Briefing

Mega Elections Are Happening

Maduro’s Assembly approved holding a mega election for 335 mayors and 23 governors and most likely regional deputies; He celebrated the approval of the 2021 legislative plan and emphasized the possibility of adding a chapter on social media to the TV and radio law.

Naky Soto
  • Maduro’s Assembly approved holding a mega election for 335 mayors and 23 governors and most likely regional deputies. They approved 34 draft laws, highlighting their intention to intensify censorship with modifications laws on Venezuelan cyberspace, social responsibility on radio and television and international cooperation. They also approved the draft law on women’s rights to live without violence. 
  • Maduro held a council with his ministers, which was broadcast on national television. He celebrated the approval of the 2021 legislative plan and emphasized the possibility of adding a chapter on social media to the TV and radio law. He announced that they have revised how a social recovery plan could be, how the national vaccination system will be, how to return to schools and even how Holy Week will look like with biosecurity measures. 
  • The Delegate Commission of the 2015 National Assembly approved an agreement rejecting Ambassador Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa’s expulsion. They expressed their support and asked her to continue working towards rescuing democracy. 
  • Deputies talked about the increase in femicide rates and expressed the need for the State to execute real public policy to prevent these crimes. 
  • Guaidó met with Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau, who confirmed that Venezuela was a topic on the agenda of his recent meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Garneau ratified his commitment to pursuing peaceful solutions and to continue supporting the continuity of the National Assembly. 
  • Blinken talked to Guaidó on the phone on Tuesday. They talked about the U.S. working alongside the EU, the Lima Group, the OAS and the International Contact Group to “increase multilateral pressure and push for a peaceful, democratic transition.” 
  • Maduro said that the first lot of 500,000 doses of the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm and PPE gear arrived in the country. He also said that more doses of the vaccine will arrive from Cuba next week. 
  • Laser Airlines reported that chavismo will be using the services of Casalab 2020 laboratories to run PCR tests at the airport. The test is mandatory for all travelers and will cost 60 dollars to be paid in cash only. 
  • Fedecámaras president Ricardo Cusanno revealed that he has contacted the WHO and UNICEF in order to qualify for participating in a vaccination program. 
  • NGO Médicos Unidos reported that Dr. María Amelia Zambrano has died of COVID-19 at the ULA University Hospital. She’s the first healthcare worker to die in March, and the 36th so far this year. 
  • Control Ciudadano president Rocío San Miguel reported that General Oswaldo Hernández Sánchez was released. Hernández Sánchez was arrested seven years ago for the so-called “Golpe Azul” and was serving his sentence in the Military Hospital for having grade IV metastatic cancer.
  • Control Ciudadano also reported that the last reform made by the ANC on the Law of Armed Forces expanded the militarization of the State, allowing the creation of the Territorial Defense System which incorporates the FANB to the political-ideological committees, validates the military order of communes and assigns to the militias the task of indoctrinating people, among others. 
  • Organizations of the civil society presented a list of 15 candidates for potential directors of the CNE. The list includes scholars, NGO representatives, advisors, a journalist and a businessman. 
  • The Venezuelan Association of University Professors (FAPUV) said universities are in a state of emergency and assured there are no guarantees to return to class. They listed the budget, their salaries, poor infrastructure (biosecurity, services and equipment), lack of transportation and a vaccination plan as the reasons it’s impossible to go back to class. 
  • INPARQUES expressed their concern for the decision of turning the Civilian Unit of Park Rangers into a brigade of immediate response to fight crime in national parks. 
  • EU Ambassador Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa said goodbye to Venezuela on Tuesday: “Thank you to all Venezuelans for their love, recognition and affection. I’ll take you with me in all these beautiful memories. My heart is staying here. I love you, Venezuela,” she wrote from the Turkish Airlines flight on which she had to leave the country after being expelled by the regime. 
  • A group of Republican and Democratic senators from Florida requested the U.S. government to appoint a new special envoy for Venezuela. Washington assured this weekend that they’re in no rush to lift sanctions, but they’d consider sanctions relief if Maduro took measures to strengthen confidence and prove that he’s ready to seriously negotiate with the opposition. 
  • The U.S. government announced on Tuesday new sanctions against Russia, for poisoning and arresting opposition leader Alexei Navalny, including economic and visa restrictions. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that they wouldn’t hesitate to respond to the potential sanctions. 

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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