Saturday, February 29, 2020

New Anti-Terrorist Police Force


Nicolas Maduro has announced the creation of a new police force tasked with “defense of the country against destabilizations plans.”

The new police force will be presided by Major General Hernán Gil Barrios and, according to Maduro, “will be in charge of the complete operational defense of the country and the dismemberment of all the terrorist groups that may disturb peace and security.”

Maduro also warned that these terrorist groups “are sent from Colombia and the United States to sow discord in Venezuelan society.” He also linked Juan Guaido, appointed President by the National Assembly in January last year, to these terrorist groups who have “activated their articulation mechanisms, using US dollars, in order to use organized crime for destruction, from the inside, so they serve as instrument for new guarimbas [street protests] and terrorist violence,” Maduro explained.

Similar security agencies have been created by Maduro before, usually preceding the arrest of opposition activists. For example, in January 8, 2017 the government announced the creation of a new Anti-Coup Command, coordinated by Vice-president Tareck El Aissami. The new force would “take preventive, legal, and corrective measures against coupist sectors,” said Maduro. Two days later El Aissami announced the arrest of Gilbert Caro, opposition National Assembly representative, on charges of planning “terrorist actions in the country.” The Anti-Coup Command was shot lived as it seems not to have generated any formal institutional structure. Since Gilbert Caro’s arrest the Command has not been mentioned again by the government.

Friday, February 28, 2020

Maduro: Coronavirus is a Biological Weapon

Venezuela is fully prepared for the new coronavirus, only but if it is a biological weapon. The government “has announced a prevention plan against the coronavirus as a possible biological weapon” says the government channel VTV Venezolana de Television.

Nicolas Maduro declared yesterday that he had created a Commission against Coronavirus presided by Vice-president Delcy Rodriguez. She will be in charge of, according to Maduro, “facing and containing this threat of a possible biological weapon created to attack China.”

Because, he added, “There are plenty of analyses around the world showing that the coronavirus could be a strain created for biological warfare against China. There are many elements supporting this [claim] and we have to raise our voice and sound the alarm. Venezuela has its own voice and can alert about these issues”

Maduro then compared the situation with the coronavirus to the extermination of the America’s native population by diseases carried by the European conquerors. “They killed the whole of the American indigenous population, we cannot forget the extermination [they caused] with the diseases they brought. Now we are faced with the coronavirus.”

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Teorías de la Conspiración en Cinco8

Gracias a una de mis páginas favoritas, Cinco8, por publicar mi ensayo “Nada mejor para desmovilizarnos que una teoría conspiratoria”. Ahí exploro una de las premisas de este blog: no es tan importante que las teorías de la conspiración sean falsas o no (de hecho la “verdad” no puede ser lo que define a una teoría como “de la conspiración”), sino las consecuencias que tiene creer o no que tales teorías sean verdad.