Workers Resistance

Category: Venezuela

  • Tucson protests Sen. McCain’s support for fascists in Ukraine, right-wing in Venezuela

    Tucson, AZ – On the evening of March 14, despite rainy weather, nearly 40 Tucson activists gathered to protest Senator John McCain’s support for terrorism and fascism around the world, particularly in the Ukraine and Venezuela.

    A coalition of groups – Coalicion de Derechos Humanos (Coalition for Human Rights), Alliance for Global Justice, International Action Center, Workers World, Occupy Tucson, Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Tucson Students for a Democratic Society – organized the demonstration.

    Besides firmly denouncing and demanding an end to U.S. meddling in Ukraine and Venezuela, the protesters called for people to recognize the destructive role of U.S. imperialism across the globe, which is at the expense of U.S. people’s livelihoods.

    The crowd braved rain and wind to hold signs outside of City Hall during of Tucson’s rush hour traffic and were greeted with honks of solidarity.

    Then, activists marched to John McCain’s office with chants of “Stop John McCain! Nazis leave Ukraine!” Upon arriving at the senator’s office, an indictment of John McCain for ‘material support for terrorism’ was read and posted on his office door.

    After the indictment-posting, protesters spoke about the situations in Ukraine and Venezuela.

  • Minneapolis protests growing danger of a new cold war and U.S. intervention

    Minneapolis, MN – More than 50 people joined a coalition of Twin Cities peace and anti-war groups, March 15, to speak out against the growing danger of a new cold war with Russia. The protest was organized under the call, “No New Cold War with Russia – U.S. Hands Off Ukraine, Venezuela, Syria & Everywhere – No New U.S. Wars and Interventions – People Need Funds for Housing, Jobs and Education, not the Pentagon!”

    A statement issued by organizers says in part, “The Ukraine crisis has the U.S. and NATO issuing threats of sanctions against Russia, we see a build-up of military forces, warships with guided missiles to the Black Sea, F-15 fighter jets being dispatched to Poland. These are dangerous times. For people in the U.S., we must always remember, the U.S. government does not intervene for justice or democracy, but to uphold the interests of the 1%. A new set of wars, or a new cold war with Russia, will not benefit anyone but the corporations and the defense contractors.”

    Holding signs and banners at the very busy intersection of Cedar Avenue and 3rd South Street on the West Bank in Minneapolis, participants chanted and listened to speakers.

    Alan Dale, of the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, opened the rally and then introduced Marie Braun, of the Twin Cities Peace Campaign and Women Against Military Madness. She said, “Americans came out in force against missile attacks in Syria. Hopefully, Americans will understand that a new cold war is not in their interest. A new cold war will primarily benefit corporations and defense contractors, and that is not the 99%.”

    Meredith Aby, of the MN Anti-War Committee, said, “I find the Obama administration’s recent expressions of concern for the right to dissent in other countries to be particularly outrageous while anti-war activists like myself are under federal investigation in this country for organizing peace protests and solidarity with Colombia and Palestine. Democracy, free speech, human rights – these are excuses given by the U.S. government to persuade the public to support their wars.”

    Aby also said, “It is important that we are here today to say no to the Obama administration’s efforts to delegitimize Venezuela’s democratically elected government. We must oppose the $5 million in the 2014 U.S. federal budget and the hundreds of millions of dollars the U.S. has spent over the past fifteen years funding opposition activities inside Venezuela.”

    The crowd was roused as Braun and Aby each challenged the hypocrisy of the recent statement by Secretary of State John Kerry, “You just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pretext.” They recalled U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. role in Libya, and its threats to bomb Syria and attack Iran.

    Other speakers included Dave Logsdon, Vice President of Veterans for Peace Chapter 27, and Cherrene Horazuk, president of AFSCME Local 3800. Horazuk recently returned from observing elections in El Salvador. Warning against right-wing threats against the newly-elected government of Salvador Sánchez Cerén, she compared these efforts them to the US-backed protests by the elite in Venezuela.

    The Saturday protest was endorsed by MN Anti-War Committee, Mayday Books, MN Peace Action Coalition, Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Veterans for Peace Chapter 27 and Women Against Military Madness. The Minneapolis protest is one of a series of local anti-war protests being held in cities across the U.S. this weekend initiated by the International Action Center.

  • Obama administration threatens economic sanctions on Venezuela

    Jacksonville, FL – In the latest move by the U.S. to topple the progressive, democratic Venezuelan government, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced on March 3 that President Barack Obama was considering economic sanctions on Venezuela. Schultz, who represents a district in south Florida and who chairs the Democratic National Committee, made the disturbing announcement on the heels of a proposed Venezuela sanctions bill introduced and sponsored by Florida’s two senators, Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson.

    Other U.S. representatives joined Schultz in calling for economic sanctions on Venezuela, including Miami Republicans Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Under pressure from the far right of the Republican Party of Florida, which includes sections of the large anti-Castro Cuban exile community in Miami, Governor Rick Scott joined calls for Obama to impose sanctions on the South American country.

    According to Schultz, the proposed sanctions considered by Obama would target many individuals in the Venezuelan government. Senators Rubio and Nelson’s bill would restrict individuals in the Venezuelan government and many leaders of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) from traveling to the U.S., freeze assets in U.S. and U.S.-allied banks and treasuries, and restrict access to credit markets.

    Sanctions are latest move by Washington to topple Venezuela’s progressive government

    These sanctions represent the latest episode in the U.S. government’s long campaign to topple the democratically elected government of Venezuela and stop the Bolivarian revolutionary process. In 2002, U.S. and Venezuelan business elites supported a military coup against then-President Hugo Chavez, who was returned to power within 47 hours by a mass uprising of working people. Less than a year later, rich Venezuelan oligarchs linked to the oil industry halted petroleum production in order to force Chavez from office. The oil bosses locked out the oil workers and threatened violence. Despite support from the U.S., their plot failed due to the continued popularity of the Venezuelan government among the majority of people. Even now, Wikileaks documents show far-reaching connections between the CIA and the right-wing opposition leaders, like Leopoldo Lopez, and instigator of protests and street violence.

    Additionally, the U.S. government spends an incredible amount of money funding the far-right opposition groups protesting President Nicolas Maduro’s government today. Estimates by the Center for Economic and Policy Research found $90 million reaching these groups since 2000. In 2014 alone, the U..S Congress passed a budget containing $5 million in funding for the Venezuelan opposition. While the Obama administration funds the right-wing opposition in Venezuela, they also signed $8.7 billion in cuts to food stamps into law, highlighting how imperialist meddling also hurts the U.S. working class.

    ‘Targeted sanctions’ actually target poor and working people

    Although the politicians calling for sanctions emphasize that they are against individuals, rather than the entire country, the brutal history of U.S. ‘targeted sanctions’ makes clear that the Venezuelan people will suffer from these measures.

    In 2001, then-President George W. Bush signed the deceptively named Zimbabwe Democracy and Economy Recovery Act (ZDERA) to punish the progressive government of Zimbabwe for its land reform program. These sanctions legally targeted only 113 individuals in the government and 70 entities, but the individuals included important government officials and huge state-owned enterprises vital to Zimbabwe’s economy. For instance, the individual restrictions on Minister of Finance Herbert Murerwa’s access to international credit indirectly limited the entire elected government of Zimbabwe, leaving the state unable to pay public workers their full salaries and pensions.

    In order to meet their obligations to workers and African farmers who received land in the redistribution, Zimbabwe was forced to print money. This led to staggering hyperinflation and a shortage of necessary goods like food and AIDS medication. The U.S., UK, and the EU imperialists caused the entire crisis through their ‘targeted sanctions’, and then criticized Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe.

    The U.S. placed more comprehensive sanctions on the Republic of Iraq under President Saddam Hussein throughout the 1990s. They pushed and enforced the punishing sanctions through the United Nations. The U.S. claimed the sanctions were in response to Hussein and the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, but the world knows it was so the U.S. could attempt to dominate the Middle East and seize Iraq’s oil fields.

    Like in Zimbabwe, the real victims of U.S. sanctions on Iraq were ordinary working people. A groundbreaking study by the Food and Agriculture Organization in 1995 found that the UN sanctions on Iraq caused the deaths of more than 567,000 Iraqi children, by restricting access to food, medicine and critical infrastructure. Other studies since then have placed the child death toll alone closer to 1 million.

    Obama’s consideration of sanctions on Venezuela echoes the sick policy justifications of the former Democrat President, Bill Clinton. U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Madeleine Albright, appointed by Clinton, infamously attempted to justify the horrifying deaths of Iraqi children by saying, “We have heard that half a million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it? We think the price is worth it.” When it comes to economically devastating the people of Iraq, Zimbabwe or Venezuela, both the Republicans the Democrats see eye-to-eye.

    Sanctions on Venezuela will hurt working families in the U.S.

    It is likely that such sanctions on Venezuela would prevent Maduro’s government from continuing the legacy of Chavez, one in which poor and working families in the U.S. receive free and reduced price oil. Starting in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, the Venezuelan government partnered with CITGO to provide free heating oil to more than 100,000 families in the U.S. According to CITGO, more than 252 American Indian communities and at least 245 homeless shelters also received this aid. To this day, the program continues, but the sanctions considered by Obama threaten this important economic aid for working families.

    With more and more people opposing the 54-year long U.S. embargo against Cuba, Obama will likely encounter large resistance to sanctions on Venezuela from progressives across the U.S. Nevertheless, the danger of sanctions remains high for both working people in the U.S., who benefit from the solidarity of the Venezuelan government, and the entire people of Venezuela. It will take a nationwide movement of progressives committed to ending U.S. imperialism and supporting the Bolivarian revolutionary process to stop history from repeating itself.

  • United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) Demands “US Hands off Ukraine and Venezuela”

    Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC).

    The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) Demands “US Hands off Ukraine and Venezuela”

    The United States government is the main instigator of the present crises in both countries.

    The hypocrisy of Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement on Face the Nation, “You just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pretext,” is beyond belief. What about the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, or regime change in Libya, or the threats to bomb Syria and attack Iran?

    The US has waged a massive propaganda campaign of misinformation, distortion, and outright lies and the national media has taken the State Department’s “facts” and disseminated them without question or challenge. News about the US/EU role in creating the current crisis is buried.

    The US is the only country that has its troops throughout the world in over 120 countries. It sends drones and special operations forces to kill anyone and anywhere it chooses and uses its vast economic power to undercut any government that will not submit to its policies. Although there is lip service to concerns about democracy and sovereignty, the reality is that the US acts in the interests of preserving its imperialist power and wealth.

    Ukraine and Venezuela are not exceptions to this rule of imperialist intervention. For 20 years, $5 billion was invested in Ukraine to support the opposition and to create tens of thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to move the country more towards the US and EU and their policies. In an intercepted phone call between Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the US ambassador to Ukraine, she discusses who the US wants to be the head of the new illigitimate government, and lo and behold, the US pick, Arseniy Yatseniuk, is named as the interim Ukrainian leader. This is clearly outside intervention in the affairs of a sovereign country that would not be tolerated if directed at the US or its allies.

    What are the real objectives and why is Russia so alarmed? Could it be the US-NATO campaign to militarily surround Russia and bring neighboring countries into the western military and financial orbit? Might it be that the largest supply of natural gas in the world is in Russia and the pipelines go through Ukraine, or that global warming is opening the Arctic to oil drilling and Russia borders the Arctic? It is clear that Russia will not passively sit by while the Western-backed coup, led by violent fascist forces and local billionaires, overthrows a democratically elected government and installs a puppet regime on its border.

    By treaty, Russia can have 25,000 troops in Crimea. To protect its military base there and to protect the people in the Eastern and Southern parts of the country, where the coup is not supported, Russia has moved some troops to the Ukrainian border and into the Crimean peninsula. Many in the east and south are fearful of the new coup government and the neo-Nazi and nationalist forces that led the street demonstrations.

    The escalating threats of military and economic aggression towards Russia should not be taken lightly. Washington’s recklessness and disregard for humanity have resurrected the worst vestiges of cold war politics. They have created a dangerous situation that can generate a real war with an adversary with a powerful military of its own.

    The US is similarly intervening in Venezuela. There, the US government wants a return to policies which brought the benefits of that nation’s oil wealth to a privileged few. The Bolivarian Revolution has been supported by a majority of Venezuelans in election after election. Yet the United States persists in violating the sovereignty and self-determination of the Venezuelan people. In 2002, the US supported a coup against the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. During this coup, Chavez was forced onto a US military plane to be taken out of the country. The Venezuelan people and military were able to rescue Chavez and defeat the coup. However, the US has continued to intervene in Venezuela causing the government of Nicolas Maduro to expel three US officials for trying to organize students for anti-government protests.

    As long as the United States is committed to aggression, the whole world is endangered, just as Ukraine and Venezuela are. Libya fell, Syria is under attack, there is a “pivot to Asia”, and Africom controls the military in almost every African nation. We must demand that our government stop its policy of imperialist domination which generates conflict throughout the world.

    NO TO US WARS, THREATS, ATTACKS, SANCTIONS, AND COVERT OPERATIONS IN UKRAINE, RUSSIA, VENEZUELA, AND ALL OTHER SOVEREIGN COUNTRIES!

    MONEY FOR JOBS, EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE AND MEETING SOCIAL NEEDS, NOT WAR AND AGGRESSION TO BENEFIT THE RICH!

     

  • Milwaukee protests U.S. intervention in Venezuela

    Milwaukee, WI – Despite freezing cold temperatures, Milwaukee students and anti-war activists rallied in solidarity with the Venezuelan government on March 3. They stood waving flags and held up signs reading “U.S. hands off Venezuela,” and “Soy Chavista!” Standing on ice and snow, they chanted against U.S. intervention and in support of Venezuela’s President Maduro. They are joining progressive people around the world holding rallies in solidarity with the Venezuelan government.

    The Milwaukee protesters support the powerful Bolivarian movement and the Venezuelan government’s progressive reforms of the past 15 years. Millions of Venezuelans are no longer living in poverty, have learned to read and write and work at new jobs. Venezuelan President Maduro’s government spends billions from state oil revenues on jobs, education, health care and housing, for the benefit of the many. Wealthy Venezuelans and some college students are upset and protesting the government.

    The U.S. government is backing the right-wing protests. After 15 years of losing election after election, the wealthy reactionaries are attempting to reverse the Bolivarian Revolution and the progress made by poor people. The majority of Venezuelans reject the turn towards violence by the reactionaries.

    Chance Zombor of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization fired up the crowd, “When we occupied the capitol building in Madison, we were fighting for workers’ rights against an extreme right-wing agenda. When we marched with Occupy Wall Street, we were saying that the wealthy should not control our country.” He explained about the protests, “What’s happening in Venezuela is the opposite! The demonstrators there do not represent the majority of Venezuelans, who voted to support Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution.”

    Milwaukee Anti-War Committee organized the protest along with other organizations. Leaders plan to do more outreach rallies like this one in the Riverwest neighborhood to educate people about U.S. wars and intervention.

  • Tucson solidarity with Venezuelan Revolution

    Tucson, AZ – On the evening of Feb. 27, a group of activists gathered outside Tucson City Hall to protest U.S. interference in Venezuela and declare solidarity with the revolutionary Bolivarian government.

    Protesters held signs reading, “U.S. hands off Venezuela,” “We stand with Maduro for peace,” “Let democracy decide,” and “Long live the Bolivarian revolution!” Friendly drivers honked their horns and passersby raised fists of solidarity during rush hour in Tucson’s downtown. People stopped to ask about the demands of the protest and were appalled to learn about U.S. government backing of right-wing movements, as well as the violence targeting popular people’s projects in Venezuela. Venezuela’s revolutionary government takes billions in oil profits and invests them in jobs, housing, food programs, health care and education, lifting millions out of poverty.

    In recent weeks, a right-wing movement backed by the U.S. is attempting to overthrow the revolution and return Venezuela to the days of poverty and misery. The U.S. is funding non-governmental organizations and using other illegal methods to support anti-government protests and violent attacks by the right-wing opposition. Pro-U.S. and counter-revolutionary forces are once again turning to street violence in the wake of electoral failures. It is similar to the failed coup attempt against revolutionary President Hugo Chavez on April 11, 2002. At that time, the U.S. government under President Bush funded and provided intelligence to the coup makers at that time. Now, the government led by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is responding to more U.S.-backed provocations with calls for a peace conference. Venezuelan police also use force when necessary to suppress the guarimbas – roadblocks with burning tires and men carrying an assortment of weapons.

    The recent violence represents an escalation by a section of the wealthy capitalists and their supporters against the socialist-oriented Chavista government. The right-wing opposition is taking advantage of difficulties with inflation. Also, the scarcity of some goods figured in initial protests, but soon turned into violence directed at supporters of the Bolivarian revolution. Some business people in Venezuela deliberately hoard certain goods, purposely sabotage the economy, and then engage in currency speculation to make big profits. The wealthy opposition parties keep losing election after election, including the recent municipal elections where they lost ground. So now some are turning to violence in an attempt to impose their will on the majority.

    Tucson Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Alliance for Global Justice planned the rally, and were joined by representatives of Tucson Peace Vigil and Veterans for Peace. Protesters held signs and shouted, “Stop media lies!” in response to wide scale news manipulation by Venezuelan and American news corporations.

    The Bolivarian government has the upper hand and the correct handling of the disturbances can bolster the progressive and patriotic movements in Venezuela, but the right-wing opposition is determined to reverse the Bolivarian revolution.

    As for Tucson, SDSer Dayna Broder proclaimed: “We stand for solidarity with Venezuela, against war, and with President Maduro for peace.”

  • FRSO in solidarity with Venezuela’s battle against right wing violence

    Fight Back News Service is circulating the following solidarity statement from Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). The statement has been sent to the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

    Stand in solidarity with Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution

    By Freedom Road Socialist Organization

    We stand in solidarity with the government of Venezuela headed by President Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan people in the face of the murderous turmoil that is being unleashed by the country’s right-wing opposition. We are confident that the ringleaders of this reactionary violence will quickly be brought to justice.

    Venezuela’s progressive government is working hard to improve people’s lives and build popular power. The achievements of the Bolivarian revolutionary process are an inspiration to people around the world, and we are well aware of the humanitarian assistance that Venezuela provides to people in the U.S.

    The right-wing opposition is unleashing a wave of violence to take Venezuela backwards, at the expense of the country’s working people.

    We know that the government of the U.S. stands behind the right-wing opposition. The U.S. hates the freedom that Venezuela represents and the independent course it is taking. Wherever people want liberation from Washington D.C.’s empire, Venezuela has offered its support and solidarity.

    We join with progressive and revolutionary people everywhere in demanding the U.S. stop interfering in Venezuela’s internal affairs.

    Solidarity with Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution!

    U.S Hands off Venezuela!

     

     

  • Venezuela offers asylum to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden

    The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela offered asylum, on humanitarian grounds, to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, July 5.

    The U.S. government has been placing intense pressure on governments around the world to deliver Snowden into U.S. custody. Earlier this week, the U.S. government sparked outrage when it prevailed on European countries to force down the plane of Bolivian President Evo Morales, on the grounds that he might be transporting Snowden from Moscow.

    Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro announced the asylum offer, saying that the most powerful empire on earth was trying to persecute a young man who has done nothing but tell the truth.

    Maduro then went on to say, Who is the terrorist? Governments like ours who offer humanitarian asylum to a young man like Snowden, or the U.S. government who shelters terrorists like airline bomber Luis Posada Carriles or sends bombs to the terrorist opposition is Syria?

    Snowden has the support of progressive people across the globe for revealing massive NSA spying operations.