Briefing

100 Healthcare Workers Have Died of COVID-19

We already crossed that line that makes us stand out from the rest of the world, for our high death rate among doctors and nurses during this pandemic

Naky Soto
For Bonaire, it's just too risky.

Photo: MarketWatch

  • 100 healthcare workers have died of COVID-19, reported NGO Médicos Unidos on Thursday, a figure ratified by Mauro Zambrano, union leader of Caracas’ Hospitals and Clinics, who said: “This has to stop, we can’t keep risking health and lives. Sanitary workers are mothers, parents, sons, brothers, and their families endure their loss.” And yes, in several states there are complaints about healthcare workers being forced to work without protective gear. On Thursday, Cuban doctor Leonel Batista, 28 years old, was the second Cuban professional to lose his life because of coronavirus. There are also testimonies about the concentration camps on the border, where returning migrants are confined for undefined quarantine, in shelters where conditions are inhumane, no doctors, no security, just mats on the floor, dirty water, bad smells, mosquitoes and horrible food, if there is any. 
  • NGO Una Ventana a la Libertad said that up until this moment, in preventive detention centers, there have been 85 cases of COVID-19. All of them are inmates and Nueva Esparta is the state with more inmates with symptoms (64). How did they get it if visitors are prohibited? 
  • At 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, Delcy Rodríguez reported on Twitter that there are 933 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 42,898 cases they’ve admitted to. She also reported that 7 people died, for a total of 358 deaths.
  • Active and retired workers from Guayana’s basic industry CVG protested to demand reestablishing their benefits, especially insurance for hospitalization, surgery and maternity. In their testimonies, the lack of insurance has prevented them from getting medical attention amid the pandemic. A worker assured that “40 workers” have died because of COVID-19. 
  • A ship with an Iranian flag loaded a shipment of alumina after they delivered supplies for an Iranian supermarket, the most recent signal of close ties between countries sanctioned by the U.S. 
  • The government of Bonaire ordered PDVSA to empty the tanks and oil pipelines in the Bopec terminal, where there are 10 million barrels of oil. The order was issued arguing environmental risks, reported Reuters. The Environment and Transport Agency of Bonaire said on Wednesday that PDVSA hasn’t done routine maintenance in the last few years for lack of financing, which poses a threat of leaks. “The measure is a last blow on PDVSA’s refinery and logistics network in the Caribbean across Venezuelan coasts,” said Reuters, since this happened after the contract allowing PDVSA to operate a refinery in Curacao expired and after Aruba took over the oil complex that was in CITGO’s hands for years. 
  • 60% of Venezuelan migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean are less than 35 years old and over 50% are single, says a report by the IOM released on Thursday. The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) did a survey during 2019, where they interviewed almost 33,000 Venezuelans in Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay. In Brazil, Colombia, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, border countries, our migrants are young, single and with low education levels. In Ecuador and Peru, they’re also young, over half are single but they have higher education levels. 
  • During the accountability event of the AN’s Foreign Policy Commission, Julio Borges reported that the international agenda will focus in seeking more pressure against Nicolás’s regime, in addition to unifying agendas of Europe, America and the U.S. Borges reminded everyone that the international coalition supporting Juan Guaidó, the AN and the Venezuelan people has expanded and grown. 
  • The director of the CNE imposed by the TSJ, Tania D’Amelio, assured that the “elections” will be automated and that the CNE has all the equipment needed for the process: “The request to replace the machines was made in December, to complete the amount for the voting process,” she said and added that they’re assembling the machines. She ratified that they’ll work with the Argentinian company Exclé, which has helped in the process of digitizing the Civil Registry  and the fingerprint capture. She didn’t explain whether those machines went through a public bid or how they could request in December to replace machines that burnt down in March. 
  • The UCV’s Constitutional Law department, rejected the election called for December, they called it a legality facade that doesn’t respond to a democratic formula. The extensive communiqué exposes several key points as to chy the event in December is illegitimate and means to destroy the last democratic legitimate bastion  we have, which is the National Assembly. They warn that it’s a scheme to create a fiction of legality but its components, phases and mechanisms are wrong and in consequence, won’t portray or manifest the real will of the people. 
  • Deputy Williams Dávila, political secretary of Acción Democrática’s National Committee, said on Thursday that the governor of Táchira, Laidy Gómez, made the decision to leave the party for questioning the decision of the majority of not running in the election. Gómez responded on Twitter: “I will keep fighting from AD Táchira, I won’t leave the organization, I respect those who have left.”
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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