Excerpts of column "Runrunes" (Rumors) of Thursday, August 16

High 

OH FIDEL! On Monday 13, at 5:09 p.m., the caudillo, missing since Saturday, posted on his Twitter account: "I have had a long chat with Fidel. I meant to congratulate him for his birthday and he asked me to send his regards to the Venezuelan people!" Did he visit Fidel in Havana? There is no photo of the octogenarian birthday boy blowing out candles. What about the findings of the new checkup delivered to President Hugo Chávez on Wednesday 15? When shall father and son tell us the truth. 

Intermediate 

BOMBARDIER 9H-FED. Upon the takeoff from Valencia (the capital city of Carabobo state, central-northern Venezuela) bound to Europe and Africa of an aircraft packed with a ton of illicit drugs, many questions are raised again about the city airport and the central government control of air operations and military affairs. There is a military detachment in the airport. It is of public knowledge that in the lawsuit against (alleged drug kingpin Walid) Makled there is plenty of reports on night-time flights with turned-off runway beacons. This is the case of the plane interdicted in the Canary Islands. In waving the government responsibility and putting the blame on Carabobo state government, Minister (of the Interior and Justice Tarek) el-Aissami  forgets about the charges against one of his relatives in the legal action against Makled and the military management and control of the area. Furthermore, making a nice blunder, he reasoned that "at the time of the illicit takeoff, the State anti-aircraft defense system was activated and raised the appropriate alert to detain it." He is lying. The alert was issued by radars of "a foreign country." 

Low 

AIRLINES. Following the release of the list on airline risk assessment and classification of their operations in United Nations Member States, he received notices from Venezuelan airliners. Even the Venezuelan Chamber of Air Transport is to issue a press release. Don't shoot the messenger. The UN report exists. It has some glitches, they note. I believe that most of these claims are serious. Santa Barbara Airlines claims to have IOSA certification and conduct maintenance of its fleet in Miami and the workshops of Avianca in Bogotá, certified by the FAA (US Federal Aviation Administration) and the INAC (Venezuelan National Institute of Civil Aviation). Aserca does service to its planes in Bogotá and Maiquetía and its handbooks are based on international standards certified by the INAC.

www.runrun.es 

@nelsonbocaranda