Briefing

Tarek’s Report

Tarek William Saab, said before Maduro’s Assembly that they’re guaranteeing Venezuelans’ fundamental rights, disregarding the reports by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Fact-Finding Mission; Tuberculosis was the main cause of death in jails of 19 states of Venezuela.

Naky Soto
  • On Thursday, ANC-imposed prosecutor general Tarek William Saab, said before Maduro’s Assembly that they’re guaranteeing Venezuelans’ fundamental rights, disregarding the reports by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Fact-Finding Mission. Saab recycled facts and stories he has already told many times and that aren’t reflected in an improvement of the human rights situation in the country. 
  • He said that hundreds of officers have been charged with violating fundamental rights, again, but he didn’t tie this inflated figure to a pattern perpetrated by the State or the chain of command that orders or allows it. He assured that his focus has been the fight against drug trafficking mafias, just to attack the Colombian government. He accused his predecessor Luisa Ortega Díaz of crimes that actually describe chavismo’s ways, and he of course reiterated figures on the alleged magnicide attempts. 
  • Saab thinks creating an inter-institutional working group is “necessary” to tackle the delays in due legal process in the country and building new prisons and detention centers. 
  • He said that he presented a draft law to develop environmental defense protocols (while PDSA oil spills continue) and against animal cruelty, among others. 
  • Maduro’s Assembly approved the first debate of a draft law to hold mega-elections for mayors, governors and regional parliaments this year. 
  • Journalist Vladimir Villegas was Javier Bertucci’s spokesperson today. Bertucci is part of Maduro’s prêt-à-porter opposition and he was deported from the U.S. today. Villegas said the politician allegedly traveled to request humanitarian aid, even though he lacks the credentials or the experience in the matter. He was stopped at the Miami airport, where immigration officers explained to him that the U.S. doesn’t recognize him as a deputy or political leader. He said he was part of the “moderate or intelligent opposition” and said that what he went through was “an isolated action by the officers, the rest of the immigration officers expressed their support for me”. He can’t prove anything he said. 
  • The Assembly denounced that security forces of the regime detained deputy and Voluntad Popular activist Gilberto Sojo in Caracas.
  • The CNP said that SEBIN officers in Cojedes were surveilling journalist Luisana Suárez’s home, after she published a piece about the lack on birth control in the country. It’s the second time SEBIN threatens the journalist for covering the health crisis. 
  • Lawyer Tamara Suju said that she denounced before the ICC the arbitrary arrest and torture of American citizen Matthew Heath, accused by the regime of being part of an alleged plan to sabotage oil and electricity plants. 
  • Tuberculosis was the main cause of death in jails of 19 states of Venezuela, according to NGO Una Ventana a la Libertad: out of the 208 deaths in prisons in 2020, 86 inmates died of tuberculosis. 
  • CNE rectors rejected the EU sanctions on chavista officials, including three of their electoral authorities. They accuse the European bloc of operating in an “irrational and disproportionate” way. 
  • The CNE received the official document issued by the Comptroller’s Office to notify them of the decision to bar 28 deputies elected in 2015 from running for public office for 15 years. 
  • Civil engineer and expert in public utilities, José Norberto Bausson, warned that only 40% of the water that was pumped 25 years ago in Venezuela is pumped today: 60,000 lts in 2021. 
  • Venezuelan migrant and refugees in Peru and Ecuador are in situations of exclusion and discrimination, according to NGO Plan International. 
    • Minors and women are more vulnerable and at risk, because employment opportunities are scarce, and are victims of gender violence, discrimination, limited access to services in order to obtain legal status. 
    • 77% of Venezuelan homes are overcrowded in Ecuador and 50% in Peru. 
    • Only 52.5% of minors are in school in Ecuador and only 69.1% in Peru. 
  • The EU responded to expelling their ambassador in Caracas, declaring Maduro’s representative Claudia Salerno persona non grata. She doesn’t have to return to the country yet, because she’s also an ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg. 
  • Canada expressed concern for the recent actions against 28 deputies of the AN elected in 2015 and rejected the decision to expel the EU ambassador. They said these measures don’t contribute to restoring democracy or solving the crisis in Venezuela. 
  • Canadian Foreign Vice Minister for the Americas Michael Grant said on Thursday:
    We’re in favor of democracy and a democratic system that respects Venezuelans’ rights.” He talked about the political, economic and humanitarian crises that “started with eroding democracy (…) we’ll continue to support a transition to democracy and respect for human rights.” 
  • Jorge Arreaza questioned the visit of Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya to Spain, and assured that with her support for President Iván Duque, she’ll end up promoting the migratory crisis that they’re allegedly going to discuss.

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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