Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Sunday denounced the blocking in several countries of the resources that his government would allocate to acquire a batch of vaccines against covid-19, which has killed more than a thousand people in the South American country. .
“Resources to buy Venezuela’s vaccine are frozen and stolen in England, Portugal, Spain, the United States,” the president said during his weekly review of the fight against covid-19 in the nation. Caribbean.
The United States, England, Portugal and Spain are among half a hundred countries that do not recognize the legitimacy of Maduro as president of Venezuela, as they question the results of the controversial elections of May 2018, in which the socialist leader obtained re-election.
“We have demanded (from these countries) that they give us the money to buy the vaccine, through the World Health Organization, and they have refused. That is how I denounce it,” the Venezuelan president added.
Despite the complaint, Maduro did not provide details on the sum of the blocked resources or the number of doses that Venezuela would buy with them.
He reiterated that his government will have at least 10,000,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine in the first quarter of this year, following the signing of a contract with Russia earlier last week.
“The Russian vaccine is not blocked against Venezuela, they don’t have it blocked, and we took out resources and paid for it with the facilities that Russia gave us, that is to be a true friend of Venezuela,” he said.
According to the president, the 10,000,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine will be used to vaccinate the same number of citizens. Maduro himself said last December that he planned to start an immunization plan next April.
“We have made our hearts strong,” he said of funding these vaccines, reiterating the blockade of Venezuelan resources in several countries.
Maduro also said today that his government is “coordinating with Cuba” the possible acquisition of a batch of covid-19 vaccines, although that country has not yet completed any of the 4 vaccine candidates it has in the development.
On the same day, the Venezuelan opposition, which is grouped under the figure of leader Joan Guaidó, whom more than 50 governments recognize as Venezuela’s interim president, pledged to make “all necessary arrangements” to acquire vaccines. against covid-19 through the COVAX platform, which comprises about 190 countries.