Vice president Delcy Rodriguez announced the detection of two new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, raising the total in the country since the outbreak began to 331.
Rodriguez said that one of the disease was detected in a 54-year-old man who “works with” a Cuban medical mission in the country, while another is a 23-year-old who recently returned from Colombia via Tachira state.
US Asks for End to Mahan Air Flights
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke today on a series of flights from Iran to Venezuela being carried out by Mahan Air. According to the Associated Press (AP), the flights are delivering “key chemical components” to Venezuela to assist in refining operations there.
So far, two Mahan Air Airbus A340 (registrations EP-MMF and EP-MMR) have made six flights to Venezuela from Iran, with five of those flights landing in the Las Piedras airport in Falcon state and the sixth landing in Caracas. Las Piedras airport is a short distance away from the Paraguana Refinery complex, the largest in the country and one of the largest in the world.
Speaking during a press conference today, Pompeo accused Mahan Air of being a “terrorist airline” and suggested that it was involved in arms smuggling operations. He also asked for countries to stop granting Mahan Air access to their space in a bid to prevent the flights from making it to Venezuela.
Questions/Comments? Email me: invenezuelablog@gmail.com
In Venezuela 