Excerpts of column "Runrunes" of Thursday, February 02, 2012

Intermediate

DOUBLE RED LANGUAGE. The government decision to denounce a treaty whereby investments are secured and any disputes that may arise between the Government of Venezuela and investors are brought to arbitration, is not based on preservation of Venezuela's sovereignty but intended to prevent any judgments on the 23 ongoing lawsuits at the Icsid (International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes). The red, very-red purpose cannot be attained because ongoing trials will keep on going and any ruling will be enforceable. Denunciation of the treaty will be effective only six months after the notice to the United Nations. Anyway, the parties to the agreements executed during the effective term of the treaty are entitled to file any complaint at the Icsid for a 10-year term. Notwithstanding, the "Bolivarian, anti-imperialist and socialist" Republic has brought to arbitration other agreements in Singapore, thus acknowledging the SIAC (Singapore International Arbitration Center). Another set of agreements have been subject to Chinese jurisdiction, thus admitting the Beijing Arbitration Center as a court of competent jurisdiction. Such court receives about 600,000 cases a year and requires all proceedings to be held in Chinese.

For the above-mentioned, such a claim of not accepting the Icsid upon the grounds of sovereignty should also apply to Chinese and Singaporean arbitral courts. We have bilateral treaties with 25 countries. A red lady, highly appreciated during the Fourth Republic, has her part in the most relevant shady deals which yield more money to litigants. Late Carlos Escarrá had clashed with her. He was rather surprised because the president of (state-run oil holding Petróleos de Venezuela ) Pdvsa (Rafael Ramírez) gave the news about Venezuela's pullout of the Icsid instead of him, in his capacity of Solicitor General . Sure enough, with the Exxon case, they managed to circumvent the hardened lawyer. A report presented at the highest level specifies that in the hearings where Venezuela is assisted by the Foley Hoag law firm, up to USD 400,000 are paid. What is good for the goose must be good for the ... red gander which has 13 years in office.

Low

ABDUCTIONS. In this column and on our website, on November 15, we uncovered the issue of kidnappings of diplomats credited to Venezuela. Since then, things have gotten worse. Nationals of Chile, Saudi Arabia, Peru, Byelorussia, United Kingdom, France and, recently, Mexico, have experienced on their own what we, Venezuelans, feel day after day. Nicely organized gangs involving active and former police agents, inmates and their leaders, with the support of prison authorities or wardens, lead those groups which raise thousands of US dollars every night in Caracas' five municipalities, as clearly shown with the latest abductions. Here the case goes of Juanito Cortés, a hard-working, enterprising Spaniard, who was held hostage some weeks ago. And there are many other events that family members do not dare denounce out of fear. In the meantime, some red, very red jerk has armored cars, motorcycles and bodyguards protecting him/her. No "sensation" (of insecurity, as claimed by the People's Ombudswoman) is to bother him/her.

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Translated by Conchita Delgado