Venqis SA, the Panamanian company that complicates the President's son

 The CEO of Venqis supported the MAS campaign and is related to Marcelo Arce, advisor to YPFB Chaco. The Panamanian firm is fighting to be awarded the gas exploitation strategy in a protected area.

A commission of opposition deputies is investigating the Panamanian company Venqis SA, which seeks to be awarded the communication strategy for the YPFB Chaco project “Astillero X1”, a gas well in a protected area of ​​Tarija. The director of the firm, the Brazilian Andre Golabek, who faced legal proceedings in his country and in Panama, supported the electoral campaign of Luis Arce. The investigation will extend to the President's son, Marcelo Arce Mosqueira, current advisor to YPFB Chaco.

In a letter addressed to that state company, dated July 2, 2021, Golabek presents his company: “At Venqis SA we have been developing our experience in institutional communication in several countries, highlighting political strategies, management of government organizations and their interaction with citizens, as well as crisis management at the local level”, says the note.

This letter accompanies the proposal presented by the Panamanian firm for the LS-2021-40 process "Services for the production and dissemination of communication products for the Shipyard area", convened by YPFB Chaco, for the preparation of a campaign that counteracts the voices criticism of the exploitation of hydrocarbons in the protected area of ​​Tariquía.

Venqis's proposal included a Communication strategy, two audiovisuals for TV, four videos for social networks, six digital graphics products, including the dissemination of products for three months and payment to the work team, budgeted 1,271,440 bolivianos, equivalent to 184,700 dollars, exactly the same amount stated in the specification document that YPFB Chaco published three days later.

The applicant company also fully coincided with the components that the contracting party had considered. “The LS-2021-40 process was not awarded to Venqis. It was not awarded and it has already ended, without contracting, ”said the YPFB communication director, Óscar Salazar, in a brief contact with Página Siete.

However, the background of the participation of the CEO of Venqis in the electoral campaign of Luis Arce, added to complaints of previous hirings to the Panamanian company, which are denied by YPFB Chaco, raised doubts in the Tarija opposition deputies.

“We are forming a commission of opposition parliamentarians; however, we are also sending a letter to the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Mr. Freddy Mamani, so that a commission can also be formed in the Legislative Assembly, understanding that the Venqis company has supported Luis Arce's campaign at the time and there is a feeling that this was a political favor that is intended to be paid with the money of all Bolivians,” Tarijeña deputy Luciana Campero (CC) told Page Seven.

The assemblywoman pointed out the similarities of this Panamanian company with the Mexican Neurona Consulting that between 2017 and 2018, during the administration of Evo Morales, was awarded direct contracts for 12.4 million Bolivians for communication campaigns.

For the case, a process was opened for corruption and economic damage to the State that, finally, was dismissed in the Bolivian justice without clues about those responsible for the payments.

Venqis and his director

“46 political campaigns and successful institutional changes in the last five years”, is how the company Venqis SA presents itself, on its official website. It promotes four specialty units: leadership, elections, institutional, and technology and intelligence. According to the site, the firm has offices in Spain, the Dominican Republic and Panama.

Data from the Public Registry of Panama show that the company was created on September 7, 2015. Three people appear on the board of the company: Andre Golabek, as president; Georgina-Amalia Jianu, secretary; and Tatiana Cristina Núñez Barreno, treasurer.

However, the same Registry records in 2019 the dismissal of Golabek as president of Venqis, together with the director and the treasurer. The date coincides with the investigation of the company for irregular awarding of contracts in Panama.

The Panamanian newspaper La Prensa described Venqis SA as "a company friendly to the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD)" and reported that the firm benefited from contracts from various state institutions totaling at least $658,000, all of them for products communication and advertising.

The director of Venqis, André Golabek Sánchez, for his part, faced 15 legal proceedings in Brazil in the last decade, according to the specialized portal Jusbrasil. Most of them are labor and tax lawsuits; but there are two penalties in the registry for extrajudicial execution of title. Page Seven insisted on knowing the businessman's version, but did not respond to the requirements.

In bell?

Speaking to the newspaper El Deber, Andre Golabek admitted having worked on Luis Arce's election campaign. The strategist said that he supported “like so many people who believe in the government proposal of President Luis Arce. We weren't really hired by anyone. It was a contribution from capable people who are committed to a political project.”

Asked about Golabek's participation in the MAS campaign, Marianela Paco assured that she has no reference. "I worked alone with the militancy," she told Page Seven.

Other sources within MAS agree that neither the Brazilian strategist nor the firm Venqis worked on Luis Arce's campaign. The sudden appearance of the Brazilian businessman once the elections have been won, they say, causes annoyance in the bases and they were the ones who uncovered the case.

His version is that the strategist came to YPFB Chaco through a friendly relationship with the President's son, Marcelo Arce Mosqueira, who worked and is currently an advisor at the state company. Golabek, however, denied this situation.

parliamentary inquiry

The commission of deputies that investigates the Brazilian strategist and Venqis also includes Arce Mosqueira, as announced by deputy Campero.

Luis Marcelo, the eldest son of President Luis Arce, worked until 2021 at YPFB's headquarters and then moved to YPFB Chaco. In both he held managerial positions, admitted the spokesman for the state company, Juan Carlos Ortiz, on Monday.

After the denunciations of nepotism of union leaders and trustees of YPFB, presented by the pro-government deputy Rolando Cuéllar, the CC bench announced that it will request a report from the oil company. 

Venqis Company

    Venqis The company Venqis was created on September 7, 2015, according to the Public Registry of Panama.

    Areas The company has four units: leadership, elections, institutional, and technology and intelligence, according to its website.

    Offices Its official site says that the firm has offices in Spain, the Dominican Republic and Panama.

    Panama The firm was benefited with contracts from Panamanian state institutions for at least 658 thousand dollars, according to local media. It was investigated.

    CEO The director of Venqis is the Brazilian Andre Golabek Sánchez, who faced 15 legal processes in his country in the last decade.

Former President Áñez celebrates the fourth day of fasting isolated and incommunicado from her family

 He only receives visits from his lawyers. After complaining, she was allowed to receive a visit from her relatives the next week. Her daughter denounces that prison doctors are insensitive.

With broken health and incommunicado, this is how former president Jeanine Áñez completes her fourth day of hunger strike in the Miraflores prison in La Paz. The former president took the extreme measure in the face of the announcements of trials and the unfavorable rulings against her by the justice system, which accuses her of carrying out a coup against former President Evo Morales, who resigned in 2019 overwhelmed by the social conflicts that erupted after indications of fraud in the elections of that year.

In an interview on the program ¡Qué Semana!, which is broadcast every Saturday on EL DEBER Radio, Carolina Ribera Áñez -daughter of the former president- reported that Áñez is isolated in her cell without being able to receive a visit from any family member.

The most unfortunate, according to Ribera, is the deteriorated state of health of her mother and the isolation to which she has been subjected by the Penitentiary Regime. In fact, the only contact that the former president has is with her lawyers, who reported on the deteriorating state of health of Jeanine Áñez.

“My mother begins her fourth day of hunger strike, I have not been able to see her. She remains firm and determined; She is not going to live in a country where injustice and abuse of power prevail, despite her delicate health situation, ”said Ribera.

The daughter of the former head of state also denounced that the Penitentiary Regime does not allow her to see her mother, which generates mistrust about her health. “Doctors are insensitive, they lie without batting an eyelid. God grant that they prioritize my mother's health. She is totally incommunicado, she only sees her lawyers, ”said the young woman.

During the conflicts of 2019 that arose due to indications of fraud in the elections of that year, Áñez took the reins of the State through constitutional succession, after the resignation of Evo Morales. However, when leaving power, the former authority denounced a coup d'état forged by civic leaders, police and military.

Morales' resignation occurred on November 10, 2019. For two days there was a power vacuum and after several negotiations that included supporters of the MAS, the constitutional succession of Áñez was agreed, who took the reins of the country on November 12. month.

Before that, she did not participate in any protest activities. Her rise to power came as a surprise even to her own party, which did not count her on the security list in that year's elections. She was a senator for Beni, and as the second vice president of the Bolivian Chamber of Senators, she came to power by constitutional succession.

However, the government that is in the hands of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), questioned this process, even accused it of being part of the so-called coup d'état, a story that the ruling party has tried to impose since it regained power in the elections of 2020. In this sense, it initiated processes against all the former authorities of the transitional government, including Áñez.

"She is so weak that I honestly don't know how long she will resist, but she will continue until her body and her health allow it," Ribera said.

Las Londras case: They file charges against Paulino Camacho and request his arrest in Palmasola

 The commission of prosecutors investigating the Las Londras case presented the formal accusation against Paulino Camacho Vedia, identified as the "most dangerous" of the armed group, and asked that he be sent preventively to the Palmasola prison, considering that there are sufficient elements for the kidnapping of civilians at the Las Londras estate, in Guarayos (Santa Cruz).

Camacho Vedia is the second apprehended in the case a little over three months after the ambush, Hebert Sixto Canaza Sacaca was the first person to be captured for the kidnapping of 17 people.

According to the local media report from Santa Cruz, Camacho was apprehended around noon near the bimodal terminal. He already had an arrest warrant.

The accused was transferred to cells of the Special Force to Fight Crime (Felcc) and last night, when he was due to testify, he decided to avail himself of his right to remain silent before prosecutor Wálter Cisneros, a member of the commission investigating the kidnapping on the property. The Londons.

The accusation against Paulino Camacho was prepared by the prosecutors' commission, made up of Cisneros, Delmy Guzmán and Osvaldo Tejerina, and presented this Saturday before the court on duty, to set a date and time for the precautionary hearing, according to El Deber.

The crimes for which the defendant is accused are: serious and minor injuries, deprivation of liberty, aggravated robbery, possession or carrying of a firearm, attempted homicide and threats.

Related to the MAS ask for the resignation of Senator Padilla, accused of rape

 The Intercultural Women ask that the crime not go unpunished and suggest the expulsion of the blue party parliamentarian. The issue gained strength due to the investigation of unpunished cases from the Government.

After the arrest and transfer to Santa Cruz of Hilarión Padilla Mamani, substitute senator of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) for La Paz, who is accused of rape, from the peasant sector they ask for his resignation and his expulsion from the blue party.

It was precisely the leader of Mujeres Interculturales, Cristina Galeán, the spokeswoman who asked for Padilla's resignation, emphasizing that the act of rape should not go unpunished. "Whoever has committed the crime has to pay for it even though he is from the MAS. Ethically, he has to say 'see you later,'" she told the media.

The leader pointed out that, as members of the political instrument, they are not going to allow this to go without a sentence and pointed out that justice is not reliable, for which they expect a severe sanction against the official senator.

At the moment, the Ethics Commission of the Upper House is evaluating Padilla's situation. “A whole process must be carried out, there are specific business days to meet in the commission. A formal complaint must be filed. The defendant has 15 days to respond to any accusation, the complaint must be accompanied by proper evidence, the commission analyzes and decides whether to admit the complaint. We do not act ex officio,” said the president of the commission, Luis Adolfo Flores (MAS).

The MAS senator has an arrest warrant since October of last year. Despite the fact that the Sixth Investigating Court for Anti-Corruption and Violence Against Women, in Santa Cruz, had requested cooperation from their peers in La Paz, the seat of government did nothing to apprehend the accused.

However, the issue gained strength after the government announced that it would investigate the cases that had gone unpunished and where prosecutors and judges had favored the accused.

According to the complaint, the victim told prosecutors that she had worked in the MAS campaign and was asking for a job. The senator who was friendly with her family asked the girl to travel to La Paz and offered her jobs at the General Personal Identification Service (Segip) or at YPFB.

The victim traveled to the seat of government together with her mother and surprised Padilla Mamani who was waiting alone for the girl. Even so, it was on that trip that he took the opportunity to sexually harass her and the victim returned to Santa Cruz. After a while she was able to relate the events to her mother. So they decided to file the complaint against the MAS senator.

It is expected that in the next few hours, the senator will be seated in the dock and his precautionary hearing will be installed.

Hilarión Padilla is currently being held in the police cells of Santa Cruz, awaiting his precautionary hearing.

Judge suspends trial against Áñez after admitting procedural failures

 After the identification of procedural errors such as the non-compliance with deadlines, the absence of signatures of the titular judges (due to vacation) in the issuance of documents on the process, the claim because the three judges of the room were not visible and the problems in the connectivity In the virtual hearing, the First Anti-Corruption Sentencing Court of La Paz determined yesterday, through a resolution, to annul the order to open the trial against former president Jeanine Áñez and eight former high-ranking officers of the Armed Forces and the Police in the case. called coup d'état II.

The request for the trial to take place in person was also recurrent among the lawyers of the accused, during the virtual hearing that took place yesterday morning.

And while the virtual debate was taking place, at the doors of the anti-corruption court, groups related to the Movement Towards Socialism and the defenders of former president Jeanine Áñez were about to face blows. Police intervention prevented further violence.

On January 18 of this year, an opening order was issued for the trial of the former president and former military and police officials for the crimes of resolutions contrary to the Constitution and the laws, and breach of duties. The lawyers for the defendants observed that the trial must take place within 20 to 45 days of the order to open the trial; however, 17 working days passed, failing to comply with article 343 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

“The First Anti-Corruption Sentencing Court of the capital, without entering into further considerations of a legal order, unanimously decides to annul the order to open the trial dated January 18, 2022,” declared the president of the court Germán Ramos , who did not set a new trial date. The other two judges on the court are Marco Antonio Vargas Yupanqui and Liz Avilez Condori.

Disorder

The hearing for the start of the oral trial was scheduled for 9:00, however, with a delay, a pre-trial hearing was given way, which was characterized by disorder, interference and constant noise that prevented the parties from being heard with clarity. Present at the hearing were judges, lawyers for the accused, and representatives of the accusing party, such as the Public Ministry, the Ministry of Government, the Senate, and others.

The Minister of Justice, Iván Lima, pointed out that the annulment of the oral trial was due to procedural sanitation and indicated that the process is expected to continue in March.

In this regard, Jeanine Áñez's lawyer, Alain de Canedo, observed "gross" irregularities in the process, including that the order to open the trial was issued by a single judge.

Defenders of the former president and related to the MAS fight at the court doors

While the first virtual hearing of the trial against Jeanine Áñez and former military chiefs was taking place, on the street, at the doors of the Departmental Court of Justice of La Paz, there were threats of confrontation between defenders of the former president who consider her to be a "political prisoner" and related to the ruling party that point to her as a "coup leader" due to the 2019 crisis.

Two groups of people arrived at Colón Street in the city of La Paz, near the Anti-Corruption Court, some with signs showing their support and demanding justice for Áñez, and others asking for jail for the former interim president.

Áñez's daughter, Carolina Ribera, arrived at the point accompanied by the president of the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights of Bolivia, Amparo Carvajal, wearing a mask with the text "justice for Jeanine" and a T-shirt with the message "it was succession constitutional".

With her arrival, tension arose between both sides that were getting closer and closer and the policemen got in the middle of the groups, but that was not enough, since the group that asked for "jail" for Áñez began to launch eggs.

Then senators and deputies from the opposition group of We Believe arrived to express their support for Áñez's family in the midst of the tension.

As the pro-government supporters continued to throw things, Áñez's supporters began to withdraw amid heavy police guard.

Lawyers for defendants request face-to-face session

The Minister of Justice, Iván Lima, expressed yesterday after the suspension of the trial against former president Jeanine Áñez that the Government "respects due process" and "respects the decision of the Bolivian Justice" that is acting "independently".

Regarding Áñez's defense request that it be a face-to-face hearing, Lima indicated that it is a point that must be analyzed by the judges, but that the Government will provide "the best conditions" whether virtual or face-to-face.

Jorge Valda, one of Áñez's lawyers, demanded during his intervention the suspension of the hearing due to the connection problems that he himself experienced and due to the "violation of the principle of immediacy".

"We do not know who is behind the screens because we are not seeing it, as my client is not seeing them, as none of the defendants and none of the accusers are seeing them, for which this aspect violates the principle of immediacy," the lawyer said.

Another of Áñez's lawyers, Luis Guillén, said that "when this new order is issued" it is considered that the hearing should be held in person.

For her part, the senator of Creo Centa Rek maintained that it is a "mounted trial" against Áñez and that a trial by ordinary justice does not correspond as she is a former president.

"The government wants to generate this confrontation, it wants to generate a climate of violence, why so much hatred?" Rek questioned.

Áñez, in preventive detention for almost 11 months in a prison in La Paz, is also being prosecuted for another case called "coup d'état I" on alleged charges of sedition, conspiracy and terrorism.  

“Narcotiktokeros”: Felcn follows the tracks of those most involved

 After the apprehension of the main ones involved in events related to drug trafficking that were disseminated through Tik Tok, the Special Force to Fight Drug Trafficking (Felcn) continues with the investigations to identify more involved in this illicit activity.

In previous days, Fortunato G. A. and Elmer F. V. were sent to the San Antonio prison with preventive detention. According to the Prosecutor's Office, both would have participated in the dissemination of controlled substance manufacturing activities, in addition to the transport of controlled substances.

According to the investigations, the recordings were made in the Cochabamba tropics.

The operations continue in this region where six vehicles have also been kidnapped, guarded in the Mobile Rural Patrol Unit (Umopar).

In a report made by Unitel, it was verified that they are two Toyota brand sports cars, one of them with foreign registration CIN 34690 and the other yellow with Bolivian registration 261 FUD.

The third vehicle is a lead-colored Chevrolet station wagon with license plate 3625 ECI. The motorized room that is in the Umopar barracks is a gray Toyota van with Bolivian license plate 4443 BKG.

The fifth vehicle is a Volkswagen car and the sixth is a white Toyota station wagon with no license plate.

The Felcn investigates the origin of these vehicles because they suspect they may be linked to other illegal activities such as smuggling. In addition, a microaspirate will be carried out to determine if drugs were transported in these cars.

Two people have been detained in this case, but the Minister of the Government, Eduardo del Castillo, also reported that another six were arrested for investigative purposes.

Añez declares a hunger strike in the Miraflores prison

 The former president affirmed that she is ill and that she will use her "last strength" to demonstrate that electoral fraud was committed in 2019.

Former president Jeanine Añez declared herself on a hunger strike this Wednesday morning in the Miraflores prison, one day after the start of the trial against her for the Golpe II case.

"Bolivians: today from my cell in Miraflores, La Paz, I make one of the hardest decisions of my life. Today I am going on a hunger strike. I am desperate to see a country without justice or law. I see that my action can help the international community understands that justice belongs to Evo Morales and Luis Arce”, reads a letter written by the former president and read this morning to Página Siete Digital by her daughter, Carolina Ribera.

The former president indicated that she is ill and that she will use her "last strength" to demonstrate that electoral fraud was committed in 2019.

"I am sick, but I will use my last strength to show Bolivia and the world that these macho men of power will not be able to erase from history that they committed fraud. That they were found and resigned escaping from the country."

In addition, in the letter she asks her children to "fight for freedom" and that the country "does not forget her history."

"To my children: Bolivia is beautiful, love it, value it, fight for it and above all fight for freedom, that no tyrant take it away from you. I apologize to God for this action against me, but I hope that he can give me strength to understand its design and that my country does not forget its history”.

Añez she is accused of the alleged commission of the crimes of resolutions contrary to the Constitution and the laws and breach of duties.

In the case for which the trial against her will begin tomorrow, the former commander of the Armed Forces Williams Kaliman, the former commander of the Police Yuri Calderón and six other officers are also prosecuted.