The Head of Government of Caracas, Darío Vivas, died this Thursday at age 70 almost a month after testing positive for Covid-19, Venezuelan government officials reported.
“He died in combat (…), taking care of the health and life of all of us in this tough battle against the pandemic,” said Vice President Delcy Rodríguez amid multiple messages from spokesmen for the government of Nicolás Maduro about the death of Vivas, who He had confirmed his infection on July 19.
“How sad my friend (…), to his family, friends, colleagues, a hug of regret and pain”, said Diosdado Cabello, number two of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and president of the Constituent Assembly that governs the Caribbean country, which in practice took over the powers of Parliament, the only power controlled by the opposition in Venezuela.
Several leaders of the ruling party have announced in recent weeks that they have tested positive for the new coronavirus, including Cabello himself, as well as Jorge Rodríguez, Minister of Communication and Information, and Tareck El Aissami, Minister of Oil.
Cabello and El Aissami claimed to have overcome the disease.
Vivas is the first official close to the Maduro government to die from the virus, whose spread is accelerating in Venezuela.
According to official figures, questioned by the opposition and organizations such as Human Rights Watch for considering that they hide a much worse situation, this country of 30 million inhabitants accumulated 29,088 confirmed infections as of Wednesday, with 247 deaths.
However, Venezuela surpassed 1,000 cases in one day for the first time on Tuesday and again went beyond that number on Wednesday.
The Chavista government declared a quarantine since mid-March. Confinement alternates periods of “radicalization”, which force the closure of businesses with the exception of supermarkets, pharmacies and other businesses considered “essential”, and periods of “flexibility”, which allow the reactivation of the rest of the sectors.
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