Venezuela: the sanctioned nephew of Maduro, the key to the resumption of dialogue between the government and the opposition?
The former treasurer and former vice-president of PDVSA, Carlos Erik Malpica Flores, 49, the favorite nephew of the first lady Cilia Flores and Nicolás Maduro to be their economic and financial operator, This is one of the conditions that the Chavista regime has set to resume negotiations with the interim government of Juan Guaidó, suspended in Mexico since last October.
And it is that in the last meetings held between representatives of the government of Joe Biden and the Chavista regime in Caracas to partially relax the oil sanctions against the South American country that depend on the resumption of dialogue in Mexico, the name of the nephew of the presidential couple emerged as a bargaining chip to renew the dialogue.
Maduro conditioned the release of his nephew to renew dialogue with the opposition in Mexico, whose “formal talks” began in Caracas last week.
“After the visit of American officials to Venezuela, it was said that it was the first name that Nicolás Maduro had put on the negotiating table and second that of his figurehead Alex Saab (prisoner in the United States) , in addition to the oil concessions,” reports Bugle the researcher Roberto Deniz of the Armando.Info portal.
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó speaks during a press conference in Caracas (Venezuela). PhotoEFE
Punishments
Indeed, according to Reuters, the US Treasury Department. prepares to renew Chevron license in coming days to operate in Venezuela, thus taking the first steps to oxygenate and incite the Maduro regime to do the same with its opposition counterpart.
Although these are uncomfortable concessions for Guaidó’s opponent, whose coalition “He categorically denied” who asked for the lifting of personal sanctions against the nephew to sit down at the negotiating table.
“Our goal is free and fair presidential elections, and the restoration of the rights of all Venezuelans, including the release of all political prisoners,” the opposition leader said.
Omar Barboza, executive secretary of the opposition Guaidó Unitary Platform, told local press that “they are waiting for the response from the Maduro regime, which will create the conditions for free elections, and affirmed that he will have to make concessions on both sides. There are good expectations to restore the talks“, precise.
Rafael Ramírez, the former president of the state-owned company PDVSA and former Minister of Petroleum (2002-2013) and until 2016 Venezuela’s representative before the UN Security Council, echoed the presidential nephew that he calls Erik Malpica dry and qualifies as “the most important man in the Madurista government”.
What impresses the once-powerful former Chavista oil czar is the entire ‘madurista’ staff and a long list of 140 sanctioned leaders, ‘Nicolás Maduro, only comes to mind, save Erick Malpica !”
The importance of the nephew
Why is Erick Malpica so important to Maduro? asks Ramírez on his website. “It is not just that he is another nephew of Cilia Flores, which is not at all strange, since in this government most of the direct relatives of the presidential couple exercise key functions or have direct influence on this one; the really important this is the role he played in madurismo’s assault on power, which made him the most important economic operator for Maduro and his entourage. This has been the case since his time at the Foreign Ministry, where he was the administrator of former Chancellor Maduro”.
Carlos Erik Malpica Flores
Malpica Flores, 49, is the most powerful financial hierarchy of the Venezuelan presidential couple and the Chavista government, which acts in the shadows. He is quiet, reserved, does not give interviews and does not have social media accounts. but she likes luxury, having parties with French rosé champagnetravel in private planes, stay in five-star hotels and exclusive restaurants in the Caribbean islands.
Malpica moves like a fish in the Caribbean Sea. One of his favorites is the small island of St. Barths in the Eastern Caribbean, where he threw a party for Christmas 2014 to celebrate his appointment as vice president of PDVSA with rosé champagne.
Since his uncle Nicolás came to power in 2013, he has held the most important positions such as the National Treasury, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the state company PDVSA, the banking entities BANDES and FONDES , the Secretariat of the Presidency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Assembly and various foundations.
To the almighty presidential nephew he is considered a financial octopus who managed and continues to control the coffers of the nation’s budget, profiting from the public treasury while the country is suffering the worst economic and social crisis in its history, which has caused the exodus of more than 6 million Venezuelans to the foreign.
Before being sanctioned for corruption created 16 fictitious companies in Panama, as reported in the Panama Papers. The Isthmus newspaper La Estrella published articles about the acquisition of properties in Panama for his aunt, the first lady. The same is true in the Dominican Republic.
There is a close relationship between the socialist government of the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the Chavista regime due to the ties that exist in their tax haven. A month ago, Maduro canceled his $70 million oil debt. Venezuela funded the island’s airport and other works, so the first lady could “study English”, according to the president.
the presidential nephew was sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury (OFAC) on July 26, 2017 for its alleged responsibility in the corruption of the Chavista regime. And he’s still blacklisted.
On March 30, 2018, he was also sanctioned by the government of Panama, as well as companies linked to his relatives, for being considered high risk for money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of the proliferation of terrorists. weapons of mass destruction, according to the newspaper The National.
Canada and Europe have also sanctioned Malpica Flores, the hidden face of the financial power behind the throne of Miraflores, which today spread its tentacles towards the collection of municipal taxes from companies operating in the country, such as the case of the “Fospuca” garbage collector, whose owner José Sión Elarba announces to the four winds that he is the “personal friend” of the nephew of the first lady.
The OAS has included it in the sanctions of the member countries of the TIAR (Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance). However, Maduro favored his nephew and his entrepreneurial friends with contracts for the Carnet de la Patria, “CLAP” food bags (Local Food and Production Committee) and the construction of works and houses, among others, plagued by corruption, according to the portal Armando.Info.