Caracas Chronicles

Photo: Clarín, retrieved.

• Delcy Rodríguez reported that in the last 24 hours Venezuela has registered a new case of COVID-19, 107 cases in total and she said that 31 people have recovered (?), even though international protocols established that after the patient goes two weeks without presenting symptoms, a couple more tests should be done to even talk about recovery. She announced the first death caused by coronavirus: a 46-year-old man in Aragua state. She said that up until Thursday, the survey on the Patria system had been taken by 14,779,644 people and 32,653 have been visited, while 220 patients have been admitted by the Barrio Adentro system to rule out the virus. 
• Nicolás said that the patient who died from coronavirus in Aragua was infected by another person who had traveled from Panama. He also blamed the victim: he said that the patient went to the hospital when it was too late and that the hospital treated him for pneumonia and the patient could have infected his family and the medical personnel who treated him. 
• U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr charged Nicolás with drug trafficking and offered 15 million dollars for his capture. The U.S. government criminally charged Maduro and other high-ranking officers for their alleged involvement in drug trafficking. According to the accusation, Nicolás has allowed “Venezuela to be used as a safe haven for drug trafficking” in the region. Barr said that “under Maduro’s direction, the officers negotiated moving drugs” with the extinct FARC, “one of the world’s largest cocaine producers.” He also accused Nicolás and his associates of “using cocaine as a weapon (…) They have flooded the U.S. with cocaine.” It’s the second time in American history that a head of state is charged (in 1989, they charged Panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega with drug trafficking, he was detained, tried and went to jail in Florida). 
• On March 23rd, Communications Minister Jorge Rodríguez announced the taking of a weapon arsenal in Colombia. On March 25th, he announced another plan for magnicide, linked the arsenal to this plan and accused Clíver Alcalá of being responsible for the operation. On March 26th, the U.S. accused Nicolás and Clíver Alcalá of drug trafficking. 
• Soon after the accusation went public, Clíver Alcalá was interviewed on Colombia’s W Radio and talked about his conspiracy plans, tying Guaidó to the weapons. An hour later, Jorge Rodríguez reiterated the thesis about the conspiracy plan, based on Alcalá’s testimony, who also tweeted four videos to provide more details about his story. Soon after, ANC-imposed attorney general Tarek William Saab announced an investigation for a coup attempt against Clíver Alcalá, Juan Guaidó and their accomplices. Saab is taking the testimony of a man tied to the plans for magnicide as true, and his credibility should be compromised, but in chavismo’s narrative, Alcalá can be a terrorist and a star witness. 
• Nicolás called Donald Trump a “vulgar, miserable, outrageous extremist” and assumed Clíver Alcalá’s testimony as the truth. He said the DEA financed Alcalá and that Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Iván Duque and all of the Colombian oligarchy are behind this. He said that Leopoldo López is using the Spanish Embassy to conspire. All of this comes after he proposed to have a dialogue with the Catholic church and the opposition to face the coronavirus crisis. 
• On the show Código 58 on TVV Noticias, Southern Florida prosecutor Ariana Fajardo Orschan called this day one for the history books. The prosecutor said that they’re studying all options to capture the officers who have been charged. She provided details about how Maikel Moreno ran his money laundering operation in the U.S. She assured the regime has laundered around 450 million dollars in Florida, “money that the Treasury Department has been able to freeze,” using bank accounts of middlemen and corrupt officers. She said that PDVSA contractor Leonardo Santilli is lobbying before American justice for cases of money laundering and bribes. She said that they’ll also charge businessmen Carlos Urbano Fermín, who bribed and paid Tarek William Saab, and former PDVSA lawyer Edoardo Orsoni for receiving millions of dollars for bribes and overpriced contracts. 
• Henrique Capriles Radonski told Nicolás off: “I’m a unity factor. The agreement I propose isn’t with me (…) The agreements are to be made with the legitimate National Assembly.” 
• Juan Guaidó closed Thursday night with a statement pointing out the chavista administration’s responsibilities: “These criminals are guilty of Venezuela suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises in the region, turning us into the worst prepared country to face coronavirus. Those who were supposed to work for the people, have been engaging in corruption, drug trafficking and terrorism for years.” He shut down the possibility of dialogue and demanded that any international funds for Venezuela don’t go through chavista hands. 

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There are over 502,000 cases of coronavirus in the world, over 23,000 deaths and 182 countries have been affected. Wash your hands. Stay home.