Juan Guaido, the opposition politician recognized by the US as “interim president” of Venezuela, was in the midst of a passionate speech when the coat of arms mounted on the stage behind him collapsed on the floor.
The round wooden sign displaying Venezuela’s insignia seems to have been nudged by someone passing behind the stage and clattered to the ground behind Guaido as he was answering a question. The moment was caught on camera and quickly made rounds on social media on Monday. One Twitter user captioned it, “when the theater drops.”
Guaido had broadcast the event live on his Twitter account, and the moment of the seal’s collapse can be seen about 58 minutes in.
The opposition politician declared himself “interim president” of Venezuela in January 2019, denouncing the incumbent President Nicolas Maduro as an illegitimate “dictator.”
Guaido has made multiple attempts to take power in Caracas, with the backing of the Trump administration and later the Biden administration in Washington. The EU withdrew its support in January 2021.
Monday’s speech followed the weekend’s regional elections in which the ruling Socialist party won 20 governorships while the opposition managed only three. Guaido said now was the time for “reflection, unity and work” among the opposition leaders, who need to set their egos aside and work together to “remove the dictator.”
The US has condemned the election results as “skewed” in favor of Maduro’s party, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowing to continue supporting Guaido, including with sanctions against Caracas. EU election observers are expected to comment on their experience in Venezuela on Tuesday.
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SINGAPORE, Nov 22 (IPS) – It has been said that when Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war. The summit of the leaders of world’s two strongest powers, the United States and China, came face to face at long last. Albeit virtually. Still, this was undoubtedly the “mother of summits” this year. There were two telephone conversations earlier, but according to US officials this nearly four hours of summitry was far more “candid intense, and deeper interaction”.
If there was one single take-away from this meeting, it was the establishment beyond all reasonable doubt of the incontrovertible fact that the US and China were indeed the two most influential global state actors. The decisions between the two, represented by their leaders, would profoundly impact the rest of humanity far into the future.
KINGSTON, Nov 22 (IPS) – When face-to-face Cabinet meetings resumed in Jamaica following more than a year of virtual meetings due to COVID-19, Ministers lined up to have their immunisation cards inspected.
People who oppose Covid-19 vaccine mandates are “anti-vaxxers,” pure and simple, Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner said during a heated press conference, noting more positive cases in his state were “expected.”
Gunner made it more than clear during a press conference in which he was asked if his hardline stance on vaccine mandates might have turned some away from getting the jab that anyone who wasn’t 100% for the state’s increasingly draconian vaccination mandates was a true “anti-vaxxer.” Even if they themselves had been vaccinated, he argued, Australians were either with the virus or with the mandates.
‘Stuff it, shove it’: a furious NT chief minister Michael Gunner calls out those campaigning against vaccine mandates pic.twitter.com/kijDN9dHWk
“If you give a green light, give comfort to, support anybody who argues against the vaccine, you are an anti-vaxxer. Your personal vaccination status is utterly irrelevant,” Gunner declared.
The term ‘anti-vaxxer’, previously used to denote a parent who opposed vaccination for their children, has seen its meaning expanded during the Covid-19 pandemic to include anyone who opposes vaccination for themselves – and now, in the eyes of ardent vaccine supporters, anyone who opposes a mandate, whether or not they themselves have taken the shot.
“If you’re out there in any way, shape or form campaigning against the mandate, then you are absolutely anti-vax,” he continued, insisting the state’s vaccination mandate was “absolutely critical” to saving lives. “I will never back away from supporting vaccines, and anyone out there who comes for the mandate, you are anti-vax,” Gunner snarled.
A lockdown in the state’s town of Katherine was set to be extended until 6pm local time Wednesday night because with 1,300 test results still outstanding, the authorities were “still expecting more positive cases.” Two cases had been detected on Monday – a 67-year-old man and a 33-year-old mother said to be a “close contact of a confirmed case.” However, her child had repeatedly tested negative.
Despite the paucity of cases, Gunner insisted it was “highly likely” there were other positive cases in the area, citing “continual positive traces” in the wastewater catchment area of the neighborhood, but allowed the nearby Robinson River area to move out of lockdown, giving residents the freedom to move around so long as they did not leave the neighborhood.
The minister insisted “enforcement, rather than encouragement” was the only way to get vaccination levels to the desired target.
