Briefing

Empty the Cannons

In a discreet operation, model Camilla Fabri and other members of Álex Saab’s family were taken from Caracas to Moscow earlier this year; Maduro said that he agreed with the opposition’s proposal of holding an election for governors and mayors.

Naky Soto
  • Nine days after President Iván Duque announced an elite command to fight drug trafficking and irregular groups in Venezuela, Maduro ordered the FANB to “empty their cannons” to respond to Duque’s attack. He said the Colombian TPS a mockery and asked him to respect Venezuela. The Colombian Foreign Ministry issued a communiqué rejecting Maduro’s statement.
  • Maduro said that the vaccination program starts on Thursday for sanitary and security personnel and the authorities. By authorities he meant mayors, governors and his deputies. He doesn’t seem to understand that there are only 100,000 doses of Sputnik V, and said that he paid 200 million dollars for 10 million doses (twice the price of the vaccine, according to the official website). 
  • Maduro talked about a potential private market for vaccines. It’s an interesting option because it’s unlikely that chavismo can pay for all the necessary doses, because their management record shows that any plan that depends on them will probably fail. 
  • Maduro said that he agreed with the opposition’s proposal (he didn’t say which opposition) of holding an election for governors and mayors. He said it was a decision that his AN and the new CNE would have to make. 
  • Maduro assured that he doesn’t care about the EU’s decisions but encouraged Spain to investigate Leopoldo López. 
  • He said that officials of his regime met with Trump envoys in Mexico and Bahamas, and that the Trump they saw was different from the one who acted cruelly in public. 
  • “This torture system called sanctions must end, our fight is for the people all over the world,” said Maduro, even though there’s evidence of his regime torturing prisoners. 
  • Maduro also announced an extension of the flexible quarantine until next Sunday. He didn’t mention the chaos during the Carnival holidays, with no social distancing or biosafety measures. Conseturismo director Leudo González assured that tourist activity increased in states on the coast. Fedecámaras Nueva Esparta estimated that between 10 and 12 thousand tourists arrived in Margarita this weekend. We’ll see how this flexibilization impacts the coronavirus figures, 134,319 cases and 1,297 deaths they’ve admitted to. 
  • UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres asked for a global vaccination plan. In general, the process is going slower than they thought. So far, 185 million doses have been applied in at least 100 countries. There are over 7 billion people oj the planet. 
  •  The WHO announced that the number of cases dropped 16% and the number of deaths by 10% last week. 2.4 million people have died of COVID-19 so far, and there’s been at least 110 million cases. 
  • The vaccination has been unequal in Latin America. PAHO said that Venezuela would have to pay at least 18 million dollars in advance to receive the vaccine from the Covax mechanism. 
  • Ciro Ugarte, PAHO director of sanitary emergencies, said that the number of vaccines that Venezuela would receive depends on the availability and the progress of the vaccination plan. 
  • The IMO study in 11 countries in Latin America revealed that 13% of Venezuelan migrant women have been victims of some kind of violence on their journeys out of the country:  35% reported physical violence,  25% verbal violence, 11% psychological violence and 10% sexual violence. 
  • Deputy José Manuel Olivares questioned Maduro’s order of priorities, vaccinating military officers and politicians instead of vaccinating health personnel, senior citizens, teachers and high-risk patients. 
  • The spokesperson of U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that he talked to Arancha González Laya and expressed his will to strengthen cooperation with Spain regarding the pandemic, climate change and the relation with Russia, China and Venezuela. 
  • Maduro will speak at the 46th Human Rights Council inauguration, where Blinken will also be. High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet will present a summary of the situation of fundamental liberties across the world.
  • In a discreet operation, model Camilla Fabri and other members of Álex Saab’s family were taken from Caracas to Moscow earlier this year.

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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