CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — More than 500 health workers have died in Venezuela since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, a nongovernmental organization said Monday. “The number of deaths in the health sector with criteria for Covid-19 is accelerating. Information is received of 14 new deaths to reach 513,” Medicos Unidos de Venezuela said on Twitter. Since the first cases were reported in March 2020, health care unions and NGOs have decried precarious conditions in […]
Tag: Venezuela
Venezuela fears malaria more than Covid
by Margioni BERMÚDEZ BARCELONA, Venezuela (AFP) — Luz Martinez has caught malaria three times, the last of which was when she was six months pregnant with her fourth child. Like many Venezuelans, she fears malaria more than Covid-19. In her dusty neighborhood on the outskirts of Barcelona, in the eastern state of Anzoategui, some people have contracted malaria up to 20 times. “I gave it to my 12-year-old girl and also to my other child […]
Well drilling thrives as Caracas water supply flounders
by Andrea TOSTA Agence France-Presse CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Alfredo Araya used to dig wells on farms or out in the countryside, but due to a failing water supply he says demand for his services has recently exploded in Venezuela’s capital Caracas. Using a huge drill to perforate the soil, Araya struck the underground aquifer below an apartment bloc in Caracas’ comfortable Los Palos Grandes neighborhood so that residents now have access to water that […]
Venezuela to buy 10 million doses of Russian Covid-19 vaccine
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Sunday that his government has agreed to buy 10 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19. The vaccines will come in the first quarter of 2021, Maduro said at an event in Caracas broadcast on government television, adding that “Venezuela will manufacture the Russian vaccine in the Venezuelan laboratories.” In August, Russia became the first country to register a vaccine against Covid-19, which it […]
Maduro hopes to resume ‘decent’ dialogue with Biden administration
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro said Sunday that he will work to resume “decent, sincere” political dialogue with the United States, a country with which his government maintains tense relations, once Joe Biden assumes the presidency. “In time,… we will work, hopefully, to resume decent, sincere, direct channels of dialogue between the future government of Joe Biden” and Venezuela, the leftist leader said in a televised speech. Maduro had said Saturday he […]
Venezuela’s Maduro says son to join virus vaccine trial
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Sunday his son will join trials of Sputnik V, the coronavirus vaccine which was met with caution when Russia announced it was the world’s first to be approved. An initial batch of the vaccine arrived in Venezuela on Friday, the government announced, and 2,000 residents will participate in the trials. “In this clinical trial phase, my son, Nicolas Ernesto Maduro Guerra, told me of his decision […]
Maduro has to leave, Pompeo says on South America trip
by Shaun TANDON Agence France Presse BOA VISTA, Brazil (AFP) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used a South American tour Friday to tell Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro he “has to leave,” drawing a furious accusation of “war-mongering” from the leftist leader. Touring a refugee center in the town of Boa Vista, Brazil, on the border with Venezuela, Pompeo emphasized the plight of the nearly five million Venezuelans who have fled the country’s […]
Large oil spill washes up to Venezuela shores
CARACAS, Venezuela (AF) — Oil has washed up to Venezuela’s west coast after a leak in a pipeline that takes crude to the country’s main refinery, national oil company PDVSA said on Saturday. The spill has spread over more than 13 kilometers (eight miles) according to the environmental commission of the opposition-majority national parliament. Venezuela suffers fuel shortages despite having the largest proven oil reserves in the world with only a limited number of its refineries currently […]
Smuggled gasoline rescues Venezuelans running on fumes
by Luis Bravo with Margioni Bermudez in Caracas Agence France-Presse MARACAIBO, Venezuela (AFP) — Cheap gasoline smuggled over the border from Venezuela once flooded eastern Colombia. These days, as desperate Venezuelans run out of fuel, the contraband is moving in the other direction. For the first time Colombian gasoline is cheaper and is being smuggled across the border to fuel vehicles in western Venezuela. “It’s a lifeline,” says Roger, a fruit-and-vegetable vendor in Santa Cruz […]
Tropical songbirds stop breeding to survive drought
by Kelly MACNAMARA Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Songbirds in tropical rainforests curtail their reproduction to help them survive droughts, according to a study Monday. Species with longer lifespans were better able to cope with this environmental volatility than previously thought, researchers found. With more record hot spells gripping parts of the planet and biodiversity threatened by human encroachment on habitats, a crucial question is whether species can adapt to these ever-harsher conditions. […]
Maduro gives EU ambassador 72 hours to leave Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro on Monday gave the head of the European Union mission in Caracas, Isabel Brilhante Pedrosa, 72 hours to leave the country after the bloc announced sanctions against 11 Venezuelan officials. “Who are they to try to impose themselves with threats?” said Maduro. “We will sort it out in 72 hours… she will be given a plane to leave, but we will arrange our things with the European […]
UN delivers 90 tons of COVID-19 aid to Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — A plane carrying 90 tons of UN health, water, and sanitation aid arrived in Venezuela on Wednesday to help the cash-strapped country fight the coronavirus pandemic. The shipment includes 28,000 Personal Protective Equipment kits for health workers, oxygen concentrators, pediatric beds, water quality control products, and hygiene kits, the UN said. “This is the first United Nations humanitarian shipment in support of the Venezuela COVID-19 outbreak,” said Peter Grohmann, the UN’s […]





