President Nicolás Maduro called this Thursday “miserable” the decision of the United States government not to include Venezuela in the donation plan for millions of vaccines against covid-19 in the world. The answer comes just 24 hours after it was learned that the dictator Maduro paid € 50,000 to a Dominican singer to perform at his birthday party last November.
“Miserable! Miserable, they not only persecute so that they do not sell vaccines to Venezuela, but also when they can open the rotten heart they have to show their misery and their hatred against Venezuelans, “Maduro accused in an address on state television .
“They hate and despise Venezuela,” added the president, who insisted that his country is subjected to a “horrific persecution” so that no vaccines arrive.
The United States will donate 80 million doses of vaccines to be distributed globally, 75% of the total through the Covax program of the World Health Organization (WHO) in regions such as Latin America and the Caribbean, South and Southeast Asia and Africa .
The US ambassador to Venezuela, James Story, who is based in Bogotá, explained earlier this Thursday that Venezuela was not included in the donation plan because “it lacks transparency of the delivery of vaccines to people in need.”
Among the Latin American countries that will receive vaccines from the United States are Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Haiti, as well as the countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Dominican Republic.
Venezuela started a second immunization campaign at the end of May with the aim of immunizing 70% of its population of 30 million inhabitants by December.
For now applies the Russian Sputnik V and Vero-cell, while negotiating the acquisition of vaccines for about five million people through the Covax system.
The tension between Caracas and Washington has been constant since the late former President Hugo Chávez (1999-2013) was in power. On January 23, 2019, they broke relations after the United States recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as president in charge of Venezuela.
