Why are the Three Latin American Countries with the Fewest Covid-19 Deaths not in the News?

By José Manzaneda on July 1, 2021

Do you know which are the three countries with the lowest relative number of deaths from Covid-19 in Latin America? The data is provided by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation of the USA and, curiously, it is not headline news. Do you know why? Because they are Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela. Countries subject to US sanctions or blockades and with public-oriented health policies.

Let’s talk about press freedom in Russia… and the USA. Vladimir Putin attended an hour-long press conference with all the Western networks to report on his recent meeting with Joe Biden. At the latter’s press conference, on the other hand, the Russian media were banned. Another example of press freedom “made in USA”: Emily Wilder, correspondent of the American Associated Press, a Jewish journalist, has been fired for her criticism of “Israel” on social networks.

A recent report by the ILO and UNICEF tells us that in Latin America and the Caribbean there are 8.2 million working minors. If there were significant figures of child labor in Cuba, there is no doubt: we would read extensive reports about one more symptom of the “communist failure”. But if there are currently more than one million working children in Peru, why don’t they talk about the failure of the capitalist system?

The European Union has imposed new sanctions on Belarus for the arrest of the ultra-right opposition leader Roman Protasevich, after a Ryanair plane was diverted. For Brussels, it was “an attack on democracy, freedom of expression and European sovereignty”. Eight years ago, let us remember: the official plane of Evo Morales, then president of Bolivia, was forced to land in Austria, following the closure of airspace by Spain, Italy, Portugal and France. The order came from the U.S. government, which claimed that the U.S. dissident Edward Snowden was hiding in that aircraft. This was later proven to be false. But it showed us what the “defense of European sovereignty” is all about.

Colombia: since the end of April, the number of deaths in social protests, mostly due to police action, exceeds 70. More than 500 people are missing. At the end of May, the Argentinean activist Juan Grabois, participant of an observation delegation, was deported by the Colombian government. That, in spite of all this, is treated with kid gloves by the international press. Now, imagine if the deaths, repression, disappearances or deportations were to take place in Cuba… or Venezuela.

This country, Venezuela, suffers a brutal economic blockade. Not only has this oil nation, due to sanctions, gone 14 months in a row without selling a barrel of oil. Not only has all its public funds and gold reserves been withheld in international banks. A few days ago, the COVAX mechanism of the World Health Organization confirmed that, after receiving 109 million dollars from Caracas for the purchase of anti-Covid vaccines, the UBS bank, in application of the US sanctions, had blocked the payment. Media scandal? No media scandal.

Source: La Pupila Insomne, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English