Nicaragua
Venezuela Denounces recent US Coercive Measures against Nicaragua; US Sanctions 250 Nicaraguan figures The recent sanctions affect two mining companies and the Training Center of the Russian Ministry of the Interior, in Managua. The mining companies, the US says, are Nicaraguan government related. Compañía Minera Internacional (COMINTSA) and Capital Mining Investment Nicaragua (Capital Mining) were sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury. In addition, the US stated it sanctions 250 Nicaraguan officials.
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Venezuela
Peoples Dispatch: US announces military exercise in Guyana and Venezuela responds: “Threat to regional peace” The US embassy in Guyana announced that military exercises will be held in the South American country. Two US military planes will fly over Georgetown and the region. The Venezuelan government denounced this “threat to regional peace”. Guyana and Venezuela are currently experiencing diplomatic tension over the disputed territory of Essequibo. The US embassy in Guyana also said that Southern Command’s Director of Strategy, Policy and Plans, Julie Nethercot, was in Guyana from May 6 to 8 to oversee “strategic planning, policy development and coordination of security cooperation for Latin America and the Caribbean.”
Press TV: The US Uses Sanctions to Blackmail Venezuela: Vice President Delcy Rodriguez “We have been punished for our defense of self-determination. This sanctions system is a new form of colonialism that seeks to seize our resources,” Rodriguez said. “Over 1,000 unilateral coercive measures, wrongly called ‘sanctions’, have been used to blackmail us and force us to change our course of independence and self-determination…The unilateral coercive measures seek to obstruct the advancement of new models of development and happiness proposed by peoples who refuse to bow to the hegemonic system.” Her statements were made during the Regional Caribbean Seminar of the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization, in Caracas.
Orinoco Tribune: Venezuela’s CNE President Condemns European Union ‘Sanction Relief’ The European Union (EU) agreed to temporarily lift a series of illegal sanctions against the president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso, along with former CNE board directors Socorro Hernández, Xavier Moreno, and Leonardo Morales. Allegedly, this aimed to support the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for July 28. CNE president Amoroso: “It would be unworthy and disloyal to accept this gift from the European Union just for me and leave 30 million Venezuelans affected by the sanctions and blockades imposed by the European Union and other small groups of enemy countries when the right thing to do is lift all the sanctions imposed on the Venezuelan people…the European Union persists in its neocolonial practices without correcting their interventionist errors against Venezuela. With a clumsy move, it seeks to avoid the growing international rejection of these extortion measures.” The Venezuelan government released a statement rejecting the EU decision, labeling it neocolonial, illegal, and hostile.
Maria Paez Victor: Is Washington Trying to Subvert Venezuela’s Elections? Nicolás Maduro has been an excellent president, steering his country through thick and thin: through horrendous USA sanctions that have weakened the economy and currency, through a perilous pandemic, and has come out of all this with an economy that is now growing at an astonishing 5% per year.This nation has built, in these last hard years, almost 5 million public housing units, and now produces 97% of all food consumed in the country. These are not small achievements which, if they had been made by any other country, would have been held up to the world as stunning examples of true development…. [The US government and the rightwing] They will not be able to overturn a highly popular and successful government, despite the millions of dollars given to them by the empire, and despite the sabotages. The Venezuelan people have seen this before, and they are not amused, but, more importantly, they, their Armed Forces, their 4.5 million member militias, their multitudinous grassroots associations, in short, their organized population will face them down, and win, as before.
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Cuba
Granma: Cuba President Díaz-Canel interview with Ignacio Ramonet (part 1)” You asked me a very interesting question, because many people ask why, if there has been a blockade for so long, what is it that distinguishes the current blockade? I think we have to start from the fact that, in the first place, today the blockade has a qualitatively different characteristic; today we are talking about a tightened blockade and, furthermore, this tightening is supported by another component, which is the inclusion of Cuba in a spurious list determined at will by the US government of countries that supposedly support terrorism….In 60 years they have not been able to break us, and they have gone for a tightening of the blockade to break us. They are not going to break us either! I continue to believe in the capacity of response, in the heroism of this people and in the creative resistance….[In] the international media… there is a script, an unconventional war script that proposes: first, social outbreak, claims or protests; second, the mounting of police repression; third, the mounting of political prisoners, that is, repression with political prisoners in quotation marks; then to demonstrate that because of these things there is a failed State, and then the alleged humanitarian aid and the change of regime. That is the script and the script of the Unconventional Warfare that today is applied against Cuba, that is applied against Nicaragua, that is applied against Venezuela.
Why is there no mention of police brutality during the protests that have taken place in the United States these days, in the universities, which were peaceful, totally peaceful, in favor of the Palestinian cause and against the genocide committed by Israel, supported by the United States, against the Palestinian people? And what has been the response of the United States government to these events? Police repression, mistreatment of students, mistreatment even of teachers, with boots on people’s necks. We have seen scenes of a teacher, an elderly person, subdued, reduced, humiliated on the floor. That does not happen in Cuba, that does not happen in Cuba!”
Resumen Latinoamericano: Washington Removes Cuba From List of Countries Not Cooperating Fully Against Terrorism – but maintains Cuba is still a State Sponsor of Terrorism In a tacit acknowledgement that the [Cuba terrorism] lie is unsustainable, the U.S. State Department announced today that Cuba is not included in its 2023 report on countries that do not fully cooperate in the fight against terrorism. The cooperation against terrorism list, which the Department of State is required by law to provide to US Congress, is not the same as the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, according to a Department of State official.
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Bolivia
Prensa Latina: New US plans against Bolivia denounced despite US denials US chargé d’affaires in Bolivia Debra Hevia said,“We have been working for a long time to achieve change in Bolivia, time is vital for us, but, for it to be a real change, Evo and Arce have to leave power and close that chapter,” is heard in the recording, published by the El Radar digital outlet. Hevia adds that the US embassy will become more involved in strengthening those she calls “our allies, organizations, and collaborators… For example, our Government has always offered scholarships in Bolivia, and now we are going to give more because young people are our agents of change, and they are very, very important.” In the case of Bolivia the first step is to promote the internal division of the Movement towards Socialism (MAS party) and promote a single opposition candidate in the 2025 general elections to achieve the triumph of an outsider linked to the interests of Washington, who will allow the control of lithium and other natural resources by American companies.
Al Mayadeen: Bolivia decries Israeli obstruction of its humanitarian aid to Gaza Strip Bolivia’s Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa Lunda strongly condemned the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, expressing dismay as the 90-ton humanitarian aid shipment from Bolivia remains stalled at the Rafah border. “I cannot but condemn the systematic blockade that Israel is implementing to prevent humanitarian operations in Gaza… Obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people is a very serious violation of human rights and will worsen the situation of the population in the conflict zone.”
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Donate:
Aaron Bushnell left all his savings toPalestine Children’s Relief fund
Global Health Partners: Donate to Support Medical and Health Programs in Cuba and Nicaragua
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Events
May 19 Nicaragua’s Historic & Ongoing Solidarity with Palestine. Register here:bit.ly/NicaMay19
June 10: Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition monthly zoom meetings: second Monday of the month 2:30 PM ET. Email NicaraguaSolidarityCoalition@gmail.com in advance to access.
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Delegations to Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua
1. AFGJ Delegation to Venezuela July 21-31Join us in Venezuela during its presidential elections to witness, experience and learn about popular democracy in action and celebrate 22 years of the Bolivarian Revolution since the attempted coup against President Hugo Chávez.
2. Cuba Delegations
National Single Payer delegation to Cuba Single Payer webinar video Against All Odds: What the US Can Learn from the Cuban Health Care System
Upcoming delegations to Cuba: IFCO/Pastors for Peace 32nd Friendshipment Brigade
May 17-26: Travel to Cuba with Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity Committee. email info@cuba-venezuela.org
Witness for Peace delegations to Cuba
July 2024: Venceremos Brigade trip to Cuba
Friendly Planet delegations to Cuba
3. Nicaragua Delegations Casa Ben Linder 2024 delegations
Email casabenjaminlinder@gmail.com to apply:
November 8-17 2024: Salud & Solidaridad: Hands-On Healthcare in Nicaragua
February 2025: The Bird Brigade: Birding in Solentiname Arquipelago
March 2025: Power & Protagonism: Women in Nicaragua
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Chicago ALBA Solidarity 