Briefing

Holy Water for the Legislative Palace

The speaker of the illegitimate National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, talked about recovery and overcoming fractures. He didn’t mention the humanitarian emergency or the human rights violations

Naky Soto

Photo: KFEDigital

  • The illegitimate AN was installed on Tuesday. 
  • Jorge Rodríguez spoke as the illegitimate AN president, assuring that destabilizing plans have been organized in that very building and that they’d have to splash “holy water in every corner.” The building has only been used by Diosdado Cabello’s ANC all through last year.  
  • The legislative priorities announced by Rodríguez were: The economic recovery of the country; The protection of communal councils; Rescuing the comptrollership role of the AN; Rejecting the decision of the ICJ on the Esequibo case; Reconciliation without forgetting. 
  • Rodríguez didn’t mention the complex humanitarian emergency, the forced migration or human rights violations as priorities. 
  • He did announce the creation of a commission for national dialogue with sectors of the opposition, including those who didn’t participate on the process of December 6th, those he threatened with jail 20 minutes earlier. He added: “If we shield ourselves behind sanctions to not fix what’s broken, we’re becoming accomplices of those sanctions and those blockades. It’s serious, using the blockade and the sanctions as excuses.” The next session is on Thursday, January 7th. 
  • AN Speaker Juan Guaidó ratified that he’ll stay in Venezuela fighting for freedom: “He we are, and here we’ll be,” he said in the initial AN session, declaring “constitutional continuity.” He called for unity to achieve political change and the transition to democracy. He asked the international community to back mechanisms for conflict resolution with “free and fair presidential and legislative elections,” and “to not be confused by the dictatorship’s alleged calls for dialogue.” 
  • Delcy Rodríguez denounced very early in the day that the national electricity system sustained yet another alleged attack in Patio Guri (Bolívar state).
  • Also in the morning, police officers were deployed in front of Guaidó’s and deputy Eliezer Sirit’s homes. The virtual American Embassy rejected the persecution by Nicolás’s regime.
  • According to his death certificate, indigenous Pemon activist Salvador Franco “died of brain edema, septic shock and other reactions caused by tuberculosis and a malnutrition he had been suffering for months,” said Gonzalo Himiob from NGO Foro Penal. Franco, a political prisoner, died under State custody. He was a torture victim and he was denied timely medical attention. 
  • On Tuesday, the Brazilian, Colombian and Chilean governments announced they recognize the Constitutional continuity of the National Assembly and that they’ll keep backing Guaidó. 
  • Costa Rica reiterated its concern for the human rights situation, the humanitarian crisis and the obstacles for exercising political rights in Venezuela, highlighting the responsibility of Nicolás’s regime in these deteriorations. 
  • Last night, the Lima Group issued a communiqué supporting the legitimate AN’s Constitutional continuity: Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Paraguay and Peru recognize Juan Guaidó and the AN elected in 2015. 
  • U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ratified that his country recognizes Juan Guaidó and the National Assembly elected in 2015. So did the U.S Ambassador to the UN, Kelly Craft.
  • A plane property of the U.S. Treasury Department landed in Cape Verde, where Colombian citizen Alex Saab, Nicolás’s alleged middleman, is detained. The Barlavento Appeals Court ruled in favor of Saab’s extradition to the U.S. on Monday.
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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