Oil, gold and food, the real power of the army in Venezuela

"Always faithful, never traitors!", Repeats the Venezuelan president to his followers:

Nicolás Maduro

. And these days where
The future of the crisis is played fundamentally in the barracks, the government has an additional ingredient to ensure the loyalty of the country's 140,000 soldiers. The predominant role that Chavismo attributed to the uniforms in the Venezuelan economy would be threatened in a democratic regime like that proposed by the self-proclaimed president

Juan Guaidó

.

"The army is no more as interested in the political power of the ministries as in the management of the companies, in particular by three activities that generate foreign exchange: oil, mining and food," he said. he explained.
THE NATION Rocío San Miguel, of the NGO Control Ciudadano, which published last year a report entitled "The network of companies, foundations and military organs in Venezuela".

The state oil company Pdvsa, which provides more than 95% of the revenue of the national budget, is headed for a year and a half by an officer of the Bolivarian National Guard, Manuel Quevedo, general in general without experience in the field.

The second category is mining, since Venezuela has one of the bauxite reserves (from which aluminum is obtained), gold and diamonds are the largest in the world. The mining operation is controlled by the military through Camimpeg (Compañía Anónima Militar de Industrias Mineras, created in 2016), headed by Major General Alexander Cornelio Hernández Quintana.

The third major sector under military control is food, through the Sovereign Supply Major Mission, established three years ago to address shortages and give full control to the sector in uniform, from production to distribution. marketing of foods and remedies. That is the importance the government attaches to this area, which is personally led by the Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López.

"Currently, there are more than 1,000 military officers in active or retired positions in charge of public functions, ranging from the political function to the economic function, and in no Latin American democracy, there are a similar number of people who Perform duties unrelated to the defense and security function for which they were created "He explained to
THE NATION the economist José Manuel Puente of the Institute of Higher Management Studies of Caracas (IESA).

"The exchange rate gap in Venezuela allows the military to benefit from the preferential dollar, to buy at ten and to sell at twenty, so it is difficult for them to forgo the high income generated by the exchange rate situation," he said. added Mr. Puente.

Another specialist, Francine Jacome, executive director of the Venezuelan Institute of Social and Political Studies (Invesp), said today "it is much easier to see in which economic sectors the army does not direct control because it is largely under his control. "

Economic areas that escape the military administration are "very limited spaces that have been left to the private sector: businesses, SMEs, telecommunications and banks," said Jacome. "But even in this country, there is a permanent supervision of the government and, in many cases, by entities controlled by servicemen in activity or retired," warned the specialist.

Guarantee

The increasing integration of the military into the economy is parallel to the deterioration of the general situation in recent years and the need to guarantee the support of the armed forces (Bolivarian National Guard, military aviation, army and navy). If it was only for his military salary, for example, a major would earn the equivalent of about $ 15 a month, an income that would allow him to support his family for three days.

Thus, the solitary company Cavim (Venezuelan Anonymity of Military Industries), founded in 1975 and dedicated to the manufacture and import of ammunition and weapons, today counts about twenty companies ranging from planting and harvesting from cereals to manufacture. cleaning products, textbooks and toys.

The big question is whether a future democratic government could "disarm" this framework to make control of the economy in private hands. "Until Guaidó offers the armed forces a plan for the future, it's impossible for them to return to Maduro," San Miguel said.

For his part, Jacome added: "In a transition to democracy, always in the medium term, we must promote strategies of mutual trust allowing civilian control over the military sector".

The specialist also established a direct relationship between the growing military role in the economy and rising insecurity rates in the most violent country in Latin America, which recorded 81 homicides per 100,000 population last year . "It is necessary for the army to return to institutionalism and professionalism to exercise the legitimate monopoly of force," he concluded.