Caracas Chronicles

Photo: Centro de Comunicación Social, retrieved.

• On Monday, caretaker President Juan Guaidó condemned the presence of guerrilla groups supported by the regime in Venezuela. After participating in the 3rd Hemispheric Conference for the Fight Against Terrorism, in Bogota, Guaidó declared he’s “committed to fighting terrorism” and said he’d cooperate with the lists of terrorist groups by the Eropean Union and the U.S. to “help concrete actions within the framework of international law.” In that same event, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked the world for support in ending Nicolás Maduro’s “tyranny,” which “has an impact not only on Venezuelans but in Colombia and the entire region.” Colombian President Iván Duque asked for “mobilizing more resources from the international community” to aid on our migration crisis and said that the transition to free elections in Venezuela is a duty of every country in the Americas. 
• Imagine any Latin American president announcing that the U.S. ambassador will join his cabinet. Imagine hundreds of opinion pieces expressing their rejection of a measure that undermines sovereignty, that offends the nation and that represents institutionalized foreign intervention. Well, on Monday, after he signed new agreements made on the 20th Intergovernmental Commission between Cuba and chavismo, Nicolás said that the Cuban ambassador will be in attendance during his cabinet’s meetings: “I’ve told our older brother and protector, Raúl Castro Ruz, and he agrees.” 
• Luis Parra, CLAP deputy that, with chavismo’s help, self-proclaimed as speaker of the National Assembly, announced he’s creating a new special commission to investigate where the USAID humanitarian aid resources have gone. Parra wanted to dodge the questions that came after the most recent piece by Armando.Info, saying “it’s a cliché of false accusations. We’re waiting for proof. No more gossip or comments.” Sticking to chavismo’s script, Parra exhorted the preliminary commission of the Electonal Nomination Committee to meet and set a timetable to start this process. 
• Fifteen days after militarizing the Federal Legislative Palace that didn’t allow opposition deputies inside the building while CLAP deputies self-proclaimed, Parra hasn’t shown the list of deputies supporting him. The deadline the TSJ gave them to present their records of January 5th expired and Parra hasn’t said if they delivered it or not, only denying that the list was stolen (as he said on Sunday, January 12th) and repeating the thesis of January 7th: “The vote was made with evident majority, by a show of hands, as it was written that day.” 
• The United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that, at the end of 2019, the first case of yellow fever in 14 years in Venezuela was reported. 
• Doctors without Borders says that Venezuela is number one among Latin American countries with registered malaria cases: in 2019, there were 320,000 cases, especially in the mining areas of Bolívar state. 
• Lawyer Theresly Malavé said on Twitter that, after one month of his forced disappearance, she was able to see deputy Gilber Caro and talk to him: “His health is OK and he remains strong and firm in his convictions.” She didn’t say where they met. 
• To strengthen the “pressure against the dictatorship,” Guaidó announced he’d be traveling to London on Tuesday, on Wednesday he’d be in Brussels to meet with  Josep Borrell, who said that Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya exhorted them to call a meeting of the EU’s Contact Group. González Laya said that if Guaidó “decided to go to Spain,”’ she’d be willing to meet with him. Guaidó will also attend the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland and appointed Tomás Guanipa as the new ambassador to Colombia. 
• The EU assigned 11 million euros to mitigate the impact of the Venezuelan migration crisis in neighboring countries.
• Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno asked for a “viable democratic solution” for the political crisis in Venezuela, because of Nicolás’s “dictatorial and authoritarian” regime.