Venezuela & ALBA Weekly 8.28.2020: Less EU Hostility to Venezuela; CUPW Resolution on Cuba; Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador

Venezuela
TeleSur: Venezuela Receives Supplies and Equipment from Europe Venezuela received 73 tons of supply donations from Spain and Portugal, facilitated by the UN and the European Union. Seventy-three tons of donated supplies arrived in Caracas from Europe to assist in the fight against COVID-19. This new contribution is part of the more than 1,500 tons of equipment and medical supplies which Venezuela has received from Russia, Iran, China, Turkey, the UN and the European Union during the pandemic. UNDP Resident Representative Jan Harfst said his organization is working in close coordination with all Venezuelan government structures in the coordination of the distribution. Forty tons of supplies will be distributed by UNICEF.

Orinoco Tribune: US Sanctions – White House Now Aiming at Diesel to Destroy Commuting and Food Transport The US will continue to suffocate Venezuelans even more with new sanctions on the importation of diesel or diesel additives, which is what the extremist wing of the opposition promoted by Juan Guaidó seeks following Donald Trump’s orders. Oil expert Rafael Quiroz and economist Francisco Rodríguez, both anti-Chavistas, state this will have a strong impact on Venezuela’s public transport and heavy cargo sector, mainly transporting food. The consequences of these sanctions could be fatal for the Venezuelan population. There would be food shortages again, “if this measure is applied it will cost human lives,” he said.

Orinoco Tribune: President Nicolas Maduro: “There is a Plan from the United States to Assassinate me”  He asserted that there is a decision in the North and in Colombia with part of the oligarchy to assassinate him and assassinate the Revolutionary Military Political High Command. Both Obama and Trump have tried on several occasions to end his life with different tactics, ranging from the use of drones such as what happened on August 4, 2018 during an event held in “Los Proceres” in Caracas, where the perpetrators were captured. “Throughout this phase I have received threats, they have said that they are going to eliminate Maduro, these words should not be taken as a game, their objective is to end the leadership that I have, so I am not exaggerating when I say it.”

Cuba
Prensa Latina: Successful first Clinical Trial of Cuban Vaccine The second stage of the study, which began last Monday, is scheduled for September 11, when 676 volunteers between 19 and 80 years of age will have been vaccinated. Results will be available early next year, informed authorities.

Revolutionary Communist Group: (Helen Yaffe) With COVID-19 Under Control, Cuba Launches New Economic Battle Only 92 people have died from the virus, but the economic cost was high, particularly through the loss of international tourism – the country’s second largest source of foreign revenue – as borders were closed. This compounded adverse conditions already imposed by external factors, principally the economic crisis in Venezuela and the intensification of US sanctions under the Trump administration from 2017. Cuba Will introduce greater emphasis on market mechanisms and the private sector to stimulate domestic production, particularly in agriculture.

Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) calls for Nobel Peace Prize for Cuba’s Henry Reeve Medical Brigade  We fully support the call for Nobel recognition and declare our conviction that the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize be awarded to the Cuban International Health Contingent. They represent the very best of humanity. Unlike large corporate health care systems who profit off human illness and hoard patents that could serve humanity. Instead, they profit and commodify human life. The Cuban medical brigades often work in the worst of conditions and sacrifice their own welfare for the greater cause of healing communities; especially those that have been missed. This pandemic reveals again the need for human cooperation, sharing and compassion to confront the challenges to healing our world.

Nicaragua
NicaNotes: US Media Have Missed This Important Story: International Banks Rank Nicaragua among the Best in Services for the People, Project Execution, and Transparency

In less than three months Nicaragua has been recognized at least ten times by the IMF, the World Bank, the International Development Bank, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), the UN Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the Central American System for Economic Integration (SIECA) for its responsibility, transparency, excellent project execution, investments in health and good management of Covid-19, excellent services to the population as well as investment in service infrastructure and amazing growth in exports. Not one of these ten good deeds by Nicaragua has been reported in the US press. They are too busy reprinting numerous lies of the US-directed and funded opposition media to focus on what these international and regional banks and organizations report taking place in Nicaragua.

Ecuador
Peoples Dispatch: Rafael Correa will run for vice-presidency of Ecuador in 2021 general elections Former president Rafael Correa officially announced his candidacy for the vice-presidency of Ecuador in the general elections scheduled for February 7, 2021. Correa will accompany Andrés Arauz, who is running for the presidency of the country. The Arauz-Correa presidential ticket was presented by a new political movement called Union for Hope (UNES). The UNES is a coalition of left-wing political parties such as Fuerza Compromiso Social or Social Commitment Force, Centro Democrático or Democratic Center as well as several social organizations, trade unions, student, teacher, Indigenous, peasant, women and LGBT movements, among others.

Bolivia
The Canary: Interview with Ollie Vargas on Recent Developments in Bolivia Not all of the movement on the ground is part of the Movement Toward Socialism. Particularly in the department of La Paz, the city of El Alto, the rural areas of La Paz, those movements have condemned MAS for negotiating this law and they say that they will protest and mobilise until the government has been overthrown. So there is clearly a divide within the movement. The movement has shown itself incredibly powerful by the fact that they have mobilised across the entire country and brought the entire country to a standstill in every region, in every department. However, there is a very real divide between those social movements around MAS which wants a peaceful route out of the current crisis, of the current dictatorship and, on the other hand, radical sections who want to overthrow the state through force.

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