Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news from the past week. In this issue: El Salvador attracts $1.61 billion in investments for its economic overhaul plan, the Venezuelan government blocks Binance using a state-owned ISP, and the Paraguayan justice system convicts an individual for energy theft crimes linked to crypto mining.
Latam Insights: El Salvador to Receive $1.61 Billion for Economic Overhaul Plan; Venezuelan Government Blocks Binance
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Bukele Announces Private Investment of $1.61 Billion in Third Phase of Economic Overhaul Plan for El Salvador
El Salvador is opening its gates to bring international investors to revamp its financial standing. President Nayib Bukele took it to X to announce the third phase of the economic plan for its second term. Titled “Logistics,” this phase entails making large investments to renew and improve the port infrastructure of El Salvador.
Bukele revealed the largest private investment in the history of El Salvador, a joint venture with Yilport Holding, a Turkish port operating company, that will bring over $1.61 billion to overhaul two of the country’s most relevant ports: Acajutla and La Union.
The investment, which will be managed by the Autonomous Executive Port Commission (CEPA), the national institution in the joint venture, establishes these two companies will manage these ports for the next 50 years. The investment will be made in different phases, starting this year’s end.
Venezuelan Government Blocks Binance, Cutting P2P Market Access for Thousands
The censorship actions of the Venezuelan government have reached the cryptocurrency sector. According to local media, state-owned telecom and internet service provider (ISP) CANTV has blocked access to Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The measure, potentially affecting thousands, has been taken as part of a series of blocks implemented against other services, applying similar actions against Mercado Libre, Signal, Reddit, and others like X.
However, the action against X is wider, given that it also includes other major ISPs in the country, giving it a larger scope.
The situation was acknowledged by Binance, which stated in an email sent to its Venezuelan customers that “like several websites of companies from different segments in Venezuela, including social networks, Binance pages have been facing access restrictions.”
Paraguayan Justice System Achieves Conviction for Power Theft Crime Linked to Cryptocurrency Mining
The Paraguayan government is now prosecuting power theft cases related to cryptocurrency mining. The Paraguayan justice system has achieved its second conviction linked to energy theft associated with cryptocurrency mining activities. Three individuals were initially identified during the investigation. However, Lucas Albert Dos Santos and Rafael Boragina Morais were not charged because they accepted a conditional suspension of the proceedings.
However, Carlos Raul Rojas was sentenced to spend 18 months in prison for the mentioned crime. Rojas owns the dwelling where the illegally connected cryptocurrency mining operation was located, where the National Power Administration located over 1,000 cryptocurrency mining siphoning energy directly from the power grid, bypassing power metering devices. Additionally, three power transformers were also seized by authorities on March 23, 2023, when they raided this location that was masqueraded as a chicken farm.
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