Miguel Uribe Turbay memorial

Auction of Venezuelan Citgo assets will occur during the following weeks, due to mismanagement by both the socialist Chavez and Maduro government and the entering government of Juan Guaidó. It seems that we will lose all sitco assets in the United States as Venezuelans have long preferred to engage in endless political debate which has impoverished us all. However, if Venezuela was able to build Citgo in the United States, then we would be able to build something comparable to Citgo here in Venezuela during the next few years, taking into account that Chevron Corporation is helping us. Somehow we would manage to get ExxonMobil back into the country. We would initiate conversations with Shell regarding our common projects in Paria Peninsula gas fields, in coordination with the sister republic of Trinidad and Tobago. We have OMGC Videsh presence in Venezuela, as well as Maurel & Prom, Petrovietnam and Rosneft. ENI and Repsol continue operations.

A number of important petroleum corporations worldwide will invest in Venezuela soon. The last bullets of prior political discourse are fading. Elections have been settled. Citgo will be auctioned. Calls from Marco Rubio and Donald Trump for invasion against Venezuela, as announced by María Corina Machado, are idiotic. Unfortunately, the Venezuelan government and military are taking this as an excuse to entrench the military power, and to exert repression against protests. It is not a wise move for the Venezuelan opposition at this point to send people for protesting, because they rely on rich leadership either in exile or in inconvenient clandestine apartments. They send poor citizenry to protest, as was the case of a recent La Vega Parish activist who has been jailed. The government says that she is a terrorist, while her community says that she is just an activist: since she has support of opposition political parties, she is immediately labeled and processed as a terrorist. However, it is not wise to go to the streets on a protest, if you know you will get to jail. Such is life in authoritarian regimes.

If we want Venezuela to become something preferable to an authoritarian regime, we must find ways to understand each other. If the opposition becomes radicalized, the government also becomes radicalized: we are continuing this vicious circle. It was widely predicted by past candidates in the elections that María Corina Machado was not a good idea: because she's so divisive and extremist. She wants to take on everything, she wants vengeance, punishment and separation of good and bad. That has only entrenched the government, creating this unnecessary controversy of who won the elections as both sides claimed victory. Of course, nothing was settled. There is no proof in Venezuela whether her chosen candidate actually could have got more ballots, as those proofs are in Panama. Her case didn't work out and the Venezuelan citizenry is not pleased with Machado's recent call for not concurring into municipal and regional elections. We have very few opposition mayors and governors. We could have had a lot more if there hadn't been that call for abstention. However, this is settled. We will have the current authorities for the next four years and business must continue as usual.

Government wants to take this moment as a national unity against the United States military invasion. That's not going to happen. There are Venezuelans who want United States presence. There are other Venezuelans who prefer not to have any United States presence. The ideal situation is probably what we have right now: we have some companies from the United States doing business with Venezuela, in compliance with all United States restrictions and sanctions. It seems unlikely that the United States will drop bombs into Venezuela, when they have Chevron extracting oil needed for Gulf of Mexico refineries. This is all Trump and Rubio loudly speak. We must prudently wait for a meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska later this week, because Vladimir Putin has the power to move Venezuela's pawn on his chessboard as he pleases. That is just what the United States would like to do as well. So if Venezuela doesn't want to be a pawn of Russia or a pawn of the United States, Venezuela should better develop its oil industry, in terms that are convenient for United States, France and India multinationals that are ready to help us: they have a global mentality and they want to have spaces in South America and other oil producing regions in the planet, in a multi-polar world.

We now turn our attention to Colombia, expressing sorrow for the death or assassination of presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay who was shot two months ago at a public meeting. He was hospitalized and he passed away yesterday morning. It is very unfortunate to see Colombia going back to the dark days of former presidential candidate Galán, who was also shot during his electoral campaign. Reactions on social media are hateful. When you use social media to express hatred, that is not that different than explicit violence that kills people: because you are providing other communities a disgusting standard of living, constantly having to defend themselves from accusations. There is no evidence that the government of President Gustavo Petro ordered such assassination. Political violence in Colombia unfortunately has happened for decades. We thought it had ended and now we see that it has not ended at all.

Further South you have Peru claiming an island on the Amazon River, which is either supposed to belong to Peru or is supposed to belong to Colombia. It seems that the Amazon River is changing its course, that would privilege Peru as it would give a few extra square feet, which is pointless. Road and pipeline project described in previous posts, encompassing most of South America, actually passes near that zone. While a road through Leticia was not specifically planned, there is a connection, or there should be a new connection to be built: between Quifia Rubiales and Loreto, with a new bridge from Puerto Tumaco across the Putumayo River into Loreto department in Peru. That is not exactly the same location where the border dispute is, but it would become a major infrastructure project involving the Amazon region of both Peru and Colombia. International investment in both countries would be fostered, including construction of clinics, of high speed internet, tourism, jobs, education, and many other downstream enhancements to local life. It was very disgusting to see the ousted president of Perú, Pedro Castillo, asking for war and trying to involve Brazil and Chile. Why would either Brazil or Chile get involved in an Amazon war with Peru? Brazil is the least likely to get involved in war.

Brazil has consistently helped both Venezuela and Guyana to peacefully solve their Essequibo dispute. And this new trouble that's happening between Peru and Colombia actually would provide a note of congratulation for both Guyana and Venezuela, because it seems that the Essequibo dispute has lowered its tone a bit. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez recently went to the Hague in the Netherlands, to the International Court of Justice, with legal documentation supporting Venezuelan case which seems perfect. Guyana might actually be happy that it happened, because they Guyanese have always asked Venezuelans to prove their case in court. That is what we are doing, but now Peru and Colombia want to go into war. Every time I hear a call for a war, that makes me conclude that the current international system of nation states, that have a flag and teach their children to die for a flag of colors, is pointless: we must transcend that. I am sympathetic for the department of Amazonas in Colombia and for the department of Loreto in Peru. I don't care about the republic of Colombia and I don't care about the republic of Peru. Capitals of countries usually tend to take away power from the regions, and the regions are the ones that suffer consequences with erosion of their mineral resources. Little investment is sought on social projects while the upper classes in Bogotá and Lima are well off. Same can same can be said of course about Georgetown and Caracas, but we're giving Guyana, Venezuela a break today.

Political campaigns in both Perú and Colombia will start soon. Martin Vizcarra, ex-president of Peru, wants to run. It looks like he has legal problems. However, in Peru, most ex-presidents either commit suicide, or go to jail, or or face terrible public opinion tragedies. In recent history, no Peruvian ex-president has led a post-presidency stable life, which is very unfortunate because Peru has made great economic progress. Business consensus suggests that economically Peru is being managed wisely, although politically deficiencies persist. However, there are one million Venezuelans living in Peru. After Colombia, Peru is the country that has received the most Venezuelans: we have not heard that much xenophobia recently as we used to. It sounds that Peru is not doing bad at all. I cannot take sides for the troubles of Colombia and Peru in remote areas of the Amazon region that are not taken well care of. It looks like in the Colombian side, Leticia is a thriving city, and so is Aratinga in Brazil. The Peruvian side is not that developed. Why don't they make a trinational area?

We could also implement this idea between Guyana, Brazil and Venezuela, between Santa Elena de Uairén, Lethem and Boa Vista. We should try to use trijunctions of countries as forms to mitigate conflicting areas. Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay have established a number of hydro electrical facilities for energy. As a result those three countries are well integrated into Mercosur. It remains to be seen if the tri border between Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, which is close to tourist and petroleum spots, could also rearrange relations between those three countries. They look far apart within their own regions or in their own mentalities.

Back to the Venezuelan extremist positions, we hear calls for immediate invasion and no petroleum production. I am completely against that because I am for the return of international petroleum production into Venezuela. But also I am not pleased with communist propaganda, that wishes to develop an extreme anti-imperialism assuming that the United States military will just come into Venezuela to bomb, invade and topple a government out to put another. That doesn't sound reasonable. That doesn't sound likely at all. Venezuela's relations with China, Iran, and Russia are strong and there is contention from that side. Both extremes are terrible. Social media is highly responsible for this global mess. If you are a hardcore extremist on the left or on the right, your views will be boosted by algorithms so that they get exposure. Likes and hates will in turn make other users of social media addicted to platforms and therefore they will be able to consume any products sold by such platforms. Moderation, stability is what is actually sought by financial markets, petroleum markets and energy markets.

Most successful businessmen are not particularly involved in social media, with the exception of Elon Musk. And even Elon Musk might be realizing that he went too far, as he provided too many resources to Donald Trump. But Elon Musk was unable to explain wisely to the American administration that tariffs will not work. And now Elon Musk is stuck on artificial intelligence, going to Mars and a lot of investments that may not be sound. I use artificial intelligence to design my roads, pipelines and cultural events network, to find out what are the national parks nearby each route. Microsoft Copilot is excellent for precise petroleum industry data in oil fields anywhere in the planet. Combining all these resources and doublechecking is crucial: because artificial intelligence tends to lie many times. When they don't know anything they just make up info. I am learning the way to discover when they are falsing anything. I may have discovered many faulty claims they make. I am taking my time to complete this project because when I present it to companies it will be extremely accurate and detailed: I am not playing with the national sentiment of any of the 37 countries I am trying to involve in this unification of South America and the Caribbean.

To unite South America and the Caribbean: we need Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and Guyana to be peaceful. Otherwise we will not connect our oil industries with common pipelines. Guyana is expected to produce 2 million barrels per day of petroleum within the next few years. Brazil is expected to produce four million barrels of oil per day. Venezuela, if we wanted, could get up to 10 million barrels per day. It sounds like the market can absorb it, because every year there is an increase in demand. There were talks a few decades ago that demand for petroleum would decrease. It doesn't seem to be the case and South Americans don't mind a little bit of overproduction if it brings down the price, because it would be profitable for us anyway. Consumers will love us because we will be able to provide gasoline for them at cheaper prices. High cost producers may have to find other sources of revenue because South America should play big. We deserve it as a geopolitical strategic shift. The planet can no longer be at the mercy of United States backyard or Russian Empire extension for communism. We cannot be playing pingpong between extreme predatory capitalism and Marxist environmentalist communism, requiring us to give up any hope for economic progress.