Briefing

Lying About Human Rights

The EU sanctioned 19 chavista officials; The 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council started on Monday. Despite the Venezuelan State being accused of systematic human rights violations and Maduro’s direct responsibility in our crisis, he spoke before the council to present his version of reality.

Naky Soto
  • The 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council started on Monday. Despite the Venezuelan State being accused of systematic human rights violations and Maduro’s direct responsibility in our crisis, he spoke before the council to present his version of reality. He said sanctions block chavismo from offering better solutions to the crisis caused by the pandemic and that they exert disproportional pressure against him with the goal of overthrowing his government. 
  • Maduro didn’t mention the complex humanitarian emergency, six million refugees and migrants, extrajudicial executions, torture or persecution against journalists and NGOs. Deputy Miguel Pizarro said that Maduro’s intervention contradicts the reports by UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet and the UN Fact-Finding Mission, and said it was a miscalculation that the person responsible for our crisis had a space to lie. Ugandan, Chinese and Syrian dictators also spoke about human rights before the council. 
  • Colombian President Iván Duque devoted part of his speech to denounce the atrocious crimes in Venezuela and asked the international community to not be indifferent towards this situation. 
  • The EU sanctioned 19 chavista officials on Monday, among them the CNE president and vice president, several deputies of Maduro’s Assembly, TSJ justices and members of the prêt-à-porter opposition. Sanctions include the prohibition to enter EU territory and freezing their assets in the EU, Guaidó thanked the EU and sent a message to the FANB: “Maduro and his puppet usurping the AN told you there would be no more sanctions (…) They fooled you again.”

  • Jorge Rodríguez, president of Maduro’s Assembly, attacked the meetings scheduled to take place in Colombia. Rodríguez insulted Leopoldo López, Julio Borges, Manuel Rosales and Carlos Vecchio. He said that they’re acting under the orders of U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela, James Story, and warned that there are new sanctions and conspiracies coming. Guaidó confirmed that a delegation of the democratic forces is meeting with U.S. representatives and said that Rodríguez was affected by the meeting because it “rules out the lie that he sold to chavismo sold in order to obtain his new position”. Ambassador Story reiterated that the Venezuelan delegation is offering an agenda of solutions for the country’s problems. 
  • Maduro’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López announced captain Ronald Marrero Lozano was detained for “trying to obtain strategic information on the AMB’s SUKHOI-30 MK2″. His version said that Marrero was releasing information to the Colombian government. 
  • Maduro’s Commerce vice minister Daniel Gómez tweeted about his successful Farmatodo intervention after a meeting: commitment to give change in dollars, all registers open and lower all prices, just because. 
  • Evangelical pastor and deputy of Maduro’s Assembly, Alfonso Campos, tweeded his certificate of receiving the first dose of the Sputnik V vaccine. He then deleted his tweet after the criticism for the political bias of the vaccination process. 
  • The basic food basket cost 457.6 million bolivars in January, a 41% increase from December and 1,795% more than in January 2020. Venezuelans need 381 minimum wages to buy it., 
  • Iranian oil tanker Forest secretly arrived to El Palito refinery. Tankertrackers.com reported that it carried 270,000 barrels of gas. It’s the third Iranian tanker to arrive to Venezuela so far this year. 
  • Charles Brewer-Carías’s daughter reported that after the fire in his library, containing 70 years of research, he got infected with COVID-19 and is in the hospital. 
  • Workers of the Caracas University Hospital protested to demand supplies, better working conditions and better wages in dollars. The most serious testimony came from a doctor, who said that they rather not protest because when they do, they send colectivos to harass and beat them. 
  • EU Foreign ministers agreed to prepare new sanctions on Russia after the sentence of Alexei Navalni, leader of the Russian opposition. 
  • Spanish Foreign minister Arancha González Laya replied to the attacks by Maduro’s regime saying that the Spanish government doesn’t prepare coups in Latin America or anywhere else. She said that her trip to Colombia pretends to recognize this country’s efforts to help Venezuelan refugees, support the Peace Agreement and discuss Duque’s potential visit to Spain.  
  • Hundreds of thousands of people protested in Burma (Myanmar) yesterday, the largest protest against the military junta that’s been ruling the country since the coup. People died over the weekend at the hands of police officers. They demand restoring democracy and releasing political prisoners, which are over 600 people already, among them, elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

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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