Thread by @ASCOA

We are live with #vzCOA!

AS/COA VP Maria Lourdes Gallo is giving opening remarks. She'll be followed by a keynote interview between @ericfarns and Jimmy Story, CDA of the Venezuela Affairs Unit at the State Department.

Watch LIVE: bit.ly/2upKAhO

@ericfarns .@ericfarns: A lot of people want to plan for the “day after” Maduro. And we do too. But we firmly believe you can’t get to the “day after” until you get to the "day of."

As officials have said, it’s time for Maduro to go. The question is how.

#vzCOA

@ericfarns "I judge Venezuela by the amount of hair I’ve lost. … It’s been a heck of a year. Not even talking about 2019, just this year."

— Jimmy Story, CDA of the Venezuela Affairs Unit at the U.S. State Department, speaking at #vzCOA

@ericfarns Story calls the events of January 5, 7, and 15 as "watershed" moments that reveal "the fact of a completely unmasked dictatorship. The fact that [Maduro] felt obligated to go so hard against the election of the National Assembly president shows desperation to me."

#vzCOA

@ericfarns "There are a lot of smart people in this room. Not one of you thought Evo Morales was gonna leave when he did. That the Berlin Wall would fall when it did. … So I’m optimistic things can change in Venezuela," says Story, adding he's learned a lot watching The Sopranos. #vzCOA

@ericfarns "I have to give a shoutout to the Colombian government. They have done a tremendous job supporting Venezuelans at a time when they’re trying to get out of a civil war with the FARC," says Story. #vzCOA

Hear State's CDA of Venezuelan Affairs Unit LIVE: as-coa.org/events/venezue…

@ericfarns “[The Maduro regime] is a criminal organization masquerading as a government. And doing a poor job of that.”

—Jimmy Story, chargé d'affaires of the U.S. State Department's Venezuela Affairs Unit, speaking at #vzCOA with @ericfarns

@ericfarns Story: I'm amused when I see charges of "titere," because who's in charge of what? I see Cubans and Russians running things in Venezuela.

@ericfarns : I feel the same way when I see #HandsOffVenezuela. There is imperialism in Venezuela, but it’s not coming from the U.S.

#vzCOA

@ericfarns "I don’t think anybody believes Nicolás Maduro can solve the problems of Venezuela. I don’t think Cilia Flores believes that."

—Jimmy Story, chargé d'affaires of the U.S. State Department's Venezuela Affairs Unit

Watch his remarks at #vzCOA LIVE now: as-coa.org/vzcoa

@ericfarns Now up at #vzCOA, a panel discussion, L to R:

@Guillermo_Z of AS/COA (moderating)
@BEABOR of @_CEPAZ
@fmonaldi of @BakerInstitute
@JOSEG333 of @GCGAdvisors

Watch LIVE now: as-coa.org/vzCOA

@ericfarns @Guillermo_Z @BEABOR @_CEPAZ @fmonaldi @BakerInstitute @JOSEG333 @GCGAdvisors Right now, Venezuelan civil society is helping more people than the United Nations. All the resources are going to the consequences of the problem, which is humanitarian, and not the source of the problem, which is political.

— @BEABOR of @_CEPAZ at #vzCOA

@ericfarns @Guillermo_Z @BEABOR @_CEPAZ @fmonaldi @BakerInstitute @JOSEG333 @GCGAdvisors One thing the media hasn’t covered, says @fmonaldi of @BakerInstitute, that's as important in the decline of oil exports and production:

The decline in the price. The Venezuelans are giving a discount of as much as $30 per barrel.

#vzCOA

@ericfarns @Guillermo_Z @BEABOR @_CEPAZ @fmonaldi @BakerInstitute @JOSEG333 @GCGAdvisors The only people making money are intermediaries like Rosneft. The Russians are getting paid right now. I don’t think the Chinese are getting paid based on the numbers I’m seeing.

— @fmonaldi of @BakerInstitute, on Venezuelan oil

Watch #vzCOA LIVE: as-coa.org/vzCOA

@ericfarns @Guillermo_Z @BEABOR @_CEPAZ @fmonaldi @BakerInstitute @JOSEG333 @GCGAdvisors Hyperinflation not only destroys the financial networks, but the social fabric. Reconstruction in Venezuela is gonna take decades.

— @JOSEG333 of @GCGAdvisors at #vzCOA

@ericfarns @Guillermo_Z @BEABOR @_CEPAZ @fmonaldi @BakerInstitute @JOSEG333 @GCGAdvisors @fmonaldi of @BakerInstitute says they believe it’ll take +$120 billion of investment to add 200 million barrels to production in the next 8–10 years.

That’s a chunk of money for a country that has +$140 billion of debt and a cashflow of less than $10 billion, he says.

#vzCOA

@ericfarns @Guillermo_Z @BEABOR @_CEPAZ @fmonaldi @BakerInstitute @JOSEG333 @GCGAdvisors @JOSEG333: Maduro danced salsa as soldiers repressed protestors. How do you live w/that type of cruelty? How do you negotiate w/criminals?

I was kidnapped in Caracas in 2009. We negotiated my release w/a gun to my head. Negotiating like that is possible but [stressful]. #vzCOA

@ericfarns @Guillermo_Z @BEABOR @_CEPAZ @fmonaldi @BakerInstitute @JOSEG333 @GCGAdvisors And now to close #vzCOA, @ericfarns interviews Ambassador Michael Grant, assistant deputy minister for the Americas in Department of Global Affairs of Canada @MGrant_Canada.

Watch their discussion LIVE: as-coa.org/vzCOA

@ericfarns @Guillermo_Z @BEABOR @_CEPAZ @fmonaldi @BakerInstitute @JOSEG333 @GCGAdvisors @MGrant_Canada "Democracy was stolen from Venezuela. Human rights were stolen from Venezuela. Our common objective is to get that back. Venezuelans deserve that."

— Amb. @MGrant_Canada at #vzCOA

@ericfarns @Guillermo_Z @BEABOR @_CEPAZ @fmonaldi @BakerInstitute @JOSEG333 @GCGAdvisors @MGrant_Canada We truly believe that Maduro is illegitimate and Guaidó is legitimate. But simply repeating that won’t make it true. We need to find a way to find a dialogue with China and Russia and, frankly, Cuba.

— Amb. @MGrant_Canada at #vzCOA #Venezuela #6Feb

@ericfarns @Guillermo_Z @BEABOR @_CEPAZ @fmonaldi @BakerInstitute @JOSEG333 @GCGAdvisors @MGrant_Canada I unfortunately don’t believe democracy will come about through a big bang. I think it’ll be incremental change. It’ll take hard work, compromise, and political leadership, especially from within Venezuela.

— Amb. @MGrant_Canada at #vzCOA #Venezuela #6Feb

@ericfarns @Guillermo_Z @BEABOR @_CEPAZ @fmonaldi @BakerInstitute @JOSEG333 @GCGAdvisors @MGrant_Canada And that wraps up #vzCOA! Many thanks to all our speakers and participants tonight in Miami, as well as those who joined us via webcast across the globe.

You can watch the full video of the event here: as-coa.org/events/venezue…