Venezuela & ALBA News 2.11.2022: Armed Conflict Increases on Venezuela-Colombia Border

Venezuela
Mision Verdad: Actions against Colombian paramilitaries in Venezuela increase Bolivarian National Armed Forces deployed troops in the border of the Arauca River after the clashes that Colombian armed groups have been holding since the end of 2021. They are the 10th Front of the so-called dissidences of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the current National Liberation Army (ELN).The Venezuelan State has named these groups “Tancol”: acronym for Terroristas Armados Narcotraficantes de Colombia (Armed Terrorist Drug Traffickers of Colombia), in order to determine their operational and origin denomination and, therefore, their distinction from other irregular groups in the region. These irregular groups coming from Colombia caused both deaths and kidnappings of Venezuelan troops.

Orinoco Tribune: Venezuela Seizes 5,000 Colombian Military-Made Explosives The explosives were seized during the “raid and seizure” of an illegal camp built by a Colombian terrorist group in the border state of Apure, in southwestern Venezuela. “We have deactivated explosives from Colombian military industries placed in trees, roads, and under bridges, used by TANCOL (Colombian terrorist groups) to terrorize Venezuelan residents in our territory and use it as a route for drug trafficking,” said the Venezuelan top commander. The Venezuelan Armed Force will continue to “deepen and advance” in the area to “eradicate the terrorist encampments” and expel them from Venezuelan territory.

TeleSur: Venezuelan Officials Corrupted by Colombian Gangs Were Arrested Attorney General Tarek William Saab revealed that the Colombian armed terrorists and drug trafficking groups (“TANCOL”) used some politicians who had immunity for drug trafficking activities. “Officials corrupted by Colombian drug money have been arrested. Their objective was to behead the State and generate an armed conflict in the country, such as the one that Colombia has since 1960,”

TeleSur: Chavez Ignited the Bolivarian Revolution with the 4F Rebellion On Feb. 4, 1992, five army units under Colonel Hugo Chavez’s command moved to seize key military and communications installations throughout Caracas. Today Venezuelans remember the 30th anniversary of the anti-imperialist rebellion that Chavez led against President Carlos Perez (1989-1993), a corrupt politician who implemented neoliberal policies that worsened the people’s living conditions. “With the February 1992 rebellion, Venezuela experienced the greatest political tremor ever since the independence war. It entered a phase of revolutionary consciousness thanks to the leadership of Commander Chavez, who demonstrated that social justice can only be achieved with a radical change,” President Nicolas Maduro highlighted.

Peoples Dispatch: Venezuelans commemorate 30th anniversary of 1992 civic-military rebellion Tens of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets of the capital Caracas to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1992 revolt. The rebellion, despite its failure, marked the end of neoliberalism and the beginning of a new era of profound socio-political changes in the Latin American country. President Maduro said, “30 years have passed since the day of the awakening of consciousness, 30 years of a difficult history, 30 years of a historical deed of great battles. But I can say that 30 years later, in the spirit of Commander Hugo Chávez, Commander, here are the people of Venezuela in permanent revolution, in rebellion!”

 

 

US Political Prisoner Alex Saab
COHA Calls for the Release of Venezuelan Diplomat Alex Saab Based on International and US laws The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) calls for the immediate release of Venezuelan Special Envoy Alex Saab from the Federal Detention Center in Miami (FDC-Miami). Saab was arrested by authorities in Cape Verde on June 12, 2020, without due process and in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), during a refueling stop while on a humanitarian mission to Iran. Defense attorney David Rivkin suggests that the government seeks to delay the disposition of the immunity issue because they have a weak case and “hope that the defendant will somehow crack and would cooperate.” Saab, however, is holding strong.

Orinoco Tribune: Alex Saab is Being Tortured in the US, Denounces Diplomat’s Wife Camila Saab has pleaded “not guilty” to all charges brought against him before the US justice system. “It is really very simple—it means that he is innocent,” emphasized Fabri. “It is not a crime to fulfill a diplomatic mission. It is not a crime to bypass sanctions that are causing grave harm to an entire country. Helping a nation cannot be illegal. Being a representative of a government cannot be illegal. What is illegal are the unilateral coercive measures—UN rapporteurs have said this. What is illegal is the persecution of the representative of a socialist government.”     

 

 

Nicaragua
NicaNotes: The Privilege of Public School in Nicaragua By 2003, the average Nicaraguan had just three and a half years of schooling and only 30% of those starting 1st grade were expected to finish 6th grade (United Nations Development Program, 2003). By 2006, nearly a quarter of the country was unable to read or write, a shameful statistic following on the triumphant National Literacy Crusade in 1980 that had managed to lower the 50.3% illiteracy under the Somoza dictatorship to 12.9% in a matter of months, and further lower it to 10% by 1990. Today, youth with no schooling at all has dropped from 24% to 4% since 2006.The school meal program now feeds 1.2 million school children a hot meal daily and has contributed to the 66% drop in chronic malnutrition in school age children since 2007.

 

 

Cuba
Video: Meet the U.S. Students Studying Medicine For Free in Cuba
Film: Frenemies: The US Blockade on Cuba 

 

 

Webinars
Video of February 7: (Friends of Bolivia) Latin America’s 2nd ‘pink tide’ – how the empire failed to beat a rebellion
February 12: Iran and Cuba Promoting Pluripolarity
March 18-20 International US-Cuba Normalization Conference

 

 

Delegations
Friends of the ATC delegations to Nicaragua 2022
International May Day Brigade to Cuba April 24- May 8
Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade from Canada April 26 – May 10
Latin American School of Medicine Scholarships
Pastors for Peace delegations to Cuba 2022
Pastors for Peace 32nd Friendship Caravan to Cuba July 16-30

 

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