A weird phenomenon recently took hold of Venezuela’s headlines and social media feeds: news on COVID-19 were eclipsed by splashes about narcoterrorism, emergency governments and U.S. Navy ships. Standing next to Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced on April 1st that an anti-drug fleet was being sent towards the Caribbean country’s territorial waters.
The move comes after what’s possibly been the most daunting week of 2020 for Nicolás Maduro’s regime. A stalemate with interim President Juan Guaidó will continue in the short term, while at least two fifths of the population will keep leaving home to put food on the table, breaking the lockdown and boosting the spread of coronavirus amid a preexisting humanitarian emergency.
On March 24, Henrique Capriles - former governor of Miranda and two-time presidential hopeful - urged Maduro and Guaidó to reach an agreement that would enable an injection of foreign funds to mitigate the pandemic and deal with the current crisis. The following day, Andrés Pastrana - former President of Colombia and a tough critic of Chavismo – said on air that president Iván Duque should put politics aside and build bridges with Maduro to save lives.
