Maduro at the BBC: true or false eight controversial sentences of the President of Venezuela

The interview that the president

Nicolás Maduro

gave to the BBC in the middle of the

political crisis that Venezuela lives

He left controversial sentences.

Maduro questioned some of the statements and questions of journalist Orla Guerin and accused the Western media of being behind a campaign against him led by the US government.

BBC Mundo chose 8 controversial sentences and badyzed them.

1. "We have problems, of course, but Venezuela is not a country suffering from hunger, it has very high levels of nutrients and access to food"

The economic crisis in Venezuela has caused shortages of some commodities, including food products. Although we can find eggs, chicken, ham, etc., the prices of hyperinflation and the loss of purchasing power of Venezuelans make them almost impossible to buy for many.

In Venezuela, part of the population is hungry. According to data from the latest survey of living conditions (conducted by several universities in the country), 64% of Venezuelans had lost about 11 pounds in 2016 over the past year.

And 8.2 million Venezuelans, or 30% of the population, ate two or fewer meals a day in 2017, and those who consumed them were of poor nutritional quality. The government claims to have protected six million families by selling a monthly box containing several commodities (flour, oil, pasta, rice) at a subsidized price.

But then, is there a famine in Venezuela? There are three parameters to talk about famine: at least 20% of households suffer from severe shortages; malnutrition is over 30% and two out of every 10,000 people die every day. According to Susana Raffalli, a nutritionist specializing in the management of food security, in humanitarian emergencies and disaster risk, Venezuela is in a serious situation, but is not yet in this state of emergency. famine.

2. "We have official figures and do not exceed 800,000 Venezuelans who have left in the last two years looking for alternatives"

One of Maduro's most controversial sentences is the reference to the number of Venezuelans who left the country because of the crisis.

While he speaks of 800,000 Venezuelans, figures from international organizations such as the UN and UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, are larger.

According to the United Nations Migration Agency, some 2.3 million Venezuelans have left the country in recent years, or 7% of the population.

The majority choose the United States and the countries of the region as their destination, especially neighboring Colombia, which also generates internal problems.

Although some Venezuelans have returned to their country for failing to find the desired or even xenophobic epidemics, as Maduro says, a good majority stays abroad and many even say successes and an entrepreneurial spirit in the host countries .

3. "We must see the economic war and the financial persecution to which we were subjected, we pursued all the accounts we had and this had an impact on the economic reality"

Nicolás Maduro and his government have always blamed the ravages of the crisis on the "economic war" waged from outside by the United States.

The sanctions imposed by Washington were imposed on individuals until August 2017, when financial measures were taken that affected the finances of Venezuela, a country dependent on oil exports.

But the country's crisis began well before the sanctions. In 2013, the trigger was the drop in oil prices, which left out the production problems of the main (and almost the only) industry in the country due to lack of investment.

This oil revenue depends on the import of commodities that Venezuela is already barely producing.

Recent US sanctions against the oil industry can be a severe blow to public finances, the impact of which is likely to be felt earlier in the population than at the top.

"Now, Chavismo can argue, with more reason than before, that the economic crisis is the product of US pressure," BBC World Geoff Ramsey, researcher at think tank WOLA (The Washington Office on Latin). America) and specialized in Venezuela.

On Tuesday at the United Nations, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza estimated the impact of sanctions at $ 30,000 million.

4. "No country in the world would tolerate inflation of 1,000,000%, you do not question any figures, provided that this figure is against Venezuela"

Maduro disputes a figure estimated by the International Monetary Fund (

MFIs

), which he accuses of always being on the side of neoliberal policies that favor capital instead of the social.

The government has stopped publishing official inflation data for years, a historic achilles heel to the Venezuelan economy that has exploded since Maduro came to power in 2013.

For months, the country is experiencing a process of hyperinflation (term used when the monthly increase in prices is at least 50%), considered by some as one of the worst in the world since the Second World War.

This means that prices sometimes increase from one day to the next.

The government says that it is inflation induced from abroad by an attack against the national currency, the bolivar. Last August, he responded by removing five zeros from the bolivar.

According to the opposition – controlled National Assembly (Parliament), inflation in Venezuela was 191% in January. In 1946, Hungary achieved a daily inflation of 207%.

5. "We won 23 out of 25 elections. We need to ask ourselves why the mental patterns you bring from the north do not work in Venezuela"

Maduro is right. Since the triumph of Hugo Chávez in 1999 and the beginning of the so-called Bolivarian revolution, Chavez has won 23 of the 25 elections held.

Many of these triumphs took place in the middle of an oil mine that Chávez knew how to use in his political favor.

The only Chavismo defeats were recorded in the 2007 constitutional reform referendum and the 2015 parliamentary elections, which gave the opposition a majority in the National Assembly (Parliament).

However, the opposition has responded to many of these elections, including the last ones.

In addition, he denounces the fact that the National Electoral Council (CNE) hindered the referendum process on the recall of deputies in 2016 and failed to stand for election at the National Constituent Assembly.

From there he denounced the call for other municipal and regional elections and boycotted the presidential majority in May 2018 because he understood that the conditions were not fair.

Maduro won, it was not recognized and it was the seed of the current institutional and political crisis.

6. "There are 50. These are a dozen governments, not countries, which are aligned with the policy of Donald Trump (those who recognize Guaidó)"

BBC journalist Orla Guerin asked Maduro about the 50 countries that have recognized the opposition, Juan Guaidó, as Venezuela's president.

Maduro replied that there were 50, but they are only "a dozen", but the figure is much closer to that of Guerin.

According to the latest data from BBC Monitoring, there are more than 40.

7. "There never was and there will never be any repression"

Maduro refused that the army would shoot at volunteers who were seeking to enter the country with humanitarian aid that the opposition and the United States placed at the borders with Colombia and Brazil.

Guerin also asked about the UN complaint that at least 40 people were reported to have died during the demonstrations, including about 26 at the hands of the security forces.

"Only a group of petty criminals took to the streets and were captured in their acts of violence," said the president.

The United Nations, in fact, gave these figures on January 29.

"At least 26 people were reported shot dead by security forces or members of pro-government armed groups during protests that took place from 22 to 25 January," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the president's office. . United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

High Commissioner Chilean Michelle Bachelet has even called for an independent investigation into the alleged use of force.

Several families, especially in poor areas, reported extrajudicial executions by state security forces.

These accusations are not new. During the four months of the 2017 protests, it is estimated that about 120 people died, mainly at the hands of the National Guard. Some of the cases have even been captured in photographs and television recordings.

The government badures that investigations have been opened on these facts and that several agents are accused.

In February of last year, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, decided to open a "preliminary examination" on the situation in Venezuela to badess "the crimes presumed to be the responsibility of the ICC ".

8. "Can you tell me how much is a kilogram of cheese in Venezuela?"

The journalist Orla Guerin concluded her interview with Maduro with a question about everyday life: what is the price of a kilogram of cheese?

The president said that there were several awards and Guerin replied that the cost is a minimum wage, estimated at 18,000 bolivars.

In Venezuela, prices vary depending on the regions and the many types of cheeses of the country, one of its main gastronomic wealth.

But as Guerin said, the kilo of a normal cheese is about 18,000 Bolivars in Caracas.

We interviewed BBC Mundo employees in other parts of Venezuela. In Puerto Ordaz, in the east of the country, the price varies between 17,000 and 23,000 bolivars. In Valencia, in the center-west, one can reach 11,500 people. And in Maracaibo, in the west, between 12,000 and 18,000.