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Venezuela's Dramatic Unfolding Events


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People in Venezuela are continuing to take to the streets in their thousands to protest against the government. The situation is becoming increasingly violent as riot police confront the demonstrators. Over the past month nearly 40 people have been killed. Vladimir Hernandez has spent a day out on the streets of the capital Caracas

 

 

 

 

 

 

The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) and the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) have issued a strong statement calling for the U.S. government to stop its attempts to destabilize the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro. The statement serves notice that the U.S. antiwar movement will oppose any attempts on the part of the U.S. government at “regime change” in Venezuela, whether by economic pressure, coup attempts, or military intervention.

 

According to Ajamu Baraka, National Organizer of the Black Alliance for Peace,

“The U.S. led destabilization project in Venezuela is an attack on all progressive peoples and movements in the Americas, including the over 150 million Black people in the region. The Black Alliance for Peace understands that there can no peace without justice, and so we stand in solidarity with the people of Venezuela who are defending their project for social justice, self-determination and national sovereignty. In our joint statement with UNAC, we are calling on the Trump Administration to immediately cease its subversive activities in Venezuela.”

 

Joe Lombardo, Co-coordinator of UNAC, stated,

 

“Today the U.S. has military bases in over 130 countries. It has around 20 times the number of military bases as all other countries in the world combined. Through military force, economic sabotage and other means, it seeks to impose Wall Street’s will on all countries. The brave people of Venezuela have resisted these attempts in their country, and so UNAC and BAP stand with them.”

 

UNAC will use its upcoming national conference (http://UNACconference2017) to express support for Venezuela.

 

 

 

 

Statement on Venezuela by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) and the Black Alliance for Peace 

 

The United States has been conducting a brutal, 20-year-long campaign of destabilization against Venezuela in an attempt to cause “regime change” in that country.  This has taken the form of economic sabotage and financial manipulation as well as support for the mobilization of right-wing forces in increasingly violent demonstrations.

This is not a recent policy but one that has also been carried out under the Obama and Bush administrations as well as the present Trump administration. In 2002, right-wing forces inside Venezuela attempted a coup against then-President Hugo Chavez. Many sources have confirmed that the U.S. gave the go-ahead to the opposition to orchestrate the coup and promised support.  Soon after the coup, the people of Venezuela turned out in the streets in massive numbers and restored Chavez to the presidency.

Barack Obama continued the assault on the Venezuelan revolution by imposing crippling sanctions and asserting that Venezuela was a “security threat” to the United States. These attacks from the U.S. exemplify attempts to realize full-spectrum dominance, the epitome of imperialist intervention which has brought so much suffering to the world.

Some of the very same opposition leaders who were involved in the 2002 coup attempt are today behind the present unrest, which has seen well-financed opposition forces leading violent protests against the government of Nicolas Maduro. The U.S. corporate media has reported on these actions but has blamed the violence on the Venezuelan government and has not reported the huge mobilizations in defense of the Maduro government.

Now a bipartisan bill has been submitted in the Senate (S.1018) with the intention of further destabilizing Venezuela.  For more information on this bill and some actions you can take to oppose it, please go to http://afgj.org/take-action-today-to-support-venezuelas-democracy.

The economic crises in Venezuela is severe. The Venezuelan economy is dependent on its large oil resources.  The oil has been nationalized since 1976, but there has been a continual push from U.S. interests as well as wealthy Venezuelans to privatize it. Though the oil remains nationalized, the refining, transportation, and markets are all private and have been used to undercut the ability of the oil industry to support the economy. Additionally, in the past few years, with the encouragement of Wall Street, oil production around the world has been kept high, driving down the price, which hurts oil-dependent economies, including those of countries that the U.S. opposes, such as Russia and Iran, in addition to Venezuela.

The U.S. media also has been full of stories of Venezuelan supermarkets with near-empty shelves and long lines of people seeking basic necessities. What hasn’t been reported is that the privately owned food corporations are deliberately hoarding supplies intended for working-class neighborhoods while making sure that food and other goods are readily available in the wealthier areas.

The Bolivarian Revolution has always endeavored to be an ally of the people of United States and to extend a hand of friendship and solidarity.  When the U.S. government turned its back on the people of the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Venezuelan government offered humanitarian aid but was rebuffed. Venezuela provided fuel assistance to low-income Black and Brown people when the U.S. government would not.

These acts reinforced the strong support that many in the Black community had for the process in Venezuela and deepened the commitment of Black activists to stand in solidarity with the people of Venezuela and their process. This support is in line with the long-standing Black radical tradition of defending nations under imperialist attack by the U.S. government. 

The defeat of the Bolivarian Revolution at the hands of U.S. imperialism and its reactionary right-wing allies in Venezuela would be a defeat for progressive forces all over the world and a disaster for the people of Venezuela and its people, as it has been in Libya and Ukraine and Haiti and every nation that has lost its sovereignty to the two-party commitment to imperialist intervention.

 

UNAC and the Black Alliance for Peace demand:

 

End US interference in the affairs of Venezuela!

Self-determination for the Venezuelan people!

End the sanctions and economic warfare now!

 

http://www.globalresearch.ca/u-s-attempts-at-destabilization-the-peace-movement-stands-in-solidarity-with-venezuela/5589658

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As much as Venezuelan people are suffering a horrible situation,  this is Peron part II. 

Watching Evita last evening I just couldn't help comparing both situations. Since Hugo Chavez put the foreign investors out,  the pressure against the Venezuelan government from external forces is unbearable.  The opositor in jail like Peron,  his wife campaigning outside like Evita... Populism galore trying to make believe that a new government would solve the problems... 

Sorry but I don't swallow it. As the Che sings in Evita,  pity that elections are a important step to gain power,  but there are other things you can do to grant full control of the country,  and that's through revolts. 

That said,  stupid Maduro should throw the towel and go.  USA and the EU have won. They want the oil and they will get it. 

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I have family in venezuela, and they are really divided... it´s incredible this is happening in a country with such quantity of natural resources...well, or maybe not.I really don´t have a lot of info about it, but it seems to me that Chavez and probably other latin american politicians wanted to change the system to improve their countries situation, and they have lost the battle long time ago.I guess it´s time to let Milton Friedman´s ideas enter Venezuela

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It's all a mix between Chavismo being shit and the controlling powers being the worst. 

No country EVER has expelled foreign firms and gain control of their resources and survive.  Never. 

Venezuela will be neoconservative soon,  people will live better than now (not difficult,  as this prefabricated crisis has reached a catastrophic level)  and then afterwards they will realise that they are still poor as rats while oligarchs are megarich.  

 

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Just now, karbatal said:

It's all a mix between Chavismo being shit and the controlling powers being the worst. 

No country EVER has expelled foreign firms and gain control of their resources and survive.  Never. 

Venezuela will be neoconservative soon,  people will live better than now (not difficult,  as this prefabricated crisis has reached a catastrophic level)  and then afterwards they will realise that they are still poor as rats while oligarchs are megarich.  

 

yes, but I can understand some people trying to change the sistem they were living... don´t get me wrong, I  know Chavez wasn´t Allende, but venezuela was very corrupted, if half of what they say was true...anyways, your last paragraph is what will happen in the next years, that´s for sure.

I remember back in the day asking my father if our friends from argentina were suffering the corralito and all the problems, and he told me that most of them had the money outside argentina already.and same with our people in venezuela...

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Chavez was just one in the many rounds of coups in Venezuela's modern history (http://www.nexos.com.mx/?p=27353). His moment seems mild now, looking back, because oil prices were high in the 2000s. The living situation in Venezuela, from what I've heard, has been unbearable for quite some time, so it is all really a time bomb awaiting to explode.

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  • 1 year later...

Maduro is the worst but this is not legal, isn't it? There were not elections! Not sure if it is possible that there are clean elections witn Maduro there, but anyway...  Many other countries are recognising Guaido, btw! 

Anyway, I hope the best for Venezuelan people. Cross my finger so this is the beginning of something good. 

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Well he IS the president of the National Assembly and legally authorized to step up in the event of not having a legally elected president.

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This is madness.

This guy has absolutely no right to self proclaim himself the president of Venezuela. He will definitely be in jail by tomorrow.

The far-right government in Brazil has just announced it stands for the self proclaimed authorities in Venezuela.

Things are very ugly right now. Some people say that the risk of war has just increased by tenfold.

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42 minutes ago, Nessie said:

This is madness.

This guy has absolutely no right to self proclaim himself the president of Venezuela. He will definitely be in jail by tomorrow.

The far-right government in Brazil has just announced it stands for the self proclaimed authorities in Venezuela.

Things are very ugly right now. Some people say that the risk of war has just increased by tenfold.

He has every right to do so. He's the president of the National Assembly and the constitution -created by Chavez and co. funnily enough- states that in the absence of a legally elected president the president of the assembly must take charge temporarily and call for elections. Which is what he is doing and is getting support both in the country and from the governments of many countries.  You know who are taking Maduros side here? Russia. Cuba. It would be funny except it's not.

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15 minutes ago, Je5u5 said:

He has every right to do so. He's the president of the National Assembly and the constitution -created by Chavez and co. funnily enough- states that in the absence of a legally elected president the president of the assembly must take charge temporarily and call for elections. Which is what he is doing and is getting support both in the country and from the governments of many countries.  You know who are taking Maduros side here? Russia. Cuba. It would be funny except it's not.

Maduro is the elected president. This guy is not. By the way, just look who says Maduro ellection is illegal.That’s right. The same guy of the National Assembly who just self proclaimed himself president! This is an absurd! Imagine if the same thing happened in the US, the guy would be already in jail facing torture on Guantanamo. This is madness!

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5 minutes ago, Nessie said:

Maduro is the elected president. This guy is not. By the way, just look who says Maduro ellection is illegal.That’s right. The same guy of the National Assembly who just self proclaimed himself president! This is an absurd! Imagine if the same thing happened in the US, the guy would be already in jail facing torture on Guantanamo. This is madness!

Maduro is NOT the legally elected president. The last elections were a sham, and were denounced as such even before they took place. Maduro banned anyone who stood a chance from running against him in the elections, the electoral board was run by his people only. The elections were NOT done in a democratic manner. Local organizations rejected them. The United Nations rejected them.  The Organization of American States rejected them. The European Union rejected them. The Lima Group rejected them. You know who backed them? North Korea. Cuba. Russia. China. Iran. Syria. Some nice company to have around huh?

The Chavez crafted constitution establishes in a series of articles (probably written hoping to be used against the oposition) that in situations like this the president of the national assembly must take charge and that is what he's doing. He's not claiming to be elected president. He's just acting by the law and that's why all those who rejected the elections are now showing their support.

 

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13 minutes ago, Je5u5 said:

Maduro is NOT the legally elected president. The last elections were a sham, and were denounced as such even before they took place. Maduro banned anyone who stood a chance from running against him in the elections, the electoral board was run by his people only. The elections were NOT done in a democratic manner. Local organizations rejected them. The United Nations rejected them.  The Organization of American States rejected them. The European Union rejected them. The Lima Group rejected them. You know who backed them? North Korea. Cuba. Russia. China. Iran. Syria. Some nice company to have around huh?

The Chavez crafted constitution establishes in a series of articles (probably written hoping to be used against the oposition) that in situations like this the president of the national assembly must take charge and that is what he's doing. He's not claiming to be elected president. He's just acting by the law and that's why all those who rejected the elections are now showing their support.

 

His ellection was denounced by the same usual entities patroned by the US that want to oust Maduro for years and also the previous president Hugo Chaves. Just for oil. If those two were cooperative with the US interests i can assure you this thing would never have happened, Maduro would be dining in the White House just like the vicious tyrannical kings of Saudi Arabia.

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41 minutes ago, Nessie said:

His ellection was denounced by the same usual entities patroned by the US that want to oust Maduro for years and also the previous president Hugo Chaves. Just for oil. If those two were cooperative with the US interests i can assure you this thing would never have happened, Maduro would be dining in the White House just like the vicious tirannical kings of Saudi Arabia.

So? Those who are supporting Maduro also have their very transparent agendas or you think Russia, Cuba and China support him because they think he's cool?

Anyway, at this point, as a Venezuelan you don't care if the reason they are supporting Guaido is because they have interests, that's just how politics work. You appreciate the support because what he is doing IS legal. If your mother had to stand in line for hours to try to (hopefully) buy a piece of bread you would appreciate the support too and would hope today is indeed the start of a new chapter.

It's sad that, as usual, this chapter is starting with the death of at least a dozen young Venezuelans today in the hands of Maduro's forces. THAT is madness.

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The EU released a wishy-washy statement supporting democracy, asking Maduro to go, saying Guaido is great... But not recognising. I guess the block is waiting for Maduro to step down. Let's see what the army does. 

Jesús, I wish your people all the best. 

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On 1/24/2019 at 2:52 AM, Je5u5 said:

So? Those who are supporting Maduro also have their very transparent agendas or you think Russia, Cuba and China support him because they think he's cool?

Anyway, at this point, as a Venezuelan you don't care if the reason they are supporting Guaido is because they have interests, that's just how politics work. You appreciate the support because what he is doing IS legal. If your mother had to stand in line for hours to try to (hopefully) buy a piece of bread you would appreciate the support too and would hope today is indeed the start of a new chapter.

It's sad that, as usual, this chapter is starting with the death of at least a dozen young Venezuelans today in the hands of Maduro's forces. THAT is madness.

is it really legal? I´ve read somewhere that he declaring himself president wasn´t legal either (as a lot of things maduro has done before)

this really looks bad.I understand that is not his part of his job, but what minister Borrell said was quite sensible to me, to have elections again, and this time super clean ones.But USA trying to hel a country in central-south america...sounds risky and dangerous

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On 1/24/2019 at 8:43 AM, karbatal said:

The EU released a wishy-washy statement supporting democracy, asking Maduro to go, saying Guaido is great... But not recognising. I guess the block is waiting for Maduro to step down. Let's see what the army does. 

Jesús, I wish your people all the best. 

me too!!! I have family in venezuela too, and they are some in maduro´s side, and others against him.anyways, it seems maduro is going to keep the power, isn´t he?

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10 minutes ago, promise to try said:

is it really legal? I´ve read somewhere that he declaring himself president wasn´t legal either (as a lot of things maduro has done before)

this really looks bad.I understand that is not his part of his job, but what minister Borrell said was quite sensible to me, to have elections again, and this time super clean ones.But USA trying to hel a country in central-south america...sounds risky and dangerous

At least there is legal backing to what he is doing: in the absence of a legally elected president, it is his job to step up as a temporary president and call for elections. And that's what he is doing. Some people act as if his end game is just to become president himself.

The only problematic thing is that the constitution (unsurprisingly) doesn't specifically include "rigging the elections and taking the office even when nobody accepts them as legitimate" as an absence.

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39 minutes ago, promise to try said:

me too!!! I have family in venezuela too, and they are some in maduro´s side, and others against him.anyways, it seems maduro is going to keep the power, isn´t he?

Who knows. Pedro Sanchez has just declared and acknowledged Guaido as the president, by the way.

Merkel and Macron are expected to do the same today.

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1 hour ago, promise to try said:

now I don´t understand anything:sanchez has asked  maduro to call for elections before a week.if you ask somebody to call for elections,you are suggesting that he has the legitimate power?

Yes and that's what's being criticized by the opposition in Venezuela, especially as Maduro cannot call for elections directly anyway. 

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2 hours ago, Je5u5 said:

Yes and that's what's being criticized by the opposition in Venezuela, especially as Maduro cannot call for elections directly anyway. 

Oh, then it is really a diplomatic mistake by Sánchez's part. 

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7 hours ago, mamifero said:

 

 

is not that we like maduro or we think he is good or something positive for venezuela...is that we have seen the same behaviour in the US government, before trump, a lot of times, with other countries around the world.And we know what has happened to them.I wonder if the situation in venezuela would have been the same, internationally speaking, if they weren´t a country filthy rich in oil.

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53 minutes ago, promise to try said:

is not that we like maduro or we think he is good or something positive for venezuela...is that we have seen the same behaviour in the US government, before trump, a lot of times, with other countries around the world.And we know what has happened to them.I wonder if the situation in venezuela would have been the same, internationally speaking, if they weren´t a country filthy rich in oil.

Did you click on the tweet and read the analogy? It leaves a few key facts out but it's a decent recap.

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yes, it´s very interesting.But again, I don´t know if USA´s "help" is going to be good, or better than maduro.and Russia and china are with him...shit, again, it´s a problem to be so rich, if venezuela was poor, the problem, maduro, will still be there, but...

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The thing is that the situation now is so horrible that something has to be done.

It's important though to remember that the situation before Chavez was bad too and people were not precisely swimming in money. 

What a mess is most of Latin America,, to be honest. First we Spaniards rob them so many riches and saw there the seeds of corruption. Then the United States are created and they can't scape  greed, violence and flimsy governments. 

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