Swine flu in Venezuela?

Of course the swine flu is all over the news. The alert level was recently raised to 5 (of 6) which means that its a worldwide pandemic.

However, it was a regular day for Venezuelan politics. President Hugo Chavez went yesterday on national television saying that there was not a single case of swine influenza in Venezuela. Also, continuing with the dictated line, the Health Minister also went on national television saying that some cases in Merida where they initially thought was swine flu, they are not, so Venezuela is protected against swine flu.

Now, do you really believe what these public officials are saying? Apparently it has been almost 4 weeks since the first case of swine flu in Mexico, and now a world pandemic. I do not want to sound alarming or controversial, but did you Mexicana has a daily non stop flight between Caracas and Mexico City? How many people came into Venezuela from Mexico in that timeframe? 2 weeks of daily flights transporting people from Mexico to Venezuela? And thats not considering the people that might connect in the United States from Mexico? And Panama? And Colombia? Aruba?

I understand that the risks of Venezuela are minimal in contrast to say, United States, but to go on national television and say that Venezuela is secure from swine flu is just down right irresponsible in my book.