Decked out in full firefighting gear, Elielson Silva stands 150 feet above the ground atop a retractable ladder poking up from a red fire truck.
His lofty perch is about as high as Rio de Janeiro’s colossal Maracana soccer stadium behind him. Silva faces a row of apartment buildings filled with Brazilians sheltering from the new coronavirus and watching from their windows and balconies.
He raises his silver trumpet to his lips and the notes soar toward his audience, helping extinguish the blues from being cooped up inside their homes.  
Silva plays tunes known across Brazil, but especially ones composed in and about Rio. Channeling an era that was more carefree, his songs tug at their heart strings: “Watercolor of Brazil,” “Samba of the Plane,” “Marvelous City” and “I Know I’m Going to Love You.”  
“Everyone is suffering the pandemic and I’m trying to the boost the morale of Rio’s population, so all this difficulty is lessened in these times we’re going through,” says Silva, an 18-year veteran of the city’s firefighting corps. “Bringing a bit of music, a bit of air, to these people has meant a lot to me as a musician and to the corps.”  
Raised to heights of up to 200 feet, he has performed all over the city. That includes tourist hot spots that these days are eerily empty — like Copacabana beach and the base of Sugarloaf Mountain — and working-class communities Rocinha and Jacarepagua. On Sunday, he played in three separate neighborhoods, always sporting his heavy, fire-resistant jacket and fire helmet despite temperatures above 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  
He draws cheers and enthusiastic clapping.
“Hearing all that music restores our will to be in Rio, our sense of collectiveness,” Renata Versiani said from her windowsill, where she watched Silva play with her husband and young daughter. “Initiatives like this remind us of who we are as a community. It’s happiness to have a surprise like this.”
Versiani knows the emotional value of such gestures. She’s a psychologist whose family, by her telling, has “surrendered” to the calls to stay inside their home.  
Rio’s firefighters were the front line of the state government’s initial campaign to raise awareness about the need for people to isolate themselves and help contain the virus’ spread. They patrolled the city’s legendary beaches, playing a recording that urged beachgoers to head home, and spoke to people walking on the streets.  
Since Rio’s governor imposed restrictive measures, the firefighters have been seen waving people off the beaches.  
Brazil is in the midst of a pitched battle over the effectiveness of isolation, with President Jair Bolsonaro dismissing the virus’ severity and publicly taking aim at governors who impose shutdowns that he says could cripple the economy. His gatherings in public with supporters counter instructions from international health authorities and his own health ministry.
Brazilians seem to be more atuned to the experts. A survey by the polling firm Datafolha in the opening days of April found that 76% of Brazilians surveyed support social isolation.
Silva is striving to make social distancing seem a little less distant.  
In Rio’s Flamengo neighborhood, the sun glinted off his horn as he played his final numbers — Brazil’s national anthem, then “Hallelujah.” Onlookers surrounding him began applauding with their arms above their heads as his ladder telescoped downward.  
“Congratulations to these heroes,” Silva said, motioning to firefighters on the ground.  
Then he put his hands over his heart, and took a modest bow.
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The president of El Salvador warned on Monday that security forces had been ordered to enforce quarantine orders more rigorously to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, confining offenders to “containment centers” and confiscating their cars.   “The restrictions are the same, but we are going to be much tougher to enforce them,” President Nayib Bukele said in a televised address to the impoverished central American nation of around 6 million people.   In neighboring Honduras, the Security Ministry said it would temporarily ban the carrying of firearms for everyone except those transporting, food, cargo and other goods deemed essential during the health crisis.   Bukele said he had instructed his security and defense ministers take firmer action enforcing quarantine measures in the country, which has confirmed 78 cases of the virus, with four deaths so far.   In addition to having their cars confiscated, those who violate the quarantine orders will also be taken to “containment centers” for 30 days, Bukele said.  He added that national quarantine measures would be extended by 15 days, without specifying the precise date when they would end. Bukele also outlined a plan to track down people who are carriers of the virus and place them in observation.  
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They whiled away the week on a sex- and drug-fueled romp: dancing on white-sand beaches and frolicking on a paradisaical Caribbean island with prostitutes from Europe, some snapping selfies with famous reggaeton artists.But unbeknownst to several children of Venezuela’s ruling elite, the coronavirus was spreading among them.  For some of Venezuela’s high-flying “Bolichicos” — the privileged offspring of the socialist revolution — the party hasn’t stopped amid a widening pandemic in a country already gripped by crisis.To date, the virus has claimed only seven confirmed fatalities in Venezuela. But the potential is high for the pandemic to overwhelm an already crippled health system, where hospitals lack water, electricity and supplies.  It’s not clear how many people got sick last month on the Los Roques archipelago. But a raucous party that became a cluster of infections has raised concerns at the highest level of the government and drawn condemnation from Venezuelans locked down at home for weeks.”There was a party, on an island, and practically everyone at the party is testing positive,” embattled leader Nicolás Maduro said on state TV March 20.  Three days later, as embarrassing Instagram posts leaked out under the hashtag #CoronavirusParty, he downplayed it.  “Who is going to criticize a party? They didn’t know they were sick,” said Maduro, who was indicted by the U.S. last month on narcotics charges.Whether it’s crowded Miami beaches during spring break or clandestine raves in Spain and Italy in the pandemic’s early days, parties among the young and rich have been tough to tamp down.  In Latin America, the world’s most unequal region, jet-setting elites are blamed for importing the virus. In Mexico, for example, nearly 20 people were found to be infected after returning from a ski trip to Vail, Colorado. But it’s the poor — lacking medical care and struggling to hold down informal jobs — who bear the brunt.In Venezuela, engulfed by food and medicine shortages that have forced 5 million to flee, lavish celebrations are even more vexing. Such pockets of wealth are also harder to see amid incessant propaganda extolling the hardworking poor.  The festivities in Los Roques were organized by several government-connected businessmen, according to two people familiar with the gatherings who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.  While neither of the two people who spoke to The Associated Press were at the party, they have attended other gatherings with the same group and are in contact with several of those who went.Among the young revelers was Jesús Amoroso, son of Maduro’s top anti-corruption official, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for allegedly undermining Venezuela’s democracy.  The two people said Venezuelan prostitutes from Madrid and London were flown in just before air travel was closed to Spain, one of the nations hit hardest by the pandemic.  A smaller group crossed paths with two famous Puerto Rican reggaeton artists, Zion and Justin Quiles, who are seen with Amoroso on a sun-struck powerboat in photos and videos on social media.  A spokeswoman said Zion and Quiles were in the islands to shoot a video and didn’t attend any social event. Both tested negative for the virus.  In a nation plagued by misery, Los Roques is an oasis for the few who can afford it, including aides and relatives of top officials who travel by private plane to the band of tiny islands. Parties in the cluster of tiny islands have become more popular, with Miami, Madrid and New York out of reach after U.S. sanctions cut off access to foreign bank accounts and easy travel. Among them are Maduro’s sons, according to the two people, although none attended the latest gathering.  Usually, the parties feature psychedelic 2C-B drugs — known as “pink cocaine” for its high price and pink, powdery substance, the two people said.  One of them provided a video of the recent soiree, showing bikini-clad women dancing on March 11 at a beachfront home rented from an exiled Venezuelan banker.  According to a third person familiar with the situation, the next day a larger entourage set out in several boats to a popular spot that locals call “Corrupt Cay.” They didn’t know the virus was spreading.”Certainly one of the girls had the virus and nobody knew,” a local resident and partygoer said in an audio message leaked on social media. The person, whose authenticity was verified by one of the two people who used to attend the parties, recounted how he and his girlfriend had to be evacuated with high fevers. He said six people tested positive for the virus.  The party ended with a hangover: Everyone was tested, and some, embarrassed, closed their social media accounts.Others defended their actions.”Suck it gossipers,” Amoroso said on Instagram with a photo showing him in front of a luxury SUV, middle fingers raised.  Last week, police arrested several people who were in Los Roques, including the suspected madam for the upscale prostitutes, after breaking up a multiday party in an upscale Caracas home. Officers found a handgun, ecstasy pills and eight women belonging to a suspected prostitution ring, according the police report.  Of the 18 arrested for violating Maduro’s ban on large gatherings, two tested positive for the virus, according to police.  The scandal still rankles people in the Caracas slum of Petare. Miguel Rengifo, who drives a motorcycle-taxi, said he’s appalled at reports of the rich throwing parties while the country is on lockdown.”We’re struggling to eat, but they’re running free, drinking, chasing girls without a second thought about the rest of us,” the 38-year-old said. “Here, we are fighting just to get by.” 
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Former Mexican lawmaker Juan Antonio Vera Carrizal is under arrest for allegedly ordering the acid attack on a saxophone player last September. Oaxaca state police say Vera was the main suspect in the case, where acid was thrown on saxophonist María Elena Ríos Ortiz by a man pretending to be a customer at the travel agency where she worked. Reuters news agency said Ortiz believed her ex-boyfriend was behind the attack.  The motive for the attack on Ortiz was not clear.  Interpol has reportedly arrested a second man in connection with the crime, which is part of a disturbing trend of violence against women in Latin America. Women’s rights activists say there have been more than a dozen cases of acid attacks in Mexico over the past decade.   
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Mexico has seen a drastic increase in coronavirus cases in the last few days, prompting the government to announce strict social distancing guidelines. However, up until about a week ago, the Mexican government had done very little to prevent the spread of the disease. VOA reporter Iacopo Luzi spoke via Skype with two doctors about how the country is dealing with this health emergency
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Mexico’s President said there will not be a big economic stimulus package related to the coronavirus pandemic, although the country is facing a crisis unlike anything before. Andrés Manuel López Obrador struck an optimistic tone Sunday, uncommon elsewhere nowadays, as the COVID-19 has drastically slowed the economy around the world. “This crisis is temporary, transitory and will soon return to normal. We will defeat the coronavirus, we will revive the economy and Mexico will continue to stand up and show the world its glory and greatness,” Obrador said.    Mexico’s economy has already been in recession. Last week, Mexico’s Treasury said the country’s economy would contract up to 3.9% in 2020 because of the coronavirus. Private analysts have predicted a deeper dive. Thursday, Bank of America said that Mexico’s GDP could contract 8% this year.Mexico is a close economic partner of the United States and it is expected to have directly or indirectly some benefit from the $2 trillion stimulus package approved by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Donald Trump. As of Sunday, Mexico had confirmed 94 deaths related to the coronavirus and over 2,100 infections. 
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For Pope Francis at the Vatican, and for Christians worldwide from churches large and small, this will be an Easter like none other: The joyous message of Jesus Christ’s resurrection will be delivered to empty pews.Worries about the coronavirus outbreak have triggered widespread cancellations of Holy Week processions and in-person services. Many pastors will preach on TV or online, tailoring sermons to account for the pandemic. Many extended families will reunite via Face Time and Zoom rather than around a communal table laden with an Easter feast on April 12.”I’ll miss Mass and the procession,” said Aida Franco, 86, a retired teacher from Quito, Ecuador. “But God knows better.”Pope Francis, the first pontiff from Latin America, will be celebrating Mass for Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday and Easter in a near-empty St. Peter’s Basilica, instead of in the huge square outside filled with Catholic faithful.In the pope’s native Argentina, the archbishopric of La Plata encouraged the faithful to use any type of plant at home for a “virtual” blessing that will be livestreamed during Palm Sunday services this weekend.The pandemic has prompted cancellation of a renowned annual tradition of sawdust and handmade flower carpets coating the streets of Antigua, a colonial Guatemalan city, during its Holy Week procession. Instead, some residents will make smaller carpets to display outside their homes.”We know this is happening because of some message from God,” said Cesar Alvarez, who has been making the multicolored carpets with his family for 28 years. “But we’re taking it with a lot of sadness.”A leaflet listing Holy Week activities sits among empty pews during a live-streamed mass at the St. Augustine Church & Catholic Student Center, March 29, 2020, in Coral Gables, Fla.In some communities, there are innovative efforts to boost Eastertime morale.At Asbury United Methodist Church in Prairie Village, Kansas, family ministries director Heather Jackson is organizing an Easter egg hunt that embraces social distancing. Parents and children are creating colorful images of Easter eggs to display in windows or on garage doors, and the “hunt” will entail families driving around in their cars, or strolling on foot, trying to spot as many eggs as possible.”It’s about keeping people safe while maintaining that sense of joy,” Jackson said. “It will be a difficult time, because it’s a time for families to come together and right now we just can’t do that.”If not for the virus, 32-year-old Chris Burton — a writer, teacher and devout Baptist in Brooklyn, New York — would be planning a trip to Maryland for Easter dinner with his family.Instead, he plans to watch the online service of his church, Trinity Baptist, and then catch up with relatives by phone.Burton, who has experienced five bouts of pneumonia since 2011, has blogged about the need to shelter in place. Yet he still hopes this Easter will rekindle the uplifting emotions he’s cherished since wearing his Easter suit in childhood.”All that’s happening doesn’t mean we need to be somber,” he said.In Venezuela, Catholic officials said that after the Holy Week liturgies, some priests would try to take the Blessed Sacrament — the wine and bread of Holy Communion — on a vehicle and, using loudspeakers, invite congregants to join in spirit from their windows and balconies.A similar used of priest-carrying vehicles was proposed in the Philippines, Asia’s bastion of Catholicism.In Brazil, the world’s biggest Catholic country, Rio de Janeiro’s huge Christ the Redeemer statue has been closed indefinitely. Large Holy Week gatherings are banned in several states after a federal court overruled a decree by President Jair Bolsonaro exempting religious services from quarantine measures.Many faithful across Latin America say they’ll miss Holy Week’s observances, yet there is acceptance of the cancellations.The owners of a house known for their seasonal decorations have put up a display combining Easter and coronavirus-related social distancing measures in their yard, seen April 1, 2020, in Washington, D.C.”It’s sad because we can’t be with our Lord in his Calvary, but it’s fine,” said Felipe Navarrete of Santiago, Chile. “The health of the population comes first, and we have to be responsible with older people who join these rituals the most.”Many pastors are pondering their upcoming Easter sermons, including the Rev. Steven Paulikas of All Saints Episcopal Church in Brooklyn. His sermon will be transmitted online but delivered in an empty church.”It’s started me thinking about the empty tomb,” he said, referring to the biblical account of Christ’s resurrection after his crucifixion.”That emptiness was actually the first symbol of this new life,” Paulikas said.On the evening of April 9 — Holy Thursday commemorating the Last Supper of Jesus and his apostles — Paulikas is organizing a communal supper for his congregation, hoping members will join via Face Time.At St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Brunswick, Ohio, Father Bob Stec also is organizing a pre-Easter initiative, arranging for each of the parish’s 5,500 families to get a friendly call from another member.He’s expecting upwards of 20,000 people to watch the online Easter service.”We’re going to try to flood their senses visually and audibly with the sounds and images that will give them hope,” he said.Stec knows the key point of his own message.”This is one of those wake-up calls,” he said. “We’re more aware than ever how desperately we need God in our lives.”In Atlanta, an Easter message for Emory University is being prepared by Robert Franklin, a professor at Emory’s Candler School of Theology.”The first Easter with its joyful surprise emerged out of suffering, fear, suspicion, death, sorrow and grief,” Franklin writes. “Easter in the time of COVID-19 is closer existentially to that first Easter than to our customary cultural festivals of self-indulgence and triumphalism.”  
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A gang battle in Mexico has left at least 19 people dead in the northern state of Chihuahua, officials said Saturday.At least five armed clashes have occurred in the Madera community so far this year, local authorities have said.”The state attorney general, in conjunction with the public safety office and Mexican army, launched an operation to investigate and locate armed groups that staged a confrontation that left 19 people dead yesterday in the town of Madera,” authorities said.According to early reports, the bloodshed occurred Friday evening when alleged hitmen of the Gente Nueva group, part of the Sinaloa Cartel, were driving on a dirt road in Madera.There they were ambushed by men from the opposing group La Linea, part of the Juarez Cartel.Responding authorities seized 18 long firearms, one short, two vehicles and two grenades at the site of the clash.The Mexican government has blamed the La Linea cartel for the massacre of nine Mexican American Mormons last November when they were traveling on a rural road between the states of Sonora and Chihuahua, which borders the United States.
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As the coronavirus continues to spread in Haiti, some people are embracing traditional remedies as a way to prevent or cure the deadly virus. VOA talked to Haitians at an open-air market about what they believe can prevent them from being infected or perhaps even heal them.“They say there’s no cure for it, but we can eat limes and drink water with Clorox to stay alive,” a female street merchant told VOA.“I hear people say you should eat limes and eat certain leaves to stay healthy,” a male street merchant said.Haiti currently has 18 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with more than 400 people quarantined while they await test results, the public health ministry announced Friday.VOA Creole asked Pierre Hugues Saint-Jean, president of the national Association of Pharmacists, if there’s any validity to the traditional remedies being touted on the streets.“There actually has been a debate about the virtues of certain plants. Some people say ginger, others say limes, some people are talking about aloe,” Saint-Jean said. “Just because it’s a plant doesn’t mean it has no scientific validity. But you have to study the plant, isolate the active substances contained in the plant and then conduct (scientific) studies.”A flatbed truck travels on the streets of Port-au-Prince on April 3, 2020. The sign says “Coronavirus is lethal. Wash your hands, protect yourself.”Saint-Jean said this kind of in-depth study can determine what preventive attributes the plant may hold that perhaps later could be used to treat illnesses.Traditional cures are part of the Haitian culture and are widely used. Native tropical plants such as moringa, palma christi, verbena and aloe are routinely used to treat health ailments such as colds and flu. In fact, the health ministry has a special branch devoted to traditional medicine.“If we talk about lime as a cure, I can tell you that limes have a lot of positive attributes. Limes have an abundance of vitamin C, which helps to reinforce the immune system,” explained Cajuste Romel, vice president of the national pharmacists association.Some people are taking drugs such as chloroquine, sold on the streets of Port-au-Prince, as a preventative measure. Chloroquine (phosphate) is an effective antimalarial drug, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.“Any pill I find being sold on the street (as a cure) I will buy it because I’ve got problems,” a customer at an open-air market told VOA.Saint-Jean said he understands why people believe the drug can cure them.“Laboratory tests on chloroquine had some positive results on malaria, and recent tests have shown that it does have a level of success against the coronavirus, that’s why researchers are studying,” he said.This street merchant, shown in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on April 3, 2020, believes eating limes and drinking water infused with Clorox will keep her healthy.As of now, there is no cure for the highly contagious COVID-19, although researchers have begun searching for one. Health experts say a vaccine will not be available in 2020.Romel told VOA that taking chloroquine preventatively is not a good idea.“Chloroquine cannot prevent you from being infected with the coronavirus,” he said.  As for adding Clorox (bleach) to water, the pharmacist advised caution.“Clorox is one of the best disinfectants that exist on Earth. It’s not only efficient but also accessible,” he told VOA. “But it worries me (to hear people are drinking it in water) because it’s also toxic. That’s why you have to be very careful about how much you are adding to the water you’re drinking.”Romel said he hopes the government will include the proper proportion of Clorox to water in its coronavirus public advisories.“Haitians think if they can smell the Clorox, then it’s more effective,” Romel noted. “The truth is the stronger the smell, the more toxic it is.”  
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All Americans should wear nonmedical masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, the U.S. government is recommending.The new guidelines, from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention amid the coronavirus pandemic, were announced Friday by President Donald Trump.Trump stressed the recommendation was voluntary and said he would not be following it.“You can do it. You don’t have to do it. I’m choosing not to do it,” he told reporters.“Somehow, sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute Desk, wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens — I just don’t see it,” Trump elaborated.Some lack symptomsThe U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Jerome Adams, said donning the masks was, however, a good idea to try to prevent the virus from spreading, since many infected with it do not show any symptoms.“We now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms,” he said. “This means that the virus can spread between people interacting in close proximity — for example, coughing, speaking or sneezing.”The president and other officials stressed that people should not use the medical-grade masks, which are in short supply and needed by first responders and health professionals.“The CDC is recommending that Americans wear a basic cloth or fabric mask that can be either purchased online or simply made at home,” Trump said.He also announced that he was invoking the Defense Production Act to halt the export of “scarce health and medical supplies by unscrupulous actors and profiteers.”“We need these items immediately for domestic use,” Trump said. “We have to have them.”FILE – Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference on the coronavirus at Rideau Cottage, in Ottawa, Ontario, March 29, 2020.Canada, meanwhile, warned the Trump administration about halting the supply of masks to its neighbor and ally.“The level of integration between our economies goes both ways across the border,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday. “It would be a mistake to create blockages or reduce the amount of back-and-forth trade of essential goods and services, including medical goods, across our border. That is the point we’re making to the American administration right now.”Canada will “pull out all the stops” to prevent the United States from blocking the exports of some medical equipment, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said.Warning from 3MA major manufacturer of the N95 respirators was also upset about the Trump administration’s action.There are “significant humanitarian implications of ceasing respirator supplies to health care workers in Canada and Latin America, where we are a critical supplier of respirators,” 3M, a Minnesota-based multinational conglomerate, said in a statement Friday. “In addition, ceasing all export of respirators produced in the United States would likely cause other countries to retaliate and do the same, as some have already done. If that were to occur, the net number of respirators being made available to the United States would actually decrease.””I don’t blame ‘em — they can push back if they want,” Trump said when asked by VOA about the company’s comment. “We’re not happy with 3M.”FILE – N95 respiration masks are seen at a 3M laboratory that has been contracted by the U.S. government to produce extra marks in response to the coronavirus outbreak, in Maplewood, Minnesota, March 4, 2020.The pandemic has yet to peak in the United States, amid an estimation by the White House that 100,000 to 240,000 people in the country could die of the new coronavirus  in the next couple of months, even if social distancing was strictly followed.The response coordinator for the White House coronavirus task force, Dr. Deborah Birx, said the numbers go could higher if there was another big outbreak in a major metropolitan area similar to the one in New York City.She noted officials were continuing to watch the situation in Detroit and Chicago and expressed new concern about the states of Colorado and Pennsylvania, as well as Washington, D.C.“The models show hundreds of thousands of people are going to die” in the United States, the president said. “I want much less than that. I want none. But it’s too late for that.”Biggest jumpNew York state registered its biggest single-day increase in COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.He said 562 people had died of the virus in the last 24 hours, adding that there were more than 100,000 confirmed infections in the state.This is the “highest single increase in the number of deaths since we started,” he said Friday.Looking ahead, in the near term, Cuomo warned that more people were going to die in hospitals because of a lack of ventilators.New York is the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States, the country with the most COVID-19 cases.  As of Friday, according to FILE – Patients wearing face masks and personal protective equipment wait on line for COVID-19 testing outside Elmhurst Hospital Center, March 27, 2020, in New York City.The economic health of the nation also is in jeopardy. Economists are forecasting the U.S. unemployment rate soon will surpass levels seen during the global financial crisis 12 years ago.A total of 701,000 jobs were lost last month, according to the U.S. Labor Department, but its data did not include those Americans who lost employment in the past two weeks and filed claims.”The devastating news in the March jobs report demands our next step be to go bigger and further assisting small business, to go longer in unemployment benefits and to provide additional direct payments,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement after the Friday release of the Labor Department number.“We must also provide the desperately needed resources for our hospitals, health systems, health workers and state and local governments on the front lines of this crisis,” she said.Hardships to increaseWhite House economic officials said they would not sugarcoat the damage that the pandemic was doing to the U.S. economy.“The whole pandemic and its consequences have come on exponentially faster” than anyone expected, Larry Kudlow, director of the U.S. National Economic Council, told reporters Friday at the White House. “Those numbers and those hardships are going to get worse before they get better.”Loans backed by the U.S. government began going out on Friday to small businesses so they could keep workers on their payrolls amid a widespread shutdown of the economy because of stay-at-home orders in a majority of states.The White House also announced Friday that anyone who is expected to be in close proximity to either the president or Vice President Mike Pence “will be administered a COVID-19 test to evaluate for pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic carriers’ status to limit inadvertent transmission.”The tests were to be initiated on Friday. Journalists in the room for the coronavirus task force briefing were not tested, indicating that close proximity apparently means those who may come within a distance of a meter or two of Trump or Pence.
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Canada is warning the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump about halting the supply of masks needed by first responders in the international battle against the coronavirus.  
 
“The level of integration between our economies goes both ways across the border,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. “It would be a mistake to create blockages or reduce the amount of back-and-forth trade of essential goods and services, including medical goods across our border. That is the point we’re making to the American administration right now.”  
 
Canada will “pull out all the stops” to prevent the United States from blocking the exports of some medical equipment, said Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.  
 
The Trump administration Thursday invoked the Defense Production Act to require 3M, a Minnesota-based multinational conglomerate, to prioritize orders from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for N95 respirators.  
 
There are “significant humanitarian implications of ceasing respirator supplies to healthcare workers in Canada and Latin America, where we are a critical supplier of respirators,” the company said in a statement Friday. “In addition, ceasing all export of respirators produced in the United States would likely cause other countries to retaliate and do the same, as some have already done. If that were to occur, the net number of respirators being made available to the United States would actually decrease.”FILE – N95 respiration masks are seen at a 3M laboratory that has been contracted by the U.S. government to produce extra marks in response to the coronavirus outbreak, in Maplewood, Minnesota, March 4, 2020.Asked by VOA about 3M’s response to the order, the director of the U.S. National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow, indicated he had not yet read the letter but said “let me take a look at it.”  
 
Health care workers across the country continue to complain about a shortage of the protective equipment. The demand may surge even more in the coming days amid anticipation the Centers for Disease Control will recommend that Americans, especially in coronavirus hot spots, cover their mouths to prevent widening infections.  
 
Trump suggested Thursday people could put scarves on their faces instead of using conventional masks.  
 
The pandemic has yet to peak in the United States, amid an estimation by the White House that in the next couple of months as many as 240,000 people in the country could die of the new coronavirus.  
 
The state of New York has registered its biggest single-day increase in COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations, according to its governor, Andrew Cuomo.  
 
In the last 24 hours, 562 people had died of the virus in New York, said Cuomo, announcing there are more than 100,000 confirmed infections in the state.FILE – Patients wearing face masks and personal protective equipment wait on line for COVID-19 testing outside Elmhurst Hospital Center, March 27, 2020, in New York City.This is the “highest single increase in the number of deaths since we started,” he remarked Friday.   
 
Looking ahead, in the near term, the governor warned that more people are going to die in hospitals due to a lack of ventilators.  
 
New York is the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States, the country with the most COVID-19 cases.  
 
As of Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University, there are more than 245,000 COVID-19 cases in the country, with nearly 6,600 deaths. 
 
The virus is projected to become the top killer in the country on peak days this month, according to a daily tracker set up by an organization of assisted living facilities.  
 
The economic health of the nation also is in jeopardy. Economists are forecasting the U.S. unemployment rate soon will surpass levels seen during the global financial crisis 12 years ago.   
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Panama is now using a gender-based plan to support restrictions already in place to contain a COVID-19 outbreak.Panama Security Minister Juan Pino said that until April 15, men and women can only leave their homes for a two-hour period on certain days.The plan permits women to leave home to buy goods on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.Men in Panama are allowed out on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  No one is permitted to leave home on Sunday unless it’s an emergency.It’s unclear how the separation of men of women in public will enhance Panama’s ability to curtail the growing infection rate.Panama has also tightened its nightly curfew, instead of people not being allowed out between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., the curfew now starts at 5 p.m.Panama’s health ministry has reported 1,475 coronavirus cases, with 37 deaths. 
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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is scheduled to begin two days of hospital visits Friday as the government scrambles to make ready dozens of facilities with the capability of treating coronavirus patients.The move comes as crews begin sanitizing a public hospital in the northern town of Monclova, in Coahuila state, where at least 26 medical workers tested positive for the virus and a doctor died.Authorities say the hospital staff is being retrained on how to handle coronavirus cases following the doctor’s death.Prior to the doctor’s death, medical workers at the hospital and several other medical facilities across Mexico staged protests over training and equipment needed to safely treat coronavirus patients.The latest outbreak has raised public concern over the strength of the government’s plan to fight the virus, which has infected more than 1,300 people in Mexico and claimed the lives of 37 people. 
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Officials in Brazil say the first indigenous person in the South American nation to test positive for the coronavirus is in isolation with her family.Authorities in Brazil say the 20-year-old woman, who is from the Kokama ethnic group in the Amazon rainforest, worked with a doctor who tested positive for the virus last week after returning from vacation.A spokesman for Brazil’s Indigenous Health unit said Wednesday that she showed no symptoms of the virus, which has infected 6,836 people across Brazil, the nation with the highest infection rate in Latin America. So far the disease claimed the lives of 241 people.The French News Press (AFP) says 12 indigenous patients and 14 other people who worked with the infected doctor are awaiting coronavirus test results.Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said the health of Brazil’s indigenous people is a big concern because their communal lifestyle may help spread the virus.Mandetta said indigenous leaders are already quarantined for two weeks when they return from overseas trips to avoid bringing outside diseases into their communities.
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Thousands of Peru reservists are joining security forces and police in enforcing the mandatory quarantine aimed at stopping the spread of the new coronavirus.President Martin Vizcarra is calling up more than 10,000 reservists to patrol neighborhoods as thousands of people continue to violate a national stay-at-home order and guidelines for social distancing.Reservists who refuse to report for duty face a fine of $1,200.Although President Vizcarra declared a state of emergency and ordered people to stay home through April 12, a military spokesman said Wednesday that thousands of people have been detained for violating the dusk-to-dawn stay-off-the-streets order.So far, Peru has 1,065 cases of coronavirus, and 30 people have died.
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President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Navy ships were being moved toward Venezuela as his administration beefs up counternarcotics operations in the Caribbean following a U.S. drug indictment against Nicolas Maduro.”The Venezuelan people continue to suffer tremendously due to Maduro and his criminal control over the country, and drug traffickers are seizing on this lawlessness,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said after the president’s announcement.The mission involves sending additional Navy warships, surveillance aircraft and special forces teams to nearly double the U.S. counternarcotics capacity in the Western Hemisphere, with forces operating both in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Esper said 22 partner nations would support the mission.As nations around the world focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, “there is a growing threat that cartels, criminals, terrorists and other malign actors will try to exploit the situation for their own gain,” said Trump. “We must not let that happen.”The enhanced mission has been months in the making but has taken on greater urgency following last week’s indictment of Maduro, Venezuela’s embattled socialist leader, and members of his inner circle and military. They are accused of leading a narcoterrorist conspiracy responsible for smuggling up to 250 metric tons of cocaine a year into the U.S., about half of it by sea.FILE – Opposition leader Juan Guaido waves to supporters during a rally at Bolivar Plaza in Chacao, Venezuela, Feb. 11, 2020.Attacks on GuaidoThe mission comes as Maduro has stepped up attacks on his U.S.-backed rival, Juan Guaido. Maduro’s chief prosecutor ordered Guaido to provide testimony Thursday as part of an investigation into an alleged coup attempt. Guaido, the head of Venezuela’s congress who is recognized as his country’s legitimate leader by the U.S. and almost 60 other nations, is unlikely to show up, raising the possibility he could be arrested. The U.S. has long insisted it will not tolerate any harm against Guaido.”No matter where you sit ideologically, any move to try to bring democracy back to Venezuela requires first recognizing the criminal nature of the Maduro regime, and making moves that scare the regime into negotiating,” said Raul Gallegos, a Bogota, Colombia-based director in the Andean region for Control Risks, a consulting group.  Maduro has blasted the Trump administration’s offer of a $15 million reward for his arrest, calling it the work of a “racist cowboy” aimed at getting U.S. hands on Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, the world’s largest. He also points out that the vast majority of cocaine leaves South America from Colombia, a staunch U.S. ally.Others have faulted a U.S. plan, unveiled Tuesday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to create a five-member council without Maduro or Guaido to govern the country until elections can be held within a year. While it’s the first attempt in months by the U.S. to seek a negotiated solution to Venezuela’s stalemate, coming on the heels of the indictments, many say it has little hope of succeeding and is likely to drive Maduro further away from the path of dialogue.  The Trump administration has long insisted that all options are on the table for removing Maduro, including military ones. Still, there’s no indication that any sort of U.S. invasion is being planned.  Rather, the sending of ships fits into a long-standing call by the U.S. Southern Command for additional assets to combat security threats in the hemisphere.FILE – The USS Detroit, pictured in Detroit on Oct. 14, 2016, is part of a new breed of naval vessel, designed to work in shallow waters and operate with speed and agility.In January, another Navy vessel, the USS Detroit, conducted a freedom-of-navigation operation off the coast of Venezuela in a show of pressure against Maduro.  “That presence sends a big statement about U.S. commitment, it sends a big statement to our friends, it reassures them, and then to our adversaries that those are capable performers,” Admiral Craig Faller, the head of the U.S. military’s Southern Command, said in congressional testimony last month.Ship collisionThe report of the planned deployment comes two days after one of Venezuela’s naval patrol boats sank after colliding with a Portuguese-flagged cruise ship near the Venezuelan-controlled island of La Tortuga. Maduro accused the ship of acting aggressively and said it was possibly carrying “mercenaries” seeking his ouster.  “You have to be very naive to see this as an isolated incident,” Maduro said Tuesday night on state TV.  But Columbia Cruise Services, the operator of the cruise ship, said the patrol boat fired gunshots and then purposely rammed into the liner at speed. There were no passengers on board and none of its 32 crew members were injured, the company said.
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U.S. federal agents seized a large cache of drugs from a long tunnel used by smugglers to move them across the U.S.-Mexico border.The 600-meter long tunnel, which ran under a series of warehouses from the northern Mexican border town of Tijuana to the southern California city of San Diego, was discovered on March 19 by the San Diego Tunnel Task Force, a special unit made up of agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies. Among the drugs stashed in the tunnel were nearly 600 kilograms of cocaine, 1,360 kilograms of marijuana, plus smaller amounts of methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl. The tunnel’s entrance was near a newly constructed segment of the border wall that President Donald Trump visited back in September that has become a hallmark of his hardline policy of keeping undocumented immigrants from entering the United States.Critics say the border wall will have no effect on the elaborately built tunnels commonly used by smugglers to sneak drugs into the U.S.No arrests were made in connection with last month’s discovery.A 1,300-meter long tunnel complete with an extensive rail cart system, electricity and ventilation was discovered in the same area back in January, which federal agents said was the longest underground tunnel ever found along the U.S.-Mexican border. 
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How should the U.N. General Assembly and its 193 member states respond to the coronavirus pandemic? Members have been sent two rival resolutions for consideration — and under new voting rules instituted because the global body isn’t holding meetings, if a single country objects a resolution is defeated.One resolution, which has more than 135 co-sponsors, calls for “intensified international cooperation to contain, mitigate and defeat the pandemic, including by exchanging information, scientific knowledge and best practices and by applying the relevant guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization.”The other, sponsored by Russia with support from Central African Republic, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, also recognizes the leading role of WHO in combating the pandemic, but it calls for abandoning trade wars and implementing protectionist measures, and not applying unilateral sanctions without U.N. Security Council approval.General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande sent both resolutions to all member states late Monday afternoon under a so-called “silence procedure,” saying they had 72 hours until 6 p.m. EDT on Thursday to send an objection, or break silence.  Normally, General Assembly resolutions are adopted by majority votes or by consensus. But in this case, because ambassadors are working from their missions or from home as a result of COVID-19, the new rule calls for silence procedures for all votes.Under the procedure, if a country supports a resolution, it does nothing. If it opposes a resolution, it sends an email breaking silence, which scuttles a resolution’s approval even if it has overwhelming support.In this case, both resolutions could be adopted or defeated, or one could be adopted and the other defeated.The resolution calling for international cooperation is sponsored by Ghana, Indonesia, Liechtenstein, Norway, Singapore and Switzerland and has over 130 co-sponsors.It would also reaffirm the General Assembly’s “commitment to international cooperation and multilateralism and its strong support for the central role of the United Nations system in the global response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.”  It would also emphasize the need to respect human rights and oppose “any form of discrimination, racism and xenophobia in the response to the pandemic.”The draft also recognizes “the unprecedented effects of the pandemic, including the severe disruption to societies and economies, as well as to global travel and commerce, and the devastating impact on the livelihood of people,” and that “the poorest and most vulnerable are the hardest hit.”Norway’s U.N. Ambassador Mona Juul told AP: “In this moment of great uncertainty and global anxiety caused by COVID-19, it is important for the voice of the United Nations General Assembly – as the universal body of nations – to be heard loud and clear.””Our wish is that the assembly urgently send a strong message of unity, solidarity and international cooperation,” she said. “People around the world expect no less from the United Nations.”The Russian draft resolution is drafted as a “declaration of solidarity of the United Nations in the face of the challenges posed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).”It pledges “to take a comprehensive, science-based approach in elaborating, implementing and improving measures to slow down the transmission of, reverse and eventually defeat COVID-19,” following WHO rules and recommendations and supports those people and countries most affected.”We are resolved to prevent financial speculations which hinder access for all to essential health-care services and quality, safe, effective and affordable essential medicines, vaccines, personal protection and food items,” the draft says.”We are resolved to cooperate in addressing the disruptions to international trade and the market uncertainty due to the pandemic, mitigating the damage caused to the global economy by the spread of COVID-19, and promoting economic growth throughout the world, especially in developing countries,” the draft says.Fedor Strzhizhovskiy, spokesman for Russia’s U.N. Mission, said: “We consider the Russian draft declaration … to be more result-oriented than the alternative draft declaration that we believe is too general.””We were also ready to work on merging the two drafts,” he said. “However, authors of the other initiative declined such a scenario.” 
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Prosecutors in Mexico are vowing to punish the person or persons who gunned down a newspaper journalist earlier this week. Maria Elena Ferral, a correspondent for the Diario de Xalapa in the eastern state of Veracruz, was shot several times Monday in the city of Papantla.  Police say Ferra was shot several times by a group of gunmen on motorbikes as she was getting into her car. Ferral had complained many times in the past that she had received death threats and had been harassed on numerous occasions. Veracruz state is plagued by drug violence and police corruption.  Mexico is notorious for being one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists.  Over 100 journalists have been murdered in the Central American nation since 2000. 
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The United States says it is willing to lift sanctions against Venezuela in exchange for the formation of a transitional government comprised of allies of President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday.
 
The plan calls on Maduro and Guaido to hand over power to a five-member council until presidential and parliamentary elections can be held within the next year.
 
Pompeo called on Maduro and Guaido to form a transitional government which would be tasked with scheduling elections within six to 12 months.
 
Pompeo said the U.S. would welcome efforts by Guaido to seek office in future elections, but maintained the U.S. position that Maduro must go.FILE – Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a news conference at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, March 12, 2020.The U.S. and more than 50 countries recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s interim leader.
 
“We’ve made clear all along that Nicolas Maduro will never again govern Venezuela,” Pompeo said at a Washington news conference Tuesday.
 
Pompeo said the U.S. continues to support Guaido and added, “When we put together this pathway to democracy, we worked closely with him.”
 
The U.S.’ top diplomat said sanctions “will remain in effect, and increase, until the Maduro regime accepts a genuine political transition.”  
 
The oil-rich country’s economy, already weakened by a U.S. economic pressure campaign, has been dealt subsequent blows by the coronavirus pandemic and falling oil prices. The coronavirus has also crippled the country’s health care system.Opposition leader Juan Guaido waves to supporters during a rally at Bolivar Plaza, in Chacao, Venezuela, Feb. 11, 2020. The U.S. proposal also addresses for the first time the lifting of sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector and Maduro officials.
 
Officials facing accusations of human rights abuses and drug trafficking are not eligible for sanctions relief. But members of Maduro’s socialist government who have been blacklisted would benefit.
 
A transitional government is unlikely to be supported by Maduro and many of his allies unless he is guaranteed protections from the U.S. justice system.
 
“It’s a little hard to see how this is going to be convincing to the major players in the government,” said David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America. “They seem to think the military is going to step in, but that seems extremely unlikely.”
 
The plan would also need the approval of Cuba, Russia or China — Maduro’s major political and economic supporters.  
 
The U.S. campaign against the South American country was spearheaded by economic and diplomatic pressure to break the military’s support for Maduro.
 
Last week, however, the U.S. indicted Maduro, the head of the supreme court, the defense minister and other key allies on drug trafficking and money laundering charges.
 
A high-ranking U.S. administration official who spoke anonymously with reporters on Monday said the U.S. is willing to negotiate with Maduro the terms of his exit, even with respect to the indictments against him.
 
On Saturday, Guaido called for the establishment of a “national emergency government.”VOA’s Nike Ching contributed to this report from the State Department.
 
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Josna Begum lives with her son in a house with four other families in a slum in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, the world’s most densely populated city. “Distancing is impossible for us,” she said.
The 35-year-old, who occupies a single room with her 12-year-old son and earns $100 a month as a domestic worker, shares the single kitchen in the house with 22 other residents.  
The Bangladeshi government this week ordered a nationwide shutdown to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus in a country considered at high risk because hundreds of thousands of overseas workers have returned home from Italy and other virus hot spots. All businesses were ordered closed except food markets, pharmacies and other essential services, and people were told to stay indoors and keep a safe distance from each other.
But in Dhaka, a city of more than 10 million where the average home is less than 120 square feet and a million people live in slums, that is easier said than done.  
From Mumbai to Rio de Janeiro to Johannesburg the same story is playing out in some of the world’s most unequal regions, where tens of millions live in crowded slums without adequate water, sanitation and access to health care.
“The future of this pandemic to a greater extent will be determined by what happens in very large and densely populated countries,” Dr. Michael J. Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s health emergencies program, said this week.  
Experts believe the virus is mainly spread through droplets expelled from the mouths and noses of infected people when they speak, cough or sneeze, traveling 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) before gravity pulls them to the ground. And while most people suffer mild or moderate symptoms like cough or fever, in older adults and people with other health problems the risk of pneumonia or death is far higher.
Social distancing, while necessary in the face of such an easily spread virus, envisions a “citizen who is able to live in the most desirable way,” said Hyun Bang Shin, a professor of urban studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science. “Injustices and inequities that have basically been embedded are being exposed in face of this outbreak.”  
Abu Bakar, 74, who lives with his family of three in a makeshift two-room structure in a slum in northern Jakarta can’t imagine how social distancing could work. “For me it is more important to keep myself clean,” he said.  
But even that can be nearly impossible in an area regularly ravaged by seasonal flooding from the murky, trash-filled water of a neighboring reservoir. Marks on the walls show the flooding can be as high as 2 feet.
In the sprawling slum, where thousands lived crammed together in dilapidated structures with poor ventilation and narrow walkways, Bakar says that even if he were to become sick, he wouldn’t be able to isolate himself.  
And that’s far from the only problem, said Elisa Sutanudjaja, of the Jakarta-based Rujak Center for Urban Studies.  
“There’s a major lack of clinics, sanitation, and other utilities. So for many it’s not only the lack of space that’s a concern,” she said.
In Mumbai — where the city and its suburbs have seen a tenth of India’s nearly 900 cases — 53-year-old Abrar Salmani lives with 11 family members in a house so small that many regularly sleep outdoors in the Bhim Nagar slum.  
The unemployed weaver said most families don’t have access to water and rely on communal washrooms for bathing. “Our demands to have a water pipeline haven’t been answered for years,” he said.  
In the Gaza Strip, where 2 million Palestinians lived squeezed into 140 square miles and more than half are unemployed, the arrival of the virus this week prompted the territory’s Hamas rulers to order the closure of cafes and wedding halls, and to cancel Friday prayers at mosques. Residents were urged to stay at home and refrain from close contact.
But with chronic power shortages of at least eight hours a day, it’s hard for Gazans to stay inside their homes. And the traditional conservative Muslim society frowns upon a handshake being declined, let alone a kiss on the cheek.  
“My friend was upset after I refused to shake hands with him, even though I tried to explain to him this is because of the coronavirus,” 53-year-old Yasser Anan said. “Eventually, because he is dear to me, I had to kiss his forehead in apology.”
Across Africa, home to some of the world’s fastest-growing cities with badly strained infrastructure, authorities worry that the virus could swiftly spread through slums and impoverished townships. Tear gas and gunfire have been used in a couple of cities in a rough bid to enforce social distancing. So far the continent of more than 1.3 billion people has nearly 3,500 cases, but with the global shortage of testing kits the actual number could be higher and health experts have warned that the rising rate looks like that of Europe.  
In Nigeria’s seaside city of Lagos, Africa’s largest with more than 20 million people, authorities have scrambled to spread the word about the virus among slum dwellers. In the vast Makoko slum, where shacks are built on stilts and sewage runs into the sea, residents listened with a mix of fear and defiance.
Biodun Edward scooped up a handful or the murky water and drank it. “Let (authorities) come and test it, there’s no disease here,” he declared.  
“Firstly, the smoke in the air will ward off disease, strong alcohol,” he added, then pulled a piece of ginger root from his pocket and called it protection.
In South Africa’s crowded, impoverished townships, tens of thousands of workers pack into groaning minibus taxis for commutes with little or no protection. At home, extended families squeeze into a single room or two and communities draw water from collective taps. A countrywide lockdown began Friday.
“Coronavirus scares us since we’re living in a shack,” said one Soweto resident on the outskirts of Johannesburg, Mando Masimola. “We don’t know how we’ll survive if the virus infects us.”
In Latin American and the Caribbean, experts are warning the virus could kill untold numbers in the poorest sectors of society, where not working means not eating, people live packed together and few have access to health care, let alone sophisticated medical care.
“Quarantine here is impossible,” said Raull Santiago, founder of two charities in the favelas, or slums, of Rio de Janeiro.  
“It’s wall to wall, there are homes of two or three rooms with six people living inside,” he said on Twitter, along with a photo of tightly packed brick houses in the Complexo do Alemao favela. “How do you do it?”
The first person to die in Rio de Janeiro state was Cleonice Goncalves, a 63-year-old woman who worked as a maid for a family in Leblon, one of Rio’s wealthiest neighborhoods. The woman of the household was infected during a trip to Italy but didn’t tell Goncalves, the victim’s brother told local media. Concalves, who had hypertension and diabetes, fell ill and died on March 17.
“There’s a large population of working people … that are just going to be unable to simply stay home,” said Geoff Ramsey, a Washington-based researcher at the Washington Office on Latin America.  
“We’re looking at a region that’s going to be deeply, deeply impacted by the global pandemic.” 
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The Trump administration is prepared to lift sanctions on Venezuela in support of a new proposal to form a transitional government representing allies of both Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido, U.S. officials said.
The plan, which will be presented Tuesday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, echoes a proposal made over the weekend by Guaidó that shows how growing concerns about the coronavirus, which threatens to overwhelm the South American country’s already collapsed health system and crippled economy, are reviving U.S. attempts to pull the military apart from Maduro.  
What’s being dubbed the “Democratic Framework for Venezuela” would require Maduro and Guaidó to step aside and hand power to a five-member council of state to govern the country until presidential and parliamentary elections can be held in late 2020, according to a written summary of the proposal seen by The Associated Press.  
Four of the members would be appointed by the opposition-controlled National Assembly that Guaidó heads. To draw buy-in from the ruling socialist party, a two-third majority would be required. The fifth member, who would serve as interim president until elections are held, would be named by the other council members. Neither Maduro nor Guaidó would be on the council.
“The hope is that this setup promotes the selection of people who are very broadly respected and known as people who can work with the other side,” U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams told the AP in a preview of the plan. “Even people in the regime look at this and realize Maduro has to go, but the rest of us are being treated well and fairly.”
The plan also outlines for the first time U.S. requirements for lifting sanctions against Maduro officials and the oil industry — the source of nearly all of Venezuela’s foreign income.
While those accused of grave human rights abuses and drug trafficking are not eligible for sanctions relief, individuals who are blacklisted because of the position they hold inside the Maduro government — such as members of the supreme court, electoral council and the rubber-stamp constitutional assembly — would benefit.  
But for sanctions to vanish, Abrams said the council would need to be functioning and all foreign military forces — from Cuba or Russia — would need to leave the country.  
“What we’re hoping is that this really intensifies a discussion inside the army, Chavismo, the ruling socialist party and the regime on how to get out of the terrible crisis they’re in,” Abrams said.
For months, the U.S. has relied on economic and diplomatic pressure to try and break the military’s support for Maduro and last week U.S. prosecutors indicted Maduro and key stakeholders — including his defense minister and head of the supreme court — on drug trafficking and money laundering charges.  
Still, any power-sharing arrangement is unlikely to win Maduro’s support unless the thorny issue of his future is addressed and he’s protected from the U.S. justice system, said David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America. While Venezuelans are protected from extradition by Hugo Chavez’s 1999 constitution, the charter could be rewritten in a transition, he said.
“It’s a little hard to see how this is going to be convincing to the major players in the government,” said David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America. “They seem to think the military is going to step in, but that seems extremely unlikely.”
It also would require the support of Cuba, China or Russia, all of whom are key economic and political backers of Maduro. In a call Monday with Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump reiterated that the situation in Venezuela is dire and told the Russian leader we all have an interest in seeing a democratic transition to end the ongoing crisis, according to a White House readout of the call.  
A senior administration official said Monday that the U.S. is willing to negotiate with Maduro the terms of his exit even in the wake of the indictments, which complicate his legal standing.
But recalling the history of Gen. Manuel Noriega in Panama, who was removed in a U.S. invasion after being charged himself for drug trafficking, he cautioned that his options for a deal were running out.
“History shows that those who do not cooperate with U.S. law enforcement agencies do not fare well, ” the official said in a call with journalists on condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. policy. “Maduro probably regrets not taking the offer six months ago. We urge Maduro not to regret not taking it now.”
Guaidó, who has been recognized by the U.S. and nearly 60 other countries as the lawful leader of the country following a widely viewed fraudulent re-election of Maduro, called on Saturday for the creation of a “national emergency government.”  
He said international financial institutions are prepared to support a power-sharing interim government with $1.2 billion in loans to fight the pandemic. Guaido said the loans would be used to directly assist Venezuelan families who are expected to be harmed not only by the spread of the disease but also the economic shock from a collapse in oil prices, virtually the country’s only source of hard currency.  
The spread of the coronavirus threatens to overwhelm Venezuela’s already collapsed health system while depriving its crippled economy of oil revenue on which it almost exclusively depends for hard currency.  
The United Nations said Venezuela could be one of the nations hit hardest by the spread of the coronavirus, designating it a country for priority attention because of a health system marked by widespread shortages of medical supplies and a lack of water and electricity.  
Last September, Guaidó proposed a similar transitional government in talks with Maduro officials sponsored by Norway, which never gained traction.  
But with the already bankrupt country running out of gasoline and seeing bouts of looting amid the coronavirus pandemic, calls have been growing for both the opposition and Maduro to set aside their bitter differences to head off a nightmare scenario.
“The regime is under greater pressure than it has ever before,” Abrams said.
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Two ships carrying passengers and crew from an ill-fated South American cruise are pleading with Florida officials to let them carry off the sick and dead, but Gov. Ron DeSantis says Florida’s health care resources are already stretched too thin.As the Zandaam and its sister ship the Rotterdam make for Florida, passengers confined to their rooms are anxious for relief, hoping DeSantis will change his mind and allow them to disembark despite confirmed coronavirus cases aboard.  The governor  said he has been in contact with the Coast Guard and the White House about diverting them, and local officials were meeting Tuesday to decide whether to let them dock at Broward County’s Port Everglades cruise ship terminal, where workers who greet passengers were among Florida’s first confirmed coronavirus cases.Holland America said the Rotterdam took on nearly 1,400 people who appear to be healthy, leaving 450 guests and 602 crew members on the Zaandam, including more than 190 who said they are sick. More than 300 U.S. citizens are on both ships combined.”We cannot afford to have people who are not even Floridians dumped into South Florida using up those valuable resources,” DeSantis told Fox News. “We view this as a big big problem and we do not want to see people dumped in Southern Florida right now.”Holland America President Orlando Ashford penned an opinion column in the South Florida Sun Sentinel to plead with officials and residents to let the passengers disembark.”Already four guests have passed away and I fear other lives are at risk,” Ashford wrote. “The COVID-19 situation is one of the most urgent tests of our common humanity. To slam the door in the face of these people betrays our deepest human values.”  With authorities in country after country sealing borders and imposing quarantines in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Zandaam and then its sister ship became pariahs. Passengers were asked to keep their rooms dark and leave their drapes closed as they passed through the Panama Canal on Sunday night after days of wrangling with local authorities.Laura Gabaroni and her husband Juan Huergo, of Orlando, had wanted to explore the southernmost tip of South America for years — to see the penguins on the Falkland Islands and the glacial landscapes of the Strait of Magellan. But their vacation turned harrowing as countries shunned them and people fell ill.”It’s been a trying time, especially because of the many ups and downs we’ve seen along the way,” said Gabaroni. “We are unable to leave our rooms, haven’t had fresh air in days.”At least two of the four deaths on the Zandaam were caused by the coronavirus, according to Panamanian authorities. The company said eight others have tested positive for COVID-19, and that most of the passengers and crew on both ships appear to be in good health.  Gabaroni and hundreds of others who were fever-free and not showing any symptoms were transferred to the Rotterdam, which replenished the Zandaam with supplies and staff last week.The Zandaam was originally scheduled to travel on March 7 from Buenos Aires to San Antonio, Chile, and then depart on March 21 for a 20-day cruise to arrive in Fort Lauderdale in early April. But beginning March 15, the Zandaam was denied entry by South American ports, even before passengers reported their first flu-like symptoms on March 22.  Canal administrator Ricaurte Vásquez said Panama allowed them through for humanitarian reasons, but won’t make another exception for vessels with positive coronavirus cases.Passenger Emily Spindler Brazell, of Tappahannock, Virginia, said the company has been accommodating, offering extravagant meals, wine and unlimited phone calls — but they have to stay in their rooms, avoiding any contact with others.”The captain said something like, ‘This is not a trip anymore. This is not a cruise. This is a humanitarian mission,'” said Brazell, who was transferred to the Rotterdam on Saturday.  Gabaroni, a 48-year-old technical writer, wrote a letter to DeSantis imploring him to let them off the ships.”Florida continues to receive flights from New York, and it allowed spring break gatherings to go on as planned. Why turn their backs on us?” Gabaroni said.
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Mexico has declared a month-long health emergency, with new restrictions on the size of gatherings, to contain the surging coronavirus that already exceeds 1,000 cases, with 28 deaths.  Reuters news agency said Mexico will now only allow gatherings of no more than 50 people, and it is extending its ban on non-essential activities. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Monday violators of the new rules will face penalties. Mexico’s latest move to contain the virus stops short of measures in place in some other Latin American countries in the grips of the virus, including lockdowns.  
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