The Venezuelan president denounced threats by the US towards COVID-19 vaccine distribution companies, preventing them from trading with the Bolivarian Republic.
“They have gone so far as to threaten the companies that distribute vaccines with sanctions, if they sell vaccines to Venezuela… Washington has escalated its war against the country,” said Nicolás Maduro on Sunday, April 18, during a televised speech.
However, the president said, Venezuelan authorities continue to manage the doses they’ve acquired to combat the pandemic, despite the illegal economic and commercial blockade by the United States and European countries.
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Maduro explained that, as Venezuela has not yet reached the optimal level of vaccination, this Monday it will pay the remainder of the pecuniary fee of $120 million for vaccines from the COVAX mechanism coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO), to access over eleven million vaccines against the novel coronavirus.
“We have managed to free up resources, thanks to the technical work of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV),” he added in this regard, without offering further details.
The Venezuelan president denounced the hoarding of vaccines in the world, noting that 87% of COVID-19 vaccines are in the hands of a handful of powerful countries, while the poor only have access to 0.2%.
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Several countries, including Venezuela, suffer from unilateral US sanctions amid the pandemic.
For Caracas, all the US actions against it are part of a hostile and warmongering agenda to pursue and achieve imperialist objectives in Latin America. Venezuela has repeatedly urged the international community to confront the unilateralism of the White House, which is leading the world into a dead end.
On Friday, Maduro rejected the “geopolitical war” over the monopolization of COVID-19 vaccines, and the lack of access of the poor to doses. The Venezuelan head of state asked the WHO to distribute the vaccines more equitably among nations.
Featured image: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro denouncing the US government for forbidding pharmaceutical corporations to sell COVID-19 vaccines to Venezuela. Photo courtesy of HispanTV.
(HispanTV)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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