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 This agreement had been outdated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.
English Version: María Eugenia Acero acerocolomine@gmail.com
