2021-04-06: News Headlines

Editor2 (2021-04-06). Venezuela Appeals to UN for Landmine Clearance as Colombian Border Clashes Ease. orinocotribune.com Caracas has also created a special military zone and brigade to deal with the situation in Apure state, where 17 people have died. | Mérida, April 5, 2021 ( On Monday, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez revealed that three letters have been sent to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Security Council President Dang Dinh Quy and the Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA). | Caracas is requesting me…

G. Dunkel (2021-04-06). Haiti and masses in the streets: 'Don't change our constitution'. workers.org March 29 marked 34 years since the Haitian constitution of 1987 — marking the end of the Duvalierist dictatorship — was adopted. Two massive demonstrations on March 28 and 29 — not just in Port-au-Prince, but in Saint-Marc, Cap-HaàØtien and Port-de-Paix — were held to defend this constitution. These were . . . |

Andy Worthington (2021-04-06). US Military Closes Camp 7, Guantánamo's 'High-Value Detainee' Prison Block, Moves Men To Camp 5 — OpEd. eurasiareview.com In news from Guantánamo, the US military announced that it had shut Camp 7, the secretive prison block where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other so-called "high-value detainees" have been held since their arrival at Guantánamo from CIA "black sites" in September 2006, and had moved the prisoners to Camp 5. | Modeled on a maximum security prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, Camp 5, which cost $17.5 million, opened in 2004, and its solid-walled, isolated cells were used to hold prisoners regarded as non-compliant. As the prison's population shrank, however, it was closed — in September 2016 — and its remain…

John Kendall Hawkins (2021-04-06). Ramallah: A Stop and Start Life Full of Checkpoints. counterpunch.org The fall of Jerusalem to the First Crusade in 1099 stunned the world of Islam, which was at the peak of its achievements. Damascus, Cairo and Baghdad were large cities with combined population of over two million—advanced urban civilisation at a time when the citizens of London and Paris numbered less than fifty thousand in

Mision Verdad (2021-04-06). Review of the Destructive Effects of US Blockade on Venezuela's Orinoco Oil Belt. orinocotribune.com By Misión Verdad — Apr 5, 2021 | At Misión Verdad we have kept track of the negative effects of unilateral coercive measures (UCM) [aka US blockade] on Venezuela, and more specifically, their harmful consequences on the main company that provides oil revenues to Venezuela, Petróleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA). | All the reports and papers issued by organizations or individuals that are not binding on each other, but have Venezuela in their focus, provide a clear conclusion regarding the effects of the US blockade on the local economy: each aggression against PDVSA, through executive orders issued by the curren…

Geraldina Colotti (2021-04-06). The United States' Obsession with Venezuela: The Ordeal of One Italian Citizen. orinocotribune.com By Geraldina Colotti — Apr 3, 2021 | This news item illustrates very well the nature of the real witch-hunt that the United States engages in while attempting to prosecute everyone who tries to get around the economic and financial blockade imposed on Venezuela by the US. Yesterday the press agencies carried this story, and today a well-known newspaper has an interview with the person involved. | This is what happened: an Italian restaurant owner, with no connection to politics, had all his bank accounts frozen for months on the orders of Washington. It was a case of mistaken identity. They had confused him…

Leonardo Flores (2021-04-06). The Capitol Raid and Pandemic Can Help US Empathize With Venezuelans. commondreams.org For Venezuelans, there is no one "January 6." There are at least half a dozen. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/vene_2.jpeg

Editor2 (2021-04-06). Some Standard Cynical CIA-Style Cuba COVID Reporting at The Washington Post. orinocotribune.com By Paul Street — Apr 2, 2021 | Never underestimate the cynicism of American corporate media. As the Scotland-based historian Helen Yaffe recently observed on Counterpunch, the socialist state of Cuba currently has five COVID-19 vaccines in clinical trials "and is set to be among the first nations to vaccinate its entire population." Further: "Cuba has gone on the offensive against COVID-19, mobilizing the prevention-focused, community based public healthcare system to carry out daily house visits to actively detect and treat cases and channeling the medical science sector to adapt and produce new treatments…

orinocotribune (2021-04-06). Venezuela Requests UN Assistance to Deactivate Colombian Paramilitary Landmines in Apure — "More Displaced People than Population" orinocotribune.com This Monday, April 5, it was reported that the Venezuelan government requested United Nations (UN) cooperation to eradicate the antipersonnel mines placed in Apure state, bordering Colombia, by drug trafficking groups from Colombia. | In this regard, Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister, Jorge Arreaza, sent a letter to Ilene Cohn, deputy director of the UN service in charge of this range of issues. Arreaza recalled that on May 27, 2013, Venezuela was declared a landmine-free territory. | In this sense, the Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, stressed that the text of the letter indicated that Venezuela h…

Ben Chacko (2021-04-05). Venezuela calls for debt restructuring in response to Covid pandemic. peoplesworld.org Venezuela is calling for a comprehensive restructuring of international debt in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Addressing the UN heads of state meeting on international debt, President Nicolas Maduro said that more than 130 million people had been plunged into poverty during the pandemic. A "profound revision of debt conditions" was needed to prevent …

teleSUR (2021-04-05). Venezuela Hardens Restrictions on its Colombia, Brazil Borders. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday announced that his country will reinforce restrictions at border crossings with Colombia and Brazil due to the increase in COVID-19 infections in those neighboring nations. | RELATED: | "We will redouble the epidemiological controls in 2,200 kilometers of common borders," Maduro said and highlighted that Colombia faces a crisis due to President Ivan Duque's mishandling of the pandemic…

Kester Kenn Klomegah (2021-04-05). Mozambique: Insurgency Causing Irreparable Havoc And Devastation. .com What has been referred to as Islamic attacks and insurgency is causing irreparable deep havoc and devastation in Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique. The insurgency that began in 2017 has unimaginable negative effects on settlements of the civilian population, and on business and industry operations. It has consistently received global condemnation from regional and international community. | International aid agency sources said between 6,000 and 10,000 people were still waiting to be evacuated to safety following the raid on Palma. Dozens of civilians were killed, including South Africans, in Palma where a m…

orinocotribune (2021-04-05). Alex Saab: 'I was Tortured and Pressured' to Sign Voluntary Extradition. orinocotribune.com In a recent interview with the Colombian news outlet El Espectador, Colombian-Venezuelan businessman and Venezuelan special envoy àÅlex Saab confessed to having been a victim of torture from the first day of his "kidnapping" in Cape Verde. He asserted that he was pressured "to sign voluntary extradition statements and give false testimony." Saab has been in detention in Cape Verde—first in prison and now under house arrest—since his arbitrary and irregular arrest in June 2020 in that country. | "I was kidnapped by Cape Verde in collusion with the United States," said the Venezuelan diplomat duri…

teleSUR (2021-04-05). Defense Minister Alert on Colombia's Plots Against Venezuela. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino on Monday warned that Colombia seeks to promote the deployment of drug trafficking networks and violent armed groups in the Bolivarian territory to provoke a civil war. | RELATED: | "Colombia is sending paramilitary groups to our borders to penetrate our territory and reach the center of Venezuela," Padrino said and rejected the violent events taking place in the frontier st…

slorinoco (2021-04-05). Venezuela's Army Remains on High Alert Near Border with Colombia. orinocotribune.com The Strategic Operational Command of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces announced that it remains on high alert on the border between Venezuela and Colombia. | Due to the clashes registered in recent days between the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) and Colombian criminal groups, the Venezuelan Strategic Operational Command on Saturday reported that it maintains control of the towns of La Victoria and El Ripial, the primary theaters of the conflict. | "The armed groups who, with their intention of spreading terror among the people, flee with cowardice from Venezuelan justice, will not go far," read a…

Raul Antonio Capote (2021-04-05). Another Weapon in the Cultural War Against Cuba. orinocotribune.com By Raúl Antonio Capote — Apr 4, 2021 | CIA efforts to create publishing houses andliterary magazines to attract Cuban writers was intended to separate them from the country's institutions and steer them toward an anti-government stance. | Most of the CIA's covert operations in Latin America during the 1960s were directed against the Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro. "No more Cubas", was the agency's slogan at the time. | The Agency created a division in New York City, called Foreign Publications Inc. (Foreign Publications Incorporated), to subsidize various anti-Cuban publications, many coming from Miami. T…

Thomas Knapp (2021-04-05). America Unchurched: A Sign of the Times. counterpunch.org For the first time in its more than eight decades of surveying Americans' religious attitudes and practices, Gallup reports, church members constituted only 47% of the US population in 2020 — down 23% since 1999, prior to which the percentage seldom dipped below 70%. Why the precipitous drop, and what might it portend for the

teleSUR (2021-04-05). Chile To Spend $300 Million To Deport Venezuelans. telesurenglish.net President Sebastian Piñera's administration is implementing a $300-million plan to expel 1,800 foreigners, mostly Venezuelans, via 15 private flights. | RELATED: | Outlet La Tercera revealed details of a tender for services which started on March 12 when the Interior Undersecretary began the bidding process to deport Venezuelans throughout the year. | This is part of the "Colchane Plan" whose implementation bega…

Liudmila Piña Herrera (2021-04-05). Cuba — Antes de volver al aula. globalizacion.ca El aprendizaje mediante las teleclases ha ocupado un lugar preponderante en la dinámica y el pensamiento de la familia cubana, desde que la COVID-19 comenzó a ser parte de nuestra realidad. Las opiniones acerca de la educación no han cesado,…

Mario Ramos (2021-04-05). Combate a incursión mercenaria en Venezuela. globalizacion.ca Una de las 'nuevas' estrategias gringas de guerra es crear condiciones que permitan la rápida intervención de un tercero, precisamente porque en la búsqueda de destruir los países y procesos que se oponen a ser vasallos de su hegemonía, no…

orinocotribune (2021-04-05). Venezuelan Minister for Defense: Venezuelans Displaced by Colombian Narco-Paramilitary Violence Pressured by Colombian Authorities to Remain in Arauquita. orinocotribune.com The Mayor of Páez municipality in Apure state (Venezuela), José María Romero, complained that a group of Venezuelans are being held in Arauquita, Colombia, and prevented from returning to La Victoria (Venezuela) in order to attempt to discredit reports about the tranquility and peace re-established in Venezuela. | "It is worrying to see how after almost 15 days, there is pressure from Colombia preventing people from returning," said the mayor in a video shared by Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López. "We have information that it was forbidden to leave the shelters until Tuesday." | "Mayor José María…

teleSUR (2021-04-05). Haiti's Crisis Worsens: No COVID Vaccines Yet, Violence Rampant. telesurenglish.net Haiti does not have a single vaccine to offer its more than 11 million people a year after the pandemic began, raising concerns among health experts that Haitians' wellbeing is being pushed aside as violence and political instability across the country deepen. | RELATED: | So far, Haiti is slated to receive only 756,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the UN Covax program designed to secure a more equita…

Lucia Eugenia Cordova (2021-04-05). Venezuela Touches New Peak with 1,786 COVID-19 Cases and 15 Deaths this Sunday. orinocotribune.com On Sunday, April 4, Venezuela marked the 385th day of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The country registered 1,786 new cases in the last 24 hours, of which 1,779 were cases of community transmission and 7 were imported, in addition to 15 deaths. This was communicated by Venezuelan Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez during the televised COVID-19 briefing by President Nicolás Maduro. "This is the day with the highest number of cases reported in Venezuela," said the president in his customary Sunday address. | With this update, Venezuela accumulated a total of 166,123 infections and 1,662 deaths resu…

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