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The center of La Paz has been transformed into a scenario of barricades, queues to purchase in the few businesses that are open, transportation halted, neighbours stationed on corners crossed by barbed wires and zinc sheets. Near Plaza Murillo, the center of political power, groups pass by wearing helmets, shields, gas masks, Bolivian flags, police contingents betting on each other and asking for reinforcement from the National Armed Force (FAB).

It is Monday night and there is fear: that the city of El Alto will be brought down. The scenes seen during the afternoon reminded many in central and southern La Paz that half of the country that voted for Evo Morales exists and will not stand idly by.

What was thought to happen in El Alto happened, and thousands of residents, mostly from the Aymara nation, took to the streets to face the coup d’état, to defend the process of change, and something very profound: the Whipala flag, which during the hours of the coup offensive was removed from institutions and burned in the street by right-wing demonstrators.

What happened was not part of the plan of those who lead the coup d’état which, at this time, has more elements of confusion and violence than of a planned project. One element is clear: the main objective was to overthrow Evo Morales and persecute him, as he denounced when he made public that an officer of the Bolivian National Police (PNB) has an illegal arrest warrant against him, and that he is in an unknown location.

Morales’ situation was uncertain last night. Mexico’s foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, announced that the former president was on a plane that would take him to that country.

His personal safety is a matter of great concern in a context where his house was attacked by violent groups and where there is no public authority among those who carried out the coup. The rule of law has been broken and that has opened the doors to absolute impunity for those who exercise power.

During the day, Morales sent messages from his Twitter account to denounce the repression in El Alto that claimed several lives, including that of a girl, and to ask people not to fall into confrontations “between brothers”. At night, before boarding the plane, he tweeted: “Sisters and brothers, I am leaving for Mexico, grateful for the detachment of the government of that brother people who gave us asylum to take care of our lives. It hurts me to leave the country for political reasons, but I will always be attentive. Soon I will return with more strength and energy”. The proposal for asylum in Mexico will be a possible way out for the overthrown and endangered president.

No government

In Bolivia, the coup bloc has not yet been able to form a government. After the resignation of Evo Morales, Vice President Alvaro García Linera, the President of the Senate, the Vice President, should assume the third front, Jeanine Añez, who landed in Bolivia. However, she should assume the presidency with the agreement of the legislative power, where in both chambers the Movement Towards Socialism, the party that was forcibly displaced, has a majority.

So there is no interim coup government visible after more than 24 hours of consummated coup d’état. On the other hand, there are powers that are deployed in repressive and persecutorial actions, with the announcements in social networks of Fernando Camacho, visible face of the civil wing of the coup, the actions of the PNB and the FAB.

The latter issued a communiqué on Monday night under the reading of Commander General Williams Kaliman: the FAB will deploy actions in the streets to accompany the PNB. There is no formal government, but there is the power of arms.

The scenario is not the one foreseen by those who led the coup d’etat. The question is really: did they have an organized scenario that was beyond simply overthrowing and persecuting Morales and the leaders of the process of change?

The coup bloc is heterogeneous; it contains civil, business, police, military, religious and international sectors. This last dimension was expressed in the complicity of the Organization of American States (OAS), which did not qualify what happened as a coup d’état, and in the declarations of the United States, which described the overthrow as a return to democracy.

The conjunction of forces that achieved the coup seems to have a clear objective: to decapitate the process of change, from its officials to the political leaders. That has translated into persecution, as evidenced by asylum applications in embassies, particularly in Mexico.

There is instability within those who led the offensive, as well as a mobilization reaction, not only in El Alto – with a strong level of radicalism – but in various parts of the country.

Thus, for example, the Confederación Sindical Unica de Trabajadores Campesinos de Bolivia (Csutcb) announced blockades throughout Bolivia on main roads, “general resistance to the coup d’état throughout the country,” as well as the expulsion of leaders who became part of the overthrow.

The situation is more unstable than the promise sold by Camacho and those who celebrated on Sunday afternoon and night. There is a country that they denied, despised, despite their efforts to be democratic and inclusive, and that country began to mobilize, to challenge, to confront the conservative restoration seeking revenge.

For the moment, there is no visible direction of the resistance processes. What is clear is that the decision of those conducting the coup will be to respond with repression on every possible level. By Monday night you could see the tanks in the streets of La Paz and the people who celebrated the overthrow and burning of Whipalas now applaud the militarization.

Source Internationalist 360º

Emergency Rally! No Military Coup in Bolivia! (Stand for Peace)

Sat., Nov. 16. @ 12 NOON – 1:30 P.M., Corner of East Locust & Dr. MLK Dr., Milwaukee

We strongly condemn the military coup in Bolivia, and extends our solidarity to the Bolivian people who are struggling to defend the massive gains won under the leadership of President Evo Morales in the face of this counter-revolution. U.S. imperialism is clearly the sponsor of the coup and we
are outraged at this crime against Bolivian sovereignty and democracy.

Come rally with us at the Stand for Peace Rally, which has been upheld on a weekly basis for many years by Peace Action Wisconsin, to condemn US intervention in the democratic affairs of a sovereign state. The battle in Bolivia and all of Latin America continues between the forces that want to empower the people and those that want to restore the power and wealth of the elite. People in the United States can play an important role in this intense struggle by pressuring our imperialist government to end its war on the people in Latin America and the Caribbean. U.S. hands off Bolivia!

Info: www.wibailoutpeople.org

November 12, 2019

Faced with a media siege that confronts the truth in our country, the Movement Towards Socialism sends this communiqué to the Bolivian people and the international community that since November 10, 2019, a plan of assassination by the Mobile Police Unit for Rural Areas (UMOPAR) and the Bolivian Police was activated in the hard phase of the coup d’état against our leaders Evo Morales and Álvaro García, which is why the Mexican government’s offer of asylum was accepted.

During the entire day of November 11, the coup plotters put the lives of our leaders Evo and Álvaro at serious risk, first with public threats from police to proceed with operations to stop them and then with the closure of our air space, through administrative obstacles of the Bolivian Air Force, preventing the entry of the Mexican airplane that came to pick them up.

The Bolivian people are living terrible moments, with policemen and motorcyclists creating panic in the streets and with the military high command deciding to attack the people in the name of pacification, even preventing personalities, church and politicians from finding constitutional and democratic solutions to the crisis we are facing.

The Military is in the streets, shooting from helicopters in Cochabamba, mobilizing tanks, troops and weapons in La Paz to annihilate our people just for resisting the injustice and outrage, racism, violence and the infamous strategy of preventing our leaders from continuing to lead the country.

The coup d’état was a construction of several steps, first installing the idea of electoral fraud to generate questions in the streets, denying our victory, and using the OAS audit report, distorting its content, when it categorically speaks of irregularities and not fraud; then asking for the nullification of the elections, then the resignation of our leaders, and to finally concretize their strategy with the police mutiny, articulating the anti-democratic plan, installing a regime of terror, with threats and persecution.

They are forcing the patience of our people, the resignation of our Brothers President and Vice President was not enough for them, but they are even trying to force a government out of the constitutional succession, by pretending that the 2nd Vice President of the Senate leads the coup d’état by becoming president of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly and automatically President of the State, when in strictly constitutional terms it is the President of the Senate, Adriana Salvatierra, who is responsible for assuming that transition.

In this line of irregular actions, the armed forces have materialized the betrayal of the Bolivian people, economically supported by the civilian Camacho, who, colluding with the aforementioned opponents, closed the circuit of the coup d’état.

Compatriots, not even the vileness and rage against our brothers Evo and Alvaro will achieve a look of sadness, repentance or sorrow, this new sacrifice of our leaders is to keep us united, strong and fighting for the people as we have always done…

Let us denounce the coup d’état, let us show the world that hatred the hatred we are witnessing is only because with great dignity we empowered the Bolivian people.

Source: Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau

 

12 noviembre, 2019

Ante el cerco mediático que enfrenta la verdad en nuestro país, el Movimiento al Socialismo comunica al pueblo boliviano y la comunidad internacional que desde anoche 10 de noviembre de 2019 se activó un plan de magnicidio a cargo de Umopar y la Policía Boliviana en la fase dura del golpe de estado contra nuestros líderes Evo Morales y Álvaro García, razón por la cual el ofrecimiento de asilo por parte del gobierno mexicano fue aceptado.

Durante todo el día de hoy 11 de noviembre, los golpistas pusieron en grave riesgo la vida de nuestros líderes Evo y Álvaro, primero con amenazas públicas de policías de proceder con operativos para detenerlos, luego con el cierre de nuestro espacio aéreo, impidiendo con trabas administrativas a cargo de la Fuerza Aérea Boliviana el ingreso del avión mexicano que venía a recogerlo.

El pueblo boliviano esta viviendo momentos terribles, con policías y motoqueros infringiendo pánico en las calles y con el alto mando militar decidiendo arremeter contra los ciudadanos a título de pacificación, incluso impidiendo que personalidades, iglesia y políticos encuentren salidas constitucionales y democráticas a la crisis que enfrentamos.

Militares en las calles, disparando desde helicópteros en Cochabamba, movilizando tanques, tropa y armamento en La Paz para aniquilar a nuestro pueblo tan sólo por resistir a la injusticia y al atropello, racismo, violencia y la infame estrategia de impedir que nuestros líderes continúen con la conducción del país.

El golpe de Estado fue una construcción de varios pasos, primero instalando la idea de fraude electoral para generar molestia en las calles, negando nuestra victoria, y utilizando el informe de auditoría de la OEA, tergiversando su contenido, cuando este categóricamente habla de irregularidades y no de fraude; luego pidiendo la nulidad de las elecciones, posteriormente la renuncia de nuestros líderes, para finalmente concretar su estrategia con el amotinamiento policial, articulando el plan antidemocrático, instalando un régimen de terror, amenazas y persecución.

Están forzando la paciencia de nuestro pueblo, no les bastó la renuncia de nuestros Hermanos Presidente y Vicepresidente, sino que incluso intentan forzar un gobierno fuera de la sucesión constitucional, al pretender que la 2da Vicepresidenta del Senado conduzca el golpe de estado autonombrándose presidenta de la Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional y automáticamente Presidenta del Estado, cuando en términos estrictamente constitucionales es a la Presidenta del Senado Adriana Salvatierra a quien le corresponde asumir esa transición.

En esa línea de acciones irregulares, las fuerzas armadas, han materializado la traición al pueblo boliviano, apoyadas económicamente por el Cívico Camacho, quienes, coludidos con los opositores mencionados, cerraron este el circuito del golpe de estado.

Compatriotas, ni la vileza y el ensañamiento contra nuestros hermanos Evo y Alvaro logrará una mirada de tristeza, de arrepentimiento o pena, este nuevo sacrificio de nuestros líderes es para mantenernos unidos, fuertes y luchando por el pueblo como siempre lo hemos hecho…

Denunciemos el golpe de estado, mostremos al mundo que el odio solo es por haber empoderado dignamente al pueblo boliviano.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019 at 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM CST

Federal Plaza, 219 S. Dearborn, Chicago, IL
219 S. Dearborn, Chicago, Illinois

Hosted by Chicago ALBA Solidarity Committee

A U.S.-backed military coup is being carried out in Bolivia right now. Rightwing forces within Bolivia Bolivia have mobilized to overthrow the progressive, indigenous, president of Bolivia, Evo Morales.
Evo has consistently opposed all forms of U.S. intervention in Latin America. His administration has overseen unprecedented progress for the whole country, ending the apartheid system against indigenous peoples, providing universal health care, eliminating illiteracy, diversifying the economy, making Bolivia self-sufficient in food. The country has had the highest economic growth rate in Latin America under his terms in office.

Now the traditional oligarchy in alliance with military chiefs have overthrown his government and are hunting for leaders of the Evo Morales government and its party, MAS.

http://This coup situation is not over. Evo Morales. who just won the last election, has mass support among the working class and indigenous peoples. They could still overturn the coup as in Venezuela in 2002.
There are rallies in over a dozen cities in the US against this US backed coup. Come out and protest and help let the US people and Bolivian people know we stand with Bolivian democracy and constitution and with their legitimate president.
Follow the news on Facebook: Friends of Evo’s Bolivia / Amig@s de La Bolivia de Evo

Sponsored by Chicago ALBA Solidarity, Mass Action, Comite de Justicia en Ayotzinapa, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Chicago Peace Council, International League of People’s Struggle/ILPS Midwest, BAYAN alliance of Filipino anti imperialist organizations), Chicago Area Peace Action, Neighbors For Peace-Evanston/Chicago, Chicago Committee Against War and Racism, Chicago Anti-War Coalition, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Refuse Fascism- Chicago Chapter

The Sunday military coup in Bolivia has put in place a government which appears likely to reverse a decision by just-resigned President Evo Morales to cancel an agreement with a German company for developing lithium deposits in the Latin American country for batteries like those in electric cars.

“Bolivia’s lithium belongs to the Bolivian people,” tweeted Washington Monthly contributor David Atkins. “Not to multinational corporate cabals.”

The coup, which on Sunday resulted in Morales resigning and going into hiding, was the result of days of protests from right-wing elements angry at the leftist Morales government. Sen. Jeanine Añez, of the center-right party Democratic Unity, is currently the interim president in the unstable post-coup government in advance of elections.

Investment analyst publisher Argus urged investors to keep an eye on the developing situation and noted that gas and oil production from foreign companies in Bolivia had remained steady.

The Morales move on Nov. 4 to cancel the December 2018 agreement with Germany’s ACI Systems Alemania (ACISA) came after weeks of protests from residents of the Potosí area. The region has 50% to 70% of the world’s lithium reserves in the Salar de Uyuni salt flats.

Among other clients, ACISA provides batteries to Tesla; Tesla’s stock rose Monday after the weekend.

As Bloomberg News noted in 2018, that has set the country up to be incredibly important in the next decade:

Demand for lithium is expected to more than double by 2025. The soft, light mineral is mined mainly in Australia, Chile, and Argentina. Bolivia has plenty—9 million tons that have never been mined commercially, the second-largest amount in the world—but until now there’s been no practical way to mine and sell it.

Morales’ cancellation of the ACISA deal opened the door to either a renegotiation of the agreement with terms delivering more of the profits to the area’s population or the outright nationalization of the Bolivian lithium extraction industry.

As Telesur reported in June, the Morales government announced at the time it was “determined to industrialize Bolivia and has invested huge amounts to ensure that lithium is processed within the country to export it only in value-added form, such as in batteries.”

It’s unclear what the next steps are for the industry in a post-coup Bolivia, according to global intelligence analysis firm Stratfor:

In the longer term, continued political uncertainty will make it more difficult for Bolivia to increase its production of strategic metals like lithium or develop a value-added sector in the battery market. The poor investment climate comes at a time of expanding global opportunities in lithium-ion battery production to meet rising demand from electric vehicle manufacturing.

ACISA told German broadcaster DW last week that the company was “confident that our lithium project will be resumed after a phase of political calmness and clarification.”

On Sunday, Morales resigned.

Source: Common Dreams

Nov. 7 — For the 28th year in a row, an almost unanimous United Nations General Assembly demanded an end to the United States economic blockade of Cuba. Over 7 billion people live in the 187 countries that voted for the resolution entitled, “The necessity of ending the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.” 

For nearly 60 years, the U.S. has imposed cruel sanctions on Cuba. They’ve blocked Cuba from buying insulin and other U.S.-made medicines. The cost to the small country has been $138 billion, or $12,000 for each Cuban.

Every African country voted for Cuba. So did all of Cuba’s neighbors in the Caribbean. China and India voted yes. Even the 28 countries belonging to the European Union voted against the U.S. blockade.

All these countries said No! to the biggest bully on the planet: the Big Oil and bankster government of the U.S. Under the 1992 Torricelli Act, if any country’s ships trade with Cuba, they are barred from visiting any U.S. port for 180 days.

Provisions like these attempt to force the rest of the world to obey Wall Street’s blockade of Cuba. It’s a violation of international law.

Just three countries voted against the resolution: the United States of Trump, Brazil and apartheid Israel, which occupies Palestine. 

For the first time, Brazil voted against the annual resolution defending Cuba’s sovereignty. That doesn’t represent the feelings of the peoples of Brazil.

It’s the decision of fascist president Jair Bolsonaro, who kicked out Cuban doctors healing poor people. Bolsonaro has been linked to the assassination of the socialist Marielle Franco, a lesbian activist who was Rio de Janiero’s only Black woman city councillor. 

The two countries that abstained were the death squad government of Colombia and Ukraine. 

The action of the Ukrainian government was shameful. Over 20,000 Ukrainian children who suffered cancers and radiation poisoning from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster have been treated in Cuba for free. 

Love for Cuba

Ambassador after ambassador spoke with admiration and respect for the people of Cuba. “This meeting is indeed a show of solidarity from the world to Cuba. … It is a meeting to express our thanks to the enormous, marvelous and exemplary solidarity of Cuba with the peoples of the world,” declared Sacha Llorenty, the ambassador from the Plurinational State of Bolivia.

“I wish to pay tribute to the almost 30,000 Cuban health care professionals who are providing support in 85 countries throughout the world,” said Ambassador Liorenty. “When Ebola, malaria and other illnesses attacked the poorest of the planet, Cuban solidarity was there. … When racism and colonialism held hostage our African brothers, Cuba was there. When illiteracy affected many of our peoples, Cuba was there.” 

Bolivia’s ambassador quoted the words of Nelson Mandela: “The Cuban people hold a special place in the hearts of the peoples of Africa. Cuban internationalists have made an unparalleled contribution to the independence, freedom and justice of Africa.”

Tragically, the CIA along with its local stooges have now, at least temporarily, overthrown Bolivia’s elected president, Evo Morales.  

Grenada’s ambassador, Keisha McGuire, spoke of Cuba helping the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorrian swept over it. What a contrast to racist President Reagan invading Grenada with 7,000 troops in 1983. Antigua and Barbuda, and Trinidad and Tobago also spoke against the blockade.

“Cuba’s emergency assistance to the African countries affected by the Ebola crises in West Africa is a great example of its solidarity with the international community,” said the Palestinian ambassador, Dr. Riyad Mansour. 

Dr. Mansour, who grew up as a refugee, spoke on behalf of 134 developing countries known as the Group of 77 plus the People’s Republic of China.

Namibia’s ambassador, Neviiie Gertze, declared, “To Namibia, the Cuban people are family. Cuba has been at the forefront of contributing to the freedom and independence of my country.”

Cuban volunteers shed their blood alongside Africans fighting against the apartheid regime then in power in South Africa. As the late Pan African teacher and organizer Elombe Brath said, “When Africa called, Cuba answered.”

Recalling Simón Bolívar’s warning 

As soon as Venezuelan foreign minister Jorge Arreaza began speaking, Trump’s delegation walked out. That insult didn’t stop Arreaza from telling the General Assembly that “The government of the United States has tightened the criminal blockade imposed for almost 60 years. … For 28 years now, the General Assembly, the most democratic body in this organization, has called for an end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade which thwarts the right to development of the heroic Cuban people and also seeks unconstitutional regime change in the sisterly socialist republic of Cuba, the Cuba of Martí, the Cuba of Fidel.”

Referring to Cuban doctors and other medical workers in his country, the foreign minister said that “Millions of lives have been saved, millions of Venezuelan families have been helped.” Trump claims these nurses and doctors are “occupying” Venezuela. Millions of poor people needing medical care from Harlem to Appalachia would love such an occupation.

Jorge Arreaza pointed out that “Now Washington is supposedly trying to breathe new life into that old infamous Monroe Doctrine.” Named after slave master President James Monroe, this policy claimed the right of the U.S. to overthrow any government in the Western Hemisphere, like what Reagan did in Grenada.

Arreaza reminded the General Assembly that “Almost 200 years ago the liberator Simón Bolívar said, ‘The United States seems fated by providence to bring misery to the Americas in the name of liberty.’” 

“It is time to put an end to this imperialist madness!” declared Venezuela’s foreign minister.

Billionaire diplomat

Trump’s ambassador, Kelly Craft, returned to the hall and admitted that “For the 28th time this resolution will likely pass almost unanimously.” Craft is the best diplomat that money can buy. A billionaire coal mine owner with husband Joseph Craft III, Craft got her job with the $2 million they shoveled to Trump’s campaign and inauguration.

Craft lied about Cuba refusing to buy goods from the United States. Diplomats in the hall must have chuckled when Craft attacked Cuba for having “collaborated with the former Maduro regime,” as if the elected president, Nicolás Maduro Moros, isn’t still governing in Caracas.

The U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet throttling the Pacific Ocean like its private Lake Michigan didn’t prevent the Solomon Islands representative from saying, “My delegation also wishes to thank Cuba … in particular … in terms of training of Solomon Islands students in the medical field.”

Cuba isn’t the only country enduring U.S. economic sanctions. So is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran, the Russian Federation, Syria, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

Syria’s permanent representative to the U.N., Bashar al-Jaafari, said that the Syrian people, like the Cuban people, have been suffering for decades from the serious repercussions of unilateral coercive economic measures imposed by the U.S. and some other governments.

Iran’s ambassador, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, stated that “the inhuman sanctions and blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba for almost six decades is the most unjust and prolonged system of unilateral sanctions applied against any country.”

Zimbabwe’s representative also spoke out against the blockade.

Speaking truth to power 

Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, spoke immediately before the vote was taken. Here are some of his hard-hitting, truthful remarks:

“In recent months, the government of President Donald Trump has initiated an escalation in its aggression against Cuba, with the adoption of unconventional measures to prevent the supply of fuel to our country from various markets through sanctions and threats to vessels, shippers, and insurance companies. Its objective, in addition to affecting the economy, is to damage the living standard of Cuban families. The United States government is responsible.

“In April of this year, the filing of lawsuits in U.S. courts against Cuban, U.S., and third-country entities was authorized under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act.

“The persecution of our banking-financial relations with the rest of the world has intensified.

“Remittances to Cuban citizens were restricted; the granting of visas was reduced and consular services limited; an agreement between baseball federations was canceled; individual trips by U.S. citizens were canceled, along with cruise ship stops and direct flights to Cuban airports, except for Havana; the leasing of airplanes with more than 10 percent U.S. components and the acquisition of technologies and equipment with the same was prohibited; commercial promotional activities and cultural and educational exchanges ceased. The United States government is responsible.

“It has aggressively intensified the extraterritorial impact of the blockade of Cuba on third states, their companies, and citizens.

“The goal of economically asphyxiating Cuba and increasing damage, shortages, and our people’s sufferings is not hidden. …

“The accumulated damages caused by the blockade over almost six decades have reached 922 billion dollars, taking into account the depreciation of the dollar as compared to the value of gold. At current prices, quantifiable damages of more than 138 billion dollars have been incurred. …

“The U.S. government has also proposed to sabotage the international cooperation that Cuba provides in the area of health. With a slander campaign, U.S. politicians and officials directly attack a program based on genuine conceptions of South-South cooperation, which has been recognized by the international community.”

Keeping pharmaceuticals from people with cancer

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez detailed the suffering of individual Cubans because of the cruel blockade:

“As a result of the blockade, Bryan Gómez Santiesteban, 16, and Leydis Posada Cañizares, 19, of growth age, cannot receive expandable internal prostheses, but only fixed, and must therefore undergo frequent surgeries for replacement. Expandable prostheses are produced by the U.S. company Stryker. Yes, your government is responsible.

“The blockade also makes it impossible to access novel drugs for cancer treatment, only produced by U.S. pharmaceutical companies.

“Mayra Lazus Roque, 57, is a renal cancer patient who could not be treated with the optimal drug, Sunitinib, only produced by the U.S. company Pfizer. Thanks to the treatment she has received with products from Cuba’s biotechnology industry, she is in good general health.

“Eduardo Hernández Hernández, 49, suffers from metastatic melanoma. The optimal treatment for this type of cancer is Nivolumab, a drug only produced by the U.S. company Bristol Myers Squibb, which we cannot access. He is being treated with other alternatives. Your government is responsible.

“Year after year, the United States delegation at this headquarters, as the Ambassador just did, has expressed, with a good dose of cynicism, that her government supports the Cuban people. Can anyone believe such a statement?

“The government of the United States lies and falsifies data on alleged licenses for sales of medicines and food to Cuba, which are very difficult to obtain.

“The United States delegation in those seats should explain to this Assembly the conditions it imposes on Cuban purchases: there is no access to credit, official or private; payment in cash is required when goods reach the port; banks that process our transactions are persecuted; Cuban vessels cannot be used for transport. Yes, it is responsible. Who in the world conducts trade under such conditions?

“The successful, effective Cuban model has ensured and assures Cuban men and women equal opportunities, equity and social justice, despite hostility and coercion. …”

“The blockade policy’s definition is best expressed in the infamous memorandum written by Undersecretary of State Lester Mallory, in April of 1960, who I quote: ‘There is no effective political opposition. … The only possible way to make the government lose domestic support is by provoking disappointment and discouragement through economic dissatisfaction and hardships. … Every possible means should be immediately used to weaken the economic life. … denying Cuba funds and supplies to reduce nominal and real salaries with the objective of provoking hunger, desperation and the overthrow of the government.’”

For Mallory’s full memorandum, see 499. Memorandum From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Mallory) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Rubottom) 

Solidarity with poor and working people in the U.S.

Cuba’s leading diplomat also exposed the hypocrisy of the Trump regime talking about “human rights” when so many people in the U.S. are poor and exploited:

“The United States government does not have the least moral authority to criticize Cuba or anyone else in the area of human rights. We reject the repeated manipulation of this issue for political purposes and the double standards that characterize its use. … 

“The deaths of civilians caused by U.S. troops in various latitudes, and the use of torture merit condemnation; as well as the murder of African Americans by police and migrants by border patrols; the deaths of unaccompanied minors in immigration detention, and the abusive and racially disproportionate use of the death penalty. …  

“In the United States, there are 2.3 million individuals incarcerated, a quarter of the planet’s prison population, and in one year 10.5 million arrests are made.

“Opioid overdoses kill 137 U.S. residents every day and, for lack of proper treatment, 251 die of heart disease and 231, prematurely, of cancer. 170 preventable daily amputations are performed, associated with diabetes. 

“[The] repression and police surveillance of immigrants, the separation of families, the separation of parents and indefinite detention of more than 2,500 children, and the deportation of 21,000, and brutal measures that threaten the children of [undocumented] immigrants who were raised and educated in the United States are abhorrent. …

“There are 28.5 million citizens without medical insurance, and millions with low incomes will be deprived of coverage with the measures announced. … 

“The blockade also violates the human rights and civil liberties of U.S. citizens, for whom the right to travel to Cuba is unjustly and arbitrarily restricted, the only prohibited destination in the world. The United States government is responsible. …

“On behalf of the heroic, selfless, solitary people of Cuba, I once again ask that you vote in favor of the proposed resolution contained in document A/74/L.6, the necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.”    

For the full speech, see Bruno Rodríguez: Cuba has been the victim of the most unjust, severe, prolonged system of sanctions that has even been imposed on any country.

What we must do

The vote in the General Assembly was a victory for Cuba. Nobody expects the lawless Trump regime and the capitalist class he represents to obey the U.N. resolution.

That’s our job in the belly of the beast. Activists have to tell about the vicious U.S. blockade in neighborhoods, work places, community colleges and universities. 

A good place to start is to build the 2nd National Conference for the Normalization of U.S.-Cuba Relations on March 21-22, 2020. For more information, call (917) 887-8710 or email info@us-cubanormalization.org

Source, unless otherwise noted: https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/11/1050891

New York, Nov. 6 — Housing activists gathered on the steps of City Hall today and said no to the privatization of the largest public housing system in the U.S. Developers want to kick out working-class families in order to build more luxury housing.

Five hundred thousand people live in New York City’s public housing. They’re fed up with mold and roaches in their apartments. 

Elevators are often broken, a nightmare for disabled and elderly residents.  Many tenants at the Queensbridge Houses didn’t have heat last winter.

Saundrea Coleman, co-founder of the Holmes-Isaacs Coalition, chaired the conference. La Keesha Taylor, also from the coalition, demanded action, as did Jose Guevara, who’s also from the Holmes-Isaacs Coalition. Chants of “Fight! Fight! Fight!” filled the front of City Hall.

The capitalist government has let public housing rot for years. Just to repair the Fulton Houses will cost $168 million.

Around $32 billion is needed to fix the backlog of repairs in the entire system. That’s about what the so-called U.S. Department of Energy spends every year to develop new nuclear weapons.

Louis Flores from Fight for NYCHA (New York City Housing Authority) demanded that elected officials get public housing fixed, or they will be voted out. Kei Pritsker from the Justice Center en El Barrio denounced the vertical patrols conducted by New York police in housing projects.

Pritsker pointed out that the unarmed Akai Gurley was killed in Brooklyn’s Pink Houses by a cop who discharged his weapon down a dark stairwell. If the elevators had not broken down and the stairway had been lighted, Akai Gurley might be alive today.

Kei Pritsker also told listeners that there are no homeless people in socialist Cuba and that Venezuela has built 2.8 million homes for poor people. What a contrast to the capital of capitalism—New York City—where 100,000 students will be homeless for at least part of the year.

Dannelly Rodriguez spoke from Justice for All, a dynamic grassroots group from the Astoria, Woodside and Sunnyside communities in western Queens. He denounced plans to build luxury housing over the Sunnyside railroad yards.

Rodriguez asked that if Mayor Bill de Blasio can find $11 billion to build new jails, why can’t they find the money to fix public housing?

People will have to fight to get it.

Monday, November 11, 2019 at 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM EST

The Torch of Friendship
401 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, Florida 33132

Hosted by Miami Hands-Off Venezuela Committee

A U.S.-sponsored military coup is being carried out in Bolivia right now. Far-right forces within Bolivia and outside of Bolivia have mobilized to overthrow the progressive, indigenous, president of Bolivia; Evo Morales.

Evo has consistently opposed all forms of U.S. intervention in the region. His administration has seen unprecedented progress for the whole country. Because Bolivia is very rich and diverse in its natural resources, the U.S. imperialists can only depend on fascist terrorism in order to topple a people’s government.

This is not over. People of conscience throughout the world can still come out and demonstrate their opposition to CIA-sponsored fascism in Bolivia and elsewhere. We are calling on Miami’s progressive people to come out in rejection of the U.S. sponsored coup in Bolivia!

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