Caracas Chronicles

• On Monday, the rain didn’t cease in most of Venezuela and it affected several states. Vargas, Trujillo and Mérida were the most affected. 
  • A four-year-old died in Vargas, Adismar Guedez. 
  • Producers from the Andes denounced that their problems with the transportation of crops and their daily routine caused by the lack of fuel is worsened by the rains. The president of Merida’s Association, Andrés Eloy Ramírez, assured that over 10,000 producers of the Mocotíes sector are affected: “Producers have had to throw their crops out, not because they don’t sell them but because they can’t take them out of the city,” he said. 
  • The Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV) rejected military officers and civilians tied to Maduro’s regime blocking humanitarian aid sent by the Catholic Church to Mérida. 
  • The medical director of Cáritas Mérida, Antonio Hum, assured that this won’t stop the work in affected areas and said that they’re delivering donations. Starting on Monday, the CEV in Montalbán, Caracas, will be the only place to collect aid for the victims. 
  • The National Press Workers Guild denounced that the office of the protector in Merica harasses journalists for reporting on the rains and their consequences. 

• The National Electoral Council started auditing the software of voting machines. The process will last 12 days. 

Board member Roberto Picón said that 43 organizations have nominated candidates for the November election. So far, there are 537 nominations for governor and 5,068 for mayorships. 

• • Picón announced that the CNE will implement a customer service system to collect claims against the campaigns or the process. He highlighted that the commitment is not having puntos rojos around voting centers and exhorted witnesses to denounce any irregularities. 

• Over 4.5 million people have died of COVID-19. The U.S., Brazil and India have been the countries with the most deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. 
• Delcy Rodríguez reported that citizens over 60 years old can go to any vaccination center without an appointment until September 5th. She said that they intend to reach 300,000 doses per day (too bad she didn’t say how) and assured that there will be vaccination stations in municipal markets. 
  • She said that starting on September 5th, 50-year-old citizens and older can walk in without an appointment. 
  • On Monday, an alleged new shipment of Sputnik V arrived in the country even though they deleted the tweet. The official Twitter account didn’t specify how many doses had arrived and then the Health Ministry denied the information. 

• On Monday, seven-year-old Wilmary Hernández, a J.M. de los Ríos patient died. Thirteen patients have died this year. 
• FundaRedes activists Javier Tarazona, Rafael Tarazona and Omar de Dios García have been in prison for 60 days.

Human Rights Watch said that the fundamental issue on the negotiation agenda should be the humanitarian emergency and human rights. Their director for the Americas, José Miguel Vivanco, recommended talking about the end of repression, judicial reform, releasing political prisoners and guaranteeing the entry of humanitarian aid. 

• Guillermo Wallis, president of the Venezuelan Association of Chemical and Petrochemical Industries said that the lack of electricity and fuel is affecting oxygen production, even though there’s enough installed capacity to cover the demand, “after the power cuts, we need six or seven hours off before we can restart.” 
• FUNVISIS registered a 4.8 magnitude earthquake in Sucre on Monday. 
• The Venezuelan Central Bank said that starting September 1st, prices must be published in the current and future denomination, even though most stores just show the price in dollars at the moment. 
• Spanish Foreign minister José Manuel Albares will start contacting representatives of the regime and the opposition regarding the dialogue process in Mexico. He mentioned conversations with Mauricio Rodríguez Gelfenstein and Leopoldo López and online conversations with Capriles and other members of the opposition. 
• Paralympic athletes Luis Felipe Rodríguez and Linda Peréz qualified to compete in the finals in Tokyo 2020 in their categories.