Briefing

The Academy of Sciences Stands Behind Its Report

Despite threats by the regime, who seems to think that truth depends on will, the institution ratifies the importance of considering the serious threat coronavirus poses on the country

Naky Soto

Photo: Milenio

  • The Academy of Sciences rejected Diosdado Cabello’s threat and ratified the report alerting about COVID-19 in Venezuela, which could reach 4,000 cases per day in its peak: we lack the infrastructure, medicine or personnel to face that. 
  • Maduro said last night that 15 new cases of COVID-19 were registered, for a total of 455. They still say the infections are “imported.” It’s concerning how little information there is about the tests done on passengers returning to the country, the quarantine, the trips people make to their final destinations, and the new quarantine they should be doing when they get there. He said that they’d done 535,742 tests and once again increased the number of people who allegedly took the survey on the Patria system. 
  • Farmer Nobel Pinto was released from jail on Thursday evening. He was detained on May 13th for protesting against the gas shortage. The Agrarian Producers and Cattle Farmers Associations of Bolívar state said that due to the gas shortage they weren’t able to travel to solve the infrastructure problems of productive processes. On May 7th, Fedeagro president Aquiles Hopkins, said the sector has been able to only meet 20% of national demand because of the gas shortage. 
  • On Thursday, the Food Ministry announced that 29,000 metric tons of paddy rice arrived in the country for the national agroindustry. 
  • “El Gusano” criminal leader that was fighting against Wilexis for the control of José Félix Ribas slum, in Petare, Caracas, was murdered in an alleged clash with CICPC commissions. 
  • An electric failure in the Tuy 2 system left several sectors of Caracas without water: “Due to a severe electricity fluctuation, the Tuy 2 system which supplies water to the northern and southern feeder stopped completely and isn’t sending water to Caracas,” wrote Jesús Fernández, head of services of El Hatillo Mayorship. Water supply has been lacking in many sectors of Caracas for weeks. An Hidrocapital spokesperson told news site El Pitazo that the failure affected the service for the entire city of Caracas and nearby municipalities. Fifteen hours after the explosion, Interior Minister Néstor Reverol assured the event wasn’t an accident: “It was a provoked explosion, product of a terrorist attack.” One more. 
  • The U.S. is studying measures in retaliation for Iran sending gas to Venezuela. According to Reuters, a high-ranking officer of the Trump administration said that such would be the case and assured that the government is certain that Venezuela is paying Iran with gold. 
  • U.S. chargé d’affaires for Venezuela James Story said they’re working on blocking transport of Venezuelan gold to other countries and stop it from being sold on the market. “Drug trafficking in America is higher than Venezuela’s GDP,” he said. He also confirmed the shipment of barrels of gas to Cuba. “Importing gas from Iran won’t solve Venezuela’s problem in the long term, what would solve it is a political transition.” 
  • Weeks after he signed a contract for 50 million dollars to represent PDVSA, former congressman David Rivera joined chavista businessman Raúl Gorrín in his efforts to convince the U.S. government to abandon its policy in exchange for Nicolás’s negotiated exit. Gorrín has been accused of corruption in U.S. courts, for schemes that have cost Venezuela over 1,000 million dollars. 
  • In a country with a humanitarian emergency, hyperinflation and quarantine without basic services, the official state TV station broadcasts dissertations about what they called “privatization of mercenary terrorism” for an hour. 
  • The WHO warned on Thursday about the consequences coronavirus will have on mental health in the future, mentioning a potential increase in suicide rates or disorders and exhorted governments to work towards psychological attention programs. There have been over 4.4 million cases, 302,115 deaths and over 1.5 million recovered patients, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. is reaching 1.5 million cases, almost one third of cases in the whole world. Brazil is still the Latin American epicenter, with 13,993 deaths and 202,918 confirmed cases. Peru has had 80,604 cases and 2,267 deaths. Mexico has had 4,477 deaths and 42,595 cases. Colombia reached 12,272 cases and 493 deaths.
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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