2020-04-30: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media! (Copy the text of the postee below, then paste it on social media and the story images will also appear.)

US to Mobilize Military Reservists in 'Anti-Drug' Operation Against Venezuela
Ricardo Vaz and Lucas Koerner | venezuelanalysis.com | 2020-04-30
The Trump administration is also targeting oil-for-food deals involving the Venezuelan government and Mexican companies.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14857

US-China Relations on the Rocks?
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-30
Both right wings of the US war party are hostile toward sovereign independent states that are free from its imperial control. | It's notably true for nations with enormous hydrocarbon resources like Iran and Venezuela

Cuba Willing to Help Investigate Attack on Its US Headquarters
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-30
Cuba's Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, today expressed the will of his Government to assist in the investigation of the attack against the diplomatic headquarters of the Caribbean island in Washington. | RELATED: | Cuba's Embassy in the US Under Firearm Attack: No Victims | In statements to the press, the Foreign Minister emphasized the seriousness of the attack, which could have endangered the life and safety of the embassy staff and their families, he said. | During a meeting wit…
telesurenglish.net/news/Cuba-Willing-to-Help-Investigate-Attack-on-Its-US-Headquarters-20200430-0016.html

Cuba is Ready to Aid the U.S. in its Fight Against COVID-19
Pablo Vivanco | progressive.org | 2020-04-30
Despite Trump's sanctions, Cuba advocates international solidarity as the only way to overcome this pandemic.
progressive.org/dispatches/cuba-ready-aid-us-in-fight-against-covid-vivanco-200430/

Meat Processing Plants Have Become Incubators for Coronavirus
Nicole Nirea | zcomm.org | 2020-04-30
Trump will reportedly invoke the Defense Production Act to declare the meat-packing plants "critical infrastructure"
zcomm.org/znetarticle/meat-processing-plants-have-become-incubators-for-coronavirus/

Cuba Continues African Solidarity in COVID-19 Battle
Abayomi Azikiwe | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-30
High-ranking governmental and military leaders in the Republic of South Africa greeted a Cuban medical mission which arrived on April 27. | The 217 Cuban healthcare workers are in the country to assist in efforts to contain and eradicate the COVID-19 …
globalresearch.ca/cuba-continues-african-solidarity-covid-19-battle/5711342

Cuba's Embassy in the US Under Firearm Attack: No Victims
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-30
Cuba's Embassy in the United States was attacked in the early hours on Thursday, after an unknown individual opened fire on the facade of the building. | RELATED: | Cuba and Venezuela Reject Mike Pompeo's Threats | Cuban diplomats in the country were not injured, and are safe and protected. | Material damage was reported after the projectiles hit the facade, the official website of the Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained in a statement. | The aggressor was arrested by the local auth…
telesurenglish.net/news/cubas-embassy-in-the-us-under-firearm-attack-no-victims-20200430-0004.html

Peru: Government Plans Economic Recovery Amid the Pandemic
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-30
Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra announced on April 29 an economic plan to help his country's population amid the COVID-19 outbreak. | RELATED: | Peru: Authorities Report Increase in Femincides Amid Quarantine | Vizcarra stated that the resumption of production is mandatory, mainly after the Peruvian economy was reduced to 50% due to the coronavirus outbreak in the South American nation. A multidisciplinary commission will determine the economic restoration plan. It will be…
telesurenglish.net/news/peru-government-plans-economic-recovery-amid-the-pandemic-20200430-0009.html

Herd Immunity Is a Naive Bet, German Scientists Say
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-30
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the competent center for epidemiology in Germany, warned against betting on "herd immunity" and reiterated that the health authorities' goal should be to keep the rate of infection flat until a vaccine against COVID-19 is found. | RELATED: | COVID-19 Deaths in US Top 60,000

Despite over 100 transit worker deaths, New York Governor Cuomo and MTA push for unsafe return to work
wsws.org | 2020-04-30
As Cuomo begins his push for a return to work and deflects blame to the city's homeless population, the governor's office and the MTA renew criminal efforts to convince workers they will return to safe working conditions.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/30/nyct-j04.html

Cuba: Interferon's Effectiveness Against COVID-19 Confirmed
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-29
Cuban scientific authorities confirmed this week that the use of Interferon to treat COVID-19 patients was indeed effective. | RELATED: | French NGO Nominates Cuban Medical Brigades For Nobel Peace Prize | Eulogio Pimentel Vazquez, President of the Cuban Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), affirmed that the Interferon application complies with Cuban Health Ministry (Minsap) protocols. Pimentel stated that it is part of a patients' treatment but not for those in…
telesurenglish.net/news/cuba-interferons-effectiveness-against-covid19-confirmed-20200429-0002.html

Biden Says He Would Restore Relations With Cuba If Elected
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-29
United States presidential candidate for the Democratic Party and former Vice President Joe Biden said Monday he would go back to former President Barack Obama's policies toward Cuba if he wins the presidential election in November. | RELATED: | French NGO Nominates Cuban Medical Brigades For Nobel Peace Prize | "In large part, I would go back," Biden said in an interview with CBS. "I'd still insist they keep the commitments they said they would make when we, in fact, set the policy…
telesurenglish.net/news/Biden-Says-He-Would-Restore-Relations-With-Cuba-If-Elected-20200429-0018.html

U.S. weaponizes COVID-19 crisis in bid to destabilize Venezuela
George Stone | peoplesworld.org | 2020-04-29
Venezuelans have been victim to intense U.S. interventionism since Hugo Chávez took power in 1999 and formally launched his "Bolivarian Revolution." They have shown no intention to relent in recent years and have arguably ramped up the pressure since Nicolás Maduro took over as president in 2013. In the midst of a global pandemic, the …
peoplesworld.org/article/u-s-weaponizes-covid-19-crisis-in-bid-to-destabilize-venezuela/

US Prevents Cuba From Acquiring Pharmaceutical Raw Materials
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-29
The pharmaceutical business group FarmaCuba director Neyra Muguercia reported that the U.S. blockade prevents her country from acquiring raw materials for the production of drugs in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. | RELATED: | Cuba: Interferon's Effectiveness Against COVID-19 Confirmed | "The U.S. actions against Cuba are increasingly aggressive. They pursue all of our operations. Many times we have to import from a second, third, or even a fourth country for fear of suppliers be…
telesurenglish.net/news/US-Prevents-Cuba-From-Acquiring-Pharmaceutical-Raw-Materials-20200429-0007.html

Cuba Cannot Get Swiss Respirators Due to US Inhuman Blockade
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-29
Journalist Laura Hunter published an article in the Swiss newspaper Le Courrier denouncing that the companies IMT Medical AG and Acutronic Medical Systems AG were ordered not to sell high-tech respirators to Cuba. | RELATED: | US Prevents Cuba From Acquiring Pharmaceutical Raw Materials | Claiming that they do not wish to subvert the U.S. unilateral sanctions, those companies, which were acquired by Vyaire Medical two years ago, refused to deliver their products, as the Cuban For…
telesurenglish.net/news/Cuba-Cannot-Get-Swiss-Respirators-Due-to-US-Inhuman-Blockade-20200429-0013.html

Cuba and Venezuela Reject Mike Pompeo's Threats
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-29
Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Jorge Arreaza, demanded on Wednesday that the Government of the United States stop using Venezuela to hide its faults and failures. | The North American nation has now become the epicenter of the global pandemic generated by Covid-19, which has already reached 60 thousand deaths and more than a million confirmed cases. In contrast with the Bolivarian nation, where, "we have achieved a recovery rate of 43% and 0.3 deaths per million inhabitants," according to Arreaza. | @SecPompeo: that in the US the pandemic has excee…
telesurenglish.net/news/Cuba-and-Venezuela-Reject-Mike-Pompeos-Threats-20200429-0019.html

People With Disabilities and Their Personal Assistants Need COVID Relief Now
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-04-29
Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, the risks to people with disabilities

Peru: Authorities Report Increase in Femincides Amid Quarantine
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-29
Peru's Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations (MIMP) announced that seven feminicides occurred during the COVID-19 quarantine and social isolation.. | RELATED: | Peru: Massive Exodus Continues Amid COVID-19 Pandemic | According to Gloria Montenegro, head of the aforementioned ministry, following the announcement of the state quarantine declaration on March 16, the total number of domestic violence cases significantly increased. | The National Institute of Statistics and Information Techn…
telesurenglish.net/news/peru-authorities-report-feminicides-increase–during-quarantine-20200429-0006.html

The British Military Information War Waged on Their Own Population
Mike Robinson | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-29
Last Wednesday, during the daily UK Government Coronavirus livestream, the head of the British Army, General Sir Nick Carter, bragged: | We've been involved with the Cabinet Office Rapid Response Unit, with our 77th Brigade helping to quash rumours | …
globalresearch.ca/the-british-military-information-war-waged-on-their-own-population/5711223

Federal Bill Would Release Vulnerable People from Prisons to Help Stop Spread of COVID-19
Kanya Bennett | aclu.org | 2020-04-29
A month ago, Congress gave the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) increased authority to reduce the federal prison population. On March 29th, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act ( CARES Act), providing DOJ and BOP with the ability to expand home confinement eligibility. Then, Attorney General William Barr "applaud[ed] the substantial steps ta…
aclu.org/news/prisoners-rights/federal-bill-would-release-vulnerable-people-from-prisons-to-help-stop-spread-of-covid-19

WTI Oil Price Increases by 30.6 Percent Due to Upturn in Demand
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-29
As of Wednesday noon, the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil increased by 30.6 percent and reached USD16.12 per barrel, driven by the prospect of a rebound in the global demand and a very slight increase in the U.S. inventories. | RELATED: | Trump Orders U.S. Oil Companies to Halt Operations in Venezuela | Compared to what happened on Tuesday, the futures for oil delivery improved by US$3.78. At some times today, oil prices rose even more than 34 percent. | This…
telesurenglish.net/news/WTI-Oil-Price-Increases-by-30.6-Percent-Due-to-Upturn-in-Demand-20200429-0008.html

Exporting COVID-19: ICE Air Conducted Deportation Flights to 11 LAC Countries, Flight Data Shows
Jake Johnston | cepr.net | 2020-04-28
There were 232 likely ICE Air deportation flights to Latin America and Caribbean countries between February 3, 2020 and April 24, 2020, CEPR analysis shows. In 2019, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 267,258 individuals

Exporting COVID-19: ICE Air Conducted Deportation Flights to 11 LAC Countries, Flight Data Shows
Jake Johnston | cepr.net | 2020-04-28
There were 232 likely ICE Air deportation flights to Latin America and Caribbean countries between February 3, 2020 and April 24, 2020, CEPR analysis shows. In 2019, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 267,258 individuals

During Coronvrius: Cuba to the rescue, but don't tell the American people
Medea Benjamin | mronline.org | 2020-04-28
Anti-Cuba zealots in the Trump administration have been enticing Cuban doctors working overseas to defect, paying journalists to write negative stories, slapping sanctions on Cubans in charge of the program, and strong-arming countries to expel Cuban doctors.
mronline.org/2020/04/28/during-coronvrius-cuba-to-the-rescue-but-dont-tell-the-american-people/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=during-coronvrius-cuba-to-the-rescue-but-dont-tell-the-american-people

French NGO Nominates Cuban Doctors For Nobel Peace Prize
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-28
French organization Cuba Linda advocated Tuesday to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the Cuban Henry Reeves medical brigades, deployed in more than 20 countries to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. | RELATED: | Cuban Doctors Head to South Africa to Help Fight COVID-19 | "The international community is witnessing the solidarity of health professionals who leave their own country to provide services and share experiences in other parts of the world, which in the case of the pandemic…
telesurenglish.net/news/French-NGO-Nominates-Cuban-Doctors-For-Nobel-Peace-Prize-20200428-0018.html

Venezuela Leads Region in COVID-19 Tests Per Million People
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-28
Venezuela has become the country with most screening tests for COVID-19 per million inhabitants in Latin America and the Caribbean, Minister of Communication and Information Jorge Rodriguez announced Tuesday. | RELATED: | Brazil and Colombia Are Epidemiological Threats to Venezuela | "Venezuela is the country in Latin America and the Caribbean that has carried out the most tests per million inhabitants. Today we are above 15,500 tests per million inhabitants," Rodriguez said duri…
telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuela-Leads-Region-in-COVID-19-Tests-Per-Million-People-20200428-0021.html

Cuban doctors arrive to South Africa
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-04-28
With a robust healthcare system and one of the world's highest ratios of the number of doctors in a country to its population, the communist state has already sent over 1,200 doctors to 22 countries.
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/04/28/cuban-doctors-arrive-to-south-africa/

Chaos and Fear in Latin America's Prisons as COVID-19 Spreads
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-28
As the coronavirus pandemic is starting to spread across Latin America's massively overcrowded prisons, putting the lives of tens of thousands at risk, riots have been reported in almost all the region's countries as inmates say their fundamental rights to safety and protection are being violated. | RELATED: | Cuban News Agency Reporter Arrested in Chile for 'No Reason' | A riot was reported Monday in the Castro Castro prison in Peru's capital, Lima, resulting in a fire and the d…
telesurenglish.net/news/Terror-in-Latin-Americas-Prisons-as-COVID-19-Spreads–20200428-0020.html

COVID-19 could lead to millions of unintended pregnancies, new UN-backed data reveals
news.un.org | 2020-04-28
Ongoing lockdowns and major disruptions to health services during the COVID-19 pandemic could result in seven million unintended pregnancies in the coming months, according to data released on Tuesday by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and partners.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/04/1062742

Some Turkish Troops Reportedly Armed With Anti-Suicide Rifles
sputniknews.com | 2020-04-30
In 2015, the newspaper Daily Sabah reported that over the past ten years, the number of soldiers who committed suicide in Turkey's Army had surged to 934, in contrast with 818 Turkish servicemen killed in armed clashes during the same period.
sputniknews.com/military/202004301079145485-some-turkish-troops-reportedly-armed-with-anti-suicide-rifles/

Venezuela: Solidarity vs. COVID-19 (and Capital)
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2020-04-28
Chicago, IL – These are hard days for people the world over. The COVID-19 virus has forced billions of people to stay at home, bringing the global economy to a near standstill. At the moment of writing, nearly 3 million people have been confirmed to have COVID-19 across the world, and over 200,000 people have died. | It is in a crisis like this that society is tested, that the strength of human organization must prove itself. And if there is one thing that every American can see, it is that our society has failed this test. "American exceptionalism" means that our economy and our way of life is superior, that it…
fightbacknews.org/2020/4/28/venezuela-solidarity-vs-covid-19-and-capital

Venezuela: Bolivarian Revolution stopping COVID-19 in its tracks
Susan Price | greenleft.org.au | 2020-04-28
Healthcare Nelson DávilaIssue 1263 Venezuela COVID-19 Bolivarian revolution CaracasApril 28, 2020At the time of writing, 37 day…
greenleft.org.au/content/venezuela-bolivarian-revolution-stopping-covid-19-its-tracks

[Letter] Covid-19 and perioperative mortality; where do we stand?
Behnam Shakiba, Shirin Irani | thelancet.com | 2020-04-27
In the age of Covid-19, surgeons are facing some challenges when deciding to perform or postpone elective operations. Therefore, we read with great interest the paper by Lei and colleagues [1]. They reported the overall hospital mortality following selective surgeries during the incubation period of COVID-19 as 20.5%.
thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(20)30108-5/fulltext?rss=yes

A Soft Power Ploy? Cuba Continues to Aid the Poorest and Least Influential Nations
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-04-27
As the coronavirus pandemic grows worse in many countries, Cuba has answered an urgent South African request for aid, sending 217 medical personnel to the country.
mintpressnews.com/medical-internationalism-cuba-sends-217-doctors-aid-south-africa-coronavirus/267036/

Cuba's Covid-19 Medical Brigades Are Not Medical Diplomacy: They Are International Solidarity at Its Finest
Bill Hackwell | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-04-27
Cuban Medical Brigade going to Italy (Photo credit: Ismael Francisco Gonzalez) Today the latest medical brigade from Cuba's Henry Reeves contingent arrived in South Africa to join the front lines with those saving lives in the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic. After a 14 day quarantine the 216 member group, made up of family physicians, …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/04/cubas-covid-19-medical-brigades-are-not-medical-diplomacy-they-are-international-solidarity-at-its-finest/

Venezuela Rolls out Cabinet Change, Economic Measures to Combat Inflation
venezuelanalysis.com | 2020-04-27
Measures include a 60 percent wage increase and a push to bring food prices under control.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14855

[Correspondence] European education corridors: opportunity for academic solidarity
Gianluca Gaidano, Raffaella Balocco, Wael Al Essa, Andrea Turolla, Roberto Barbato, Umberto Dianzani, Menico Rizzi, Raffaella Ravinetto | thelancet.com | 2020-04-25
In times of growing political tensions around migration, health-care providers can help to protect migrant populations from exclusion.1,2 The UCL–Lancet Commission on Migration and Health called for a strengthening, through regulatory and training bodies, of health professionals' and organisations' awareness of discrimination.2 We add that organisations engaged in health science and biomedical education can fulfil their moral and deontological duty to protect populations that are susceptible to discrimination by also promoting the right to education.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30484-0/fulltext?rss=yes

[Perspectives] Modelling can only tell us so much: politics explains the rest
Clare Wenham | thelancet.com | 2020-04-25
I've been self-isolating with my family because we developed fevers. Whether this is any illness or coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is hard to say given the UK Government's position on community testing. How this infection started, how many people I might have infected, and how adhering to public health guidance to remain at home alters patterns of disease transmission is crucial information. For this knowledge, policy makers need epidemiologists and mathematical models of how diseases spread in different populations, as described by Adam Kucharski in The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread–and Why Th…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30814-X/fulltext?rss=yes

Venezuela: Guaido to Use Funds Frozen in US to Pay Loyalists $5000 Monthly Salaries
Lucas Koerner | venezuelanalysis.com | 2020-04-23
Pro-Guaido lawmakers and diplomats will take nearly a third of an $80 million "Liberation Fund."
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14853

Global Health Doctor: Hire 1000s of Contact Tracers to Stop COVID-19, Save Lives and the Economy
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-23
As parts of the United States and Europe consider reopening, most of the world's population remains susceptible to the coronavirus. We look at new efforts to stop the deadly spread of COVID-19 with contact tracing

Global Health Doctor: Hire 1000s of Contact Tracers to Stop COVID-19, Save Lives and the Economy
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-23
As parts of the United States and Europe consider reopening, most of the world's population remains susceptible to the coronavirus. We look at new efforts to stop the deadly spread of COVID-19 with contact tracing

Trump Administration Orders Chevron to Shutter Venezuela Operations
Lucas Koerner and Ricardo Vaz | venezuelanalysis.com | 2020-04-22
The latest measures followed reports of fresh dialogue between the government and the opposition.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14852

Bill McKibben on Earth Day at 50: We Must Stop Subsidizing Fossil Fuel Industry Wrecking the Planet
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-22
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, when more than 20 million Americans joined in actions to protect the environment

Bill McKibben on Earth Day at 50: We Must Stop Subsidizing Fossil Fuel Industry Wrecking the Planet
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-22
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, when more than 20 million Americans joined in actions to protect the environment

Wisconsin Confirms 19 Cases of COVID-19 Related to April 7 Election
Bill Lueders | progressive.org | 2020-04-22
More reported cases are likely as two-week incubation period ends.
progressive.org/dispatches/wisconsin-cases-of-covid-related-to-election-lueders-200422/

New Model Shows Reducing Jail Population will Lower COVID-19 Death Toll for All of Us
Udi Ofer | aclu.org | 2020-04-22
The Trump administration optimistically projects that "substantially under" 100,000 people will die from COVID-19 in the United States. Horrific as that statistic is, a new model suggests it could be a huge underestimate. The government models fail to consider the impact of the virus on the incarcerated population, who will be infected and die at higher rates. And any prison or jail outbreak is bound to spill over into the broader community

Last Process: 46 Postees: 2020-05-01 04:41 GMT (00:41 EST)

2020-04-29: News Headlines

WSWS (2020-04-29). Protester killed in Lebanon during riots against soaring food prices. wsws.org Men, women and children marched through the streets of Tripoli, where more than half the population are living at or below the poverty line, shouting "Revolution, Revolution."

teleSUR (2020-04-29). Cuba: Interferon's Effectiveness Against COVID-19 Confirmed. telesurenglish.net Cuban scientific authorities confirmed this week that the use of Interferon to treat COVID-19 patients was indeed effective. | RELATED: | Eulogio Pimentel Vazquez, President of the Cuban Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), affirmed that the Interferon application complies with Cuban Health Ministry (Minsap) protocols. Pimentel stated that it is part of a patients' treatment but not for those in…

WSWS (2020-04-29). Cuban working class facing disaster due to coronavirus-related tourism collapse. wsws.org While Cuba appears to have effectively slowed the spread of COVID-19, the collapse of tourism has left huge numbers of workers unemployed and threatens imports of needed goods.

Mike Robinson (2020-04-29). The British Military Information War Waged on Their Own Population. globalresearch.ca Last Wednesday, during the daily We've been involved with the Cabinet Office Rapid Response Unit, with our 77th Brigade helping to quash rumours …

Jake Johnston (2020-04-28). Exporting COVID-19: ICE Air Conducted Deportation Flights to 11 LAC Countries, Flight Data Shows. cepr.net There were 232 likely ICE Air deportation flights to Latin America and Caribbean countries between February 3, 2020 and April 24, 2020, CEPR analysis shows. In 2019, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 267,258 individuals — 96 percent of whom were from the Latin America and Caribbean region. Though much of the media focus has …

Medea Benjamin (2020-04-28). During Coronvrius: Cuba to the rescue, but don't tell the American people. mronline.org Anti-Cuba zealots in the Trump administration have been enticing Cuban doctors working overseas to defect, paying journalists to write negative stories, slapping sanctions on Cubans in charge of the program, and strong-arming countries to expel Cuban doctors.

Tanya Wadhwa (2020-04-28). Spike in gender-based violence during quarantine in Latin America and the Caribbean. peoplesdispatch.org Feminists and women's rights activists across the region say that women are at greater risk and urge the governments to step up measures to address all forms of gender-based violence…

Ajamu Baraka (2020-04-28). Video: Venezuela and the Struggle Against Empire: Ajamu Baraka. globalresearch.ca Black Alliance for Peace National Organizer Ajamu Baraka discussed the role of U.S. activists in stopping the U.S. war machine during "An Inside View of Resistance to US Imperialism in Venezuela and How to Build International Solidarity," a webinar co-hosted …

teleSUR (2020-04-28). French NGO Nominates Cuban Doctors For Nobel Peace Prize. telesurenglish.net French organization Cuba Linda advocated Tuesday to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the Cuban Henry Reeves medical brigades, deployed in more than 20 countries to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. | RELATED: | "The international community is witnessing the solidarity of health professionals who leave their own country to provide services and share experiences in other parts of the world, which in the case of the pandemic…

(2020-04-28). U.S. uses 'drug' lies to menace Venezuela. workers.org By Raymond Tyler During a time when thousands are dying every day in the United States of COVID-19 and resources are dwindling, the United States has found the resources and money to plant "anti-drug" navy ships off the Venezuelan coast and threaten that country's leaders with arrest. The Pentagon ordered . . . |

Barbara Boland (2020-04-28). Is Trump Using the U.S. Military for Regime Change in Venezuela? globalresearch.ca U.S. policy towards Venezuela has been a head-spinning series of contradictions lately, with no end in sight. From placing a bounty on the heads of President Nicolas Maduro and a dozen current and former Venezuelan officials, to upping sanctions and …

teleSUR (2020-04-28). Venezuela Leads Region in COVID-19 Tests Per Million People. telesurenglish.net Venezuela has become the country with most screening tests for COVID-19 per million inhabitants in Latin America and the Caribbean, Minister of Communication and Information Jorge Rodriguez announced Tuesday. | RELATED: | "Venezuela is the country in Latin America and the Caribbean that has carried out the most tests per million inhabitants. Today we are above 15,500 tests per million inhabitants," Rodriguez said duri…

commondreams (2020-04-28). New CEPR Analysis Shows 232 Likely Ice Air Deportation Flights to Latin America and the Caribbean During Pandemic So Far. commondreams.org ______________________________…

teleSUR (2020-04-28). Haiti: Food Crisis Persists Amid COVID-19 Pandemic. telesurenglish.net Haiti's UN representative, Elisabeth Byrs, said there is a famine and food crisis possibility in the Caribbean nation due to the economic COVID-19 impact. | RELATED: | Byrs requested immediate food aid to the World Food Program and stressed the COVID-19 emergency harmed food production. The UN representative expressed her concern about possible famines after the virus outbreak aggravated the severe social situation in Haitian territory…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-04-28). Cuban doctors arrive to South Africa. peoplesdispatch.org With a robust healthcare system and one of the world's highest ratios of the number of doctors in a country to its population, the communist state has already sent over 1,200 doctors to 22 countries.

teleSUR (2020-04-28). Cuba-Vietnam Trade Agreement in Force Despite Pandemic. telesurenglish.net The Vietnam Trade and Industry Ministry Sunday stated new commercial trade will take place with Cuba. The agreement will come into effect on April 1st. | RELATED: | The commercial contract will regulate the certification processes needed for the inspection of goods. These norms apply to both countries in the merchandise exchange. Vietnamese Exportation and Importation Department also provides preferential tax rates on freights. | The Vietnam-Cuba trade a…

news.un (2020-04-28). COVID-19 could lead to millions of unintended pregnancies, new UN-backed data reveals. news.un.org Ongoing lockdowns and major disruptions to health services during the COVID-19 pandemic could result in seven million unintended pregnancies in the coming months, according to data released on Tuesday by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and partners.

Fight Back (2020-04-28). Venezuela: Solidarity vs. COVID-19 (and Capital). fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL – These are hard days for people the world over. The COVID-19 virus has forced billions of people to stay at home, bringing the global economy to a near standstill. At the moment of writing, nearly 3 million people have been confirmed to have COVID-19 across the world, and over 200,000 people have died. | It is in a crisis like this that society is tested, that the strength of human organization must prove itself. And if there is one thing that every American can see, it is that our society has failed this test. "American exceptionalism" means that our economy and our way of life is superior, that it…

Behnam Shakiba, Shirin Irani (2020-04-27). [Letter] Covid-19 and perioperative mortality; where do we stand? thelancet.com In the age of Covid-19, surgeons are facing some challenges when deciding to perform or postpone elective operations. Therefore, we read with great interest the paper by Lei and colleagues [1]. They reported the overall hospital mortality following selective surgeries during the incubation period of COVID-19 as 20.5%.

Alan Macleod (2020-04-27). A Soft Power Ploy? Cuba Continues to Aid the Poorest and Least Influential Nations. mintpressnews.com As the coronavirus pandemic grows worse in many countries, Cuba has answered an urgent South African request for aid, sending 217 medical personnel to the country.

Bill Hackwell (2020-04-27). Cuba's Covid-19 Medical Brigades Are Not Medical Diplomacy: They Are International Solidarity at Its Finest. dissidentvoice.org Cuban Medical Brigade going to Italy (Photo credit: Ismael Francisco Gonzalez) Today the latest medical brigade from Cuba's Henry Reeves contingent arrived in South Africa to join the front lines with those saving lives in the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic. After a 14 day quarantine the 216 member group, made up of family physicians, …

Andrey Areshev (2020-04-27). Defeating U.S. imperialism at Playa Girón. strategic-culture.org "We'd done some very important things, but we hadn't proclaimed ourselves as being socialists, or openly proclaimed Marxist-Leninist doctrines. Girón accelerated the revolutionary process." Cuban leader Fidel Castro's reflections about Playa Girón, discussed with Ignacio Ramonet during conversations which led to the publication of the revolutionary leader's autobiography, indicate the magnitude of defeat for U.S. imperialism at the Bay of Pigs invasion which lasted from April 17 until April 19, 1961. In less than 72 hours, the Cuban revolutionary forces had defeated the 1,500 CIA-trained infiltrators. | The U.S.

teleSUR (2020-04-27). COVID-19 Is Exacerbating Food Crisis in Haiti: UN. telesurenglish.net More than four million Haitians, almost a third of the island's population, are in need of emergency food assistance, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) warned Friday, highlighting that the COVID-19 crisis has worsened the situation. | RELATED: | "The situation was already very worrying in Haiti, but it has worsened with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced the closure of ports and airports, as well as school…

Venezuelanalysis (2020-04-27). Venezuela Rolls out Cabinet Change, Economic Measures to Combat Inflation. venezuelanalysis.com Measures include a 60 percent wage increase and a push to bring food prices under control.

Jonathan Cook (2020-04-26). Palestinians Hunker Down for Ramadan, Facing a Virus that doesn't Discriminate but an Occupier that does. dissidentvoice.org As the holy fasting month of Ramadan begins, the coronavirus outbreak in Israel and the Palestinian territories is proving how inevitably intertwined the two populations' lives are, while also underlining the extreme differentials of power between them. While 15,000 Israelis have tested positive for Covid-19 so far, the numbers infected in the occupied territories are …

Gianluca Gaidano, Raffaella Balocco, Wael Al Essa, Andrea Turolla, Roberto Barbato, Umberto Dianzani, Menico Rizzi, Raffaella Ravinetto (2020-04-25). [Correspondence] European education corridors: opportunity for academic solidarity. thelancet.com In times of growing political tensions around migration, health-care providers can help to protect migrant populations from exclusion.1,2 The UCL—Lancet Commission on Migration and Health called for a strengthening, through regulatory and training bodies, of health professionals' and organisations' awareness of discrimination.2 We add that organisations engaged in health science and biomedical education can fulfil their moral and deontological duty to protect populations that are susceptible to discrimination by also promoting the right to education.

Clare Wenham (2020-04-25). [Perspectives] Modelling can only tell us so much: politics explains the rest. thelancet.com I've been self-isolating with my family because we developed fevers. Whether this is any illness or coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is hard to say given the UK Government's position on community testing. How this infection started, how many people I might have infected, and how adhering to public health guidance to remain at home alters patterns of disease transmission is crucial information. For this knowledge, policy makers need epidemiologists and mathematical models of how diseases spread in different populations, as described by Adam Kucharski in The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread—and Why Th…

yenisafak (2020-04-29). NYC mayor urges zero tolerance against large gatherings. yenisafak.com New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that large gatherings amid the fight against coronavirus will not be tolerated, adding "the time for warnings has passed."His remarks came late Tuesday following a major Jewish gathering for a rabbi's funeral in Brooklyn, where a large Jewish population resides."Something absolutely unacceptable happened in Williamsburg tonite: a large funeral gathering in the middle of this pandemic," the mayor said on Twitter. "When I heard, I went there myself to ensure the crowd was dispersed. And what I saw WILL NOT be tolerated so long as we are fighting the Coronavirus."The mayor sai…

sputniknews (2020-04-29). Sticky Habits? 60 Percent of Brits Going Cashless as Rural Regions Left Behind Amid COVID-19 Crisis. sputniknews.com More people are paying for goods and services with contactless payment systems amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but vulnerable groups in the British population, who depend on cash, should be safeguarded, reports revealed.

Susan Price (2020-04-28). Venezuela: Bolivarian Revolution stopping COVID-19 in its tracks. greenleft.org.au

Fight Back (2020-04-25). Cuban workers mark Lenin's 150th birthday, May Day plans announced. fightbacknews.org According to April 23 report in Granma, "On Havana's Lenin Hill, a small group of trade union leaders, headed by Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, Party Political Bureau member and general secretary of the Cuban Workers Federation (CTC), dedicated a floral tribute to the legendary Bolshevik, who played a key role in the Russian Revolution, the greatest lesson in the annals of history of what the emancipated working class can achieve in unity of thought and action, guided by socialist principles." | The newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba also reported on the plans for this year's traditionally massive May…

news.un (2020-04-25). Liberia: Ebola contact tracing lessons inform COVID-19 response. news.un.org Lessons learned during the Ebola outbreak in Liberia six years ago are helping the West African country to confront the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) which is working alongside the World Health Organization (WHO) on surveillance and the coordination of contact tracing.

Lucas Koerner (2020-04-23). Venezuela: Guaido to Use Funds Frozen in US to Pay Loyalists $5000 Monthly Salaries. venezuelanalysis.com Pro-Guaido lawmakers and diplomats will take nearly a third of an $80 million "Liberation Fund."

Staff (2020-04-23). Global Health Doctor: Hire 1000s of Contact Tracers to Stop COVID-19, Save Lives and the Economy. democracynow.org As parts of the United States and Europe consider reopening, most of the world's population remains susceptible to the coronavirus. We look at new efforts to stop the deadly spread of COVID-19 with contact tracing — finding who infected patients have been in contact with so they can get tested and isolated. We'll speak with global health expert Dr. Joia Mukherjee, with Partners in Health, about a contact tracing project she is working on now in Massachusetts.

Staff (2020-04-22). Bill McKibben on Earth Day at 50: We Must Stop Subsidizing Fossil Fuel Industry Wrecking the Planet. democracynow.org Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, when more than 20 million Americans joined in actions to protect the environment — 10% of the U.S. population at the time. Half a century later, in the middle of a pandemic, protests planned around the world have moved online, and the Trump administration has gutted the Environmental Protection Agency — established not long after Earth Day — rolled back fuel economy standards and eased the enforcement of pollution regulations. "The countries that flattened the coronavirus curve early on are doing far better than those like ours, which delayed," says…

Lucas Koerner and Ricardo Vaz (2020-04-22). Trump Administration Orders Chevron to Shutter Venezuela Operations. venezuelanalysis.com The latest measures followed reports of fresh dialogue between the government and the opposition.

Udi Ofer (2020-04-22). New Model Shows Reducing Jail Population will Lower COVID-19 Death Toll for All of Us. aclu.org The Trump administration optimistically projects that "substantially under" 100,000 people will die from COVID-19 in the United States. Horrific as that statistic is,

Matt Sedlar (2020-04-22). Tracking COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean. cepr.net The COVID-19 data tracker will be continually updated as the pandemic spreads throughout the region and CEPR experts will be providing regular analysis on The Americas Blog.

Bill Lueders (2020-04-22). Wisconsin Confirms 19 Cases of COVID-19 Related to April 7 Election. progressive.org More reported cases are likely as two-week incubation period ends.

Ben Norton (2020-04-20). Human Rights Watch cabildea por sanciones letales contra Nicaragua y Venezuela, mientras arrecia la crisis de Covid-19. thegrayzone.com Human Rights Watch está orgullosamente asumiendo el crédito por sanciones devastadoras contra Nicaragua, mientras busca escalar la guerra económica en…

Paul Dobson (2020-04-20). US 'Plunders' $342m of Venezuelan Funds as COVID-19 Hotspot Breaks Out at Baseball Academy. venezuelanalysis.com The money has been transferred from a Venezuelan Central Bank account at Citibank to an account at the US Federal Reserve.

ACLU (2020-04-17). A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform. aclu.org