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Operation Gideon Shows US Aggression Against Venezuela Is Not About Human Rights

Operation Gideon was not an outlying incident, the debacle occurred in accordance with decades, if not centuries, of U.S. foreign policy precedent in Latin America. Along with Bolivia’s lithium and other resource-rich Latin American nations, Venezuela’s plentiful oil deposits — the largest reserves in the world — have long been on the wish list for business interests and the U.S.’s political and financial elite. U.S. acts of imperialism and economic warfare will not end until ordinary American citizens stand in solidarity with the people tortured by capital and the U.S. foreign policy apparatus. If the American people believe in human rights they must condemn their government and corporations’ brutal and tedious need for economic domination and call for a more equitable distribution of resources to the world’s working-class people, ceasing murderous acts of economic warfare, and recognizing the will of the people in sovereign nations.

Venezuela Moves Toward Elections: US Seeks To Undermine Them

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) has kickstarted proceedings for the upcoming December 6 National Assembly (AN) elections. A number of events have taken place in recent weeks that appear to open the way for a path out of the current political crisis and towards new conditions of stability in the country. The roadmap has several democratic and electoral elements, which dovetail with decrees handed down by state institutions. The government’s strategy is, in broad strokes, to create a new democratic framework on the basis of several recent developments that we will examine. While this roadmap is rife with constitutional inconsistencies and arbitrary maneuvers, it is the only viable political solution in the current context of economic crisis and US-led international siege. It also paves the way for a presidential recall referendum in 2022, which President Nicolas Maduro has recognized as an option.

State Dept Abandons Families Of Mercenaries Detained In Venezuela

The Grayzone has confirmed that former US ambassador to the UN Bill Richardson traveled to Venezuela on Monday, July 13, following conversations with the families of former Green Beret soldiers Luke Denman and Airan Berry. Venezuelan authorities detained Berry and Denman on May 4, after they participated in a failed mercenary invasion of Venezuela with the stated goal of kidnapping the country’s elected president, Nicolas Maduro.  Mark Denman, the younger brother of the detained mercenary Luke Denman, told The Grayzone that Richardson had agreed to help his family after the US Department of State failed to offer assistance.

Long Overdue For Latin America: A “Good Neighbor Policy”

U.S. policy towards Venezuela has been a fiasco. Try as it might, the Trump regime-change team has been unable to depose President Maduro and finds itself stuck with a self-proclaimed president, Juan Guaidó, who President Trump was reported to have called “a kid” who “doesn’t have what it takes.” The Venezuelan people have paid a heavy price for Trump’s debacle, which has included crippling economic sanctions and coup attempts. So has U.S. prestige internationally, as both the UN and the EU have urged lifting sanctions during the pandemic but the U.S. has refused.

Paralyzed Companies Rescued By An ‘Army’ Of Volunteer Workers

The Productive Workers' Army (EPO) is a grassroots movement composed of Venezuelan workers that came together in 2014. They dedicate their volunteer labor to rescuing various companies that have been paralyzed because of the economic situation which the country is going through, the shortages of spare parts and supplies due to the US blockade, and the various kinds of political destabilization. The movement, with 2,270 members spread across the country, defines itself as "an unconventional army to win an unconventional war." When the EPO is contacted by workers from the company in trouble, those best placed -- according to the sector to be treated and the geographical location of the company -- visit the entity to "diagnose the critical productive knots.”

SouthCom Warships Sailing Near Venezuelan Shores

The United States Navy (US) sailed into Venezuelan waters, “to challenge the excessive claim of Venezuela on June 23”, when the Minister of Popular Power for Defense, G / J Vladimir Padrino López , warned that a US ship entered 30 miles north of the Venezuelan coasts, calling the event a threat. According to US military forces, the “Freedom of Navigation” operation in the Caribbean Sea is being carried out “outside 12 nautical miles off the Venezuelan coast.” However, the ship sailed through an area that according to international law belongs to Venezuela. According to the Venezuelan Organic Law of Aquatic Spaces, the territorial sea has a width of twelve nautical miles (12 MN) along the continental and insular coasts of Venezuela, and additionally 12 more NM for the Contiguous Zone. International law also establishes 200 NM of Exclusive Economic Waters. Article 16 of this norm establishes that the passage of a ship through jurisdictional waters ceases to be “innocent” when the foreign ship makes threats or uses force against the sovereignty of Venezuela or violates the principles of Internal and International Law set forth in the UN Charter.

Colombians Question Deployment Of US Security Forces

Colombian soldiers and military brass have been implicated in a string of human rights violations in recent weeks. On May 1, Semana magazine reported that the Colombian military illegally used U.S. military aid to spy on journalists and human rights defenders, including U.S. citizens. On June 4, Colombian armed forces carried out forced eradication of illicit crops and injured six farmers. On June 25, seven soldiers confessed to gang-raping a 13-year-old Emberá girl in Northern Colombia. Yet the United States is only deepening its relationship with the Colombian military. On May 28, the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced the deployment of the U.S. Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB) to Colombia to advise and train Colombian units in anti-narcotic missions. Colombians have spoken out against the security agreement, and the U.S. role in the country’s militarized drug policy.

Blockbuster Oil Bribery Scandal Exposes Corrupt Double-Dealing Of Guaidó ‘Attorney General’

Below the radar of US media, a district court in Florida tossed out a multibillion-dollar bribery case in March 2018 thanks to testimony delivered by a former member of the shadow administration of Venezuelan coup leader Juan Guaidó. That ex-official, Jose Ignacio Hernandez, served as attorney general in the US-backed Guaidó junta until July of this year. As this investigation will reveal, Hernandez’s testimony was bought and paid for by foreign oil giants with an interest in defrauding Venezuela’s state petroleum company out of billions of dollars. These corporate titans, which included some of the world’s largest oil companies, bribed corrupt officials within Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state-run Venezuelan oil company, to rig contracts in their favor.

Trump Tells Florida Crowd ‘Something Will Happen In Venezuela’ Soon

On a trip to COVID-19 riddled Florida this weekend, President Donald Trump not-so-cryptically revealed that he had something big planned for Venezuela during a meeting with leaders of the U.S. military’s Southern Command. “Something will happen with Venezuela. That’s all I can tell you,” he said, before adding that Washington would be “very much involved” in what he was referencing. Biden has also taken a hard line on Venezuela and is attempting to out-hawk Trump on the issue. “It’s time for free and fair elections so that the Venezuelan people can turn the page on the corrupt and repressive Maduro regime,” he said, adding that, “Trump talks tough on Venezuela, but admires thugs and dictators like Nicolas Maduro."

CoronaShock And Socialism

CoronaShock is a term that refers to how a virus struck the world with such gripping force; it refers to how the social order in the bourgeois state crumbled, while the social order in the socialist parts of the world appeared more resilient. This is the third in a multiple-part series of studies on CoronaShock. It is based on research by Ana Maldonado (Frente Francisco de Miranda, Venezuela), Manolo de los Santos (researcher with Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research), Subin Dennis (researcher with Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research), and Vijay Prashad (director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research). Friedrich Engels once said: ‘Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism’. What does ‘regression into barbarism’ mean to our lofty European civilisation? Until now, we have all probably read and repeated these words thoughtlessly, without suspecting their fearsome seriousness.

VenezolanosConBiden And MAGAzuela: Two Sides Of The Same Coin

The Biden campaign held an online event on Wednesday, July 8 pitched as the former Vice President’s “vision for Venezuela and Venezuelans in the U.S.” Spoiler alert: his vision for Venezuela barely differs from President Trump. This event, which didn’t merit an appearance from Biden himself, was aimed at getting Venezuelan-Americans to volunteer for “Uncle Joe”, as Representative Darren Soto (D-Fl) called him. It was an hour and a half of shilling for votes and influence, and it demonstrated that when it comes to Venezuela, policies of regime change, sanctions and a refusal to engage in dialogue unite VenezolanosConBiden (the group hosting the event) with MAGAzuela (the term for Trump-supporting Venezuelans).

The New Pirates Of Ancient Albion

The English High Court ruled earlier this month that the virtual and self-proclaimed “interim president” (Washington’s puppet) Juan Guaido and not the Venezuelan state should administer the 31 tonnes of gold reserves stored in the UK (1). This debacle proves that national and international law are no longer worth a dime, and represents a contemporary act of stale piracy by ancient Albion (2). The trial in England for Venezuela's blocked assets began in London on June 22 and concerned US $1.3 billion of state property. For decades, successive governments, even before Chavez, used the country’s gold bars in the Bank of England's underground vaults in international financial transactions. Twenty percent of the world's gold is kept in these vaults, in what is a legacy to colonial-time dynamics.

The Impact Of The Economic War On Venezuela

It would be impossible to count each and every one of the ways in which the war on Venezuela declared by imperialism has harmed the country.  The aggressions that we, the Venezuelans, have experienced since 1999 have been not only economic; they have been psychological as well.  There is no way to measure the consequences of the hate planted by the anti-democratic opposition, with its anti-socialist propaganda; it has extended to the point of burning people alive for being Chavistas.  The outrage felt by the Venezuelan people when they see those who have sold out their native land while calling themselves Venezuelan is also immeasurable. Having said all that, but focusing on the economic effects, we have brought up to date the calculations made in March 2019.  Up to that point the economic war had caused losses that totaled $125,000,000,000. (125 billion dollars.)

Why The United States Is Criminally Attacking Venezuela’s Gasoline Supply

According to a report issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, the US government is attacking the gasoline supply to Venezuelan aiming at its agricultural sector and so attacking food production, which would lead to the total collapse of the Venezuelan population under the guise of illegal sanctions. In the report, written on April 5 of this year, analyzed by the agricultural engineer Clara Sánchez and quoted by the investigative website “La Tabla”, the US predicts a serious decrease in Venezuelan production of most of the basic food items, shortage of agricultural inputs, quality seeds, fertilizers and an inability to grant credits. “Without fuel you can not make the tractors work,” she wrote.

Guaido Representative Threatens FBI Investigation Into Journalists

Vanessa Neumann, the U.K. ambassador of self-declared President of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, claims that she is working closely with the FBI in an investigation exposing a “transnational criminal network” of journalists, including John McEvoy, Pablo Navarette, independent outlet Venezuelanalysis and former MintPress News contributor Camila Escalante. From the Twitter account of her communications firm, Asymmetrica, Neumann said that the four sources were involved in a “criminal conspiracy” supporting Venezuelan vice-president Delcy Rodriguez. “There is a price on your head” she informed them, “welcome to the rule of law, guys.” Neumann was tweeting from an organizational account because earlier she tweeted “death to Maduro!” from her personal account.

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