Caracas Chronicles

• INAMEH announced tropical wave no. 27 after it had already affected the country. “This tropical wave will be affecting central and Western Venezuela, because it’s moving from the east to the center and interacting in the area of intertropical convergence,” said meteorologist Diógenes Carrillo. In Táchira, there are over 100 families that have lost their homes as a consequence of severe rains. In Barinas, the  Socopó River overflowed and affected 2,200 people. There were landslides in Macarao, Western Caracas, and the Guaire River overflowed in Sucre municipality and other rivers did so in Vargas and Mérida. Activating the National Center for Emergency and Disaster Control is only propaganda since the most useful thing they’ve said so far is that “citizens must remain alert.” 
• Maduro’s foreign minister Carlos Faría met with Russia’s Ambassador to Venezuela, Sergey Melik-Bagdasárov, to “review and evaluate the strategic alliance” between both nations. Faría said the meeting was pleasant and that they’ll strengthen bilateral cooperation in at least 20 sectors. Bilateral commerce increased almost 50% in 2021, up to 149.7 million dollars. 
• The special commission of Maduro’s National Assembly that’s allegedly investigating crimes against Venezuelan migrants, said they identified 4,918 murdered Venezuelans in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and other countries in the region. Julio Chávez warned they’ll crosscheck their data with the national electoral registry to certify their identities. 
• Chávez said that this information would be used to file accusations before international organizations. Chavismo wants to denounce how people fleeing the country they destroyed on their own, have been exposed to risks on their journey out of the country or to their receiving countries. 

71,012 migrants crossed the Darién Gap between January and July. 44,943 of those migrants are Venezuelans (63.28%), according to Panama’s immigration service. This figure is 57.7% more than in 2021. July was the worst month, with a total of 22,582 migrants, 74.6% of them ( 16,864) were Venezuelan. 

• The bodies of 15 Venezuelan citizens who died in  Nicaragua on July 27th were repatriated on August 9th. It was confirmed by their families at Bello Monte morgue. 
• 255 people have been murdered on the border with Colombia in 2022, because of the conflict between FARC and ELN dissidents, who are fighting over control of drug trafficking routes, illegal mining and extortion. Eleven people have died in August. 
• Stalin González tried to make headlines by repeating three failproof sentences: that the opposition has to “listen to the people”; that the opposition must “admit they’ve made mistakes” and that the opposition “isn’t an alternative today.” His ground-breaking proposal is to travel the country and present solutions to the people. 
• Rafael Ramírez Colina, Maracaibo mayor, and Henry Maldonado, mayor of the Cruz Paredes municipality in Barinas, called the opposition leadership to “close ranks” in order to achieve political change. They said that citizens “demand solutions” and they complimented the private sector for their “contribution towards development” and they even praised their own tax collection systems. 
• Members of UCV’s Constitutional Law department, led by Dr. Tulio Álvarez, issued a communiqué regarding handing out a million hectares to be controlled by Iran, an action that violates international treaties and the Constitution. They said they’ll denounce this violation of fundamental rights before the appropriate international organizations. 
• The Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons revealed that 89% of prisons in Venezuela are controlled by pranes, meaning, only 11% of jails in the country are controlled by government authorities. In addition, they said that the installed capacity of 31 prisons is 4,850 people, but there are almost 14,000 inmates, a 287.40% overcrowding rate.
• Unions in Zulia protested against ONAPRE’s new rules, since it violates public workers’ rights. 
• The National Academy of Medicine called on the population to uphold biosecurity measures and social distancing, since the occupancy rate of ERs has significantly increased. 
• Yulimar Rojas shone bright at the Diamond League in Monaco. She jumped 15.01 mts. in the triple jump final.