Briefing

Over 1,000 Cases in Six Days

Over 10 million cases in the world, and in Venezuela the AN’s expert commission reports a lousy response capacity in health centers

Naky Soto

Photo: Oscar Del Pozo / AFP / Getty

 

  • On Saturday, Venezuela registered the highest number of cases on a day: 351, out of which, 249 were local, according to Health minister Carlos Alvarado. Delcy Rodríguez confirmed the death of a pediatrician in Mérida. On Sunday, Jorge Rodríguez reported 167 new cases: for a total of 5,297 and two more deaths: epidemiologist Samuel Viloria, former director of Maracaibo’s University Hospital, who died on June 16th and a 78-year-old woman from El Paraíso, Caracas, who died on Saturday afternoon, for a total of 44 deaths, which proves that the number of deaths has been under registered several times, with discrepancies and delays in the regional and national reports. In addition, in merely six days we had 1,000 more cases. 
  • Shortages in hospitals to prevent coronavirus, according to the national survey on the impact of COVID-19, carried out by the National Assembly’s expert commission. 52.94 % of hospitals don’t have gloves, 47.06% hospitals don’t have facemasks. There’s also a shortage of cleaning supplies, 82.35% without soap and 82% hand sanitizer. 86.6 % of hospitals have unsteady electricity supply, 66.8% have irregular water supply and 21.3 % of those hasn’t had water supply for seven days in a row. 
  • 64.9 % report unreliable public transportation system and 29.1 % reported lacking the service completely. Almost 50% of hospitals don’t have cooking gas and 63.4% reported no access to gas. 
  • Omar Prieto, the governor of Zulia, where they’ve reported serious problems to care for COVID-19 patients, where they only limit to confining them, said: “We have people who tested positive and then disappear,” he said, while he snapped his fingers, and “that’s a crime” according to him. He said that he has alerted a special unit of the regional police, ordered to capture patients and bring them to a CDI. “Don’t be afraid, people… Don’t fear assistance by the Bolivarian government,” said this person whose cabinet criminalized patients a couple of weeks ago, calling them “biological weapons”. These are the consequences. 
  • Mayor Elías Sayegh reported that officer Javier Gorriño, detained by DGCIM officers last Thursday, was moved to a health center for health conditions during his hearing. Gorriño is still detained for tweeting that Nicolás may have been in a party during the quarantine, fact he deducted from the presence of Casa Militar officers, his security team, when neighbors complained about the noise to the municipal police. 
  • The anniversary of the death of Captain Rafael Acosta Arévalo was on June 28th. His wife, Waleswka Pérez, demanded justice against the people responsible for his murder. Acosta Arévalo was tortured and died while under custody of DGCIM officers. Control Ciudadano’s Rocío San Miguel said: “A case where the chain of command authorizing prolonged detention without a warrant and continuous torture and murder were never investigated.” 
  • Lawyer Eva Leal, who was beaten, injured, detained and charged in a military court for refusing to pay an extortion, assured that she’ll take all pertinent legal actions against her attacker, GNB lieutenant María de los Ángeles Palmera Sanoja. Leal was detained in Barquisimeto when she tried to record how GNB officers were charging unlawful tickets.
  • Nicolás’s regime paid between 50 and 60 million euros for Operation Alacrán, bribing deputies, said the AN’s Permanent Comptrollership Commission. The goal was to carry out a coup against Juan Guaidó to stop his reelection as speaker of the National Assembly on January 5th. Some of the deputies involved are Luis Parra, José Brito, Conrado Pérez, Kelly Perfecto, José Gregorio Noriega, Adolfo Superlano, Leandro Domínguez, Franklyn Duarte, Negal Morales, José Antonio España, Guillermo Luces and Lucila Pacheco. 
  • The Services, Industry and Commerce Chamber of Caracas, rejected on Sunday the eviction notices issued to private gas stations, giving owners “72 hours” to comply. The Chamber demands that authorities respect businesses and businessmen’s fundamental rights, and assured that during due process guarantees can’t be restricted even in emergency states. 
  • Despite this weekend’s alarming figures, chavismo insists on their weird idea of flexibilization. Apure, Aragua, Bolívar, Carabobo, the Capital District, Lara, Mérida, Miranda (except Barlovento), Sucre, Táchira, Trujillo and Zulia will remain quarantined. In border states, the quarantine only applies to municipalities that are on the border. 
  • Former Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said there are governments who are regretting recognizing Guaidó as caretaker president: “I don’t know if they’ll say it in public, but that thought is present,” he said on Radio La Pizarra. “Venezuela is a country that, the moment we give them economic, political and social oxygen, will rise again.” 
  • The Wall Street Journal published on Friday a piece accusing Leopoldo López of planning the Macuto bay attack. López rejected the accusation: “They’re accusing me without evidence. And they don’t present evidence because it doesn’t exist. The headline doesn’t match the content. They make accusations without proof,” he wrote. 
  • Colombia’s El Espectador revealed the story about a chavista spy in the Venezuelan opposition residing in that country. He was captured for two crimes: forging public documents and migrant trafficking. In addition, Ramón Rodríguez Guerrero, Nicolás’s alleged spy, managed the Resist.ve.col Instagram account. 
  • On June 28th, there were hundred of messages in favor and against the LGBTIQ+ cause. No one is obligated to know what the Stonewall Riots were, but we should all be working for legal recognition of couples and families, protest for this community’s rights against violence, discrimination or criminalization. In some countries, you can still go to jail for being gay, and in others you may get a death sentence. There’s so much left to do in Venezuela. Every right for every person. 
  • There have been over 10.1 million cases of COVID-19 in the world and over 501,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. and Canada have had 2,642,754 cases and Latin America and the Caribbean have had 2,473,164. Brazil has surpassed 1.3 million cases and 57,600 deaths. Mexico has had over 216,000 cases and 26,648 muertes. Peru registered over 279,400 cases and 9,317 deaths. Colombia, over 88,800 cases and 3,076 deaths. 

 

 

Coronavirus health crisis

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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