Yes, I have been traveling, but I have also been swamped with work, which happens a lot when traveling. But besides these factors, I just don’t want to be repetitive about what is going on in Venezuela. Everything just seems to be going downhill non stop. But if I thought I had heard everything about corruption, today the Minister for Sports tells us that her signature was faked in sixty files to request foreign currency for traveling sportsmen. Amazingly enough, a single “athlete” was given US$ 66 million over a period of a year and a half, according to the Minister.
What this says is that there is simply no control anywhere in Venezuela. If a single (and lowly) Minister’s signature can be faked and someone can obtain US$ 66 million illegally, imagine what a Minister of Finance or a Minister of Energy can sign for without anyone checking!
Even worse, is the ethical deterioration in that Ministry and among the “athletes”, including the Minister. Because she wants to protect the names of the people involved in order to “respect them as athletes”.
Say what?
These are people that faked signatures, newspaper clippings, trophies in order to rob the Venezuela people and she wants to respect them?
The only respect they deserve is jail. And the Minister should be fired for allowing this to happen. And the Comptroller of the Ministry too.
This is simply an insult to the average Venezuelan who is given a few hundred dollars after dozens of requests, checks and the like, while the Bolideportistas and the Boliestafadores can get anything they want. If Maduro wants to fight corruption, the first thing he will have to do is fire everyone around him and try to find someone within Chavismo that is still honest, which may be a tall task in itself given the immorality that this news represents.
The Devil's Excrement 
May 8, 2014 at 1:16 pm
[…] then, we learn about the fraud that’s taken place in Venezuela’s Ministry of Sports. It appears that the signature of the Minister was forged in various requests submitted to CADIVI (body that administer currency exchange). The Minister […]
November 9, 2013 at 5:43 pm
”
Even worse, is the ethical deterioration in that Ministry and among the “athletes”, including the Minister. Because she wants to protect the names of the people involved in order to “respect them as athletes”.
Say what?
These are people that faked signatures, newspaper clippings, trophies in order to rob the Venezuela people and she wants to respect them?
The only respect they deserve is jail. And the Minister should be fired for allowing this to happen. And the Comptroller of the Ministry too.
”
Excelente artículo,
Ze
November 1, 2013 at 7:37 pm
There is probably more corruption in the whole of the 5th Republic, than the 3rd and 4th combined. They are raping the country as what often happens when a regime is on its way out. But to make the problem worse is so many are involved in the corruption on every level. It is so disgusting and it is hard to imagine what that money could have done for the country had it not been stolen.. Dios Los Bendiga VNZA.
October 22, 2013 at 11:32 am
Venezuela take note: Cuba to scrap two-currency system http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24627620 This is what eventually will happen in Venezuela too. The official and parallel rate generally unify at the parallel rate. When this will happen in Venezuela is anyone´s guess.
October 22, 2013 at 5:29 pm
Nicolaas: your namesake will be on a wait & see mode until this experiment works or fails….
October 21, 2013 at 10:42 am
Someone still honest within chavismo? You’d have an easier task at trying to find un malandro de buen corazon….
Who says there is no honor among thieves, eh?
October 19, 2013 at 7:24 am
Nothing sez srs bidness like a tri-colored warmer upper. They look like escapees from the fondly remembered American Basketball Association.
Invitations to government soree’s must be interesting….. White Tie, Black Tie, White and Black Tie with red sash, Mourning Tracksuit, Morning Tracksuit or Bolivarian Casual.
October 20, 2013 at 10:07 am
I was just going to ask what’s up with the track suits. Is it a leftover from Hugo Chavez? And who are those guys in the photo with the Minister of Sports? They don’t look much like athletes – are they just your typical governmental drones?
October 20, 2013 at 3:58 pm
Think about it:
What tinpot island dictator took to wearing track suits in his later years?
October 20, 2013 at 4:36 pm
Ira – I see your point. BTW, I really don’t remember seeing Fidel at all for the last few months. I’m assuming they can’t even prop him up for a decent photo op anymore.
October 20, 2013 at 10:03 pm
I hope he doesn’t die for awhile now. The longer he holds on the longer Cuba keeps to its failed policies, and the better the chance that when he passes there will be a real change. Either the Castro monarchy will probably hold on…
October 20, 2013 at 10:04 pm
*way
October 18, 2013 at 10:46 am
Isn’t 66 milliones usd the exact amount Pastor is “sponsored” with? Maybe the minister simply mistook a regular sponsor payment to Williams. http://www.infobae.com/2012/02/08/1043856-la-f1-cuesta-us-66-millones-pdvsa or maybe he faked a second payment. Which other sport payment would be of such size?
October 18, 2013 at 11:07 am
She said over 18 months as if it took many payments. Also, I dont see why the Sports Ministry should pay a PDVSA sponsorship.
October 18, 2013 at 1:06 pm
Pastor’s deal goes north of $200 Million.
Maybe he is involved in the $66 Million, but for “personal expenses”.
The sponsorship deal with WIlliams F1 is between PDVSA and Williams, with Pastor as the designated driver.
If PDVSA felt like it, they could fire Pastor and replacve him with another driver (as long as Williams agrees to the new driver).
Word is going around that Pastor may go to another team, not sure if the money from PDVSA follows him or what
October 18, 2013 at 9:15 am
It is a very nice, respect. I just wonder why it covers some people and not others. So, if I participate in a conspiracy to rob millions of dollars, the public does not deserve the respect of seeing me treated as any other criminal. Does that also works for other professions? Or is only athletes who deserve respect for faking achievements to defraud the country?
October 17, 2013 at 10:40 pm
The “throw Capriles in jail” rhetoric is ratcheting up considerably. Would they dare to go so far?
October 18, 2013 at 7:22 am
Not only Capriles, also MM & Leopoldo.
And it’s coming from amny mouths including Maburo.
I wouldn’t be surprised, given the collective intelligence level of these people, that they would do something as stupid as that.
October 18, 2013 at 7:40 am
God Forbid!! As it is; the end of Venezuela is very close at hand with just barely an ounce of HOPE left.
October 18, 2013 at 8:22 am
It might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
October 18, 2013 at 2:33 pm
Cross my heart and hope to die. I keep thinking that they should stop the menace and actually place those three in jail, take their masks off and start their complete downfall, meaning Venezuela’s rise from hell.
October 18, 2013 at 1:10 pm
They won’t stop at MUD political figures. It will reach down to university professors, journalists, and anyone else determined to voice anything other than the “party line”. I am not saying they are planning this. I am saying that it becomes the only course left open to an embattled and cornered regime. Unfortunately, this prediction is based on historical precedent. Some countries such as Russia and China experienced this without going off the precipice to massive and wide-scale barbarity and genocide. Others, such as Cambodia and Nazi Germany took it so far, they couldn’t possibly back down and reverse course.
So, will Venezuela cross this line? That is hard to say. It can be stopped by any number of people. Sometimes it only takes one courageous leader to stop the madness. But, once that line is crossed, no reverse is possible and it continues until intervention comes from outside or until there is no central authority remaining in control.
October 18, 2013 at 1:25 pm
Thanks Roy. The Castros executed well over 25,000 people to remain in power and they are advising Maduro. Maduro may be so self-centered that he could order the imprisonment or murder of all opponents. The Venezuela military will draw the line.
October 18, 2013 at 11:21 pm
Don’t depend on South America to do anything, if Venezuela goes that route it probably won’t even be kicked out of Mercosur as Paraguay was. All Venezuela needs to do is offer a fig leaf of rule of law and Brazil et. all will happily sit by so long as the petro dollars flow.
October 19, 2013 at 12:22 am
NorskeDiv,
If this situation degrades to the point that it is creating a refugee crisis and instability on their borders, Colombia and Brazil will intervene.
October 19, 2013 at 11:45 am
I don’t think anything short of an actual war could cause a refugee situation.
Unless, of course, the toilet paper shortage worsens.
When you gotta go, you gotta go!
October 21, 2013 at 10:59 am
Ira,
Venezuela is totally dependent on food imports. I can think of any number of scenarios that leave Venezuelans starving. That is what would create the refugee crisis, as well as a complete breakdown of central authority in Venezuela. Given that situation, I think Colombia and Brazil would intervene.
October 21, 2013 at 6:05 pm
Roy, I can’t imagine any situation where there won’t be enough food.
October 19, 2013 at 9:58 pm
I am not so sure; Santos in Colombia is struggling with what is supposed to be his big achievement, peace with the FARC, and that process is “facilitated” by Cuba and Venezuela. As for Rousseff in Brazil, she has more critical problems at home.
In the end, it will be up to the Venezuelans to decide of their future, as it should be.
October 19, 2013 at 10:09 pm
Replied below…
October 19, 2013 at 10:19 pm
Noel: It’s one thing to let Venezuela to it’s own path. Paraguay threw their president out according to their constitution, so Brazil and Argentina suspended it from Mercosur. Following that, they let Venezuela in after it marginalized its opposition and ignored its constitution!
If the rest of South America were strict non-interventionists, I would respect them. They aren’t! The aforementioned case of Paraguay proves it. Brazil and Argentina stick their noses into others business whenever it suits them, but refuse to even lift a finger to help Venezuela. They even have the legal basis to do so, since Venezuela is a Mercosur member, but they do absolutely nothing, I doubt they ever will. I find it disgusting.
October 21, 2013 at 9:45 am
I don’t think we disagree. Your observations about Brazil an Mercosur are correct. All that I was saying is that no one should count on outside help, in the end, each country must do what it believes is in the interest of its people and be willing to bear the consequences.
Yes, Paraguay was blackballed (although to risk eviction from an organization like Mercosur is hardly punishment) but they stuck with it and I think they are better off as a result.
October 21, 2013 at 11:48 pm
Ah, ok, we don’t disagree then!
This is an aside, but I am quite disappointed in Mercosur, what I thought was supposed to be a South American EU (a union of countries) seems to have become a left wing presidents club (a union of politicians that agree with each other). A real lost opportunity for SA… hopefully the Pacific Alliance will have better results.
October 17, 2013 at 9:58 pm
To think that all this madness happens because there is an exchange control.
No exchange control, no CADIVI, no parallel rate..why don’t they let the bolivar float? I know everybody is afraid of inflation, but I do not think it will be worse than what is happening right now.
October 17, 2013 at 10:36 pm
According to official records, the current shortage index is 20%, lifting all currency controls would result in a rise in prices for the (supposed) remaining 80%. The short term shock would be a blow to the government.
Long term it makes no difference, either way most Venezuelans are seeing their purchasing power drop with rising shortages and inflation. We all know the real problem, and you hit it on the head! Without CADIVI, the connected elites lose their easy profits!
October 17, 2013 at 10:48 pm
Bruni, there is no way they can let the exchange control flow. That would be the best for the country but, as our dear NorskeFisk here says, that would be hugely detrimental to the Boligarchs. And think this: it is this elite -lots of military top brass there but not only- that keeps the government in place.
If you don’t let your mafia fellows thrive , they will let you down.
October 17, 2013 at 8:26 pm
All this shit is stinking now because an idiot was caught carrying 400.000 euros cash in a single bag in Bulgaria… and someone else made a quick inquire in MinDeportes about those 400k euros … and now we kmow that someone got 60 millions in subsidized dollars to ran a sport car…Maldonado obviously..
and many other third tier drivers like Dunna.. Speedy.. etc etc.. probably got single digits millions..
know what??? welcome raspacupos.. keep doing it… you have my bleses..take your small share in this corruption party… do it again in January and help to finally break this cesspool named Cadivi,,
BTW,,, our heroes in the army and national guard are opening any single bag in the airport looking for suspicious credit cards, checking any possible document to search raspacupos, smelling arriving bags to look for drugs and looking for some illegal 1000-2000 dollars in raspacupos pockets, etc etc… meanwhile somebody loaded 18 big bags filled with magic queen on an Air France flight and a single pilot took 66 million dollars from Mindeporte and Cadivi..
October 17, 2013 at 7:28 pm
Where does she say that there were 66 million $ to a single guy, Miguel? I could not find the refence.
October 17, 2013 at 7:35 pm
Aquí hubo un solo corredor al que en año y medio se le aprobaron 66 millones de dólares
October 17, 2013 at 6:59 pm
Sounds like pastor maldonado that Gustovo Coronel has commented on routinely. It ties back to ramirez, as authorization for $66mm doesn’t come from one signature from minister of sports.
October 17, 2013 at 6:37 pm
Benitez said: “Aquí hay gente muy justa, que pide montos bien ajustados, que no son ni 10 % de lo que pedían estos pilotos que hoy están cuestionados” That’s what, only 6 million? Ajustadisimos!
October 17, 2013 at 6:24 pm
Que guisos tan sabrosos! 66 million dollars to ONE guy! The amounts involved in all of this are unbelievable, or maybe I’m just 4ta republic esculido who thought the $400.000 cash found in Eastern Europe to an official who works with her the other day was significant. Los adecos eran unos ni#os de pecho! Que bolas!
October 17, 2013 at 5:57 pm
Why are you so sure her signatures were faked? Were they definitely confirmed to be so?
Maybe she’s full of shit.
But also important, it’s not that a lowly minister’s signature be faked—it’s that all it took was a simple signature in the first place! And it’s impossible to train personnel to become handwriting experts.
October 17, 2013 at 5:56 pm
The money was granted to race car pilots. It seems one was arrested for exchange ilicits, states the noticias 24 article.
October 17, 2013 at 4:34 pm
Un-Effing-Believable!
Notice also how comments are not allowed on that pseudo news site, Noticias24, for that article.
Respect for athletes!!
Seesh!!!