Saturday, November 16, 2019
U.S.-sanctioned Venezuela doubles euro supplies to banks
Mayela Armas, Corina Pons. Rueters. November 14, 2019
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela’s central bank has doubled the amount of euros in cash it provides local banks as hyperinflation and U.S. sanctions prompt a surge in use of the European currency, four sources familiar with central bank activities said.
Payment in euros has become more common round Venezuela since the bank started distributing them to financial institutions in February, shortly after Washington intensified sanctions intended to force out leftist President Nicolas Maduro.
The banks distribute the cash to local companies to pay for imports or employee bonuses, easing pressure on the depreciated and cash-scarce local bolivar currency.
In mid-October, the monetary authority began giving around 1 million euros ($1.10 million) each week to the country’s main private banks and around 500,000 euros to smaller banks, double the previous amounts, the sources said.
At that rate, the euros could surpass within months the value of bolivars in circulation, which authorities put at the equivalent of $59 million.
The central bank did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
OIL AND GOLD REVENUES
Though it was illegal to use foreign currency until mid-2018, those Venezuelans who can often keep euros or dollars to protect against constantly rising bolivar prices, using them for daily transactions from food to car parts and even church collections.
The increased distribution of euros comes because the OPEC nation is receiving them for more of its crude and gold exports in the wake of sanctions, rather than dollars, according to three of the sources, one close to Maduro.
“Now, more euros come from oil than from gold,” said the source linked to the ruling party, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Reuters was unable to independently confirm that.
Some foreign institutions have been reluctant to deal with Venezuela’s financial system after Washington on March 22 sanctioned Venezuelan state banks including the central bank and state development bank, Bandes.
In August, the U.S. Treasury said it could sanction any entity it determines to be providing material assistance to Maduro’s government.
The use of euros in Venezuela boomed this year after state oil company PDVSA [PDVSA.UL] began receiving the bills in payment for crude shipments, a strategy to avoid the U.S. financial system amid sanctions.
Additional to the central bank’s distribution, euros enter into circulation because PDVSA and state agencies use them to pay contractors and suppliers.
RUSSIAN LINK?
While the provenance of the central bank’s euros is unclear, customs data compiled by Import Genius - a business intelligence firm that tracks shipping data - show that Russia’s Gazprombank sent two plane shipments carrying cash to Venezuela in January to Bandes: one containing 100 million euros ($110.20 million) and another containing $50 million in U.S. dollars.
Reuters was not able to independently verify this information. Import Genius said in a statement that the information accurately reflects trade data processed by customs agencies around the world.
Gazprombank said in a statement to Reuters it stopped all transactions with Bandes as of March 22. It declined to elaborate “without our own review of the original sources of information.”
“Gazprombank strictly adheres to the rule of law and complies with proper rules and regulations,” it said.
Neither the Venezuelan state bank nor the Information Ministry responded to requests for comment.
Moscow has criticized Washington’s sanctions as an effort to give U.S. commercial interests an unfair boost.
Consultancy Ecoanalitica reported that 53.8% of October retail transactions were carried out in foreign currency, as the bolivar has depreciated more than 90% this year.
The central bank did not respond to a request for comment on Ecoanalitica’s findings.
Opposition lawmaker Carlos Paparoni said euros are entering the economy via airplane from Turkey and Russia as a result of gold exports, much of it shipped to Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. He did not provide evidence.
Hundreds of Chileans blinded by police since protests began
Deutsche Welle. November 15, 2019
More than 200 protesters have been blinded from pellets fired by state security agents. The National Congress has bowed to a key demand of the monthlong rallies and ordered a referendum on a new constitution.
The principle medical organization in Chile announced Thursday that well over 200 people have lost their sight, either partially or completely, due to being shot by pellets fired by state security agents during protests in the South American country.
Of those, at least 50 people will require prosthetic eyes said Dr. Patricio Meza, vice president of the Medical College of Chile. "This means that the patient doesn't only lose their vision, but they lose their actual eye."
Additional statistics from the medical body showed that the average age of victims is 30. In a large majority of the cases, the wound is caused by the impact of a lead or rubber projectile on their eyes, the Medical College confirmed.
"We are facing a real health crisis, a health emergency given that in such few days, in three weeks, we have had the highest number of cases involving serious ocular complications due to shots in the eye," Meza added.
The police "are firing at 90 degrees, which is to say, directly at the face," said Meza.
Referendum on constitution
More than 20 people have been killed and 2,500 injured since the protests began on October 18 in what started out as a student protest over an increase in subway fares.
However, it has since evolved into a much larger and broader movement, with a lengthy list of demands that are related to the ever-widening financial disparity between rich and less well-off Chileans. Citizens are calling for reforms to health care, education, the pension system, and the country's constitution.
Lawmakers in the National Congress on Thursday approved a pathway for a new constitution to replace the current charter enacted by the former military junta of Augusto Pinochet in 1980.
A referendum will be held in April on whether to proceed and voters will decide how the new constitution should be drafted.
In win for protesters, Chile to vote on Pinochet-era constitution
Dave Sherwood. Reuters. November 14, 2019
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Lawmakers in Chile agreed on Friday to hold a referendum next April on replacing the Pinochet-era constitution, bowing to demands of protesters who want the country’s social and economic model overhauled.
Voters will be asked whether they approve the idea of a new constitution and whether current lawmakers should serve on the commission that would redraft the document.
The two-page “Agreement for Peace and a New Constitution,” signed after midnight following intense negotiations, calls for a “commitment to re-establish peace and public order in Chile.”
A month of protests has sowed chaos in the South American nation. Riots, arson and looting have killed more than 20 people, caused extensive damage and prompted President Sebastian Pinera to call soldiers on to the streets. The Chilean peso this week plunged to a new low against the dollar.
Though protesters lack a clear leader or spokesperson, a new constitution emerged quickly as an important demand. Critics say Chile´s existing Magna Carta, written and approved during General Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 military dictatorship, lacks legitimacy.
Lawmakers revised the original 1980 document after Chile returned to democracy but many say it still falls short, failing to ensure for proper health care, education and citizen participation in government.
Opponents of an overhaul say the charter has been a pillar of stability for Chile, among the region’s strongest and most investor-friendly economies.
The details will be worked out by a constitutional convention whose composition will be determined in the April referendum. A second vote, in October 2020, will allow voters to select those who will finally serve on the convention.
A final vote on the draft itself will be obligatory for all voting age Chileans, according to the agreement.
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Lawmakers in Chile agreed on Friday to hold a referendum next April on replacing the Pinochet-era constitution, bowing to demands of protesters who want the country’s social and economic model overhauled.
Voters will be asked whether they approve the idea of a new constitution and whether current lawmakers should serve on the commission that would redraft the document.
The two-page “Agreement for Peace and a New Constitution,” signed after midnight following intense negotiations, calls for a “commitment to re-establish peace and public order in Chile.”
A month of protests has sowed chaos in the South American nation. Riots, arson and looting have killed more than 20 people, caused extensive damage and prompted President Sebastian Pinera to call soldiers on to the streets. The Chilean peso this week plunged to a new low against the dollar.
Though protesters lack a clear leader or spokesperson, a new constitution emerged quickly as an important demand. Critics say Chile´s existing Magna Carta, written and approved during General Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 military dictatorship, lacks legitimacy.
Lawmakers revised the original 1980 document after Chile returned to democracy but many say it still falls short, failing to ensure for proper health care, education and citizen participation in government.
Opponents of an overhaul say the charter has been a pillar of stability for Chile, among the region’s strongest and most investor-friendly economies.
The details will be worked out by a constitutional convention whose composition will be determined in the April referendum. A second vote, in October 2020, will allow voters to select those who will finally serve on the convention.
A final vote on the draft itself will be obligatory for all voting age Chileans, according to the agreement.
Germany extends controversial nuclear deal with Brazil
Deutsche Welle. November 14, 2019
Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, on Thursday ignored pleas from the Green party to scrap a nuclear agreement with Brazil. "Our cooperation in this area has worked well for decades," as Parliamentary State Secretary for the Environment Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) told to DW. "There are currently no plans to cancel the agreement."
The deal, signed in 1975, pertains to the "peaceful use of atomic energy," that is, the construction of nuclear power plants. It was originally negotiated by Brazil's military dictatorship and the SPD government of Helmut Schmidt.
Concerns over safety standards, Bolsonaro
But Sylvia Kotting-Uhl, the Green party chairwoman of the Bundestag's environmental committee, said Thursday there is no reason to maintain the treaty. The agreement comes up for a vote for extension or termination every five years.
"We requested the agreement be terminated five years ago," Kotting-Uhl told DW. "At the time, the government claimed that maintaining the deal would allow Germany to influence safety standards for Brazil's nuclear power plants. Meanwhile that has been proven false. Brazil's safety standards are entirely opaque. The German government has no idea what they even are."
Moreover, added Kotting-Uhl, with the election of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil now has a leader with a long-term plan to develop nuclear weapons. "He wants to complete the fuel cycle, that means the risk of Brazil producing weapons-grade material is very high," she said.
The Green party request to terminate the deal notes that Germany, a country that has declared it no longer has faith in nuclear energy, must send a signal to Brazil: "Germany's planned 2022 national nuclear phaseout should guide its policy within Europe and across the world. Germany could be a role model for the global phaseout of nuclear energy."
Brazil generates the majority of its energy through hydroelectric power plants. Nuclear energy, produced by Brazil's two existing nuclear power plants, currently contributes very little of the country's overall energy supply. Brazil plans on building a third nuclear facility, Angra 3, in the near future.
Materials for the Angra site, named for the coastal city of Angra dos Reis where it is to be located, have been in storage for decades. Many of its components were produced in Germany.
Construction of the facility was scheduled to begin years ago, and now most of its parts are considered obsolete. That means the design for Angra 3 is similar to German nuclear power plants taken offline years ago. Furthermore, geologists say the Angra area is prone to landslides, raising further safety concerns.
Jair Bolsonaro speaking in Beijing (picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Ikegami)
Brazil has a new nuclear vision under far-right President Bolsonaro
Berlin doesn't want a new fight
Yet, after the cancellation of financial assistance for the Amazon rainforest this summer led to friction between Brazil and Germany, the government in Berlin seems keen to avoid starting a new conflict.
Back in 2018, the German government justified its commitment to maintaining the agreement, despite objections from the Greens, by again arguing it would improve safety standards in Brazil: "There are no foreign policy or energy policy considerations that would necessitate termination of, or amendments to the nuclear agreement with Brazil. The cooperation agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy affords, among other things, the German government the opportunity to exert influence over improvements to safety standards at Brazilian nuclear facilities."
Read more: Moscow residents fight back against 'second Chernobyl'
Now, despite concerns about Bolsonaro, the treaty has been extended for another five years. Bolsonaro's government is currently planning to move ahead with construction of the Angra 3 plant, with completion slated for 2026. Cost projections, originally pegged at €2.1 billion ($2.3 billion), have now soared to €5.6 billion.
Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, on Thursday ignored pleas from the Green party to scrap a nuclear agreement with Brazil. "Our cooperation in this area has worked well for decades," as Parliamentary State Secretary for the Environment Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) told to DW. "There are currently no plans to cancel the agreement."
The deal, signed in 1975, pertains to the "peaceful use of atomic energy," that is, the construction of nuclear power plants. It was originally negotiated by Brazil's military dictatorship and the SPD government of Helmut Schmidt.
Concerns over safety standards, Bolsonaro
But Sylvia Kotting-Uhl, the Green party chairwoman of the Bundestag's environmental committee, said Thursday there is no reason to maintain the treaty. The agreement comes up for a vote for extension or termination every five years.
"We requested the agreement be terminated five years ago," Kotting-Uhl told DW. "At the time, the government claimed that maintaining the deal would allow Germany to influence safety standards for Brazil's nuclear power plants. Meanwhile that has been proven false. Brazil's safety standards are entirely opaque. The German government has no idea what they even are."
Moreover, added Kotting-Uhl, with the election of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil now has a leader with a long-term plan to develop nuclear weapons. "He wants to complete the fuel cycle, that means the risk of Brazil producing weapons-grade material is very high," she said.
The Green party request to terminate the deal notes that Germany, a country that has declared it no longer has faith in nuclear energy, must send a signal to Brazil: "Germany's planned 2022 national nuclear phaseout should guide its policy within Europe and across the world. Germany could be a role model for the global phaseout of nuclear energy."
Brazil generates the majority of its energy through hydroelectric power plants. Nuclear energy, produced by Brazil's two existing nuclear power plants, currently contributes very little of the country's overall energy supply. Brazil plans on building a third nuclear facility, Angra 3, in the near future.
Materials for the Angra site, named for the coastal city of Angra dos Reis where it is to be located, have been in storage for decades. Many of its components were produced in Germany.
Construction of the facility was scheduled to begin years ago, and now most of its parts are considered obsolete. That means the design for Angra 3 is similar to German nuclear power plants taken offline years ago. Furthermore, geologists say the Angra area is prone to landslides, raising further safety concerns.
Jair Bolsonaro speaking in Beijing (picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Ikegami)
Brazil has a new nuclear vision under far-right President Bolsonaro
Berlin doesn't want a new fight
Yet, after the cancellation of financial assistance for the Amazon rainforest this summer led to friction between Brazil and Germany, the government in Berlin seems keen to avoid starting a new conflict.
Back in 2018, the German government justified its commitment to maintaining the agreement, despite objections from the Greens, by again arguing it would improve safety standards in Brazil: "There are no foreign policy or energy policy considerations that would necessitate termination of, or amendments to the nuclear agreement with Brazil. The cooperation agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy affords, among other things, the German government the opportunity to exert influence over improvements to safety standards at Brazilian nuclear facilities."
Read more: Moscow residents fight back against 'second Chernobyl'
Now, despite concerns about Bolsonaro, the treaty has been extended for another five years. Bolsonaro's government is currently planning to move ahead with construction of the Angra 3 plant, with completion slated for 2026. Cost projections, originally pegged at €2.1 billion ($2.3 billion), have now soared to €5.6 billion.
Exclusive: Brazil Prosecutors Push Soy, Cattle Moratorium to Protect Natives
Reuters. November 15, 2019
SAO PAULO — In a part of Brazil plagued by land conflicts and violence against indigenous tribes, prosecutors say they are pushing major grains traders and meatpackers to stop buying from farmers and ranchers charged with crimes against natives.
Federal prosecutors have proposed the ban to agribusiness groups in the form of a "voluntary protocol," focusing initially on the troubled southern cone of Mato Grosso do Sul, a state that produces about a tenth of Brazil's beef and soy.
Grains traders such as Bunge Ltd and Archer Daniels Midland Co as well as meatpackers JBS SA and Marfrig Global Foods SA have plants in the area.
Industry groups have resisted the idea in talks since June, arguing it could set a dubious precedent of blacklisting suppliers before final judgment of their cases, said five people familiar with the confidential negotiations.
The federal prosecutors office in Brasília confirmed the previously unreported talks with agribusiness representatives about the proposed ban, but declined a request for an interview.
But Brazil's soy crushing association Abiove said it will not agree to prosecutors' request. "Our members already monitor production and do not purchase soy produced on indigenous lands, as required by law," Abiove said in a statement late Thursday.
Press representatives for meat exporting group Abiec declined to answer questions.
Marfrig and Bunge declined to comment. JBS and ADM did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
While the farm industry has questioned the reasoning behind a ban, one source said prosecutors have pointed to rising pressure in Brazil's export markets. A 2016 European Parliament resolution, for example, urged Brazil to protect indigenous rights and cited threats to tribes in Mato Grosso do Sul.
Concerns about Brazil's environmental and human rights record are rising this year along with deforestation of the Amazon rainforest and invasion of tribal lands under new right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. That has fed resistance to a new European Union trade deal with South America's Mercosur bloc.
The European Union is Brazil's second-biggest trade partner after China, buying some 17.5% of its $101.7 billion in agricultural exports last year.
The fresh debate over a farm goods moratorium protecting Brazil's indigenous tribes highlights how more global scrutiny could strengthen the hand of prosecutors fighting crime on the country's expanding farm frontier.
"Do you want to keep buying soy stained with Indian blood?" asked one of the prosecutors during talks with the farm industry, according to one of the sources, who requested anonymity due to the confidentiality of the negotiations.
Another source said even as many in the meatpacking industry agreed with the objective of reducing violence, there was concern that a list of banned ranchers could be arbitrary, illegal and a step toward creating a black market.
A more nuanced version of the prosecutors' proposal may gain traction as negotiations evolve, the sources said.
RISING VIOLENCE
A partial list of the suppliers who would be affected by the proposed moratorium, which was reviewed by Reuters, included dozens of defendants accused of murdering, torturing and committing other crimes against indigenous people.
In one 2016 case, 12 people were charged in connection with an armed group financed by farmers to attack Guarani Kaiowá and Ñandeva Indians, according to prosecutors' statements.
Indigenous advocates say the violence in Mato Grosso do Sul has grown over the past decade as booming demand for Brazil's beef and soy in foreign markets such as China has pushed producers into land conflicts with local indigenous tribes.
"The fertile soil and favorable climate means that land here is in high demand – including indigenous land," said Antonio Ramos, a professor of history and anthropology at the Federal University of Grande Dourados, in Mato Grosso do Sul. "The dispute over such valuable land is driving these conflicts," he added.
Land conflicts have worsened under Bolsonaro, whose calls for economic development on native lands sound to many like an endorsement of land grabs by farmers, ranchers, loggers and wildcat miners.
Reports of land invasions, illegal logging and mining and killings on tribal reservations have risen sharply this year, according to the Indigenous Missionary Council, a charity linked to the Catholic Church.
SAO PAULO — In a part of Brazil plagued by land conflicts and violence against indigenous tribes, prosecutors say they are pushing major grains traders and meatpackers to stop buying from farmers and ranchers charged with crimes against natives.
Federal prosecutors have proposed the ban to agribusiness groups in the form of a "voluntary protocol," focusing initially on the troubled southern cone of Mato Grosso do Sul, a state that produces about a tenth of Brazil's beef and soy.
Grains traders such as Bunge Ltd and Archer Daniels Midland Co as well as meatpackers JBS SA and Marfrig Global Foods SA have plants in the area.
Industry groups have resisted the idea in talks since June, arguing it could set a dubious precedent of blacklisting suppliers before final judgment of their cases, said five people familiar with the confidential negotiations.
The federal prosecutors office in Brasília confirmed the previously unreported talks with agribusiness representatives about the proposed ban, but declined a request for an interview.
But Brazil's soy crushing association Abiove said it will not agree to prosecutors' request. "Our members already monitor production and do not purchase soy produced on indigenous lands, as required by law," Abiove said in a statement late Thursday.
Press representatives for meat exporting group Abiec declined to answer questions.
Marfrig and Bunge declined to comment. JBS and ADM did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
While the farm industry has questioned the reasoning behind a ban, one source said prosecutors have pointed to rising pressure in Brazil's export markets. A 2016 European Parliament resolution, for example, urged Brazil to protect indigenous rights and cited threats to tribes in Mato Grosso do Sul.
Concerns about Brazil's environmental and human rights record are rising this year along with deforestation of the Amazon rainforest and invasion of tribal lands under new right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. That has fed resistance to a new European Union trade deal with South America's Mercosur bloc.
The European Union is Brazil's second-biggest trade partner after China, buying some 17.5% of its $101.7 billion in agricultural exports last year.
The fresh debate over a farm goods moratorium protecting Brazil's indigenous tribes highlights how more global scrutiny could strengthen the hand of prosecutors fighting crime on the country's expanding farm frontier.
"Do you want to keep buying soy stained with Indian blood?" asked one of the prosecutors during talks with the farm industry, according to one of the sources, who requested anonymity due to the confidentiality of the negotiations.
Another source said even as many in the meatpacking industry agreed with the objective of reducing violence, there was concern that a list of banned ranchers could be arbitrary, illegal and a step toward creating a black market.
A more nuanced version of the prosecutors' proposal may gain traction as negotiations evolve, the sources said.
RISING VIOLENCE
A partial list of the suppliers who would be affected by the proposed moratorium, which was reviewed by Reuters, included dozens of defendants accused of murdering, torturing and committing other crimes against indigenous people.
In one 2016 case, 12 people were charged in connection with an armed group financed by farmers to attack Guarani Kaiowá and Ñandeva Indians, according to prosecutors' statements.
Indigenous advocates say the violence in Mato Grosso do Sul has grown over the past decade as booming demand for Brazil's beef and soy in foreign markets such as China has pushed producers into land conflicts with local indigenous tribes.
"The fertile soil and favorable climate means that land here is in high demand – including indigenous land," said Antonio Ramos, a professor of history and anthropology at the Federal University of Grande Dourados, in Mato Grosso do Sul. "The dispute over such valuable land is driving these conflicts," he added.
Land conflicts have worsened under Bolsonaro, whose calls for economic development on native lands sound to many like an endorsement of land grabs by farmers, ranchers, loggers and wildcat miners.
Reports of land invasions, illegal logging and mining and killings on tribal reservations have risen sharply this year, according to the Indigenous Missionary Council, a charity linked to the Catholic Church.
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