Briefing

Forewarned Collapse

The curve is exponentially growing in a devastated country that doesn’t have institutional resources to respond; The EU sanctioned 11 officers and Venezuela expelled their ambassador

Naky Soto

Photo: Business Insider

  • Deputy in exile José Manuel Olivares assured that the real number of COVID-19 deaths in the country is 116 people. He explained that Nicolás’s regime didn’t report 44 deaths all across the country, 28 of which happened in Zulia state in the last ten days, west of the country. He warned that if the regime keeps hiding the figures, it’ll be impossible to take measures to contain the pandemic: “We’re advancing towards a complete collapse if the numbers and projections remain in their estimated trajectory. Venezuela is on its way to being the tragedy among the tragedy of COVID-19 deaths in Latin America,” he said. He denounced that 500 PCR tests were lost in Zulia ten days ago, they never made it to Caracas for their evaluation and insisted that what’s happening in Zulia may happen in other regions. 
  • Delcy Rodríguez reported 233 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 5,530 cases they’ve admitted to. In order to analyze the matter of “imported” cases, check out a video of migrants confined in Apure state, where they denounce being confined for 18 days without information. It looks like a concentration camp where they’re punished for coming back. In addition, the CICPC body of detectives delivered on Monday morning a subpoena for Tuesday, June 30th, to Hania Salazar, who’s the president of Zulia’s Nurses’ Association. “There’s no reason for a citation,” said the spokeswoman, and asked the public to remain alert. 
  • Journalist Maryorin Méndez, digital director of NTN24, summarized the serious situation in Zulia. The results of the PCR tests take 11 days and doctors don’t want to work because they don’t have personal protection gear. “The orders for doctors are that, if the dead patient didn’t take the PCR test (…) the forensic report must not state that it was COVID-19 so it doesn’t make it to official figures,” Méndez wrote. She added that the only team collecting and cremating the bodies has collapsed, that regional authorities have declared over 500 positive cases that the national figures don’t consider, and that it’s precisely the contradiction and opacity which explain that so many citizens are breaking the rules and are exposed to infection. 
  • The European Union sanctioned 11 officers tied to Nicolás’s regime for violating diplomatic immunity of AN deputies. They highlighted that these people created obstacles for a political and democratic solution to the Venezuelan crisis, violated human rights and restricted fundamental liberties. The sanctioned individuals are: Luis Parra, Franklyn Duarte and José Gregorio Noriega (illegitimate AN); Gladys Requena, Tania Díaz and Elvis Amoroso (ANC) ; José Ornelas Ferreira (general secretary of the Defense Council); Juan José Mendoza Jover, (second vice president of the TSJ); Jorge Márquez, (general director of Conatel); and Farik Mora and Dinorah Bustamante (prosecutors with an office inside DGCIM headquarters). Jorge Arreaza, the regime’s Foreign minister, rejected the sanctions on Twitter: “The EU persists in their interventionist policy against dialogue and peace.” 
  • Later, Nicolás expelled the EU ambassador to Venezuela, Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa, as his answer to sanctions. He also accused the Spanish ambassador Jesús Silva, of being the accomplice of Leopoldo López, leader of Voluntad Popular, in planning the armed incursion of Macuto in May. He assured that in the next few hours he’d make a decision about Silva. The EU finances over 40% of the humanitarian response in Venezuela. 
  • The IACHR rejected in a communiqué the recent decisions by the TSJ, which “go against democratic institutions and hurt fundamental liberties and human rights.” They asked the same authorities who just expelled an ambassador to return to constitutional mechanisms for re-establishing the rule of law. 
  • The U.S. sent Cape Verde the formal petition for extradition of Álex Saab Morán, who’s accused of money laundering and corruption. This petition includes documents and statements tied to the federal charges. 
  • Iran notified Interpol about an arrest warrant against President Donald Trump and other 35 people for the murder of Qasem Soleimani. It’s unlikely that Interpol will accept this request, since their rules forbid them from any intervention or action of political nature. 
  • Officer Javier Gorriño, El Hatillo’s director of citizen security, was charged with promoting hate, for deducting Nicolás’s presence at a party thrown amid a pandemic, because he identified his personal security team, the Casa Militar. He was granted house arrest. 
  • The Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones denounced that five inmates have died this month at the Tocuyito prison. The last dead prisoner allegedly died of tuberculosis and sepsis. The families demand that food is allowed in the prison, because it’s been suspended since the quarantine started, because most inmates suffer from malnutrition. 
  • Today, the WHO said that “the new normal” contemplates learning how to live with coronavirus, because eradication is far away. Later, it was revealed that Chinese scientists have identified a new strain of the flu that could become a pandemic in China. Pigs are the carrier but it might mutate, spread and cause another global pandemic. Even though it isn’t an immediate problem, “it has all the distinctive characteristics” of being adapted to infect humans and needs to be under strict vigilance. 
  • There have been over 10.2 million cases and 504,000 coronavirus deaths in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. is still the epicenter, with 2.5 million cases and 126,127 deaths. Brazil is next, with 1,368,195 cases and 58,314 deaths. Peru has had 282,365 cases versus Chile’s 275,999. Colombia has had more than 91,995 cases and 3,256 deaths.
Briefing

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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