Venezuela & ALBA News: 1.13.2023: Venezuela year in review; Evo – US behind Coups; Trips to Cuba; Nicaraguans praise their country

Venezuela
The Cradle: Qassem Soleimani in Venezuela: The lesser known motive behind his assassination Soleimani was reportedly responsible for leading Iran’s plan to surround Israel with an arc of missiles and precision drones in the West Asian region – from Lebanon to Syria, Iraq and Gaza, to Yemen. His visit to Venezuela  was publicly revealed more than two years later by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, during an interview with Al-Mayadeen in December 2021. Maduro stated that Soleimani visited Caracas between March-April 2019, during which time the US launched a cyber and sabotage attack on Venezuela, resulting in widespread power outages. He glorified the Iranian general as a military hero who “combated terrorism and the brutal terrorist criminals who attacked the peoples of the Axis of resistance. He was a brave man.” In October 2018 and March 2020, the US SOUTHCOM commander made the warning, placing Iran at the “top of the list of countries” that have assisted Venezuela in skirting US sanctions.

Roger Harris: Washington’s “Democracy Promotion” Spectacularly Fails in Venezuela The Wall Street Journal observes that the opposition is in disarray and lacks popular support, while Maduro is enjoying his greatest popularity ever. The surge of left-leaning governments in Latin America has buoyed Caracas’s boat with regional integration and independence from the northern hegemon on the agenda. According to the Venezuelan Central Bank, economic growth was 18% the first nine months of 2022. “For the first time in more than 100 years, [this] is a growth of the non-oil economy that produces food, goods, services, and wealth, and that pays taxes,” according to President Maduro. “Today we produce 94% of the food that goes to Venezuelan homes.”

Francisco Dominguez: Venezuela moved forward in 2022: A Strongly Positive 2022 Balance Sheet With house 4,400,000 handed over to another happy family President Maduro gave tangible confirmation that 2022 was a positive year. Between 1999-2010 Venezuela’s government built 593,198 homes, and for the 2011-2015 period 701,250 more, making a total of 1,294,448 new houses for the poor. This means 3,105,552 houses were built between 2015-2022, double the amount built in the preceding 1999-2015 period in half the number of years. The latter period coincides both, exactly with the years when US and European Union sanctions rained over the Venezuelan economy, which led to a 99% fall in oil revenues, and almost exactly with the presidencies of Maduro (2013-2022).

 

Cuba, Ana Belen Montes
Statement by Ana Belen Montes after Her Release from Prison (photo of her today) Who in the last 60 years has asked the Cuban people if they want the United States to impose a suffocating embargo that makes them suffer? ..I as a person am irrelevant. I am unimportant, while there are serious problems in our global homeland that demand attention and a demonstration of brotherly love.

To Shut Down Tourism to Cuba, the US fines four cruise lines $400 million Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and MSC SA—had committed “trafficking acts”. This refers to their having engaged in “prohibited tourism” by conveying U.S. passengers to Cuba and docking at the port facilities in Havana.

 

Nicaragua
Ben Norton: Nicaragua is world’s #1 country where citizens feel at peace, Gallup poll shows CNBC reported this January that Nicaragua is the “No. 1 country where people say they are ‘always’ at peace”. Nine of the top 14 countries are in Latin America. But the US constantly attacks the Sandinista government and imposes sanctions on it. This is despite the fact that 77.4% of Nicaraguans support Ortega, according to a late 2022 study conducted by one of the leading polling firms in Central America, M&R Consultores.

 

Bolivia
Evo Morales: Washington orchestrating coups in Latin America The former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, accused the US administration of being behind what he called the judicial coup against Argentine Vice President Christina Kirchner, the ousting of former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, and the recent attempted Donald Trump-style coup in Brazil against President Luiz Inacio Lula. Morales, who was his country’s first Indigenous president, has expressed support for the ongoing protests in Peru, and is banned from entering the country.

Crisis in Bolivia: Santa Cruz Isolates Itself to Economically Attack La Paz A little more than a week after the arrest of the governor of Santa Cruz, Fernando Camacho, the richest department of Bolivia focuses on “isolating” itself to damage the central government, while the three forces of the ruling coalition cannot leave behind their own internal conflict. Santa Cruz is strong and could complicate the government of Luis Arce because 70% of the food consumed in the whole country is produced there and it also generates about 40% of the GDP.

 

Events 
Thursdays: WTF is Going on in Latin America & The Caribbean with Teri Mattson (or watch here or here)
January 14: Celebrate Cuban Revolution with Victoria Friends of Cuba
January 14: Cuba’s Family Laws: A Reflection of MLK’s Vision of a New Social Order
January 14: Celebrate the Cuban Revolution, Toronto
January 19: Remove Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism Teach-In
January 28:  Latin America Conference, London
February 25-March 11: Revolutionary Figures art exhibit by Carlito Rovira
March 11-12: International US-Cuba Normalization Conference

 

Delegations/Tours
March 2-12: Venezuela, 10 years commemorating Chávez’s Legacy
March 11-19: Nicaragua Coffee and Cooperatives Brigade
April 4-13: Cuba Agroecology Tour
April 25-May 7: Building Relation with Cuban Labor: Celebrating Labor and May Day in Cuba
April 23 to May 7: NNOC-ICAP 2023 May Day Brigade Interest Form
May 26- June 4: Lessons from Cuba: Exploring Art, Healthcare, Sustainability and Education

 

If you have events to publicize or find helpful articles for readers on the ALBA countries, please send them to [email protected],  or you can post them on Facebook here: Venezuela; Nicaragua; Bolivia; Latin America in general (here or here) Or send them to  [email protected]

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