Caracas Chronicles

Photo: CNN en Español, retrieved.

• Delcy Rodríguez reported that two new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Trujillo state, and two more deaths. There have been 146 confirmed cases and five deaths so far. Why 146 and not 147? Because one of the dead patients was just registered as positive, a 64-year-old with a previous pulmonary obstructive disease.  Another 63-year-old man died in Miranda state, one of the first confirmed cases. Delcy assured us that the number of people who have recovered is 29% out of 146 cases and that five patients are in the ICU. She said that until Thursday 16,883,150 people had taken the survey on the Patria website, which has shown 111,230 “priority” cases and the massive, personalized operation for ruling out the virus has already visited 74,031 people. 
• Pediatrician Alejandro Crespo Freytes shared this number based on the United Nations Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): in 19 days of epidemic in Venezuela, only 1,779 people have been tested, which means only 6 tests per 100,000 inhabitants (93 tests a day). “At this pace, it’ll take 663 days to test 61,739 ‘priority’ cases,” concluded Dr. Crespo. 
• Since Monday, March 30th,  Juan Guaidó has reported the detention of five collaborators of his team and ten other detentions of people close to him. In the last 72 hours, Víctor Silio, Rómulo García, Andrea Bianchi, Demóstenes Quijada and Maury Carrero were arrested, all members of Guaidó’s team except for Bianchi, who is Rafael Rico’s partner, from Guaidó’s touring team. When returning from his international tour, Juan Guaidó’s uncle Juan José Márquez, was detained and charged with illegal weapons and explosive material trafficking; in 2019, Roberto Marrero, director of the National Assembly’s Speaker Office, was arrested.Three days later, lawyer Juan Planchart was detained, accused of conspiracy. In July 2019, came the turn of Erick Sánchez and Jason Parisi, bodyguards for Guaidó’s family.
• Foro Penal denounced that, since March 16th, when the quarantine started, there have been 23 new political prisoners. Up until March 30th, there were 328 political prisoners, including 12 women and a teenager. 
• The National Press Workers Union (SNTP) warned about new threats against journalists by members of Nicolás’s colectivos. Charito Rojas from Unión Radio and Luis Gonzalo Pérez, from NTN24, were threatened over the phone and social media. The SNTP demanded respect and safety from press workers.
• The Press and Society Institute reported that journalist Darvinson Rojas was released after 12 days of arbitrary detention. He was accused of “promoting hate” and “incitement” for publishing information about COVID-19 on social media. 
• The OCHA reported that the international system has formulated and will implement an Inter-sector Preparation and Attention of COVID-19 for Venezuela, to stop the contagion rate.The plan intends to work with the state to achieve, as soon as possible, improvements on the health sector, work on priority public services like water, improve the sanitary conditions of several health centers and develop a mass communications plan. The OCHA explained that they need 61 million dollars for this plan that prioritizes 16 hospitals in Caracas and the states of Anzoátegui, Apure, Bolívar, Falcón, Vargas, Lara, Miranda, Táchira and Zulia, organized by population density, number of cases reported, risk of exposure and operational capacity of humanitarian organizations. 
• A piece by The Times summarizes the episode between the Venezuelan Army and the Portuguese cruise ship Resolute: turns out that the Army ship assumed that the Resolute was a spy ship. That’s why they attacked. Turns out, the cruise ship had a reinforced hull to break the ice in Polar areas, so it was like crashing against a solid wall.
• Spain said that it’s carefully reviewing the proposal for a transition in Venezuela and asked the relevant players to commit to a negotiation that allows them to face the pandemic and return to a democracy through actually fair elections. Germany supported that a Council of State be installed for a transition in Venezuela. 
• The U.S. announced that it’ll lift the sanctions against Rosneft Trading if it’s made clear that the company and its associates cease their involvement in Venezuela. 
• The spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zajarova, said that Vladimir Putin’s government called the proposal by the U.S. for solving the crisis in Venezuela a mockery. 
• Bolivia, Brasil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Peru, all members of the Lima Group, expressed their support for the Council of State proposal as a mechanism for democratic transition. 
• Argentina called the international community to cooperate in the search for a political solution in Venezuela that contemplates institutional renovation and guarantees for democracy and human rights. 

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Over 3,9 billion people, half the world’s population, are already practicing isolation (mandatory or recommended) to slow down the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s been over a million cases in 188 countries and 53,000 deaths. They believe the real number of infections is higher, because many countries only report severe cases or patients who require hospitalization. The U.S., the new epicenter of the pandemic, has surpassed 245,000 infections and 6,000 deaths. Italy remains the country with the most deaths, 14,000 patients. Stay home. Wash your hands.