Posted on 11/22/2016 2:19:30 PM PST by oblomov
HOOVER, Ala.—Public Enemy No. 1 of Venezuela’s revolutionary government is Gustavo Díaz, a Home Depot Inc. employee in central Alabama.
On his lunch breaks from the hardware section, Mr. Díaz, 60 years old, does more than anyone else to set the price of everything from rice to aspirin to cars in his native Venezuela, influencing the inflation rate and swaying millions of dollars of daily currency transactions.
How? He is president of one of Venezuela’s most popular and insurgent websites, DolarToday.com, which provides a benchmark exchange rate used by his compatriots to buy and sell black-market dollars. That allows them to bypass some of the world’s most rigid currency controls.
Socialist President Nicolás Maduro has accused DolarToday of leading an “economic war” against his embattled government and vowed to jail Mr. Díaz and his two partners, also Venezuelan expatriates in the U.S. The Venezuelan central bank unsuccessfully filed suit against the website twice in U.S. courts. The government has also turned to hackers to launch constant attacks, Mr. Díaz said, forcing the site to use sophisticated defenses.
“DolarToday is the Empire’s strategy to push down the currency and overthrow Maduro,” Vice President Aristóbulo Istúriz said earlier this year, asserting that the U.S.—“The Empire” to the Venezuelan government—was orchestrating the site’s work. “DolarToday is the enemy of the people.” The U.S. State Department declined to comment.
The alleged mastermind of the plot likes to sport a red University of Alabama baseball cap and answers questions at his day job from do-it-yourselfers on what kinds of screws they should use to hang shelves.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
It shows that no matter what our stations are in life, we can all do something to advance human liberty.
Love it.
L
I’d probably carry and wear a bulletproof vest under my Home Depot vest, if I were him.
The only enemy of Venezuelans is that creepy Maduro. He even looks stupid!
If even Barack Obama is giving him a pass, then he must be doing something right.
I hope he doesn’t have family down there that the government knows about...
... They’ll ship them to the US in pieces. And the starving people do it for them for a sandwich.
The Internet: enabling little people to bring down thug and criminal politicians around the world, since 1992.
- Roll Tide -
I. Love. This!
Trump needs to acknowledge this guy
Trump voter!
If they’re gonna extradite him, they better do it fast, because the Venezuelaphile is leaving office soon.
This guy is the script for a great movie.
If Maduro wants to have him extradited then there is a process to follow.
1. Venezuelan embassy in DC makes request to the US State department.
2. State department verifies that an extradition treaty is in place.
3. Case is evaluated by the State department for any foreign policy and legal issues.
4. State Department OLA -> Justice Department OIA
5. OIA -> judicial district US Attorney
6. Arrest warrant
7. US district judge/magistrate review
8. Extradition hearing
9. Appeals process
10. Transfer of person to international venue
11. International venue has jurisdiction.
On #3 is where politically motivated requests for extradition should hit a dead end and cases involving universally serious crimes such as murder where the evidence against the accused is pretty strong tend to sail through.
I go to that Home Depot all the time. I’ll have to look him up and give him an attaboy!
Wow!
Inspirational Awesomeness!
I pray for his safety. Just mentioned by a local B’ham talker Leland Live on WAPI. They want to have him on.
Yes, he should. :)
I think “dolor” is Spanish for “pain”. Is that a pun? Good one if so.
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