Posted on 09/18/2014 6:42:07 PM PDT by bd476
CARACAS, Venezuela—President Nicolás Maduro said he ordered the prosecution of doctors who had alerted the public to the recent deaths of nine people in a public hospital from an unidentified but possibly infectious disease.
"They wanted to impose a scheme of alarm, of psychological terrorism," Mr. Maduro said Wednesday in a speech broadcast on TV. "There is no other name for this, it's terrorism."
He said he had spoken with Attorney General Luisa Ortega "so that our organs of justice work with severity, with all the firmness and severity that the law permits. You have to punish these people."
Mr. Maduro's warnings come after doctors said publicly said that they suspected a possible outbreak of Chikungunya disease, which is carried by mosquitoes from victim to victim, in the city of Maracay just west of here. Mr. Maduro's government, which has lost support amid an economic crisis and soaring crime, hasn't said what it believes caused the deaths.
From Aug. 30 until Sunday, nine people—four of them children—died at the large Central Hospital of Maracay, medical personnel in the city said. Doctors and the family of the last victim, Franklin Fossi, 41, a truck driver who died on Sunday, said he and the other victims suffered from fevers, blisters on their skin and severe joint pain.
"We don't know what we are confronting," Angel Sarmiento, the president of the Medical College of Aragua state, told reporters last week.
Dr. Sarmiento was singled out by the president for his comments about the deaths. The doctor couldn't be reached for comment.
Dr. Douglas Natera, president of Venezuela's medical federation, which represents doctors, said the opaque nature of Mr. Maduro's government and its criticism of the medical establishment is generating anxiety in Maracay, where many people have gone to neighborhood clinics complaining of symptoms...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Meanwhile American borders are beckoning one and all.
Story from July
Mosquito-borne Chikungunya virus found in Michigan
Coming to a neighborhood near you. Soon.
How's that de facto immigration "reform" workin' out for us?
Thanks for the link Cripplecreek.
Socialism is the equal distribution of misery.
Except for the ruling class, socialists are always against the ruling class until it's them.
It isn't working yet and I'm not sure it ever will. /cynicism
Unfortunately mosquito borne illnesses don't recognize borders. However Chikungunya is already here spread by people who were infected while traveling. It takes only one un-infected mosquito to bite someone who has the virus, and then that mosquito can carry the virus to many.
A more urgent concern are the allegations of bio-terrorism in Venezuela. Hopefully those allegations will turn out to be a simple and self-limiting Venezuelan political battle.
It is unsettling though seeing this story covered by the Wall Street Journal. I always viewed the Wall Street Journal as less alarmist than other news outlets.
Send 0bama to give a speech to the mosquitoes.
Anyone infected with the virus would then spread it when they're bitten by a non-infected mosquito.
We have always been at war with Bacteria.
True.
The virus has the potential of affecting everyone in every economic strata. With no cure, it is a miserable illness for the average healthy person, and potentially deadly for everyone else. Hopefully Venezuela is looking into an aggressive mosquito eradication program and soon.
It certainly seems that way sometimes, yet not all bacteria are bad. Think of the "friendly bacteria" found in probiotics, yogurt, etc. However this is different, Chikungunya is caused by a virus and there is no cure.
ah....this is a virus.
I was alluding to “We have always been at war with Eastasia” and wasn’t going for the strictly literal.
Not every virus is bad either. There are viruses that infect and kill bacteria.
With a virus like this, a vaccine is about the best that medical science would be able to come up with today. There are antivirals but the technology is not advanced.
Massive amounts of DDT. Outlawing it in the first place was insanity.
That’s why I was minimal with my comment. I ‘knew’ you ‘knew’, I just thought you had a brain hiccup.
I can see that “We have always been at war with virus” sounds rather awkward. Bacteria was a better choice.
: )
In Africa and some parts of South America they use 'voodoo', 'witch doctors' and 'black magic', so we shouldn't have anything to worry about.
; )
“Hopefully Venezuela is looking into an aggressive mosquito eradication program and soon.”
Communist countries spend paltry sums on maintaining infrastructure and very little money on disease prevention. They look to the Free World to provide health care. And don’t be hoodwinked by the propaganda from Cuba, they are exactly the same. If you’re a Free World person and you need health care in Cuba, guess what....it’s not free.
Maduro demonstrates that he’s dimwitted brutal thug.
If he has any medical doctors left in that country by this time next year we’ll know who has the lowest IQ in the medical population.
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