The Government of Maduro deprived of freedom to 11 directors of Banesco and intervened the bank for alleged irregularities, but this does not seem to be the full story

The largest bank in Venezuela, Banesco Banco Universal, which manages eight million customers and is responsible for 40% of the country's payment transactions, was intervened by President Maduro for being involved in alleged "irregularities that threaten the Venezuelan currency", as Tarek William Saab, Attorney General of the Republic, denounced.

Leer en español: Venezuela: Las dos caras del Caso Banesco

However, the spiral of opinion seems to go against the version declared by the pro-government. Analysts, journalists and important political figures expressed their discontent with the arrest of 11 directors and the intervention of Banesco. Most agree that the unreasonable and unjustified accusation of the private bank could be a smokescreen to cover the government's blunders of economic mismanagement, which plans to impose a new monetary cone in early June.

The official version

Maduro's government accused Banesco officials of destabilizing the currency, implicating the bank in the "Manos de Papel" operation, an investigation that began in April where it was alleged that Venezuelan cash passes through the border with Colombia, which causes the price of the parallel dollar to rise. Tareck El Aissami, vice president of the Republic of Venezuela, said that 90% of the accounts blocked in the operation were from Banesco.

Maduro announced that in early June the new monetary cone would come IGNORE INTO operation to fight "mafias" that move "trucks to Cúcuta by the bunch" full of cash. "The money that were taken from the country remain in their hands and the Manos de Papel operation is transformed IGNORE INTO burnt hands," said Maduro.

The other side of the coin

Juan Carlos Escotet, director of Banesco bank, said in a statement that "neither Banesco nor the Venezuelan banks benefit from the activity of these accounts". Although the accounts of Banesco may or may not have been involved in illegal acts, the bank provided all the collaboration that the authorities required. Beyond this statement, Escotet stated that the "disproportionate actions" against Banesco could be explained by the implementation of the new monetary cone. "Is that what leads the government to intervene in Banesco? Launching a smoke pot that diverts attention from the question of how to make the monetary cone of its creation a reality?", said Escotet.

Also, Venezuelan journalist Nelson Bocaranda hinted that excessive measures to intervene Banesco could be a distraction to hide the real problem. "Will this not be with Banesco the red formula to divert the attention from the monetary reconversion that they will not be able to fulfill by the mess with the two monetary cones with billions of old bills circulating?", reported Bocaranda on his official Twitter account.

Presidential candidate Henri Falcón also spoke out against the intervention. "The Banesco case is very serious. The government is trying, as always, to blame someone else. Now it turns out that the culprit of inflation that there is no cash on the street is a private bank", denounced Falcón.

Another important organism that showed its solidarity with Banesco was Fedecámaras (Federación de Cámaras y Asociaciones de Comercio y Producción de Venezuela, in Spanish). "The shortage of cash, the parallel dollar and hyperinflation, are exclusive consequences of the economic model, not of the actions of the bank or any private sector", declared in statement from the business association.

Venezuelans live in a constant atmosphere of anguish and confusion with the measures of the Maduro government that does not seem to give a complete version of the facts, behavior that the world has witnessed on previous occasions. In this opportunity, the oficialismo also did not follow the appropriate processes that are stipulated in the law. There were no warnings, no fines, no sanctions. Also, Banesco did not have any insolvency problems, which would be the only way to justify the government intervention. For this reason, it is inevitable that suspicions and rumors arise not only among experts, but also in the common citizen.

Latin American Post | María de los Ángeles Rubio

Translated from "Venezuela: Las dos caras del Caso Banesco"