Briefing

Over 15,000 Cases of COVID-19

The spread of coronavirus in the country has been so serious, that the regime has finally admitted there’s a big problem—which is not to say they’re being humble or efficient…

Naky Soto

Photo: The San Diego Union Tribune

  • “It’s evident we have a problem,” said Nicolás about coronavirus in the country. His vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, reported on Sunday that there are 534 new cases, 470 of which are “local contagions,” bringing us to a total of 15,463 cases they have admitted to. For the second time in a week, we surpassed 1,000 cases in two days, because they announced 666 new cases on Saturday. Delcy also reported four new deaths, for a total of 142, and five deaths on Saturday. She said that there are 9,746 recovered patients (63%). On July 21st, they announced 6,983 recovered patients (55% of cases they had admitted to by then). It’s worth mentioning that chavismo registered 553 recovered patients in the last five days, after they changed the criteria for recovery. 
  • Nicolás says that Venezuela “has all the treatment necessary, despite the persecution by the American government (…) we never lack aid and friends,” adding that there’s medicine “against parasites that has yielded good results.” Considering the possibility he’s talking about Ivermectina, it must be said that the PAHO warned in June that it can’t be used to treat COVID-19. Nicolás said that he spent 72 hours consulting with other levels of government and decided to stick to the same rules for the quarantine: radical quarantine for the Capital District, Miranda, Zulia, Sucre, Bolívar, Vargas and Táchira. Partial quarantine for Anzoátegui, Aragua, Falcón, Lara, Nueva Esparta, Yaracuy, Carabobo, Monagas and Mérida. Relaxed quarantine for Portuguesa, Guárico, Barinas, Amazonas, Delta Amacuro, Trujillo, Cojedes and Apure, except municipalities on the border. 
  • Chavismo’s capacity to rally their followers is as low as their administrative capability. They requested a minute of silence to honor health personnel and nobody bothered. From some Misión Vivienda buildings in Fuerte Tiuna, state’s TV station VTV showed a man with a megaphone yelling at people to look out their windows and clap. Inspiring, especially if you consider that anyone there is at risk of losing their home if they don’t obey. Médicos Unidos de Venezuela said that, instead of applause, what the sector needs is protection gear to avoid infection and the deaths of the first defense lines. On Sunday,  two other Zulian doctors died: Jairo Valbuena and Rannefer Valbuena. 16 doctors have died in Zulia. Meanwhile, chavista governor Omar Prieto, assured yesterday that he has recovered. The wages of Venezuelan doctors are the lowest in the continent, even lower than in Haiti and Cuba. 
  • GNB officers allegedly injured a man and murdered another during a dispute on Saturday, July 25th, at the Buenos Aires gas station in the Aragua municipality, Anzoátegui state. Witnesses say that drivers had been in line for over ten days and complained to the GNB because they allowed other vehicles in, even though the gas station was closed. In the argument, they shot against the crowd and Carlos Chaparro, known as “Lalo,” a cheese salesman, was injured, arriving later at the hospital without vital signs. ANC-imposed prosecutor general Tarek William Saab, tweeted that “because of the unfortunate disputes” between civilians and GNB officers, he appointed the 8th and 19th prosecutors to investigate the events. Deputy Tatiana Montiel refuted Saab and wrote: “Disputes? One side using weapons that belong to the Republic, to use gas as their business and another side unarmed, legitimately condemning the abuse by these mafias, waiting for 12 days to fill up their tanks. That’s not a dispute.” Saab announced six people have been detained. 
  • The president of the CNE imposed by the TSJ, Indira Alfonzo Izaguirre, announced the extension of the Electoral Registry inscription for 72 hours, until July 29th. 
  • On Sunday, another video of Venezuelan migrants in isolation in El Amparo camp, Apure state, went viral. Returning migrants said they don’t have minimum health conditions, food or social distancing and accuse the GNB of using force for everything. There are at least 700 people isolated in El Amparo, with temperatures of 30C. 
  • By the way, the GNB’s Internal Order Directorate warned that any officer who gets infected because of “negligence” will be severely sanctioned. 
  • Chavismo robbed us modernity. Crónica Uno published a couple of wonderful pieces that measure our regression: the war on gas, that explains how the import and production deficit affects 60% of the country. In another piece, they tell the story about wild animals like lowland pacas, picures, armadillos and iguanas being hunted for survival amid a pandemic in Zulia, because the protein deficit has driven 70% of the population to nutrition problems. 
  • A piece by Armando.Info tells the story of Eduardo José Rivas, an unknown face that works as the president of the Domingo Sifontes Industrial Complex, in El Callao. Rivas is tied to the gold business in Bolívar with the support of the presidential family, especially Nicolás’s son. Some of the witnesses interviewed by Armando.Info said “that’s the man who’s keeping the country afloat.”
  • Colombian authorities detained FARC dissident Francisco Durango, AKA Ariel, who appeared on a video in August saying that they’d take up their arms again. Colombian president Iván Duque said that they’re accused of committing the following, among other crimes: “aggravated conspiracy, fabricating and trafficking weapons, drug trafficking on the border with Venezuela.” 
  • Nicolás sent a message to Duque: “If we were working together, Colombia and Venezuela, we’d be doing so much better (…) but there’s a government that has used ideology to control international relations, extremist ideology, and they don’t realize that it’s a human problem that transcends everything and demands a lot of effort by humanity, and common sense,” said the person who has never used ideology for anything and who decided to close the borders and expel Colombian citizens. 
  • The Spanish Consulate in Caracas said that the special flight for Spanish citizens stranded in Venezuela that was scheduled for Saturday, July 25th, didn’t take place. This would be the sixth special flight leaving  from Venezuela to allow Venezuelan and Spanish citizens to return to the country where they live. 
  • There have been over 16.2 million cases of coronavirus and over 647,910 deaths in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. But this weekend, the number of cases in Latin America surpassed for the first time the total of cases in the U.S. and Canada, said Reuters. So we became the most infected region in the world, with a huge number of cases in Brazil (2.4 million), Mexico (over 390,000), Peru (over 375,000), Chile (over 345,000), Colombia (over 240,000) and Argentina (over 162,000). Latin America has 27% of the cases in the whole world. The pandemic keeps growing.
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.

Related