Lorenzo Santiago: "Trump's threats don't change daily life in Venezuela"

By Denise Assis (247) - While Donald Trump hasn't arrived yet, Venezuela continues its daily life as if nothing were happening. That's how Lorenzo Santiago, correspondent for the newspaper Brasil de Fato, who has lived in the country for six years, describes life in Caracas. The journalist spoke with the "Denise Assis Invites" program on next Sunday, August 31st, and recounted how the population has been coping with the threats of invasion. The arrival of warships and even a nuclear-powered submarine, sent from the United States, is expected to bring President Nicolás Maduro to "trial," who, in the eyes of Donald Trump, is the head of a drug cartel, Los Soles.

“In Caracas, this is already treated as folklore. Nobody takes this story about a cartel boss and a $50 million bounty on Maduro's head seriously. It's become a joke,” Santiago clarifies. He takes the opportunity to explain that the communities on the outskirts of Venezuela are organized, focused on activism, and that the drug trade, which is minimal, is not as visible as in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, for example.

“There’s no sign of drug dealing, no one armed, and you don’t know where they operate. There has been a very significant fight. It’s not something that jumps out at you. As a reporter, I often visit these communities and I don’t see anything there. It’s a major concern to prevent the spread of trafficking. So much so that Maduro is sending about 15 soldiers to the border with Colombia, precisely to prevent the repression there (in Colombia) from pushing the traffickers into Venezuela, contaminating this side. It’s a joint operation, an effort that has been underway for some years, to contain them on the Colombian side,” he explained. “Nothing to do with what is being described by the media in Brazil,” he is keen to emphasize.

According to the correspondent, Trump's sanctions during his first term were very harmful to the country, preventing the continuation of oil exploration, the main product of the Venezuelan economy, by the American company Chevron. This significantly impacted the standard of living of the population, whose lives depended on oil production. "These sanctions prevented Chevron from modernizing its exploration. Now they are resuming activities, thanks to a 'secret' agreement made between the company, Trump, and the Maduro government," he revealed. Pure economic hypocrisy, when we know that the President of the United States is politically persecuting and wants the imprisonment of his counterpart.

These and other injunctions and boycotts against Venezuela were the topic of conversation with the journalist, who is quite involved in the country's internal affairs, where he provides daily coverage, and is now facing the anxiety of not knowing whether or not there will be some kind of military intervention in Caracas. "I honestly don't believe it, because the process is taking too long. This threat has been dragging on for almost three weeks. When these things don't happen right away, it's perhaps because they won't happen," he ventured. Especially since, according to the sources he always speaks with, Venezuela has been equipping itself with state-of-the-art weapons, ships, and boats, purchased from Russia and Iran. "I don't think the United States will want to buy into that kind of mess," he assessed.