The Venezuelan people are mobilized, following the call of their legitimate President,Nicolás Maduro, to defend their sovereignty, peace and constitutionality. The Bolivarian nation also has the majority support of the international community

Author: Internacional news staff | informacion@granmai.cu

january 25, 2019 11:01:52 (Original at Granma: en.granma.cu/mundo/2019-01-25/venezuela-is-not-alone – this report is censored by Facebook and Twitter for violating “community standards.” Reprinted here to make it freely available.)

The Venezuelan people are mobilized, following the call of their legitimate President,Nicolás Maduro, to defend their sovereignty, peace and constitutionality, after recent moves in the United States to instigate a coup.

The maneuvers came after Juan Guaidó, president of a National Assembly in contempt, declared himself interim president of Venezuela, and was recognized as such by the U.S. and its allies.

Despite this, the Maduro government continues to enjoy the majority support of the international community, with global powers such as Russia and China reiterating its legitimacy and condemning any foreign interference.

GOVERNORS, SUPREME TRIBUNAL OF JUSTICE, THE ELECTORAL AND CITIZEN POWERS UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION

The Electoral Power of Venezuela, represented by the National Electoral Council (CNE), demanded respect for the will of the Venezuelan people, who constitutionally elected Nicolás Maduro for a second term as President in May 2018. “The CNE repudiates and condemns the complete disregard and violation of the constitutional order demonstrated on January 23,” stated CNE President Tibisay Lucena.

Meanwhile, Maikel Moreno, president of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, confirmed that the judicial system recognizes Nicolás Maduro’s authority as constitutional president of the nation, and does not recognized the move to usurp him, against the will of the people.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab, on behalf of the Citizen Power, condemned the attempted coup and expressed unrestricted support for the Executive.

According to Prensa Latina, Governors of 19 Venezuelan States called for the preservation of peace, respect for democracy and the sovereignty of the South American country, and rejected violent acts by sectors of the opposition. Governor for Miranda State, Héctor Rodríguez, noted: “The country’s security forces are deployed to guarantee the peace of the nation.”

MILITARY RATIFIES MADURO AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF

Commanders of the Strategic Integral Defense Regions (REDI) of Venezuela ratified their commitment to the Constitution and support for President Nicolás Maduro, as their Commander in Chief, and rejected international interference in the country’s internal affairs.

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino stressed: “The FANB will defend the Venezuelan Constitution as the guarantor of national sovereignty.”

THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SUPPORTS VENEZUELA

Member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP) supported and recognized Maduro as the legitimate President of Venezuela, in the face of the coup threats promoted by the United States. In a statement they reiterated that they will only recognize as representatives of Venezuela in multilateral and bilateral spheres, diplomatic officials appointed by the Executive Power headed by President Maduro, and no supposed transitional government.

Meanwhile, teleSUR reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin called Maduro to express his continued support and “emphasized that destructive external interference is a gross violation of the fundamental norms of international law.”

The government of Nicaragua released a statement of its support: “The Great Homeland does not submit, it stands proud, with the Love of its Nations. United in ALBA, we are all Venezuela. Latin America and the Caribbean, the cradle of great and luminous beings, demands dignity and greatness against the empire.”

“China supports the efforts made by the Venezuelan government to uphold national sovereignty, independence and stability,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said during a press conference. “We always follow the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, we oppose foreign interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela and we hope that the international community will also follow this principle,” she concluded.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told reporters: “The Islamic Republic of Iran supports the government and people of Venezuela against any sort of foreign intervention and any illegitimate and illegal action such as attempt to undertake a coup.”

The Syrian Foreign Ministry expressed its solidarity with Venezuela and with Maduro, condemning U.S. interference.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India also criticized foreign intervention and called on the peoples of the world to show solidarity with the Venezuelan people. The French Communist Party and social organizations such as the Paris Bolivarian Circle and the ALBA-TCP Collective in France, the Paraguayan Guasu Front and the German Left Party, also expressed their continued support.

In the meantime, the U.S. has hypocritically asked for a UN Security Council meeting to discuss the situation in Venezuela. Social networks have been flooded with memes denouncing the interference of the Trump administration. One of them read: “Would you like to become president without going through an uncomfortable popular election? Just call 1800 Mike Pence, for an immediate guarantee.”

Washington, DC
National March on Washington: Hands off Venezuela!

Saturday, March 16 at 12 pm
Gather at Lafayette Park

February 23: International Day of Actions to Stop U.S. War, Mobilize Solidarity with Venezuela

The weekend of Saturday, February 23 – the 1 month anniversary of the U.S.-backed coup attempt in Venezuela – has been set as a day of internationally coordinated actions in solidarity with the people of Venezuela and against the U.S., Wall Street, and the Pentagon’s drive to war.

www.NoWarOnVenezuela.org

U.S. hands off Bolivarian Venezuela!

Saturday, February 9 — 2 p.m.

Featuring news and analysis from Afro-Brazilian revolutionary Jefferson Azevedo and hear a live update from a Chavismo support on the frontlines in Venezuela.

At Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice

5278 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90019

For info (323) 306-6240

New York City: U.S. hands off Venezuela! Stop Trump coup now!

Monday, February 4 – 3:00 pm

U.S. Mission to UN, 45 St. & 1st Ave., Manhattan

Sponsored by December 12th Movement

https://www.facebook.com/NicolasMaduro/videos/2069679193125346/

U.S. Hands Off Venezuela/Latin America – Money for Jobs, Not War

Saturday, February 2, 2019 at 2 PM – 4 PM PST

McArthur Park – North Side
Los Angeles, California 90057

Hosted by Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice – L.A.

#HandsoffVenezuela #NotoUSInterventions #YankeeGoHome

Trump recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president, calling democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro “illegitimate.” In response, Venezuela cut diplomatic ties with the U.S., giving diplomats 72 hours to leave the country.

This is another coup just like in Honduras in 2009, and others in Central American and the Middle East happening before our eyes. When the U.S. supports coups in foreign countries and installs their own pro corporate capitalist leaders they further destabilize nations, hence the migrant caravan. Venezuela has long suffered from U.S. actions, but now with sanctions and its support for a forced leader, things will get worse. Maduro just raised the minimum wage for Venezuelans by 300%. How much has our government raised U.S. wages in the last 30 years?

Many Venezuelans tell us to stay out of their affairs. We should listen and start focusing on our own problems, which we are not in short supply of. The U.S. government just reopened from the longest shut down in history. We had 800,000 people unable to pay their bills & working for free, we have people going into Mexico for healthcare, and the U.S. is trying to tell a country how to run themselves?

It seems that every time a country attempts to have successful socialism in Latin America, the U.S. government has to ensure it fails and rush to them as white saviors bringing forth capitalism. Capitalism isn’t working for us. It’s not working for people in South America, it won’t work for anyone in the near future, but it is working for those at the every top who profit off destabilizing everyone else. Mexico has not supported Guaido yet, and Bolivian President Evo Morales declared “solidarity with the people of Venezuela and brother Nicolas Maduro” in resisting the “claws of imperialism” in South America.

This is what this country is doing to ensure the failure of a more socialist approach. These actions now if not stopped, will have great consequences in our near future. If we complain about immigration, we might want to understand that the only way to stop people from escaping mass violence and political unrest in their countries is to stop creating those conditions. If the U.S. government didn’t meddle in foreign government affairs, it could also better focus on our people’s needs and actually help those who do want our help

Join us in standing up to the imperialist pro-war agenda of both sides of the aisle. We are witnessing the continuation of the 1960s anti-war and civil rights movement. It’s time we carry the torch and say no U.S. intervention and war from Venezuela to Nicaragua to Palestine to Syria. #HandsoffVenezuela #NoMoreWar

https://www.facebook.com/HarrietTubmanCenter/

Activists and progressive organizations in New York City have mobilized to defend Venezuela against U.S. imperialism.

On Jan. 24, more than a hundred people came to the Venezuelan Consulate in an action called by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Joel Northram of PSL denounced Trump’s attempted coup and chided those liberals and even “socialists” who have attacked President Nicolás Maduro.

Omowale Clay of the December 12th Movement spoke on how Haiti helped Simón Bolívar, El Libertador, win independence for Venezuela. Vijou Laban Bryant from Bayan expressed solidarity with Venezuela against U.S. imperialism, as did a speaker from the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico.

People marched from the consulate to Trump Tower where another rally was held. Many organizations and individuals came out in support, including delegations from Department 19 of the Honduran Resistance, the Communist Workers League, Struggle★La Lucha newspaper and Workers World Party.

On Jan. 26, at least 80 people rallied across from the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in response to a threatened turnout of counterrevolutionaries. Steve Millies from Struggle for Socialism★La Lucha por el Socialismo told the activists: “Trump and Pence say they want to return democracy to Venezuela. They want the good old days when Nelson Rockefeller, the butcher of Attica, had a 100,000-acre ranch there. Venezuela was then a province of the Rockefeller family and Standard Oil, now called Exxon Mobil.”

Millies also reminded people how democratically elected President Maduro had been a bus operator and that it would be great if a member of Transport Workers Union Local 100 was in the White House.

Afterwards, people went to the People’s Forum to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Venceremos Brigade.

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal, the outcome of a plan to withdraw from the European Union, suffered a historic defeat in Parliament on Jan. 15.

A major obstacle to the Brexit plan is the border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.

Brexit would cause the border in Ireland to become the only land border between the U.K. and the EU. It creates the specter of a new customs and regulatory border patrolled by British troops.

Currently, there are no border posts, physical barriers or checks on people or goods crossing the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Now, Brexit has “encouraged many, or some nationalists in Northern Ireland, along with some unionists, to think more favorably about the prospect of a United Ireland,”  reports the Jan. 25 Irish Times.

Brexit would be catastrophic to the gains of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement made in the northern city of Belfast, Ireland. It was an agreement on how Northern Ireland should be governed, made between the Irish government and the British government, that included the largest nationalist and unionist political parties. The agreement laid the foundation for a peaceful process that would eventually lead to Irish reunification.

Sinn Féin, the Irish Republican Party, has made it clear to the British government that if they exit the EU without a solution to the border problems, “it is absolutely incumbent on them to put the constitutional future to the people here through a unity referendum.” (An Phoblacht.com, Jan. 19)

Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar raised the fear that Brexit would mean that Ireland and Britain would be treated as one block in relation to the rest of Europe.

In Northern Ireland the only staunch supporter of Brexit is the hard-line Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), an important prop in Prime Minister Theresa May’s conservative government.

The EU had proposed that the Belfast Agreement could be upheld if all of Ireland remained fully aligned with the EU’s customs union and part of the single market after Brexit.

The ‘backstop’

In an attempt to make the Brexit deal more acceptable, Theresa May has agreed to a “backstop” measure in the terms of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.

The backstop is a measure in the Brexit deal that ensures a continuation of the current border with no military posts, barriers or checks on people and goods crossing between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The terms of the backstop would remain in place even if the hard-line Brexiteers do succeed in forcing a withdrawal from the EU “over a no-deal cliff edge” on the March 29 legal deadline. (Brexit: All you need to know about Britain leaving the EU from the anti-Irish BBC)

Right-wing opponents like the DUP fear that the backstop could become permanent and weaken the English partition of Ireland.

In Scotland, unionist members of Parliament argue that backstop undercuts Brexit and allows the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) to demand separate arrangements.

The Irish, Scottish and Welsh people all voted to remain in the EU at the time of the original Brexit vote in 2016.

Scotland and Wales under Brexit

Scotland and Wales have the status of devolved nations which provides for more local autonomy. They had been making many of their own arrangements within the European Union.

The devolved administrations have argued that they’ve not been allowed a role in the Brexit negotiations.  

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP, said, “To be frank, there wasn’t much indication that the prime minister is listening to, or hearing, the concerns of the people of Scotland — and no doubt across Britain — about trade and the economy and population.” (The Guardian.com, Jan. 23)