The Rincón de la Vieja volcano, located between the cantons of Liberia and Upala, made two eruptions Monday, June 1, that reached 2,000 meters (2 km) above the height of the crater, reported the Vulcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (Ovsicori).
The first eruption rose between 1,500 to 2,000 meters above the top of the volcano, while the second eruption reached 2,000 meters.
The entity detailed that the events were presented at 5 pm and 5:45 pm, respectively.
The second emanation rose to 3,916 meters above sea level and lasted one minute.
No ashfall or sulfur odor was reported in either eruption.
The Ovsicori did not indicate damage in any surrounding community.
At 4:27 am, On May 15, the volcano made an eruption whose height was not identified due to the site’s visibility conditions.
That day, the activity was maintained, also, for a minute. There was also no damage.
The exhalations and eruptions so closely followed by the last cycle in Rincon de la Vieja, which started from January this year, have not been seen since the 1990s.
Volcanologist Javier Pacheco del Ovsicori expressed that they needed to fly over the colossus to see the changes in the crater.
In addition, identify eventual changes in the level of the lake, which is the deepest among the active volcanoes in the country, with about 75 meters.
“The problem is that this volcano is evolving. Day by day conduits are opening and activity increases. An escalation is detected in the number of daily events,” said Pacheco.
Colombia’s Transportation Minister, Angela Orozco, announced last week that Colombia’s airports will reopen to international flights beginning September 1.
Domestic flights are expected to resume July 1, though this has not been confirmed by the government. Presidential Decree 749 of 2020 prohibits all domestic air transport from midnight, June 1 to midnight June 30, continuing restrictions already in place since March.
Colombia’s Transportation Minister, Angela Orozco
“We won’t open inter-municipal transport during the month of June, nor domestic or international flights,” said President Ivan Duque. “We will make exceptions for humanitarian flights for the return of our compatriots to the country; we will maintain the borders closed for the month of June.”
“It is positive that we have a defined date for the effective sale of international tickets, but we call on the government to also define the date for domestic flights; key to the resumption of operations and survival of our airline,” Viva Air’s Commercial Vice President Lisa Monta Pinto told Finance Colombia.
“From Monday according to the minister’s announcement, we are authorized to start selling international tickets dated from September first. Based on that, at Viva we believe that sales of international flights will be slower than domestic flights. We know that initially, operations will be adjusted according to the demand that we experience. This will also allow us to determine how ticket sales will behave, so we will be constantly monitoring demand in order to be able to respond with opportunity, efficiency, and competitive value.”
“It is also important to highlight that at Viva we are ready to resume operations once we have the national government’s authorization as we prepare with all the biosecurity measures and protocols to continue to guarantee inclusive air travel in Colombia,” she said.
Decree 749 also orders that Colombia’s borders—land, sea & riparian—remain closed with Venezuela, Peru, Panamá, Brazil and Ecuador until July 1 except for cargo, merchandise, force majeure, humanitarian emergencies, or the departure of foreigners coordinated by Migration Colombia, the country’s immigration enforcement authority.
The decree stipulates punishment for noncompliance under Article 368 of the Penal Code: “Whoever violates a sanitary measure adopted by the competent authority to prevent the introduction or spread of an epidemic will be imprisoned for four to four years and, in addition, will have to pay the fines ordered by Decree 780 of 2016, issued by the Ministry of Health.”
Three shopping centers in Medellín opened their doors to the public as part of a pilot test to reactivate commerce (EFE).
The coronavirus lockdown is wreaking havoc on many economies, and in several Latin American countries, the curve seems far from flattening out. What are the challenges of returning to normal in Colombia and Latin America? When will we see a vaccine? What challenges await Latin American countries during this pandemic?
Three shopping centers in Medellín opened their doors to the public as part of a pilot test to reactivate commerce (EFE).
The PanAm Post spoke with Marcela Henao, professor, and researcher in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology at Colorado State University, to get her perspective on ending the lockdown in Colombia and Latin America.
What will the return to normal look like after the lockdown ends?
There is no normality at the moment, nor will there be any soon. We have to create a new normal, especially in developing countries like ours.
One thing is very clear to all epidemiologists and immunologists: this is a disease that will be controlled, but it will remain with us. So we will have to learn to live differently. It is clear that this virus is highly infectious. We know from both clinical and laboratory sources that with a very small viral load, it can infect a large population.
We will no longer be able to hug each other, nor greet each other with a kiss. We will have to keep our distance and create a new social etiquette. The more we are aware of the importance of this personal space, the better we can prevent possible infections.
This virus has two very serious things in its favor, it can be transmitted by people who do not have symptoms, and the response in a person can be so different that it is very difficult to treat and manage it efficiently.
In some regions of the country, the virus spread has been overwhelming, while in other places, it has not. How do you explain this behavior?
Several things could be having an influence. First, the overcrowding, many people living together, which is associated with limited economic resources and low educational level. So people might not fully grasp the severity of the issue. In our country, the displacement of people living in poor conditions on the streets worsens the situation since they are the most vulnerable population and undoubtedly a vector of contagion.
In the capital, Claudia Lopez started out managing things well, but there is a trade-off. In Bogota, there are too many people in a very small space. No matter how much they try to prevent and manage the situation, the virus is going to spread.
What alternatives do you think are feasible in the short term to contain the spread of the pandemic?
I think that the policy of infecting all young people, the so-called herd immunity, is a good idea. The problem is that there is no way of knowing the severity of the infection.
Pre-existing conditions are closely associated with a high mortality rate. And in Colombia, there are several risky conditions. If you see in the United States, Latino men are the group with the highest mortality.
The truth is that I am more concerned about mortality than morbidity. The fact that a population becomes infected and can control mortality is ideal. But what we have seen is that the virus has affected the population differently according to age group.
How feasible is it to lift the quarantine in municipalities that do not have COVID-19 cases or have the disease under control?
The quarantine should be lifted by avoiding the flow of people who are not from those communities and teach the community to live with the use of masks and extreme personal hygiene.
One example is how they are proposing to open universities. You have to start with a capacity of 30% to 40% of the staff, and you have to show that you can handle those levels, and keep going up.
It should be a monitored reopening. An evaluation committee can look at the pace of the reopening at the regional level. Everyone thinking individually about doing what they can is not enough.
We need sufficient testing capacity to properly monitor the spread of the virus. The other thing is to have a premeditated plan to close things once again in case the infection escalates. Everyone needs to know that if there is a spike or increase in cases, they should return to closure. Many things have to work at the same time- the health system, testing.
Finally, dedicated groups can be set up at the regional level to sew masks and provide them to all those who will start working. Another group can be in charge of keeping supplies of sanitizers, one group should be in charge of continuous and massive testing, and another group should be in charge of opening in phases.
How would such groups be created? Is there a need for highly specialized personnel?
These are not very complex tasks, and a person with a basic education can be trained. In the United States, the people doing this work are unemployed and young. I think the public sector could train these people and integrate them into these special groups. It is not complex training, but they will have to learn to operate under different conditions than they are used to.
One of the things you have to train them in is the correct use of gloves and masks. A lot of people can’t bear to wear them, and they feel like they are suffocating. Some people wear more masks than they need and have collapsed.
There is a theory circulating that this virus came out of a laboratory. Is that true?
I believe that the possibility of the virus being weaponized is basically zero because nothing is as effective as the evolutionary capacity of a virus. Any laboratory runs the risk of an infected employee, but these laboratories are highly specialized and with biosecurity supervision. I mean, I have been working with tuberculosis for 17 years, and I have never infected anyone. The first people who don’t want to be infected are those of us who work with highly infectious pathogens.
According to epidemiology, these diseases are zoonotic. They come from animals. They are highly transmissible, and both with this virus, and with past cases, it is believed to be transmitted by animals. The possibility of it being a zoonotic disease is very high, and the possibility of the virus coming out because of the negligence of a laboratory is very low.
Ultimately, these theories hinder rather than facilitate research into these pathogens. Rather, the theory that this virus is zoonotic is very easy to prove, and the other theory is not.
How far are we from a vaccine?
Before you release any vaccine, you have to have good safety tests. The cure can’t be worse than the disease. There are two possibilities: some institutions and countries are trying to implement a controlled infection. In other words, they are going to select groups or populations and infect them in a controlled way with the virus. In theory, the person is vaccinated and is allowed to roam freely on the streets. But since we have so many controls, the probability of infection is very low. This factor typically lengthens the clinical study.
It also raises many ethical questions. This population must be kept under surveillance, controlled, and monitored. Although it would a young group that is continuously monitored, there are great risks involved. This is a tough debate that the various Ethics Committees will have to settle.
If several countries get their controlled studies approved, we may see a vaccine in 8-10 months. If these studies are not approved for ethical reasons, we could wait up to a year and a half.
Making this vaccine widely available will cost billions depending on the cold chain, the method of administration, whether it will be injections or patches, etc. Many countries don’t have that kind of money to invest. The question is, how are we going to get the vaccine to the developing countries since they are going to face economic bankruptcy as a result of the quarantine.
Informal work in Latin America prevents an absolute quarantine. How should one deal with the dilemma of starving or going out and risking contagion?
People need to be made aware of the importance of washing their hands and putting on their masks properly. In Brazil, some communities are organizing themselves, where they are selecting homes to shelter the sick. Places must be set aside in the slums to isolate the patients with dignity, that is, with a bed and a roof over their heads.
One thing that has caught my attention is that the coronavirus is being stigmatized. The stigma has to be taken out of people’s heads because we are all eventually going to get infected if there is no vaccine soon. Stigmatizing this infection is one of the big mistakes we are making across the world. Many people are hiding their condition out of fear. For example, in the United States, many infected immigrants are not accessing healthcare out of fear of being deported.
The Chavista regime subsidized gasoline for decades and simultaneously destroyed the oil industry. Now, Venezuela is facing unprecedented shortages, and Nicolás Maduro’s regime has declared that fuel from Iran was paid for in dollars and that Venezuelans will now have to pay for it.
Despite the recent import of gasoline, fuel will remain rationed and in the hands of the military (Twitter).
Maduro did not clarify whether the new amount will be set in foreign currency, but the increase in gasoline prices was announced.
“The gasoline we brought from Iran has been paid for with dollars. And many people are proposing, and I agree, that we should charge for the gasoline,” Maduro said during a press conference. He also said that he has “a special team” to “see how much we charge for the gasoline.”
As a result of the shortage of gasoline, not all Venezuelans have access to fuel. People have to wait in long, never-ending queues to fill up their vehicles, and even then, not everyone has the same access. Gas stations are in the hands of the military, and it is they who decide whom to supply. Meanwhile, Venezuelans have been forced to pay up to four dollars per liter on the black market.
Nicolás Maduro is proud that he has imported gasoline to the country with the largest oil reserves in the world. A fleet of five ships transported 1.5 million barrels of fuel from Iran to supposedly alleviate the shortage.
The 200 million liters of gasoline, brought by the Iranian freighters, was paid for in advance with nine tons of gold equivalent to 500 million dollars in the market. This gold was plundered from the vaults of the Central Bank of Venezuela.
But that amount of imported gasoline would only be enough for about five weeks of internal consumption of 350,000 barrels a day.
The ships also brought additives, spare parts, and equipment to Venezuela to supposedly “raise the capacity of refining and oil production.”
But despite the recent gasoline import, fuel will remain rationed and in the hands of the military.
According to Diosdado Cabello, the second most powerful man in Chavismo, the priority sectors will be maintained. Medical personnel, public officials, ambulances, and the media, among others, would receive gasoline on a priority basis.
However, this has not been fulfilled. Venezuelan medical personnel has reported that they cannot fill gasoline or, if they do, they only fill it with 10 to 20 liters per week.
Cabello also announced that additional gas stations would be controlled by the Armed Forces, and the distribution of gasoline will increase but “only a little bit.”
“If the military appropriates the gasoline that doesn’t cost them anything, and sells it at an average of one dollar per liter (they have sold it for three, four, and even five dollars), they could be earning and distributing some 200 million dollars among themselves. It is an enormous business and a scam for the nation. That is why they are anxiously waiting for the Iranian cargo ships,” said the former mayor of Chacao, Ramón Muchacho, for ABC Spain.
U.S. State Department Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Michael Kozak, spoke about Iran’s dealings with the Nicolás Maduro regime around the gasoline shortage in Venezuela.
“Iranian gas shipments will end up on the black market, where gas is sold for up to $16/gallon to fuel corruption and abuse. Venezuelan gold transferred to Iran will feed terrorist activities,” he said on Twitter.
Venezuela, which used to have large oil complexes, now has refineries that are practically paralyzed. With reduced cash flow due to the drop in production and international prices, it must import gasoline for domestic consumption.
According to Venezuelan economist José Toro Hardy “today, our refineries can no longer stock up the impoverished Venezuelan market, which has been destroyed by the economic crisis. We are relying on imported gasoline from other sources to temporarily solve the problem.”
The state-owned oil company PDVSA produced just over 600,000 barrels per day last month, according to OPEC, a fifth of what it produced a decade ago.
PDVSA in ruins
Two decades ago, the dire condition of PDVSA was unimaginable. The company was an example for the world to follow the best corporation in Latin America.
According to economist Joe Toro Hardy, PDVSA is the country that contributed to the economic growth of Venezuela. However, today, the company serves as the emblem of the country’s impoverishment.
According to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Venezuela is the country with the largest proven reserves of crude oil in the world, with 296,501 million barrels. However, paradoxically, crude oil and its commercialization is not a profitable business for the South American country after the brutal neglect under socialism. PDVSA no longer produces oil or dollars.
Every Friday, early in the morning, Arsenia Cortes packs two huge nylon bags in her worn backpack and sets off on her journey. It takes the 47-year-old Mexican a full hour from her village of Amozoc to the provincial capital Puebla, and she has to change buses twice.
The trip costs 35 pesos, around US$1.60. Although she has to count every centavo, she does not skimp on these trips. Her destination: the Food Banks of Mexico (BAMX), a charitable foundation. The organization has branches all over the country. The one in Puebla is housed in a large, unadorned concrete block, in an industrial area right next to the highway.
“Without the food bank, I wouldn’t know how my family would make ends meet in this crisis,” says the mother of three teenagers as she waits in line outside the building. “Business is bad.”
Cortes sells cosmetic products from door to door. Her husband works in a blacksmith’s shop that has had hardly any orders since mid-March. She used to have to call the food bank for help only once a month; now she comes once a week.
Many people make long journeys to visit the food bank
More people to care for
In the ground floor office, Pedro Mayoral is explaining his situation to a social worker. He is registering for the program for the first time. “I make a living selling used clothes,” says the 72-year-old. “But now my income is gone, and I don’t know what to do,” he adds, visibly ashamed of himself, before setting off on the half-hour walk back home. According to the government, three-quarters of a million Mexicans have already received bridging loans — but it’s a drop in the ocean, and millions like Mayoral and Cortes are falling through the holes in the net.
The number of people receiving aid from BAMX has reached an all-time high due to the COVID-19 pandemic, says director Miguel Rojas. Last year, this food bank network supplied 1.3 million people throughout Mexico — in May, the number jumped to 1.6 million. In Puebla, 130,000 people were registered as recipients in January, and now there are 160,000. Rojas expects that number to grow to 200,000 in the coming months. “That will be a challenge because we will need to get more donations to cope,” Rojas says.
Donations are adequate for now, but they may not last much longer
Obligatory hygiene measures
One of the largest and most modern offshoots of the network is in Puebla, where half of the 6 million inhabitants live in poverty. Its large warehouse is full of hustle and bustle, all under the supervision of Eric Limon. Limon, the head of logistics, keeps a record of what goes in and how much goes out. “In February we delivered 1,500 food parcels a day; now it’s almost 3,000,” he says.
This was not the only reason the director, Rojas, had long days and short nights: After the pandemic broke out, the food bank also had to establish new hygiene standards in record time.
Now there is a mobile sink with soap in front of the entrance. All visitors have to walk over at least two disinfection carpets and through a tunnel where they are sprayed with disinfectant. Temperatures are measured at the entrance, masks are compulsory for everyone and yellow-and-black crosses on the floor mark the spots where people are to wait to ensure the stipulated distance between them. In addition to gloves and their red work gowns, the volunteers wear aprons that are washed on hot every evening.
The food bank in Puebla support some 160,000 people
Organization is everything
Those receiving aid are encouraged to form groups so that the assistance can be provided collectively. Where this is not possible, deliveries are made or local parishes help out. “Organizing the recipients has always been an important part of our work to strengthen social cohesion,” says Rojas.
This has worked well for Angelina Alvarez and Janeth Melchor. The two women come from Patria Nueva, 26 kilometers (16 miles) southeast of Puebla. Two hundred and thirty-three families in their farming village are registered at the food bank. “We all chip in and rent a van every Friday to pick up the food,” Alvarez says as she lifts packages onto the load platform. “Now, with the crisis, there is more need, but there is just not enough room in the delivery van,” the 58-year-old says.
Donations at risk
The list of donors is long. Supermarkets, wholesale markets and restaurants are at the top of the list. They mainly donate perishable food and food that is close to its expiry date. Donations in kind and money also come from industrial and manufacturing companies, universities or the local football club. But the looming recession is putting a big question mark over the amount of donations in the next few years.
So far, BAMX has mostly focused its attention on the 8% of the people in Puebla who live in extreme poverty. During the pandemic, however, the organization is also trying to stop other families from going the same way, says Rojas. That is because those who live below the poverty line for too long suffer in terms of health and their children fall behind in education. This often turns temporary poverty into a permanent trap.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella said he was "proud" of his country and highlighted the "moral unity" of Italians against the virus, which he called an "invisible enemy."
(QCOSTARICA) The crisis of the new coronavirus in Italy “has not ended,” Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who praised the “unity” of his country in the face of the pandemic, warned on Tuesday, June 2, during the national holiday, Festa della Repubblica (Republic Day).
Italian President Sergio Mattarella said he was “proud” of his country and highlighted the “moral unity” of Italians against the virus, which he called an “invisible enemy.”
“The crisis is not over and both institutions and citizens will have to face its consequences and traumas,” said Mattarella, who said that the Fiesta de la República is celebrated this year amid “feelings of uncertainty and reasons for hope.”
Likewise, the president said he was “proud” of his country and highlighted the “moral unity” of Italians against the virus, which he called an “invisible enemy.”
Still traumatized, but eager to return to normality and relaunch its economy and key tourism sector, Italy has progressively lifted confinement since the beginning of May.
The shops and cafes reopened, as do the vast majority of monuments and historical and tourist sites, such as St. Peter’s Basilica, the Colosseum in Rome, the Tower of Pisa, the cathedrals of Milan and Florence and the Vatican museum.
According to the latest official balance, Italy registers about 33,500 deaths (sixth in the world) in three months of crisis by COVID-19, today apparently controlled.
(QCOSTARICA) The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted changes in guidelines the National Emergency Commission (CNE) response with the arrival of the hurricane season, for the protection the population.
The four levels of alert: GREEN (information), YELLOW (preparation), ORANGE (mobilization), and RED (response)
On Monday, Alexander Solís, president of the National Emergency Commission (CNE) announced that new guidelines were created for the management of temporary shelters, a new modality for declaring alerts, as well as standards security towards institutions.
Now, six lines will be worked to reduce the impact on communities with the greatest vulnerability.
The first line is the activation of the alert mechanisms, through constant technical-scientific coordination with the National Meteorological Institute (IMN). Likewise, it defined a new alert scheme in the pandemic phase: green alerts for information, yellow for preparation, orange alert for mobilization, and red for major emergencies.
The second line of action is the organization and coordination structure with the institutions that work in the prevention and attention of emergencies through the Emergency Operations Center (COE) and the 90 Municipal and Regional Emergency Committees across the country, who articulate their work in thematic tables and through a system the use of new technologies.
The third line is a permanent monitoring and surveillance system through daily monitoring of the weather and the conditions of the rivers and landslides. The information is broadcast by 650 radio stations located at strategic points in the national territory. This surveillance is carried out in the 462 communities in the country identified as vulnerable by floods or landslides.
The fourth line of work corresponds to the management of shelters that present a particularity since social distancing requires the authorization of more facilities and new verification protocols must be followed by the Ministry of Health to guarantee the protection of the victims.
The fifth line is the equipment. The CNE has 54 warehouses and an inventory of facilities arranged as temporary accommodation in each canton, which include local resources such as blankets, foams, chainsaws, etc., the acquisition of items for permanent stock such as boats, and the inventory of local suppliers, among other tasks.
The sixth line is the rescue of people. The rescue work will be with the support of the Bomberos (Fire Department), the Ministry of Public Security and the Red Cross for the preventive transfer of family groups from areas declared under alert to temporary shelters.
Cleaning supplies for personal protection and physical barriers to prevent contagion to first responders will also be provided, and a disinfection approach to rescue units is expected.
The entire country is on GREEN alert with the start of the hurricane season
The foregoing includes the prior verification of COVID-19 positive persons in the evacuation zone in order to provide them with differentiated treatment and thus avoid contagion.
In addition, Solís asked the population in risk areas to maintain caution and alert about any incident.
On Monday, June 1, the CNE decreed a green alert for the entire country.
(QCOSTARICA) The cantons of Parrita and Quepos are two of the most affected after the heavy downpours during the Monday afternoon and evening.
Residents assure that more than 300 houses have been affected, as the tide and rivers came together in these sectors, so the amount of water was much greater and with more intensity.
The National Emergency Commission (Comisión Nacional de Emergencias – CNE) opened three shelters in the area, however, many residents did not agree to move due to fear of getting infected with COVID-19.
According to official information from the CNE, the rains caused 44 floods in ten cantons of the country, including Garbito (Jaco).
In San Ramon, faulty storm drains could not handle the volume of water, flooding streets, homes, and businesses.
Many areas of the Central Valley and the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM) were also affected by the downpours.
Once again, as is common at the start of the rainy season, storm sewers filled with debris caused water to back up and flooding.
Alexander Solís, president of the CNE, said that the country is already out of direct influence due to the passage of tropical wave number 2, which affected the country during the weekend.
This Monday, June 1, the hurricane season began and will remain until November 30. In Costa Rica, emergency protocols are activated, since it is expected that the country will be affected, even more than in the last two years.
The CNE is once again making a call for people to move away from areas that are prone to flooding and landslides.
Werner Stolz, director of the National Meteorological Institute (IMN) explained that this year the oceanic and atmospheric conditions will favor a more active season than normal.
Expected are between 15 to 19 named storms, of which 9 may be hurricanes; of these, it is estimated that at least two would form or move over the Caribbean Sea, so Costa Rica could be affected by one of these systems.
The effects in the country of this type of tropical cyclones are generally associated with heavy rains on the Pacific and Central Valley slopes. The North Zone and the Caribbean region perceive the effects, but usually to a lesser extent.
The names selected for this year’s season are: Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo, Hanna, Isaias, Josephine, Kyle, Laura, Marco, Nana, Omar, Paulette, Rene, Sally, Teddy, Vicky and Wilfred.
Insightcrime.org – US authorities alleged in 2016 that Nidal Waked and other members of his powerful and well-connected family in Panama were among “the world’s most significant drug money launderers and criminal facilitators,” with clients ranging from Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel to Colombia’s FARC rebels.
But within two years of his high-profile arrest, Nidal would secure a plea deal admitting to only the smallest of offenses and walk out of jail after serving just about two years.
Nidal’s case puts a spotlight on the long arm of the United States government and the consequences that can come with accusations and special designations that don’t hold up in court. Did one of the world’s alleged top drug money launderers get off easy, or did the United States massively overstep without having much of a case at all?
The investigation into the Waked family’s alleged criminal enterprise started with an anonymous tip 10 years before Nidal was arrested in May 2016 at the international airport in Colombia’s capital, Bogotá. His arrest came on the heels of a US Treasury Department designation that accused him of leading the “Waked Money Laundering Organization” with his uncle, Abdul, and six other associates.
(Graphic c/o US Treasury Dept.)
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) claimed that Nidal and Abdul directed “trade-based money laundering schemes” using “false commercial invoicing, bulk cash smuggling, and other money laundering methods to launder drug proceeds on behalf of multiple international drug traffickers and their organizations.” The laundering network comprised 68 companies, according to the Treasury Department.
The Wakeds’ business empire — which extends from the banking, casino and construction sectors to hospitality, import and export, the media, real estate, retail and pharmaceuticals — was immediately impacted. One business lost more than 5,000 employees alone. La Estrella de Panamá, the 167-year-old newspaper Abdul owned at the time, was on the brink of closing down after having to lay off thousands of employees and losing millions due to the sanctions. Abdul later transferred his shares in the media group that owned the paper to free it from OFAC’s restrictions.
The Wakeds wield tremendous influence in Panama. Abdul was among the founders of the Colón Free Trade Zone, one of the world’s largest and a long established money laundering hub. The Financial Action Task Force, an international money laundering watchdog group, once identified the free trade zone in Colón as a “central point of delivery for bulk cash proceeds of drugs.”
The family allegedly laundered dirty cash for a who’s who of some of the drug world’s most notorious criminal groups for more than two decades starting in the mid-1980s.
In addition to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Revolucionarias de Colombia — FARC), according to a November 2016 court filing where OFAC summarized its record of evidence against the Waked’s supposed laundering network, members of the group were “trusted money launderers” for a number of other drug mafias operating in Colombia, including the Medellín Cartel, the Urabeños, Oficina de Envigado and United Self-Defense Forces (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia – AUC).
The Wakeds are “willing and able to launder narcotics and illicit proceeds on behalf of any organization as long as the commission is paid,” the Treasury Department alleged.
The Evidence
At first, it looked as though Nidal was going to be found guilty.
“Nidal Waked has a long history of money laundering on behalf of some of the world’s most ruthless and sophisticated drug trafficking and criminal networks,” the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) then-Deputy Administrator Jack Riley said in a news release at the time of his arrest.
At his bail hearing in January 2017, prosecutors said they had plenty of evidence against him and that he was a flight risk because of his wealth. And in most cases, those accused like Nidal plead guilty. In any given year, according to data from the US Federal Sentencing Commission, anywhere between 95 and 97 percent of those accused of federal crimes plead guilty. But through his lawyer, Nidal pleaded not guilty to the three charges he faced regarding an alleged money laundering conspiracy and bank fraud.
Prosecutor Frank Tamen said that his office had “confidential sources who will testify to knowledge about [Nidal’s] receipt of large sums of currency coming from Mexican traffickers” and “dealings with Venezuelans,” in which he “receives large amounts of money,” according to transcripts of the hearing.
Months later, in an April 2017 court filing, prosecutor Walter Norkin added they had recordings of two telephone intercepts from October 2014. Nidal, he said, is heard “discussing money laundering” with an associate identified only as Ramón. In the first call, Nidal allegedly talked about different options for transferring money to an unnamed entity in Venezuela. In the second, Nidal is apparently heard instructing one of his associates to “alter the amounts written on the transfer documents.”
The March 2015 criminal indictment filed in the Southern District of Florida, however, was much less detailed. Prosecutors accused Nidal of “fraud on a foreign bank” involving the “proceeds of specified unlawful activity.” There was no explicit mention of any links to international drug trafficking organizations or the laundering of criminal proceeds derived from cocaine sales.
In October 2016, a federal judge threw out the indictment against one of Nidal’s co-defendants, businessman Tamas Zafir. The US Attorney’s Office had taken too long to file the charges, the judge said. In the January 2017 bail hearing, Norman Moscowitz, Nidal’s lawyer at the time, argued that the case against Nidal should also be thrown out because of the government’s “failure to exercise due diligence.”
In October 2017, authorities secured a deal with Nidal just a few months after claiming they had incriminating recordings of him discussing money laundering. With time served, Nidal was out less than a year later in April 2018. In total, he spent about two years in jail, avoiding a possible 50-year sentence, the maximum penalty he faced if convicted on all charges.
“Nidal made a pragmatic decision, taking a plea for the smallest of the offenses,” Yasser Williams, Nidal’s current lawyer, told InSight Crime.
In the October 2017 plea agreement, Nidal admitted to making fake transactions using falsified invoices in order to move funds — ranging from about $22,000 to $550,000 — from a bank in Panama and to another in Miami between 2000 and 2009. He fraudulently secured bank credit for one of his companies from two or more of his other companies regarding the purchase of electronic appliances that never existed. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop the other money laundering conspiracy and bank fraud charges, as well as the case against his companies, Star Textile Manufacturing and Vida Panama, which were also co-defendants in the case.
Any links to laundering drug money were never made clear, and prosecutors noted in the plea agreement that “no bank incurred any financial losses from these transactions and all the draws from the banks were repaid on time with interest.”
InSight Crime provided a series of questions via email to a representative of the US Treasury Department about the apparent disconnect between the allegations made against Nidal and the Waked family in the OFAC designation and the outcome of Nidal’s case, but he declined to comment. In an email, a press officer for the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida, where Nidal’s case was heard, said prosecutors would not discuss the case or the office’s decision to come to a plea agreement.
The Justice Department and DEA also declined to comment on InSight Crime’s questions regarding the evidence in Nidal’s case and the deal that was eventually brokered with him.
Before taking the case, Williams participated in a year-long forensic audit of Nidal’s companies covering 10 years. “I basically accepted to take the case based on the results of the forensic auditing,” Williams said. “If there was anything grey or dark in the audit, I would have stepped away, and I didn’t.”
Nidal did not provide authorities with any information on his alleged criminal network as part of reaching his plea deal, according to Williams. The cases against the other co-defendants were dropped.
What Went Wrong?
The Justice Department, Treasury Department, OFAC and DEA often coordinate and exchange information and evidence on investigations that involve not only a criminal indictment but also a special OFAC designation, according to Mike Vigil, the DEA’s former chief of international operations who also worked undercover for a number of years in Colombia.
During such high-profile investigations, US agencies also routinely coordinate with their in-country counterparts. In Panama, the DEA has always had a close relationship with local authorities, according to Vigil. However, investigators in Panama don’t always get every detail from the Americans when the US government is leading the investigation and building the case. “[They] aren’t going to be told whether that case is strong or not as a safety net for the investigation,” Vigil told InSight Crime.
Several Panamanian investigators and officials consulted by InSight Crime about the Waked investigation wouldn’t speak on the record, but they all told the same story: US officials said they had the evidence and the Panamanians went along with it.
The outcome of the case against Nidal suggests that the evidence laid out by the Justice Department, DEA and Treasury Department was weak. Based on his many years of experience investigating similar cases, Vigil said that prosecutors would never have cut a deal with a defendant if the case was that strong.
“I think the judge saw through those charges and that’s why he agreed to a plea deal and sentenced [Nidal] to such a short period of prison time,” he added.
One former prosecutor with the US Attorney’s Office, who worked on several high-profile criminal indictments and had direct knowledge of the case, shared Vigil’s assessment.
This doesn’t mean that Nidal and other members of the Waked family weren’t involved in money laundering, but prosecutors seem to have fallen far short of backing up those assertions and instead made a deal to salvage the case, according to the former prosecutor with intimate knowledge of the case.
‘Fighting A Ghost’
Despite Nidal’s win in court, the OFAC designation wreaked havoc on the family, so both Nidal and Abdul have filed petitions to be removed from the OFAC list.
“The issue with OFAC and the designations is that you’re basically fighting a ghost,” Williams, Nidal’s lawyer, told InSight Crime.
Before that, the lawyer representing Nidal in 2017 likened OFAC sanctions to “a black box.”
To be sure, in describing the allegations against the family that warranted the special designation, the judge said in a 2018 opinion on Abdul’s appeal that the accusations were made “as if they were fact, but we have no way of evaluating their veracity — they are wholly untested.”
Still, the judge denied Abdul’s appeal arguing that OFAC had violated his due process by giving “insufficient post-deprivation notice” on the basis that it was a “single, artificially extreme argument” that was “unsupported by precedent.”
Essentially, the judge added, Abdul’s argument for dismissal was too broad, and the judge ruled that he never “substantially challenged” the designation or asked for “more detail regarding the nature of the allegations.”
“You’re put in a very precarious position even though you may not be guilty of money laundering or drug trafficking,” Vigil, who was not involved in this specific case but has decades of experience with similar cases, said about OFAC sanctions.
“Nidal Waked was not one of the world’s top money launderers,” Vigil added, ”not to the extent that the United States built him up to be. They indicated they had all this evidence and testimony and labeled him as the world’s greatest money launderer, but the evidence wasn’t nearly as strong as they put it out to be.”
Yet, while the criminal case has been resolved, Nidal and others with alleged links to the Waked Money Laundering Organization continue to face OFAC sanctions.
*InSight Crime investigator James Bargent contributed reporting to this article. Illustration by Juan José Restrepo, InSight Crime.
(QCOSTARICA) As a new month begins and a phase of greater flexibility for restaurants, hotels, and other activities, commences, the Ministry of Health reported 28 new cases of COVID-19.
Among the confirmed infections in the last 24 hours is a five-day-old infant.
For now, according to the Minister Health, Daniel Salas, it is unknown how the infant was infected, since it was not the mother or close relatives, investigated is the possibility it was in the health center, which are always places of high potential or increased risk of contagion.
The baby was born prematurely, at 28 weeks, and being treated at the National Children’s Hospital, requiring assistance to breathe because the lungs are not yet well developed.
About the other babies affected weeks ago, a three and five-month-old, he said, they have reacted quite well.
In this way, the age range of people with COVID is expanded. The newborn is among the 93 minors affected so far.
The number of infections reported since March is now 1,084, in 72 cantons of the 82 cantons in all seven provinces.
Currently, 18 people are hospitalized, five of them in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The number of deaths remains at 10, one woman and nine men.
In the last eight days, it is the fourth time that the number of infections exceeds twenty, and the second time that it reaches 28.
Salas recalled that as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned, Latin America is the new epicenter of the pandemic, due to the number of cases and deaths.
He stressed that Costa Rica has remained in a controlled situation, so he asked the population to help keep it that way.
“The moment we forget that we are in a pandemic, the virus can bring us to our knees as a country and we will not be telling the story as we have until now,” he said.
He expressed appreciation of the people in Costa Rica for their support of the measures, including maintaining social distancing, not leaving the house unless necessary, as well as the application of hygiene measures.
Again he called for avoiding parties and breaking social bubbles. “The time will come again” to live together in that way.
Salas reconfirms his commitment
Faced with rumors that circulated days ago about his eventual departure, Salas on Monday explained that he will continue at his post because he wants the country to come out of this crisis well.
“I will continue here as long as the forces allow it and continue with the support of the President,” he said.
Despite the crisis, at the moment the application of taxes to more products has not been modified for the second half of 2020. Shutterstock
(QCOSTARICA) Tighten the purse strings, come July we can expect to pay more for rice, bread, beans, the pet products and even to buy a house.
Despite the crisis, at the moment the application of taxes to more products has not been modified for the second half of 2020. Image: Shutterstock
This is because it was established that in July month the Value Added Tax (VAT) would go into effect in some sensitive areas that had been delayed.
The VAT, if not postponed, would apply to products that are currently not included. On July 1, there will be a 1% VAT for basic basket products, agricultural machinery, and veterinary supplies, and 4% for recycling, tourism, and construction services.
However, some sectors are asking for a postponement from further impacting the economy, already affected by the consequences of the Coronavirus.
“We are talking about 189 products that make up the basic tax basket, yes, 1%, but at times like this pandemic, any increase affects the pockets of families,” Iliana Navarrete, partner at Raymundo Volio Abogados, told La Republica.
This is also the feeling of some legislators who promote initiatives to postpone the validity of VAT on these goods and services for at least one year.
Esteban Acón, president of the Construction Chamber, one of the sectors to be affected, said the tax increase at this time will hit investment and will generate even more unemployment.
“Construction is a sector that, if it is not handled with the utmost care in the handling of VAT, may be involved in severe tax noncompliance due to mismanagement of the credit right or with an increase of 13% of most of its costs,” warned Carlos Camacho, managing partner of Grupo Camacho Internacional.
The re-opening of international flights, the modification of sanitary regulations, and financial support, all done in a moderate but in a consistent manner, are key to reviving the tourism sector that contributes the most to the national economy.
That is the opinion of Rubén Pacheco, president of Enjoy Group, a hospitality company founded in 1973, that operates hotels such as the Marriott Los Suenos and Marriott Belen, among others and restaurants such as PF Chang’s.
Pacheco told La Republica, “otherwise, and not having a vaccine soon, we will take up to three years to return to the conditions prior to the Coronavirus.”
As for the opening of the flights, Pacheco said it is urgent to continue with that plan, we are already behind compared to other countries, even Japan pays plane ticket of visitors, while Spain, Italy, and Mexico offer benefits of various types.
“We must also offer incentives that cost nothing, such as permission to stay six months in Costa Rica, so that American pensioners and teleworkers spend half the year or more in Costa Rica, which is known worldwide for controlling the pandemic,” said Pacheco.
As to sanitary norms, the businessman says they must be moderate; “If a hotel ensures adequate conditions, including keeping distance in restaurants and other spaces, there is no point in limiting room occupancy to 50%.”
As for the economic issue, the country must take advantage of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) willingness to lend us up to US$1 billion at zero interest.
The support of the national banks is positive, by accepting the extensions of many loans; however, it is a pat on the shoulder as the debt builds up and does not go away.
“In the last few months, we have done many things well. However, for a sector that is in a race with the lion at its back, the necessary support is urgent,” concluded Pacheco.
"The tram is complementary to the electric train and would help decongest the streets," said Johnny Araya, mayor of San José. Archive-Own elaboration / The Republic.
(QCOSTARICA) One day, possibly in the very near future, Costa Rica, at least in the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM), could have a modern public transportation system.
“The tram is complementary to the electric train and would help decongest the streets,” said Johnny Araya, Mayor of San José.
Joining that effort are the plans by San Jose mayor Johnny Araya, who wants to connect the GAM electric train with a tram for Costa Rica’s capital city.
The implementation of new means of transport would help to improve mobility in the GAM and the capital and at the same time, would help to reactivate the economy in times of economic crisis due to the Coronavirus.
The project of the tram is under study by the mayor’s office, while the electric train, promoted by Claudia Dobles (First Lady) and Elizabeth Briceño, president of Incofer, is awaiting financing approval from legislators.
“I am convinced that one of the problems that most affects the quality of life of Costa Ricans is the issue of mobility. We have a road collapse in the GAM that causes many to waste hours commuting to their jobs and their homes. It is a priority for Costa Rica to modernize public transport and for this reason, we support the electric train project,” said Araya.
First Laday, Claudia Dobles
For the mayor, the US$1.5 billion train that the government is promoting is strategic for the country.
The electric train will cross 85 kilometers, throughout 15 cantons and four provinces, bidirectional, at ground level, with some overpasses and at a frequency of every five minutes at peak times and without the need for expropriations.
The electric train service will be under concession and so far, companies from ten countries have shown interest.
Elizabeth Briceño, president of the Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles (Incofer), the national railway
In principle, it would allow the hiring of 1,000 temporary employees for construction and would generate almost 500 permanent jobs for the operation stage; reduce road congestion and pollution, in addition to giving Costa Ricans a higher quality of life.
The bottleneck
The main legislative benches – totaling 40 legislators – view the project’s cost of US$1.5 billion with skepticism, including a US$550 million loan with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI); in addition to a millionaire contribution by the State.
The fact that the country is experiencing financial problems and that spending has not been contained, according to the legislators’ criteria, casts doubt on the main urban mobility project that the Alvarado government has proposed.
Some legislators, like Carmen Chan, leading the Nueva Republica party, they believe the electric train project will not respond to the interests of the neediest sectors, Chan calling the project “an illusory attempt” by the Alvarado administration “to ingratiate themselves solely with the interests of the groups allied to their political project”.
A National Police officer from El Salvador carries the body of a girl in San Vicente, after damage by Tropical Storm Amanda.
Tropical Storm Amanda has killed at least fourteen people in El Salvador as heavy rains made rivers overflow, flooded city streets, and produced landslides, Interior Minister Mario Duran said on Sunday.
“We’ve seen people asking for help, asking for the government. We haven’t deployed everywhere, the situation is overwhelming,” said Duran.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele declared a state of emergency, announcing it on his Twitter account.
Among those killed was an eight-year-old boy, who died after the house he was in collapsed, while another person was killed by a falling wall and another drowned in a swollen river, Salvadoran civil protection authorities said.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Amanda or its remnants are expected to produce rain totals of 10 to 15 inches over El Salvador, southern Guatemala, western Honduras, and the Mexican states of Tabasco and Veracruz.
The storm’s heavy rainfall could “cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides across portions of Central America and southern Mexico, and these threats will continue over the next several days even after Amanda is no longer a tropical cyclone,” said the NHC.
A National Police officer from El Salvador carries the body of a girl in San Vicente, after damage by Tropical Storm Amanda.
Amanda was packing maximum sustained winds of nearly 40 miles per hour (65 kilometers per hour) with higher gusts and was expected to weaken “very soon” as its center moves farther inland, said the NHC.
Shops, cafes reopen as Italy lifts coronavirus restrictions
The chief of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Alberto Zangrillo, claims COVID-19 ‘clinically no longer exists’ in Italy, even in the Lombardy region. ‘Positive tests now have an infinitesimal viral load.’
Shops, cafes reopen as Italy lifts coronavirus restrictions
The numbers are continuing to steadily drop in Italy, especially as there were 355 new cases out of 54,118 tests, while for the 56th day in a row the intensive care figures fell.
“The swabs that were performed over the last 10 days showed a viral load in quantitative terms that was absolutely infinitesimal compared to the ones carried out a month or two months ago,” he told RAI television.
Italy has the third-highest death toll in the world fromCOVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, with 33,415 people dying since the outbreak came to light on February 21.
It has the sixth-highest global number of cases at 233,019.
However, new infections and fatalities have fallen steadily in May and the country is unwinding some of the most rigid lockdown restrictions introduced anywhere in Europe.
Zangrillo said some experts were too alarmist about the prospect of a second wave of infections and politicians needed to take into account the new reality.
“We’ve got to get back to being a normal country,” he said. “Someone has to take responsibility for terrorizing the country.”
The government urged caution, saying it was far too soon to claim victory.
“Pending scientific evidence to support the thesis that the virus has disappeared…I would invite those who say they are sure of it not to confuse Italians,” Sandra Zampa, an under-secretary at the health ministry, said in a statement.
“We should instead invite Italians to maintain the maximum caution, maintain physical distancing, avoid large groups, to frequently wash their hands and to wear masks.”
A second doctor from northern Italy told the national ANSA news agency that he was also seeing the coronavirus weaken.
“The strength the virus had two months ago is not the same strength it has today,” said Matteo Bassetti, head of the infectious diseases clinic at the San Martino hospital in the city of Genoa.
“It is clear that today the COVID-19 disease is different.”
(QCOSTARICA) During a series of mega-operations over the weekend, mainly in the greater metropolitan area, authorities arrested 39 and seized motorcycles, drugs, and weapons.
The work was carried out with the aim of counteracting crimes against life and property. During 2020, 36 mega-operations have been executed throughout the country.
The results presented are:
15 arrested for various crimes
7 with arrest warrants
7 for crimes committed in flagrante delicto
8 people with body pressure orders
1 for violation of the Arms Law
1 for a crime against property.
In addition, the Professional Migration Police registered the detection of 10 people illegally in the country.
(QCOSTARICA) Starting today, Monday, June 1 and until June 19, new “extensions” for commercial activities apply; that is while maintaining measures of social distancing of 1.8 meters and social bubbles.
This is a summary of openings permitted:
Restaurants, hotels and accommodation sites may be open from Monday to Sunday with a capacity of 50%. This includes hotels with more than 20 rooms.
On weekends, the operation of restaurants, sodas and cafes, food courts, gyms and swimming schools is enabled with a capacity of 50%.
Special tourism transport is enabled with restrictions and special measures established by the Public Transport Council (CTP).
Museums and academies of arts without contact will be able to operate from Monday to Friday from 5:00 a.m. at 10:00 p.m., and a capacity of 50%.
Event halls may function exclusively for activities of maximum 30 people (includes organizers, guests and required personnel). Separation measures of a minimum of 1.8 meters must be observed, respecting social bubbles and with lists of attendees with ID number and contact number, and subject to the vehicle restrictions.
Although the opening of the public parks was planned, the Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, announced that this measure will not apply and will remain closed.
Nor can mass gatherings or public shows be held.
The vehicular restrictions will continue as in the past few weeks:
Daytime restrictions from Monday to Friday is between 5:00 am and 10:00 pm, based on the last digit of the license plate, 1 & 2 on Mondays, 3 & 4 on Tuesdays, 5 & 6 on Wednesday, 7 & 8 on Thursdays and 9 & 0 on Fridays.
Nighttime restrictions on weekdays is from 10:00 pm to 5:00 am, applied to all vehicles save with exemptions
Daytime restrictions on weekends (Saturday and Sunday) is from 5:00 am to 7:00 pm: on Saturdays restricted are all plates ending in even numbers: 0,2,4,6, & 8; on Sundays odd numbers 1, 3, 5, 7 & 9.
Nighttime restrictions on weekends (Saturday and Sunday) is from 7:00 pm to 5:00 am, applied to all vehicles save with exemptions.
The arrival of tourists continues prohibited until June 30.
Correction: in the original post bars were including in the repening: bars are included to reopen on June 20, at 50% capacity.
Currently, there are almost 2,000 migrants in Panama shelters from Cuba, Haiti, Bangladesh, Nepal, Congo, Cameroon and India, after crossing the border from Colombia through the dangerous Darien jungle.
Prior to the pandemic, Panama had practiced what it called a “controlled flow,” which allowed migrants emerging from the dangerous Darien jungle to rest at camps before boarding buses and continuing their journey up through Costa Rica and Central America, Mexico, to their final destination, the United States.
However, due to the pandemic, Nicaragua has closed its borders to inter-continental migrants, which prevents their movement.
In its report of October 2017, NPR.org published the article by Rolando Arrietta of one Cuban family’s journey on the long road to America.
…
In January 2016, Yoandra, a 37-year-old single mother taking care of her four-year-old son, faced a stark choice.
Along with her son and older brother, Yoandra had left home in Cuba the year before, seeking a better life. For nearly a year, she’d been living in Ecuador as an undocumented immigrant, without a job or prospects.
She could stay put and hope for the best. Or she could take her chances and leave.
Yoandra, who wishes to be identified only by her first name because she fears reprisals against her family in Cuba, decided it was time to go. Ecuador had just tightened its borders and was beginning to crack down on Cubans living there illegally. She didn’t want to risk deportation. Her aim was to reach the United States.
Diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba were improving. But many Cubans living in South America worried that the normalization of relations would mean that the so-called wet-foot, dry-foot policy — which since 1996 had granted Cubans coming to the U.S. without a visa the right to stay and get on a fast track to citizenship — might be coming to an end.
It fueled Yoandra and her brother’s decision to get to the border, step onto U.S. soil and become legal residents — and then U.S. citizens.
Their plan was to walk, take buses, boats, planes — whatever it took to cross eight borders through Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala — and then finally, from Mexico into the United States.
The first leg of their journey was an 11-day bus ride from Quito, Ecuador, to Turbo, Colombia. After this, they boarded a boat to the Panamanian town of Puerto Obaldía, near the Colombian border.
The long road to the U.S.
That’s when the trip started to look grim.
Yoandra thought they could catch a puddle jumper to Panama City. But they found thousands of other Cubans already waiting to catch the same plane, which only left once a month. There was no telling when they could get out.
Worried about running out of time and money, she and her brother stuffed a backpack with as much food as they could carry and joined a small group of Cubans who paid a local guide some $30 to lead them out of the area on foot.
“When your son gets up and says to you, ‘Mom, I’m hungry,’ and you don’t have anything to give him, you get desperate,” she said. “So that’s why we decided to hike through the jungle.”
That jungle was the Darien Gap — a natural rainforest along the Panama-Colombia border, a place notorious for its sometimes deadly dangers. The area is so dense that the Pan-American Highway ends and then picks up again some 50 miles on the other side.
Everything Yoandra had been warned about it was true. There were steep hills and steep drops, narrow paths and rivers with swift currents. There was rain, mud, impenetrable underbrush.
“It was very difficult to climb the hills,” she said. “You had to try to grab a branch from a tree, and if the branch broke off, you could fall down the gorge.”
The jungle was teeming with snakes, spiders, jaguars and crocodiles.
“I saw the biggest ants I had ever seen in my life there,” she said. “I had to keep my eye on my son the whole time.”
The Pan-American Highway is seen from the air near Meteti, Darien Province, Panama, in August 2015. The area known as the Darien Gap is the only break in the highway, which runs from Alaska to Argentina. Arnulfo Franco/AP
Yoandra didn’t just fear the wildlife. Armed guerrilla forces and paramilitary groups control certain routes in the jungle used for the drug trade and human trafficking. Some guides couldn’t be trusted and took advantage of the migrants by robbing, abandoning or assaulting them.
Yoandra’s guide might have been one of them. He moved at such a fast clip that she, her brother and her son couldn’t keep up with the group.
“There was a moment where I couldn’t go any further,” she said.
The little boy was also showing signs that the hike was too much, so to keep his spirits up, Yoandra started to sing favorite children’s songs.
“I started to sing ‘Los pollitos dicen pio, pio, pio’ [the chicks say ‘pio pio pio’],” she said.
Singing gave the boy a little boost, she said. But they were still falling behind and eventually got lost. The three trekked through the jungle aimlessly for five days, along with a few others from their group who were also left behind.
“One night,” she said, “we used fallen palm tree branches to shelter ourselves from the rain.”
They ran out of food and had to eat whatever they could get from other migrants. They ate avocados right off the trees.
Eventually, they found and joined up with another group of Cuban migrants trekking through the jungle. It took nearly seven days total to find their way out.
They arrived in a town called Bajo Chiquito, where Panamanian humanitarian groups came to their rescue. There were many pregnant women, infants and children coming out of the Darien Gap. Some needed medical attention. They slept outdoors in makeshift shelters.
A few days later, Yoandra and her son and brother boarded a bus to the western side of Panama, to a town near the Costa Rican border where Panamanian authorities were housing Cuban migrants in a warehouse turned shelter.
But Costa Rica and other nearby Central American countries had in the meantime closed their borders to the surge of northbound Cubans, stranding thousands.
Realizing the problem wasn’t going to go away anytime soon, the Panamanian and Mexican governments agreed to an airlift — a series of flights for Cubans to get to Ciudad Juarez.
Broke and distraught, Yoandra managed to scrounge the money for the plane tickets. Once she was aboard the plane, it was the first time she felt her dream would become a reality.
“I was very grateful,” she said, “but I also knew that a lot of people were left behind who wouldn’t be as lucky as us.”
On May 14, 2016 — 13 months after she’d first left Cuba — Yoandra finally crossed the U.S. border at El Paso, Texas, with her son and brother. They had traveled some 3,000 miles. They were among the more than 100,000 Cubans who entered the United States between 2014 and 2016, before President Obama announced the end of the wet-foot, dry-foot policy in January 2017.
Yoandra has since settled in Emporia, Kansas. She has steady work, six days a week, earning roughly $16 an hour. Her son is enrolled in school and making new friends.
This story is part of the “New Era in Cuban Migration” series, a collaborative project between the Miami Herald, 14ymedio and Radio Ambulante, made possible by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
(QCOSTARICA) The director immigration, Raquel Vargas, clarified to Panama that she will not receive on Costa Rican soil some 1,900 inter-continental migrants who were stranded in that country by Covid-19, after crossing the Darien jungle.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted, either directly or indirectly, migrants. Photo: IOM
Vargas held a virtual meeting this Saturday with her Panamanian counterpart, Samira Gozaine, where she indicated that these people should remain in the neighboring country, because the mobility agreement between the two countries is not currently working.
Normally, the migrants would enter Costa Rica and make their way north into Nicaragua and through Central America, with their final destination the United States. However, due to the pandemic, Nicaragua has closed its borders to inter-continental migrants, thus if let in they would be Costa Rica’s problem and no longer Panama’s.
“Inter-continental people who are in Panama are not going to cross into Costa Rica, there is an agreement between both mobility countries, however, since the borders from Nicaragua are closed, this mobility agreement would not be working,” said Vargas.
The director informed that until regularity is established in the region, these people would not move from Panama, and that shelters are being built in that country for them.
Panamanian Vice Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre reported earlier this Saturday that they were trying to resolve the health and safety situation of these migrants and then help them cross the borders to Costa Rica.
After crossing the border from Colombia through the dangerous Darien jungle, the migrants remain stagnant without being able to follow their route through Central America to the United States.
On May 27, a resolution of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, raised the alarm.
The Court asked the Panamanian government to ensure “access to essential health services without discrimination to all people in the La Peñita and Laja Blanca Immigration Reception Stations, including early detection and treatment of Covid -19”.
The two immigration stations, located in the Darien province, have raised concerns about the spread of the new coronavirus among migrants arriving from Cuba, Haiti, Bangladesh, Nepal, Congo, Cameroon and India.
In La Peñita, at least 80 people were infected with the new coronavirus, according to various sources. The infected people have already been removed from the camp.
Prior to the pandemic, Panama had practiced what it called a “controlled flow,” which allowed migrants emerging from the dangerous Darien jungle to rest at camps before boarding buses and continuing their journey up through Central America.
A hundred migrants a day, with the consent of Costa Rica, moved from La Peñita, jungle camp close to the Colombian border, to the border with Costa Rica, to continue their journey northward.
Although Panama is doing what it can to accommodate the migrants, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), there are some 2,000 migrants in shelters, when their total capacity is less than 500.
In Panama, which has 13,463 confirmed coronavirus infections and 336 deaths (as of June 1), migrants are treated at three temporary border posts where the government, UNICEF and the Red Cross provide them with water, food and medical care.
Despite the dangers, the border between Colombia and Panama has for years become a corridor for illegal immigration.
23 of the more than 50 people cramped into a house garage were arrested for violating the Ministry of Health social distancing order, among other violations
The noise, lights, and an unusual number of vehicles parked on the street alerted police to an alleged illegal social activity on a home in the Santa Fe citadel in Ciruelas de Alajuela.
23 of the more than 50 people cramped into a house garage were arrested for violating the Ministry of Health social distancing order, among other violations. Photo Ministerio de Seguridad Publica
The Fuerza Publica patrol officers, when approaching, verified that in the garage of a house, draped so you couldn’t see inside that a party was taking place.
Reinforcements were called in and in minutes at least 30 officers were on site.
Inside, some 50 people, all adults, were inside and when the jig was up, tried to flee. However, 23 of the participants in the party couldn’t and were detained.
Erick Calderón, regional chief of the Alajuela Fuerza Publica, said that the detainees will be placed at the order of the Alajuela Deputy Prosecutor’s Office.
“Obviously there is no respect for social distancing. There is a violation of the sanitary orders against covid-19, issued by the Ministry of Health. So we ask the population to keep their distances,” said the police chief.
According to the version that the owner of the house provided to the Police, the intention was to have a few friends over, alleging that the situation got out of control as friends allegedly called other friends.
However, authorities do not believe the version entirely, as they found that the garage had been prepared for a party, with tables and chairs for a lot of people, lights, music and coolers with all kinds of alcohol. Here are 5 Tips on How to Extend the Lifespan of Your Garage Door, which is explained in this link and will be useful to increase the durability of your garage.
Police believe the party started early, but closer to midnight, and possibly due to the effects of the drinks, the screaming and scandal caught the attention of an area police patrol.
The police presume that the activity began on Saturday from early hours, but it was until 11:30 p.m. m. when, possibly due to the effects of the drinks, the screaming and the scandal alerted the officers.
The Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that the detainees were all issued a summons for violating the provisions of the Ministry of Health, one is the prohibition to hold gatherings of a large number of people in closed spaces, where social distancing is violated.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, two New Yorkers, Matt Robertson and Khani Lee, were just beginning to get to know one another. They had been on a couple of dates and had planned a long weekend getaway in Costa Rica, but due to COVID-19, they became stranded there.
Matt and Khani enjoying Costa Rica, indefinitely. From NYpost.com
They used the opportunity to grow closer, according to the New York Post.
Today, Sunday, May 31, marks day 76, of the New Yorkers stranded in a Costa Rican paradise.
Matt (31) and Khani (29) went to Costa Rica for their third date on March 17. During the first three days of their Costa Rica vacation, They were having the time of their lives, enjoying the tourist attractions, soaking up the sun, and taking tours.
On March 18, Costa Rica announced measures to restrict travel. Their return flight was canceled — and pushed back to July 2. The couple was faced with the decision to stay or return to the United States through a government-sponsored flight to Texas, but decided the US$3,000-per-ticket price wasn’t worth it.
Matt admitted that things started out very scary. They barely knew each other and were in new surroundings with no idea when the pandemic would end.
Matt Robertson and Khani Lee.
“There were definitely a couple of moments where I was overwhelmed. You go from everything being normal to, all of a sudden, living with someone you barely know, in a foreign country during a pandemic. It’s a lot to happen in a short amount of time,” he recalled.
Finding a place to stay was an immediate challenge. They decided they would camp out in the jungle. As the days passed, they began to get to know one another better as they overcame obstacles together and took on the challenge of living in extremely unprecedented circumstances. Before long, Matt found himself glad that he would be getting all this extra alone time with Khani
“There was a part of me that was excited to stay here longer with Khani. I was thinking this is a blessing in disguise,” he recalled. Le was also excited to be spending time with Robertson, especially as she learned about his many positive qualities as a partner.
“Looks like we might be coming home next week‼ (well not home but back to the states at least. If all goes well we’ll be flying to Texas…it’s been an amazing adventure in this beautiful country and we are so thankful to all the wonderful people that helped us during our super extended stay here! It’s been quite the quarantine!” wrote Matt on Instagram.
The new couple are booked to fly to the US later this week, but what may be the longest 3rd date in history isn’t over just yet. The couple said they intend to continue their relationship when they return to the United States.
After flying into Houston they’ll catch a connecting to either Seattle or Matt’s native Maine and road-trip to the Big Apple.
“I definitely feel lucky we got stuck here together. We’re excited to see where this leads after we return home,” Matt said.
The couple could have gone back to the US in any flight. Costa Rica’s border is not closed. Limited, but there are still flights going back. The U.S. can’t deny entry to U.S. citizens.
HAVANA TIMES – The rainy season in Cuba begins and with it the partial and total building collapses. Central Havana and Old Havana are the most affected.
The deterioration due to lack of maintenance or neglect of the municipal authorities in the face of the economic situation puts homes in serious danger. There are buildings that for decades have not been painted, much less repaired.
In May the heavy downpours occur and in June the hurricane season begins; There are families who have looked for a way to fix their properties, but often they live next to a construction in partial collapse, and they fear that what remains of it will fall on their apartments.
When the State demolition company comes to a building where a balcony or floor of the building collapses, they only knock down what they think could fall on its own, the rest is left as a monument to disaster.
That can last for decades and nobody does anything about it, you can walk through Havana and see how these buildings are part of the Cuban and architectural folklore, with the consequences that this entails in health, rodents, mosquitoes, and they also become garbage deposits.
The lack of construction materials in Cuba is known. Whoever can raise money to fix their home hopes the reparation will last, because they don’t know when they can do it again, especially the elderly, who live on a retirement pension, which barely keeps them alive.
It is sad that a city as beautiful as Havana is destroyed before the eyes of its inhabitants, without being able to demand action from the authorities.
The government structures exist: housing offices, multiple-use buildings office and others, but do any of them do anything?
Who is responsible for these things happening? Human lives are lost for some who live for decades in places that are ruined and far from being a decent home.
With the latest resignation of three ministers at the same time, the total abandoning the Carlos Alvarado playground is now 30 in his first 2 years of office.
El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele speaks during a press conference at Rosales Hospital in San Salvador on May 26, 2020. (Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images)
(Q24N) Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said May 26 he uses hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug touted by U.S. President Donald Trump as a potential cure of CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus.
El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele speaks during a press conference at Rosales Hospital in San Salvador on May 26, 2020. (Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images)
Some health experts in the United States have questioned its efficacy and have warned of potential side-effects, while a study by researchers in India have reported that the drug has been effective in preventing infections of the CCP virus.
“I use it as a prophylaxis. President Trump uses it as a prophylaxis. Most of the world’s leaders use it as a prophylaxis,” said Bukele during a press conference with U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Ronald Johnson to announce a U.S. donation of 250 ventilators to the Central-American country.
“Sometimes what’s recommended to the people is something different than what’s recommended to the leaders, because I have been recommended to use hydroxychloroquine as a prophylaxis and the probability of this harming you is very low,” Bukele said as he displayed a bottle.
Bukele, 38, did not say how much he was taking or if the drug was prescribed by a doctor.
Safety Concerns
The World Health Organization temporarily halted studying hydroxychloroquine as a potential COVID-19 treatment on Monday due to safety concerns. The decision came after a publication in the medical journal The Lancet on Friday suggested that seriously ill COVID-19 patients who were treated with hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were more likely to die.
Following recommendations from the WHO, Bukele said the drug was no longer part of El Salvador’s CCP virus treatment protocol, but that it would remain available for “those who wish to use it as prophylaxis” or by a doctor’s prescription.
El Salvador has (at May 31) 2,517 confirmed cases of the virus and 46 deaths, according to the latest data from John Hopkins University.
Bukele, who took office in June last year, took the dramatic step in March of closing his country’s border even before El Salvador reported a single case of the coronavirus, arguing that the small Central American nation had to get ahead of the outbreak. An overwhelming majority of Salvadorans approved of Bukele’s decision.
But after he ordered the police and army to arrest people violating the measures—such as only one person per household being permitted to leave the residence to purchase basic necessities—human rights advocates argued that he had ignored the country’s constitution. The Supreme Court ruled that the government does not have the authority to detain citizens indefinitely.
Thousands were quarantine for more than a month in government-rented hotels, convention centers, and gymnasiums, including those returning from overseas.
He has more recently sparred with the Supreme Court and National Assembly about how soon El Salvador will reopen.
The CNN Wire, The Associated Press, and Epoch Times staff contributed to this report.
The newly released publication of guidelines the government has titled: “White book for the COVID-19 pandemic” demonstrates what independent scientists have been pointing out: in the face of the danger of the pandemic, the authorities have oscillated between gross ignorance and boastful triumphalism.
The Ortega-Murillo model: scorn for science, lack of diagnostic testing, and the failed family-community model
As if that weren’t enough, the report insinuates shamelessly that in facing the pandemic, Nicaragua is following the Swedish model.
Apparently, the official policy of the Ortega-Murillo regime for the pandemic, has been not only to let it be, but also to promote the spread of the virus far and wide with no concern for the number of deaths.
The Swedish model
Comparing Nicaragua to Sweden is beyond absurd. The two countries are diametrically opposed in their essential health indicators. Suffice it to say that according to data from the World Bank, Nicaragua has nine doctors for every 10,000 inhabitants, while Sweden has 40, more than four times as many. The per capita expenditure for health in Nicaragua is US $192 (including what the patient provides), while Sweden budgets US $5,905 dollars per person, more than 30 times the Nicaraguan total. In Sweden, life expectancy at birth is 83; in Nicaragua, it was 74, and that figure from before the 2018 debacle.
While it’s true that Sweden’s strategy in facing the Coronavirus has been different from the rest of the European countries, since they didn’t impose a total halt on economic activities, the Swedish government did prohibit mass events, allowing only gatherings of under 50 people. The elementary schools didn’t close, but the advanced secondary schools (students over 16) and the universities went to online modalities.
In addition, they offered sick people incentives to stay home, asked the population to avoid bars and restaurants and to work from home, practicing physical and social distancing. None of these measures from the Swedish model were taken in Nicaragua.
Further, the Swedish model for facing COVID-19 hasn’t been evaluated as successful either. There’s no news of any other European country trying to imitate it. As of May 25, Sweden reported a total of 33,843 confirmed cases and a little over 4,000 deaths from the virus.
For a country of nearly 10 million people, those numbers don’t seem too bad, compared with those of Italy or Spain, countries that were very seriously impacted by the disease. But these same numbers look excessive if compared with the country’s Scandinavian neighbors, Denmark, Finland and Norway, all of which implemented more restrictive measures for containing the virus.
It also doesn’t seem convenient to follow the Swedish model in Nicaragua, because it hasn’t resulted either effective or secure. Although the situation perhaps isn’t catastrophic, Sweden’s relaxed strategy has come under ever more questioning. A numerous group of Swedish scientists have severely criticized the fact that the strategy resulted in too many deaths which could have been prevented.
Sweden has been reproached for not having adequately attended to the population most at risk: those of advanced age, the ethnic minorities and the immigrants. All of this exposes the ethical limitations of their approach of abandoning the most vulnerable to their luck. This has been recognized self-critically by the leader of the Swedish strategy for the battle against the spread of the Coronavirus, epidemiologist Anders Tegnell.
But there’s a distinct element that makes the Swedish model inapplicable to Nicaragua: in Sweden, the decisions regarding health aren’t open to political interference. The Swedish Public Health Agency holds sufficient authority to define the public health strategies, independently of the political elites. Decisions are made in consultation with competent independent experts, reinforcing the agency’s consistence and credibility.
All that is improbable in today’s Nicaragua where there’s not even independent branches of government, and where since 2007 there’s been a systematic process of degrading human rights.
The Ortega-Murillo model: scorn for science
Ignorance of reality and a maximum scorn for scientific knowledge are two of the principal characteristics of the proposed model of the Nicaraguan government for facing the Coronavirus.
From the outset, the authorities underestimated the threat of the novel Coronavirus. Their strategy was that of the ostrich, believing that if they just refused to examine the problem, nothing would happen. They rejected the scientific evidence. In the full throes of the pandemic, a legislator who is a doctor by profession, publicly alleged: “the flu kills more people than the Coronavirus”, when all the studies have demonstrated that the novel Coronavirus is at least 20 times more lethal than the flu.
Scientists recommend social distancing as one of the crucial measures for containing the virus. It’s known that the rapid spread of the virus occurs in large measure through the respiratory droplets of people who are asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms.
However, in Nicaragua, the ministries and other state institutions continue convoking mass activities that bring with them crowds of people. As if it were a small matter, the doctors and health workers were initially forbidden to use facemasks and other protective equipment in order, according to the government, not to unnecessarily alarm the population.
From primitive concepts, they then recurred to magical thinking, according to which it would be enough to invoke the supernatural forces of good to combat the pandemic, a supernatural force of evil. Hence, Comandante Ortega concluded, after a deep reflection that took him 34 days in lockdown, that the Coronavirus was a sign from God.
Then he compared the Coronavirus with the Whooping Cough in the days of his childhood in the 40s, and, from there, he lashed out at the citizens “Stay home” campaign that seeks to lower the curve of infection through physical distancing.
The bottleneck: lack of testing
In their negation of reality, the government has resorted to discarding information or at times to fabricating it, according to whatever they deem convenient. This has been made evident thanks to the work of Citizen’s Observatory which has been documenting thousands of suspected cases, including hundreds of deaths, through reports from the medical associations and denunciations from family members of the victims, something that the government refuses to recognize.
The stubborn reluctance of the government from the first weeks of the pandemic to realize enough diagnostic tests should be considered a huge mistake in tackling the Coronavirus in Nicaragua.
In epidemiology, time is critical. Every minute lost can mean the loss of hundreds of lives. In that sense, the authorities have left the country in the dark and alone, or – as I’ve said before – incomplete diagnostic blindness before a frightening reality. They kept us from knowing the real degree of contagion and thus establishing the corresponding measures in time.
The Nicaraguan government’s “White Book” doesn’t explain why they dismissed the central recommendations of the World Health Organization in terms of the need to perform diagnostic tests: “testing, testing and more testing”, to detect the COVID-19 outbreaks in the national territory.
The epidemiologists have explained that the most direct way of detecting the presence of a pathogen in a population is through laboratory exams of suspected cases, since the opportune detection of cases is fundamental to slow the advance of any epidemic.
While the pandemic lasts, the diagnostic tests will continue being a pending debt and a primary bottleneck, because if it’s unknown where the outbreaks of the virus are occurring in the territories, then contagion can’t be slowed.
The recent data revealed by the media regarding the tests realized in the central laboratories of the Ministry of Health reveal that only the tiniest sample of Coronavirus tests have been performed. However, although insufficient, they do highlight the important data that we’re missing, demonstrating the secrecy and lack of transparency that have characterized the activities of the authorities.
The alteration of the results and the data has led to a complete disconnect in the government statistics, as far as the number of positive cases and of deaths goes. In the first days of May, they were showing an unbelievable mortality rate of 27%, among the highest in the world. In the same way, due to the biased sampling and the lack of a sufficient tracking of cases, until mid-May the data from the central laboratory showed a worrisome contagion rate of 27%. To top it off, on May 19, when public pressure caused the government to finally release more data, in just one week, Nicaragua officially went from 25 cases of COVID-19 to 279, an increase of 1000%, another pandemic world record.
Nicaragua will continue to be at the tail end of the continent for Coronavirus testing, as long as the testing process [currently done only in the central laboratory of the Health Ministry] is not decentralized to involve many more diagnostic centers, including hospital and private laboratories.
An arrogant position
The Swedish authorities have explained that their actions have scientific backing and are not just blind kicks. The Swedes wouldn’t be pleased to find themselves mentioned in the same paragraph with some other governments that lack legitimacy and are internationally accused of serious crimes and human rights violations.
The comparison with Sweden has already become the object of memes and mockery. It’s been said that it’s all a misunderstanding: it’s not that the Nicaraguan authorities are following the Swedish model, but they’re “making like a Swede” with the Coronavirus, a play on words involving the expression in Spanish “hacerse el Sueco”, meaning playing dumb so as to elude responsibilities. The new Sweden, then, just north of Costa Rica, the Switzerland of Central America.
Comparing Nicaragua’s incompetence with the Swedish model isn’t only arrogant, but also completely incompatible. If the authorities wanted to look for a realistic model for facing the pandemic, they should review the experience of Vietnam, which has stood out for its excellent management.
At the first news of the epidemic, the Vietnamese quickly established a set of simple but rigorous actions, thus managing to limit contagion to less than three cases per million inhabitants and zero deaths, a true feat for a poor country. The strategies of Greece and the neighboring Costa Rica have also been successful, with important therapeutic advances using plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients as an effective treatment for patients seriously ill.
The failure of Ortega’s family-community model
The government’s family-community model fell flat with Covid-19. The best strategy for Nicaragua was to stop the virus from spreading at all costs, a goal that would suppose a model focused on preventive measures, not on hospital attention, as has had to be done now with hundreds of people sick at the same time.
The boasted-about model, which should have been focused on prevention, couldn’t be correctly implemented, because from the beginning it crashed against the rocks of the slogan “No type of quarantine”. With that type of closedmindedness, they eliminated with the stroke of a pen the most common actions for any epidemic.
The decision to let the virus enter and spread uncontrolled, also implies that the authorities must project the contagion of 60 – 90% of the population, the level necessary to reach herd immunity. In addition, they must estimate that some 20% of those infected will be seriously ill, and that, assuming a fatality rate of 2.3%, approximately 17,000 – 27,000 people could die from COVID-19, an unnecessary and a totally immoral sacrifice.
Those who promoted the Ortega-Murillo model were surely aware of these projections that were repeatedly presented by different epidemiologists. They should have asked themselves about the morality and legitimacy of their decisions that have led to hundreds of deaths.
The pandemic has revealed that in Nicaragua, science and knowledge are relegated to one side in favor of the political interests of those governing. Vice President Murillo does wrong when she insults the independent experts with epithets like “a few miserable souls” and “deformed brains”.
Although in their “White Book” the government may sing victory over the Coronavirus and allege to have the pandemic under control, Nicaragua is moving in the direction of presenting one of the greatest indexes of death from Covid-19 in Central America, with over 2,500 positive cases and 400 deaths as the phase of community spread takes off. Without knowledge and without science, without a true strategy for mitigation, Nicaragua won’t be able to overcome the threats of the pandemic.
—–
* Author Jorge A. Huete-Perez holds a PhD in Molecular Biology
(QCOSTARICA) What’s it really like in Nicaragua in these of COVID-19? Ivette Munguía, journalist for Confidencial, answered the question using as an example of what two journalists experienced on Wednesday, May 27, the same that Nicaraguans face daily.
“The journalists Álvaro Navarro, director of the Artículo 66, and Emiliano Chamorro, director of the Portavoz Ciudadano, toured several private hospitals in Managua (because they were very ill and with symptoms of COVID-19), but they were not attended because they (hospitals) were full.
Ivette Munguía, from Confidencial, says that money for health is useless in Nicaragua right now.
“In the morning, Navarro was received in an emergency room at the Vivian Peña hospital, chest X-rays were taken and, despite being in a delicate condition, they asked him to go to another hospital because he needed an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and they had no space. Chamorro had to go home because he did not get attention,” said Munguía.
Due to the need for a bed in an ICU, Navarro visited three private hospitals, but none could take him.
“It was until the end of the afternoon that he was admitted to the Emergency Room of the Monte España Hospital, where they gave him oxygen because he had difficulty breathing and later transferred him to a room for patients with COVID-19.
“Here (in Nicaragua) right now, even money is useless.No matter how much as you have, the government and private hospitals are full.There is a national concern because no one understands why the government does nothing, they continue to say that people die from breathing difficulties or from strange pneumonia,” said Munguía.
Lidia López, a Nicaraguan journalist La Prensa, the only print media left in circulation in the country, assured that the state hospitals are full, that the relatives are crowded at the entrances, asking about the state of health of their loved ones and seen is a steady flow of vehicles with coffins emerging, taking the dead to cemeteries for immediate burial.
Lidia López, from the last remaining print newspaper in Nicaragua, La Prensa, assures that right now they are in God’s hands.
“Right now in Nicaragua, the reality is saving yourself if you can. We are in the hands of God. On May 25, the Government presented the country with what it called the ‘White Paper’ (Libro Blanco), which contains the model of policies used by the Ministry of Health to respond to the coronavirus, but says that they have everything under control and that is not the case.
“The truth is that nobody does anything, the death increase, the infections increase, burials are at any time of the day, they don’t even bother to do them at dawn, and the people do not receive effective information. There is deep fear because the health system has collapsed, so people know that no one will attend to them in a hospital,” López said.
Both journalists, Munguía and Lopez, agree with the statement by Costa Rica’s Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, when he said that Nicaragua is a great risk for Costa Rica.
“Costa Rica struggles with everything to avoid deaths and here the government expects many infections to achieve herd immunity, how to explain that?” Munguía acknowledged.
The Nicaraguan press is not the only one to denounce this terrible situation. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) last Tuesday asked the government of Daniel Ortega to urgently implement measures to contain the pandemic and to stop lowering the floor to the real impact they are experiencing.
“The protection of life and health cannot wait,” said Ciro Ugarte, PAHO director of Health Emergencies.
“We call on all public and private entities in Nicaragua to implement with immediate effect all the recommendations we gave them,” he said in a virtual press conference.
Costa Rica is the second country in Central America where there are more blood donors; only surpassed by El Salvador, but the Blood Bank (Banco de Sangre) of our country requires much more donations.
According to the Report “Blood supply for transfusions in Latin American and Caribbean countries 2016-2017” carried out by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), 16.1 out of every 1,000 Costa Ricans give life through donating blood.
This is the average of donors per 1,000 inhabitants:
El Salvador: 16.2
Costa Rica: 16.1
Panama: 13.9
Nicaragua: 13.8
Honduras: 9.2
Guatemala: 8.5
The study establishes that the culture of blood donation is closely associated with the socioeconomic conditions of the countries, “donation in the region increases directly proportional to the income level of each country,” the document published on May 28 cites.
Regarding the age of the donors, in the two years analyzed, the group between 24 and 44 years predominated with 38.1% in 2016 and 41.9% in 2017. Secondly, donors under 24 years of age were 37.5% in 2016 and 30.6% in 2017.
The age group from 45 to 65 years old represented 22.9% of donors in the region in 2016 and 24.8% in 2017. The least represented age group was made up of those over 65, who represented 1.5% of donors in 2016 and 2.7% in 2017 ″, the report cites.
Donating blood in times of pandemic
Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) authorities and the National Blood Bank have extended hours and scheduled appointments to collect the largest number of bags; Four different components can be separated from each of them.
Some seasons – such as Easter and holidays – are a challenge for the blood bank. But it precisely those times are when the need for blood increases, especially due to traffic accidents.
Confinement from the COVID-19 pandemic is causing shortages of blood, and cancer or emergency patients cannot wait.
That is why, more than ever, Costa Ricans are being asked to donate blood.
Added to this is the possibility that patients recovered by COVID-19 can donate the blood component with which convalescent plasma is made to treat those who still have the virus and are hospitalized.
How to donate
Donating blood is simple. First, one must have the desire to help other people voluntarily and without receiving any type of financial recognition (payment) in exchange for donating.
If you want to donate, there a few requirements:
Age: 18 to 65 years.
Weigh more than 50.0 kilos and a height of more than 1.50 meters
Do not fast. Do not consume fats (butter, custard, sausage, salami, egg, bacon, etc). Do not consume dairy (milk, yogurt, cheeses). Eat cookies, bread, jams or jellies, coffee or tea without milk. In case of eating something heavy, you must wait between 2 and 3 hours, after the meal, to be able to donate.
Indispensable to carry your cedula or residency card The document must be current (not expired) and in good condition (with visible photograph)
Be in good health. Not have had a cold in the last 15 days and or any physical problem or illness that you currently suffer from. If you take medication, remember to inform the doctor, remember the name of the medicines, and the reason why they are prescribed.
If you have had tattoos or pierced ears, you should wait a year.
If you are a woman, you must inform if you are in the menstruation period to assess the condition. You must not be pregnant. After childbirth or abortion, you must wait 6 to 9 months to donate, depending on the situation or if you breastfeed
You should consume fluids a day or two before donating. Ideally water and natural soft drinks. On the day of the donation try to drink one or two glasses of water about 30 minutes before donating.
(QCOSTARICA) In perhaps one of the shortest daily reports on the coronavirus situation in Costa Rica, this Saturday, May 30, the Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, offered a prerecorded video.
The minister confirmed 25 new cases over the Friday, for a total of now of 1,047 confirmed cases, with an age range of 3 months to 89 years.
There are 491 women and 556 men, of whom 841 are Costa Rican and 206 foreigners.
Positive cases are reported in 72 cantons of the 82 cantons in the country. By age, they are 960 adults (of which 55 are seniors) and 87 minors.
A total of 658 people have recovered, ranging in age from of one to 86 years, of which 315 are women and 343 are men.
The number of deaths remains at 10, one woman and nine men with an age range of 45 to 87 years.
Currently, 15 people are hospitalized, four of them are in intensive care with ages from 55, 57 to 72 years.
Jorge Miranda, a Nicaraguan pulmonologist, works at the Monte España Hospital in Managua, Nicaragua.
(QCOSTARICA) “Clearly, we are a threat to neighboring countries due to the irresponsible and negligent handling of the phases of the pandemic. Nothing has been done, the pandemic in Nicaragua is developing naturally; we have done nothing despite the doctor’s union has tried to advise.
“In the beginning, people got the message and self-quarantined, but then they relaxed and that is the fault of the message that the Government gives. The message that the Government gave with its daily reports was confusing and many people perceived that we were not at risk, that there was no real threat.
“People said, ‘Today we have three cases, today we have two cases.’ That, in the way of being of the people, is interpreted as that there is no risk. Many people do not wear a mask in public places and that is the fault of the government’s message. We are a threat to ourselves and to producing infections in other countries,” said Jorge Miranda, a Nicaraguan pulmonologist, who works at the Monte España Hospital in Managua.
The doctor, with 22 years of experience, said that every day, on his morning rounds, he finds from one to three suspected covid-19 patients dead.
Jorge Miranda, a Nicaraguan pulmonologist, works at the Monte España Hospital in Managua, Nicaragua.
Miranda is one of the few doctors who dares to speak publicly about the crisis the neighboring country is facing with the pandemic.
According to Nicaragua’s Ministry of Health (Minsa), up to May 26, the country had 759 confirmed cases of covid-19 and 35 deaths.
“The reality is different, we are talking about almost 3,000 infected. Included are a lot of health personnel and of the dead they must be approximately 300,″ commented the doctor in an interview with La Nación.
One of the factors that hinders the work of health professionals is the denial by the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship because at the beginning of the wave of infections they were ordered not to use protective equipment in order not to alarm the population.
Additionally, physicians do not have access to the written results of tests performed; there are only verbal reports.
“The situation in the hospital is chaotic, the room designated to serve patients by covid-19 is always full, whenever I go to visit in the morning I find one, two or three corpses, they are people who wake up dead, that is daily. This is very hard to see, since you go to the ER you find a lot of beds with patients face down with oxygen, very tired and there is a shortage of medicines and resources.” Jorge Miranda, Nicaraguan pulmonologist
“In many cases, they tell us that the test did not come out negative or positive, but was indeterminate. I, as a technician and connoisseur of the test, could see and interpret it and say whether it is indeterminate or not, but they only inform us by telephone; so we don’t know the real results,” he criticized.
Doctors and nurses must also deal, day by day, with discouraging scenes in the corridors and hospital rooms.
“The situation in the hospital is chaotic, the room designated to serve patients by covid-19 is always full, whenever I go to visit in the morning I find one, two or three corpses, they are people who wake up dead, that is daily.
“This is very hard to see. From the emergency room, you find a lot of beds with patients face down with oxygen, very tired and there is a shortage of medicines and resources,” he said.
“I have had to attend to colleagues with symptoms of covid-19 and when we do the test, they tell us that the result is indeterminate. Many are complicated and even intubated,” he added.
In Nicaragua, the Government does not communicate the statistics of contagions, deaths and recoveries up to date, as it happens in many countries, but rather issues weekly reports with little or confusing detail.
Days ago, President Daniel Ortega assured in a press conference that they have a controlled pandemic.
However, contrary to what happens in other countries, in Nicaragua, as the infections progress, Health authorities restrict the profile of the patient to whom they submit tests to determine if they have the new coronavirus.
Dr. Miranda says that now only the patient who is admitted to due to pneumonia is tested.
“Only admitted patients. If someone with pneumonia comes in but is stable and can go home with treatment, they are not tested. That generates a huge source of underreporting,” he said.
The good doctor said he has suffered retaliation for publicly pointing out Nicaragua’s deficiencies in the face of the pandemic. At the hospital where he works, he has been excluded from the committee that manages the crisis for covid-19, for example.
“But I have been that way since I was a doctor; I have always liked to say what happens. I have closely followed the political situation in the country and I have always said things as they are.
“Thank God, I have not suffered severe retaliation compared to other people. I have never been sent a van full of police to my home. I did receive threats during the 2018 protests, because my position was to expose the things that were happening,” he said.
“I have been excluded from important decisions, I am the only pulmonologist in the hospital. However, there is a double standard, because when a very difficult case appears, they call me and consult me,” he said.
Miranda also works at the Vivian Pellas private hospital. There are more resources to work with there and, he says, they prepared in time for the emergency.
However, there is a high demand for beds as it happens in public medical centers.
“Hospitals are under enormous demand for beds and ventilators. For example, in the private hospital where I work, all the ventilators are in use, in such a way that if a patient arrives who requires a ventilator or intensive care, we have to intubate him and then transfer him to a place where there are beds.
“But people who can pay for private services refuse to be transferred to public hospitals,” concluded Miranda.
In the image, Dr. Esteban Zavaleta, head of Pharmacy at the Hospital Clínica Bíblica, together with Dr. Xinia Porras Sánchez, microbiologist. Esteban Monge / The Republic
Understanding the need for social distancing and facilitating access to the health of the population, the Hospital Clínica Bíblica offers COVID-19 testing and any product from their Pharmacy to your door.
In the photo, Dr. Esteban Zavaleta, head of Pharmacy at the Hospital Clínica Bíblica, together with Dr. Xinia Porras Sánchez, microbiologist.
In the case of the COVID-19 test, thanks to the flexibility of the guidelines of the Ministry of Health, you can request it without the need for a doctor’s prescription, have symptoms, or an epidemiological link.
To get tested, you need to schedule the appointment, since the Hospital Clínica Bíblica must prepare its express laboratory and the clothing equipment that will be used by the staff who will do the testing to guarantee safety and thus avoid contagions.
“Currently there is no requirement to carry out the COVID-19 test. The sample is taken through nose swabbing, it is a quick process that lasts a few minutes and after 24 hours the result is obtained,” explained Dr. Rodrigo Cruz, head of the Laboratory of the Hospital Clínica Bíblica.
The price includes home delivery in the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM), outside this area an additional cost is charged.
The Clinica also offers the Express Pharmacy, a service it has provided for the last 20 years but that as a result of the pandemic has boomed.
The process is simple, any medicine or product from the pharmacy can be requested by phone (8000-911-800), WhatsApp or through the online pharmacy at relieveexpress.com.
“In the case of drugs that require a prescription, then we ask customers to send it to us through email or through WhatsApp so that the pharmacist can review and dispatch it,” explained Dr. Esteban Zavaleta, head of Farmacia del Hospital Clínica Bíblica.
Clients can make inquiries to clarify doubts, attended by professionals.
“Whether to prevent or treat disease, we strive for responsible use of medications. Patients should educate themselves on how and when to use them, on the side effects,” Zavaleta explained.
The doctor emphasized that any medication dispatched follows the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and under the guidance of the College of Pharmacists.
The Hospital Clínica Bíblica takes the COVID-19 test to your door, from 6:00 am to 1:00 from Monday to Friday.
It can be done although you have no symptoms, no epidemiological link, or prescription.
Results are in 24 hours, including Saturdays and Sundays.
Biko.cr is the new digital platform to compete with the Uber EATS, Glovo and Rappi food delivery apps in Costa Rica.
Christian Vargas, director of development at Procom
Biko differs from the others, offering its affiliates a monthly cost, US$80, with no transaction limits, or commissions on each sale.
To sign up affiliate restaurants, it is offering six months of free use of their billing platform and point of sale.
“Before, many restaurant owners viewed express as an extra and were not concerned about the high commission, now that it is their main source of sale, they are concerned that the brokerage margin is too high,” said Christian Vargas, director of development at Procom.
The business of food delivery has been radically changed by the Coronavirus pandemic, where restaurants went from selling mainly on premises to concentrate on delivery.
Third-party platforms have intermediation margins (commissions) of around 30% of each order, and bank charges for credit card processing.
Biko changes the model, giving the restauranteur a platform to sell directly to its customers, payment gateway, and delivery. “The restaurateurs are going to be able to do their campaigns directly, retain their customers based on their good food and customer attention,” Vargas explained.
Panama’s Copa Airlines once again has been forced to extend its announced it plans to resume flights, which is now July 3, with Costa Rica the first of some 40 destinations, half of their schedule previous the Covid-19 pandemic.
The July 3 goal of resuming flights is the airline’s third attempt at taking to the skies again
Copa connects with Costa Rica through direct flights from Guatemala, Managua, Tegucigalpa and Panama City.
Copa’s president, Pedro Heilbron, said due to the low demand that will be registered in the upcoming months, the company will only use 10% of its fleet at first and increase as travel grows.
This is the third date that the airline announced for the resumption of its flights.
Heilbron was straightforward in stating that they will not give up any of the 80 destinations they had previously to the coronavirus.
The travel restrictions and closure of airports has hit aviation hard, said Heilbron, adding that nothing like it had ever been experienced, so this readjustment process is like “a marathon in which we don’t know where the goal is.”
Copa’s planned resumption of service to other destinations such as San Jose, Costa Rica; Lima Peru; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Miami, United States; Santiago de Chile and Caracas, Venezuela will depend on the easing of border restrictions.
Copa’s plans for Colombia, an important market for the airline, had to be pushed back even further given Colombia’s announcement of extending their travel ban to August 31.
Copa has not requested support from the Panamanian government to overcome the crisis. Instead, Copa Holding S.A., which is the Copa Airlines parent company, obtained lines of credit and offered bonds in the international market for a global amount of US$350 million, deferred non-essential expenses and the distribution of dividends this year.
“This financing will allow the company to have more resources to face this crisis,” said Pedro Heilbron. “It also reflects the severity of how this situation has impacted us, since we have not received income from March 15, while maintaining high fixed costs,” concluded Heilbron.
