Briefing

Venezuela’s Conflict of Binational Guerrillas

Vladimir Padrino López, said that “Colombia’s evils and violence are coming to Venezuela and nobody can contain that”; Colombian Border manager Lucas Gómez ruled out that Colombian authorities were blocking Venezuelans’ return; Luis Razetti Hospital patients didn’t get their chemotherapy treatments for the third week in a row.

Naky Soto
  • It’s been 15 days of clashes in Apure, and the information coming from the regime is propaganda and very few facts. Maduro’s Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino López, said that “Colombia’s evils and violence are coming to Venezuela and nobody can contain that”, as if protecting the country wasn’t the responsibility of the institution he leads.
    • Padrino López said the government asked the UN for help to deactivate the anti-personnel mines but Maduro had already said that they’d sent that letter to Antonio Guterres. 
    • He repeated that it’s Colombia’s inability and inaction in resolving their armed conflict that has impacted the Venezuelan border. 
    • However, he also said that the Apure border was safe, that 33 people have been taken to justice but no IDs or names have been shown. He said the officers under his command have respected civilians’ human rights. Lt. Raúl Quintero was injured and died on Saturday. 
    • Padrino López hasn’t said which group they’re fighting on the border. 
  • Colombian Border manager Lucas Gómez reported they’re looking for ways to regularize over 5,000 Venezuelans who have arrived in Arauca fleeing the conflict in Apure. 
    • He ruled out what chavista mayor José María Romero said, that Colombian authorities were blocking Venezuelans’ return. 
  • Rocío San Miguel, from NGO Control Ciudadano, said that Colombian guerrillas have been “intermittently present” in the country for 40 years, and now it’s become permanent. Padrino ruled out all testimonies collected by NGOs on human rights violations. 
  • The WHO reported that there have been over 130 million cases of coronavirus in the world, and over 4 million in the last week. 
  • The National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Physics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences exhorted “initiating an urgent vaccination plan” and are preparing campaigns to issue more public health recommendations. 
  • The Health Ministry reported that a plane with medical supplies arrived from China, but no doses of the Sinopharm vaccine. The OCHA reported that only 98,000 healthcare workers had received the Sputnik V vaccine in Venezuela, until March 31st. 
  • Freddy Ceballos, president of the Venezuelan Pharmaceutical Federation and singer Henry Stephen have died of COVID-19. In addition, 18 healthcare workers died last week. 
  • Deputy Luis Florido, elected to the Assembly in 2015, said that “the international community is the fundamental actor in building the agreement” to access COVAX. He said that “considering this multidimensional crisis, we require a political solution that begins with all actors agreeing, so the participation of the international community is important.” 
    • He reiterated that Nicolás’s regime boycotted the agreement achieved in the National Technical working table. 
  • Luis Razetti Hospital patients didn’t get their chemotherapy treatments for the third week in a row. They protested with the slogan “cancer doesn’t wait”. 
  • COPEI president Roberto Enríquez has been at the Chilean Embassy for four years since the persecution started in 2017. 
  • FEDEAGRO vice president Celso Fantinel expressed their concern for the diesel fuel shortage. The most important crop cycle happens in the next 21 days. He once again warned that without diesel fuel, they won’t be able to use over 40,000 tractors in the country. 
  • CONSECOMERCIO president Felipe Capozzolo said that companies’ productive and economic capabilities have to be considered in order to expand hospitals’ capabilities amid the COVID-19 crisis. He said that in order to make bigger investments in the health sector, political agreements and access to credits are necessary. 
  • Deputy Luis Florido questioned the appointment of the new CNE by Maduro’s Assembly. 
  • Former FARC chief Rodrigo Londoño, AKA Timochenko, denied meeting dissident groups commanded by Jesús Santrich, Iván Márquez and: “There’s nothing to tie me to them, and in addition, I’m not stupid. I know military intelligence and its capabilities,” he said in a video.
  • Spanish newspaper El Mundo published a memo issued by the Spanish Embassy in Caracas on March, 19th, requesting the Foreign Ministry to null the request of authorization for Iberia and Air Europa humanitarian flights, to benefit airline Plus Ultra. 
  • As a response to a request to access images captured by the cameras at Barajas airport in Madrid in January 2020, when the secret meeting between José Luis Ábalos and Delcy Rodríguez took place, Ábalos said that publishing the images would represent a national security risk. 

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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