Briefing

Troops May Mobilize People on The Upcoming "Elections"

Schools may be opening their doors soon; In the name of biosafety, participation in the election will be militarized; Guaidó says he won’t leave the country or stop working in 2021

Naky Soto
Nicolás Maduro: "It’s impossible to suspend the elections."

Photo: El Carabobeño

  • The president of the Venezuelan Medical Federation, Douglas León Natera, explained that three out of ten deaths in the country are from health workers. This is because of the horrible combination of little protective gear, medicine and basic services. On Tuesday, pediatrician Marielisa Sánchez Quintero died in Zulia state. 
  • Acting as Nicolás’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez reported that there are 1,086 new cases of coronavirus for a total of 62,655 cases they’ve admitted to. She also reported eight deaths, for a total of 502.
  • Dr. Douglas León Natera recommended not getting the Russian vaccine: “Don’t even think about getting that vaccine, it’s useless,” he warned. 
  • Using the “biosafety” excuse, something he doesn’t guarantee for sanitary personnel, Nicolás moved forward in militarizing the civilian process of voting, and announced a “special biosafety plan for the voters with Plan República,” meaning: using the troops to go find voters at their homes and take them to voting centers “so they can fulfill their civic rights.” Minutes later, when the information was making the rounds on social media, he read a tweet on the air to assure that his words were misinterpreted and as an answer, he repeated the same idea without changing it. He reiterated: “It’s impossible to suspend elections. If one date is determined and final in our Constitution, it’s January, 5th, 2021 as the obligation to install the new National Assembly.” 
  • This will be the election held under the worst conditions and guarantees since chavismo achieved power. That we’re voting because of military coercion and not as a right is really serious; yesterday, Nicolás’s propaganda team did an exercise of “real-time fact checking” that allowed him to use criticism on social media to reframe the message and get visibility with scandals. The truth is he managed to set an idea about the base of the event he wants to impose: the elections. He left behind the talks about voting or not voting, delaying them or not or if there are no conditions. The regime’s narrative counts on it. Now, the debate will be centered around the pertinence of troops moving people that day that has already been set in stone. Nicolás assured that “voting will be one of the safest things you’ll do this year. It’s safer than going to a pharmacy.” 
  • The CNE is self-promoting when it says that it’s “in permanent session.” Today, it “presented” the voting machines that are allegedly going to be used, 82 days before the event, when we still don’t know which system (hardware or software) will be used, which company makes it and if it was done through public contest. Journalist Eugenio Martínez, who specializes in the electoral source, said: “The doubts about the voting system won’t be cleared with presenting photos of the machines. Only when all necessary audits are done can we have certainties, when we can believe in the results of 6D by more than an act of faith.” 
  • On Tuesday morning, during an activity of the New Economy Forum, Juan Guaidó assured that he’ll continue holding his position, because the mandate of Article 23 of the Constitution establishes that he has to stay there until there’s a transition: “I’ll stay in Venezuela in 2021, we’ll defend the National Assembly, the resources and assets abroad and we’ll fight for a transition,” he emphasized. When he was asked about unity in the opposition, Guaidó said: “Flexibilizing stances will achieve conditions for free elections, we can’t have half an election or minimize our demands, that legitimates the dictatorship,” he answered. He didn’t rule out that Nicolás could suspend the election because of the pandemic or the economy. “We aren’t willing to cohabitate with the dictatorship, we have a window for recovering democracy,” he said and denied that there will be a caretaker government in exile. 
  • Acting as the Economy minister, Delcy Rodríguez announced a proposal for restructuring foreign debt based on an offer of PDVSA and the Caracas Electricity, aware that restructuring foreign debt with sanctions is impossible. But that doesn’t matter, the goal is propaganda. 
  • The Reporte de Coyuntura by UCAB’s Institute for Economic and Social Investigations (IIES) warns: “In the specific case of the Venezuelan economy, already accumulated a contraction of 61% in its levels of activity between 2014 and 2019, we could end 2020 with an additional drop of our GDP of 30% in one single year, with no hope for change in 2021, if we don’t radically change the political situation and the economic policies.” 
  • Nicolás also said that starting Monday, schools and high schools will open as “centers of assistance for parents and children,” with the goal of teachers advising families about remote learning. That’s how he lies about the possibilities of his Every Family, One School plan. Every teachers’ association has explained why it’s impossible to start the school year in any way, but Nicolás decided to impose that during the weeks where there’s a flexibilization, schools make appointments when students and parents will receive advice. 
  • U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo will visit the Brazil-Venezuela border on the tour that starts on Thursday, also going him to Suriname, Guyana and Colombia. Pompeo will meet Venezuelan migrants. 
  • The government of the Czech Republic considered the ICC as the “adequate institution to end impunity in Venezuela.” In a communiqué by the Foreign Ministry, they said that the ICC must be the court to end the crimes against humanity committed by Nicolás’s regime in Venezuela. 
  • On September 15th, the Independent International Mission for Determining Facts about Venezuela published its inaugural report on human rights violations and crimes in the country. The mission was established by the UN Human Rights Council in September 2019, with a one-year mandate, to investigate extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, tortures and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment committed in Venezuela since 2014. Next week, the Mission will present its conclusions at the UN Human Rights Council.
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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