Venezuela
Orinoco Tribune: Venezuela: President Maduro Calls for Communal Parliament Law Nicolás Maduro, announced Tuesday the presentation to the next National Assembly of a Communal Parliament Law to strengthen the country’s Communal Councils structure.
The Venezuelan President called for the consolidation of the work of these social, political, and economic organizations, defined by their local and participatory nature: “Commander Hugo Chávez pointed guided the path of Bolivarian, popular, grassroots democracy, and we, his sons and daughters, build it day by day together with the people, with love and true commitment for the Homeland. Let’s build Communal Power!”
The Grayzone: Biden and Trump competed for South Florida swing voters with anti-communist conspiracies and interventionist chest-beating Joe Biden’s latest ad: Donald Trump is like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.The Democrats also supported crushing economic sanctions against the members of the “Troika of Tyranny” Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua. When former President Barack Obama appeared at a Biden rally in Orlando, Florida just days before, he put his own brand of Cold War scaremongering on display, asserting without evidence that “Putin of Russia, Xi of China, and Kim Jong Un of North Korea want [Trump] to win.”.
Links: Bolívar and Zamora Revolutionary Current: ‘The people have to guarantee that the anti-blockade law is implemented correctly’ Yonatan Vargas, an member of the CRBZ international relations team, outlines their views on current developments in Venezuela, including the rise in protests over basic services, the impact of sanctions, the debate generated by the new anti-blockade law and the upcoming National Assembly elections.
“we cannot say that comrade President Nicolás Maduro is a traitor or has surrendered the Bolivarian, revolutionary, Chavista and socialist project. Moreover, there are sectors that, within the framework of this project, have certain constructive criticisms about the anti-blockade law. That is part of the debate. But our analysis has to be objective, taking into account all the spheres that interact in society; that is, our analysis has to be rooted in the reality we live in.
The anti-blockade law is completely legal and legitimate. Certain sectors have tried to install a manipulative discussion to divide and confuse the people.”
“Moreover, the anti-blockade law will allow us to strengthen the state’s capacities, uniting all the public powers behind the central objective of defending the economy, social wellbeing and the right to integral development, with the aim of overcoming the unilateral coercive, restrictive or punitive measures imposed on the entire nation. What we need to do now is continue promoting a big debate between all Venezuelans about the entirety of the anti-blockade law, to comprehend its objectives, functions, capacities, reach, limitations and controls it is subject to.”
Steve Ellner: Centre-left convergence in Venezuela: A blow to United States intervention Parties on both sides of the political spectrum have split in the leadup to the December elections. In the case of AD, COPEI, Primero Justicia and Voluntad Popular, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice has recognized the legality of the parties participating in the electoral contest, and not the abstentionist ones. The emergence of a bloc of non-leftist parties that either explicitly or tacitly recognize the legitimacy of Venezuela’s political system could pave the way for a new era in the country’s politics devoid of the internecine warfare of the past. Furthermore, it is a clear demonstration of the bankruptcy of the Trump administration’s regime change efforts. Maduro’s pro-business reforms were welcomed by centrists — but brought criticism from some on the Left including close supporters. The latest example of the government’s opening to the private sector is the recently passed “Anti-Blockade Law” which would allow the executive to enter into secret agreements with private capital over new property arrangements – possibly containing “clauses to protect investment in order to generate confidence and stability.”
Venezuelanalysis: US Cuts Venezuela’s Diesel Lifeline with Sanctions Clampdown US Special Envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams clamped down on Venezuela’s oil-for-diesel swap deals, tightening the blockade against the country. A group of NGOs, including several linked to Venezuela’s opposition, petitioned the White House to abandon its plans, arguing that it would cause “devastating consequences for the population.” “Diesel is the principal fuel for electrical generation and heavy load transport of basic goods, including food, medicine and humanitarian supplies. To cut off the supply of diesel in the country would worsen the already precarious conditions for millions of Venezuelans.
Sputnik News: Venezuela Found 100% Effective Medicine Against COVID-19 The Venezuelan Scientific Research Institute (IVIC) discovered a medicine that contains molecule DR10 to combat COVID-19.The medicine can eliminate 100 percent of the coronavirus infection.
Sputnik News: Maduro Condemns Facebook of Censoring Publications on COVID-19 Medicine President Maduro criticised Facebook for censoring several publications concerning the DR10 molecule which eliminates the effects of COVID-19.
Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza: Regime Change with a Human (Rights) Face: Trudeau’s Venezuela Policy “In supporting Guaido’s Washington-designed farce, Canada has also been complicit in the plunder of Venezuela’s foreign assets. Citgo’s Simon Bolivar Foundation, once dedicated to financing social programs such as low-cost heating oil for low-income North American families or specialized bone marrow treatment for Venezuelan patients, now uses its funds to finance a so-called NGO – the Venezuelan Engagement Foundation, whose board in Canada is filled by Orlando Viera-Blanco and his family, an opportunists who Ottawa recognizes as Guaido’s Ambassador to Canada.”
TeleSur: Pres. Maduro Warns of US Terrorist Plot to Disrupt December Election“We have captured information from sectors abroad that speak of November 1, actions of attacks and violence to try, they say, to create the image of chaos and crisis in Venezuela. And, they say, try to turn the vote in the state of Florida,” denounced the President.
TeleSur: Like Old-Time Piracy: The US Seizes Venezuelan Oil and Sells ItThe U.S. Justice Department announced on Thursday that President Donald Trump’s administration sold over 1.1 million barrels of refined petroleum seized by the United States. Tthe four cargoes of fuel fetched more than US $40 million in a special auction, with the funds due to be deposited into a US government fund allegedly for “victims of state sponsored terrorism.” No further details were offered.
Book: Cira Pascual Marquina. Chris Gilbert: Venezuela, the Present as Struggle: Voices from the Bolivarian Revolution The story of what the Venezuelan people—especially the Chavista masses—do and think in these times of social emergency. Denying us their stories comes at a high price to people everywhere, because the Chavista bases are the real motors of the Bolivarian revolution. This revolutionary grassroots movement still aspires to the communal path to socialism
TeleSur: Venezuela Prioritizes Social Investment in 2021 Budget The country has lost 99% of the income received in 2013 from the sale of its huge oil reserves due to the financial sanctions imposed by the United States, a reduction over a period of six years from $50 billion to $400 million. The current 2021 budget allocated for social programs amounts to 76.4%, since this “budget is aimed at defending our model equity, justice, and social equality”, she said.
Cuba
Granma: Ten-point summary to understand the brutal tightening of the blockade against Cuba Our economy destroyed and our people divided. This is the objective of the U.S. government, which went to great lengths in 2019 and 2020 to exhaust and besiege Cuba.
Totally disregarding the impact of COVID-19, the White House stepped up its attacks, and limited, hindered, threatened, persecuted or sanctioned all those who aspired to do business with the island, intimidating and questioning even those who dared to think of Cuba’s Henry Reeve international medical contingent as a solution as their people faced a pandemic that strained health systems around the world.
Granma offers our community of readers a ten-point summary to support better understanding of the policy’s brutality, over this last period.
Nicaragua
Resumen Latinoamericano: PBS and Other U.S. Media Are Spreading Disinformation About Nicaragua The US has waged unconventional warfare on Nicaragua since the Sandinistas returned to the presidency in 2007 providing millions of dollars to non-governmental organizations, more than 25 different media, three “human rights” groups and many individuals whose job is to lie for their salaries. Since 2017, USAID has disbursed over $89 million with the primary focus on “governance” and promoting challenges to the Nicaraguan government. Another aspect of US aggression is the economic sanctions.
NicaNotes: Hurricane Eta: Nicaragua Prioritizes Saving and Improving Lives Only two lives lost during a level 4 Hurricane that affected Nicaragua beginning Nov. 2 on the Caribbean Coast? Nicaragua is constantly preparing and training people to save lives in disasters: thousands of people have participated in simulations for hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and more, and this happens a number of times during the year in every municipality. Nicaragua is among the first countries in Latin America and the Caribbean with the best disaster risk management, according to a study conducted by the Inter-American Development Bank.
The government has mobilized to help the people by supplying their emergency needs and soon officials will begin projects of home repairs and the building of new homes for those who lost their dwellings. The good thing is that the Nicaraguan government has the political will to organize supplies and workers to provide for the people in their time of need.
Bolivia
The Grayzone: How Bolivia’s new socialist senator resisted coup terror: Meet MAS party leader Patricia Arce The Grayzone traveled to rural Bolivia to meet Patricia Arce, a former mayor who was publicly tortured during a US-backed coup in November 2019, and is now a senator-elect from the indigenous-led Movement Toward Socialism party.
Webinars and Events
Webinar Video: Cuba Resists! Trump, the Blockade and the US Elections Cuban Ambassador to Britain, Bárbara Montalvo Álvarez; Cuban Ambassador to the US, Jose Ramon Cabañas; Gloria La Riva, Presidential candidate for Party for Socialism and Liberation, US; Valia Rodriguez, Cuban medical scientist; Helen Yaffe, University of Glasgow
November 12-13 Venezuela “Summit of the Anti-Imperialist Working Class” promoted by the Bolivarian Socialist Central of Workers (CBST-CCP) and the Vice Presidency of the Working Class of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). It will be broadcast live on Twitter: @PCOAWorld and Facebook: PCOAWorld Instagram: @PCOAWorld.
November 14,15: Conference to End the Blockade of Cuba
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