‘Venezuela not Enemy or Threat to US’: Open Letter to People in US

Source:  TeleSUR
September 6 2017

Venezuelan women in support of their government. | Photo: EFE

“As was the case in Iraq, we might be on the verge of an unfair and baseless military intervention, where oil is paramount,” the letter says.

An open letter from the people of Venezuela to their counterparts in the United States urges them to demand U.S. President Donald Trump stop its “warmongering” and called on the people to join Venezuela in defending peace, freedom, and cooperation between the two nations.

RELATED:  Venezuela Military, Civilians Hold Exercises Amid US Threats

The letter, which was published in the New York Times and the Hill, includes Trump’s recent threat of a direct military intervention and the unilateral economic sanctions on the country, that the letter notes is intended “to economically isolate Venezuela.

“These threats and unilateral decisions will affect our economy and our means to obtain resources for food, healthcare and production, seriously impairing our citizens’ everyday life,” the letter says.

It further states that this was recognized by the U.S. government to be the same plan used in 1973 to overthrow the government of Salvador Allende in Chile which paved the way for the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

“Furthermore, these actions also affect ordinary U.S. citizens who would face the possibility of a hike in gasoline prices,” says the open letter. “While thousands of workers risk losing their hard-earned savings as retirement funds are affected by the ban on Venezuelan bonds.”

As was the case in Iraq

The letter, which was published by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, warns, “As was the case in Iraq, we might be on the verge of an unfair and baseless military intervention, where oil is paramount.”

RELATED:  Venezuelan Constituent Assembly Passes Decree Against US Sanctions

These actions create problems inside the U.S. making life harder, while outside it “generates global rejection and resentment towards the U.S. government and indirectly towards its people, who have nothing to do with these warmongering actions,” the letter explains.

The latest sanctions ban the trading of Venezuelan debt and prevent the country’s state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, from selling new bonds to U.S. citizens or financial groups.

“Venezuela is neither an enemy of the United States nor does it represent a threat to its security,” the text says.

Sing a song for Chavez…

Reblogged from Dear Kitty. Some blog.

US singer David Rovics concert in England

For the moment the horizon is on fire
Democracy rising balanced on a wire
Liberation, you can smell it in the air
Things are moving and the rich are all aware
Some will talk along the sidelines, others they will do
Me, I’ll sing a song for Chavez before the coup

For the moment the airwaves are alive

The US Government’s Double Standards as it Now Continues to Undermine Democracy in Venezuela

Source:  Counterpunch

 

John F. Kennedy beat Richard Nixon in 1960 with 49.7% of the vote to Nixon’s 49.6%.   In addition, George W. Bush became President in 2000, though losing the popular vote to Al Gore, with 47 .87% of the vote to Gore’s 48.38 percent, and with the entire race coming down to several hundred votes in Florida.

And, while the State of Florida itself decided that it was necessary to have a hand re-count of the ballots there, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned this decision and blocked the re-count.   In none of these cases did any nation in the world insist upon a recount or hesitate in recognizing the man declared to be the winner.   Indeed, had a country like Venezuela done so, we would have found such a position absurd.    The U.S.’s current position vis a vis Venezuela is no less absurd.

The US’ quick recognition of the coup government in Paraguay

The U.S.’s position is all the more ridiculous given its quick recognition of the coup government in Paraguay after the former Bishop turned President, Fernando Lugo, was ousted in 2012, and its recognition of the 2009 elections in Honduras despite the fact that the U.S.’s previously-stated precondition for recognizing this election – the return of President Manual Zelaya to power after his forcible ouster by the military – never occurred.    Of course, this even pales in comparison to the U.S.’s active involvement in violent coups against democratically-elected leaders in Latin America (e.g., against President Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954, against President Allende in Chile in 1973, and against President Aristide in Haiti in 2004).

Read more at: http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/04/19/the-us-continues-to-undermine-democracy-in-venezuela/