Not even small business owners have escaped the harsh repression perpetrated by the Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela.
According to reports published by the Argentine website Infobae and by The New York Timessmall traders and local businesses that, sometimes by mere coincidence, host figures from the opposition to Chavismo, are subsequently also being visited by legal representatives of the Caracas regime. These visits always bring some accusation to legitimize punishments, such as closure, confiscation or the imposition of fines.
The most symbolic case involved the small restaurant owned by Corina and her sister Elys Hernández, in the Venezuelan community of Corozo Pando, with just 600 inhabitants.
The sisters welcomed opposition leader María Corina Machado to their establishment in May, who, with her team, stopped by to buy food while traveling to a rally.
When they found Corina Machado, the sisters were very happy, took photos and made videos. The images went viral on social media and were enough for inspectors from Venezuela’s National Integrated Customs and Tax Administration Service (Seniat) to go to the restaurant and close it down due to “irregularities.” Seniat said that the establishment was not declaring its taxes, nor did it have accounting records.
The Hernández sisters were outraged by what happened, which took away their only form of support and occurred precisely after seeing the opposition leader disqualified by Caracas.
In fact, they stated that the restaurant had irregularities in tax matters, but said that they never had the opportunity to resolve the problem because the establishment sells little and does not make enough profit, especially in the midst of the crisis scenario in which the country finds itself. .
“First time in our lives that Seniat inspects us. The only restaurant they are closing is this one, just this one. There are three restaurants, there are bakeries, there are liquor stores, warehouses, which also do not have the documents and are closing our restaurant,” they said in May, at the moment when officials from the Chavista regime arrived on the scene to close it.
In recent months, Maduro has tried in every way to target his opponents, either directly or indirectly, such as by punishing those who support them. The Chavista regime has increased repression against ordinary citizens, mayors and members of the opposition campaign.
The Hernández restaurant was not an isolated case. According to information from InfobaeChavista repression has already reached hotels, truck drivers and even a fisherman who offered transportation to Corina Machado.
The case involving the fisherman was the most serious, as he had his vessel confiscated by the regime and even had to leave the country, leaving behind a son and his wife.
Even in the face of such attacks, several polls indicate that the candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), the main opposition coalition, Edmundo González Urrutia, remains the favorite to assume the presidency, a position that Maduro will try to maintain at all costs in the dispute that should take place on July 28th, under little international observation and great risk of fraud.
According to information from the Teams, the Hernández sisters had their restaurant, called Pancho Grill, closed for around 15 days. Throughout this period, they decided to continue selling their food, facing the challenge of cooking outdoors and counting on the solidarity of those who heard about the story and went to the location.
While they were preparing their food outside the restaurant, the Teams mentioned that the sisters created and began selling the so-called “empanadas of freedom” (stuffed and crunchy pastries), a way of challenging Chavista authoritarianism.
Earlier this month, the Hernándezes managed to reopen the establishment, which the family has owned for 20 years, after regularizing it by paying a fine of US$350 (US$1,900) to the regime, partly paid for with help received from donors.
#Venezuela #cracks #small #businesses #host #opponents