US economic blockade takes the life of another Venezuelan child

The Foreign Minister of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Jorge Arreaza, lamented on Friday the death of another Venezuelan boy – who required a bone marrow transplant – as a result of the economic blockade that the United States government has unilaterally imposed on the Latin American country. This financial siege, reiterated the People’s Power Minister for Foreign Relations through his Twitter account @jaarreaza, prevents the funds transfer to the Italian health institutions with which the state PDVSA attended these urgent cases.

Lamentablemente falleció otro niño venezolano esperando su transplante de médula ósea como consecuencia del bloqueo criminal de EEUU, que impide transferir fondos a las instituciones italianas de salud con las que PDVSA atendía estos casos urgentes. #TrumpDesbloqueaVenezuela https://t.co/ZEMdBSzxax

— Jorge Arreaza M (@jaarreaza) May 24, 2019

The death of the 7-year-old infant was denounced by the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Council of Venezuela, Larry Devoe.

Denunciamos la lamentable muerte de un segundo niño que se encontraba a la espera de trasplante de médula ósea, cuya atención se vio impedida por la suspensión de facto del convenio PDVSA-ATMO generada por el bloqueo criminal impuesto por EEUU al pueblo de #Venezuela pic.twitter.com/EuTmvvjM5V

— Larry Devoe (@LarryDevoe) May 24, 2019

More than 500 patients attended Pdvsa-Citgo’s bone marrow transplant program before being impacted by the economic measures adopted by the Donald Trump administration, said Devoe. On May 7, the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Council announced the death of Giovanny Figuera, a 6-year-old boy who also required a bone marrow transplant and specialized medications that are imported by the Venezuelan State. Last April, the Venezuelan FM denounced during a press conference at the United Nations (UN) the situation of more than 20 Venezuelan patients who are in Italy in the framework of an agreement of PDVSA with a foundation for the transplant of bone marrow, whose lives are at risk as a result of the blockade to the country: the transaction for 4,851,252 euros needed for their care has been frustrated as a result of the economic siege. Since December 2014, Venezuela is the victim of a set of unilateral coercive measures by the government of the United States that have resulted in a severe economic blockade, directly affecting the social and economic functioning of the country, the capacity of the Venezuelan State to make sensitive imports of medicines, the use of international banking for various commercial operations, and more recently, has affected effective control of the Bolivarian Republic over its energy and financial assets abroad.