Venezuela power struggle impedes delivery of COVID vaccine

  • Date: 23-Jan-2021
  • Source: Associated Press
  • Sector:Healthcare
  • Country:Middle East
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Venezuela power struggle impedes delivery of COVID vaccine

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) “” Venezuela's political conflict has claimed another casualty: relief from the coronavirus pandemic. The socialist government of Nicolás Maduro and the U.S.-backed opposition are accusing each other of playing politics with proposals to finance United Nations-supplied vaccines “” so far blocking any option from going ahead.The cash-strapped government, shut out from western banks by U.S. sanctions, has proposed selling some of the $2 billion in Venezuelan-owned gold ingots sitting frozen in the vaults of the Bank of England. Lawyers for Venezuela's central bank warn a "humanitarian disaster, and a potentially large loss of life“ could result if the U.K. funds aren't freed up.ADVERTISEMENTBut the opposition led by Juan Guaidó opposes that plan “” a stance that scuppers any movement until Britain's Supreme Court decides the thorny question of who is Venezuela's legitimate president, with oversight of its assets.The opposition says Maduro can't be trusted to fairly distribute the vaccine and contends the government's real aim is to create a precedent allowing it to access the bullion that has been frozen by British courts “” equal to a third of the nation's foreign currency reserves. The opposition has instead proposed tapping similarly embargoed funds it has access to