The upper echelons of the Brazilian government accused President Chávez of "orchestrating" the plan for the return of Manuel Zelaya to Tegucigalpa, who has taken refuge at the Brazilian Embassy. Advisers to Brazilian President Lula da Silva and the Foreign Ministry consulted by the newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo, pointed out that the "infrastructure, logistics and guidance to search specifically for the Brazilian embassy" for Zelaya's clandestine return was prepared by Chávez. The advisers handle the information from which Chávez urged Zelaya to seek refuge specifically at the Brazilian Embassy because it was a "safer" place since President Lula "is leading the push to let power be returned to Zelaya." It is estimated that a hundred people, including relatives and friends of Zelaya, are within the Brazilian embassy. On Wednesday, the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approved the dispatch of a parliamentary mission to Honduras, made by congressmen allied base and the opposition, who agree that the issue should be handled delicately.
During the first eight months of 2009 repression of demonstrations by government agencies has increased, which according to a study by civil associations Provea and Espacio Público have resulted in 461 people injured and 440 detainees. The study revealed that from January to August, 7% of protests in the country were suppressed, a figure that signifies an increase of 3% compared to the statistics recorded last year. The report noted that in the last eight months, 2,079 protests have been registered, representing an increase of 40% compared with 2008 when there were 1,602 street demonstrations. In total, 130 have been suppressed in 2009. The protests for labor claims rank first, with political demands (both demonstrations of the opposition and pro-government) took sixth place.
The National Assembly reported on the adoption of a law to keep military agreements with Russia confidential in order to ensure mutual protection of classified information. The government majority in the National Assembly (Congress) passed the law in a first discussion on Tuesday night and sent the report for the plenary to pass during their second debate. The law concerning the agreement between Venezuela and Russia regarding the mutual protection of classified information indicates the need to protect "all sorts of classified information, transmitted, received and generated on the development of bilateral military-technical cooperation."
Douglas León Natera, president of the Venezuelan Medical Federation, dismissed President Chávez's announcements of a new contingent of Cuban doctors arriving in the country to boost the health sector. "Do not be fooled by Chávez because these people, these 4,000 Cubans coming here, along with some Venezuelans who graduated in Cuba are not doctors, do not be fooled." He stressed that Venezuelan law requires more than 8,600 hours between training and practice for a health professional to practice medicine and now the government intends to graduate doctors with just 3,200 hours of practice and training. He said the president with this new wave of Cuban doctors intends to "once again trick the people of Venezuela" and that they are practising medicine illegally in the country. "The president is lying, no question, and has a profound contempt for health in Venezuela."
Oil workers in the east coast of Lake Maracaibo continue their indefinite strike to demand to be reinstated at PDVSA. As a form of protest 12 workers sewed their lips to pressure the authorities. They want the white ticket that would accredit them as active workers of the most important industry of the country to be delivered. A group of 21 oil workers began a hunger strike on Tuesday outside the headquarters of PDVSA in the eastern coast of Lake Maracaibo. For its part, the general secretary of the union of oil workers in Zulia state, Germán Cortéz, said in a telephone contact with Aló Ciudadano that one of the workers had been taken by firefighters to the hospital due to problems with stress. "We're not talking about casual workers, but workers with primary experience. Duly certified." He said that the state charges were given to people outside the oil industry.
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