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El Aissami has COVID-19; now Maduro’s top two lieutenants have the virus

Former Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami announced on Friday that he tested positive for the COVID-19, becoming the third high-ranking official of the Nicolás Maduro regime who has contracted the coronavirus this week.

The admission comes one day after former National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello also announced that he had the virus, which means that two of the five most powerful members of the regime are now isolated and undergoing treatment.

“Today I start my isolation with all the medical protocols after testing positive with the COVID-19. A new battle that I begin clinging to God and to life! As the song of A.Filio says… ‘It is only momentary the departure, I am not writing to say goodbye’. We will overcome,” El Aissami said on his Twitter account.

Besides Cabello and El Aissami, Zulia state Gov. Omar Prieto fell ill with the virus and was hospitalized on Tuesday.

El Aissami, who has occupied several high-ranking positions throughout the years, was named recently the country’s oil minister and was in charge of the efforts to evade the U.S. sanctions imposed on the country’s crude exports.

Maduro, Cabello and El Aissami are also wanted fugitives of the U.S. justice system. They were charged earlier this year with running the Los Soles drug cartel. Rewards of between $10 million and $15 million were placed on their heads by the U.S.

Venezuela, which had been registering low COVID-19 numbers in comparison to its neighbors, posted an abrupt jump in the last two weeks and is currently posting 8,372 confirmed cases, with 80 deaths.