Briefing

The Violence in Apure Costs Lives

The Armed Forces issued a press release to admit they’ve been facing combat with irregular groups in Apure. The document isn’t specific and doesn’t provide the amount or the names dead officers.

Naky Soto
  • Three days after suffering an ambush, the Armed Forces issued a press release to admit they’ve been facing combat with irregular groups in Apure, that several of their facilities have been destroyed and they’ve captured informants. The document isn’t specific and doesn’t provide the amount or the names of dead officers. 
    • According to RCN, at least 12 Venezuelan officers have died in the clashes against FARC in the area. 
    • Meanwhile, El Pitazo assured that at least nine bodies of Venezuelan officers were taken to a hospital in Guasdualito. 
  • According to security advisor Andrei Serbin Pont, the regime’s silence on Apure responds to four simultaneous tragedies: they haven’t been able to get an accurate count of dead officers, the ambushed commandos were “the best of the FANB” on the field, the rate of desertion has multiplied and “one of the causes of the massacre is the internal political dispute within the FANB.” When you can, check the work by Human Rights Watch on the abuses against civilians, including executing at least four farmers of the area, arbitrary detentions, civilians being taken to military courts, and torture. 
  • Opposition parties expressed their rejection of the new appointments for the National Electoral Council made by Maduro’s Assembly. They propose a serious negotiation process that allows for an electoral route, with guarantees, that leads to free and fair elections. “This crisis can only be overcome by respecting the Constitution and appointing a balanced and transparent CNE.” 
  • According to AP, Maduro’s regime is “strengthening efforts to convince Joe Biden’s government”. Some analysts consider chavismo’s given “signs of goodwill” like allowing the World Food Programme in, promising to work with the opposition to vaccinate more Venezuelans and meeting Norwegian diplomats trying to reactivate the negotiation. AP said that, behind the scenes, “moderates aligned with Henrique Capriles have been meeting with Maduro’s representatives to push for including two opposition rectors in the CNE.” For now, chavismo’s gestures haven’t impressed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, concludes AP.
  • Médicos Unidos por Venezuela reported 14 new deaths in the sector for a total of 513 dead healthcare workers who have died of coronavirus.
  • UCV professor Saúl Villasmil explained that bioanalysts have reactive agent shortages that make it hard to diagnose coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. PCR tests are managed by the National Hygiene Institute. 
  • The mayor of the Gómez municipality in Nueva Esparta, Yannelys Patiño, died of COVID-19. She’s the fourth PSUV authority to die of coronavirus this year. 
  • On April 26th, 2017, a military officer murdered UNIMET student Juan Pablo Pernalete, shooting a tear gas canister straight into his chest. Four years later, his parents José Gregorio Pernalete and Elvira Llovera demand justice. 
  • Guárico governor José Manuel Vásquez assured that they have created a plan to distribute fuel for the agro-industrial sector and that they’re coordinating the distribution with the Zone of Operational Integral Defense (ZODI). 
  • Cattle farmers have denounced the increase of beef prices and the shortage as a product of the shipments being done to countries like Iran and Egypt, in alliances from private groups with the regime. The final price in dollars increases but the producers receive next to nothing for their cattle. 
  • CICPC director Douglas Rico said that the plan to deal with criminal gangs from la Cota 905 is to talk to them so they “hand in their weapons and change their attitude.” 
  • Venezuelan athlete Yulimar Rojas received official recognition from the Guinness World Record committee for her 15.44 m. indoor triple jump, a feat she achieved in February 2020. 
  • The Vatican’s Secretary of State Pietro Parolin is coming to Venezuela from what many observers interpret as an effort by the Vatican to support the new negotiations, even though the official reason for his visit is José Gregorio Hernández’s beatification. 
  • The UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration asked for safer routes for Venezuela after the shipwreck of a boat traveling to Trinidad and Tobago was confirmed. There were 24 travelers in total, 11 of them are missing and at least six people died. 

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.

Related