CARACAS, Venezuela – Socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro has spent months promoting Carvativir, his “miraculous” droplets that, according to him, neutralize the Chinese Coronavirus in its entirety.
Maduro’s is a bogus claim seemingly exempt from any repercussions on behalf of Twitter, a radical contrast from the treatment received by conservative figures in the past over their endorsement of proven treatments.
The socialist regime of Venezuela is quite adept at creating media narratives within these borders — an easily achievable feat for them due to the fact that they control most of the nation’s media and have forced what few remaining private outlets exist into self-censorship for the sake of preservation. When it comes to spreading their “truth,” the Socialist Party of Venezuela has latched itself onto every social media, and the narrative crafted for their miracle droplets is no exception.
Maduro has claimed to be a victim of Big Tech censorship that seeks to “prevent” the spread of news of his miraculous cure on Facebook, YouTube, and even the Chinese-owned Tik Tok. He has directly accused Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg of “abuse” against him. Despite this seeming consensus among media companies, Twitter remains an outlier.
None of the tweets that Maduro has made regarding his miraculous droplets have been removed by Twitter, now has any warning or disclaimer tag been imposed upon them. The behavior extends to tweets made by the Socialist Party of Venezuela at the time of the publication of this article.
“Ten drops under the tongue every four hours and the miracle is done,” Maduro said in one of his accustomed lengthy televised broadcasts. That is, according to him, how his miracle cure should be administered to patients.
The Venezuelan people know little about the droplets themselves but despite the socialist regime’s attempts to build a worldwide narrative that portrays Carvativir as an innovative and new discovery, the Venezuelan Academy of Medicine has noted that the droplet’s active ingredient is Isotimol, an oil that is naturally found on thyme and oregano. No other country in the world is using a similar product to fight coronavirus on any large scale, nor has any drug regulation body, including the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), expressed support for the product despite Maduro’s mass media campaign.
Maduro has branded them the “droplets of Dr. Jose Gregorio Hernandez,” using the name of a Venezuelan physician raised to the title of Venerable by the Vatican in 1985 and who is slated for beatification in the near future. Hernandez died in 1919 and has no personal relationship to any existing treatment for any coronavirus, but using his name is an example of how the Socialist Party of Venezuela latches itself onto the nation’s Catholic faith to further its agenda whenever it suits it.
Venezuelan doctors have expressed their concern over the lack of scientific evidence that backs Maduro’s allegations. In a radio interview, Dr. Enrique Montbrum, a specialist in Health Contingency at the Vargas Hospital in Caracas, stated that the droplets themselves aren’t new, as Japan and Russia have used a similar extract to treat cases of influenza.
“All these drugs have to go through the rigor of what is called the scientific method. This drug is a long way from being widely recommended because it does not have that rigor,” said the doctor.
The Venezuelan investigative journalism website armando.info published a report revealing that the individuals behind the droplets appear to have a long criminal past. Venezuelans can’t legally read the report to judge its merits themselves because the aforementioned news website has been blocked by the Maduro regime and cannot be freely accessed within Venezuela without the aid of censorship-bypassing tools.
Even if the droplets worked, like almost all other medical supplies in the world, Venezuelans cannot buy them in any pharmacy or store, not even in the Iranian-ran mobile pharmacies that have begun to do business in the country. Beyond Maduro’s vague announcement of its production and mass distribution, there is no known timetable for when the droplets will reach the patients’ hands. The droplets have the “endorsement” of Socialist Party strongman and suspected drug lord Diosdado Cabello, who claims to have used the droplets to be cured of coronavirus. There is no evidence a single other person has received any doses of the product.
Maduro has deflected all criticism of his miracle drops by branding all skepticism of it as being part of a “campaign of hatred, revenge and lies.”
These droplets are the latest in a series of wild and unproven treatments against Coronavirus that include “rectal ozone therapy” (ozone is a toxic gas that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns could kill a person before killing an existing coronavirus infection).
While not taking action against what by all appearances seems to be a medical scam, Twitter has censored videos from Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, regarding the use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Coronavirus. Hydroxychloroquine is a drug used to treat malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. The FDA has revoked the emergency use authorization (EUA) to use hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus. Unlike Maduro, Bolsonaro tested positive for coronavirus and claimed to have taken regular doses of his preferred drug regularly while ill.
The socialist regime spends a considerable amount of resources and manpower to manipulate Twitter’s trending tags on a daily basis. The regime uses the Patria platform, a system heavily inspired on China’s social cred score system, to pay citizens an amount that ranges between $0.21 and $0.22 per week for the boosting and promotion of his daily hashtags and narratives.
While taking advantage of free media, Maduro’s regime has closed over 600 media outlets in the past two decades of the Bolivarian Revolution, including TV channels, radio stations, newspapers, and websites. Many foreign websites have been banned altogether, and access to social media is surgically restricted whenever the Venezuelan opposition engages in a major activity. An “anti-hate speech law” that brutally penalizes dissent keeps citizens living in a state of constant fear.
Eleven months after the country was placed under lockdown, life in Venezuela continues to be dictated by Maduro’s “7×7” regime. We go one week of “radical” lockdowns where only the essential businesses are able to operate, followed by a week of “flexibilization,” where other sectors of the economy are allowed to open their doors. No other country in the world does this and there is no evidence that it works. Even Venezuela doesn’t do it quite right – Maduro extends “flexibilization” at his leisure, most recently for the beginning of Lent and corresponding Carnaval holiday. Maduro’s promotion of this unscientific measure has also failed to raise “misinformation” alarms on most social media platforms he uses.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.