Political Prisoner Alex Saab
Forbes.com: What Leaders Need To Know About The Alex Saab Case And International Diplomatic Law “The fact that the U.S. does not recognize the Maduro government in Caracas is irrelevant. What matters is that both the sending state – Venezuela – and the receiving state – Iran – have recognized Saab as a special envoy. The U.S. is not entitled to interfere with the diplomatic activities of Iran and Venezuela. For the U.S. to interfere, as it is doing now by seeking to prosecute Alex Saab, violates international diplomatic law.”
Harry Belafonte
NBC News (2006): Belafonte: Bush ‘greatest terrorist in the world’ Harry Belafonte in Venezuela. “No matter what the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world, George W. Bush says, we’re here to tell you: Not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the American people … support your revolution,” Belafonte told Chavez during the broadcast. He accused US news media of falsely painting Chavez as a “dictator,” when in fact, he said, there is democracy and citizens are “optimistic about their future.” Dolores Huerta, a pioneer of the United Farm Workers labor union also in the delegation, called the visit a “very deep experience.”
Granma: Our friend Belafonte, on his 95th birthday Article in Cuba’s newspaper on Belafonte’s 95th birthday.
Venezuela
Nicolas Maduro, Has He Become a Neoliberal? If Maduro were a neoliberal, not only the state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA), but also the many state-owned enterprises such as the Caracas subway, electricity, telecommunications and water supply companies, to name a few, would already be in private hands. The current policies against corruption in the strategic spheres of the economy, the slow recovery of the productive apparatus – which is leading to better financing of the state through taxes on large companies, the reconstruction of public services deteriorated under the blockade, the transfer of non-US technology to circumvent the blockade, policies reinforced by the rebound in the price of oil and multipolar alliances, show the absurdity of the claim.
Just as the recent handing over by the Maduro government of 4,500,000 public houses to the popular sectors, the 13 million hectares handed over to small and medium-sized farmers as part of the agrarian reform (a program initiated by Hugo Chávez), the transfer of state powers, and economic and technical aid, to the popular self-governments (municipalities, communal councils, etc.), the maintenance of the state budget, and the creation of a new government, the maintenance of free higher education, the reconstruction of free public health care, and the massive anti-blockade food program carried out by the Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP).
Orinoco Tribune: Venezuela Reacts to Petro’s International Conference on Venezuela The conference agreed to fast track the release of Venezuela’s funds seized by the US and EU once Venezuela’s discussions with the opposition in Mexico resume. Venezuela issued a statement with its expectations. However, the US has refused to end the sanctions on Venezuela and return its stolen money.
Declassified UK: Britain Spent Public Funds to Back Guaido’s Theft of Venezuelan Gold Britain’s Foreign Office spent £80,697 in public funds supporting Venezuelan opposition’s Guaidó’s campaign to seize roughly $2bn of gold held in the Bank of England. The Foreign Office invested both political and financial capital into assisted Guaidó’s efforts to access Venezuelan state assets. Professor Francisco Rodríguez, a Venezuelan economist, said: “Despite a long-established legal and diplomatic tradition that recognition is only granted to governments with actual control over a country’s territory, the British government went out of its way to make a convoluted case before courts that it was recognizing the Guaidó interim government even though it was not engaging with it diplomatically. In contrast to the US, the UK maintained an embassy in Caracas and interacted with the Maduro-appointed ambassador, refusing to accept credentials from Guaidó-appointed diplomats. In principle, these decisions would in and of themselves have implied unequivocal recognition of the Maduro government.”
Nicaragua
Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition: A Timeline of Events in Nicaragua, April-July 2018, the period of the US failed attempt to overthrow Nicaragua’s government People in the US were misled by corporate media propaganda about the violence during this period, which was blamed on the Sandinista government. This timeline presents what actually happened. Please post it on social media.
Events
Thursdays: WTF is Going on in Latin America & The Caribbean with Teri Mattson (or watch here or here)
April 28-29: Burying 200 Years of the Monroe Doctrine
Delegations/Tours
June 19-26 delegation to Nicaragua
June 17-27 Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast Delegation with Friends of the ATC
June 26-July 6: Pastors for Peace Climate Change tour to Cuba
July 3-10 Afro-Cubanismo Hothouse People to People delegation to Santiago de Cuba
July 15-29 IFCO/ Pastors for Peace US-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan
July 21-30, Sept 8-17, December 1-10, Dec 8-17: Witness for Peace delegations to Cuba
August 1-13: Code Pink and Task Force on the Americas delegation to Venezuela
Fall/winter Witness for Peace delegations to Cuba
If you have events to publicize or find helpful articles for readers on the ALBA countries, please send them to [email protected], or you can post them on Facebook here: Venezuela; Nicaragua; Bolivia; Latin America in general (here or here) Or send them to [email protected]
