Scarred Forever

Attorney Gonzalo Himiob denounced the detention of political prisoners who had just released and Cecodap reports the emotional impact of the humanitarian emergency and forced migration

Photo: Notitotal retrieved

Psychologist Abel Saraiba, part of Cecodap’s team, talked on Thursday about how the complex humanitarian emergency affects emotional development, emphasizing that the state hasn’t created protocols to protect children and teenagers’ mental health, increasing their vulnerability. To Saraiba, the depth of our crisis affects our youth and it has turned into mental disorders, including cases of patients who have harmed themselves or developed suicidal tendencies. In 2018, Cecodap saw over 500 patients in psych consults, for family conflict cases, alterations of mental state and children of parents who have had to leave the country: a situation that keeps adding up victims: 28.3 % of Venezuelan migrants leave at least one child behind. Sarabia thinks that it’s crucial to have a system for collecting information, that will allow them to work with children and teenarger’ mental health data cruciales la gestión de un sistema de and an awareness campaign to educate about the matter. “Mental health is absent within the indicators of the impact of the complex humanitarian emergency and the humanitarian and state response,” said Fernando Pereira, Cecodap’s founder. 

Necessary Alternative

Costa Rica announced it’s running for the UN Human Rights Council. They want to hold one of two seats assigned to Latin America. President Carlos Alvarado explained that due to the “severe violations against human rights in the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ report, Venezuela isn’t an adequate candidate” for this institution. “Human rights are not a collateral, random thing, they’re key for developing a democracy, private business and justice for people,” he said. HRW asked for active support for Costa Rica’s plea. 

More Human Rights

Once more, the start of the trial against graphic reporter Jesús Medina Ezaine was postponed by court, scheduling the new hearing for December 5th, said Foro Penal. The Free Press Coalition included him in the list of the worst ten cases of attacked journalists. Foro Penal said that three political prisoners who were freed on Wednesday, October 3rd were detained again for alleged new crimes. Gonzalo Himiob called it “the most perverse version of a turnstile” when the regime frees some prisoners but detains others. María Auxiliadora Delgado and her husband Juan Carlos Marrufo, released on Wednesday after being detained for over six months at Dgcim, await a new hearing. 

The Other Country

– Manuel Quevedo, Nicolás Oil minister, assured that Venezuela will increase production to 1.6 million barrels per day, even when it’s lower than 600 thousand today because of the U.S. sanctions, according to him. 

– However, PDVSA and China National Petroleum suspended expansion works in  Petrosinovensa and stopped the company’s mixing activities, because of the sheer amount of inventory that they can’t move after U.S. sanctions. 

– Elvis Amoroso, president of Nicolás’s moral republican council, rejected the expulsion of TSJ justices that would have attended the Cumbre Judicial Interamericana in Peru. Don’t worry, the justices were there on video. 

– In the same press conference, ANC-imposed prosecutor general Tarek William Saab, questioned Peru’s moral authority to talk about Venezuelan democracy “when they’re practically Latin America’s circus” and Alfredo Ruíz, incapable of speaking about the severe human rights violations in Venezuela, did talk about the importance of  “solidarity with victims of attacks because of the violations in Peru. Whatever happens, human rights must be respected by any state,” he was bold enough today.

100 Million for 1,000 Outpatient Clinics

Nicolás’s variety show was at a health journey where he talked about the need for more investment in the sector, as if that decision depended on other people and not him. He made the most out of his time between contacts, to condemn the U.S. refusing visas and the blockade that “doesn’t allow us to buy medicine.” He criticized the UN and assured that they haven’t followed through on their word to provide humanitarian aid. “They promised everything with the humanitarian aid they offered Venezuela and nothing has arrived. All noise, to campaign against Venezuela,” he said. He approved over 168 million euros to buy reagents for labs for dialysis patients, 100 million to build 1,000 Barrio Adentro outpatient clinics. He approved resources for preventing and controlling vector-borne diseases, promising to help four million children. According to him, Barrio Adentro has “more than 20,000 family doctors, 12,000 are Cuban and the rest are integral community doctors graduated from Hugo Chávez Science University.”

American Efforts 

U.S. President Donald Trump said he’s helping how he can: “Look, in Venezuela they have no water, no electricity, we’re helping the people of Venezuela how we can. We’re looking into the situation very carefully,” said Trump. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo mete with Pope Francis. Italian sources said they covered the cases of Venezuela, Syria and Iran. Mauricio Claver-Carone, senior director of the National Security Council for Affairs of the Western Hemisphere warned creditors of Venezuelan bonds that sanctions on cashing them won’t be lifted until Nicolás is out of office, most likely. Also, Nancy Pelosi insisted on the need for the Senate to approve the amendment that would grant Temporary Protection Status to Venezuelan migrants. 

Other Lands 

– In his visit to Cuba, Russian Prime Minister Dimitri Medvedev regretted that the U.S. frowns upon Russian cooperation with his island, “a fundamental partner in Latin America”. After he met with President Miguel Díaz-Canel, he informed they signed eight agreements in strategic areas like transport, energy and infrastructure. 

– Díaz-Canel said that he’ll be going to Moscow at the end of the month to meet with President Vladimir Putin and condemned the “unfair and immoral” sanctions against Moscow imposed by the U.S. and some allies. Remember that Nicolás called on Wednesday to strengthening military and intelligence cooperation with Cuba. 

– Peruvian President Martín Vizcarra’s cabinet swore their oaths of office after dissolving Congress. For the next four months, the country will be governed by urgent decrees issued by Vizcarra, until the next Parliament is installed on January 26th, 2020. 

– Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno decreed an emergency state for 60 days to allow the flow of citizens who were affected by the transport strike that derived into altercations with the police. Protests answer eliminating the fuel subsidies that Moreno canceled to the economy. 

Tarek William Saab announced a criminal investigation against “Venezuela Shore”, a webshow on YouTube. All those who have criticized the show online have rejected the language and the fact that there are minors on the show. This sets a terrible precedent for all of us who create content online. The Venezuelan state doesn’t have the authority to judge and control what’s published online.Even if we don’t like what’s there, endorsing the censorship is ridiculous. Chavismo has advanced in censoring freedom of expression under the flexible reach of the Law against Hate, used to arbitrarily imprison tweeters. We can also not watch the content, but it’s not up to the state to criminally investigate someone who’s producing a show for the internet, if it can be published or not and if it’s apt for Venezuelans. 

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.