Briefing

Chile Will Keep Recognizing Guaidó as the Sole Legitimate Authority in Venezuela

The UN asks for international funds to bring humanitarian aid into Venezuela; On HIV Day, our domestic figures are shameful;

Naky Soto
The Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs says the upcoming elections are "illegitimate."

Photo: Duna.Cl

  • “The CNE should be the result of a profound agreement between political forces and the civil society,” said on Tuesday morning the rector of UCAB Francisco José Virtuoso s.j., who mentioned the abuses of power that ended the trust in a process that was already flawed: TSJ appointed CNE directors and the takeover of traditional opposition parties like Acción Democrática, Voluntad Popular and Primero Justicia; The CNE changed the Electoral Law and ignored the questions raised by the international community, too. Virtuoso explained that considering an election without credibility, people abstain in protest. That’s why he warned that the popular consultation doesn’t seek a judiciary effect but rather a political way to express our will. Virtuoso also thinks that blocking participation with distrust only worsens the political crisis. He said that in January 2021, the country will start another political cycle, defined by the end of democratic rights. There will be a National Assembly where the opposition isn’t represented. He emphasized that the challenge is the discovery of unity around new strategies for a landscape where chavismo holds the hegemony of power. 
  • The UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs said that it’ll request funds destined to humanitarian aid for Venezuela: 762 million dollars for 4.5 million people, even though the people undergoing food insecurity tripled with the pandemic and is a lot more than that today. OCHA will request 1,400 million to help 3.3 million Venezuelan migrants and refugees. It’s one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world and it has the fewest resources. 
  • On HIV Day, three alarming figures in Venezuela: out of 120,000 people with HIV, 40% get antiretroviral treatments (donated), 4,200 people with HIV suffered discrimination in hospitals and prevention has disappeared: in 2020, the number increased, it’s now 5,200 cases that we know of. 
  • Maduro once more used state media to campaign for PSUV. Venezuelans don’t have incentives to vote in this “election,” without guarantees or legitimacy. 
  • On Tuesday, several sectors protested in front of the PNUD for the “burial of the salary” that chavismo achieved. The secretary general of the Workers Federation of Venezuela, José Elías Torres, said they’ll keep demanding improvements. The protesters called on Venezuelans to abstain from voting. 
  • Laser Airlines can’t fly to the Dominican Republic anymore, because there were over 50 people infected with coronavirus on their flight of November 24th. The president of the National Institute of Civilian Aeronautics, so knowledgeable on this topic, said that “the number is high because the protocols of biosafety were broken.” However, a competing airline was allowed to fly. 
  • ANC-imposed prosecutor general Tarek William Saab said that the Public Ministry delivered “a full report” to the ICC. He extended an invitation from the Venezuelan State so chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and a team travel to the country. This happened after the Fact-Finding Mission said it has “reasons to believe” that the government committed “crimes against humanity” and after the government prohibited the entrance of investigators. 
  • 272 healthcare workers have died in Venezuela from coronavirus. Nicolás’s regime is still indifferent to this tragedy. Regional deputy and AN candidate for Zulia, José Luis Acosta, also died of COVID-19. 
  • Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia will send a team of observers to the “elections” on December 6th, to present “an objective image of the political situation”. Yes, Lavrov has a great sense of humor. He called on western countries to accept the “objective results” and manipulated the term, saying observers when they really are companions, a very different concept basically created by chavismo as a form of passive, powerless observer of sorts. Afterwards, Nicolás’s Foreign minister, Jorge Arreza, exhorted the EU to recognize the results of an “election” that they already said they wouldn’t recognize. 
  • China demanded the U.S. “to rectify their mistake” and ease all sanctions that Washington imposed on the CEIEC. The Chinese Foreign Ministry asked not to politicize their cooperation with Nicolás and warned that China “will take the necessary measures to protect the legitimate rights of our companies”. 
  • With an interesting sense of opportunity, the caretaker government’s ambassador to the UK and Ireland, Vanessa Neumann, resigned. Later, Chile confirmed that Juan Guaidó would still be recognized despite the upcoming “elections.” Foreign Minister Andrés Allamand said that the elections “aren’t legitimate (…) We’ll keep working under the premise that Guaidó is the only legitimate authority in Venezuela.” 
  • Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo complained, saying that the Hispanic American Conference “must be a forum of free nations united in democracy” and accused “the criminal political mechanism that dominates Venezuela and is advancing in other places.” Jorge Arreaza suggested the minister should have some tea. Like a true diplomat. 
  • Plan República, the military-led operation to safeguard electoral events in Venezuela, started deployment on Tuesday. Over 250,000 officers will participate. The AN’s Observatory Against Fraud reported that they have over 1,000 volunteers to monitor the process and register abuses. They invited citizens to send any irregularities to [email protected].
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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