Caracas Chronicles

Photo: El Impulso, retrieved.

• Juan Guaidó called the march on Tuesday the time “to meet on the streets again.” At 12:15 p.m., local time, the march left the Juan Pablo II Sq. in Chacao to the Federal Legislative Palace. They have other routes in case Nicolás’s forces block them. The deputies intend to debate the National Conflict Sheet that sectors of civil society delivered. If the regime blocks the march, the deputies are prepared to hold the session elsewhere. 
• On Monday morning, the military was deployed on avenues and exhibited their equipment in several cities in the country, allegedly practicing deployment for whenever necessary. A few hours later, the Armed Forces’ Strategic Operational Command said the goal of the deployment was to “consolidate peace and strengthen the country’s political, social and economic stability.” 
• The relationship between stability and armed officers wasn’t specified. Nicolás’s interior minister Néstor Reverol, said he met with all the authorities in charge of security and public order in Caracas, to “strengthen deployment of police forces to guarantee calm.” All of this a day before the opposition march.
• Delcy Rodríguez says there are no cases of coronavirus, and that there are strict controls in our borders, ports and airports, that they have meetings to tackle the virus’ progress and establish liaisons for scientific cooperation. She also said the Health Ministry started implementing mechanisms to prevent the domestic virus spread. The fact that there’s no reported cases multiplies our distrust in a government that hasn’t published figures or epidemic bulletins. Health and life are still political issues, not sanitary. The Nurses’ Collegiate of Caracas said the hospitals appointed for coronavirus outbreak don’t meet the necessary standards to guarantee the safety of personnel or patients. 
• During a PSUV press conference, Diosdado Cabello said there’ll be parliamentary elections this year, no matter the conditions, and blamed the opposition for the fire at the CNE’s storage unit. He also said that opposition deputies are responsible for appointing a new CNE because they’re the majority. 
• The Electoral Nominations Committee was installed with disregard for the law. Eleven deputies and ten members of civil society swore Ángel Medina (Primero Justicia) in, as president of the committee, Julio Chávez (Psuv) as vice-president and José Luis Cartaya as secretary. The ceremony should have taken place before the National Assembly with a two-thirds majority vote. 
• The Inter American Press Society condemned Diosdado Cabello’s accusations against journalists. President Christopher Barnes and the president of the Press and Information Freedom Roberto Rock, condemned the “hostilities and stigmatizing remarks made by the officer, which have the potential to incite violence against journalists.” 
• The CNP (our national journalist’s collegiate body) has registered 39 attacks on journalists, according to a statement where they say that groups of supporters of the government were responsible in the first months of 2020. There’s also been: four arbitrary detentions, seven cases of harassing, five cases of intimidation, five robberies of equipment and two robberies of personal documents. 
• The price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia sank the value of oil and global stock exchange amid the global coronavirus crisis. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, decided to increase production and offer discounts in some markets (Europe, Asia and North America) after Russia rejected the proposal for new cutbacks on Friday. Since there was no agreement, Saudi Arabia protected its position in the market because of the collapse of demand. Russia has international reserves to weather the storm, precisely because of the revenue from oil in the last few years. Venezuela doesn’t, so we don’t know what we’ll have to deal with if the price war keeps going.
• Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said that on his meeting with Trump, they talked about Venezuela and agreed to do whatever they can to establish democracy in our country. Bolsonaro said that Brazil has done well because its Armed Forces didn’t corrupt itself as Venezuelan Armed Forces did. 
• Jorge Arreaza said in front of foreign diplomats that they were denouncing “with time to spare” how there’s a military attack being prepared in the U.S. with the aid of Brazil and Colombia. 
• The head of the Chinese medical team fighting coronavirus, Zhong Nanshan, thinks that the epidemic will go as far as June. China already has a fast kit to detect it in 29 minutes. Europe has over 16,000 cases and 600 deaths. Italy, the country with the worst figures, quarantined 60 million inhabitants, restricting movement and public meetings in the country. They also suspended cultural and sport activities in the rest of the countries in early phases. It’s mandatory to stop the virus, prevent infection and remember that the majority will recover.