Daily Archives: April 12, 2020

2020-04-12: News Headlines

RT (2020-04-12). Assange's mother fact-checks media, as story of her son's previously hidden family published. rt.com Julian Assange's mother has gone on the offensive against slanted reporting after her son's legal adviser revealed that she had two children with the WikiLeaks co-founder. | Stella Morris, a South African-born lawyer who helped Assange work on a legal bid to end extradition threats against him, revealed that the journalist fathered two sons with her during his years of political asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. | In a video statement, Morris said she was coming forward because their lives were "on the brink" and she feared Assange could die in prison as he awaits a ruling over his extradition to the…

Steve Ellner (2020-04-12). Politicians, media support lifting sanctions on Iran, but not Venezuela. zcomm.org The United States has announced it is sending Navy ships to the Venezuelan coast, ostensibly to beef up counter-narcotics operations…

Vijay Prashad (2020-04-11). Colombia's government acts like a doormat for the United States—and its people aren't going along with it. mronline.org With the U.S. government now absurdly saying that Venezuela is the source of narco-trafficking, even though all evidence pointing to narco-trafficking is rooted in Colombia, the pressure on Colombia to deal with its drug problem is now lifted.

teleSUR (2020-04-11). Venezuela Donates COVID-19 Tests to Caribbean Countries. telesurenglish.net Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez reported Friday that the Bolivarian Government donated rapid and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests to several Caribbean countries to help them in the fight against COVID-19. | RELATED: | Rodríguez said that, by order of President Nicolas Maduro, tests were sent to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua, and Barbuda, as well as Dominica and Grenada. | "To our brothers in…

teleSUR (2020-04-11). St. Vincent & Grenadines, Grenada Thank Venezuela for Donations. telesurenglish.net Saint Vincent & the Grenadines RELATED: | "We have received 3,000 rapid test kits for the COVID-19 and a relevant quantity of reagents for the PCR test,"

teleSUR (2020-04-11). Bolsonaro Prompts Crowds After Visiting Emergency Hospital. telesurenglish.net Brazil's . | RELATED: | After visiting an emergency hospital, the former captain went out to meet his fans who wanted to…

teleSUR (2020-04-11). Ecuador Records More Than 300 Deaths From COVID-19. telesurenglish.net The Ecuadorean Ministry of Public Health announced Saturday that 315 people have died due to the new coronavirus, COVID-19, as well as 7,257 confirmed cases. | RELATED: | The Guayas region, whose capital is Guayaquil, has the highest number of deaths reaching 165, followed by Pichincha and Manabi with 26 and 22. Similarly, of the number of confirmed cases, 4,041 (equivalent to 56 per cent) are men, while 3,216 (equivale…

teleSUR (2020-04-10). Over 530 Bolivians Remain Stranded at the Border With Chile. telesurenglish.net Over 530 Bolivian citizens remain stranded at the border between Bolivia and Chile. Given the precarious retention conditions, they are vulnerable to COVID-19 contagious. | RELATED: | According to Colchane city Mayor Javier Garcia, Bolivia's coup-born regime led by Jeanine Añez has abandoned migrants during the sanitary emergency. This Chilean local authority her of being discriminatory with her citizens. | Those who entered Bolivian territory in airships were…

teleSUR (2020-04-10). Puebla Group to Analyze COVID-19 Crisis in Latin America. telesurenglish.net The Puebla Group Friday meet virtually to analyze proposals to face the economic and social crisis that Latin America is experiencing due to COVID-19. | RELATED: | Several progressive leaders will analyze what the COVID-19 holds for the future of the region, how to get out of the humanitarian siege and what political rectifications should be made. | The meeting will be attended by Argentina's President Alberto Fernan…

teleSUR (2020-04-10). Greg Mortimer Cruise Passengers to Be Repatriated From Uruguay. telesurenglish.net Uruguay will evacuate this Friday part of the passengers on board the Australian cruise ship Greg Mortimer, most of them infected by COVID-19. | RELATED: | Authorities will deploy a humanitarian corridor to transport 112 passengers from the ship to the airport in Montevideo, according to the Uruguayan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. | The humanitarian plane is expected to arrive the airport at 5 a.m. However, the cruise sh…

Nancy Scheper-Hughes (2020-04-10). Memoir: A Liberation Theology Stations of the Cross in Northeast Brazil. counterpunch.org Padre Andreas, a Jesuit priest from Spain, came on a radical mission to the impoverished hillside shantytown of Alto do Cruzeiro in the municipio of Timbauba, a sugarcane market town in Pernambuco Brazil. At the time, 1989, I was living on "the Alto" (the hill) with the rural workers, sugarcane cutters, and fishermen and women

teleSUR (2020-04-10). Brazil Bolsonaro Hits the Streets To Defy COVID-19 Guidelines. telesurenglish.net Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took to the streets of Brasilia on Friday, drawing crowds and greeting followers in his latest public attack on social isolation measures to fight the coronavirus outbreak. | RELATED: | On Friday, a national holiday in Brazil, Bolsonaro went to a military hospital, before stopping at a pharmacy and then visiting one of his sons in a residential building, according to TV images and press r…

teleSUR (2020-04-10). Brazil: Judge Prohibits Bolsonaro From Lifting Quarantines. telesurenglish.net Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) judge Alexandre De Moraes ordered RELATED: | "It should be noted that the…

teleSUR (2020-04-10). Colombia's Gustavo Petro Diagnosed with Cancer. telesurenglish.net Senator Gustavo Petro, one of the most prominent leftist leaders of the Colombian government, said Friday that he was recently diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. | RELATED: | "I decided to travel to Cuba to complete health tests, and they diagnosed on March 2, an early stage of cancer of the lining between the esophagus and stomach," Petro confirmed. | Petro, who lost the presidential elections in 2018 against i…

Staff (2020-04-08). "People Are Dying in the Streets": Ecuador Struggles to Cope with COVID-19 as Cases Skyrocket. democracynow.org The coronavirus pandemic is exhausting Ecuador's medical resources, with at least 220 dead and more than 4,000 cases. Ecuador is among the top three countries with the largest number of COVID-19 cases in the entire Latin American region. In recent days, images of dead bodies wrapped in plastic tarp left on the streets of the city of Guayaquil as families desperately try to bury loved ones have shocked the entire country and the world. Guayaquil is Ecuador's most populous city and the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the country. We speak with Denisse Herrera, the Ecuador correspondent for teleSUR.

Stansfield Smith (2020-04-08). Open Letter to Condemn Trump Administration's Hypocritical Indictment on Drug Charges of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and High-Ranking Venezuelan Officials. dissidentvoice.org We, the undersigned organizations and prominent individuals, condemn the false claims of criminal charges by the US government against the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and other high-ranking officials with the pretext of their alleged involvement in international drug trafficking. The US government is offering a $15 million bounty for information that would …

Jake Johnston (2020-04-08). Brazil and COVID-19: Favela Residents and Indigenous Communities Among Those Most at Risk. cepr.net As of noon on April 8th the total number of Covid-19 positive cases reported by Brazil's health ministry exceeded 14,000 and the number of deaths exceeded 700. This is, by far, the highest number of reported cases in Latin America (though Ecuador has a greater number of reported cases and deaths on a per capita …

Ben Norton (2020-04-08). Billionaire-backed Human Rights Watch lobbies for lethal US sanctions on leftist governments as Covid crisis rages. thegrayzone.com Regime change-hungry HRW is proudly taking credit for crushing new US sanctions on Nicaragua while pushing to escalate Washington's economic…

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…

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…

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.

2020-04-12: Social Media Postees

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Assange's mother fact-checks media, as story of her son's previously hidden family published
rt.com | 2020-04-12
Julian Assange's mother has gone on the offensive against slanted reporting after her son's legal adviser revealed that she had two children with the WikiLeaks co-founder. | Stella Morris, a South African-born lawyer who helped Assange work on a legal bid to end extradition threats against him, revealed that the journalist fathered two sons with her during his years of political asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. | In a video statement, Morris said she was coming forward because their lives were "on the brink" and she feared Assange could die in prison as he awaits a ruling over his extradition to the…
rt.com/news/485598-assange-sons-media-mother-facts/

Politicians, media support lifting sanctions on Iran, but not Venezuela
Steve Ellner | zcomm.org | 2020-04-12
The United States has announced it is sending Navy ships to the Venezuelan coast, ostensibly to beef up counter-narcotics operations…
zcomm.org/znetarticle/politicians-media-support-lifting-sanctions-on-iran-but-not-venezuela/

Colombia's government acts like a doormat for the United States–and its people aren't going along with it
Vijay Prashad | mronline.org | 2020-04-11
With the U.S. government now absurdly saying that Venezuela is the source of narco-trafficking, even though all evidence pointing to narco-trafficking is rooted in Colombia, the pressure on Colombia to deal with its drug problem is now lifted.
mronline.org/2020/04/11/colombias-government-acts-like-a-doormat-for-the-united-states-and-its-people-arent-going-along-with-it/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=colombias-government-acts-like-a-doormat-for-the-united-states-and-its-people-arent-going-along-with-it

Venezuela Donates COVID-19 Tests to Caribbean Countries
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-11
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez reported Friday that the Bolivarian Government donated rapid and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests to several Caribbean countries to help them in the fight against COVID-19. | RELATED: | COVID-19 in the Caribbean: Overview of the Situation, Outbreak | Rodríguez said that, by order of President Nicolas Maduro, tests were sent to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua, and Barbuda, as well as Dominica and Grenada. | "To our brothers in…
telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuela-Donates-COVID-19-Tests-to-Caribbean-Countries-20200410-0017.html

St. Vincent & Grenadines, Grenada Thank Venezuela for Donations
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-11
Saint Vincent & the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves appreciated the COVID-19 screening tests that Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro sent to his country on Saturday. | RELATED: | Venezuela Donates COVID-19 Tests to Caribbean Countries | "We have received 3,000 rapid test kits for the COVID-19 and a relevant quantity of reagents for the PCR test,"
telesurenglish.net/news/St.-Vincent–Grenadines-Grenada-Thank-Venezuela-for-Donations-20200411-0006.html

Bolsonaro Prompts Crowds After Visiting Emergency Hospital
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-11
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro Saturday made his visit to Aguas Lindas city, state of Goias, a reason to gather his supporters, although quarantine regulations recommend otherwise. | . | RELATED: | Brazil Bolsonaro Hits the Streets To Defy COVID-19 Guidelines | After visiting an emergency hospital, the former captain went out to meet his fans who wanted to…
telesurenglish.net/news/Bolsonaro-Prompts-Crowds-After-Visiting-Emergency-Hospital-20200411-0005.html

Ecuador Records More Than 300 Deaths From COVID-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-11
The Ecuadorean Ministry of Public Health announced Saturday that 315 people have died due to the new coronavirus, COVID-19, as well as 7,257 confirmed cases. | RELATED: | Ecuador's Virus-Hit Guayaquil Begins Burials of 1,000 Bodies | The Guayas region, whose capital is Guayaquil, has the highest number of deaths reaching 165, followed by Pichincha and Manabi with 26 and 22. Similarly, of the number of confirmed cases, 4,041 (equivalent to 56 per cent) are men, while 3,216 (equivale…
telesurenglish.net/news/Ecuador-Records-More-Than-300-Deaths-From-COVID-19-20200411-0009.html

Over 530 Bolivians Remain Stranded at the Border With Chile
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-10
Over 530 Bolivian citizens remain stranded at the border between Bolivia and Chile. Given the precarious retention conditions, they are vulnerable to COVID-19 contagious. | RELATED: | Bolivia: Añez Replaces Health Minister | According to Colchane city Mayor Javier Garcia, Bolivia's coup-born regime led by Jeanine Añez has abandoned migrants during the sanitary emergency. This Chilean local authority her of being discriminatory with her citizens. | Those who entered Bolivian territory in airships were…
telesurenglish.net/news/bolivia-crisis-continues-on-the-common-border-with-chile-20200410-0006.html

Colombia's Gustavo Petro Diagnosed with Cancer
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-10
Senator Gustavo Petro, one of the most prominent leftist leaders of the Colombian government, said Friday that he was recently diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. | RELATED: | Colombia Partakes in US-Led Military Operation in the Caribbean | "I decided to travel to Cuba to complete health tests, and they diagnosed on March 2, an early stage of cancer of the lining between the esophagus and stomach," Petro confirmed. | Petro, who lost the presidential elections in 2018 against i…
telesurenglish.net/news/Colombias-Gustavo-Petro-Diagnosed-with-Cancer-20200410-0015.html

Greg Mortimer Cruise Passengers to Be Repatriated From Uruguay
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-10
Uruguay will evacuate this Friday part of the passengers on board the Australian cruise ship Greg Mortimer, most of them infected by COVID-19. | RELATED: | British Cruise Ship With COVID-19 Cases Docks in Cuban Port | Authorities will deploy a humanitarian corridor to transport 112 passengers from the ship to the airport in Montevideo, according to the Uruguayan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. | The humanitarian plane is expected to arrive the airport at 5 a.m. However, the cruise sh…
telesurenglish.net/news/uruguay-to-repatriate-part-of-australian-cruise-passengers-20200410-0007.html

Brazil: Judge Prohibits Bolsonaro From Lifting Quarantines
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-10
Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) judge Alexandre De Moraes ordered President Jair Bolsonaro administration to not overturn decisions of regional or municipal governments that adopted "effective restrictive measures" to reduce the COVID-19 spread. | RELATED: | Bolsonaro Is Good President Only for 33 Percent of Brazilians | "It should be noted that the…
telesurenglish.net/news/Brazil-Judge-Prohibits-Bolsonaro-From-Lifting-Quarantines-20200410-0002.html

Defiant US Churches Plan Easter Services Despite Health Risks
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-10
A handful of holdout U.S. churches plan to hold in-person services on Easter Sunday, saying their right to worship in person outweighs public health officials' warnings against holding large gatherings during the coronavirus outbreak. | RELATED: | Brazil: Judge Prohibits Bolsonaro From Lifting Quarantines | "Satan and a virus will not stop us," said the Reverend Tony Spell, 42, pastor of the evangelical Life Tabernacle Church near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He expects a crowd of more t…
telesurenglish.net/news/Defiant-US-Churches-Plan-Easter-Services-Despite-Health-Risks-20200410-0013.html

Brazil Bolsonaro Hits the Streets To Defy COVID-19 Guidelines
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-10
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took to the streets of Brasilia on Friday, drawing crowds and greeting followers in his latest public attack on social isolation measures to fight the coronavirus outbreak. | RELATED: | Brazil: Judge Prohibits Bolsonaro From Lifting Quarantines | On Friday, a national holiday in Brazil, Bolsonaro went to a military hospital, before stopping at a pharmacy and then visiting one of his sons in a residential building, according to TV images and press r…
telesurenglish.net/news/Brazil-Bolsonaro-Hits-the-Streets-To-Defy-COVID-19-Guidelines-20200410-0016.html

Memoir: A Liberation Theology Stations of the Cross in Northeast Brazil
Nancy Scheper-Hughes | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-10
Padre Andreas, a Jesuit priest from Spain, came on a radical mission to the impoverished hillside shantytown of Alto do Cruzeiro in the municipio of Timbauba, a sugarcane market town in Pernambuco Brazil. At the time, 1989, I was living on "the Alto" (the hill) with the rural workers, sugarcane cutters, and fishermen and women…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/10/memoir-a-liberation-theology-stations-of-the-cross-in-northeast-brazil/

Puebla Group to Analyze COVID-19 Crisis in Latin America
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-10
The Puebla Group Friday meet virtually to analyze proposals to face the economic and social crisis that Latin America is experiencing due to COVID-19. | RELATED: | Puebla Group Rejects Sentencing of Former President Correa | Several progressive leaders will analyze what the COVID-19 holds for the future of the region, how to get out of the humanitarian siege and what political rectifications should be made. | The meeting will be attended by Argentina's President Alberto Fernan…
telesurenglish.net/news/puebla-group-to-analyze-covid19-crisis-in-latin-america-20200410-0004.html

Open Letter to Condemn Trump Administration's Hypocritical Indictment on Drug Charges of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and High-Ranking Venezuelan Officials
Stansfield Smith | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-04-08
We, the undersigned organizations and prominent individuals, condemn the false claims of criminal charges by the US government against the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and other high-ranking officials with the pretext of their alleged involvement in international drug trafficking. The US government is offering a $15 million bounty for information that would …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/04/open-letter-to-condemn-trump-administrations-hypocritical-indictment-on-drug-charges-of-venezuelan-president-nicolas-maduro-and-high-ranking-venezuelan-officials/

"People Are Dying in the Streets": Ecuador Struggles to Cope with COVID-19 as Cases Skyrocket
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-08
The coronavirus pandemic is exhausting Ecuador's medical resources, with at least 220 dead and more than 4,000 cases. Ecuador is among the top three countries with the largest number of COVID-19 cases in the entire Latin American region. In recent days, images of dead bodies wrapped in plastic tarp left on the streets of the city of Guayaquil as families desperately try to bury loved ones have shocked the entire country and the world. Guayaquil is Ecuador's most populous city and the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the country. We speak with Denisse Herrera, the Ecuador correspondent for teleSUR.
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/8/ecuador_coronavirus

Brazil and COVID-19: Favela Residents and Indigenous Communities Among Those Most at Risk
Jake Johnston | cepr.net | 2020-04-08
As of noon on April 8th the total number of Covid-19 positive cases reported by Brazil's health ministry exceeded 14,000 and the number of deaths exceeded 700. This is, by far, the highest number of reported cases in Latin America (though Ecuador has a greater number of reported cases and deaths on a per capita …
cepr.net/brazil-favela-residents-and-indigenous-communities-among-those-most-at-risk/

Billionaire-backed Human Rights Watch lobbies for lethal US sanctions on leftist governments as Covid crisis rages
Ben Norton | thegrayzone.com | 2020-04-08
Regime change-hungry HRW is proudly taking credit for crushing new US sanctions on Nicaragua while pushing to escalate Washington's economic…
thegrayzone.com/2020/04/08/billionaire-human-rights-watch-sanctions-nicaragua-venezuela/

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

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

No, Venezuela does not have a six child per family policy
Joe Emersberger | zcomm.org | 2020-03-13
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, Read…
zcomm.org/zblogs/no-venezuela-does-not-have-a-six-child-per-family-policy/