Venezuela

Solidarity Center Funding Skyrockets For Venezuela And Colombia

October 28, 2021 James Patrick Jordan, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Colombia, Labor, Latin America, Venezuela

The Solidarity Center’s activities in Venezuela and Colombia skyrocketed last year. Funding from the mis-named National Endowment for Democracy (NED) soared to almost 60% over the previous year’s awards. The 2020 funding, alone, represents over 40% of the total for similar grants for the last five years on record ($3,617,000). In 2020, the Solidarity Center’s Bogotá office received $1,470,000 in regional NED funding. That is up over $626,000 in 2019. Additionally, the NED gave a $50,000 award for “a survey of labor rights violations” but did not specify to whom the grant was given. The Solidarity Center works closely with long-time partners, the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV, for Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela), as well as the Labor Solidarity Movement (MSL for Movimiento de Solidridad Laboral), which includes current and former CTV officials in its leadership, as well as Orlando Chirino, who was a candidate for president of Venezuela against Hugo Chávez in 2012.

Miami Defenders Rally For Release Of Venezuelan Diplomat Alex Saab

October 27, 2021 Lauren Smith, Popular Resistance. Resist! Alex Saab, Miami, US Sanctions, Venezuela

On Sunday, October 24, representatives from more than six independent activist groups led by the Bolivarian Circle of Miami joined forces at the foot of the statue of Latin American hero, Simon Bolivar, in the Miami Torch of Friendship Park, to demand Venezuelan Ambassador Alex Saab’s immediate release from U.S. prison and repatriation to Venezuela. The Venezuelan diplomat was kidnapped twice by Washington. First, Alex Saab was kidnapped under orders of the Trump administration on June 12, 2020, while his plane refueled in Cape Verde, then again, under the Biden administration, on Saturday, October 16 from Cape Verde to Miami. Ambassador Saab was abducted from Cape Verde without the knowledge of his legal team or family the day before the island’s presidential election.

Biden Administration Is Undermining The Venezuela Dialogue

October 24, 2021 Leonardo Flores, Mintpress News. Educate! Alex Saab, Biden administration, Peace Negotiation, Venezuela

The talks between the Venezuelan government and the extreme-right wing opposition had been going well. There are still outstanding issues to be resolved, like ending the economic war, but the discussions held in Mexico led to concrete electoral developments. The European Union agreed to send an electoral observation mission. The United Nations decided to send a panel of electoral experts. (Both institutions refused to observe the 2018 presidential and 2020 legislative elections, despite invitations from the government.) Thousands of opposition candidates registered to run in the mega-elections, which include voting for governors and mayors, as regional and local legislators. It’s a good thing that agreements on the elections were reached quickly, because the Biden administration, following in the Trump administration’s footsteps, has been actively undermining the dialogue.

Alex Saab To Appear Today Before A Judge In Miami

October 18, 2021 Ana Perdigón, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Alex Saab, International Law, US Sanctions, Venezuela

On the afternoon of Monday, October 18, Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab will appear before a judge in Miami, United States, after having been illegally extradited from Cape Verde. This action has been classified by the Venezuelan government as a kidnapping by the US with the complicity of Cape Verdean authorities. A spokeswoman for the US Justice Department, Nicole Navas, reported that Saab is scheduled to appear at 1 p.m. on Monday, October 18 before Judge John J. O’Sullivan of the US Federal Court for the Southern District of Florida. “Saab was extradited today from Cape Verde to the United States to be processed on the charges that were brought against him in July 2019,” stated Navas. The US government accuses Saab of allegedly laundering the equivalent of over $350 million.

Venezuelan Government Envoy Alex Saab Extradited To The United States

October 17, 2021 Venezuelanalysis. Educate! Alex Saab, Criminal Justice and Prisons, US Sanctions, Venezuela

Venezuelan government envoy Alex Saab has been extradited to the United States from Cape Verde, where he had been imprisoned since 2020. The extradition was first reported by local Cape Verde outlets and later confirmed by US officials. The contractor will face trial in Florida where he was charged with money laundering. The Nicolás Maduro government immediately reacted, denouncing the "kidnapping" of Saab by the US government.

Forbes Reveals Why The US Government Is Trying To Extradite Alex Saab

October 5, 2021 Roger D. Harris, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Alex Saab, Extradition, US Imperialism, Venezuela

Alex Saab is “the key that unlocks the Venezuelan monetary mystery—that is, how a country facing sanctions from the US, the UK and the European Union—is still able to export things like gold and oil…and really the only man who can actually explain how the country [Venezuela] survives today,” according to Forbes. The US would far prefer to just quietly extradite Saab to Miami, use whatever means necessary to extract sensitive information from him, and then warehouse him in the world’s largest prison system. Forbes uses the euphemism “under pressure” by US prison authorities as the means to force Saab to “shed light on Venezuela’s post-sanction economic network.” Saab already reports that his surrogate captors in Cabo Verde, described below, have unsuccessfully employed torture to try to break his will and induce him to betray Venezuela.

Allow Humanitarian Aid To Reach Venezuela

September 30, 2021 Progressive International. Resist! Health Care, Portugal, Sanctions, Venezuela

We are writing to you to urge Novo Banco to execute the transfer of a modest portion of the now technically unfrozen assets belonging to Bandes, the Venezuelan economic and social development bank, so they may be transferred directly to the Brazil-based Pan-American Health Organisation to pay for vaccines and medicines for infants in Venezuela. Bandes informed us that they submitted this request to Novo Banco on 22nd July and have yet to receive a response. At this point in time there is no legal or extralegal obstacle that would preclude a Portuguese bank from making a transfer of Bandes’ own funds in Brazilian reales directly to a Brazilian bank account in order to pay for humanitarian supplies for children. Nearly 2 billion USD (in various currencies but a large amount in euros) have been withheld by Novo Banco illegally since late 2017.

Outrage Over Atrocities Committed Against Alex Saab

September 29, 2021 Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Alex Saab, Torture, US Sanctions, Venezuela

After receiving a letter from the diplomat Alex Saab, the head of the Venezuelan government delegation in the Mexico Talks, Jorge Rodríguez, expressed outrage at the atrocities committed against this representative of Venezuelan diplomacy. In the letter, Saab denounced his subjection to torture in Cape Verde, including psychologically torment. For example, authorities had deprived him of water for days, wrote Saab, “because according to them they must pass the transparent bottles through the x-ray, and the machine is always damaged.”

HBO’s Anti-Maduro Propaganda Is Cruder Than Venezuelan Oil

September 28, 2021 Joe Emersberger, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting. Educate! Media, Propaganda, US Regime Change, Venezuela

HBO Max began streaming a documentary on September 15: A La Calle (“To the Street”). It portrays US-backed opposition leaders in Venezuela as pro-democracy heroes battling a brutal dictatorship—a total reversal of the truth. A Daily Beast article (9/13/21) promoting the film is headlined “Capturing Venezuela’s Descent Into Socialist Hell,” which succinctly conveys the film’s slant, and suggests why it found a big corporate platform like HBO Max, a subsidiary of AT&T‘s WarnerMedia. From the trailer alone, it’s obvious that A La Calle depicts Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López as a noble democrat. That’s outrageous. López, a former oil industry executive, was one of the perpetrators of a US-backed coup in 2002 that briefly ousted the democratically elected president at the time, Hugo Chávez. A dictatorship under business executive Pedro Carmona killed 60 protesters during the two days it was in power.

Tensions Rise At Third Round Of Stalled Government-Opposition Negotiations

September 28, 2021 Paul Dobson, Venezuelanalysis. Educate! Mexico, Peace Negotiations, Sanctions, Venezuela

Mérida – The Venezuelan government and US-backed opposition held a third round of talks in Mexico City over the weekend amid increasing friction. The weekend negotiations followed “fruitful” encounters in August and early September. Following previous sessions, the two parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding, opposition politician Freddy Guevara was released from prison, a number of hardliners signed up to participate in the upcoming November 21 elections and US $5.1 billion was transferred to the country’s international reserves by the International Monetary Fund. The talks bring together representatives of the Nicolás Maduro government and Juan Guaidó bloc under the banner of the self-styled Unitary Platform. More moderate opposition sectors and leftwing opponents were not invited.

18 Countries Issue Call For Defense Of United Nations Charter

September 24, 2021 People's Dispatch. Organize! International Law, Solidarity, United Nations, Venezuela

The Group of Friends in Defense of the United Nations Charter held its first ministerial meeting at Venezuela’s UN Mission in New York City on Thursday, September 23 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting. The 18-country group adopted a declaration which outlines a policy in favor of respecting the UN charter. The statement says, “The UN Charter and its purposes and principles remain timeless, universal, and that all are indispensable, not only to preserve and promote international peace and security, the rule of law, the economic development and social progress, but also human rights and to achieve a more peaceful, prosperous, just and equitable world.” The group’s members currently are Algeria, Angola, Belarus, Bolivia, Cambodia, China, North Korea, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, Laos, Nicaragua, Palestine, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Syria.

CELAC To Choose Between Dignity Or OAS’ Monroe Doctrine

September 21, 2021 Orinoco Tribune. Create! Latin America, Mexico, OAS, Venezuela

After five years without meeting, Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) will convene on Saturday for the VI Summit in Mexico City. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose late Friday arrival upstaged all other participants of the Summit, has submitted a proposal to his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to create a General Secretariat of CELAC and appoint a consensus Secretary General based in Mexico. President Maduro says the new institutional framework is necessary for CELAC in the context of the debate taking place on the Organization of American States (OAS) and CELAC. “It is the old debate between Monroeism (Monroe Doctrine) and Bolivarianism, between Latin America and the Caribbean. Our America and the other America, the imperial America,” he said.

Hush, Hush (Venezuela Is Winning!)

September 18, 2021 Maria Paez Victor, Counterpunch. Educate! Mexico, Peace Talks, US Imperialism, Venezuela

By now it is obvious that the mainstream media does not cover any good news whatsoever about Venezuela. Even non-political issues are always accompanied by a poisoned cliché sentence or two about “dictator”, “authoritarian regime”, “collapsed economy” “humanitarian crisis”, etc. etc. So, the game-changing news that there are peace talks being held in México City between the Venezuelan government and opposition parties is ignored. México is acting as host and facilitator with the kingdoms of Norway and Netherlands, and the Russian Federation as mediators. This seminal event has been scarcely reported by the North American media or commented on by politicians. Not a peep. Perhaps it is because neither the USA nor Canada have been permitted to be part of these negotiations, although certainly the USA has tried, and failed, to worm itself in.

UN Human Rights Chief Calls For Venezuela Sanctions Relief

September 16, 2021 José Luis Granados Ceja, Venezuelanalysis. Educate! Human Rights, United Nations, US Sanctions, Venezuela

Mexico City, Mexico - Michelle Bachelet, United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on Monday for sectoral sanctions against Venezuela to be lifted. “I reiterate my call for sectoral sanctions to be lifted,” the former Chilean president said, recalling the negative impact of the measures on the Caribbean nation’s economy. The High Commissioner’s call came during the opening of the 48th session of the Human Rights Council where she presented her report on the human rights situation in Venezuela. Bachelet also expressed her support for the ongoing dialogue between the government and the US-backed opposition being held in Mexico. Venezuela welcomed Bachelet’s appeal for unilateral coercive measures to be lifted but took exception to what Venezuela’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Héctor Constant Rosales, called the “politicization” of the High Commissioner’s report.

Alex Saab Defence Team Confident Of Achieving His Release

September 16, 2021 Alex Saab Defence Team, Popular Resistance. Resist! Alex Saab, International Law, US Sanctions, Venezuela

Femi Falana, SAN, who heads up Alex Saab’s ECOWAS Defence commented “Contrary to some of the statements which have been made in the media, the legal process is far from over and His Excellency Alex Saab will not be going to the United States any time soon. The decision of the Constitutional Court on 7 September is leaves many legal ambiguities and my colleague Dr Jose Manuel Pinto Monteiro will be seeking clarification from the Court by way of an urgent submission this afternoon.” Dr Rutsel S.J. Martha, Interpol’s former Head of Legal Affairs, highlighted the fact that no arrest warrant issued at the time of Alex Saab’s arrest on 12 June 2020, which despite the attempt by the Constitutional Court to brush this aside as an inconvenience, cannot be ignored as it is an absolute must, as required by Cape Verde’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

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