Hear Abayomi Azikiwe – author, editor and revolutionary fighter.
By Federico Fuentes – April 30, 2020
Government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have put into sharp relief their true nature. This is perhaps no more evident than when we compare Bolivia and Venezuela.
Despite having been installed as “interim” president after a coup last November, Jeanine Anez is presented in the media as leading Bolivia’s “transition back to democracy”. On the other hand, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro is regularly described as a “tyrant” or “dictator” presiding over an “authoritarian regime”.
In Bolivia, the government was quite slow to react to the pandemic and, when it finally acted, did so in an incoherent manner.
Eight days after the first cases were detected on March 10 the government closed the country’s borders and initiated a nightly curfew from 5pm–6am. But the curfew only served to raise the number of people on the streets at certain times of the day, thereby worsening the probability of contagion.
The government then shifted to a complete lockdown on March 22, imposed under threat of large fines (up to $450) and jail time (up to 10 years) for those who did not comply. Police and military were granted special powers to ensure compliance.
By April 11, almost 10,000 people had been arrested for violating lockdown restrictions. In comparison, Bolivia had only carried out 4800 COVID-19 tests by April 23.
In terms of alleviating the economic impacts of the lockdown, the government did not issue its first social security payments until mid-April. The government has also said it will subsidise basic utilities and provide companies with loans to cover wage bills.
In the midst of the pandemic, health minister Anibal Cruz resigned on April 8, but not before rejecting Cuba’s offer to help the country fight the virus. Hundreds of Cuban doctors were expelled from Bolivia shortly after Anez assumed power.
Cruz later revealed that modelling indicated Bolivia was facing the prospect of 3840 deaths from COVID-19 within 4 months. He was replaced by Marcel Navajas, who said expanding testing was not a priority, despite World Health Organization recommendations stating it is vital to any strategy to contain the virus….
BlacklistedNews: Wikileaks Puts all their files Online
Venezuela
Pittsburgh Post Gazette editorial: The U.S. does not need a war in Venezuela The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust the United States into crisis, and its citizenry is in desperate need of medical, economic and moral support. What the people do not need, or want, is another war.
The U.S. has built up a tremendous force in the waters north of the country. “We’re deploying additional Navy destroyers, combat ships, aircraft, and helicopters; Coast Guard cutters; and Air Force surveillance aircraft, doubling our capabilities in the region.”Officials at the Defense Department reportedly opposed the deployment, as the military has struggled with the spread of COVID-19. But their concerns were ignored.
The president claims that the operation is meant to combat drug trafficking, primarily cocaine smuggling, but such a force has never been previously deployed solely for drugs. And data from the U.S. government’s own Consolidated Counterdrug Database shows that Venezuela is not a primary transit country for U.S.-bound cocaine. Six times as much cocaine passed through Guatemala in recent years. Our government should focus on the more pressing needs of its own people, who are trying to make it through the most significant crisis the country has faced in decades.
OrinocoTribune: Ambassador Moncada Denounces Trump at the UN for his “Genocidal Policy” Towards Venezuelans Moncada denounced the “genocidal” management of the United States to the UN Security Council for using “the pandemic as a weapon against Caracas.” Since at least 2015, the US, UK and other allied countries have imposed various illegal sanctions, “in an illegal action that repeats itself in the XXI century, the same acts of colonialism that characterized the nineteenth century.”
Orinoco Tribune: Now the US Navy Intimidates Venezuelan Fishing Vessel in International Waters
A Venezuelan fishing vessel was boarded in the Pacific Ocean by the US Coast Guard. The illegal boarding of the Venezuelan vessel was carried out following US Southern Command orders and the excuse was that it was part of “actions in the Caribbean and the Pacific, to stop the flow of drug trafficking from South and Central America to the United States..”
Maria Paez Victor: Despite the Siege, Venezuela Controls the Coronavirus A review of the steps Venezuela took to effectively combat the virus, in spite of increased US measures to disrupt them.
Venezuelanalysis: Venezuela: Guaido to Use Funds Frozen in US to Pay Loyalists $5000 Monthly Salaries The Trump administration recently moved $342m belonging to the Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV) from a frozen Citibank account to an account at the New York Federal Reserve. The Guaido-led opposition reportedly “approved” the measure, which the BCV called “plunder.” Washington has repeatedly dispensed funds to the Venezuelan opposition, including $98 million in October and $52 million in September of last year.
PeoplesDispatch: The US believes it has a “messianic mission” against communism, says Venezuelan vice-minister Carlos Ron Ron:The US strategy has been clear. And when I talk about the United States, I also mean this group of Guaidó, because there is no clear separation between them….
What’s in this newsletter?
The Southern Workers Assembly extends its solidarity to all workers on May Day, International Workers Day. There are many work stoppages, actions, and strikes taking place across the South, the U.S., and the world today, and we’ve been proud to support Cooperation Jackson and People’s Strike to help elevate and spread the call for a General Strike.
We want to thank our incredible panel of Southern workers and organizers who helped to make the webinar we hosted this past Tuesday such a dynamic and successful event. More than 250+ people joined us over Zoom, and thousands more have watched the video on our Facebook page (and if you missed it, you can watch it there too!). Every state in the South had more than a dozen people tuned in to the discussion (and in many cases much more than that).
Through all the reports shared on the call – from nurses, city workers, bus drivers, postal workers, UPS workers, and more – we heard several common themes emerge. Across the board, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, bosses, state and federal government are willing to put workers lives in jeopardy in the name profit. The billionaires and the politicians that do their bidding are doing everything they can to use this crisis as an opportunity to accelerate attacks on workers and our communities, like the privatization and dismantling of the US Postal Service.
The only thing that can stop these attacks is if workers get organized and fightback. We heard many powerful examples of what workers across the South are doing to put forward a common platform for struggle right now – and the call conclude with the launch of the Safe Jobs Save Lives campaign, a call for building local workers assemblies, and several key petitions to sign right now to support workers in motion.
We’ve recently launched a Patreon to help bring in regular funds to support building the Southern Workers Assembly – including holding local meetings and workers schools, launching the Safe Jobs Save Lives campaign, supporting local workers assemblies, and much more!
Please share the link with your members and friends via email and social media, and consider making a monthly donation to help support this important work! We don’t receive any money from foundations – we’re completely supported by workers like you and contributions from unions and worker organizations.
We’ve put together this toolkit as an resource for workers to use on the job and in building out the Safe Jobs Save LIves campaign. Click the image below to download the toolkit, or follow this link.
