Maduro spoke at a youth event earlier today, and urged the crowd of listeners to use social media to tell the others “the truth about Venezuela”, since he claims that the world’s media has conspired to smear the country in an attempt to bring his government down.
Maduro explained:
Venezuela is being submitted to brutal harassment by the media. We have to find those Venezuelans who are exposed to this media harassment and bring them the truth. We have to reach the world in every language with the Venezuelan truth, because the [world’s] peoples – through induction – believe that what’s happening in Venezuela is what should happen for the future for humanity, but we have to reach them with the truth.
Venezuelan Crude Jumps $4.2/barrel
The price for a barrel of Venezuelan crude oil jumped $4.2 per barrel this week, closing at $32.10 per barrel today.
The Ministry of Oil and Mining posted the figures on its website today, and said that the reason for the climb was partly due to a drop in oil production in the United States.
Arreaza: Venezuela Will Set Clocks 30 Minutes Ahead
Maduro announced yesterday that Venezuela would change time zones starting on May 1 of this year in order to help cut back on electricity consumption. Maduro did not explain exactly what the change would be, leaving it to Vice President of Social Development Jorge Arreaza to announce today that the country would set its clocks forward thirty minutes on the first of May.
The national government announced the measure in order to take advtange of daylight hours.
Arreaza also called on Venezuelans to cut back on their electricity usage:
Its about using electrical appliances in our homes rationally. For example, don’t turn on the air conditioner if you don’t need to. We have to make a collective consciousness effort to avoid an undesirable situation.
Margarita Medicine Scarcity Nears 100%
German Rojas, the head of a medical guild in Margarita island, announced today that figures by the Colegio de Farmaceuticos [Pharmaceutical College] show that the scarcity of basic medicines on the island is nearing 100%.
Rojas explained that while general antibiotics and contraceptives are 90% scare, asthma inhalers are 100% scarce, meaning that there is not a single one for sale anywhere on the island of 440,000.
Rojas said that while the national government has managed to send some medicine to the island recently, the gesture has been of no effect:
We’ve received some supplies through the [national government], but they’re medicines that aren’t really in demand. The Ministry of Health should know what diseases our children are suffering from.
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