2020-04-07: News Headlines

Vijay Prashad, Paola Estrada, Ana Maldonado, and Zoe PC (2020-04-07). Trump Sends Gun Boats to Venezuela While the World Partners to Fight a Deadly Pandemic. counterpunch.org On April's Fools Day, U.S. President Donald Trump gave a press conference where he announced a new "counter-narcotics effort" by U.S. Southern Command. "We're deploying additional Navy destroyers, combat ships, aircrafts and helicopters, Coast Guard cutters…doubling our capabilities in the region," he said. The point of this mission—which will be joined by other countries—is to

Nicolás Maduro (2020-04-07). Venezuela's president sends message to U.S. population. workers.org Caracas, April 3, 2020 To the People of the United States of America: For weeks now, the world stands still, trying to control a pandemic that, without any doubt, is the greatest challenge we have faced together as a society and as international community. Our priority is confronting it, as . . . |

Nicolas Maduro (2020-04-07). Letter from President Nicolás Maduro to the People of the United States. globalresearch.ca In greeting you, with affection, I take the liberty of addressing you on the occasion of denouncing the severe events taking place against the peace and stability of Venezuela, at a time when the concern of the States and Governments …

teleSUR (2020-04-07). Colombia: Civil Society Speaks out on COVID-19 Outbreak. telesurenglish.net Colombia's National Council for Peace, Reconciliation, and Coexistence (CNPRC) asked President Ivan Duque for a bilateral ceasefire across the South Amerian nation this week. | RELATED: | The Colombian civil society organization made this request after the unilateral declaration of a ceasefire by the National Liberation Army, as a humanitarian measure due to the situation caused by COVID-19. | El CNPRC, that groups 36 social se…

en.mehrnews (2020-04-07). 60 Spanish associations call for lifting Iran sanctions. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Apr. 07 (MNA) — Some 60 Spanish political and social associations released a statement, calling for an immediate suspension of sanctions against Venezuela, Cuba, Iran and Palestine in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Telesur (2020-04-07). Venezuelan Leader Pens Open Letter to US Public. globalresearch.ca In a letter issued on Sunday, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro warned the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump against making any unwise military decisions against the Bolivarian Republic. | Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza read a letter on Sunday that Venezuelan …

repost (2020-04-07). Venezuela Pres Maduro's Message to American people. indybay.org Oil rich Venezuela is again threatened with invasion, by Nazi Trump, with no opposition from any Democrat, sending an armada to Venezuela's shores, in the middle of a pandemic, under the obviously false pretext of drug-pushing, which the world knows Venezuela does not do. The democratically elected government of Nicolas Maduro has sent an open letter to the American people. See www.globalresearch.ca/letter-president-maduro-people-united-states/5708882

WSWS (2020-04-07). As Peru escalates militarization, COVID-19 spreads to remote rural areas. wsws.org The COVID-19 virus continues to spread aggressively in Peru, endangering the poorest people of Andean or Amazonian origin who have low immune defenses.

Leonardo Flores (2020-04-07). Trump Should Fight COVID-19, Not Venezuela. mintpressnews.com Trump has been threatening military action against Venezuela since August 2017 and a naval blockade since August 2019. The recent deployment of the Navy towards Venezuela is the first step in backing up both threats.

Nino Pagliccia (2020-04-07). A Simple Democratic Transition Framework for Venezuela: End All "Sanctions" counterpunch.org On March 31 the US Secretary of State issued a press statement proposing a "pathway" by which all Venezuelans would live happily ever after. At least that is what Mike Pompeo seems to wish. He "call[s] on all Venezuelans, whether military or civilian, young or old, of all ideological tendencies and party affiliations, to consider

Tanya Wadhwa (2020-04-07). Chile is another example of the failure of neoliberalism to respond to coronavirus. peoplesdispatch.org Chile has already entered the Stage 4 coronavirus transmission scenario and the country's Health Minister has ruled out imposing total quarantine to contain the spread of the virus…

Adriaan Alsema (2020-04-07). Colombia's ambassador to Uruguay resigns after 'surprise' criminal probe into cocaine lab on family estate. colombiareports.com Colombia's ambassador to Uruguay resigned on Monday after expressing surprise he was being investigated over a cocaine laboratory found on one of his family's estates. The office of President Ivan…

Adriaan Alsema (2020-04-07). Third of this year's femicides in Colombia happened during quarantine: prosecution. colombiareports.com Twelve women did not survive the first two weeks of Colombia's ongoing quarantine, the prosecution said Monday as domestic violence is becoming a growing concern. According to Vice-Prosecutor General Martha…

Adriaan Alsema (2020-04-07). The economy is dead, long live the economy. colombiareports.com The death of Colombia's economy is devastating society, but also provides an opportunity to rebuild one with an economy that is more diverse and shock-resistant. Oil and mining, the long…

Adriaan Alsema (2020-04-07). Duque extends quarantine in Colombia until April 26 after 'intelligent lockdown' backlash. colombiareports.com Colombia's President Ivan Duque said Monday he will extend a lockdown in his country until April 26 after coining an "intelligent lockdown" backfired. The president announced the extension two days…

Adriaan Alsema (2020-04-07). Duque extends quarantine until April 27 after 'intelligent lockdown' backlash. colombiareports.com Colombia's President Ivan Duque said Monday he will extend a lockdown in his country until April 27 after coining an "intelligent lockdown" backfired. The president announced the extension two days…

teleSUR (2020-04-07). Paraguay: Government Still Not Providing Enough Aid. telesurenglish.net Paraguay's government provided less than 15 percent of the foreseen economic help announced as a palliative due to the COVID-19 crisis. | RELATED: | According to National Emergency Secretariat (SEN), 41,662 Paraguayan families received economical help under the àëandereko Food Security Programme. Also, it stated 35,775 families received food coupons and 5,877 food kits in Alto Paraguay. Even when the figures se…

teleSUR (2020-04-07). Bolivian Authorities Request Protection for Vulnerable Group. telesurenglish.net Bolivia's Ombudsman Office requested the de facto government provide benefits to the population during COVID-19 outbreak that has affected most of the world. | RELATED: | The administrative body, who overlooks people's rights, asked the government to extend the "Family Coupon" program and a pension for the familiar basket. According to the people's defendant institution, these actions should benefit vulnerable and fe…

Lucas Leiroz de Almeida (2020-04-07). Ecuadorian Humanitarian Catastrophe Amidst Pandemic. globalresearch.ca Among the countries affected by the global pandemic, it is undeniable that there is a certain imbalance in media coverage, with some very affected countries being scarcely followed by the news, while in other locations the situation is overestimated. An …

Peoples Dispatch (2020-04-07). Under COVID-19 stress, healthcare crumbles in neoliberal Ecuador. peoplesdispatch.org In the city of Guayaquil in Guayas, dead bodies, most likely victims of the pandemic, are piling up on streets as funeral services fail to collect them on time, forcing families to abandon them.

teleSUR (2020-04-07). Ecuador: Ex President Correa Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison. telesurenglish.net Ecuador's RELATED: | Accordin…

yenisafak (2020-04-07). Coronavirus: Latest tally of deaths, cases in Americas. yenisafak.com Originated in China last December, coronavirus increases its effect on the Americas, and the continent can become the new epicenter after Europe, with the U.S. recording the highest case count globally.Although the number of coronavirus-related deaths and infections is not as alarming as the U.S., the tallies in Canada, as well as the Caribbean, Central and South American countries are rising each day.Many countries have restricted travel from the most affected areas, and implemented lockdowns as the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global pandemic.All figures shared below are compiled according…

Nicolás Maduro Moros (2020-04-06). Letter from President Maduro as U.S. threatens Venezuela with war. mronline.org In greeting you, with affection, I take the liberty of addressing you on the occasion of denouncing the severe events taking place against the peace and stability of Venezuela, at a time when the concern of the States and Governments should be focused on the protection of the life and health of their citizens, due …

Ariel Dorfman (2020-04-06). Confronting the Pandemic in a Time of Revolt: Voices From Chile. thenation.com Confronting the Pandemic in a Time of Revolt: Voices From Chile…

Alan Macleod (2020-04-06). Amid Sanctions and Military Mobilization, Maduro Pens Letter Urging Americans to Question Trump. mintpressnews.com "I wholeheartedly ask you not to allow your country to be dragged once again into another unending conflict, another Vietnam, another Iraq, but this time, closer to home."

teleSUR (2020-04-06). Nearly 60 Groups Demand End to Sanctions During COVID-19 Crisis. telesurenglish.net Approximately 60 organizations in Spain on Monday demanded the suspension of sanctions and blockades against Venezuela, Cuba, Iran and Palestine so that they can face the COVID-19 outbreak with full force. | RELATED: | In a joint statement, the political groups indicated that these coercive measures are preventing various international organizations from supplying food and medicine to the population of these countri…

Fight Back (2020-04-06). Carta del Presidente Maduro al Pueblo de EE.UU. fightbacknews.org Lucha y Resiste está promoviendo una declaración del Presidente de Venezuela Nicolás Maduro al pueblo de los Estados Unidos. El administracion del Trump esta subiendo el nivel de atentados a derrotar el Presidente Maduro y La Revolucion Bolivariana por poniendo cargas de narco-terrorismo al Maduro y otros en el gobierno. El administración del Trump también publicó un plan a alterar el gobierno Venezolano para permitir la oposición de los elites que toman más poder. Eso es a preparar un otro atentado del golpe del estado por los EEUU en apoyo de los no elegidos bobolongos. La semana pasada el Presidente Trump orde…

Fight Back (2020-04-06). President Maduro's Message to the People of the US. fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to the people of the US. The Trump administration is escalating attempts to bring down President Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution, making bogus charges against Maduro and other officials. The Trump administration also published a plan that would radically alter the Venezuelan government's branches of power. This is to prepare for yet another coup attempt by the U.S. in support of unelected scoundrels. This past week President Trump ordered a serious increase of US Naval ships patrolling Caribbean w…

teleSUR (2020-04-06). Peru: Indigenous People in Lockdown Without Electricity, Sewage. telesurenglish.net Less than two kilometers from the government Palace in Lima, the Indigenous Shipibo-Conibo tribe is an example of millions of Peruvians in coronavirus quarantine without basic necessities. | RELATED: | Around five minutes by car from the capital's Plaza Mayor is the Cantagallo shantytown which is home to 250 families from the Shipibo-Conibo group. | The Amazonian tribe arrived in Lima around 20 years ago and settled on t…

teleSUR (2020-04-06). Brazil Still Hampered by Coronavirus as Death Toll Reaches 486. telesurenglish.net Brazil's Health Ministry said on Sunday the country's death toll from COVID-19 has climbed to 486 as 11,130 people tested positive to the coronavirus disease. | RELATED: | In the past 24 hours, 54 patients died, up 12.5 percent compared with the day before, and 852 new infections were detected, placing the mortality rate at 4.4 percent, said the authorities. | Southeast Brazil, the country's most populous region, re…

Matt Sedlar (2020-04-06). Sanctioning the Way for COVID-19. cepr.net MarketWatch See article on original site While the United States is fighting COVID-19 here at home, US sanctions against other governments are aiding the virus' spread abroad. They've already likely contributed to many unnecessary deaths in Iran, and Venezuela's experience with the pandemic may also be much more deadly due to these punitive measures. COVID-19 …

Adriaan Alsema (2020-04-06). Colombia's ruling party allegedly involved multiple crime families in 2018 election fraud plot. colombiareports.com Former President Alvaro Uribe and President Ivan Duque allegedly involved multiple crime families in a plot to rig Colombia's 2018 elections, a wiretap released on Sunday revealed. In the wiretap,…

teleSUR (2020-04-06). Ecuador's Guayaquil Runs out of Coffins as COVID-19 Deaths Soar. telesurenglish.net Ecuador's Guayaquil has run out of wooden coffins due to the high rise of deaths mainly caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic, its authorities announced Saturday that they will be delivering cardboard caskets in order to meet the demand. | RELATED: | "It's so they can meet demand," a city hall spokesman told AFP, adding that "there are either no coffins in the city or they are extremely expensive." | Around 2,00…

teleSUR (2020-04-05). Peru Announces Economic Plan for People Affected by COVID-19. telesurenglish.net "What we want, on the one hand, is to minimize the damage that social isolation has been causing to the economy," he stressed, adding that it is important to aid companies because "behind them, there are a significant number of workers who have to continue, as far as possible, with their work."

teleSUR (2020-04-05). Brazil, Chile, Ecuador Report Highest Number of COVID-19 Cases. telesurenglish.net Brazil, Chile and Ecuador are currently reporting the highest number of COVID-19 (coronavirus) cases in the entire Latin America region, the latest reports revealed on Sunday morning. | RELATED: | According to data from the Brazilian Ministry of Health, the death toll from coronavirus increased to 432, with 73 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. | The figure of 73 deaths is the highest for a single day since the first cas…

teleSUR (2020-04-05). US Weaponizing COVID-19 Against Venezuela, Iran: Oliver Stone. telesurenglish.net "As a number of religious scholars have warned, 'plagues expose the foundations of injustice' in our societies," film director Oliver Stone wrote in an op-ed Saturday exposing the United States (U.S.) government "profound lack of human decency" amid the new coronavirus pandemic. | RELATED: | In the piece published by the New York Daily News, Stone denounces the U.S. government for refusing to remove murderous sanctions on Iran and Venezuela…

teleSUR (2020-04-04). Nearly 600 Venezuelans Return to Their Country From Colombia. telesurenglish.net The Venezuelans, who voluntarily decided to leave the national territory of Colombia for Venezuela, arrived in the city of Cúcuta in more than 20 buses in two different groups. | The first of them made up of 50 people, including six minors, who arrived in the city of Cúcuta late last night from the town of Soacha. | The second group arrived in the morning of today from the city of Bucaramanga. This group included 337 men, 167 women, and 35 children and adolescents. |

Presidente Nicolás Maduro (2020-04-03). Carta a los Pueblos del Mundo de Presidente Nicolás Maduro. liberationnews.org "Aprovecho esta oportunidad, para expresar mi solidaridad y la del Pueblo de Venezuela hacia todos los Pueblos que hoy también sufren graves consecuencias por los efectos de la pandemia."

Staff (2020-04-03). The $15 Million Bounty On Maduro Is One More Attempt To Unseat Him. therealnews.com The US says Maduro collaborated with the FARC to "flood the US with cocaine." It's an additional legal pressure to get Venezuela's president to step down.

Anya Parampil (2020-04-03). Ex UN anti-narcotics chief & mob expert says US Treasury running 'mafia racket' against Venezuela. thegrayzone.com Pino Arlacchi, the former Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Prevention, says US is behaving…

VINS (2020-04-03). International JUULs: E-Cigarette Giant Courts Foreign Governments. projectcensored.org Since coming under major scrutiny for many marketing scandals, leading e-cigarette company JUUL has begun looking to enter new markets in Europe, Middle East, Africa, South America, and Asia. JUUL,…

President Nicolás Maduro (2020-04-03). Message from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to the people of the world. liberationnews.org No imperialist aggression, however ferocious it may be, will divert us from the sovereign and independent path that we have forged for 200 years, nor will it distance us from the sacred obligation to preserve the life and health of our people in the face of the frightening global pandemic of COVID-19.

Staff (2020-04-02). "There Aren't Enough Tests": As Pandemic Intensifies, Global South Prepares for the Worst. democracynow.org After devastating China, Europe and the United States, the coronavirus pandemic is now intensifying across the Global South. The United Nations warns the pandemic is poised to destroy fragile economies in poor nations, decimating food security, education and human rights. We speak with Yanis Ben Amor, assistant professor of global health and microbiological sciences at Columbia University and executive director of the Center for Sustainable Development at the Earth Institute.

Aaron Maté (2020-04-01). Pompeo's 'transition' plan tells Venezuela to suffer into submission. thegrayzone.com Declaring that "Nicolas Maduro will never again govern Venezuela," Mike Pompeo unveils a so-called "transition" plan that tells Venezuelans to…

Alan Macleod (2020-04-01). Coronavirus Aid for Regime Change: Washington's 13 Point Plan for Venezuela. mintpressnews.com The State Department

Ben Norton (2020-03-31). Southcom boosts US military presence in Latin America, citing China, Russia 'threats'. thegrayzone.com Southern Command is ramping up the US military presence in Latin America to counter China, Russia, and Venezuela, after signing…

Ben Norton (2020-03-31). Brazil's ex-President Lula on Venezuela: Maduro is democratic, Guaidó should be in prison, US blockade kills civilians. thegrayzone.com In comments ignored by English-language media, Lula da Silva slammed the US coup attempt against Venezuela, calling Nicolás Maduro a…

Joe Emersberger (2020-03-13). No, Venezuela does not have a six child per family policy. zcomm.org I respect UK journalist Andrew Buncombe. As I noted for FAIR last year, he was one of the few corporate journalists who reported on a study linking Trump's financial sanctions on Venezuela to thousands of deaths by the end of 2018. Since 2018, Trump has repeatedly intensified the sanctions and threatened Venezuela with military action,

Venezuela Analysis (2020-02-06). Embassy Protection Collective: "We Are Not the Ones Who Violated the Law" theantimedia.com In this exclusive interview, VA talks to the activists who defended the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington DC ahead of their trial.