martes, 9 de enero de 2018

What Happened with the Pork Promised by President Maduro? Interview to Agustín Otxotorena

A huge controversy was developed in Venezuela during the first days of year 2018. The reason? An almost broken promise by the Venezuelan governmenment to supply subsidized pork thighs for the Christmas holidays. The Bolivarian government accuses a Portuguese business for not having accomplished the request. Therefore, many Venezuelans didn't receive the pork in time.


INTERVIEW TO AGUSTÍN OTXOTORENA
Several Spanish companies want to make business in Venezuela. Among them, the biggest porcine business in Europe, its representative, a Basque citizen resident in Caracas, and a revolutionary, said.


What's the role your company plays regarding the pork purchase in Venezuela?


A.O.: When we wanted to establish commercial relations with Venezuela, we found there was no agreement among countries for the sale permission. For one year we ket in contact with the economy office of the Spanish embassy and the Venezuelan Ministries of agriculture and health for the update of the agreement between both countries. This agreement had been outdated for 32 year. We made this possible by November of 2015. The importation of pork meat with and without bone became possible ever since”.


What happened next?
A.O.: Once accomplished the agreement,we passed to the homologation of the trade marks. We solved all errands and papework for both parts. It ended with a trip by the end of year 2016. We travelled with the then Vice Minister of Agriculture, as well as the directors of the Ministry of Health and the corresponding supervisors for a tour around the facilities of the company”.


How did the homologation work?
A.O.: Several items in the area of ham, charcutería and others where homologated. Afterwards, the facilities, aimed at trading with the frozen meat. In the end, the website of the Ministry was enabled, and the company was included. There are few companies enabled by the Ministry to trade pork”.
Se homologaron varios productos en el tema de charcutería, jamones y afines, y después la plantas para poder comerciar carne congelada. Al final, apareció la habilitación en la página del ministerio, la empresa fue dada de alta. No son muchas las plantas homologadas por el ministerio para comerciar cerdo. Son pocas”.
Was then the purchase contract accomplished?
A.O.: “No. Once finished the paperwork, we reachd the Ministry of Food for the final steps. Although it was a nice meeting and everything was ready to start, the time went by and they didn't answer to us again”.
Do you know the Portuguese company with the current contract for the pork commerce in Venezuela?
A.O.: Companies in Spain have squandered a lot of money. They know how the market works. They know the needs and how the Portuguese are buying. In the end, them (the Portuguese) approach these businesses with offerings aimed at covering their demands. This clearly states that the Portuguese don't have enough production capacity”.
That means, Venezuela didn't then sign the contract with the Spaniards, but with the Portuguese, and they buy to the Spanish business for not having enough production capacity?
A.O.: “Exactly. And it's impossible it be cheaper than an agreement dirctly between the producing company and the state with no intermediaries. This company is the leader in Europe in the food production : Not only in Spain. It has an income of more than 1,5 billion Euros, it produces more than four million pigs, 340 tons of porcine meat among other food items. It's a monster”.
What are the steps to follow for an international pork purchase?
A.O.: First, the purchase is programmed beforehand. The purchase must be ready between May and June, so that it arrives in Venezuela by November and then be available for the Christmas holidays. This avoids any inconvenience. The agreement is very simple: 30% is paid by the moment of the order, and the remaining 70% through an international payment letter that becomes effective by the moment arrives at the factory. This is how it works worldwide, and it's absolutely regulated by the international commerce”.


What if there are difficulties for the payment of the order because of a financial blockage, like in the case of Venezuela?


A.O.: “There are other ways for an agreement of this sort by taking in account the Venezuelan case. In case of not being able to pay with the basic financial mechanisms, you can pay with a truce. This type of operations have been in force for ages. In case of a financial blockage, you can pay with resources: Oil, minerals. We trade with commodities: The company can trade them and sell them in the international market in exchange of money. It's very simple. This is the way it works. We are not discovering the Americas. This is how it works in any company with any item”.


Do you thing the Christmas pork issue in Venezuela could have been avoided?
A.O.: “It should have been made simply aimed at avoiding what happened. It was taken to the streets, and this is what we regret. I regret this as a revolutionary, that is what hurts me the most. We are here supporting this. We are giving our lives, bodies and faces on behalf of the Bolivarian Revolution, of th government, of Chávez and Maduro and the very govenment itself ruins everything and gives ammo to the right. What I want to make clear is I'm not rooting for the right wing. The ones who do so, are the parasites uncapable of making a transparent business of this kind. This is simple. Buying pork is not buying plutonium”.


Do you know what was the mistake in this delivery?
A.O.: “I exactly don't know what was the mistake. I don't know. I've heard the Portuguese company says it had not been paid. What I do know is it is amistake not opening this to the international producers so that we can offer and quotate and that the best option be chosen with transparency. That is the way, and that's the way Cuba has. Cuba makes international quotations. Then companies offer and win because of quality and price. Everyone there collects their money, and everybody is happy. Nowadays Cuba is a good costumer, and the international businesses commerce with the island with no problem whatsoever, since everyone has clear rules and conditions”.
How would you summarize the main problems for the international commerce with Venezuela?
A.O.: It's a disrespect for the suppliers having them wait for hours, even days for a scheduled appointment. Usually nothing is reached. It's a waste of time, resources and work. It doesn't happen anywhere and you don't do this to anyone. On the other hand, the darkness. There is a lack of transparent contracts. We don't know the price of the purchase. All of this harms the Venezuelan people and this goes against the Revolution. This goes in favor of the parasitism and of those people who wear the red t-shirt but end up supporting the opposition”.


To finish, What would you say President Nicolás Maduro?
A.O.: I support him. I'm with him. I'd like Nicolás Maduro to truly listen all reasns. I've been threatened for defending this Revolution and the President. From there, my words to Nicolás Maduro are, to listen. Also, to make the Venezuelan administration to enter in a rational logic. We truly need an administrative Revolution within the Revolution. The people need solutions, and the first solution is to sack those mediocres and parasites, and to those people who only tells what people want to hear, no matter if it is a lie. I totally exclude Nicolás Maduro. In the end, the President depends of those who tell him things and do apart. Nicolás Maduro is not the one to make the pork agreement, then agreements with China, then selling oil, then building satellites and then buying groceries. Nicolás is not the one to make everything. The people at his charge are the ones forced to do it and to respond for these things”.


With these details we receive a complete material for analysis and the reflection. In this sense, the objective of the revolutionary process must be guaranteeing the national production of what the Venezuelan people consumes.


There are in the Venezuelan regions organized communities in charge of the porcine cattle for the supply of its communities. A successful example is the Commune El Maizal: https://twitter.com/VocesUrgentes/status/946921830526447621. This community also produces other fundamental items for their daily intake.


However, having in mind the national demand (not only for this, but other items), the reality is that the importation continues to be in the immediate term necessary. The plead is then for the sensitivity, the coherence and the real commitment witht he people, the transparency and the eradication of the disgusting vices that pollute the oxygen of the Revolution. Secondly, we must transit simultaneously at once towards the consolidation of the national production for the supply to our people and to finally abandon the rethorical we've fallen when talking of diversification of the economy and the food sovereignty.




Read the Article in Spanish here: https://www.aporrea.org/ddhh/n319197.html

English Version: María Eugenia Acero acerocolomine@gmail.com

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