Venezuela
Video documentary: Chavez, The Life of Hugo Chavez This presents the ideological origins of Hugo Chávez which led him to challenge the elite in Venezuela during the early 90s. His rise to the presidency in 1999, his opponents’ coup d’etat in 2002 which ended with his return to Caracas supported by the working classes of Venezuela. Chávez shows the leader consolidating social projects in Venezuela while portraying the human side of a president who broke the mold. The film shows his contribution to the integration of Latin America and its affiliation with other international actors that supported ideas of sovereignty and anti-imperialist struggle.
Hugo Video Excerpts: Hugo Chavez at World Social Forum 2005, at UN September 2006 “We must transcend capitalism. And we need a revolution, there is no other way.” March 5 marks the anniversary of the passing of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2013. We remember his words at the World Social Forum, as he spoke truth to power and pronounced before the world what was really necessary to solve the problems of this world.
Foreign Minister Arreaza: Responsibility for Human Rights Violation After Coup d’Etat in Bolivia Falls on Almagro Arreaza, said that the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, is responsible for the dead, injured and human rights violations unleashed after the coup d’etat in Bolivia against Evo Morales.
One World (Nino Pagliccia): Venezuela Responds With Principled Conviction To The US’ Desperate Attempts At Regime Change The consistent US drive in its aggression since the beginning of 2019 is to entirely crush Venezuela’s oil sector, the main source of revenue for the country. Just last February 18, the US Department of the Treasury targeted Russia by blocking all property and interests in [Russian subsidiary] Rosneft. Rosneft is associated with PDVSA and is the largest receiver of Venezuelan oil. Caracas, Moscow and Beijing continue to reject US unilateral coercive measures.To the threats of US military invasion and naval blockade, and in the face of crippling “sanctions” as an act of war, Venezuela responds with military exercises in a display of unique civic-military coordination. The most visible action at the international level has been the filing of a lawsuit at the International Criminal Court in The Hague by the Venezuela to investigate the actions of the US government over the use of “sanctions.”
Video documentary: Venezuelans Under Siege U.S. sanctions block the Venezuelan people from obtaining food and medicine. They resulted in at least 40,000 deaths between mid-2017 and the end of 2018, and that was prior to the most severe sanctions, which were announced in January 2019. The film documents the impacts of the sanctions, plus the ways that ordinary Venezuelans are organizing to survive the crisis and to build new institutions of participatory socialism.
Venezuelanalysis: The Human Cost of US Sanctions on Venezuela More than 300,000 people are estimated to be at risk because of lack of access to medicines or treatment because of sanctions on the country. That includes 16,000 people who need dialysis, 16,000 cancer patients and roughly 80,000 people with HIV. Roughly 15%-20% of Venezuelans don’t have access to potable water in their homes, because the government cannot acquire new foreign-built parts to fix broken pumps and pipes.
Nicaragua
NicaNotes: Sanctions Kill! End US Sanctions on Nicaragua The NICA Act requires US governors at the multilateral lending institutions to vote against loans or grants to Nicaragua. The US holds effective veto power at the World Bank, IMF and Inter-American Development Bank. In 2018 the US Congress imposed sanctions on Nicaragua, blocking development loans from international financial institutions even though these were praising Nicaragua’s use of funds and the effectiveness of its programs. The loans that Nicaragua was receiving were improving conditions for ordinary Nicaraguans through poverty reduction, education, health care, infrastructure development, and economic growth during an 11-year period in which GDP grew almost 5% annually. This prosperity was widely shared in the country that has Latin America’s second-most egalitarian economy (World Bank, 2017).
Cuba
Granma: Cuban Council of Ministers deal with Economic Difficulties caused by US Oil Sanctions President Miguel Díaz-Canel, in assessing the economy’s performance in the first month of 2020, noted that results are acceptable thus far, despite internal problems, the escalation of hostile U.S. policy and continuing efforts to prevent fuel from reaching the island. Given the tense situation generated by U.S. government aggression, we must do things differently, think differently, but we cannot renounce the economic plan.We must erase, from our discourse, any justification of shortfalls based on lack of fuel. This problem may continue and what we must do is focus on how we are going to meet objectives. This is the challenge facing those of us who lead.
Delegations:
Sanctions Kill! – Food Sovereignty Delegation to Venezuela April 12-21, 2020
Code Pink Delegations to Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba
Cuba: 15th May Day International Brigade of Voluntary Work & Solidarity, April 27- May 10
Canadian Che Guevara Voluntary Work Brigade to Cuba, April 27-May 10
Building Relations with Cuban Labor April 28 – May 3 or April 28th – May 8
Human Rights Delegation to Honduras, May 7-17
Apply for Summer 2020 Pastors for Peace Cuba Caravan
Events:
Locations for Days of Action against Sanctions and Economic War March 13-15
Conference for the Normalization of US-Cuba Relations, NYC March 21-22
Sites to Follow Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua:
Friends of Sandinista Nicaragua
Back issues of Venezuela-ALBA Weekly in 2018-2020 are here
