3 Latin American news during the contingency

As Latin America becomes the epicenter of contagion in the world, becoming the region with the most cases over Europe and the US, other news within the region are also beginning to gain strength.

Operation Gideon

The alleged “private coup” to kidnap Nicolás Maduro and hand him over to the US authorities still continues with questions as the Venezuelan Prosecutor's Office sent a letter to the US House of Representatives. offering their collaboration in research. According to the Venezuelan Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, the letter "provides quality information on the events that have surrounded the so-called Operation Gideon."

The announcement of this call for collaboration came after "on May 12, the president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, the Democrat Eliot Engel, asked the Donald Trump government for information about the failed attacks " assured El Tiempo.

This operation was commanded by the US security company Silvercorp and had months of preparation on Colombian soil, with the help of former Venezuelan military personnel. It failed when two boats, whose purpose was to disembark from Colombia to access the Miraflores palace and take Maduro, were intercepted by Venezuelan forces and ended in the death and capture of some members of the operation.

According to Maduro, this coup would have been initiated by his opponent, Juan Guaidó, despite the fact that he has denied any type of involvement and, on the contrary, he stated in a video that the actions “were a montage carried out by the Chavista dictatorship and financed by a figurehead ”.

Government crisis in Brazil

The handling of the coronavirus contingency has put President Jair Bolsonaro in check, who has constantly reiterated that the virus is only a "flu" and has not taken forceful actions on the matter. During the months since the coronavirus arrived in Brazil, approximately since March, a Health Minister was dismissed, a Minister of Justice resigned and now a new Health Minister, who lasted less than a month in charge, resigned.

Also read: Investigation against Bolsonaro begins

The dismissed minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, claimed to have alerted Bolsonaro to the seriousness of the pandemic, and today in Brazil more than a thousand people are dying daily from Coronavirus. Mandetta affirmed for a Brazilian media that "nothing of what is happening today is a surprise for the government", to which was added the recent resignation of the second minister of Health, Nelson Teich.

In addition to the tension over the president's existing position regarding quarantine, Bolsonaro's reiterated his call to support the use of chloroquine as a "remedy" to treat infected patients. While both Mandetta and Teich had authorized the use of this medicine in terminally ill patients, the President insists on using it even in patients with mild symptoms and has ordered its mass production. Finally, Teich's resignation came after Bolsonaro called for the return of "essential activities," including running gyms, hair salons, and beauty salons.

Meanwhile, Bolsonaro continues with his position against the quarantine, for which he has also launched a battle against Congress to end it. For several Sundays, dozens of Brazilians, including him, have broken the quarantine to express their dissatisfaction with the management of congressional leaders who support the quarantine. This, presumably, was also another reason for Nelson Teich's resignation.

Protests in Chile

The social environment in Chile has been turbulent since the end of 2019, where multitudinary marches took to the streets of Chile to ask President Sebastián Piñera for his resignation. This time, during the Coronavirus, people have protested again.

The quarantine has economically affected thousands of Chileans who have taken to the streets protesting because they are hungry. The traces of the economic crisis that is being generated due to the health crisis are already beginning to be seen. While Piñera seeks to contain around 60,000 cases, the policemen fought protesters in a confrontation that ended in the use of tear gas.

After the demonstrations that lasted for several days, the Chilean government decreed a "mega quarantine" in Santiago, the country's capital, due to the increase in cases after the record of 4038 new cases was reached in one day.

In the decision, it included a "social protection network" so as not to affect the quality of life of Chileans. As part of this plan, he started a campaign to bring food to people across the country. However, this plan was criticized as it was denounced that the markets for food baskets had as a supplier the supermarkets of Álvaro Saieh, a major Chilean businessman, instead of being acquired from SMEs that need the income.