RootsAction.org: Tell Congress to Cease Hostility Toward Venezuela A letter you can sign on and send to your Congressperson about S.995 – Venezuelan Democracy Act. This bill would sanction Venezuela until the government is overthrown. H.R.4086 / S.1931 – AFFECT Human Rights in Venezuela Act. This bill is designed to seek negative information on the Venezuelan government. That information might be true or not, but it is not used to promote self-governance but foreign governance. Another bill is coming soon.
AFGJ: Contact your Senators! Oppose new and old sanctions on Nicaragua! The new sanctions seek to restrict loans for economic development from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) which funds roads, water and energy projects, and housing in the country. Previous sanctions stopped most loans from the IMF, World Bank and the IDB. Now the U.S. wants to stop the CABEI loans as well!
GeoPolitical Economy: Burkina Faso’s new president condemns imperialism, quotes Che Guevara, allies with Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba The new president of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traoré, has vowed to fight imperialism and neocolonialism. has also formed close diplomatic ties with the revolutionary governments in Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran, as well as Russia. Today, Ibrahim Traoré is drawing heavily on the legacy of Sankara. He has made it clear that he wants West Africa, and the continent as a whole, to be free of Western neocolonialism.
Free Alex Saab
European Parliament Deputy Manu Pineda at the Peoples Summit: Free Alex Saab; People’s Summit in Brussels condemned kidnapping of Alex Saab Two reports on the Alex Saab political prisoner case and outreach at the Peoples Summit in Brussels.
Venezuela
Francisco Dominguez: Maduro: A decade continuing Chávez’s socialist and anti-imperialist struggle In the upcoming series we chart (a) the cruel tests President Maduro and the people of Venezuela had to face during the intense US period of aggression from 2013 to 2023, and (b) how Venezuela under Maduro managed not only to survive the onslaught but kept Chavismo in power as the hegemonic political force it was under Hugo Chávez and playing a leading role in the struggle for socialism. Between 2002 and 2012, the NED injected more than $100 million to fund ‘NGOs’ and opposition groups.
Venezuelanalysis: Anti-Imperialist Committee Holds Hearing on Venezuela Sanctions and Impact The tribunal, which focuses on “sanctions, blockades and economic coercive measures,” brought a 14-person delegation to the Caribbean country. The team featured academics, lawyers and activists, including representatives from the National Lawyers Guild and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. Since 2017, the US Treasury Department has levied wide-reaching coercive measures targeting virtually all Venezuelan economic sectors, including food imports, banking and especially the oil industry, with the aim of triggering regime change and ousting the Nicolás Maduro government. Video: International People’s Tribunal on US Imperialism: Venezuela Hearing
Venezuela’s Chamber of Commerce, Fedecámaras, Calls to End Sanctions on the Country The recently elected president of the Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Production (Fedecámaras), Adán Celis, joined the voices calling for an end to the illegal sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union on Venezuela. “No country wants to be sanctioned, a Venezuelan who says they want sanctions is crazy, we obviously ask that the sanctions be lifted, that has only impoverished the country, and by eliminating those sanctions, we are going to have more trade.”
Black Agenda Report: The US Plan to Finalize the Theft of Venezuela’s Oil Before the full force of sanctions were directed at Venezuela its oil wealth was used to benefit not only its people but those abroad as well. It made oil available at generous discounts to Venezuela’s neighbors in the Caribbean basin region. For ten years Venezuela provided free oil to 200,000 homes every winter through the non-profit Citizens Energy. Venezuela helping poor people heat their homes is proof that the US government could have done the same thing. Now, by working with the Venezuelan opposition to claim funds, CITGO is due to be auctioned beginning on October 22, 2023.
Cuba
Granma: President Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Speech Bermúdez Speech to the National Assembly of People’s Power,July 22: Cuba’s greatest strength lies in its people and in its emblematic resistance His economic report to the National Assembly.
Granma: President Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Speech Bermúdez Speech at the People’s Summit in Brussels on July 17 The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the Government of the United States on Cuba …constitutes a flagrant, massive and systematic violation of the human rights of an entire people: the Cuban people. One cannot speak of human rights without knowing the genocidal nature of a policy intentionally conceived and rigorously applied so that the needs and material deficiencies of millions of people lead them to despair, to economic suffocation to the point of generating a social explosion that leads to a change of government.
Frei Betto: “It is Time for all of us, in Solidarity with the Cuban Revolution, to Intensify the Struggle against the US Blockade” Cuba depends on the export of nickel ; the production of cigars (some 80 million units per year) and rum; the sending of teachers and doctors abroad; and tourism, now weakened by the new blockade measures. Biden has kept Cuba on the list of countries that “promote terrorism” and demanded visas to enter the US for Europeans for visiting the island. It is time for all of us, in solidarity with the Cuban Revolution, to intensify the struggle against the U.S. blockade and mobilize international cooperation with the island that dared to conquer its independence and sovereignty against the most powerful and genocidal empire in the history of mankind.
Nicaragua
EyesonLatinAmerica: Nicaragua is standing firm against U.S. imperialism Nicaragua, alongside other progressive forces in Latin America, has firmly rejected Washington’s new cold war agenda. The mainstream Western media’s portrayal of Nicaragua as an unpopular, isolated and authoritarian regime defies reality. Since 2020 Nicaragua’s economy has been recovering, with a growth rate of 10.3% of GDP in 2021 and 4% of GDP in 2022. According to the latest polling, conducted in July 2023, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega enjoys an approval rating of 79% – the highest level of support since he was elected in 2006.
Delegations/Tours
Sept 8-17, Sept 29-Oct 8, December 1-10, Dec 8-17: Witness for Peace delegations to Cuba
November 20-29: Bolivia, Food Sovereignty, Popular Democracy & Indigenous Resistance
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