Briefing

Fifteen States Up in Protests

More political prisoners, more cases and deaths from COVID-19; Venezuela lost its right to vote in the PAHO; several tonnes of humanitarian aid arrive from China

Naky Soto
Fuel for gold, straight from the horse's mouth.

Photo: Bloomberg

  • Delcy Rodríguez reported on Tuesday 835 new cases of coronavirus in the country, and seven deaths,which brings the total to 74,363 cases and 621 deaths they’ve admitted to. Táchira governor Laidy Gómez announced that she and her 21-month-old daughter tested positive. 
  • Nicolás’s Health minister told the PAHO that Venezuela started the “plateau phase” of the COVID-19 curve, in the 58th Directors Council annual meeting. He also said that Venezuela has registered a morbidity rate of 2.3 cases per 1,000 inhabitants and a mortality rate of 1.9 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. 
  • The board of the PAHO agreed to remove Venezuela’s right to vote, because  Venezuela owes membership dues since 2017, around $7,851,219. There’s been enough money for weapons and military uniforms, but not for the PAHO. 
  • 15 tonnes of humanitarian aid arrived from China yesterday. The shipment includes PCR tests, medicine for ICU patients, portable and ICU vents, oxygen, rapid-response tests, masks, gloves and thermometers. 
  • On Tuesday, there were protests in 15 states. According to the Observatorio Social Humanitario, three protests were repressed and one person was detained in Cabimas, Zulia state, western Venezuela. The weekly report by Observatiorio states that from September 21st to 28th, there were 206 protests and 51 were repressed. Nueva Esparta, Sucre, Bolívar and Yaracuy were the states with the most protests. The basic utilities crisis was the main cause. 
  • The National Guard detained a reporter from Impacto Venezuela, Ignacio Yaguare, his cameraman and assistant, while they covered the arrival or Iranian tankers in Puerto Cabello, Carabobo state. They went over their equipment and footage and made them sign documents saying they weren’t attacked. 
  • NGO Espacio Público said that workers of the office of the governor and mayorships of Aragua state are harassing Crónica Uno journalist Gregoria Díaz (@Churuguara).
  • NGO Foro Penal said that the number of people detained for crimes of conscience has increased to 348: there are 14 new political prisoners. 
  • Nicolás presented before the ANC an “anti-blockade law for national development and guarantees for the rights of the Venezuelan people” so it can be debated and approved by this entity with an expiry date that even didn’t fulfill its function. According to him, this law is the strategy with which he intends to revert the effects of the U.S. sanctions on the economy and respond with “creativity, adapting and flexibilizing our administrative and judicial frameworks.” If all it took was a law, why not do it sooner? Far from the protests against the general collapse of our country, once more Nicolás blamed the sanctions for everything that’s going wrong in Venezuela, including oil production, income and even blamed the sanctions for “the 400,000 deaths in the country in the last couple of years”. He added: “They want to asphyxiate the economy and generate an internal crisis to justify a foreign invasion.” In his narrative, only with this law will he strengthen public management, income and stimulate economic activity and international alliances. He doesn’t say how. Well, he also said that “Venezuela is peacefully advancing towards an electoral process on December 6th,” ignoring the events at Yaracuy state.
  • Former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Yahya Rahim Safavi, talked on Tuesday about the Iranian gas sent to Venezuela and said that they’re exchanged for gold bars: “We gave gas to Venezuela and received gold bars, we took them to Iran by plane, to avoid obstacles on the way.” This information was denounced in May, proving who’s raiding the country’s wealth. Safavi said that Iran is “helping” Nicolás’s regime to establish a force of mobilization to prepare for combat against the U.S., reported Farda Radio. He said that they’re “transfering Iran’s experience during the war against Iraq.” Safavi also said that Iran supplies software to chavismo, to help the repel cyberattacks, even though they are the ones attacking and blocking internet in Venezuela. 
  • “Lying is a sin, especially when it comes to human rights,” said ANC-imposed prosecutor general Tarek William Saab, and added that ever since he took office he has taken a fight for (or against?) the victims of human rights violations. His focus wasn’t on the regime for committing crimes against humanity, but on trying to sell the idea that every action by the opposition is a “terrorist” action that can be counted as “a human rights violation,” too. He emphasized that the “time when the state was the only one who could be accused of violating human rights has passed.” He was bold enough to repeat that the officers responsible for the crime against Rufo Chacón are in jail and added: “They talk about the case of Rufo Chacón in Táchira, but they don’t talk about people shot in Chile during the protests.” Evident infamy, especially when Rufo Chacón’s lawyer was attacked after she said that the officers responsible are still free. 
  • The Colombian Mission to the OAS, alongside the missions of Brazil, the U.S. and Venezuela, asked for an extraordinary session of the Permanent Council to analyze the situation of Venezuelan institutions and the UN Mission on crimes against humanity in the country. 
  • Colombian Foreign minister Claudia Blum said that “it’s urgent that the hemisphere tackles the severe human rights violations and crimes identified by the Mission” and said we should analyze the terrible conditions of Venezuelan institutions before another election without democratic guarantees. Joel Hernández, president of the IACHR, expressed his concern for the campaign of retaliation pushed by the regime against human rights organizations and journalists. 
  • Nicolás complained before the UN that they had to debate a formula that would allow sanctioned countries a way to obtain financing and access to international markets, asking to “stop sanctions that only worsen poverty and further vulnerates the right to development.”
  • U.S. authorities offered 20 million dollars for information that leads to the capture of three former high-ranking officials of the Venezuelan government: Pedro Martín Olivares, former chief of SEBIN’s economic intelligence department, Rodolfo McTurk Mora, Interpol officer in Venezuela; and Jesus Alfredo Itriago, anti-drug department of CICPC.
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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