Nicolás Maduro, the dictator of Venezuela is probably, together with Donald Trump, the politician most banned from social media for fake news. In the year of the pandemic, he received constant calls and his Facebook page has now been frozen for a month. But this closed space is very little compared to the false communications sent to Venezuela in a sort of delirium of omnipotence of the designated by Hugo Chavez.
During the year of Covid-19, according to organizations such as the Press and Society Institute (IPYS) and Espacio Público, the chavista censorship it got even tougher and blocked as many as 25 digital media and arrested nearly 400 journalists.
The communication of the dictator during the Coronavirus was daily and the man spoke as a doctor and scientist, launching a series of fakes that will enter the history books as an example of unparalleled scientific falsehoods. Among these, the six most significant:
A weapon of war
Before the virus exploded in the world Maduro supported the thesis that the Wuhan market coronavirus was a “weapon of war” against China. “There are many analyzes – Maduro argued – that confirm that Coronavirus is a strain created for the biological war against China. There are already many elements confirming this thesis and it is therefore necessary to raise your voice and warn about the fact that the Coronavirus is a weapon of war used against the Chinese and now against the peoples of the world in general “.
Aromatic herbs, lemon and ginger
Back in March, when there were not even 100 cases of Covid in Venezuela, Maduro announced an alleged cure by alleged Venezuelan scientist Sirio Quintero. A herbal blend of malojillo, elderberry, lemon and ginger that would cure the disease, a very promising drug even against cancer. Maduro called him a “doctor” despite the man having no university degree. References on the “scientist” Quintero could be found in Aporrea, the Chavista portal where he is a regular columnist. He claims to have studies in Philosophy of Sciences in Italy and Germany and to have applied nanotechnology to biomedicine and toxicology in German and Russian academies. Furthermore, the Chavista propaganda confirmed that man was the inventor of the “bioelectromedicine protocol” and of the “human restorative wave genetics”. However, Twitter deleted a tweet of his in which the recipe for the mixture was spread and some articles where it was confirmed that the Coronavirus is an “intracellular parasite” designed “by the imperial power” as a bioterrorist weapon.
Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine
As well as Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump, Maduro strongly defended the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine – drugs for malaria and lupus – as a treatment for Covid. The drug was placed in a treatment kit, along with others without evidence of efficacy such as ivermectin, and distributed to asymptomatic patients used as real guinea pigs. Maduro has also promoted the use of other experimental therapies without scientific evidence, such as interferon alpha 2b developed in Cuba, plasma of those recovered from the virus, some Cuban homeopathic drops, ozone therapy and natural medicine.
The Colombian virus
Maduro has said, on several occasions, that the spread of the virus would have more to do with his political positions than with epidemiology. The return of Venezuelan migrants to the country during the first months of the pandemic – about 160,000 in all of 2020, according to the United Nations Humanitarian Affairs Office – was considered by the Venezuelan president as the cause of the spread of infections in the country. “We have the Colombian virus attack that Iván Duque sends with the truck drivers. No country in the world is subject to an invasion of the virus from another country – saying that – migrants were biological weapons “.
Venezuelan scientists defeated the virus 100%
On October 25, 2020, Maduro claimed that Venezuelan scientists had found a molecule called DR-10, capable of “annihilating” the Coronavirus. “Venezuela has created a medicine that cancels the coronavirus 100%,” said the dictator, showing a kind of vial with a yellow liquid. Without any scientific support, he said he had started the certification process before the World Health Organization to “ratify the results obtained by the IVIC”. The active ingredient of the molecule is a derivative of the ursolic acid of a plant, which is not toxic to humans, which has been tested on hepatitis B, human papillomavirus and Ebola and in vitro laboratory tests at the Venezuelan Research Institute Scientific for SARS -CoV-2.
The miraculous drops
Maduro’s latest fake was Carvativir, sold to the people as the miraculous drops of Dr. José Gregorio Hernández, a name that the president himself created in honor of the well-known doctor of the 19th century, a potential Catholic saint. Carvatir is a thymus product which, according to Maduro, “neutralizes viral cells”. The drug was distributed throughout the country and sold in pharmacies “It can be used as a prophylaxis, to strengthen health and immunity; It is used in a curative way as a therapeutic, for all cases: asymptomatic coronavirus, with mild, moderate, severe and very severe symptoms; and also post-Covid “. It was developed in the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research, but many experts said they were unaware of any studies about it.
And Venezuela dying from the economic crisis and the virus must also endure the medical tests of a President like Nicolas Maduro.