The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, does it with much more solemnity, and always using television cameras as the main propaganda weapon. But his plans do not differ much from those of Spanish President Pedro Sánchez, who now also intends to extend the state of alarm for a month, to avoid the cumbersome process of obtaining authorization from the Congress of Deputies.In a televised ceremony, Nicolás Maduro has signed today the decree extending the state of alarm for a month, "until beyond June." He has done so with the following words: "Today, May 12, I am going to renew the decree of the state of alarm for 30 more days to continue protecting our people." Pedro Sánchez has also now announced his intention to renew the state of alarm every 30 days, instead of every two weeks as before. Although it will be more difficult, the leader of Ciudadanos (Cs), Inés Arrimadas, has already announced that her party will hardly support a state of alarm for a month. And Podemos has made it clear that the Government only wants the support of Cs to keep Spaniards locked in their homes for another month, not to agree on economic measures, although Pedro Sánchez already has a plan b: he seems more willing to give in to ERC's blackmail, whose spokesman, Gabriel Rufián, demands that the «dialogue table» for the independence of Catalonia be started again, as a condition to support a new extension of the state of alarm.
