Venezuelanalysis: Former Venezuelan Oil Minister Arrested Over Alleged Ties to US Intelligence; Alex Saab New oil Minister Authorities arrested former Oil Minister Pedro Tellechea over accusations of corruption and ties to US intelligence. Tellechea is accused of handing over the automatized control system of state oil company PDVSA to a firm controlled by US intelligence services. “Bureaucracy, corruption and treason are other threats that haunt the people. We are in a tireless battle against corruption and treason, let no one get tired,” said Maduro.“And I will not rest in the fight against bureaucracy, the corrupt and the traitors, no matter who falls.” Tellechea joins a long list of former oil ministers accused of misconduct.
Orinoco Tribune: Venezuela Captures 19 Foreigners Involved in Mercenary Plot with CIA, CNI and Interpol Venezuelan security agencies arrested 19 mercenaries, including three Americans, two Colombians, one Peruvian, one Bolivian, and one Lebanese national involved in a far-right coup plot. The detainees were linked with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the CIA, the National Intelligence Center (CNI) of Spain, and criminal gangs.
These revelations by Diosdado Cabello come 33 days after the Venezuelan government dismantled part of a terrorist plot whose objective was the assassination of President Nicolás Maduro, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, and other government officials. Cabello stated then that “the CIA is at the head of this operation” and that it was working together with Spain’s CNI. At that time, the active Navy SEAL Wilbert Joseph Castañeda, working with the CIA, was captured, in addition to the CNI’s José María Basoa Valdovinos and Andrés Martínez Adasme.
TeleSur: President Maduro: Simon Bolivar’s Struggle Becomes Reality Today Thanks to BRICS “This is the beginning of a new era in which cooperation and solidarity will be the pillars of a more humane and equitable world;” Maduro recalled the words of Liberator Simon Bolivar and Commander Hugo Chavez, who dreamed of building a more balanced and just world. “200 years ago, Bolivar fought for the independence and balance of the world. Today, that balance is a reality thanks to BRICS,” Maduro said, pointing out that BRICS is the platform where those dreams of justice and sovereignty are being realized in the 21st century. “The BRICS have already become the epicenter of the New Multipolar World. The BRICS are the epicenter of the world, of the new geopolitics, of diplomacy, of peace, and, above all, they are the hope for the Global South countries that aspire to development that we have sought for 200 years.”
Orinoco Tribune: Venezuela’s National Assembly Designates Conrado Pérez as New Rector of National Electoral Council (CNE) The National Assembly appointed Conrado Pérez as a new rector of the CNE after the impeachment of former rector Juan Carlos Delpino. The National Assembly dismissed Delpino in accordance with Articles 31 and 32 of the Organic Law of the Electoral Power, and gave permission to the Public Ministry to immediately start a thorough investigation for his alleged participation in the commission of multiple crimes: flagrant violation of the Constitution, electoral fraud, conspiracy, treason, criminal association, and promotion and incitement of hatred. National Assembly President Rodríguez explained that “the mess” with Delpino began on July 28, after it became clear that President Nicolás Maduro was going to win the presidential elections. The right-wing plan was for Delpino to appear on the Venevisión channel on July 28 to speak against the electoral process and cry fraud, but he “backed out.”
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Silvio Rodriguez: Cuban Blackout and Blockade Cuba is going through its greatest energy crisis, with practically the entire island and 10 out of 11 million inhabitants deprived of electricity. The blackouts that have been occurring with increasing frequency and duration for some time now, turned into a total collapse of the electrical system as a result of the shutdown of its main thermoelectric plant on Thursday 17. However, the ultimate cause is the same as the one shared by the island’s major and minor problems: the commercial and financial blockade imposed by Washington more than six decades ago with the declared purpose of starving the Cuban population and forcing it to rise up against its authorities. Although that sinister objective has been frustrated, the endless difficulties Havana has to face to raise foreign currency and acquire essential supplies have indeed led the country to a severe shortage of everything necessary for daily life.
Peoples Forum ad in the New York Times on ending the US Blockade of Cuba
Let Cuba Live: Donate for Urgent Humanitarian Aid
Cuba and Bolivia Join BRICS as Partner Countries; Brazil Vetoes Venezuela’s Entry Other countries accepted into BRICS: Algeria, Belarus, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
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Nicaragua
Message of the Nicaragua Government to the 11th Meeting of European Solidarity with the Sandinista People’s Revolution“We express our respect to you who remain firm, with strength and the unwavering will to continue fighting, from within, for your own rights and outwards for the rights of the peoples of the world. Speaking and acting in solidarity, in these times, has very special characteristics. Today we pay tribute to brothers Berndt Koberstein and Tonio Pflaum who came to our land, driven by the idea of building a more just world and who gave their lives for those ideas. I think Berndt’s words, a month before his death on July 28, 1986, are appropriate: “This is the most beautiful work I have ever done in my life… You know, the many deaths that imperialism has caused in this and other countries are not its only crime; the millions of dreams that it destroys, the many millions who are condemned to live in misery or who are already born into it, without being able to escape from it; that is a much greater crime.”
Shortly before turning thirty, this German trade unionist brother, this internationalist dreamer, who collaborated with the Sandinista Popular Revolution on a project to supply drinking water in Wiwilí, Jinotega, was murdered by the Contras in Zompopera…
Let us think for a moment if Tonio and Berndt could see the great advances that began in the first stage of the Revolution and that we are continuing and consolidating in this Second Stage of the Revolution. Let us imagine them there standing on that majestic bridge over the Coco River in Wiwilí or traveling, without any obstacles, along the paved roads in that area. Let us imagine them seeing the dozens or hundreds of healthcare centers, maternity homes, hospitals, drinking water projects, electrification, schools that have sprung up with the Revolution in the most remote communities of our country.
In these difficult and confusing times, you either assume the oligarchic, elitist, exclusionary and racist thinking, which does whatever it takes to maintain its privileges and power, including allying itself with and being facilitators, enablers of Yankee and European imperialist intervention and interference…Or you accompany the Popular Movement, which inherits the best of the struggle of our people.
Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega: “We have to engage the struggle, give battle, to put an end to the genocide being committed against the Palestinian People” Here, from airplanes that Israel gave to Somoza to bomb our People, as well as naval launches, and also rifles, armaments of all kinds, Intelligence, Security, advisors; that is to say, Israel was present in this battle on the side of Tyranny, as an instrument too of the Yankee Imperialism that had imposed this Tyranny.
The People of Israel did not give the order to start bombing the Palestinian People. Rather it has been the ones who are in power in Israel, who are nothing but representatives of the Imperialists of the Earth, both of the United States and of Europe, all Imperialists, together now in NATO.
It is amazing how at the head of the Government of Israel there is a Prime Minister who is the son of the devil. Why? Because he is carrying out a policy of terror in practice, and he is a Hitler. Yes, the Prime Minister of Israel is a Hitler, installed there, calling for the destruction of Peoples, just as the person who presides over Ukraine is another Nazi, another son of Hitler, wanting to commit NATO to a war against the Russian Federation.
We can see how people’s lives and World Peace are being toyed with, what the American Rulers are doing, using Israel, arming Israel, what the American ruling élites are doing together with the European ruling elites; these Empires have joined together thinking that in this way they will be able to defeat the Peoples, but they do not realize that, in the end, they are either leading the Planet to total war, or they simply have no alternative except to await their defeat.
I remember that I went to talk to Comandante Fidel [during the Contra war], I told him the situation is really critical, because they are blocking the entry of oil to us. And Comandante Fidel told me: We’ll do the following: We’ll talk to the Leaders of the Socialist Countries… I’ll propose that each of us put a quota of oil, and first of all I am going to discuss this with Russia. So Comandante Fidel did so, and the answer came, the response came from this Community of Countries who decided to maintain our oil supply….
All this logically follows the policy of attacking Extreme Poverty and Poverty, because housing is a Human Right that cannot be denied to anyone, and as long as we still have Families in conditions of Extreme Poverty, living on the banks of the waterways, or in shacks, with plastic or bits of tin for a roof, we are not going to be satisfied. Rather, we are ashamed and it hurts us, and we have to keep striving until every Family in Nicaragua has Decent Housing, has Decent Living Conditions, has Decent Work, and then we can say that now we can all live here in Peace, when we all have Decent Conditions.
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Bolivia
TeleSur: Bolivian President Arce: Multipolarity is a Historical Necessity Arce highlighted that BRICS represents a unique opportunity to break away from the economic and political hegemony of the US, a country that continues its drive to control the world through the dollar.
BRICS represents “a new dawn” signaling the end of the Bretton Woods system, which has dominated economic relations since 1945, primarily benefiting Western powers. “BRICS is tangible proof of the possibility of creating a more balanced and just new world order,” stated Arce, who also emphasized that the consolidation of this multilateral bloc opens up space for countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to move toward joint and equitable development.
“The hegemony of the dollar must end,” Arce asserted, noting that global control based on the dollar has limited the progress of developing countries and created a “straitjacket” that has only benefited a few economic agents.
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Donate:
Let Cuba Live: Donate for Urgent Humanitarian Aid
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Events:
October 27, Minneapolis: Meet Cuban Filmmaker Gloria Rolando
October 27: NYC Rally against the US Blockade of Cuba
October 27, Los Angeles Rally against US Economic and Political War on Cuba
October 29 webinar: Venezuela’s Solidarity with Palestine with Diego Sequera, Alexander Avina. Sponsored by DSA International Committee. register here
October 29 online: United Nations Vote for Cuba – End the U.S. Blockade! Cuba will bring a resolution to the UN to end the cruel US Blockade for the 32nd consecutive vote. International actions will take place around the world October 26-30 marking the annual UN General Assembly vote. Join us for the 24-hour global online picket with a program of speakers, documentaries, music, and more as we stand by Cuba and its just demand for an end to this cruel US policy.
October 30, Chicago: The World Stands with Cuba and Palestine
October 30 Washington DC Rally: Biden-Harris Let Cuba Live, End the Blockade
November 15-17: National Network on Cuba Annual Meeting
November 17 webinar: Building solidarity with the Nicaraguan Revolution: the Friends of ATC network: The Friends of ATC is the solidarity network in Nicaragua of the Rural Workers Association (Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo, ATC). This webinar describes how the network was formed and its focus on solidarity with Nicaragua and the Sandinista Popular Revolution. Today, Nicaragua is over 90% self-sufficient in food, mainly grown by small farmers who received land during the 1980s agrarian reform, who are supported today by government programs focused on the popular economy. Speakers: Ari Gutman, Michelle Munjanattu.
January 28-31: Havana, Cuba: VI International Conference For World Balance This conference cultivates partnerships and formulates actionable strategies to propel us towards a more equitable and just global community. Organized by the Office of the Martí Program and co-sponsored by UNESCO and Soka Gakkai International.
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Delegations to Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua:
Bolivia
Jan 25 – Feb 3, 2025: Bolivia, 20 Years of Popular Democracy and Indigenous Self-Determination
Cuba
December 1-9: National Single Payer: Invitation To Join Our Delegation To Cuba
December 13-22: Hatuey Project delegation to Cuba
January 26, 2025 to February 4, 2025: Visit Cuba with the Center for Global Justice
April 17-May 3, 2025: Puerto Rico Brigada Juan Ruiz Rivera to Cuba
Witness for Peace delegations to Cuba
Friendly Planet delegations to Cuba
Nicaragua
Casa Ben Linder 2024 Email casabenjaminlinder@gmail.com to apply:
20 February – 1 March 2025: The Bird Brigade: Birding in Solentiname Arquipelago
6-16 March 2025: Power & Protagonism: Women in Nicaragua
May 2025: Co-ops and Communities: Cooperative Movement in Nicaragua
June 2025: Global Health: Family and Community Health in Nicaragua
July 2025: Solidarity in Action: Nicaragua’s Popular Revolution
November 2025: Salud & Solidaridad: Hands-On Healthcare in Nicaragua
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This is also available at ChicagoALBASolidarity.org. If you have events to publicize or find helpful articles for readers on the ALBA countries you can post them on Facebook here: Venezuela; Nicaragua; Bolivia; Latin America in general (here or here) Or send them to venezuelaweekly@afgj.org or stansfieldsmith100@gmail.com.
Chicago ALBA Solidarity 