On March 11 the World Health Organization had declared a worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus and the following day, without delay, President Nicolás Maduro addressed the Venezuelan nation, announcing the seriousness of the situation. It was exactly on 12:34 PM that his speech began, explaining as always in detail to the public the measures that the Bolivarian State would begin to adopt.
All this was done before the first case of COVID-19 was detected in the country. That same night the president asked the country’s 16,000 Communal Councils to take the lead in making face masks and the next day we saw the streets of Caracas, the Metro and the rest of the country’s cities, doing the same. In order to comply with the recommendations of the Head of State, the people had already produced an extraordinary number of face masks and artisanal anti-bacterial gel the following morning. Each person in their block, street or building, decided to diligently fulfill the task of “staying in your house”.
No curfew had been neccessary, no one had to be run over or mistreated; of course, there is never a shortage of the uninformed or those who believe that the situation is not relevant to them, but that was the responsibility of the Communal Councils which is comprised of neighbors, parents, representatives and grassroots leaders. The Bolivarian National Armed Forces, the Militia and police forces had deployed in every corner of the country to guarantee citizen security and order.
It was no small feat. In just one week the revolution had carried out a series of actions with determined humanitarian and political will to protect the public’s health. The following measures were taken:
The Presidential Commission for the Prevention, Attention and Control of Coronavirus on 24-hour guard was installed in the presidential command post. 46 sentinel health centers were designated and equipped nationwide, with 4500 beds incorporating the integral diagonostic centers. The strengthening of the Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP) was activated so that food can reach towns, house by house. The control of air and land borders was activated, decreeing a National Emergency. Social, collective and voluntary quarantines were activated as well as the closure of educational institutions, ordering the continuation of academic activities through digital technological means. Resources from the IMF were requested along with direct communication with the Director General of WHO, agreeing on technical assistance as well as coordination with the UN to enlist their support. More importantly, an air bridge with China to receive supplies and equipment to combat the virus and preserve the lives of the people was also established. In addition, the arrival of 130 specialized Cuban doctors was authorized and if that were not enough, an economic bonus will now be granted to the people. President Maduro has even talked about paying the salaries of public companies and medium-sized private businesses if necessary in order to face the economic situation that has unfolded.
Today each Venezuelan must fill out a survey on the website of The Homeland Card (Carnet de la Patria) to prepare the largest preventative campaign that has ever been made in the history of Venezuela. “Go home to home, we will attend to our people house by house”; of course, for Venezuelans this is nothing new since for a long time there existed the Barrio Adentro Mission, thanks to ALBA, Chávez and Fidel.
In addition to this titanic task, the challenge is now greater. While we are fighting COVID-19, we face a financial blockade, the persecution of our international suppliers and ships, the siege of our people and our heroic Bolivarian National Armed Force and all in the midst of the collapse of the price of oil. This remains the plan of the implacable enemy, even in the midst of this humanitarian crisis. All of Venezuela knows it.
Despite all these aggressions, we will continue the battle against COVID-19 that China fought as well as the indications of the WHO. We will be victorious, this is the sole objective of President Nicolás Maduro.
But what happens in Venezuela is not the standard in most countries, there are governments that act antithetical to humanity. They act unreasonably and unethically, their very actions give them away.
In this sense we have the fabulous United States and its government, the greatest power on the face of the earth with the all-seeing and all-hearing surveillance state. The same country that boasts of having the best society in the world, but does nothing in the face of the severity of COVID-19. Although some skeptics still refuse to believe it, Trump is at war against humanity. He has a war against the immigrants living in that country doing nothing for them. The spread of the virus is also not his problem, he mistreats his citizens and uses the expression “wasteful spending” to talk about the investments that must be made in the diagnostic tests for COVID-19. He has no problems. The poor have problems, those who live paycheck to paycheck have problems, those without financial security and who today do not know how they will be able to face a pandemic, with an increase of more than 250,000 new applications for unemployment assistance nationwide amid layoffs and announcements of a recession have problems.
As if this reality were not enough, in that country there has been an increase in the last few days of arms sales by 60%. Could the United States be preparing for a civil war? One against all, because its leaders are obsessed with seeing how they can take economic advantage of this serious worldwide event, just as they do in other regions when a country and its reserves are stolen. Always keeping an eye on what they can do to accumulate more and more money.
What do they care about the common good, if they have never cared about something that is far from their feelings? They are racists, homophobes, slanderers, liars, mercenaries and criminals. In short, they are exactly what they seem to be and not what they claim to be, of course, with a lot of power to falsify, with a lot of shrapnel to steal and loot villages.
Clearly, the establishment media, whose owners are also part of the oligarchic class, are not going to bring out to the world press the heroic resistance of the people of Bolívar and its monolithic unit to disciplinedly fight COVID-19, simply because then they would have to explain to the world where the fake president that they wanted to impose is. Of course, we all know here that he only exists to “legitimize” the looting and the damages that have been inflicted on all Venezuelans.
Gentlemen of the White House, criminal elites, it is obvious that you will never understand the dignity of the people, I am very sure that fear reigns today in the streets of California and New York. Confusion, despair and outrage at what that you are doing to them. You are neo-fascists, the world already knows it, your people know about the extermination that you are promoting against them.
I have no doubt of the dignity that each person holds, including the ones that you have deceived, terrorized, used, exploited and poisoned with drugs until you see them die in their streets, destroying all their values and rotting that society inside out in the face of those who call for freedom. Let us keep in mind that Martin Luther King, Walt Whitman and Clara Lemlich were also able to make history and profound changes in that nation despite everything.
ALBA will herald the next dawn, Trump!