Venezuela & ALBA Weekly 8.13.2021: Political Prisoner Alex Saab, Reports from Venezuela, coming delegations to Vz, Nica, Cuba; NLG Bolivia Sign-on Letter

 

Political Prisoner Alex Saab
Russia Foreign Ministry Statement on Illegal Detention of Diplomat Alex Saab
“This practice of seizing citizens of other countries, including the Russian Federation, in third countries on fabricated charges by US law enforcement agencies, has become the infamous ‘business card’ of the United States. Now Washington seems to have decided to go to a new level, setting a harmful precedent for the extradition of an authorized person with diplomatic status…”

Video August 10 webinar: Free Venezuela diplomat Alex Saab

TeleSur: Cape Verdean Human Rights Activists Demand Release of Alex Saab The Constitutional Court will announce its decision on the extradition of the Venezuelan diplomat to the United States in the coming days. On Friday, human rights activists held a demonstration demanding the release of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, who was attending a hearing at the Constitutional Court in Cidade da Praia, Cape Verde. “Free Alex Saab”, “We want justice for Alex Saab”, and “Stop abuse for Alex Saab” were some of the phrases that people wrote on the posters and chanted to be heard by the Cape Verdean judges.

 

Cuba
Learning from China (John Ross): Cuba, China, Latin America and the World The US in Latin America is at present once again seeing a series of countries attempting to follow independent policies, corresponding to their national interests, and some with a socialist orientation, rather than subordinating themselves to the US. These countries typically reject the current US cold war against China and indeed seek win-win relations with China. The US is responding to this trend by tightening its blockade of Cuba in an attempt to strangle that country in the hope of provoking a “colour counter-revolution”. This anti-Cuba US blockade is being carried out in open defiance of an overwhelming majority of world opinion, as shown in the recent vote in the UN General Assembly of 184-2 against the US economic sanctions against Cuba. If the US succeeds in this open defiance of world opinion on Cuba it will be emboldened to strengthen its attack on every other country it choses. The implications of this intensified US attempt to strangle Cuba go far beyond that country. As will be seen it affects the entire Latin American continent.

TeleSur: Humanitarian Aid From Nicaragua Arrives in Cuba The donation will be distributed among 3.8 million Cuban families and campaign hospitals installed by the Cuban government to assist COVID-19 patients.

 

Nicaragua
Nica Notes: Sanctions May Impoverish Nicaraguans, but Won’t Change Their Vote; news update While sanctions have hit specific projects benefiting poor communities, they have also begun to impact mainstream services such as healthcare, where replacing defective equipment or obtaining supplies during the pandemic has proven to be problematic. Nicaragua is also one of the few Latin American countries to receive no U.S. vaccine donations so far, although this will be belatedly corrected via the COVAX mechanism. Other regime change measures include “democracy promotion,” in which U.S.-funded non-profits have trained over 8,000 young Nicaraguans with the ultimate goal of displacing the Ortega government.

 

Bolivia
National Lawyers Guild: Sign-on Letter in Support of Justice and Accountability for the November 2019 Coup d’etat in Bolivia and Crimes Committed by the De Facto Government of Jeanine Áñez

KawsachunNews: Evo Morales Is Coordinating With Peru’s Social Movements “We reviewed the history of the campesino movement, the beginning of our struggles, and the anecdotes [of what] we experienced, such as the time I had to seek shelter in the offices of the Campesino Confederation of Peru. We agreed to organize an international meeting that defines peaceful strategies to defend the government of Pedro Castillo, and to promote a Plurinational America, which is by the people and for the people,” said Evo Morales following Thursday’s meeting with leaders of the Campesino Confederation of Peru-CCP, the National Agrarian Confederation, and the National Federation of Campesina Women.

 

Venezuela
Fightback News: Venezuela: Workers take over a Kellogg factory, now known as ‘Socialist Kellogg’ Thanks to us being trained and well-organized, all of us workers reopened the factory and put it into production. We took over the factory to protect the rights of the workers. We enforce the food policies inside our homeland of Simone Bolivar and Chavez. Now, Kellogg’s company here is a socialist enterprise. The basic principles of our socialist enterprise are to dignify the work of our working class, increase the levels of production, guarantee that the equipment is highly maintained, produce good quality products, in a fair price and to be a self-sustainable company to contribute to the economic development of the country,

Fightback News: Venezuela: Government leads fight against pandemic, cancels rent “Our Venezuelan government was one of the best in the world in handling the pandemic. We had very few cases. People here are mandated to wear masks and the majority follow it. In the neighborhoods, we all know each other and check on each other. We knew who caught COVID and helped one another. My neighborhood had five COVID cases. Look at the countries with the most COVID cases, like the USA and Brazil. The USA says they are a democracy, but we are the true democracy, the people wish they had, with free healthcare, education and people power.”

Fightback News: Venezuelan programs stop the Delta variant “Capitalism is the biggest reason for COVID deaths. Here, the Venezuelan government protects the working class and the people feel a collective social responsibility to protect each other. This is why we only have six Delta variant cases, while Delta increases exponentially throughout the USA and other countries.”

Orinoco Tribune: US Blockade Caused $57.1 Billion in Losses for PDVSA This sum is much higher than the $50 billion the International Monetary Fund estimated could end the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the entire planet.

Venezuela Ministry of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs: Venezuela Reports Subscribe to the weekly bulletin

Orinoco Tribune: 82% of Venezuelans’ Food is Produced Domestically President Maduro, disclosed  that 82% of the food consumed in the country is produced domestically. “We can say that 82% of the food that you get in the street is produced by Venezuelan hands, an achievement in the middle of the war,” he said.

 

Delegations to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba
Nov. 17-27: Delegation to Venezuela – witness effects of sanctions and responses on the ground in the context of the 2021 Venezuela regional elections

2021-22 Nicaragua Delegation Information

Witness for Peace 2021 delegations to Cuba
IFCO Pastors for Peace Delegations to Cuba
Code Pink delegation to Cuba December 4-11

 

Webinars
CODEPINK Latin America: What do Young Cuban Women Have to Say?

CODEPINK Latin America: Mexico Hosts Venezuela Dialogue
Teri Mattson interviews Diego Sequera of Mision Verdad

Ben Linder Solidarity School every Saturday A 10-week virtual course to study and strengthen solidarity with Nicaragua and its popular organizations like the Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo (Rural Workers’ Association), and international movements like La Via Campesina. This course is meant for anyone who is interested in strengthening internationalism and accompanying social movements.

August 13 webinar: Aug. 13 – Demanding justice: International resistance against U.S. imperialism in Cuba, Haiti & Puerto Rico

August 18 webinar: Latin America’s Struggle: Opposing US Intervention, Neoliberalism & the Far-Right Hosted by Labour Friends of Progressive Latin America

 

To follow Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Cuba daily:

Orinoco Tribune
Stand with Venezuela
Venezuela Solidarity New York
Ultima Noticias (English)
NicaNotes
Tortilla con Sal
Friends of Sandinista Nicaragua
Friends of Evo’s Bolivia
Kawsachun News
Cuba News

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