Caracas Chronicles

• “I got vaccinated, I’m immune,” said Maduro on Sunday. On Wednesday, his vice president Delcy Rodríguez said: “We won’t repeat the system of rich countries, where only those who have money get vaccinated,” despite the opacity on vaccine management in Venezuela and the low percentage of healthcare workers who’ve had the first dose. Rodríguez reiterated the regime’s rejection of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX mechanism. She assured that sanctions have made the impact of the pandemic worse. Everything can be disproven by looking at reality. 
• After Delcy Rodríguez’s statement, obviously, Venezuela can’t finalize its participation in COVAX, as the PAHO said. Despite the self-blockade by chavismo, PAHO’s director of emergencies Ciro Ugarte said yesterday that negotiations are still ongoing. 
• Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said that without the sanctions, Venezuela would have bought the vaccines it needs. That’s a lie. This is a political will problem because on March, 19th, 2021,  the National Assembly elected in 2015 approved $30,309,040 to finance Venezuela’s access to COVAX. 
• ANC-imposed prosecutor general Tarek William Saab delivers over $300,000 worth of supplies to two military hospitals in Caracas. He said it’s the third donation, except for the fact that the supplies were confiscated from private businesses, which makes it inaccurate to call it a donation. 
• The government increased the taxing unit to Bs. 20,000, a 1,233% increase compared to the last one, set at 1,500 bolivars. 
• 
  17 days after the conflict in Apure started, CEOFANB chief reported sending rapid response troops to the area “to fight, expel and capture every Colombian irregular group of drug traffickers, terrorists and paramilitaries.” The statement contradicts the three times that they’ve said the situation is under control. 
• El Pitazo published a video where Yaracuy’s chavista mayor Adrián Duque signals with a red circle the homes of COVID-19 patients, which violates the patients and their families’ human rights. This discriminatory practice is criticized by the WHO and the UN, among other institutions. 
• Tarek William Saab reported last night that he started a criminal investigation for segregation. He said it was a unilateral action by the mayor. How does he know? 
• Amnesty International presented its 2020/21 on the human rights situation around the world. They concluded that COVID-19 revealed and worsened inequality, repression and destructive policies. Latin American and the Caribbean are still the most dangerous regions for human rights activists. 
• Pablo Tapo, a representative of several Indigenous peoples in Amazonas State, asked the regime to expel irregular armed groups from their territories, said NGO Fundaredes. FARC and ELN alter their way of living and force them to retreat from their ancestral land. He said that the presence of these groups isn’t new and that it’s been thoroughly denounced. 
• After four years, PDVSA restarted gas production in the Puerto La Cruz refinery, said some sources to Reuters. They’re producing at least 15,000 BPD, said union leader José Bodas.
• Journalist Marianna Párraga, who covers oil, explained that Venezuela is indeed importing oil because it’s crucial for the State, except that now the books and the checks are kept hidden. 
• The opposition reported on the creation of a new alliance of ten political parties promising to guarantee “the broadest process possible in the decision making process and the political debate”. The alliance has the goals of tackling the humanitarian emergency and the pandemic and of holding free, fair and certifiable elections. 
• Julio Borges presented the Hermanos program to help migrants and its three components: 

1. Promoting public policies that help with integration
2. A platform to identify where millions of migrants are living, a sort of directory so they can provide services 
3. A platform to showcase the contributions Venezuelan migrants have made to their receiving countries 

Over 600 NGOs, embassies and other political organizations have worked in building Hermanos. UNHCR says that 70% of our diaspora is in Colombia, Peru, Chile Ecuador and Brasil. 

…

Chile is planning to expel over 1,800 migrants in the next nine months. Out of the 15 flights that the Chilean government would be hiring to that end, 13 flights have Caracas as their destination.