There it was, projected on the big screen: all the answers about what is going on in Venezuela. And not from just anyone, but from a former consul general of Venezuela who was in Caracas and attending the Los Angeles meeting via video conferencing, allowing him to answer questions, which ranged from “How much support does the Venezuelan government have from the people?” to “What are the economic challenges and their effects, especially from U.S. imperialist policies?”

Jesús Rodríguez-Espinoza, former consul general of Venezuela in Chicago and representative of the Orinoco Tribune, gave those attending the “Hands Off Venezuela” forum at the Harriet Tubman Center on Feb. 9 an update on the situation and then took questions for almost two hours. The meeting went well past its planned ending time as Jesús graciously and enthusiastically continued providing clarity.

Maggie Vascassenno of the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice emceed the event. She explained that the center and the publication Struggle for Socialism-La Lucha por el Socialismo had called the forum to promote solidarity when the U.S. is hell bent on war.

Jefferson Azevedo, a revolutionary activist and writer for Struggle-La Lucha, gave background information on U.S. imperialism in Latin America from his unique perspective as an Afro-Brazilian migrant to the U.S. He was very critical of how Brazil and Colombia are being used against the people of Venezuela.

Countering U.S. propaganda

Azevedo let folks know that this forum’s presentations were about countering U.S. propaganda, unlike some left news hosts and organizations that echo that propaganda. “Every story has two sides,” said Azevedo, “but we’re only hearing the side of the U.S. — saying the government of Venezuela is criminal and killing its own people, that people have to leave, etc. We’re here to tell the other side of the story.”

Azevedo pointed out that one of the U.S. strategies to sabotage Venezuela economically is its use of sanctions to force Venezuela to default on its loans. Once they default, Azevedo said, it facilitates the acquisition of Venezuela’s assets.

Espinoza started his remarks with: “The position of Maduro inside Venezuela is very solid, in spite of what you are hearing in the media and in spite of U.S. war threats, in my opinion.” He said that the “Chavista” spirit is very high and it is partly a reaction to the threats from the U.S. and “lackey” countries in Latin America. “When that happens, we unite.”

He then began to take on the misconceptions and lies being manufactured by the U.S. to discredit the Venezuelan government and President Nicolás Maduro. “They try to create pressure inside of Venezuelan institutions to provoke a revolt.”

It is true, he said, that grocery stores don’t have enough food. “We have to get groceries and sometimes I want to stay at home. But,” he said, “if you listen to the right wing they will tell you that this is because the problem is Maduro. But the problem is not Maduro. It’s the U.S. and the U.S. sanctions against Venezuela.”

Espinoza explained that the situation in Venezuela is analogous to a situation where a killer is trying to murder someone and the victim is being blamed for getting killed. However, Espinoza made it clear that the support of the people and army for Maduro is too strong to allow any coup by the U.S.

In regards to Juan Guaidó’s self-proclaimed presidency, Espinoza said this is without any merit and a complete violation of any legality and the most basic rules of international law, “in spite of the efforts of the U.S. and its satellites in Europe and Latin America.”

He noted, “Maduro was elected by almost 6 million votes … and the fact that the opposition chose not to participate in the elections does not make the elections illegitimate.”

Why U.S. targets Venezuela

Azevedo pointed out some of the reasons why Washington is attempting regime change in Venezuela, including the $23 trillion U.S. debt. “The reason the U.S. can maintain that debt is because trade transactions are done in dollars.” Maduro, he said, kept the promise of the late Hugo Chávez by allowing trade transactions to be made in Japanese yen instead, creating a real crisis for the U.S. ruling class. In the imperialists’ eyes, that could not be allowed — so Maduro must go.

“Oil is another big reason, but not the only reason. Socialism, in my opinion, is the main reason … with the Venezuelan people saying we have another option than capitalism which allows the people to use the resources like oil for their needs.”

To hear the entirety of these informative talks and the wealth of information offered during the question and answer period, watch the video below:

https://www.facebook.com/strugglelalucha/videos/812509165766126/

Cuba condemns the U.S. government’s escalating preparations for a military adventure in Venezuela and calls on the international community to mobilize to prevent its consummation

The Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba condemns the escalation of pressures and actions by the U.S. government in preparation for a military adventure under the guise of a “humanitarian intervention” in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and calls on the international community to mobilize in order to prevent its consummation.

Between February 6 and 10 of 2019, several military transport aircraft have flown to the Rafael Miranda Airport in Puerto Rico, the San Isidro Air Base in the Dominican Republic, and other strategically located Caribbean Islands, most certainly without the knowledge of the governments of those nations. These flights took off from U.S. military facilities where Special Operation Troops and U.S. Marine Corps units operate.

These units have been used for covert operations, even against leaders of other countries.
Media and political circles – including within the U.S. – have revealed that extremist figures of the government with a long history of actions and slander aimed at causing or instigating wars, such as John Bolton, U.S. National Security Advisor; and Mauricio Claver-Carone, Director of the National Security Council’s Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs, counting on the connivance of Marco Rubio, Senator of the anti-Cuban mafia in Florida, designed, directly and thoroughly organized, and funded, from their posts in Washington, the attempted coup d’etat in Venezuela by means of the illegal self-proclamation of a President.

They are the same individuals who, either personally or through the State Department, have been exerting brutal pressures on numerous governments to force them to support the arbitrary call for new Presidential elections in Venezuela, while promoting recognition for the usurper who barely won 97,000 votes as a parliamentarian, against the more than 6 million Venezuelans who elected Constitutional President Nicolás Maduro Moros last May.

After the resistance mounted by the Bolivarian and Chavista people against the coup, evidenced by the mass demonstrations in support of President Maduro, and the loyalty of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces, the U.S. government has intensified its international political and media campaign, and strengthened unilateral economic coercive measures against Venezuela, among them the freezing of Venezuelan funds in third countries banks, worth billions of dollars, and the theft of the this sister nation’s oil revenue, causing serious humanitarian damage and harsh deprivation to its people.

In addition to this cruel and unjustifiable plunder, the U.S. intends to fabricate a humanitarian pretext in order to launch a military attack on Venezuela and, by resorting to intimidation, pressure, and force, is seeking to introduce into this sovereign nation’s territory alleged humanitarian aid – which is one thousand times inferior as compared to the economic damages provoked by the siege imposed by Washington .
The usurper and self-proclaimed “President” shamelessly announced his disposition to call for a U.S. military intervention under the pretext of receiving the aforementioned humanitarian aid, and has described the sovereign and honorable rejection of that maneuver as a crime against humanity.

High-ranking U.S. officials have been arrogantly and blatantly reminding us all, day after day, that when it comes to Venezuela, “all options are on the table, including military action.”

In the process of fabricating pretexts, the U.S .government has resorted to deception and slanders, presenting a draft resolution at the UN Security Council which, cynically and hypocritically expresses deep concern for the human rights and humanitarian situation…, the recent attempts to block the delivery of humanitarian aid, the millions of Venezuelan refugees and migrants, the excessive use of force against peaceful protesters, the breakdown of regional peace and security in Venezuela, and calls for taking the necessary steps.

It is obvious that the United States is paving the way to forcibly establish a humanitarian corridor under international supervision, invoke the obligation to protect civilians and take all necessary steps.
It is worth recalling that similar behaviors and pretexts were used to by the U.S. during the prelude to wars it launched against Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Libya, which resulted in tremendous human losses and caused enormous suffering.

The U.S. government attempts to remove the biggest obstacle – the Bolivarian and Chavista Revolution – to imperialist domination of Our America and deprive the Venezuelan people of the largest certified oil reserves on the planet and numerous strategic natural resources.

It is impossible to forget the sad and painful history of U.S. military interventions perpetrated more than once in Mexico, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Honduras, and most recently Grenada and Panama.

As was warned by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz on July 14, 2017, “The aggression and coup violence against Venezuela harm all of Our America and only benefit the interests of those set on dividing us in order to exercise their control over our peoples, unconcerned about causing conflicts of incalculable consequences in this region, like those we are seeing in different parts of the world.”

History will severely judge a new imperialist military intervention in the region and the complicity of those who might irresponsibly support it.

What is at stake today in Venezuela is the sovereignty and dignity of Latin America and the Caribbean and the peoples of the South. Equally at stake is the survival of the rule of International Law and the UN Charter.

What is being defined today is whether the legitimacy of a government emanates from the express and sovereign will of its people, or from the recognition of foreign powers.

The Revolutionary Government calls for an international mobilization in defense of peace in Venezuela and the region, based on the principles established in the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, which was adopted by heads of state and government of CELAC in 2014.

It likewise welcomes and supports the Montevideo Mechanism, an initiative promoted by Mexico, Uruguay, the Caribbean Commonwealth (CARICOM), and Bolivia, which seeks to preserve peace in Venezuela based on the principles of non-interference in the internal affairs of states, legal equality of states, and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, as stated in its recent declaration.

It welcomes the positive consideration given to this initiative by President Maduro Moros and the international community, and expresses its concern given the U.S. government’s categorical rejection of the dialogue initiatives promoted by several countries, including this one.

The Revolutionary Government reiterates its firm and unwavering solidarity with Constitutional President Nicolás Maduro Moros, the Bolivarian Chavista Revolution and the civic and military unity of its people, and calls upon all peoples and governments of the world to defend peace and mount a joint opposition, over and above political or ideological differences, to a new imperialist military intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will damage the independence, sovereignty and interests of all peoples from the Rio Bravo to Patagonia.

Havana, February 12, 2019.

Dozens of tenants of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) apartments held a militant rally on Feb. 10 on the steps of City Hall. They chanted, “Keep public housing public!” In spite of freezing temperatures, they came out on this raw day to protest Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposal to sell off one-third of NYCHA homes.

These 62,000 apartments are to be sold to private real estate developers. The mayor and his team claim their plan will “save NYCHA.” Meanwhile, thousands of the 400,000 NYCHA tenants, including children, have suffered for months without heat and hot water at the coldest time of the year.

Jazz, a resident of the Jacob Riis Housing Project who spoke at the rally, exposed how the lack of services has also led to thousands of children being poisoned by lead paint.

Local, state and federal politicians stall and make excuses for the lack of funds to repair NYCHA buildings. But tenants and supporters, like rally sponsor Progress New York, have presented alternative plans to pay for NYCHA repairs and improvement, such as increasing taxes on big businesses, or by redirecting $3 billion in subsidies offered to Amazon.com to build its new headquarters in New York and $10 billion planned to build new jails.

Another part of de Blasio’s plan calls for selling vacant lots owned by NYCHA to realtors to build more upscale apartments. But low-cost housing is what is desperately needed by the many working-class residents being driven out of their neighborhoods by gentrification.

The bill owed to the mostly Black and Latinx tenants of New York public housing is due. The tenants raised their voices loud and clear to demand “Fight for NYCHA!”

Photos by Anne Pruden

Saturday, March 16, 2019 at 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM PDT

Stop the war on workers from Venezuela to Los Angeles!

Hands off Venezuela march and rally starting at 11 am @ Vermont and Wilshire.

Join Union del Barrio, School of the Americas Watch – LA, CISPES, International Action Center West Coast, Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice and more

On March 16th there will be a march in solidarity with Venezuela in Washington D.C. at 2 pm Eastern time. Join us on the west coast in support of that call at a simultaneous rally and march at 11 am Pacific time where we will be loud and very visible at one of the busiest shopping and transportation hubs in the city.

On Facebook

US Hands Off Venezuela! Rally
Saturday, February 23, 4 pm to 5 pm @ 33rd & Charles Streets

Join us as we support Venezuelan sovereignty and oppose US meddling in Venezuelan affairs, through sanctions, military threats and coups. We support Venezuela’s right to chart its own course, without interference from the US or other imperialist powers.

This rally is sponsored by a host of groups and open to any and all who support our demands of no coup, no sanctions, no war on Venezuela. Initial sponsors include: Baltimore Peace Action; Baltimore Non-Violence Center; Baltimore Solidarity with Venezuela; Communist Party of Maryland; Peoples Power Assembly; Struggle for Socialism/La Lucha por Socialismo; Ujima Peoples Progress Party; Youth Against War & Racism (partial list)

Rallies will be held on Feb 23, ‘19 all over the US, Canada and other countries on the month anniversary of the US recognition of the president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the interim president of Venezuela.

On Facebook

Join us for an informational picket and leafleting to mark the 5th anniversary of the far-right coup in Ukraine. U.S. hands off Ukraine, Honduras, Venezuela and everywhere!

When: Mon. Feb. 18, 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Where: U.S. Armed Forces Recruiting Station
Times Square, 7th Avenue and 43rd St., Manhattan
Called by: Solidarity with Novorossiya & Antifascists in Ukraine

On Facebook

Ever since Hillary Clinton was defeated by Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, one issue has dominated the anti-Trump “resistance” coming from the Democratic Party and corporate media.

Is it Trump’s flagrant racism and bigotry against im/migrants? His support for Israeli terror against the Palestinian people? His rampant misogyny, homophobic and transphobic hate-mongering? How about his sympathy for violent white supremacists, from Charlottesville to Covington Catholic?

No, no, no and no!

Instead, the Democratic Party leadership, cable TV talking heads and mainstream editorial writers have been shouting this message: “Russian interference won the election for Donald Trump. Russian President Vladimir Putin is pulling Trump’s strings. That’s why Trump has got to go.”

Robert Muller’s investigation into Trump’s dealings with Russia is daily news — often the top story — and has led to an ugly trend by liberals and even some progressives to valorize the racist, anti-people FBI and other repressive state bodies that supposedly oppose Trump, while normalizing the demonization of Putin and Russia.

Never mind that Clinton won the popular vote, and the only reason Trump is in office is because of the Electoral College, originally enacted to protect slavery. The Democratic Party has declined time and again to work toward abolishing the Electoral College, even when it costs them elections.

Why? Because their paymasters on Wall Street like having this safeguard for their domination of the “democratic” electoral process.

Never mind that no one, to this day, has presented a credible explanation of how Russia supposedly swung the elections. It all hinges on conspiracy theories about buying ads and “misleading” people with fake profiles on social media — particularly African Americans, an especially patronizing and racist theory — or in divulging the dirty dealings by Hillary Clinton’s inner circle to sabotage the Bernie Sanders campaign.

Never mind that Russia’s government had good reason to oppose Hillary Clinton’s election. Clinton campaigned hard on a pro-war, anti-Russia platform. Her record as secretary of state during the Obama administration gave good reason for people everywhere to worry.

Clinton helped to mastermind the right-wing military coup against democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras in 2009 — talk about election interference! This led directly to the Central American refugee caravans that Trump is spewing hatred against today. Clinton was also responsible for the 2011 NATO bombing war that overthrew the sovereign government of Libya and saw the slavery of Black Africans reintroduced in that country.

And she helped set the stage for the 2014 coup in Ukraine, led by open neo-Nazis, on Russia’s Western border, and Kiev’s brutal war against the primarily Russian-speaking residents of the Donbass mining region. The coup occurred under the watch of Clinton’s successor, John Kerry.

Trump and his ultraright campaign advisers exploited the natural mass revulsion for Clinton’s warmongering, just as they took advantage of the long U.S. history of racist divide-and-conquer tactics to court the white supremacist right.

Meanwhile, Trump won the backing of powerful elements among the bosses, who not only wanted his promised tax cuts, but sought a shift toward China as the main target of U.S. aggression.

Those are some of the real, homegrown reasons behind Trump’s victory. Russia had nothing to do with it.

No conspiracy required

Two recent developments should explode the myth of “Russian control” over Trump once and for all. Both are acts by the Trump administration that have been reported in all major media in the U.S. and around the world — no conspiracy theories required.

First is Trump’s decision to withdraw from a major arms-control treaty with Russia: the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, known as the INF. This is the latest in a string of attacks on treaties that once offered some guarantees of protection to the Soviet Union, and later capitalist Russia, near the end of the Cold War.

A common refrain in reports of the Trump administration’s Feb. 1 announcement was that it would set off a new nuclear arms race — not only with Russia, which can ill afford it, but also with China.

The source of Trump’s decision to axe the INF wasn’t Moscow, but the bankers and corporate heads of the U.S. military-industrial complex, who are hungry to increase their profits by developing new generations of high-tech weaponry for the Pentagon — at public expense, natch — and to sell abroad.

Second is the Trump administration’s attack on an important Russian ally in Latin America: Bolivarian Venezuela.

While their political perspectives are very different, Moscow and Caracas have forged an alliance of mutual benefit and self-defense against Western aggression.

Both countries are largely dependent on oil sales and have taken hard hits from the last decade’s slump in oil prices. Both are subject to harsh U.S. economic sanctions on their oil sales. And both have struggled to create alternatives to the U.S.-Western European dominated global financial system.

Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, is shifting proceeds of its sales to a bank based in Russia after Washington, London and other countries moved to freeze Caracas’ accounts.

Moscow views the ongoing U.S. coup attempt against Venezuela’s rightful president, Nicolás Maduro, with alarm. “The international community’s goal should be to help, without destructive meddling from beyond its borders,” said Alexander Shchetinin, head of the Latin America department of Russia’s foreign ministry.

On Feb. 7, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zajarova held a press conference declaring Russia’s belief that the U.S. had already taken the decision to militarily intervene in Venezuela and was only waiting for a fortuitous moment to strike.

“Signs are coming from Washington about the possibility of using force to overthrow the legitimate authorities,” Zajarova said. “I would like to remind you that these kind of statements from U.S. officials are a direct violation of the article of the U.N. Charter that requires all members of the organization to refrain in their international relations from the threat of force or its use.”

The same day, Russia’s delegation was blocked from attending the summit on Venezuela organized in Montevideo, Uruguay — a sure sign of how little respect imperial Washington has for its erstwhile “puppet master.”

It’s been reported that Russia, as well as China, will participate in military exercises by the Venezuelan armed forces in mid-February to practice defending the country from potential invasion.

Old Cold War, new Cold War

The truth is, Russia’s standing in the world economy is far more similar to a developing country like Venezuela than that of the imperialist United States. Socialism hasn’t existed in Russia for nearly 25 years. Its former socialist economic system was ravaged by Western profiteers and local oligarchs during the big sell-off of the 1990s, which destroyed much of the country’s economic infrastructure — at the price of millions of jobs and the steepest decline in peacetime life expectancy ever recorded.

Today, capitalist Russia is largely dependent on the export of resources like oil and natural gas. The perception that it is a world power on the scale of the U.S. is false and entirely based on the military defenses it inherited from the Soviet Union, built up to counter decades of Washington’s Cold War aggression.

Of course, politicians on both sides of the aisle in Washington are more than happy to take advantage of this popular misconception and exploit the anti-communist and anti-Soviet biases long indoctrinated in people here.

As for election interference — what could compare to what the U.S. is doing now in Venezuela?

Washington tried everything it could to sabotage last year’s presidential election in Venezuela, from sanctions to sabotage to boycotts. Yet the people still handed victory to President Nicolás Maduro.

So now the U.S. government appoints its own stooge, Juan Guaidó, as the “legitimate” president of Venezuela, and twists the arms of its allies and puppets to fall in line.

Imagine if Russia declared that it didn’t recognize the president of the U.S. and appointed its own candidate — under threat of military intervention. But of course, nothing of the sort has happened.

The real enemies of the workers and oppressed are right here at home, not in Russia or Venezuela.

Si algo  sé es de  pueblos, porque  tal como ustedes soy  un hombre de pueblo. Nací  y crecí en un barrio pobre de Caracas. Me forjé al  calor de las luchas populares y sindicales en una  Venezuela sumida en la exclusión y la desigualdad. No  soy un magnate, soy un trabajador de razón y de corazón, que hoy tengo el gran privilegio de presidir la nueva Venezuela, arraigada en un modelo de desarrollo inclusivo y de igualdad social, que forjó el Comandante Hugo Chávez desde 1998 inspirado en el legado bolivariano.

Vivimos hoy un trance histórico. Corren días que definirán el futuro de nuestros países entre la guerra y la paz. Vuestros representantes nacionales de Washington quieren traer a sus fronteras el mismo odio que sembraron en Vietnam. Quieren invadir e intervenir Venezuela –ellos dicen, como lo dijeron entonces– en nombre de la democracia y de la libertad. Pero no es así. La historia de la usurpación del poder en Venezuela es tan falsa como las armas de destrucción masiva en Irak. Es un caso  falso pero que puede tener consecuencias dramáticas para nuestra región entera.

Venezuela es un país  que por obra de su Constitución de 1.999 ha expandido ampliamente la democracia participativa y protagónica del pueblo, y que de forma inédita es hoy uno de los países con mayor número de procesos electorales en sus últimos 20 años. Podrá no gustar nuestra ideología, o nuestro aspecto, pero existimos y somos millones.

Dirijo estas palabras al pueblo de los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica para alertar lo de la gravedad y peligrosidad que pretenden unos sectores en la Casa Blanca de invadir Venezuela, con consecuencias impredecibles para mi Patria y para  toda la región americana. El Presidente Donald Trump pretende además perturbar nobles iniciativas de diálogo impulsadas por Uruguay y México con el apoyo del CARICOM para una solución pacífica y dialogada a favor de Venezuela. Sabemos que por el bien de Venezuela tenemos que sentarnos y dialogar, porque negarse a dialogar es elegir la fuerza como camino. Tengamos presente las palabras de John F. Kennedy: “Nunca negociemos por miedo. Pero nunca tengamos miedo a negociar”. ¿Tendrán miedo a la verdad los que no quieren dialogar?

La intolerancia política hacia el modelo bolivariano  venezolano y las apetencias por nuestros inmensos recursos petroleros, minerales y otras grandes riquezas, ha impulsado una coalición internacional encabezada por el gobierno de los EEUU para cometer la grave locura de agredir militarmente a Venezuela bajo la falsa excusa de una crisis humanitaria inexistente.

El pueblo de Venezuela ha sufrido dolorosamente heridas sociales causadas  por un criminal bloqueo comercial y financiero, que ha sido agravada por  el despojo y robo de nuestros recursos financieros y activos en países alineados con esta demencial embestida. Y sin embargo, gracias a un novedoso sistema de protección social, de atención directa a sectores más vulnerables, con orgullo seguimos siendo un país con índice de desarrollo humano alto y menor desigualdad en América.

El pueblo estadounidense debe saber que esta compleja agresión multiforme se ejecuta con total impunidad y en franca violación a la Carta de las Naciones Unidas, que expresamente proscribe la amenaza o el uso de la fuerza, entre otros principios y propósitos en aras de la paz y las relaciones de amistad entre las Naciones.

Queremos seguir siendo socios comerciales del pueblo de Estados Unidos, como lo hemos sido a lo largo de nuestra historia. Sus políticos en Washington, en cambio, están dispuestos a enviar a sus hijos e hijas a morir en una guerra absurda, en lugar de respetar el derecho sagrado del pueblo venezolano a la autodeterminación y al resguardo de su soberanía.

Como ustedes, pueblo estadounidense, los venezolanos y venezolanas somos patriotas. Y defenderemos lo nuestro con todos los trozos de nuestra alma. Hoy Venezuela está unida en un solo clamor: exigimos el cese de la agresión que busca asfixiar nuestra economía y sofocar socialmente a nuestro pueblo, así como el cese de las graves y peligrosas amenazas de intervención militar contra Venezuela. Apelamos al alma buena de la sociedad estadounidense, víctima de sus propios gobernantes, para que se unan a nuestro llamado por la paz, seamos un solo pueblo contra el belicismo y la guerra.

¡Que vivan los pueblos de América!

Nicolás Maduro

Presidente de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela

Struggle – La Lucha news podcast on RadioJustice.org