Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 17 May 2017

Groups quietly bypass Venezuela’s ban on humanitarian aid

For months, as Venezuela’s clinic and support network
economy has gone off the for HIV/AIDS patients but
rails, the United Nations, has become a lifeline for
U.S. and Latin American Venezuelans suffering from
governments have called all kinds of illnesses.
for President Nicolas Mad- Every month, the group’s
uro to accept humanitar- offices in central Caracas
ian aid to ease shortages provide free medicine to
that have helped spark a some 700 people arriving
growing anti-government with a doctor’s prescrip-
protest movement. tion and looking for some
The embattled socialist of the pharmaceutical
leader has refused, seeing drugs the organization
foreign offers of help as a has collected from donors
possible Trojan horse that around the world. Its stock-
could open the politically pile, posted daily online
turbulent nation to foreign to its almost 20,000 Twitter
military intervention. The followers, runs from neatly-
ban extends to the Roman packaged drugs off the
Catholic Church’s charity assembly line to half-filled
arm. pill containers with pa-
”The humanitarian corridor tient’s names blacked out.
assumes the existence of The group also accepts
A volunteer of the non-profit Accion Solidaria organizes imported medicines alphabetically, in a a humanitarian crisis,” For- expired medicines rather
store room in Caracas, Venezuela. It’s a thankless, routine task common to pharmacies and hos- eign Minister Delcy Rodri- than provide nothing to
pitals worldwide. But this being Venezuela, where shortages are widespread, viewing the treasure guez said recently. “It’s a people in need.
trove of sometimes hard-to-find medicines can feel almost subversive. theory constructed by the “It’s not just people’s physi-
(AP Photo/Fidel Suarez) Pentagon so that the U.S. cal well-being and the
can intervene.” slow deterioration of their
By JOSHUA GOODMAN them one by one on metal- common to pharmacies But in piecemeal fash- health, but in some cases
GISELA SALOMON lic shelves in alphabetical and hospitals worldwide. ion, with painstaking ef- also the mental anguish
Associated Press order. There’s Euthyrox for But this being Venezuela, fort and quiet diplomacy, and damage that this situ-
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) thyroid problems, Clexane where shortages are wide- some groups are chipping ation produces,” said Feli-
— In a stuffy, second-floor to stop blood clots and spread, viewing the trea- away at the blockade. ciano Reyna, the nonprof-
store room, a volunteer sorts over-the-counter painkillers sure trove of sometimes They include Accion Soli- it’s founder.
through boxes of imported like ibuprofen. hard-to-find medicines can daria, which began two Venezuela’s government
medicines and arranges It’s a thankless, routine task feel almost subversive. decades ago as a small has long preferred to pro-
vide aid to other nations,
Plane with US CEO, 3 others, missing in Bahamas not see itself as a country
with deep needs of its own.
MIAMI (AP) — Authorities searched Guard spokeswoman in Miami. when air traffic control lost contact. It was among the biggest
in the Bahamas on Tuesday for a “We are still searching for survivors,” “There’s no indication of significant providers of aid to Haiti
small overdue plane with four peo- she said. adverse weather at the time,” said following the 2010 earth-
ple from the U.S. on board, includ- The people on board the plane Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Kelly, a Coast Guard quake and in March, the
ing a prominent New York business- were identified as Nathan Ulrich, 52, spokesman. same day Maduro asked
woman and her two children. of Lee, New Hampshire, and Jen- Ulrich was listed as the pilot but it the U.N. to help him im-
The U.S. Coast Guard said the twin- nifer Blumin of New York, 40, along was not known who was flying it at prove the distribution
engine MU-2B was east of the island with her 4-year-old and 10-year-old the time, Kelly said. Blumin owned of medicine supplies at
of Eleuthera on Monday when air sons. Blumin was founder and CEO the plane through a consulting com- home,
traffic control in Miami lost radar and of Skylight Group, which provides pany, according to New York State it dispatched two cargo
radio contact with the plane. It was event space around New York City, and aviation records. planes of emergency sup-
en route from Puerto Rico and never specializing in the fashion industry. Coast Guard aircraft were search- plies for flooding victims in
made it to its destination of Titusville, The company confirmed she and ing along with Customs and Border Peru.
along the northeastern coast of Flor- members of her family were on the Patrol and the Royal Bahamas De- A new bipartisan bill in the
ida. plane in a statement. fense Force about 40 miles (64 kilo- U.S. Congress would pro-
Debris and an oil slick was spotted “Her family is working with investiga- meters) east of Eleuthera. A Coast vide $10 million in humani-
east of Eleuthera but authorities tors and we politely ask that you re- Guard cutter was dispatched to tarian assistance to Ven-
were still trying to determine whether spect their privacy at this time,” the the area and was expected to ar- ezuela.
it came from the missing plane, ac- company said. rive later Tuesday to assist with the
cording to Marilyn Fajardo, a Coast Their plane was at about 24,000 feet search.q Continued on Page 27