Latin America and Palestine
Resumen Latinoamericano: Latin America Is Leading the Way in Standing Up to Israel Colombia President Petro: ““It’s called genocide, and it’s done to remove the Palestinian people from Gaza and appropriate it. The head of the government that commits this genocide is a criminal against humanity. His allies cannot speak of democracy.” Chile’s Boric, ““Nothing justifies the barbarity in Gaza. Nothing.” Brazil’s Lula: “This isn’t a war; it’s a genocide.”
Sympathy for the Palestinian cause in Latin America can be explained by two fundamental reasons: a historical sympathy for oppressed and colonized peoples, along with Israel’s own history in the region as a proxy for US interests. Israel has supported a laundry list of the worst names in recent Latin American history, including Rafael Trujillo, Augusto Pinochet, Luis García Meza, Efraín Ríos Montt, Anastasio Somoza, and Jorge Rafael Videla.
Ultima Noticias: Venezuela Rejects Israel’s Position Against Latin American Countries Opposing Genocide Venezuela rejected the statements by the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, who attacked different nations in Latin America and the Caribbean, for their position in the conflict with Gaza. Herzog, asked for “decency and respect” from Latin American countries critical of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.Venezuela responded, “The Venezuelan government joins the demonstrations of numerous Latin American countries, who have called for an immediate ceasefire, and have condemned the Nazi extermination policy that Israel applies against the Palestinian people. In that sense, we will keep our voice loud, denouncing barbarism and promoting actions to guarantee compliance with United Nations resolutions in favor of the creation of a Free Palestinian State.”
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Venezuela
Orinoco Tribune: US Escalates Essequibo Dispute by Militarizing Guyana The government of Guyana is trying to militarize the country with the help of the US. This escalation serves the interests of oil company ExxonMobil which intends to appropriate the oil and gas resources of the Essequibo region disputed between Venezuela and Guyana. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez responded to Guyanese President Irfaan Ali, “The war-mongering employee of ExxonMobil has threatened Venezuela. President Nicolás Maduro has been very clear: Do not provoke Venezuela. We are not afraid of your imperial masters, from whom you inherited gross arrogance. Mr. Irfaan has already passed sentence against Venezuela, and now he intends to intimidate our people with his military chiefs of the US Southern Command.”
Orinoco Tribune: ExxonMobil Extracting Oil from Disputed Venezuelan Waters ExxonMobil began extracting oil in waters that have yet to be delimited between Venezuela and Guyana. Payara is the third-largest producing oil field in the area, with a maximum capacity of 620,000 barrels per day. This would make Guyana one of the world’s leading oil producers and a major driver of production growth for ExxonMobil. Venezuela responded, “Venezuela has presented evidence of this illegal action in documentary form and repeatedly communicated to the Guyanese government and the Caribbean community [CARICOM], that such actions are becoming the greatest source of destabilization in the region, undermining the legitimate interests of the Venezuelan people.” Venezuela states these areas are still in dispute whether they legitimately belong to Venezuela.
Ultima Noticias: Maduro: “The new Argentine government brings a colonial project” President Maduro said on the election of Argentina president Javier Milei represents “From Venezuela we will always tell the truth, we respect the vote of the Argentine people. They wanted to give themselves that government. Well, you decided. But we are not going to remain silent because the arrival of a right-wing extremist with a colonial project and kneeling to the North American empire is a tremendous threat.” He stressed that his government warns of “the emergence of extreme right-wing centers that seek to impose themselves to recolonize Latin America and impose extremist models. In Venezuela they have not happened nor will they happen. We will continue to be a free and Bolivarian land.”
Venezuelanalysis: Colombia’s Petro Touts deeper Cooperation and Energy Integration with Venezuela during latest Visit Venezuelan President Maduro and Colombia’s Petro pledged to deepen economic integration and cooperation, discussing including migration, tourism, Venezuela’s support for Colombia’s ongoing peace process, and energy integration. Petro has made a deliberate effort to mend economic and political ties with Venezuela, having met five times with Maduro. “What past governments did in my country is really economic and cultural suicide,” said Petro. Petro had asked the Biden to consider paying an “economic stabilization” bonus to migrants in Colombia as part of an effort to help them return home and boost the economies in their countries of origin. His proposal comes on the heels of a recent meeting by the region’s heads of state in Mexico to discuss migration, where leaders pinned the blame on coercive US policies for the migration crisis and called for joint efforts to tackle the root causes of the issue.
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Cuba
Peoples Dispatch: International Tribunal finds US blockade of Cuba in violation of international law “Comrades, my first words are for the Palestinian people that suffer a true genocide by Israel with the complicity of the North American government, the same one that has blockaded us for more than 60 years.” With these words Homero Acosta, the secretary of Cuba’s National Assembly and member of Cuba’s State Council kicked off the sessions of the International Tribunal Against the Blockade of Cuba, highlighting the inextricable connection between the assault on the Palestinian people and the Cuban people: US imperialism. Results of the International Tribunal in Brussels on Cuba Tribunal Judges included German International Law expert Norman Peach, member of the Democratic Jurists Society and professor; Dimitris Kaltsonis, member,Lawyers College of Portugal; Ricardo Joao Duarte, National Lawyers Guild President Suzanne Adely; writer and journalist Daniela Dahn; International Law specialist Simone Dioguiardi.
Al Mayadeen: President Diaz-Canel led march of 100,000 in Havana rally ‘Long live Palestinian people’s struggle’ President Diaz-Canel led a popular march of thousands of Cubans along the central Malecon street to support for the Palestinian cause and condemn the crimes of the Israeli occupation. Invited by the Cuban Young Communist League, participants chanted slogans in support of the Palestinian people. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla took part in the march, as well as the Secretary-General of the Workers’ Central Union of Cuba Ulises Guilarte, and the Palestinian Ambassador to Cuba Akram Samhan.
Granma: For Palestine, Cuba in solidarity mode Cuba, which has never stopped supporting the Palestinian cause, is in every corner of its geography an expression of support for that people who, since last October 7, have been experiencing a true holocaust due to the genocidal aggression of the Zionist Government of Israel, which It has already cost almost 14,000 victims. That is the reason why the new generations of Cubans, convened by the Union of Young Communists, will march en masse tomorrow in Havana, in order to promote solidarity and humanism for Palestine. The organization has invited youth and the people in general to join in this show of support and commitment for “peace, children and life.” In Cienfuegos, thousands of people left no space to fill in Martí Park, in front of the Provincial Committee of the Union of Young Communists, where they demanded an end to the massacre in Gaza.
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Bolivia
Sputnik News: Bolivia President Arce; West No Longer Center of World Economy, Asia-Pacific Is “Emerging” economies, particularly those in the BRICS grouping, would maintain economic growth rates of at least 4% in 2023 and 2024. President Arce explained, “This [the economic growth] makes it clear that their economies are growing faster than those of the so-called advanced economies. These differences in economic projections are explained by the fact that the bloc of hegemons comprising the US and Europe is no longer the center of the world economy, giving way to the bloc of Asia-Pacific countries.”
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Nicaragua
Prensa Latina: Over 80 percent of Nicaraguans backs Ortega’s administration 80.6% of Nicaraguans backs Ortega’s administration, M&R Consultores’ poll unfolded on Wednesday.According to a public opinion study corresponding to the 3Q 2023, 89.4 % of the polled assured that the Executive guarantees them hope, while 10.2% expressed the opposite.
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Events
One Million Signatures to Take Cuba off the US List of State Sponsors of Terror Sign on now if you haven’t done so. Cuba is on the US list, Israel is not.
December 3: Nicaraguan Migration: Myths and Reality
December 6: Venezuela: US Attacks, Media Distortions, Global Solidarity
November 27: Hugo Chávez, Spark for 21st century socialism & Latin American liberation
November 29: Venezuela: 1999 Constituent Assembly Resistance, Achievements and Lessons
January 27, 2024: Latin America conference in London 18th annual conference in solidarity with Latin American progressive movements.
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Upcoming Delegations to Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela
Casa Ben Linder 2024 delegations:
January 20-February 1: Advances & Autonomy Brigade: Rights of Indigenous & Afro-Descendant Peoples on Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast
February 10-19: The Bird Brigade: Birding in Solentiname Arquipelago
March 2-10: Sindicatos & Solidaridad: Labor Movements in Nicaragua
9-21 July 9-21: Solidarity in Action: Celebrating 45 Years of Revolution in Nicaragua
April 25- May 8: Celebrating Labor and May Day in Cuba
Cuba April 27 – May 11 Che Guevara Work Brigade
Cuba: Upcoming delegations and trips to Cuba
June 14-23 Witness for Peace delegation to Cuba
April 9-19: Venezuela: Celebrating Popular Sovereignty and Power
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