Briefing

ECLAC Recommends Guarantees for Basic Incomes in Latin America

With the pandemic, homelessness and poverty will increase and the institution recommends stronger measures for the protection of health systems and regional economies

Naky Soto

Photo: Andalou Agency

  • Maduro, from a pretty patio, gave his staff the opportunity to talk about alleged operatives of disinfection that were carried out as part of a program for embellishing the country, and said that in the last 24 hours they had registered 17 cases of COVID-19, making the total 440 cases now. The new cases are distributed as follows: seven in Aragua state, four in Lara state, three in Sucre state, and one per state in Trujillo, Vargas and Delta Amacuro (its first confirmed). He insisted on his argument for discriminating and incriminating: the cases are “imported” and “we can’t allow getting infected from Colombia and Brazil.”
  • The oil production figures for April in Venezuela, published by OPEC, point out inconsistencies yet again. Even though the country hasn’t seen worse figures in the history of PDVSA, according to the Oil Ministry production increased by 19,000 bpd, for a total of 737,000 bpd, after months of steep collapse and a period of paralysis. Secondary sources report a drop of 38,000 bpd, a total of 622,000 bpd.
  • According to Bloomberg, BCV is pushing foreign currency into banking institutions and the local market to contain the collapse of the bolivar. It’s estimated that this effort is worth 11.3 million dollars and 2 million euros, in cash, sent this month that local lenders will sell to clients. In April, 15 million dollars were transferred. 
  • The president of the National Council of Commerce and Service (Consecomercio), Felipe Capozzolo, said that 90% of businesses in the country have been closed since the state of alarm was issued, and warned this situation is unsustainable. He asked authorities to think about relaxing some measures, allowing free transit and some sectors to go back to work: “We aren’t asking for help to cover our payroll, just to be allowed to work.” 
  • In 2017, PDVSA sought advice to strengthen their position and reputation in the U.S.; Former Miami congressman, David Rivera, was hired and paid $50 million for three months, for “strategic consulting services.” Rivera received other payments from PDVSA subsidiaries, and even then, he didn’t hold his end of the deal. Now PDVSA is suing his firm Interamerican Consulting in Manhattan, says The New York Times.
  • Reuters revealed that the FBI is investigating Mexican and European companies for being involved in the sale of Venezuelan oil, violating sanctions. They’re also collecting information for the Treasury Department, and with it, potentially applying new sanctions. 
  • The ad-hoc board of PDVSA says that the stock in the company Nynas AB, owned by the Venezuelan state, transferred to a fund in Switzerland, wasn’t consulted and it was done behind the nation’s back, which constitutes damage on our patrimony, backed by agents of the regime. 
  • An oil tanker with gas is on its way to Venezuela, said Reuters on Wednesday. The ship sailed from Iran, according to the records of Refinitiv Eikon. 
  • ANC-imposed prosecutor general Tarek William Saab talked about the massacre in the Centro Penitenciario de los Llanos Occidentales (CEPELLA) on May 1st, when 47 inmates were murdered and 75 people were injured. The prosecutor’s office will charge ten people: five National Guard (GNB) officers, four pranes (or “negative leaders” as he called them) and CEPELLA director Carlos Benito Torres Graterol. “GNB guards didn’t execute the necessary strategies to contain inmates,” said Saab, and he was bold enough to add, “they could have used tear gas or fire shots into the air, but none of that happened.” Saab’s version contradicts Minister Iris Varela’s version, who always insisted it was an attempt to escape the prison. 
  • The Navy tweeted about the capture of another mercenary in Petaquirito, Vargas. 
  • The former director of the Criminal Procedural Action of the Public Ministry (part of the Prosecutor’s office), Zair Mundaray, assured that 13 people were murdered in extrajudicial executions on the police action on May 7th at the José Félix Ribas slum. 
  • The president of the Venezuelan Institute for Flesh and Milk (Invelecar), Carlos Albornoz, denounced that Guárico state police arrested Zaraza’s agricultural producer Nobel Pinto when he was protesting against the fuel shortage at a local gas station. 
  • Diosdado Cabello asked security bodies to “pay a visit” to the Academy of Physics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences for their coronavirus model. “It’s an invitation for a tun-tun operation,” he emphasized. 
  • The French Foreign Minister called Nicolás’s representative in Paris, Michel Mujica, to explain the remarkable acts of hostility against their embassy in Caracas, namely, cutting the supply of electricity, water and cooking gas. French Ambassador Romain Nadal is a human rights activist and promoter of culture, an agenda he constantly collaborates with. 
  • Venezuela is still one of the countries not collaborating in the fight against terrorism, according to the U.S. State Department, in a list that includes countries like Iran, North Korea, Syria and Cuba. 
  • The regime denounced the Macuto Bay attack before the UN and the Security Council, saying that mercenaries and terrorists had participated, “trained, organized, financed and protected” by Colombia and the U.S.
  • The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean warned again about the increase of poverty and homelessness in Latin America because of the pandemic, and estimated that it will cause even more inequality. The third report about “Social Challenge in the Time of COVID-19” encourages nations to strengthen social protection measures and basic income to cover basic needs.
  • On Wednesday, Mike Ryan, director of the WHO’s Sanitary Emergencies, said coronavirus may become an endemic virus and “never leave.” In Spain, meanwhile, the preliminary results of the study on serological prevalence were published, and they conclude that only 5% of Spanish citizens have antibodies against the virus, which is why this country is far from herd immunity and the other 95% of the country is still susceptible to the virus. According to the report, the number of real infections surpasses the number of confirmed cases, because even in developed countries they don’t register all the cases. With these numbers, it seems impossible Spain will ever go back to normal, let’s not even talk about us, still in the early phases.
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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