Briefing

The Number of Infected Doctors and Health Workers Increases

This is as expected, since not even in developed countries health workers have enough individual protection, compared to Venezuela where there’s no running water in hospitals

Naky Soto

Photo: BBC

  • In the last 24 hours, they confirmed 75 new cases of COVID-19 in Venezuela, for a total of 824. Nicolás separated the cases in local (three), “imported” (67) and from contact with travelers (five), and in this category, four are doctors. “I don’t know why doctors are getting it,” he said (!). The fact that chavismo emphasizes the “imported” cases, only favors discrimination against people who are returning to the country. 
  • Deputy José Manuel Olivares said that the numbers of doctors and nurses infected with COVID-19 is increasing. He said that seven doctors tested positive for coronavirus after rapid-response tests in a hospital in Vargas and that there are five hospitalized residents in Lara. Olivares added that chavismo only mentions Cuban health personnel. 
  • Dr. Julio Castro, infectologist, explained to Nicolás why doctors are infected: they lack the necessary protection to avoid direct contact with the virus; they lack water and soap in hospitals and they aren’t prepared to deal with COVID-19 (even though the government says they are). CDIs (a type of ambulatory care center)  are even less prepared. Castro mentioned three more reasons: patients don’t get a diagnosis, doctors don’t get water in their homes and there could be more cases than the numbers suggest.
  • Even though Zulia governor Omar Prieto denounced a coronavirus outbreak in Maracaibo’s Las Pulgas market, it wasn’t mentioned in the official report. 
  • Nicolás said that Colombian president Iván Duque ordered to infect Venezuelans who are returning to the country, according to the intel he’s received, and assured they have confirmed this with testimonies of people who returned. As usual, he didn’t show any evidence. According to him, migrants were “put on buses, with bags of bread.” He made the most of his theories by legitimizing a curfew at the border, and the two-week quarantine for migrants, “because we won’t let Iván Duque’s evil infect Venezuela.” 
  • The IACHR condemned Diosdado Cabello’s threats against the Academy of Physics, Mathematical and Natural Sciences for warning about the potential under-reporting of tests and cases of COVID-19. They expressed their concern for the integrity of people in the Academy and highlighted the fundamental role of knowledge and science during the pandemic. 
  • The Sucre neighborhood in Barquisimeto (Lara state) has been harassed by the FAES, which, in addition to blocking peaceful protests, has illegally raided homes and detained at least five citizens. Provea decried these actions. 
  • Chavismo’s spokespeople said they were outraged at AT&T’s decision to cease DirecTV operations in Venezuela. They delivered a document to the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (?) condemning a decision they called “arbitrary, unilateral, unconstitutional and illegal.” They demand the service be re-established in the name of freedom of expression and access to information (!).
  • “We’re worried about Venezuelans’ security, and also the security of Latin America, because of this attempt of Iranian presence in Venezuelan soil,” said Juan Guaidó, referring to 17 flights that the sanctioned Mahan Air has done to Venezuela, and the expected arrival of Iranian oil tankers Fortune, Forest, Petunia, Faxon and Clavel. He added his team believes that chavismo is paying Iran with blood gold from the Orinoco Mining Arc. Nicolás’s Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino López, said on Tuesday that the Iranian ships will be guarded by the Armed Forces to “welcome them and tell the Iranian people: thank you for the solidarity.” The logic indicates that the ships will pass, because sanctions don’t prohibit importing gas, but they question the arrival of additives that would allow PDVSA to refine its own gas. Chavismo doesn’t explain why Iran, a sanctioned country, has the capacity to produce gasoline.
  • U.S. Undersecretary of State Michael G. Kozak said that Nicolás needs help from Iran to cover his shortcomings. Iván Simonovis assured that Mahan Air has collaborated in installing a center of operations in Cabo San Román, to monitor communications and that if the regime “has to become an ally to the worst criminals in the world” in order to remain in power, it’ll do it. 
  • Russia and the U.S. exchanged serious accusations in the UN Security Council. Russia focused on the alleged incursion through Macuto Bay. The U.S. didn’t back down and assured that this “alleged coup” is a chavista distraction to cover up their terrible management and their crimes. “The only countries that are apparently violating Venezuelan sovereignty are Russia and Cuba, sending military officers and mercenaries into the country without approval of the National Assembly, said Kelly Craft, U.S. ambassador to the UN, who denied any ties with Maduro’s schemes. 
  • U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reminded everyone that it’s been two years since Maduro kidnapped power after illegitimate elections. Pompeo also informed that the U.S. is assigning 200 million dollars in aid for vulnerable Venezuelans amid the global COVID-19 crisis. 
  • In a phone conference with members of the Hispanic community in the U.S., Donald Trump said, regarding Venezuela: “We have surrounded them, in levels nobody even knows.” 
  • The Venezuelan Central Bank went to a London court in order to try to recover 1 billion dollars in gold, of their reserves deposited in the Bank of England. They assure that resources will be destined to tackle the pandemic. The request was introduced on May 14th, but Nicolás isn’t recognized as the Venezuelan president by the UK. 
  • There have been almost 5 million cases of COVID-19, 328,095 deaths and over 1.6 million recovered patients in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. has had over 1.5 million cases and more than 93,500 deaths. Brazil is on its way to 20,000 deaths and has surpassed 291,579 cases. It’s the third country with the most cases, after the U.S. and Russia. Colombia has had 17,687 cases and 630 deaths. For many countries in Latin America, debt is the only option to assure their citizens will have enough to survive the confinement, but the risk is high. According to the most recent figures by the World Bank, Latin America and the Caribbean owe 1.87 billion dollars in foreign debt in 2018. 
  • There was another cacerolazo protesting the cease of operations of DirecTV last night, but users on social media didn’t join the hashtags proposed by chavismo, which they spread using bots. DirecTV’s cease of operations affects the state’s TV station VTV and its audience, too.
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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