three hundred and ninety Venezuelan women, including 284 girls and teenagers, from these trafficking networks.



Speaking of Colombia, on Saturday, the 2nd, the country’s Navy detained nineteen Venezuelan migrants who were trying to reach Central America all in the hopes of eventually making it to the USA. They were near San Andrés Island at the time.

The San Andrés Coast Guard detected a suspicious vessel named Man of War and sprung into action. Turns out, this boat had zero permission to navigate, so they detained it.

There were thirteen adults (one of whom was pregnant) and six minors on board. The adults were handed over to Colombian Immigration authorities, and the kids went under the care of the National Police for Children and Adolescents. The vessel's captain and another crew member were arrested.

In other news, in his TV program Con Maduro +, on Monday, the 4th, Maduro announced a new mission aimed at helping Venezuelans abroad and making it easier for them to return to the country.

This initiative is built upon the Vuelta a la Patria plan, although it appears to have distinct features. While he didn't provide specific details, the main goal is to support all Venezuelan migrants who have faced xenophobia and exploitation in foreign countries.

Maduro also mentioned that Conviasa airline aircraft will be deployed to repatriate individuals who have registered on a special list at embassies and consulates.



Since we mentioned Maduro, on Thursday, the 31st, he introduced the twenty thirty Development Plan during a Congress of Farmers, Fishermen, and Producers. This plan is designed to enhance agricultural production and secure food sovereignty for Venezuela.

In the event, Maduro talked about the challenges that farmers face in obtaining gasoline and encouraged the president of PDVSA to improve fuel distribution and address logistical issues to stimulate agricultural production.

To further aid agricultural producers and fishermen, he authorized their inclusion in the Homeland Card, a digital wallet that's integrated into the state's electronic payment system.

Maduro believes that these measures will contribute to Venezuela's economic prosperity and guarantee self-sufficiency in food production.


Moving on, on Wednesday, the 6th, Capaya Rodríguez González, the Venezuelan Ambassador to India, announced that Indian Oil, the oil company, has plans to resume operations in Venezuela.

Rodríguez conducted a meeting with executives from Indian Oil, who displayed substantial interest in Venezuela's gas sector. She also pledged to collaborate with Venezuelan authorities and specialized organizations to explore the possibilities of forging a bilateral partnership with India in this field, aiming to benefit both parties.

In viral and shocking news, on Sunday, the 3rd, José Gregorio Vielma Mora, a deputy of the Chavista National Assembly, made a statement saying that Maduro, “suffers” because he can’t raise the salaries of the citizens.

However, many Venezuelans on social media perceived these comments as a mockery of the country's workers and condemned the deputy’s remark.

While Maduro is “suffering” with this issue, millions of Venezuelans are suffering daily because they can’t afford basic necessities like food or medicine.

In election updates, the presidential hopefuls really went all out with their statements.

On Thursday, the 31st, independent presidential candidate Gloria Pinho had some strong words for the candidates who had been disqualified from competing in the primary elections, best known as the opposition elections.

In a press conference, she told them to step aside and make way for new faces in the political scene. She argued that getting disqualified is a big roadblock, and she didn't like that some candidates were still trying to get public support even though they couldn't run for office.

What's interesting is that she's against discussing backup plans for disqualified winners. Instead, she thinks the runner-up should take the lead if the top candidate can't continue.

And she's not a fan of polls either. She thinks they're unreliable and can be easily manipulated, especially when they focus too much on candidates' social media presence.

Machado certainly didn't shy away from the statement playground.

On Tuesday, the 5th, journalist Vladimir Villegas revealed that opposition leader María Corina Machado does not intend to withdraw her presidential candidacy if she emerges victorious in the primary elections on the 22nd of October— even if Maduro's regime attempts to disqualify her from participating in the presidential elections.

Machado's crew is pretty determined. Instead of throwing in the towel, they plan to exert more pressure on Maduro's regime, with the help of the United States. They want to make sure she gets registered with the National Electoral Council (or CNE), no matter what.

According to Villegas, Machado's team is confident they've got the support they need to take down Maduro on their own.

Danger in sight.

On Monday, the 4th, Freddy Bernal, the governor of Táchira, announced that an individual had been arrested while trying to cross the border with Colombia carrying "forty-five portions" of a highly addictive drug called fentanyl. This is the first known case of fentanyl seizure in Venezuela.

Bernal has pledged to intensify measures to curb the spread of this extremely potent synthetic opioid and has urged businesses and establishment owners to take necessary precautions to prevent its dissemination. The dangerous drug had already caused major problems in the United States.


 In better news, on Thursday, the 31st, the Presidential Commission for the Rescue, Conservation, and Sustainable Development of Lake Maracaibo launched a plan to retrieve sunken boats and submerged structures within the lake.

Josué Lorca, the Minister of Ecosocialism, mentioned that all recovered materials will be repurposed into construction materials, such as rebars.

This action is just a piece of the larger puzzle to decontaminate Maracaibo's Lake, a move Maduro initiated in response to reports of environmental damage caused by oil spills and algal blooms.



No plans for next weekend? Well, we have some exciting news for you! From the 16th of September to the 1st of October, the third edition of the Franco-Venezuelan Performing Arts Festival will take place. During this festival, they will pay tribute to the renowned Venezuelan dancer Sonia Sanoja.

Over the course of two weeks, the festival will offer a diverse program of theater, cinema, music, circus, and ballet. Some events are totally free, while others might set you back anywhere from three to thirty dollars.

If you're an art enthusiast, we're confident you'll absolutely adore it.


And that’s it for this week! But we need to tell you something important before we leave.

As we told you last week, we have been doing these updates for a while. But, unfortunately, the number of listeners is low and isn't increasing. If the number of listeners doesn’t go up, we'll have to stop doing the show.

Generally, the audience is bigger when listeners bring in friends and contacts. You can tell many people about these updates—foreigners living in Venezuela, English-speaking Venezuelans living abroad, Venezuelans who want to improve their English, diplomats and analysts who want to keep up with what's happening inside Venezuela, and, of course, your friends.

You can also post about us on social media with the link to the Venezuelan Update, it would really help.

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Sorry for the bad news, hope we can stay with you!

Adios.