Briefing

Respect for Life

Your daily briefing for Tuesday, November 22, 2017. Translated by Javier Liendo.

Naky Soto

Francisco Valencia, head of the Coalition of Organizations for the Right to Health and Life (Codevida), warned yesterday about Venezuelans who are suffering from diseases and can’t find treatment could request humanitarian asylum before the embassies. Without immunosuppressors, the body rejects transplants and people die.

The purpose of yesterday’s march was to demand from the government a humanitarian channel to assist Venezuela with medicine supplies.

Katherine Martínez, head of Prepara Familia, said that the State violates the rights of children and teenagers by not providing the necessary supplies to guarantee their health, restating that transplants are suspended all across Venezuela. Patients require medicines to live and it’s absurd that, even though other States are willing to help us in this crisis, Nicolás refuses to open a humanitarian channel. It is absurd that, on top of having destroyed the national pharmaceutical industry, he prevents aid from accessing the country.

Valencia’s right when he says that “the humanitarian emergency won’t wait for the results of dialogue,” health is a priority, and it doesn’t have the privilege of diplomatic lethargy.

#TodosLosDerechosParaLosNiños (Children’s rights)

Regime cynicism is expressed on any propaganda platform. The Autonomous Institute of the National Council of the Rights of Children and Teenagers (Idena, which depends directly on the President’s Office) said: “On November 20th, 1959, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child which will be enjoyed by all children without any exception of sex, race, language or religion.”

There’s little the government can celebrate about a declaration they don’t consider an obligation, much less amidst a crisis where children are dying of malnutrition and lack of medicines.

Carlos Trapani, general coordinator of the Community Centers for Learning association (Cecodap), pointed out that the Supreme Tribunal of Justice  – after a nine-month delay – denied for a fourth time a measure that sought to guarantee the access to essential medicine for children. Ruling N° 823 is quite simply a death sentence that dooms children.

The Food Basket

The report by the Venezuelan Teachers’ Federation’s Center of Documentation and Social Analysis (Cendas-FVM) says that the food basket rose to Bs. 5,594,119.73 in October. It increased Bs. 1,693,043 since August! People need more than one minimum wage a day to pay for it. The yearly variation (October 2016-2017) was 872.33%, almost 37 minimum wages. The gap between controlled and market prices is 30,900%. Meanwhile, the Central Bank increased monetary liquidity to 64.71 billion bolívares. Todo bello.

Consequences of the escape

Antonio Ledezma said in his event in Madrid: “Get ready, Maduro, because now you’re going to see Venezuelan exiles together across the world to make the truth be felt,” saying that he can do more for the country in exile.

Meanwhile, Metropolitan Mayor Helen Fernández denounced the arrest of three Metropolitan Mayor’s Office employees for allegedly being accomplices in Ledezma’s escape: former officials Carlos Luna and Elizabeth Cárdenas and Finance Manager, Carmen Adarcia.

Authorities also arrested Jairo Atencia, security guard at the building where Ledezma used to live; Nelson Teixera, owner of the company that provides the building’s security camera system and Ignacio Benítez, head of the condominium; as well as the janitor, explaining the true reason for Nicolás’ lightness on this issue.

One of Ledezma’s lawyers, Joel García, said that there were no arrest warrants issued by any courts against mayor’s office employees.

Support for production

The National Federation of Livestock Farmers (Fedenaga) and the Confederation of Associations of Agricultural Producers (Fedeagro) created a joint committee of strategy and supply to find solutions to ease food distribution to communities, via “Local Markets.” Both associations decided to seek support from the international community to provide supplies, spare parts and equipment for the agricultural productive sector, so they appealed to Mercosur and other institutions that could help, assess and implement plans to support and create the necessary conditions to start the recovery of production in 2018.

Human rights violations

The TSJ-in-exile’s Criminal Cassation Chamber announced that they submitted the complaint of a Venezuelan citizen for systematic human rights violations committed by his country’s authorities before the International Criminal Court.

Justice Pedro Troconis, head of the Criminal Cassation Chamber of the National Assembly-appointed TSJ, added that they’re requesting the UN Security Council to consider the possibility of asking Interpol to issue alerts for the people mentioned in the complaint, starting with Nicolás.

Political proposal

The movement Soy Venezuela presented a proposal: a political group that seeks to establish a new opposition alliance after the decline of the Democratic Unity Roundtable.

For lawmaker Richard Blanco, the priority is “toppling the narco-dictatorship and fulfilling the mandate of July 16th,” because this movement will never turn its back “on the mandate of Venezuelans,” he said on July 16th. He thinks that it establishes the route for the country’s recovery. María Corina Machado said that they’ll make “a solid, reliable Venezuela. Soy Venezuela has stated the Consultative Council’s stance for what would be a real negotiation and not a fake dialogue.” Once more, they didn’t say how they plan to do it.

…

The political campaign and the electoral fairs are set to start all over the country on Thursday, the streets are brimming with excitement! It almost replaces the anguish for the savage increase in prices and the bolívar’s depreciation: the black market dollar reached Bs. 81,271 yesterday.

Curious that CNE rectora Tania D’amelio spoke on VTV dressed in red, invoking Jesus Christ – who rules our country, according to her –, and that, consistent with her Catholic zeal, she exploded in criticism against violent political groups, by means of the hate law, of course.

Naky Soto

Naky gets called Naibet at home and at the bank. She coordinates training programs for an NGO. She collects moments and turns them into words. She has more stories than freckles.

Related