VENEZUELA
VENEZUELA
90,400
Total Cases
780
Total Deaths
via voanews10/20/2020
Honduras Ex-President Receives Experimental Russian COVID Vaccine - Voice of America
Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is taking part in Phase 3 trials of a potential coronavirus vaccine. Venezuelan state television showed Zelaya receiving a shot of Russia's experimental Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Caracas on Monday. Venezuela is the first Latin American country to participate in the testing process. FILE - A Russian medical worker administers a shot of Russia's experimental Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow, Russia, Sept.
via usoas.usmission.gov10/19/2020
Dialogue with Civil Society Organizations - OASGA 2020 - usmission.gov
Remarks by Acting Assistant Secretary Michael Kozak Dialogue with Civil Society Organizations 50th OAS General Assembly October 19, 2020 I am pleased to be here today on behalf of the United States to hear your insights and recommendations as we prepare to engage in the 50th regular session of the OAS General Assembly. The United ...
via bmj10/19/2020
Covid-19: Venezuela's doctors refuse to be gagged - The BMJ
Overworked, overstretched, and in grave danger, Venezuela’s doctors remain defiant to government persecution in one of the worst affected areas in the pandemic, writes Luke Taylor Alcohol, blood tests, basic medicine, laboratory supplies, ventilators—the list of shortages a Venezuelan doctor faces while working 24 hour shifts in an emergency ward in one of the country’s principal public hospitals is long and punctuated by weary sighs of frustration. Many of the basic services that are available at the hospital come with a caveat: antibiotics can be administered and radiographs taken but they are unaffordable to most patients; the ambulances function but are not running owing to nationwide petrol shortages. “There isn’t even paper so we can’t keep the patients’ medical history,” an internist, who preferred not to be named, told The BMJ . Shortages of the most basic medical supplies have become an alarming norm in Venezuela’s hospitals in recent years as the country has fallen into economic and political turmoil. Doctors have relied on donations from non-governmental organisations like the International Red Cross and the basics they can afford to buy themselves, such as cleaning alcohol and tools, to plug the gap. Then the pandemic arrived. Hospital staff, already overworked, and supplies, already lacking, have become stretched like never before by the influx of covid-19 patients. Shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) are putting health workers in peril. At least 220 had died with covid-19 as of 8 October—around one a day—says Medicos Unidos Venezuela, an advocacy group of doctors monitoring the crisis.1 “It’s like working in a warzone,” says the internist. But like most Venezuelan healthcare workers it’s a choice of risking contracting the illness or not putting food on the table. The internist worked day shifts in a clinic dedicated to covid-19 patients to supplement the $23 …
via latinamericareports10/17/2020
Venezuela's mistreatment of returnees may be intensifying COVID-19 spread - Latin America Reports
Venezuela is abusing exiles who have had to return to the country during the coronavirus pandemic, which could be leading to heightened transmission of COVID-19 in the South American country, according to a report from Human Rights Watch and Johns Hopkins University. In the joint report, researchers found the quarantine centers where returnees are being required to stay had severe shortages of food, water, and medical attention. Delays in testing are reportedly keeping people in these quarantine sites longer than the recommended 14 days and risking higher rates of transmission. Officials have said that more than 100,000 Venezuelans have come […]
via gzeromedia10/07/2020
Hard Numbers: English contact tracing fails, Venezuela's oil revenue dip, Latin American workers flail, Golden Dawn declared criminal org - GZERO Media
16,000: As a result of a technical glitch, around 16,000 confirmed COVID cases were "lost" from England's contact tracing system over the course of a week. British public health officials believe that as many as 50,000 people may have been exposed to COVID-19 during this period and now will not be c...
via ge.usembassy.gov10/06/2020
Maduro targets journalists and doctors, new report says - US Embassy in Georgia
The illegitimate Maduro regime has used the COVID-19 pandemic to crack down on anyone who doesn’t comply with Maduro, a Human Rights Watch report says. Since mid-March, “Venezuelan authorities have arbitrarily detained and prosecuted dozens of journalists, health care workers, human rights lawyers and political opponents who criticize the government of Nicolás Maduro,” according to HRW . The organization ...
via kff.org09/21/2020
U.S. Announces Additional Humanitarian Assistance To Venezuela, Including $205M From USAID - Kaiser Family Foundation
USAID: The United States Announces Additional Humanitarian Funding In Response To The Venezuela Regional Crisis In this statement, USAID Acting Administrator John Barsa discusses U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement of nearly $348 million in additional humanitarian assistance, including $205 million from USAID, to Venezuela, noting, “This funding will save lives by protecting hundreds<span class="readmore-ellipsis">…</span><a href="https://www.kff.org/news-summary/u-s-announces-additional-humanitarian-assistance-to-venezuela-including-205m-from-usaid/" class="see-more light-beige no-float inline-readmore">More</a></p>
via amnesty.org10/20/2020
Artist Erik Ravelo joins Amnesty in demanding an end to repression in the Americas - Amnesty International
The evening prior to the opening of the 50th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), Amnesty International called publicly on the organization and its member states to seek regional solutions to halt the repression in the Americas. This demand was magnified by projecting it onto the main OAS building in Washington D.C. at 21.00 that night.
via usoas.usmission.gov10/19/2020
Dialogue with Permanent Observers - OASGA 2020 - usmission.gov
Remarks by Ambassador Carlos Trujillo Dialogue with Permanent Observers OAS General Assembly October 19, 2020 Thank you Ambassador Marks. I am honored to be with you today. I would like to thank the Secretary General for his remarks and for his commitment to ensure that Permanent Observers have the voice they deserve at this year’s ...
via thehour10/16/2020
US deported Venezuelans through third country despite risks - Thehour.com
MEDELLIN, Colombia (AP) - The Trump administration stealthily deported an unknown number of Venezuelans through a third country, possibly violating U.S. laws and undermining U.S. warnings about the socialist government's human rights record, according to the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Sen. Bob Menendez said Friday that the State Department in recent weeks had confirmed to his office that the deportations occurred via Trinidad and Tobago between January and March 2020. It's not clear how many indirect deportations to Venezuela took place. But Menendez said they would appear to violate a U.S. travel ban imposed in May 2019 at the height of the U.S. campaign to remove President Nicolás Maduro and which prohibits all air travel to Venezuela due to safety concerns. Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, on Friday blasted President Trump for carrying out "stealth deportations" of Venezuelans instead of granting them what's known as temporary protected status to block their removal. "It's abundantly clear he has no regard for the suffering of the Venezuelan people," said Biden, citing Menendez's findings. Since last October, at least 180 Venezuelans have been removed from the U.S., according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE provided no breakdown but removals to third countries include Venezuelans who self-deported, those turned back at entry points as well as individuals forcibly removed against their will. Separate data from Syracuse University show that all but a handful of Venezuelans removed had no criminal conviction. "ICE defers to the White House on Congressional correspondence directed to the Trump administration," an ICE spokesperson said in a statement. Menendez in a letter addressed to...
via sfchronicle10/09/2020
Venezuela defender meets 7-month-old daughter before match - San Francisco Chronicle
CARACAS (AP) — Venezuela defender Wilker Ángel was eager for South American World Cup qualifiers to start this week despite the COVID-19 pandemic still having a hard impact on the region. It was his national team's call up for the two opening rounds of qualifying that allowed him to finally return home and meet Mía, his second daughter, who was born in March. The 27-year-old Angel, who plays for Akhmat Grozny in the Russian league, had a tearful gathering with his wife and two daughters in Venezuela shortly before the team's trip to Colombia for Friday's game in Barranquilla. Ángel saw his wife Fabiola and his two daughters in La Guaira, 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of Caracas, where the squad had been preparing until Wednesday morning. “Only God knows how hard this was,” Ángel wrote in a video posting on Instagram. “Although I could see them only for a few minutes, they filled my heart and soul.” Fabiola stayed in Venezuela since the beginning of the year so Mía could be born close to the couple's families. Ángel was expected to be back for the delivery, but then the coronavirus pandemic hit. Venezuelan authorities have suspended commercial flights to the South American nation. Wilker was allowed to leave Russia in July, but it wasn't for a good reason; he had surgery in the U.S. for a left elbow injury. By then it was still unknown whether South American World Cup qualifiers would be go ahead this year. Only in mid-September FIFA allowed the opening rounds to be scheduled and start this week, after most local authorities were convinced to lift quarantine measures for incoming players. Angel is expected to be on the bench against Colombia, but Venezuelan fans who felt moved by his encounter with Mía are campaigning online for him to get onto the...
via unaids.org10/07/2020
26 organizations to receive funding to address HIV and COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean - UNAIDS
As a result of the 2020 Call for Strengthening community-based organizations in the response to HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean in the context of COVID-19, UNAIDS received 133 project proposals that met the eligibility criteria of which 26 have now been selected to receive funding for their implementation.
via voanews09/26/2020
UN Human Rights Chief Calls for Venezuela Reforms - Voice of America
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is calling on Venezuela to release all political prisoners and end the repression of political and civil rights. In November, Penal Forum, a Venezuelan network of criminal defense lawyers reported there were 400 government opponents in Venezuela prisons. Bachelet presented an update of conditions in Venezuela before the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. While the report presents a generally a bleak picture of human rights in Venezuela, Bachelet said there are a few bright spots.
via ge.usembassy.gov09/19/2020
The United States Announces Additional Assistance to Respond to the Venezuela Crisis - US Embassy in Georgia
PRESS STATEMENT MICHAEL R. POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE The United States remains the largest single donor of humanitarian and development assistance around the world, including for Venezuelans in need, because doing our part to respond to global crisis situations is a national security priority. The United States is demonstrating our continued commitment to the Venezuelan people and our response to the ...
via modernhealthcare10/19/2020
Vaccine storage issues could leave 3B people without access - Modern Healthcare
From factory to syringe, the world's most promising coronavirus vaccine candidates need nonstop sterile refrigeration to stay potent and safe. But nearly 3 billion people live where there isn't enough temperature-controlled storage to support an immunization campaign for taming COVID-19.
via wbrz10/19/2020
Storage issues could leave 3B people without access to COVID vaccine - WBRZ
Poor people around the world who were among the hardest hit by coronavirus are also likely to be the last to recover from it because the most promising COVID vaccines require sterile cold storage, conditions which many struggling countries do not have access to at this time.
via counterpunch.org10/14/2020
Venezuela's Ability to Fight COVID-19 is Badly Hamstrung by the 31 Metric Tons of Gold Stolen From Its Treasury - CounterPunch
Tens of thousands of Venezuelans have died unnecessary deaths because of the denial of trade in medicines and medical equipment; this has challenged the already fragile system during the pandemic. To allow these unilateral sanctions by the United States, and its pursuit of regime change in Venezuela, to define the way Venezuela can fight the virus and the disease is shocking. “Collective penalties,” says the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), “are prohibited.” More
via hrw.org10/08/2020
Open letter to Dr Keith Rowley, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago - Human Rights Watch
We, the undersigned organizations working on Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela, recognize the difficult situation of all governments as they respond to the public health crisis posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We write to you, however, to express our deep concern about the reported deportation on 18 September of 93 Venezuelans, who were sent back to the grave human rights and humanitarian emergency that they were fleeing. The deportation of asylum seekers runs counter to the basic international law principle of non-refoulment.
via finance.yahoo10/07/2020
EU rules out sending observers for Venezuela vote - Yahoo Finance
The European Union said on Wednesday it will not send election observers to parliamentary elections in Venezuela in December, warning that President Nicolas Maduro's decision to call them at short notice worsened the political crisis in the country. "As the elections are not going to be postponed, the European Union can not even consider sending an election observer mission," the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell told the European Parliament.
via kff.org09/24/2020
Asia-Pacific Region Hardest-Hit By COVID-19, Climate-Related Disasters; Crisis On Venezuela-Colombia Border; Iraqi Doctors Face Threats; Mexico Has 4th Highest Death Toll - Kaiser Family Foundation
AFRICA Health-e News: Gates foundation honors Africa CDC’s John Nkengasong for fight against Covid-19 pandemic (Mukwevho, 9/23). The Lancet Infectious Diseases: COVID-19 in Africa: half a year later (Makoni, October 2020). Washington Post: Economic fallout from coronavirus leads to surge in Tunisians leaving for Europe (Parker, 9/24). ASIA Al Jazeera: Asia Pacific hardest hit by<span class="readmore-ellipsis">…</span><a href="https://www.kff.org/news-summary/asia-pacific-region-hardest-hit-by-covid-19-climate-related-disasters-crisis-on-venezuela-colombia-border-iraqi-doctors-face-threats-mexico-has-4th-highest-death-toll/" class="see-more light-beige no-float inline-readmore">More</a></p>