Caracas, Venezuela 2011

 Overview:

Venezuela is a country of striking natural beauty, and one of the most highly-urbanised countries in Latin America.  It has some of the world's largest proven oil deposits as well as huge quantities of coal, iron ore, bauxite and gold. Yet many Venezuelans live in poverty, often in shanty towns, some of which sprawl over the hillsides around the capital Caracas.  Former president Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013, styled himself a champion of the poor during his 14 years in office, pouring billions of dollars of Venezuela's oil wealth into social programs.  But the government of his successor, Nicolas Maduro, has had to struggle with plummeting oil prices and an economic and political crisis that has left Venezuela in a state of near collapse.  He was re-elected president for a second six-year term in May 2018, in a poll marred by an opposition boycott and claims of vote-rigging. 

Source:  BBC Country Profile

American Embassy Caracas:

The inspection took place in Caracas, Venezuela, between October 13 and November 3, 2011.  We had the same team as in Nassau with the addition of Roman Zawada (DS) who was with me on the Yemen/UAE inspection.  Complicating diplomatic relations, Venezuela withdrew the agreement for the last U.S. proposed ambassador.  The embassy had been without an ambassador since July 2010 and was short staffed in key areas.  A chargé arrived two days after us. Staffing is complicated by a preponderance of first-tour, entry-level officers and inexperienced LE staff, because of attrition caused in part by low local salaries. Both permanent staff and temporary duty support visits have been restricted by Venezuelan visa issuance, which impinges on mission operations.  The Management Officer was Cecilia Elizaondo-Herrera.  The FMO position had been vacant for over a year and partially filled with short-term intermittent TDY’ers including FMO, Tom Rathman and Nathan St. John from WHA/EX who left the end of September.  The HRO, Eric Anderson, was Acting FMO when the OIG arrived.  James “Jimmy” Story is the Ambassador for the Venezuela Affairs Unit, located at the United States Embassy in Bogota, Colombia. Ambassador Story was confirmed by the Senate on November 18, 2020.           

Findings:

Given the lack of adequate front office oversight, prolonged staffing shortages in key management positions, weak section leadership, and lack of a customer service combined to produce significant deficiencies in support.  We had 71 formal and 41 informal recommendations in our final report, and 26 of the formals were from me.  The most I ever had.  Exchange rate anomalies affect many parts of embassy operations. The official rate was 2.6 to the $U. S. but the parallel rate was 8.3 and the embassy exchanged dollars at of 4.3 to $1.00.  The embassy urgently needed to clarify the use of an alternative exchange rate and also denominate locally employed (LE) staff salaries in U.S dollars.  Likewise with the Cost-of-Living Adjustment for FSOs being at 50%, the embassy needed to conduct a retail price survey and submit it to the Office of Allowances.

The embassy Caracas needed to implement uniform service standards with clear deadlines for service delivery and have the International Cooperative Administrative Support Services (ICASS) update the TDY policy and include procedures for charging temporary duty visitors for these services. There were issues with the housing pool to minimize the use of temporary quarters for arriving employees and ensure the implementation of comprehensive plan for short-term lease routine maintenance and repair plan.  The bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, needed to update and implement its comprehensive space plan for the chancery. The motor pool section should implement a plan to dispatch motor pool vehicles by radio, train drivers on a systematic, daily preventive maintenance routine, using the daily vehicle use form, and spot-check preventive maintenance regularly.  The Management Officer was also allowing family members to work and essentially volunteering their services. There were a lot of findings and recommendations in the areas of routine financial management and human resources too numerous to mention here.

Highlights:

We didn't out very much in Caracas due to security but did manage an excursion out to the Santa Theresa distillery for a tour and tasting.  Afterwards we stopped at a Venezuelan steak house for some excellent grilled meat.

The U.S. Embassy in Caracas was built in 1995 as a fortress to withstand terror attacks.  The five-story, 100,000 square foot structure sits atop a hill and the American flag is visible throughout much of the capital.  The granite-clad building with one level underground was designed and constructed to withstand a terrorist attack.

Caracas Skyline

The National Pantheon of Venezuela is a final resting place for national heroes. The Pantheon was created in the 1870s on the site of the ruined Santísima Trinidad church from 1744 on the northern edge of the old town of Caracas, Venezuela. The entire central nave is dedicated to Simón Bolívar, with the altar's place taken by the hero's bronze sarcophagus, while lesser luminaries are relegated to the aisles. The national pantheon's vault is covered with 1930s paintings depicting scenes from Bolívar's life, and the huge crystal chandelier glittering overhead was installed in 1883 on the centennial of his birth. The Pantheon was reopened in 2013 after a 3 year restoration

Santa Theresa Rum Distillery

Tour of the sugar cane fields, grinding and sugar mills, fermentation pots and distillation vats before being aged in oak casks for 4 to 35 years. 

The products of the Santa Theresa Dum Distillery most notable 1796