Corruption off limits on Venezuelan Internet

 Alek Boyd is a UK-based Venezuelan who blogs about corruption in  Venezuela on infodio.com. On 14 January, he posted the details of a  lawsuit that a former US ambassador to Venezuela has filed against the  partners of Derwick Associates, a Venezuelan firm accused of bribing  Venezuelan officials to get contracts in the energy engineering sector.  Since then, Boyd’s blog has been blocked in Venezuela. 

 Updated on 8 April 2014: Derwick Associates, the firm targeted in Alek  Boyd’s blog post, sent Reporters Without Borders a formal response five  days after we posted our article. We are posting the response here.  Derwick Associates says it has nothing to do with the blocking of  Boyd’s blog and that none of its shareholders has any links with the ISP  Inter. When contacted by Reporters Without Borders, Boyd stood by his  information, according to which members of Derwick Associates have investment links with Inter. His blog continues to be blocked within Venezuela. 

 Online censorship is an established fact, which is proved by the  approximately 500 web pages and sites that most Venezuelan Internet  users currently cannot access,” said Carlos Correa, the head of Espacio Público, an NGO that defends the right to information, on 17 March on Radio Éxitos in response to the question “can the government really censor Internet content?” 

In Venezuela, Internet access is provided by a handful of companies:  CANTV, Inter, Venezolana de Telecomunicación and Movilnet (a CANTV  subsidiary specializing in mobile telephony). Nationalized in 2007,  CANTV is the country’s main ISP, with 80% of Internet service  subscriptions. Its direct access to the data provided by the Simón  Bolívar national satellite, placed in orbit under the Ministry of  Science, Technology and Innovation’s supervision in 2008, gives the  Venezuelan authorities a unique tool for monitoring and controlling  online information. 

On 12 March, which ironically was World Day Against Cyber-Censorship,  the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL) notified all  Venezuelan ISPs that they would henceforth have to comply with orders to  block web pages with content deemed to be contrary to the government’s  interests. This just officialized a practice already in place. The  Venezuelan authorities have long had no compunction about censoring  unwelcome information. On 13 November, they issued an order to censor around 50 websites that cover parallel exchange rates and the country’s soaring inflation. 

On 14 January, Alek Boyd, a London-based Venezuelan blogger  specializing in corruption in Venezuela, posted an article about the  lawsuit that Otto Reich, a former US ambassador in Venezuela, has filed  in New York against the leading partners of Derwick Associates, a  Venezuelan company he accuses of bribing Venezuelan government officials  in order to secure public contracts in the energy engineering sector. 

As a result of this story, which was also covered by the websites of several well-known international media such as the  and Huffington Post,  Boyd’s blog, infodio.com, disappeared from the Venezuelan Internet.  Inter, an ISP whose shareholders include Derwick Associates, was the  first to block access to infodio.com shortly after Boyd posted his blog  entry. The other telecom companies (Movistar, Digitel, Supercable and  the state-owned CANTV) soon followed suit. 

Boyd has been posting reports, compromising documents and opinion  pieces from Britain since 2002. Although protected by distance from his  country of origin, he has often been the target of threats, the  frequency and violence of which have increased since a wave of street  protests got under way in Venezuela in February. He also posts  information sent to him by other Venezuelan bloggers who are scared to  post it themselves in Venezuela.

 Ever since the allegations about Derwick Associates began, many netizens and journalists have received letters from its lawyers  ordering them to remove articles about the company from their websites  and accusing them of defaming its owners and shareholders. But Boyd, who  continues to cover the story, has not received any official letter from  Derwick Associates or its lawyers. 

Reporters Without Borders is reproducing Boyd’s blog post in full,  and the lawsuit that former US ambassador Reich filed against Derwick  Associates. 

Otto Reich files amendment in lawsuit against Derwick Associates

Submitted by Alek Boyd on Tue, 14/01/2014 - 09:58 

 It doesn't look pretty for Derwick Associates. Not pretty at all.  Readers may recall that former U.S. President's Special Envoy for the  Western Hemisphere, Otto Reich, filed a RICO lawsuit against Leopoldo  Alejandro Betancourt Lopez, Pedro Trebbau Lopez and Francisco D'Agostino  (of Derwick Associates's fame) in New York in July last year. When  reading the claim the first time I thought "this is a looong shot..." As  perhaps the blogger who's written more about Derwick Associates, I saw  there were a number of claims that were very odd, not least of which  that Francisco D'Agostino, a Bolichico in his own right connected to  Boligarch-in-chief Victor Vargas, was part of Derwick Associates. I have  gotten all registry documents related to Derwick Associates, in USA,  Venezuela, Panama, Barbados, Spain and nowhere had I seen D'Agostino's  name mentioned. Now in an amended claim filed yesterday, Reich argues  that D'Agostino has been actively doing Derwick's bidding, and has  information that only someone with intimate knowledge of Derwick's  operations could have access to. Namely, D'Agostino got in touch with a  "Forbes writer", to whom he sent "several text messages" and made  "telephone calls", after "at least a decade" of not talking/seeing each  other, and "attempted to dissuade the Forbes writer from publishing the  piece" about Derwick Associates in which he was meant to be working on.  The "Forbes writer" was contacted by D'Agostino, after the former had  sent an email to ProEnergy Services (most probably Derwick's main and  most important subcontractor) asking about its work in Venezuela and  relation with Derwick. Further, D'Agostino, Reich claims, offered the  "Forbes writer" Derwick's financials, contracts with the Venezuelan  government and with ProEnergy Services. Now, how on earth could  D'Agostino have that information, if he is not a part of Derwick  Associates? 

 But things get more interesting. D'Agostino invited the "Forbes writer"  to dinner in L.A. and offered to bring Leopoldo Alejandro Betancourt  Lopez (Derwick's main man) along. Interesting, eh? A man who claims to  have nothing to do with Derwick, calls a "childhood" friend, who he has  not seen or spoken to in "at least a decade", and offers to reveal  confidential information about Derwick, and bring Derwick's CEO to a  meeting, only after this friend of his started making enquiries, as a  "Forbes writer", to Derwick's main U.S. partner ProEnergy Services. Why?  Mind you, if what Reich's claim is true, how will D'Agostino explain  his interest in preventing publication of an article about Derwick's  overprice scandal in Venezuela? 

 But then, the amended claim fingers FTI Consulting and Sunset Reputation  for "conduct[ing] investigative-type... and reputation management"  services. Readers of this site are well aware of FTI and its long time  relations with the worse scum of Venezuela, but Sunset Reputation,  apparently Brandon Hopkins' one-man operation, has been pumping out a  lot of benign PR BS on behalf of Derwick. 

 Derwick Associates has also retained Volkov Group, a lobbying firm  headed by Michael Volkov who blogs, wait for it, "corruption, crime and  compliance". What a f%$£ joke this is. 

 And guess who has made an appearance in all this imbroglio? David Osio  and his "bank", as well as RaFa the hacker. It's all one big, happy,  thuggish, Boliburgeoise family, being helped in its criminal enterprise  by none other than JP Morgan. 

 Hilary Kramer and her stupid white wash attempt also got a mention. 

 In previous communications related to the lawsuit, Derwick has claimed  that New York courts haven't got jurisdiction over its affairs. However,  in what can prove to be a lethal counter argument, Reich is showing  that the bolichicos filed a lawsuit against Banco Venezolano de Credito  (BVC), Oscar Garcia Mendoza et al in New York, and one in Florida, in  September 2012. So, New York courts had jurisdiction to entertain the  spurious allegations made by Derwick against BVC in 2012, but don't have  jurisdiction to hear claims against them in 2013? Again, what a  pathetic bunch of imbeciles. Only in Venezuela can such people become  multibillionaires. It's going to be truly fascinating to learn what sort  of BS they'll come up with. I'd venture a prediction: sooner, rather  than later, they'll pay up to avoid further complications and exposure  into its dodgy activities.