Briefing

Anyone Returning Through Illegal Crossings is Accused of Bioterrorism

The absurd use of criminal categories for repression, forgoing legal definitions, is even more proof of fascist authoritarianism instilling fear in the population

Naky Soto

Photo: Twitter

  • Commander Ovidio Delgado Ramírez said over the weekend that Nicolás’s Defense Ministry created an integral area of defense called Sucre to support municipalities with higher percentages of illegal pathways (trochas) on the border. The commander, in addition to stopping access to the country, can take “corresponding legal actions” and those crossing were warned: “We already did the corresponding paperwork, we’re waiting for an approval by the TSJ, they’re going to be taken to El Dorado prison,” said Delgado. “The person who enters the country without abiding by sanitary protocol, will be charged with bioterrorism (…) We shouldn’t have any kind of mercy for these people who commit this criminal act and a murder attempt against our community,” said Delgado, adding that they’ve detained 17 people and are waiting for TSJ’s approval to take them to prison. Interpol defines bioterrorism as “the deliberate release of virus, bacteria, toxins or other pathogens with the goal of causing disease on people, animals or plants or to provoke their death,” meaning that you have to control the virus, have the intention of spreading it (that’s what makes it a crime) and do it for political or social reasons. Returning Venezuelans are just patients portrayed as criminals and now threatened with jail, without trial or due process. 
  • On Sunday, Nicolás reported that there were 408 new cases of coronavirus, for a total of 11,891 cases they’ve admitted to. He also reported two new deaths, one in Zulia state and one in the Capital District, for a total of 112 deaths. Between June 24th and today, we’ve had deaths every day. Nicolás repeated the formula of treating patients like guilty and treating people like they’re stupid. According to him, local contagion cases can only be explained by the patients’ poor discipline. 
  • Nicolás emphasized the need of going back to seven days of “conscious, voluntary and radical quarantine” starting on Monday, July 20th, after a week of flexibilization. He thanked Cuba for sending him a shipment of “medicine that’s been scientifically proven to improve, recover and heal patients.” He didn’t forget to mention that the U.S. hasn’t donated the 20 million dollars it said it would. The thing is the agreement demands decentralizing (and increasing) PCR tests and he was bold enough to try to defend every attack and barbaric thing he’s said about the migrants and returned refugees, assuring the public that everyone who has entered legally has had all the guarantees and has been treated with respect. Check out the testimony of Radiomanía 89.7 director, Richard Rodríguez, who taped a video from the place in Carúpano where he and his wife are kept in deplorable conditions. 
  • Chavismo keeps getting coronavirus, and this weekend the mayor of Urdaneta municipality (Lara state), Luis Ladino; deputy Luis Parra, who leads the illegitimate AN; the chief of Capital District Darío Vivas; and Orlando Urdaneta, mayor of La Cañada de Urdaneta (Zulia state) confirmed their contagions. A random PSUV protocol demands that the news is confirmed in the tackiest way possible. 
  • The most serious thing about this is that, last night, Nicolás’s Communications minister Jorge Rodríguez reported that 45 workers of the state’s main TV station, VTV, tested positive for COVID-19, including its president Freddy Ñañez. Rodríguez thanked them for being infected while campaigning for PSUV. None of them is a bioterrorist like returning migrants? Will the state be held responsible for not guaranteeing optimal work conditions during quarantine? 
  • Bernabé Gutiérrez, Acción Democrática’s “Judas,” reported that in 2021, the mandatory requisite for being an AD candidate for governor, mayor, lawmaker or councilman will be participating in the parliamentary elections of 2020.
  • During the First Amazonian Annual Assembly, indigenous movements from Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guyana and Suriname requested on Sunday to pause extraction activities in their territories to stop “ecocide and ethnocide” that “are spreading faster than COVID-19.” Chavismo takes the prize for mercury, violence and drugs. 
  • The Colombian Army reported on Saturday that two soldiers died and eight were injured in an attack by the ELN in Tibú, Northern Santander (on the border with Venezuela). In addition, commander Jairo Fuentes reported they found nine grenades allegedly from the Venezuelan Armed Forces. 
  • One of the ELN’s Eastern Front oldest members, a man also known as “Edward,” swore absolute loyalty for Nicolás, according to an exclusive video published by El Tiempo: “You can count on the ELN until death. We’re loyal to Venezuela and want you to be confident in our troops, in our military strength, that we become one to defend Simón Bolívar’s country.” 
  • Former White House security advisor John Bolton said that Donald Trump’s administration has put Nicolás’s regime under a lot of pressure, but hasn’t been as successful as they wanted. He assured that Cuban advisors took Nicolás to Fuerte Tiuna and stopped him from leaving the country in April 2019, despite Cilia Flores agreeing with the plan to flee and that Americans had been negotiating with Vladimir Padrino (Defense) and Maikel Moreno (TSJ), among others.
  • “I believe that many of the leaders of the regime that were negotiating with the opposition acted in bad faith or went back on their word at the last minute. But the most important part is that the opposition against Maduro is so deep-rooted that if we stand strong besides it, Maduro will finally fall,” said Bolton and added that Havana and Moscow have a key role in Maduro’s grasp on power. 
  • There have been over 14.4 million cases of coronavirus in the world and over 605,116 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. has had 3.7 million cases and over 140,500 deaths. Brazil, with over 2 million cases and 79,500 deaths, is the second country hit the hardest. Mexico has had 344,224 cases and 39,184 deaths, Peru has had 353,590 cases and 13,187 deaths, while Colombia has had 190,700 cases and 6,516 deaths. Our numbers remain inexplicably low compared to the rest of the region.
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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