I sent an email to Harvey Beltran concerning his article posted here a few days ago. Here is my email followed by his response as translated by google, and as received in spanish.

Hello Mr. Beltran

I was wondering if you got the sense from your source that Rodolfo Sanz is waiting for the proper time to put in a good word for Crystallex? Do you think that Mr. Sanz wants Crystallex to get the Permit?

Another source who spoke with BNamericas said that, "the minister thinks he cannot go talk to [President Hugo] Chávez to persuade him to grant permits to certain private companies because then he wouldn't be behaving radically and Chávez would not like that."

Thanks for your reporting. It helps shed some light on a very dark situation.

Take care,