“The United States believes now is the time to do more, much more. Every free nation gathered here must take stronger action to isolate the Maduro regime. We must all stand with our brothers and sisters suffering in Venezuela. And I can promise you; the United States will not rest.” – Mike Pence, U.S. Vice President, April 15, 2018
Vice President Pence said these threatening words during a speech at the 8th Summit of the Americas, a gathering of member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Lima, Peru in April 2018. However, they are not new threats. For more than 20 years, the United States has not rested in its attempts to destroy the Bolivarian revolutionary process in Venezuela, which began with the election of Hugo Chavez in 1998. There has been no pause in its meddling in the internal affairs of Venezuela, no breaks in its funding and support for a violent, counter-revolutionary opposition, and no end to its threats of military intervention.
When Pence made his remarks, the audience was smaller than usual, with less than half of the 35 countries that are members of the OAS represented by heads of state. Pence was also largely preaching to the choir, as those heads of state in attendance at the Summit were largely from pro-US governments, including Honduras, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, as well as Canada. There is no surprise given that the Summit of the Americas and the OAS are both initiatives promoted and funded by the United States. Nicolas Maduro, the President of Venezuela, was excluded from the event by the now, ex-President of Peru (who was recently forced out of office for corruption).
Overthrowing the democratically elected government of Venezuela and reversing the gains made by poor, working and oppressed people in Venezuela within the Bolivarian revolutionary process is central to the agenda of the United States and their allies, not only at the Summit of the Americas. This is especially true in the final weeks leading up to the May 20 elections in Venezuela, which are seen by imperialist governments as an opportunity to foment further foreign intervention, sanctions, and threats.
Lima Group Lies About Venezuelan Elections
One of the vehicles used by the United States and their allies to promote intervention in Venezuela and attempt to isolate Venezuela and the Bolivarian revolutionary process is the Lima Group. Lima Group was formed when it became clear that the U.S. and Canada were failing to convince the 35 members of the Organization of American States to intervene in the internal affairs of Venezuela. Since August 2017, the Lima Group has served as a mouthpiece for imperialist intervention in Venezuela, though often under the guise of standing for “democracy” and “human rights.”
Coinciding with the Summit of the Americas, on April 14, 2018, the so-called Lima Group, made up of right-wing governments in Latin America, as well as Canada, issued a statement making demands on the government of Venezuela regarding the May 20 Presidential, and local and Provincial assembly elections. In the end, the statement was signed by 16 nations, fewer than half of the 35 countries that are members of the Organization of American States (OAS).
It read, “the Lima Group Urgently call on the Venezuelan government to hold presidential elections with the necessary guarantees for a free, fair, transparent and democratic process, without political prisoners, including the participation of all Venezuelan political actors; and ratify that elections that do not meet these conditions will lack legitimacy and credibility.”
Already, before the elections have occurred, the Lima Group countries are declaring them to be illegitimate and not credible. This is right in line with the fact that the governments of the United States and Canada have also declared that they will not recognize the results of the upcoming Presidential elections in Venezuela. Unbelievably hypocritical, given the fact that elections are exactly what the U.S. government and their imperialist allies were demanding of Venezuela just a few months ago.
Regarding the demand for “free, fair, transparent and democratic process” it is important to note that the May 20 elections are the 25th time that a national election or referendum has been held in Venezuela since the election of Hugo Chavez as President in 1998. These elections, organized by a branch of Venezuelan government known as the National Electoral Council, have been under international scrutiny and observation, including that of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter who declared the election process in Venezuela to be the “best in the world.”
There are no grounds on which to believe that the May 20th election will be anything but free, fair and transparent. As the Foreign Minister of Venezuela, Jorge Arreaza, said at a Press conference in Belgium, "The only ones who have to recognize the results in Venezuela are the Venezuelan people and the National Electoral Council (CNE). We are not worried about if (U.S. President) Trump recognizes it; if (Spanish Prime Minister Mariano) Rajoy recognizes it or if the European Union does not recognize it.”
Sanctions Against Venezuela are a Crime Against Humanity
The U.S. and the European Union have also used the May 20th elections as another opportunity to threaten further sanctions against Venezuela. Currently, the United States, Canada, the European Union and Switzerland have brutal financial and economic sanctions against Venezuela. These sanctions, which are illegal under international law, impact Venezuela’s ability to purchase goods abroad, including foods and medicines. United Nations Special Envoy, Alfred de Zayas, who toured Venezuela in November and December 2017 has declared “The sanctions against Venezuela entail a crime against humanity” (Real News Interview, March 2018)
De Zayas also confirmed reports by the Venezuelan website Mision Verdad that detail the impacts of the criminal sanctions. For example, the sanctions have prevented the government of Venezuela from making purchases of medicines, including a shipment of more than 300,000 doses of insulin, which Venezuela was not able to pay for due to funds being held by U.S.-based Citibank. There is also the case of a shipment of the malaria treatment Primaquine. This medicine, from a pharmaceutical company in Colombia, was prevented from being shipped by the government of Colombia, and instead, the government of Venezuela had to buy it from India at an increased price.
In fact, before the sanctions, Venezuela imported 34% of its medicines, 33% of its food and 32% of machinery and spare parts used in domestic production from the United States, as reported by Pascualina Curcio, a Professor at Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela. In this way, the sanctions, which also leave much of Venezuela’s money tied up in international banks, have had a devastating impact on the Venezuelan economy.
As if the hardships caused for people in Venezuela was not enough, now the U.S. government is working to assist other Latin American and Caribbean countries in developing laws that enable them to sanction against Venezuela. As a senior official in the U.S. government stated to the McClatchy news agency, “They don’t have the authority…So what we have to do is help these countries write laws that give them jurisdiction to carry out these kinds of sanctions if they choose to.”
Is There a “Humanitarian Crisis” in Venezuela?
One of the primary justifications for intervention in Venezuela coming from the mouths of imperialist politicians and major capitalist media is that of “humanitarian crisis.” The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, has been a prime promotor of this rhetoric. During a news briefing on April 19, 2018, the PM Trudeau started his comments on Venezuela with, “I think that we know that what is happening in Venezuela is not just a political crisis, it is a humanitarian crisis,” and proceeded to repeat them three more times in the 1.5-minute-long interview.
Saying “humanitarian crisis” so many times doesn’t make it true. Beyond dramatic claims and anecdotal accounts of “malnutrition,” “starvation” and the lack of medicines, very little has been reported regarding the actual reality of this so-called humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.
In December 2017, the United Nations (UN) Special Envoy, Alfred de Zayas, also spent eight days in Venezuela to see for himself what was happening on the ground. He determined that there is, in fact, not a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. As he reported at a UN press conference, “I agree with the FAO [UN Food and Agriculture Organization] and CEPAL [Economic Commission for Latin America & the Caribbean] that the so-called humanitarian crisis does not exist in Venezuela, although there are shortages, scarcity, and distribution delays, etc.”
De Zayas goes on to explain his findings and the reason that peace-loving people around the world should be alarmed at the use of this term, in a March 2018 interview on Real News: “Humanitarian crisis is a technical term. The problem with hyperboles, the problem with the loose use of language is that you can say the government has failed to protect the human rights of the population, there is a humanitarian crisis. Therefore we should have a humanitarian intervention and a military intervention.” In other words, using the term “humanitarian crisis” is nothing but an attempt to justify military intervention.
When the government of the United States or Canada use this term, it is no accident. In February 2018, former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited five right-wing governments in Latin America, including Colombia and Brazil, which border Venezuela. Tillerson's only objective was to promote the imperialist campaign of “regime change” in Venezuela. In fact, the tour began with Tillerson proclaiming, “President Maduro could choose just to leave…If the kitchen gets a little too hot for him, I'm sure that he's got some friends over in Cuba that can give him a nice hacienda on the beach, and he can have a nice life over there.”
Furthermore, while at the Summit of the Americas, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence also held meetings with members of Venezuela’s violent right-wing opposition, including Antonio Ledezma, David Smolansky, Julio Borges and Carlos Vecchio. As reported by Mision Verdad, Ledezma even went so far as to ask for U.S. military intervention against Venezuela, a clear act of treason and a murderous request.
If the United States, Canada and the European Union wanted to alleviate the hardship that people in Venezuela are facing due to shortages of some foods and medicines, they would immediately end the sanctions.
However, this is not their intention. Imperialist governments do not care about the people of Venezuela. As U.S. Republican Senator Marco Rubio said “We need a multilateral equivalent of the Marshall Plan, the American initiative to rebuild Europe after the end of World War II, for post-Maduro Venezuela. This plan should include investment from the Inter-American Development Bank, which the United States contributes to, and from other international economic organizations aligned with our interests.”
Defend the Sovereignty and Self-Determination of Venezuela!
As poor, working and oppressed people in Canada and around the world we have the responsibility to stand with the people of Venezuela in defence of Venezuela’s sovereignty and self-determination.
As the final statement of the People’s Summit, a parallel summit that also took place in Lima, Peru and brought together hundreds of grassroots organizations and social movements from Latin America and the Caribbean reads, “We reaffirm our unwavering solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela. We strongly condemn imperialist aggression, economic war, and political harassment against Bolivarian Venezuela. We demand respect for the sovereignty of the homeland of the Venezuelan people who, since 1999, initiated a popular constituent process that has marked the path of a reference for the anti-imperialist struggle for Latin American unity and our American socialism. We express our support for President Nicolás Maduro, the successor of the historical project promoted by Commander Chávez. We demand the cessation of illegitimate and unilateral sanctions against the Bolivarian people, we reject the intent of military intervention in Venezuela under the pretext of humanitarian aid. We demand non-interference in the upcoming elections of May 20 and respect for the sovereignty and self-determination of our peoples.”
Follow Alison on Twitter: @Alisoncolette
Back to Article Listing
