Briefing

Unconfined December

Some commercial flights will be allowed, too, and citizens were asked to behave; Tons of medical supplies arrived to Venezuela; A scheme of pillaging begins in Los Roques

Naky Soto
Is this really a sane policy?

Photo: En El Tapete

  • On Sunday, Maduro admitted that there’s been an increase in coronavirus cases, announcing 400 new cases and two deaths, for a total of 99,835 cases and 871 deaths they’ve admitted to. This explanation was part of the campaign for his legislative “election.” He said he’s seen “a lot of people without masks” who dance, hug and kiss forgetting coronavirus in large events. Another cause, he said, is the ‘flexibilization” of the economy and the population not complying with biosafety measures. He added that there won’t be a lockdown in December. This week, from November 23rd to November 29th, will be the last week of quarantine, but asked the citizens to comply with biosafety measures during the holidays. 
  • Last night, the Airline Association in Venezuela (ALAV), reported that INAC will authorize commercial flights between Monday, November 30th and December 6th 2020. Maiquetía, Valencia and Maracaibo will have direct flights to Porlamar, in Margarita island. Flights to and from the island of Los Roques will be available, too. In any case, the dates suggest that the total flexibilization in December won’t be so, and it’s tied to the planned electoral event. 
  • Armando.Info published a piece about the National Institute of Parks (INPARQUES) and the Tourism Ministry allowing a group of businessmen to exploit the sole maritime national park, certified as one of the largest and best preserved coral reefs in the Caribbean: Los Roques. We’re talking about tourism in a protected area, with private projects, without being accountable or sharing with the country how the environmental rules that protect Los Roques have been violated. The construction has already destroyed parts of Los Roques and dumped solid waste into the sea. It’s unacceptable and unforgivable. 
  • A plane with 32 tonnes of medical supplies donated by the International Community of Donors including  PPE, hospitalization kits with essential supplies, masks, soap (because Nicolás’s Health Ministry doesn’t even guarantee that), protective goggles, nutrition and supplies for the immunization campaign, arrived to Venezuela. Deputy Miguel Pizarro reminded chavismo that “the humanitarian principles of equality, neutrality, impartiality and operational independence must be respected, and attempts of propaganda and manipulation must be rejected.” 
  • NGO Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones denounced that the inmates at Centro de Formación del Hombre Nuevo (Carabobo) were punished for killing a dog to eat it: “The families assure that the prisoners are starving, because they get one meal and bread once in a while,” said the NGO. 
  • David Smolansky, OAS commissioner for the Venezuelan migrant crisis, denounced that Trinidad and Tobago authorities deported 16 Venezuelan children: “Among them, a four-month-old baby. They’re sending them back on a boat to Venezuela, denying them shelter and separating them from their parents who were already in Trinidad. An atrocity.”
  • A group of family members of political prisoners in the Ramo Verde prison was able to visit on Saturday: “We need to know about their health, we need to see them, we need to know if they’re okay after this pandemic. We know this is a difficult situation, but there are ways to do this,” said Kerling Rodríguez, wife of Lt. Ruperto Sánchez.
  • The National Superintendence of Banks (SUDEBAN) ordered the national banking sector to implement measures that strengthen the surveillance on all financial operations of NGOs, with the goal of identifying unusual or suspicious operations of capital legitimization, financing terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. That’s how harassment against those who denounce all sides of the revolution increases. 
  • Colombian Immigration warned about the increase of drug trafficking, crime and human trafficking networks for sexual exploitation on the border with Venezuela: “We call on the (Venezuelan) population to not run the risk, don’t use illegal pathwways (trochas), preserve your life. We know that there’s a strong ELN presence at the moment,” said Juan Francisco Espinosa Palacio, general director of Colombian Immigration. 
  • The dying bolivar lost 14.75% of its value in a week. The dollar is now 782,025 bolivars according to the BCV. The figures of the black market are even more alarming, because by the end of Friday, it was over 855,000 bolivars. In a week, the dollar increased more than 161,000 bolivars on the black market. Our de facto dollarization is too expensive and it condemns the majority of the population to extreme poverty. 
  • After three years of the arbitrary detention of six CITGO managers, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, reaffirmed that Donald Trump’s government is still committed to rescuing all American hostages abroad. 
  • Bogotá’s 11th Municipal Criminal Court rejected the petition against mayor Claudia López for her xenophobic statements against Venezuelan migrants. According to judge Rubén Darío de Jesús Forero there hasn’t been a violation of the fundamental right to equality and non-discrimination in her statement. 
  • The G20 virtual summit, centered around the global recovery from the crisis caused by the pandemic and reinforcing cooperation, ended on Sunday with the commitment to finance vaccines for poor countries, donating funds that the Covax initiative still needs, 28 billion dollars in financing.
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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