- The Council of States, as provided by Articles 251 and 252 of the Constitution, declares itself in emergency and in permanent session to contribute, as the highest consultative body of the Republic, to looking after the people, designing strategies, and fighting and preventing the pandemic in Venezuela.
- It calls on all social, political, economic and religious sectors of the country to face this pandemic in unity an in peace by appealing to the highest values of solidarity, discipline and strength that have been true to the nature of the Venezuelan people along their history.
- The citizens of the world are victims of the COVID-19 propagation; therefore, we see as a sign of barbarism and inhumanity, devoid of any sense of civilization, that the U.S. government insists on its malicious and illegal coercive measures against the Venezuelan people, thus increasing the obstacles already associated with the pandemic and leading to hardships for the Venezuelan state to access food, medicines and necessary equipment to fight COVID-19.
- It is urgent that Venezuela can access those resources to which it is entitled by law and that have been blocked or stolen due to the U.S. government’s actions against the country.
- Likewise, we demand that Venezuela receives the same treatment given to the rest of the countries in the world to use humanitarian aid mechanisms through multilateral financial systems, which have been blocked by Donald Trump’s government.
- The Council of State immediately calls on all the sectors of the Venezuelan society to impose a deep, fruitful dialogue to face and defeat together the terrible COVID-19 global pandemic.
- The Council of State supports the dialogue between political sectors proposed by President Nicolás Maduro and that it must be held by Venezuelans and among Venezuelans. At the same time, the Council of State supports the proposal of holding this dialogue at the apostolic nunciature, an independent, impartial space.
- The Council of States congratulates the Venezuelan people for their discipline, solidarity, compassion, and their implementation of quarantine and protection measures that add up to the Venezuelan state’s prompt actions as essential tools to defeat this terrible threat against the people of the world.
Key Proposals put forward by Venezuela’s Council of State
President Nicolás Maduro held a meeting with the Council of State on Tuesday, March 31, at the Miraflores Presidential Palace to address the COVID-19 pandemic and come up with new strategies to duly contain it.
The Council of State was attended by Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, President of the National Assembly Luis Parra, President of the Justice Supreme Court Maikel Moreno, Minister of People’s Power for Defense Vladimir Padrino López, and Governor of Miranda state Héctor Rodríguez, among other Venezuelan authorities.
Outlined below, you will find the final proposals put forward by the Council of State: