Venezuela

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chlamor
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Re: Venezuela

Post by chlamor » Thu Feb 14, 2019 1:20 pm

US-Led Efforts to Overthrow Maduro Spurred by Business Interests, Not Democracy
January 24, 2019

By Stephen Gowans

The US-led and coordinated intervention to overthrow Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro by recognizing Juan Guaidó, the leader of Venezuela’s National Assembly as the interim president, has nothing whatever to do with restoring democracy in Venezuela (which was never overturned) and everything to do with promoting US business interests.

Washington’s imperial arrogance in effectively appointing Guaidó as president, attempting to go over the heads of Venezuelans—who alone have the right to decide who their leaders are—is motivated by the same concerns that have motivated other US interventions around the world: toppling governments that put their citizens’ interests above those of US investors.

That Washington has a propensity to engage in destabilization operations against leftwing governments is hardly a secret. From 1898 to 2004, the US government undertook 41 successful regime change interventions in Latin America, an average of one every two-and-a-half years. And that excludes the unsuccessful ones, such as the Bay of Pigs invasion.

In almost every instance, US regime change interventions around the world have been motivated either directly or indirectly by commercial considerations, and were undertaken to restore or protect the primacy of US business interests in foreign lands. And in many cases, the interventions paved the way for the installation of rightwing dictatorships.

One ultimately unsuccessful US intervention was the 2002 coup d’état against Hugo Chavez, Maduro’s predecessor. Washington immediately recognized the coup, hailing it as a victory for democracy, but privately recognized it as a major win for US business interests in an oil-rich state teeming with potential profit-making opportunities for US free enterprise.

Washington disliked Chavez because the charismatic leftist leader promoted the welfare of ordinary Venezuelans, rather than pandering to US investors. But the coup against Chavez was short-lived. In a blow against tyranny, the regime change was quickly reversed and Chavez, the country’s legitimate leader, was restored to the presidency.

Determined to eliminate leftist governments in Latin America, Washington stepped up its campaign of economic warfare against the South American country, aiming to plunge its economy into ruin and the Venezuelan people into misery. This was a game plan Washington had followed countless times before and since, in China, Cuba, North Korea, Chile, Zimbabwe, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria, and Iran: ruin the target country’s economy, attribute the chaos to “the failures of socialism” and economic mismanagement, and wait for the people to rise in revolt against their misery.


http://www.barakabooks.com

The idea that Washington’s intervention in Venezuela has even the slightest connection to protecting democracy is laughable. The US government has notoriously supported a string of rightwing dictatorships throughout Latin America, including that of Augusto Pinochet, who was installed in the wake of a 1973 US-engineered coup against Salvador Allende. Allende crossed Washington by doing what Maduro, and a host of other Third World leaders, had done: put the interests of the local population ahead of those of corporate America.
In the Middle East, the United States’s closest Arab allies are a military dictatorship (Egypt) and absolutist monarchies, chief among them Saudi Arabia, whose abhorrence of democracy is absolute. Washington rewards Egypt with $1.3 billion in military aid annually, and robustly supports the Saudi tyranny.

Saudis regard their parasitical royal family as completely unacceptable. To protect itself from its own population, the monarchy maintains a 250,000 troop-strong National Guard. The Guard exists, not to defend Saudi Arabia from external aggression, but to protect the monarchy from its own subjects. The al-Saud family’s protectors are trained and equipped by the United States and its satellites, including Canada, which has a $10-billion contract to supply the force with armored personnel carriers, used to put down the frequent uprisings of disgruntled Saudi subjects.

The National Guard’s armorer, Canada, also recognized Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president, dishonestly attributing its decision to follow the US-lead to its purported commitment to democracy. Ottawa has colluded with the dictators of Riyadh in their crackdown on long-suffering, democracy-deprived, Saudi citizens, at the same time supporting General Dynamics Canada’s efforts to rake in Pharaonic profits from arms sales to the democracy-hating Saudi despots.

Let’s be honest about a few things.

First, the agendas of US and Canadian political leaders are set by the economic elites and organized business interests on which they depend for campaign contributions, policy recommendations, and lucrative post political career job opportunities, and with which they’re tightly integrated personally and professionally. Accordingly, they care about the profits of US and Canadian investors, not about the welfare, freedoms or democracy of ordinary Venezuelans. Indeed, they secretly harbor contempt for the bulk of their own citizens and wouldn’t, for a moment, tolerate the flowering of an authentic, robust, democracy in their own countries. The idea that they care about the residents of a distant South American land is a fantasy for political innocents and the weakly naïve.

Second, US-led campaigns of economic warfare do make people’s lives miserable, and many people may attribute their misery to the actions of their own government and wish to see it step down. Others may recognize that sanctions are the cause of their misery, and may support regime change as a way of winning relief from foreign-imposed misery. Indeed, the logic of economic warfare depends on these assumptions being true.

Third, governments threatened by foreign-sponsored regime change face legitimate national emergencies. Maduro is not a dictator. He is the elected head of a government confronting a genuine national emergency engineered by hostile foreign powers. Measures taken by the government to defend its citizens against the determination of the United States to impose on Venezuela policies which cater to the interests of corporate America at Venezuelans’ expense are wholly legitimate; they represent the actions of a democracy against a US-led international tyranny.

It is important to remember that Maduro’s government, like Chavez’s, has sought to put the interests of ordinary Venezuelans ahead of those of US investors. As a result, it has provoked Washington’s enmity. The US intervention in Venezuela in recognizing Guaidó as interim president is emblematic of countless other US regime change interventions. Invariably, these interventions are targeted at leftwing governments that threaten the profit making interests of US businesses. The interventions have nothing whatever to do with democracy; on the contrary, where successful, they are almost always followed by rightwing regimes that build US investor-friendly business climates and integrate their countries economically, militarily, and diplomatically into the US-superintended and Wall Street-led global order. Foreign investors are indulged, and the local population is treated harshly. Far from spurring transitions to democracy, US regime change interventions aim to reverse democracy, and strengthen US global tyranny. The latest US-led intervention in Venezuela is no different, and is just a repeat, with local variations, on similar efforts in Syria, Iran, Cuba and North Korea.

https://gowans.wordpress.com/2019/01/24 ... democracy/

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blindpig
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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Thu Feb 14, 2019 2:42 pm

Diplomat warns false flag brewing under cloak of humanitarian convoy for Venezuela
Russian Politics & Diplomacy February 14, 11:30 UTC+3
The possibility of a military intervention is just a "red line for all of Latin America", the Russian diplomat warned

Image
Venezuelan Bolivarian Army soldiers stand guard in Venezuela© AP Photo/Fernando Llano

MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. A false flag involving victims is being devised for Venezuela to justify an outside invasion of the Latin American country, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters at Thursday’s press briefing.

"A provocation, involving victims, is being put together under the guise of a humanitarian convoy," Zakharova stressed. "They need it just as a pretext to use outside force, and everyone should understand that."

"The possibility of a military intervention is just a red line for all of Latin America and the entire global community in general, which considers itself to be civilized," she emphasized.

"We believe it is imperative to refrain from steps or statements that could trigger an escalation of tensions in Venezuela, in particular, from any appeals to Venezuela’s armed forces fraught with their involvement in a domestic civil standoff," Zakharova went on to say. "We keep repeating that the international community’s task is to promote mutual understanding between various political forces in Venezuela."

Political turmoil in Venezuela
Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and parliament speaker, whose appointment to that position had been cancelled by the country’s Supreme Court, declared himself interim president at a rally in the country’s capital of Caracas on January 23. A number of countries, including the United States, Lima Group members (excluding Mexico), as well as the Organization of American States, recognized him as president. Venezuela's incumbent President Nicolas Maduro blasted these actions as an attempted coup and said he was cutting diplomatic ties with Washington.

Some European countries delivered an ultimatum on a snap presidential election to Maduro and recognized Guaido as interim president once the demand’s deadline had expired.

Meanwhile, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria and Turkey voiced support for Maduro.

http://tass.com/politics/1044571

Conventional invasion very unlikely but some nastiness gotta be in the wings with Bolton on the job, that's why he was hired.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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blindpig
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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Fri Feb 15, 2019 2:33 pm

Ceballos: Fanb recognizes Nicolás Maduro as the only constitutional President of Venezuela
14.FEB.2019 / 12:10 PM / COMMENT

Image
Photo: VTV

The head of the Operational Strategic Command of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (Ceofanb), Remigio Ceballlos, ratified on Thursday the recognition of the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, as the nation's constitutional authority and the only commander-in-chief of the Fanb .

"We, as the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, recognize Nicolás Maduro as the only head of state, head of government, president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and commander in chief of the Fanb," said Ceballos during his participation in the Angostura Congress Forum, which takes place in Ciudad Bolívar, Bolívar state, in a broadcast of Venezolana de Televisión.

In his dissertation he rejected the systematic siege of external hegemonic factors on Venezuela and diplomatic pressures, "breaching, including, the International Public Law, the Charter of the United Nations, where interference is rejected, the imposition by force that seeks to demolish the welfare state through attacks on the national economy, "he said.

The strategic commander of the Fanb meant that in spite of this scenario, of the right's pretension to disrespect the Constitution, peace, solidarity and encounter will always prevail, "because all of us, because of our idiosyncrasies as Venezuelans, are always lovers of peace and that is the main thing they have tried to destroy for so many years, as it was during the war of independence, "he said.

"The current war develops in a virtual battlefield, where there are no border limits and through the media a strategy arises from the United States to reedit the neocolonial process, they want to colonize us again," he warned.

AVN

http://www.psuv.org.ve/temas/noticias/r ... GbNUVVKiM9
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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blindpig
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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Fri Feb 15, 2019 2:43 pm

40+ Cities Plan Activities During #23Feb Weekend of International Actions
Send in your action plans or use our guide to plan an event in your area
*Please share widely across lists, networks, and on social media*

Juan Guaido is promising that U.S. intervention through “humanitarian aid” will arrive in Venezuela by February 23rd. This makes our global response on that day even more important. It’s time to show our solidarity with a sovereign and progressive Venezuela. We must defend the revolution before U.S. soldiers set one foot on Venezuelan soil.

If you haven’t already submitted your planned action for the weekend of February 23rd, please submit the details here. Upwards of 40 cities across the world, from the U.S. to Bangladesh, Canada to Malta, India to Russia, and many others are planning actions. Find the full list of what’s already being planned below.

If you’re in a city where nothing has been planned yet, but you still want to show solidarity - don’t worry! We can help.

Every action held during the weekend of February 23 - no matter the size or scale - will have an impact.

Consider a smaller-scale action to raise awareness:

Link up with a few like-minded allies to print our fact sheets on Venezuela and pass them out in public places, such as a mall or public transit station
Consider a banner-drop, a picket, or holding signs and distributing fact sheets near a busy intersection or overpass. Get slogans or pre-made placards from our resource page
Wear red with your friends and take a photo while holding pro-Venezuela messages and tag them on social media as #HandsOffVenezuela or #23feb
Picket your local gas station with messages that convey: NOT ANOTHER WAR FOR OIL!
Screen Venezuela: La lucha sigue, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, or other films that tell the truth about the Bolivarian Revolution at a public space or in your home. Invite like-minded activists to link up and begin to plan the next day of action in support of Venezuela.
Whatever activity you organize, make sure to post pictures to social media with #HandsOffVenezuela and #23feb, and send them in to info@nowaronvenezuela.org
You can also use our Facebook page to link up with like-minded allies, post a message on Twitter and tag our account, or send an email to our international organizers. We will be glad to assist you in planning an action in your area and connecting with others in your area.

International Actions On the Weekend of February 23
*Actions listed alphabetically by city*
Albany, NY
Hands off Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | Noon
Wolf Rd and Central Ave
Contact: 518-281-1968

Atlanta, GA
Monday, Feb. 18, 6-8pm: Special WRFG 89.3FM program :US Hands off Venezuela! Local and national anti-war and social justice activists provide facts and analysis exposing the 20 year campaign by the US to overturn the Bolivarian Revolution with its radical program to end poverty and empower the mass of people. Also streamed at wrfg.org and on mobile apps.

Wednesday, Feb. 20, 4-5pm: Join Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition’s weekly vigil at Moreland and Ponce de Leon to oppose all US actions to bring about a coup against the elected president, Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela..

Friday, Feb. 22, noon-1pm: Colony Square Peace vigil at Peachtree and 15th St. No War on Venezuela!

Saturday, Feb. 23, 1-3:30pm: Stand with Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution! Town Hall Meeting, The Arts Exchange, 2148 Newnan St., East Point 30344. Videos, speakers, discussion. For more information, atlantawwp@gmail.com or atlantaiac@aol.com

Saturday, Feb. 23, 5-7pm: Tune in to WRFG’s “Beyond Borders program for reports of No War on Venezuela actions around the US and the world. 89.3FM, wrfg.org

Boston, MA
No War on Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 1pm
Gather at MBTA Park Street Stop

Brainerd, MN
No War on Venezuela!
Saturday, February 16 | 1pm
Sixth and Washington Streets (near Sawmill Inn)
Organized by: Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace
Brunswick, ME
Solidarity Protest with Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 11am
Town Green by the Gazebo

Buffalo, NY
No U.S. War on Venezuela - No Coup, No Intervention, No Sanctions
Saturday, February 23 | 1pm
Federal Building, Elmwood Ave and West Huron
Sponsored by Buffalo Anti-War | buffaloantiwar@gmail.com

Charlotte, NC
US & NATO: Hands Off Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 2pm
Eastway Square | 3211 Eastway Dr.

Chicago, IL
No War No Coup Against Venezuela
Friday, February 22 | 4:30pm
ABC News Studio | 190 N State
Sponsored by Evanston Neighbors for Peace, Chicago ALBA Solidarity, Chicago Area Peace Action, Chicago Committee Against War and Racism, Vets for Peace- Chicago, others

Cleveland, OH
Cleveland says: No War On Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 12:30pm
2168 W 25th Street

Collingswood, NJ
No Sanctions! No Coup! No War! Hands off Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 11am
RTE-130 @ Cooper River Park
Organized by: Green Party of Camden County NJ

Corvallis, OR
No War On Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 5pm
Benton County Courthouse, 120 NW 4th Street
Organized by: Corvallis Latin America Solidarity Committee and the Corvallis chapter of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism

Dublin, Ireland
Venezuela Global Day of Action
Saturday, February 23 | 1pm
U.S. Embassy | Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
Organized by: Venezuela Ireland Network, Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA)

Dhaka, Bangladesh
USA Hands off Venezuela
Saturday, February 23 | Details TBA
Organized by: Socialist Party of Bangladesh

East Setauket, Long Island, NY
Hands off Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 11am
Rt. 25A and Bennetts Rd., East Setauket, Long Island, NY 11733
Solidarity action to take place during the regular anti-war Saturday vigil organized by the North Country Peace Group at the corner of Rt. 25A & Bennetts Road, E. Setauket, NY (south side of street). Vigil will take place 11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Bring signs. Please avoid parking in CVS lot and use other nearby parking on Rt. 25A and across the street on North Country Road.
Organized by: North Country Peace Group, contact: ncpeaceg@gmail.com
Fayetteville, NC
No War on Venezuela! March on Ft. Bragg
Saturday, February 23 | 2 - 5pm
Join anti-imperialist and progressive forces at Fort Bragg, the largest military base in the world, to demand Hands off Venezuela!

Glasgow, Scotland
No War on Venezuela! International Day of Action, Glasgow
Saturday, February 23 | 1pm
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall | Sauciehall Street Glasgow G2 3NY Scotland
Hosted by Revolutionary Communist Group – Glasgow, Fight Racism!Fight Imperialism!, Hands off Venezuela, and Glasgow Marxists

Hartford, CT
No War on Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 12pm
Federal Building | Main St
Organized by: CT Peace and Solidarity Coalition

Houston, TX
No War on Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 2pm
Mecom Fountain Traffic Circle (Main St and Montrose)

Indianapolis, IN
No war on Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 4pm
Indiana State Capitol | 200 W Washington St

Jersey City, NJ
No war on Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 11am – 2pm
Manhattan Ave. & Central Ave. (across from the Stop&Shop supermarket)
Organizations currently sponsoring: NJ Action 21, Jersey City Peace Movement, Veterans For Peace

Kolkata, India
US Imperialism Hands Off Venezuela
Saturday, February 23 | Details TBA
Organized by: Socialist Unity Center of India (C)

Liverpool, England
Hands off Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 12pm
Derby Square | Liverpool L2, 9 England
Co-hosted by Revolutionary Communist Group – Liverpool Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!, Hands Off Venezuela, and Liverpool Marxist Society
London, England
No war on Venezuela – Stop Trump’s Gold and Oil Grab!
Saturday, February 23 | 1pm
Bank of England
Organized by: Venezuela Solidarity Campaign

Miami, FL
Stop Trump’s War on Venezuela! International Day of Action
Saturday, February 23 | 2pm
U.S. Southern Command | 9301 NW 33rd St, Doral, FL 33172

Join the South Florida anti-war community as we demand: No U.S War on Venezuela! Stop the Coup! End the Sanctions! Self Determination for the Venezuelan people!

In South Florida, we have a particular obligation to stand against US interference in Venezuela. Miami is home to US Southern Command in Doral, FL– the base for all US military operations in Latin America, particularly Venezuela at the moment. US SOUTHCOM is a nefarious entity whose track-record includes toppling governments throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean, propping up right-wing governments and dictators, arming death-squads throughout the hemisphere, and committing troops to countries within the region.

For more info, contact POWIR
Minneapolis, MN
Saturday, February 23 | 1pm

U.S. Hands off Venezuela
No coup
No sanctions
No new U.S. war!

1:00 pm – Gather at Hennepin & Lagoon Aves, Minneapolis
Be part of a visible anti-war presence, say no to U.S.
intervention

1:30 pm – Anti-war visibility at nearby busy corners

2:00 pm Closing rally

Initiated by Minnesota Peace Action Coalition
Contact: antiwarnews@gmail.com | 612 827-5364 or 612 275-2720 or find on Facebook
Monterey, CA
Saturday, February 23 | 4 – 6pm
Window on the Bay | Across from El Estero Park
Raise Awareness on the Situation in Venezuela and Join Veterans For Peace Chapter 46 on February 23
Contact: Justin Loza, VFP 46 President | justin.loza@vfp46.com

Moscow, Russia
No War on Venezuela!
Details TBA

Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
Hands off Venezuela! No Sanctions! No Coup!
Saturday, February 23 | 12pm
Grey’s Monument | Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Hosted by Revolutionary Communist Group – Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! North East, Hands Off Venezuela, and Newcastle Marxist Society
New Haven, CT
No War on Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | Details TBA
On the Green
Organized by: CT Peace and Solidarity Coalition

New Orleans, LA
Hands off Venezuela Forum
Sunday, February 24 | 5pm
Cafe Istanbul NOLA | 2372 St. Claude Ave
Organized by: New Orleans Workers Group

New York, NY
March on Wall Street to Defend Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 1pm
Gather at 40 Wall Street

Newark, NJ
No War on Venezuela!
Details TBA
For more info: 973-801-0001

Oakland, CA
No war on Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 12pm
Oscar Grant Plaza | 14th and Broadway
Sponsored by: Spring Action Antiwar Coalition (Bay Area)

Ottawa, Canada
No war on Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 12pm
Gather at the Prime Minister’s office for a march to the U.S. Embassy!

Philadelphia, PA
No war on Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 11am
Additional Details TBA

Portland, OR
Saturday, February 23 | 3pm
Sunnyside Community Center | 3520 SE Yamhill St
Racine, WI
No war on Venezuela – Presentation on the history of US intervention in Latin America, and on Venezuela from 1998 to the present
Saturday, February 23 | 11am
John Bryant Community Center | 601 Racine St

No War on Venezuela!
Saturday, March 16 | 11am – 1pm
Monument Square

Both events organized by: Central America Solidarity Coalition of Racine & Kenosha, of the Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
No War on Venezuela!
Saturday, February 23 | 2pm
City Hall, Peace Fountain

Richmond, VA
No to War, NATO & Racism! U.S. Hands off Venezuela!
Friday, February 22 | 6:30pm
First Unitarian Universalist Church – 1000 Blanton Ave, Richmond, VA 23221

Rome, Italy
Saturday, February 23 | Details TBA
Organized by: Fronte Popolare, La Città Futura, Collettivo Militant, Casa del Popolo Giuseppe Tanas (Roma), Patria Socialista, PCI, Italia-Venezuela Bolivariana

Santa Clara, CA
Hands Off Venezuela! No Coup In Venezuela! Venezuelan Oil For Venezuela! US Out of Venezuela! Maduro Democratically Elected!
Saturday, February 23 | 12pm
Gather at The Peace Corner | Stevens Creek Blvd and Winchester Blvd

Toronto, Canada
No to U.S.-Led Intervention: A Community Forum
Wednesday, February 20 | 6:30pm
University of Toronto | 252 Bloor Street West
An Emergency Community Forum: Join us for a public forum with representatives from the Caribbean, African and Latin American community organizations, discussing the deeply inconsistent, hypocritical and dangerous ways the Canadian government has historically approached matters of humanitarian intervention – and why this matters today when it comes to Venezuela.

Sponsoring groups: Global Afrikan Congress, Group for Research & Initiative for the Liberation of Africa (GRILA), Common Frontiers, Caribbean Solidarity Network, Students Against Israeli Apartheid, Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network – LACSN, Hugo Chavez Front, Justice 4 Migrant Workers, Jamhoor, Venezuela Solidarity Committee
Tucson, AZ
Saturday, February 23 | 10a - 2p
Armory Park, during the Peace Fair
Organized by:Tucson Anti-War Committee

Turin, Italy
Saturday, February 23 | Details TBA
Organized by: Fronte Popolare, Rete dei Comunisti and Potere al Popolo

Valleta, Malta
Saturday, February 23 | 4pm
28 Strait Street
Organized by: ALBA MNAC and PKM

Vancouver, BC, Canada
Saturday February 23 | 2pm

No War on Venezuela! – International Day of Action
Vancouver, Canada Rally & Petition Campaign

No Coup in Venezuela!
U.S./Canada Hands Off Venezuela!
No more U.S./Canada Sanctions & Threats!

Vancouver Art Gallery
Robson St. at Howe St.
Downtown Vancouver

Organized by: Fire This Time Movement for Social Justice (FTT) – Venezuela Solidarity Campaign

Endorsed by: Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO), Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC), Iranian Community Against War

Washington, DC
National March on Washington: Hands off Venezuela!
Saturday, March 16 | 12pm
Gather at Lafayette Park

Mass National Mobilization to Oppose NATO, War & Racism and Oppose US War on Venezuela at 2019 NATO Summit in Washington DC
Saturday, March 30 | 1pm
Lafayette Park (across from the White House)
Additional actions will take place at the opening of the NATO meeting on April 4.


Partial List of Signers on No War on Venezuela Statement
For a full list of over 2,000 individuals and 180+ organizations, see here
Organizations

International Action Center
Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle New York
Alliance for Global Justice
ANTICONQUISTA
BAYAN USA
Black Alliance for Peace
Fight for Im/migrants and Refugees Everywhere (FIRE)
Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO)
Haïti Liberté
IFCO/Pastors for Peace
La Peña del Bronx
Mobilization Against War and Occupation – MAWO (Canada)
MOVE Organization
People’s Organization for Progress (POP)
Popular Resistance
The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)
USW Local 8751 Boston School Bus Drivers Union
U.S. Peace Council
Veterans For Peace
Individuals

Susan Abulhawa, author
Pam Africa, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Alexey Albu, BOROTBA, Lugansk, Lugansk People’s Republic
Bahman Azad, U.S. Peace Council
Ajamu Baraka, National Organizer - Black Alliance for Peace
Fr. Luis Barrios, Holyrood Church/Iglesia Santa Cruz, NYC
Mike Bento, NYC Shut It Down
Alison Bodine, Mobilization Against War and Occupation-MAWO (Canada)
William Camacaro, Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle New York
Joe Catron, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Edward Childs, UNITE-HERE Local 26
George Ciccariello-Maher, The Hemispheric Institute
Dan Cohen, Journalist
Gerry Condon, President, Board of Directors, Veterans For Peace
Jodi Dean, Professor
Miguel Figueroa, Canadian Peace Congress, Toronto, ON, Canada
Taryn Fivek, International Action Center
Sara Flounders, International Action Center
Margaret Flowers, Coordinator of Popular Resistance
Ramiro Funez, ANTICONQUISTA, Los Angeles CA
George Galloway, British Politician; Stop the War Coalition (UK)
Teresa Gutierrez, Fight for Im/migrants and Refugees Everywhere (FIRE)
Lawrence Hamm, Chair of Peoples Organization for Progress (POP)
Chris Hedges, Writer
Rémy Herrera, Writer, Paris
Foad Izadi, Assistant professor, Department of American Studies, University of Tehran
Chuck Kaufman, Alliance for Global Justice
Rev. Tong-Kyun Kim, The Least of These Church (Progressive Korean Church)
Margaret Kimberley, Senior Editor - Black Agenda Report; Black Alliance for Peace
Stevan Kirschbaum, Vice President, United Steelworkers, Local 8751, Boston School Bus Union
Daniel Kovalik, Journalist
Judith Cashin Lerma, RNC MSN CCM with National Nurses United/National Nurses Organizing Committee
Joe Lombardo, United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)
Alfred L. Marder, President, US Peace Council; Vice President, World Peace Council
Cynthia McKinney, Former U.S. congressperson and Green Party presidential candidate
Monica Moorehead, Workers World Party 2016 presidential candidate
Ben Norton, Journalist
Miko Peled, Author
Minnie Bruce Pratt, UAW/National Writers Union Local 1981
Sami Ramadani, Stop the War Coalition (UK)
Cindy Sheehan, Executive Boardmember, March on the Pentagon
Roger Waters, Musician

John Wight, Journalist

Kevin Zeese, Coordinator of Popular Resistance, Baltimore M

*In my mail*

While the list of supporters is less than edifying ya ain't marrying them, get out and do something if ya can.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Sat Feb 16, 2019 3:33 pm

Leaked documents reveal US is sending ‘military aircraft’ to Venezuelan border
Image

A leaked US state department email sent to Congress on 15 February shows that the US is sending another 250 tons of ‘humanitarian aid’ to Venezuela’s border with Colombia. And this time, as Associated Press reported, it is “using US military aircraft to pressure [Venezuelan president] Nicolás Maduro to give up power”. This is the first time that the US has deployed the military to send ‘aid’ to Venezuela.

But as The Canary recently argued, there’s nothing ‘humanitarian’ about US aid to Venezuela. This is 250 more tons of US imperialism.

‘Humanitarian aid’
The list of reasons to suspect US ‘humanitarian aid’ is roughly as long as the list of corporate journals misrepresenting the coup attempt. These reasons include:

The economic crisis in Venezuela is largely of Washington’s making. If the US wanted to help ordinary Venezuelans, it would halt the economic sanctions that are costing the country billions (dwarfing the $20m ‘aid’ offering). Instead, the US is intensifying sanctions.
Maduro has already accepted humanitarian aid from the UN. The UN and the Red Cross, meanwhile, have warned “the US to explicitly not engage in” its own politicised aid efforts.
US intervention in Latin America over recent decades has consistently created humanitarian crises through “support for death and destruction where US interests are at play”. And US national security adviser John Bolton recently acknowledged US interest in Venezuela’s massive oil reserves. US oil interests were similarly central to a 2002 US-backed coup attempt in the country.
Serial war hawk Elliott Abrams, Washington’s special envoy to Venezuela, has a record of using ‘humanitarian aid’ programs to wage covert warfare against left-wing Latin American governments.
US president Donald Trump seems more enthusiastic about offering ‘aid’ to Venezuela than he did to Puerto Rico (a US territory) after Hurricane Maria in 2017. And US interest in the well-being of Latin Americans seems to end when they arrive at the US border.
The US is presently complicit in causing what the UN has called the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis” in Yemen. Selective care for democracy and human rights suggests no care at all.
The list could go on.

Provocation
So if US ‘humanitarian aid’ isn’t about helping ordinary Venezuelans, what is it for?

Firstly, offering ‘humanitarian aid’ – while ignoring that the US is largely responsible for Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis – is an effective piece of propaganda. With the help of a compliant media, the US can present Maduro as the main obstacle between ordinary Venezuelans’ starvation and freedom. As FAIR’s Adam Johnson wrote, this narrative was presented as a “visual metaphor” when the US claimed that Maduro had closed a bridge – which had never been open – to stop ‘aid’ getting in.

Secondly, the use of military aircraft to deliver ‘humanitarian aid’ offers a (albeit thin) cover for military build-up on the Venezuelan border. And as the state department email revealed, this build-up is designed to “pressure… Maduro to give up power”.

Finally, if US efforts to oust Maduro prove unsuccessful – as seems increasingly likely – the US can use military build-up to provoke Maduro into a reaction and instigate war. Indeed, the US has a long record of using provocation – real or imagined – to attack a country in ‘self-defence’.

This is how US ‘humanitarian aid’ to Venezuela is an extension of the US empire. And journalists are complicit from the second they write US ‘humanitarian aid’ without inverted commas.

https://www.thecanary.co/us/us-analysis ... an-border/

Never heard of this outfit.
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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Mon Feb 18, 2019 2:34 pm

Colombian city braces for showdown as US military aircraft deliver aid on Venezuelan border

Image
A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster aircraft sits on the tarmac at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., on Feb. 16, 2019, before airlifting humanitarian aid to Cúcuta, Colombia. RAYMOND SARRACINO/U.S. AIR FORCE

By DYLAN BADDOUR, ANTHONY FAIOLA | The Washington Post | Published: February 18, 2019

CUCUTA, Colombia — This border city, already grappling with a mounting migration crisis, is bracing for a tense showdown that will likely mark a new chapter in the unfolding crisis of its neighbor, Venezuela.

U.S. military planes continue a buildup of humanitarian aid on the Venezuelan border, a development spotlighted Sunday in an appearance by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. More than 100,000 people are expected at a foreign-organized concert here on Friday to protest the Venezuelan government. And on Saturday, Venezuelan opposition figures with U.S. backing plan to lead thousands of protesters, dressed in white, to the border to confront the country's national guard.

All of this has made Cucuta, a city of 750,000 people overwhelmed by the massive Venezuelan migration that has flowed over its border for years, very nervous.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has vowed to block the aid, calling it a pretext for U.S. intervention in his crisis-stricken country. Venezuela is in the midst of a dire humanitarian crisis, and the relatively small amount of aid is meant to begin to relieve a severe shortage of basic goods that has fueled malnutrition and disease. But opposition leaders and U.S. officials also hope to elicit the first public mass defection of Venezuelan troops if the soldiers disavow their orders and accept the shipment.

During a visit to Cucuta on Sunday, Rubio encouraged members of the Venezuelan armed forces to defect, calling the Maduro government "a criminal regime willing to starve and kill its own people."

"There comes a time in many people's lives when they have to make a decision that will define them forever," Rubio said. "That time has come for the Venezuelan soldiers."

Other American officials have also been clear that they want Maduro out of power and that they see pushing aid into the country as one step toward achieving that outcome. Some major aid organizations have refused to participate, objecting to the use of humanitarian aid for political ends.

"Maduro has got to go," said Mark Green, the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, at a news conference Saturday in Cucuta while 80 tons of food and hygiene products were unloaded from a C-17 cargo plane behind him.

Officials say Cucuta will be the entry point of an operation that will breach Venezuela's border with humanitarian aid from all sides, with other staging spots in Brazil and the island of Curacao.

But planners have not said just how they will do that. On Sunday, Venezuelan opposition officials handed out fliers on the Simon Bolivar International Bridge, where thousands of desperate Venezuelans cross each day to buy food or to migrate across South America.

Opposition leaders called on Venezuelans there to join the effort to move the aid over their border but couldn't say exactly where or when.

"We still haven't decided which border crossing to use," said Alcides Monsalve, mayor of the Venezuelan city of Merida, who traveled to Cucuta to help the effort. "We don't have any idea."

In a speech to volunteers in Caracas this weekend, Juan Guaido — head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly who has evoked the constitution and declared himself the nation's president because Maduro is a "usurper" — said more than 600,000 Venezuelans had already agreed to join the massive effort Saturday. He said volunteers would receive further directives via email Monday.

"There will be mobilizations in all cities around the country on Feb. 23," Guaido told a cheering crowd Saturday. "Not just caravans going to the border. It will be a whole country in the street."

Leaders in Cucuta insist that the Venezuelan soldiers guarding the border crossings will accept the food aid, motivated by the hunger of their own families. But Venezuelans living on the Colombian side of the border expressed doubt.

"They won't let it pass," said Victor Mora, a Venezuelan sitting near the border with the eight members of his salsa band, who all nodded in agreement. "The military structure has them really indoctrinated. They are scared to disobey."

But many said they would join the effort to confront the border guards.

"If Venezuelans can walk 20 days to Peru, then of course we can walk across the bridge to accompany the aid," said Julio Campos, 45, who has lived in Cucuta for a month.

Four years ago, he said, he was member of his town council in the Venezuela coastal city of Puerto La Cruz, with a family, an apartment, a 2010 Chevrolet Optra and his own business in wholesale cheese distribution. He then watched the economy tank as food became scarce and his business folded.

Now, like thousands of others, he pays about $1 per night to sleep on the floor of a large room with dozens of other Venezuelans in Cucuta, where he makes a small commission bringing bus passengers to travel agencies. He aims to send money home to his wife and three kids, but since arriving in early January, he has only been able to do so once.

He didn't think the guard would let the aid pass, but he pledged to join the effort anyway.

"For us Venezuelans living in Colombia, it's better to die without fear than to live crying," he said.

Wilfredo Canizares, an activist in Cucuta and director of Fundacion Progresar, which tracks organized crime in the border zone, said local leaders have felt powerless as the big week looms.

"It's all being driven by the national government and the U.S.," he said.

He also raised alarm about next week's concert, announced Thursday by British billionaire and airline magnate Richard Branson, set on a highway a little over a mile from the Venezuelan border. Its aim is to raise $100 million for the humanitarian crisis there.

A spokesman for the Cucuta police on Sunday said local authorities hadn't met with concert organizers.

"It seems supremely inconvenient to organize a concert at this moment," Canizares said. "We are very worried by everything."

In Venezuela late Sunday, five members of the European Parliament invited by the opposition to meet with Guaido in Caracas were barred from entering the country at Simon Bolivar International Airport, according to the opposition and members of the delegation. They were subsequently deported by Venezuelan authorities.

"Attention, our passports have been taken and we're being thrown out of Venezuela," tweeted Spain's Esteban Gonzalez Pons. "We're being mistreated and the only explanation we're given is that Maduro doesn't want us here."

Faiola reported from Caracas, Venezuela.

https://www.stripes.com/news/colombian- ... r-1.569134

"Humanitarian Aid", Bolton, ain't nothin' goin' on round here.......provocations incoming. This weekend will make or break this coup attempt.
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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Mon Feb 18, 2019 2:48 pm

Is Venezuela Canada’s Modern Day El Dorado?
Nino Pagliccia looks at the potential prize for Canada if they manage to oust Maduro.

By Nino Pagliccia
Feb 18th 2019 at 10.18am

Image
The mythical golden city of El Dorado was thought to be located in South America (History Collection Colombia)

The search for gold in the mythical place of El Dorado in Latina America drew armies of Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century and caused many deaths of indigenous people. The gold remained elusive but Spain colonized most of the region and exploited other riches until the Latin American independence movements of the 19th century.

But the search for gold never really ended, be it black gold - crude oil - or real gold of which Venezuela has plenty. The United States has publicly declared that is interested in the black gold. In the meantime, Canada has remained more secretive about its aspirations in its ventures in Venezuela. The truth is that Canada has corporate interests in the mining sector, and gold in particular.

We ask, is Venezuela Canada’s modern day El Dorado?

The US and Canada seem to be the main drivers, at least in the Western Hemisphere, to push for a coup in Venezuela by any means possible. In fact, the US and Canada appear to have established a tactical division of tasks against Venezuela. The US is using heavy-duty pounding through military threats to undermine the popular will of Venezuelans, together with unilateral financial sanctions and blockade to cripple the Venezuelan economy and cause havoc. Canada’s task is mainly luring the political will of rightwing regional governments through the illegitimate regime change intentions of the “Lima Group”.

Canada’s foreign policy alignment with the US State Department became clear when an Association between Ottawa and Washington was formed on September 5, 2017. The Association called on its two members to take “economic measures” against Venezuela and persons close to the Venezuelan government. To implement this decision, on September 22, 2017, Canada imposed its own unilateral sanctions against Venezuela, Venezuelan officials and other individuals under the so-called Special Economic Measures Act. [1]

International criminal lawyer Christopher Black has made the case that all actions by these two dubious partners, and some other governments, are illegal and break several international laws, charters and resolutions at the United Nations and the Organization of American States. [2]

If there is any doubt about the partnership, notice the language used by Canadian foreign affairs, Chrystia Freeland, in a recent statement to the press, “…the crisis in Venezuela is unfolding in Canada’s global backyard. This is our neighbourhood. We have a direct interest in what happens in our hemisphere.” When you thought that the US was first in the use of colonial language and imperial dominance in the region, Canada shows to be a very close second, using unoriginal, US-scripted language. Black shows contempt for Freeland’s statement as we do.

Since 2017 the aggression against Venezuela has escalated to a classic Hybrid War on a sovereign country to produce a regime change. The latest illegal act of interventionist aggression has been the recognition of a spurious interim president, which amounts to a coup d’état.

Like in any war the victors will divide the spoils if the coup succeeds. It is a shame to see Canada do the dirty job for the US, but Canada’s motivation for this act of piracy is considerable. Put in one sentence, the US gets Venezuela’s oil and Canada gets Venezuela’s minerals, especially the rich gold mines. Here again, Canada reveals to be in tune with the US and in full character as a modern day conquistador.

In a recent article for venezuelanalysis.com “The Planned Plunder Behind Canada's Support of the Coup”, [3] Canadian author Yves Engler spells out in details Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland’s “direct interest” in “Canada’s global backyard”. At least five major Canadian corporations (Crystallex, Vanessa Ventures, Gold Reserve Inc., Rusoro Mining and Barrick Gold) have been pushing for control over gold extraction in Venezuela since Hugo Chavez was president. But it is well known that Chavez believed that all resources are the property of the Venezuelan people and he acted on that belief by protecting them against any foreign take over.

Failing the conquest of the gold mines, Canadian corporations, protected by the Canadian government, turned their claims into legal actions. Engler reported, “In 2016 Rusoro Mining won a $1 billion claim under the Canada-Venezuela investment treaty. That same year Crystallex was awarded $1.2 billion under the Canada-Venezuela investment treaty. Both companies continue to pursue payments and have pursued the money from Citgo, the Venezuelan government owned gasoline retailer in the US.” [3] Not coincidentally, Citgo’s assets have been seized by the latest US sanctions that prevent profits to be repatriated by Venezuela. Washington’s “gift” to Ottawa.

Human rights expert and former UN independent rapporteur to Venezuela, Alfred de Zaya, refers to the aggression against Venezuela as a “looting campaign” and a “savage economic war.” [4]

Engler also gives us an understanding of the close relationship between Canada and Peru that may explain the choice of birthplace of the infamous “Lima Group”. Since the 1990s Canadian corporations control the majority of Peru’s mining sector.

It is important to realize that, as oil is a strategic commodity for the industrial-military complex needed by the US to impose the New World Order, gold is still the crucial strategic commodity needed to maintain the world financial control. Economic sanctions can only be effective in creating economic havoc in countries that do not submit to its will as long as the US retains world financial control with its US dollar domination supported by the largest gold reserves it holds.

Despite the creation of alterative crypto currencies, gold still remains a valuable asset and several governments seek to achieve a level on immunity from the wrath of US sanctions by focusing on increasing their gold reserves. This has created what has been labeled a “global gold rush.” China and Russia have joined in but they actually purchase gold rather than acquiring it by hegemonic means.

The trade war with the US has pushed China to reduce its dependency on the US dollar. [5] Russia on the other hand has been particularly hit by US sanctions and is also aiming to increase its gold reserves. [6] Russia and China are in fifth and sixth place in gold reserves behind US, Germany, France, and Italy.

Interestingly, Canada is one of the largest suppliers of gold and it has regularly been selling off its reserves virtually to depletion. [7] The thinking seems to be, who needs to have gold reserves when your economy is tightly linked (actually dependent) to a neighbour that has plenty of gold? But many have questioned the wisdom of that economic behaviour.

However, two things are certain; capitalist speculation in gold and sales of gold are financial returns that are fueling the Canadian economy, and more crucially, in order for Canada to continue to be a large supplier of gold, it must obtain it from modern day El Dorado, Venezuela. That requires Canada to act as the new imperial conquistador but it must be careful that the price of that gold may well be in spilled blood as it was for Spain.

References

[1] https://www.international.gc.ca/world-m ... x?lang=eng

[2] https://journal-neo.org/2019/02/04/the- ... l-outlaws/

[3] https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14310

[4] https://youtu.be/X5RvYySGc1s

[5] https://www.rt.com/business/451259-chin ... -reserves/

[6] https://www.rt.com/business/450297-russ ... ng-dollar/

[7] https://globalnews.ca/news/2557900/cana ... nces-left/

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Venezuelanalysis editorial staff.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14331

As usual....
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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Mon Feb 18, 2019 3:31 pm

Fatherland Or Death! Cuban Armed Forces Announces Full Support To Venezuela
By Joaquin Flores On Feb 18, 2019
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HAVANA, Cuba – The Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) of Cuba have backed the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, at a time when the island denounces that the United States is preparing a military action against the government of the socialist leader.

In ceremonies in barracks, broadcast by the state newscast on Friday and Saturday, members of the FAR, dressed in military green, signed supporting acts to Maduro, launching their traditional slogans of “! Hasta la Victoria, siempre!” and “¡Hasta la Victoria! Fatherland or death – Venceremos!”.

“The action of the United States is interventionist, of attacking and invading a country. Only they (Venezuela) are responsible for resolving their internal problems, “said Lieutenant Colonel of the Army, Ignacio Ariosa, at an event in the city of Matanzas, 83 kilometers east of Havana.

One of the signatories was the Deputy Minister of the Armed Forces, General Joaquín Quintas Sola, 80 years old, historical combatant of Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1959.

Health workers, industry workers and students from colleges and universities held similar meetings in all the territory, under the motto “Manos Fuera de Venezuela”, in support of an important political and economic ally of the socialist island.

Since the beginning of 2000, Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela has helped Cuba recover from the so-called “special period”, that decade of economic pressure on the island after the fall of the Soviet Union, which was its commercial partner.

In return, according to analysts, Havana helps Caracas on issues of national security.

These state activities have gone hand in hand with a permanent campaign by the Cuban authorities for social networks in support of Maduro and in rejection of opposition leader Juan Guaidó, recognized as interim president of Venezuela by some 50 countries.

“The Cuban people express their solidarity with Venezuela, the Bolivarian Revolution and its legitimate President Nicolás Maduro, and demand that sovereignty and peace be respected. Hands off Venezuela, “President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

Cuba said this week that US troops moved into Caribbean territory to prepare an “aggression” and “military adventure” against Venezuela “disguised as humanitarian intervention.”

The pulse of Maduro and Guaidó for power is now focused on foreign humanitarian aid, a thorny issue in a country experiencing the worst crisis in its modern history, with hyperinflation and shortages of food and medicine.

President Maduro refuses to receive such aid, claiming that there is no humanitarian emergency in his country and that it is no more than a pretext for a military invasion led by Washington.

Guaidó maintains, for his part, that the aid will enter “yes or yes” on February 23.

Some 2.3 million Venezuelans have left their country since 2015, according to the UN.

https://www.fort-russ.com/2019/02/fathe ... venezuela/

Some back-handed bullshit here, "Maduro claims", "2.3M", Ya can't trust the UN on shit like this, how many rich and petty booj did Venezuela have in the 1st place? I expect the poor, the vast majority of Venezuelans, are poorly represented among these emigres. Can't trust Fort Russ, a Russian government tool. Maduro should take a page from Assad's playbook when dealing with Russia. Of course food & medicine shortages are greatly exasperated by US sanctions, the Venezuelan bourgeoisie, and other more larcenous activities. Today npr informed me that the health crisis in Venezuela is extreme, vaccination rates sliding, a danger to surrounding countries, thousands of doctors fleeing.....with zero acknowledgement that the Bolivarian government, with help from Cuba, has delivered health care to millions who never had it before. These doctors who flee, I suspect most never treated a poor person, fucking gusanos.
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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Tue Feb 19, 2019 12:02 pm

NO COUP! NO WAR! HANDS OFF VENEZUELA!
Print
International Marxist Tendency 12 February 2019
International Marxist Tendency Imperialism Venezuela


The International Marxist Tendency rejects the current attempt by US imperialism to carry out a coup in Venezuela. What we are witnessing is a blatant attempt to remove the Venezuelan government of president Maduro by a coalition of countries, led by Trump. This is the latest episode in a 20-year campaign against the Bolivarian Revolution, a campaign that has involved military coups, paramilitary infiltrations, sanctions, diplomatic pressure, violent rioting and assassination attempts.

At the instruction of the White House and after meetings in Washington, Juan Guaidó proclaimed himself “president in charge” at a street rally in Caracas on 23 January. This declaration has no legitimacy whatsoever, but he was immediately recognised as such by Trump, Bolsonaro, Duque, Macri and Almagro. Others followed, including 19 EU countries. They then called on the Venezuelan Army to declare its loyalty to the new “president”. This was followed by the US imposing sanctions on the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA and seizing its assets in the US, worth US$7bn. An additional US$1.2bn in gold belonging to Venezuela is being withheld by the Bank of England on instructions from the US. The aim is to asphyxiate the Venezuelan economy into submission.

These acts of blatant imperialist aggression are being carried out under the cover of “democracy” and “humanitarian aid”. Let us be clear, imperialism lied about its reasons for invading Iraq (“weapons of mass destruction”), lied about the bombing of Libya and has always attempted to find a justification for imperialist aggression. The US government, which is building a wall to keep migrants out, locks in cages those who manage to get in and separates children from their parents, is clearly not at all worried about the plight of Venezuelan migrants. Trump has appointed Elliot Abrams as the person in charge of overseeing all operations to “restore democracy in Venezuela”. That tells you all you need to know about it. Abrams organised US funding for the counter-revolutionary Contras in Nicaragua and backed the death squads in El Salvador and Guatemala in the 1980s.

The coup has three main aims. One is to smash the Bolivarian Revolution, an aim which Washington has pursued by different means for 20 years. Secondly, this would allow US imperialism to get control of Venezuela’s oil and mineral wealth. Finally, this would also serve as a lesson to the workers and peasants throughout the continent and particularly as a clear threat to the Cuban Revolution.

If this attempted coup succeeds it will have disastrous consequences for working people in Venezuela and beyond. Guaidó has already announced his programme: the privatisation of nationalised companies (electricity, steel, telecommunications, cement, etc) and the expropriated landed estates; the “opening up” of the oil industry to foreign multinationals on very favourable terms; mass layoffs of public sector workers; the destruction of all social programmes; privatisation of health care and education; a “balanced budget”… This is an open programme of reaction on the social and economic fields. In order to implement these measures, such a government would have to crush the resistance of workers and peasants by suppressing democratic freedoms, attacking trade union and community organisations and arresting their leaders. Knowing the character of the reactionary opposition mobs and their track record, we could also expect lynch mobs to attack chavista supporters.

All socialists, anti-imperialists and consistent democrats have a duty to oppose this coup with all our might. There is no room for vacillation. It is not possible to adopt a “neither, nor” position in the face of a blatant imperialist aggression.

This situation has been aggravated by the vacillations of Maduro and the PSUV bureaucracy and their constant attempts to seek a compromise with imperialism and the Venezuelan ruling class. The continuation of that policy today would have disastrous consequences.

The coup attempt must be fought by mobilising the revolutionary workers and peasants, and striking blows against imperialism and its local agents: the oligarchy (bankers, capitalists and landowners). The militias should be strengthened, armed and developed in every working-class neighbourhood, factory and peasant community.

Guaidó has openly called for a military coup, has cheered the US seizure of Venezuelan property and is now calling for US military aggression. He is betraying the Venezuelan people. He should be arrested and put on trial, and the coup-plotting National Assembly should be closed down.

Multinational companies from the countries involved in the coup should be expropriated. The properties of those oligarchs involved in the coup should be expropriated. The landed estates should be handed over to the peasants. These properties should be put under workers’ and peasants’ control as the basis for a democratic plan of production to address the present crisis and meet the urgent needs of the Venezuelan masses.

The International Marxist Tendency commits itself to continue and redouble the efforts of the Hands off Venezuela campaign and take it into the labour and youth movement worldwide with all our forces. We call on all left-wing, trade union and youth organisations to join this campaign.

Hands off Venezuela!

No coup, no imperialist war!

Expropriate the imperialists and the oligarchy!

Workers of the world unite!

International Marxist Tendency, Turín, 10 February 2019

https://www.marxist.com/no-coup-no-war- ... ezuela.htm

You can complain about the tactics the Bolivarian Revolution has used in confronting the capitalists, I have, but you better check your scorecard too.....
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Re: Venezuela

Post by blindpig » Tue Feb 19, 2019 2:32 pm

The Fake News about Humanitarian Aid and Venezuela

In recent times the international media, including many who promised to “resist” the dangerous commander-in-chief Donald Trump, have been awash with stories about Nicolas Maduro blocking US “humanitarian aid” reaching Venezuela. Maduro is said to have even blocked a bridge in his desperation to starve his own people (see, for example, CNN, CBC, Associated Press, BBC, NPR, ABC, Bloomberg, The Guardian). A constant flow of stories such as this have served to establish a narrative of a dictator blocking a benevolent US government from helping its desperate people. Something must be done!

Virtually unreported in the humanitarian aid story are several inconvenient truths that contradict the official US government narrative the media is so closely parroting. Firstly, the “aid” is not recognized as such at all. For shipments to qualify as aid, they must be given indiscriminately. The US “aid” appears destined only for Juan Guaidó, the US-backed self-appointed president. The Red Cross and the United Nations have refused to help the US or to recognize Trump’s shipments as aid. Indeed, the United Nations has formally condemned the US’ actions in Venezuela. For their part, the Venezuelan government has been very eager to accept genuine aid, and is currently working with the UN to distribute supplies.

The UN Human Rights Council denounced Trump’s sanctions (illegal even under OAS law), noting that they specifically target “the poor and most vulnerable classes”, calling on all member states to break them and even began discussing reparations that the US should pay to Venezuela. The sanctions have had a devastating effect on the country’s economy, reducing its oil output by 50 percent, according to the opposition’s own economics czar. Furthermore, Trump has threatened anyone breaking the sanctions with up to 30 years imprisonment. One UN special rapporteur described the sanctions as akin to a medieval siege and declared them a “crime against humanity.” Thus, much of Venezuela’s crisis is actually manufactured in Washington, though you would be extremely hard pressed to understand that from mainstream coverage.

The appointment of the notorious Elliott Abrams should be a major red flag for anyone believing that the US government’s actions are benign. Abrams was responsible for organizing death squads across the region in the 1980s that carried out mass slaughters and genocide in Central America and was also prosecuted for selling arms to Iran to fund the Contra death squads, famously sending them weapons under the guise of humanitarian aid. History now repeats itself, as the Venezuelan government intercepted a shipment from Miami containing assault weapons, ammunition and military-grade radios on a Boeing 767 that had made nearly 40 round trips from the US to the region this year alone. Thus, the person famously caught for sending guns under the cover of aid to Nicaragua may already be sending guns under the cover of aid to Venezuela.

In short, there is more than ample reason for Venezuelans to be highly skeptical of any help the US claims to be offering, especially considering the terrible harm the US has wrought on its economy. The $20 million shipment of “aid” is a drop in the ocean in comparison to the effect of the sanctions, estimated to be tens of billions of dollars. The “aid” therefore constitutes about what Venezuela loses every eight hours due to the sanctions. The very obvious thing any American with a genuine desire to help the Venezuelan people would advocate is to end the illegal sanctions and begin paying reparations.

Yet all this has been almost completely ignored by the mainstream media, marching in lockstep with the Trump administration’s regime change agenda. Instead it presents a socialist dictatorship intent on spurning good faith US efforts to help its stricken people in an attempt to establish the grounds for escalation of US actions in the country. In 2017 the US blocked genuine Venezuelan aid to the victims of Hurricane Harvey. Yet this was not seen as the justification for an invasion of the US.

The final piece in this farcical puzzle is that the bridge Maduro supposedly blocked to stop aid reaching the country has, in fact, never been opened and the barriers blocking the way have been in place since at least 2016, as five minutes on Google would have shown. Yet virtually the entire media – so obsessed with fact-checking everything Donald Trump says – went along with his administration’s PR stunt. That it was immediately exposed as a hoax meant nothing to the media outlets in question, who have not deleted or modified their stories since publication. Printing fake news about official enemies will not result in a ban from Twitter or deletion from Facebook, it seems. However, merely expressing an alternative opinion has done.

The Venezuelan case proves the lie that the media genuinely cares about honest reporting, countering fake news and resisting Trump. When it comes to serving an imperial agenda, all is jettisoned out the window in favor of regime change propaganda.

https://ahtribune.com/world/americas/ve ... n-aid.html
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