Briefing

Latin America Could Surpass Europe's Death Rate

The future looks grim for the region Venezuela is a part of, because our response capacity is inferior to Europe’s. Meanwhile, time is wasted, instead of finding solutions

Naky Soto

Photo: Diario AS

  • On Tuesday, Nicolás signed the renewal of the State of Alarm Decree for another month, a couple of days after he renewed the state of emergency. He said that in the last 24 hours they only confirmed one case of COVID-19, for a total of 423 cases. It’s in Aragua state, and the patient got it because “she’s out on the streets too much and came in contact with the virus.” If this is true, there are more asymptomatic patients and a relatively serious government would be running mass testing operations. He celebrated the arrival of supplies from China, among which he said are 40,000 PCR tests (Jorge Arreaza said 150,000), protective gear and infrared thermometers, among other supplies. 
  • The National Assembly approved the Law of Planning and Functioning of the Comptrollership Council, an institution to control approved expenses of Venezuelan assets abroad. The law contains 40 articles and it regulates the use of resources that will be managed by several institutions of the caretaker presidency, including the AN. In their virtual session on Tuesday, the president of the Indigenous Peoples Commission, Gladys Guaipo, warned about the risks for communities in Bolívar and Delta Amacuro because of coronavirus. The data presented in the debate regarding the national electricity system are devastating. The best way to summarize it: it wouldn’t survive reactivation of the already depleted productive apparatus we had before quarantine. 
  • The National Civil Aeronautics Institute (INAC) extended restriction of private and commercial flights until June 12th because of the pandemic. 
  • In the Global Nutrition Report 2020, “the child malnutrition profile in Venezuela couldn’t be completed because the institutions in charge haven’t release data since  2009,” said Susana Raffalli and she added that those who hide the numbers of child malnutrition are robbing children of the opportunity to be saved, because without information, aid isn’t prioritized. 
  • Colombian Immigration reported that over 52,000 Venezuelans have returned to their country from Colombia amid the coronavirus pandemic. “Venezuela has a very limited capacity to receive its citizens and that’s a topic out of Colombian authorities’ hands,” said Juan Francisco Espinosa, Colombian Immigration director. 
  • Swedish refinery Nynas AB reported that the OFAC revoked sanctions on Tuesday, after the company restructured ownership. Nynas AB explained that PDVSA reduced its participation from 50% to 15%, selling 35% of its stocks to an independent Swedish foundation. Deputy Elías Matta said: “In an operation that wasn’t transparent at all, the regime ceded 35% of PDVSA stock in Nymas AB to a Swedish foundation. How much did the regime get? This agreement is void, it violates Article 150 of our Constitution.”
  • Jorge Rodríguez assured for the 90th time in a week that Juan Guaidó allegedly signed a contract to “murder Nicolás” and all the authorities, with the goal of “dismantling the state” (which has already been dismantled). He challenged Guaidó to undergo a graphology test to verify if the signature in the contract (Patricia Poleo’s version) is his signature or not. In today’s episode, he presented Antonio Sequea’s testimony, who’s been called chavismo’s mole and assured that the U.S. knew of the suicide mission and that putting a price on Maduro’s capture was the greenlight to start it. Rodríguez added that in March, “the White House activated the operation” after Iván Simonovis met with Donald Trump, in an act for substituting Clíver Alcalá Cordones for Simonovis within the structure of the DEA, imagine that! He also showed Jonathan Franco Quiñones’s video. It’s worth mentioning all of the detainees’ narrative skills, as if they had been waiting to be detained to tell their stories. 
  • With the information available to the public, CNN determined that Nicolás’s regime infiltrated Operation Gedeón before it was launched. They based it on the amount of detail provided by Jorge Rodríguez about the operation to seize weapons in Colombia on March 23rd, including mentioning Robert Colina Ibarra (AKA Pantera) and three American citizens. In addition, six weeks ago when the Department of Justice announced narco-terrorism charges against Nicolás and other officers, a Colombian radio station called Clíver Alcalá for his reaction and he took advantage to say he was responsible of the shipment and added: “It was part of the context of liberating Venezuela, in a contract signed by President Guaidó and American advisors. They were going to give him to Pantera.” CNN says that Colina Ibarra died in circumstances that haven’t been clarified and highlighted that nine days later, we still don’t know the names of eight other men murdered in Macuto.
  • Russian Foreign minister Serguéi Lavrov said that Russian secret service personnel could support Nicolás in the investigation of Operation Gedeón if he were to request it. Lavrov said that the support would comprise military cooperation. It must be because the Russian Special Forces officers that are already in the country aren’t enough. 
  • Representative Eliot Engel (D), president of the House of Representatives’ Foreign Relations Commission demanded answers from the Department of State regarding the alleged incursion to overthrow Nicolás. “The best and only way to go is total transparency, so we can focus on alleviating the humanitarian crisis and pave the way for the return to democracy,” said Engel. 
  • There have been over 4.2 million COVID-19 cases in the world, 291,487 deaths and 1.4 patients have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University. Brazil has had 881 deaths in the last 24 hours, a total of 12,400 deaths and 117,589 cases. Colombia has had 12,272 cases and 493 deaths. Latin America could become the epicenter of the pandemic, said the New York Times today explaining that the deaths have doubled in Lima (close to Paris’ worst month); tripled in Manaus, as it did some time ago in London and Madrid; in Guayaquil, the increase is comparable to the one in New York.
Briefing

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.

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