Venezuela & ALBA News 12.2.2022: Venezuela Dialogue Releases Some Frozen Venezuelan Funds; NATO in Latin America; Roger Waters on Alex Saab

Tortilla con Sal (Jorge Capelan): NATO threats to the heart of Abya Yala Faced with a new wave of governments of self-defined progressive orientation in recent years in several countries of the region, there are alarming maneuvers by the United States and NATO to prevent a rapprochement of the countries of Latin America with China and Russia, especially since the current war in Ukraine, which threatens to overthrow the Western hegemony in the world.

 

Venezuela
Orinoco Tribune: PSUV on Mexico Talks: We Signed an Agreement With the UN, the Money is Going to the People and That is What Matters “The great beneficiary of the dialogue is the people of Venezuela,” Cabello added during the press conference, “The PSUV applauds the restart of dialogue in Mexico and its proposals and results. Cabello positively highlighted that the agreements reached are in the social, political and economic areas. “We hope that they – the far right opposition – comply.”

Statement Issued by Jorge Rodriguez, head of the Venezuelan delegation, on the Dialogue in Mexico

Venezuela Detail Zero: Venezuela will receive $5 Billion that will be administered by a trust fund The funds that will be progressively released after the agreement between the government and the opposition amount to $5 billion, said the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez. The money is in international accounts and access to them was restricted. $3 billion are destined to attend emergencies due to the rains in Venezuela, the electrical system, the social area and the recovery of 2,300 national schools that are in poor condition. Another 2,000 million are directed to the health sector and the acquisition of cancer drugs. “Through this agreement we are going to acquire medicines for more than 60,000 cancer patients in the country,” he added.

Ministry of Popular Power for Foreign Relations: Lula’s victory is a great anti-fascist triumph: As part of the important changes that politics is undergoing in the region, the Venezuelan head of state, Nicolás Maduro, emphasized that the victory of Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva has been a great anti-fascist triumph, for all of Latin America and the Caribbean, in addition to establishing itself as a victory for the great democratic coalition.
During the Expanded Meeting of the Working Group of the São Paulo Forum, held at the Miraflores Palace, President Maduro highlighted that this great victory belongs to the “immense popular workers’ movement, the Workers’ Party and the immense coalition for democracy, headed by Lula Da Silva”. “It has been a great triumph of democracy, of truth, of justice, of the right to fight for the equality of peoples,” he asserted.
Previously, at the beginning of his speech, the Venezuelan Head of State congratulated the Executive Secretary of the São Paulo Forum, Monica Valente, for this meeting, and the Brazilian President, because he recently achieved “a great electoral victory for the Brazilian people.”
When recalling his immediate conversation with Lula Da Silva, after the heroic victory, he stressed that this became almost a feat, because “it is not easy to beat fascism.” In his words, the national Dignitary warned about the way fascism has of “managing emotions, the way of manipulating, low passions, the instincts to stimulate hatred, to concentrate hatred in symbolic points that the ultra-right does, neo-fascism and fascism. They have always been mass phenomena.”
President Maduro mentioned that it is the “phenomenon of fascism that runs through the world today”, with an “extreme right that triumphs here and there, that advances here and there.”, and that “we have defeated several times in the battles we have fought in Venezuela in the last 23 years”. “We have repeatedly defeated the neo-fascist, fascist, extremist and far-right currents that have inoculated the poison of hatred”, the Venezuelan President pointed out.

Venezuelanalysis: Chevron Back in Venezuela: A Tale of US Imperialist Arrogance The blockade against Venezuela’s oil industry is still intact. Washington’s move to allow Chevron to resume oil production in the Caribbean country, but with no real benefits for the Venezuelan people, is realistically two corporations helping each other amidst a global energy crunch as well as another deplorable demonstration of US imperialism. The truth is, Chevron’s six-month license to restart drilling and exporting Venezuelan crude after a nearly three-year US-imposed prohibition hardly amounts to relief from the sanctions program.

 

Political Prisoner Alex Saab
Roger Waters speaks on Alex Saab (video) 

 

Cuba
Esteban Lazo, President of Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power: “Cuba warned and denounced early on that the conflict in Ukraine could have been avoided if the United States and NATO had not pushed NATO to the borders of the Russian Federation, and if an increasingly offensive military doctrine had not prevailed in that alliance, which it ignored for decades the repeated concerns and well-founded claims of security guarantees by Russia.”

Granma: US recommends denial of permission to install the first submarine cable that would connect the U.S. with Cuba Washington’s usual double standard in its relations with the island is exposed once again with this recommendation, which carries as a touchstone of cynicism, the statement that the U.S., however, “supports the existence of a secure, reliable and open Internet network around the world, including Cuba.” If we were guided by the industrial-scale smear campaign that the U.S. administration carries out against Cuba, we would believe that the Cuban Government “limits Internet access in the country to its citizens.” However, nothing could be further from the truth: Cuba, which has been blockaded for more than 60 years, is making a great effort to connect all Cubans to the Internet, an effort that has been crowned with success, placing the country among the fastest growing in terms of access to the network of networks in recent years.

Reuters: Cuba wins debt relief with China and a $100 million donation China has agreed to restructure Cuban debt and provide new trade and investment credits to the beleaguered Caribbean Island nation after a meeting in Peking between the two Communist countries’ leaders.
Cuba Economy Minister Alejandro Gil said the latter had also donated $100 million to help the country cope with basic goods shortages and an energy crisis worsened by Hurricane Ian.

 

Bolivia
Bolivia: Aftermath of the San Cruz strike: Three Criminal Complaints lodged against Rightwing Leaders and Seven More Coming Local authorities reported Saturday November 25 that the conservative opposition Pro Santa Cruz Committee declared Saturday November 25 the lifting of the strike after 36 days of strike, announced the president of the association Romulo Calvo. After the 36-day protest that paralyzed Santa Cruz demanding a census by 2023, several complaints were filed against the leaders of that region: Luis Fernando Camacho, Rómulo Calvo and Vicente Cuéllar.

MorningStar: Bolivia – stand up for democracy and social progress Another key stride taken by The MAS government economic policies have seen a reduction in urban unemployment from 8.1% in March 2021 to 5.3% in March 2022, which has in turn led to a 13.7% drop in the number of adults living in moderate poverty. In addition it has been working with the national trade union body the COB (Bolivian Workers Centre) to raise the national minimum wage by 4%…It is within the context of these progressive changes to both Bolivia’s international and domestic policies that the violent right wing, led by Camacho, has sought to use violent acts against both the popular organizations seeking to support these changes and members of their local community to destabilize and disrupt the progressive steps undertaken by the MAS government. You can add your name to the Stand with Democracy and Social Progress in Bolivia — No to Anti-Democratic Violence and Destabilisation statement at bit.ly/standwithdemocracy.

 

Nicaragua
Tortilla con Sal: Statement affirming Nicaragua’s sovereignty and achievements – please sign! We are asking for your help to de-escalate hostility against the people of Nicaragua. Will you endorse this linked statement, “Supporting Nicaragua’s Sovereignty, Honoring its Achievements,” and spread the word to friends and organizations? To endorse, just send an email to NicaraguaAdvocacyNetwork@gmail.com, providing your full name, your organization (if any), and whether you are signing as an individual or on behalf of your organization. Collection of signatures is ongoing.

 

Events and Delegations
Donate to help Cuba recover from Hurricane Ian
Donate to help Nicaragua recover from Hurricane Julia
Thursdays: WTF is Going on in Latin America & The Caribbean with Teri Mattson
December 10: Sanctions, A Wrecking Ball on the World Economy
December 12: Report from US-Cuba Youth, Union and Women’s Conference, with Medea Benjamin
January 28:  Latin America Conference, London
Travel to Cuba with Witness for Peace
Travel to Nicaragua with Casa Ben Linder Tours: Women in Nicaragua

 

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