18.06.19: Comfort

A US Navy medical ship is leaving the port of Miami and heading to the Caribbean sea to deliver aid and medical services to countries in the region, including Venezuela.

US vice president Mike Pence was on hand at a ceremony today to see the ship off, alongside other US government officials. Below, some tweets from the event:

Joined @VP Pence, @SOUTHCOM Commander Admiral Craig Faller, and Venezuela Ambassador to the U.S. in Miami as the USNS Comfort prepares to deploy to Latin America and the Caribbean as part of our work to address the humanitarian crisis in #Venezuela. https://t.co/qQLElGbaAy pic.twitter.com/qNgrinFp2S

— Secretary Alex Azar (@SecAzar) June 18, 2019

#USNSComfort celebrates its seventh deployment as part of @Southcom's #EnduringPromise of care & friendship for partner nations in the Americas. During the five-month humanitarian tour, the ship will conduct port calls to multiple nations. #KnowYourMil pic.twitter.com/S2PAuATGml

— U.S. Dept of Defense (@DeptofDefense) June 18, 2019

Honored to tour the USNS Comfort today w/ @SecondLady. As the Comfort deploys to Latin America & the Caribbean to help address the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, it will bring along one of the largest trauma facilities in the US Navy, dozens of X-ray machines, and much more! pic.twitter.com/7nsU9BkNW8

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) June 18, 2019

In a message shared on his personal Twitter account, Juan Guaido pointed out that the ship’s delivery of aid to Venezuela was part of a coordinated effort to bring relief to residents of the country. Guaido said:

El despliegue del buque hospital USNS Comfort forma parte del esfuerzo coordinado con nuestros aliados para atender la emergencia humanitaria compleja.

No nos detendremos ni un solo instante en trabajar por la ayuda humanitaria y la atención a nuestra gente. https://t.co/ZMUtl1OrIe

— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) June 18, 2019

The deployment of the hospital ship USNS Comfort forms part of the coordinated effort with our allies to look to the complex humanitarian emergency.

No will not rest for even a second while working to [bring] humanitarian aid [to Venezuela] and care to our people.

Reuters: Jamaica Takes Over PDVSA Refinery

Reuters has reported that the government of Jamaica has taken over a refinery on the island from the PDVSA state-owned oil firm.

The takeover comes even after the government of Juan Guaido asked Kingston to not take over the facility.

According to Reuters:

Jamaica’s Senate in February passed legislation clearing the way for the government to acquire the 49% stake in the 36,000 barrel-per-day Petrojam refinery that PDVSA acquired in 2006, part of late leftist President Hugo Chavez’s energy diplomacy efforts in the Caribbean.

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