Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Stop U.S. Intervention in Venezuela Protest


http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=16155


Pro-Venezuelan loyalists in the Washington D.C. area are being urged to participate, Monday March 1, in a global protest against United States and Organization of American States (OAS) intervention in the sovereign domestic affairs of Venezuela at 11:30 a.m. outside the OAS, 17th and Constitution Avenue, followed by a protest at US News & World Report against biased reporting that feeds the flame for US intervention against the democratically-elected reform government of Venezuela.

Audiences across the United States learned the basics from Venezuelan Women's Development Bank (BANMUJER) president Nora Castaneda in a series of speeches about what she described as the peaceful and democratic revolution being achieved in Venezuela, and how grassroots women who live in poverty ... the majority of African and indigenous descent ... are the most involved in the process and have the most to lose if it is crushed.

Venezuelan women won Article 88 of the 1999 Constitution which recognizes unwaged work in the home as economically productive and entitles housewives to social security benefits; and Article 14 of the Land Law which prioritizes single mothers for land distribution and guarantees food subsidies for pregnant women before and after birth. Global Women's Strike Dozthor Zurlent says "what women all over the world have been campaigning for over decades is becoming a reality in Venezuela."

"As we near March 8 International Women's Day, we ask to protect and defend these and other hard-won achievements ... literacy, free healthcare in the poorest communities, etc. ... which represent a real alternative for all of us who oppose US corporate greed and military might. We know time is tight, but people in Venezuela have asked their supporters in the US to protest a potentially dangerous situation that is presented by the imminent findings on the referendum."

"Venezuela's National Elections Council is under pressure from the US and political opposition forces, threatening that if the decision is not favorable to them, violence will ensue. That only a referendum independently of the number of signatures can guarantee peace. It is nothing more than a flagrant call to disrespect the law and the Constitution, both which instruments of law clearly state that at least 20% of valid signatures are required for a recall referendum. No fake, no duplicated signatures can be considered ... people signing for others is an illegal act and not a 'technicality' as the US State Department is calling it."

"Since the US-backed April 2002 coup and December-January 2003 lock-out which were reversed by popular uprisings, the US has been pressing to get the democratically-elected President Chavez out of power. President Chavez was overwhelmingly elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, to get the country's oil revenue back to tackle poverty and corruption and to create a caring economy in Venezuela. Recently, it was uncovered that the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has been funneling money to forces trying to overthrow President Chavez ... including those participating in the April 2002 coup."

"As Venezuelan government reforms advance, 1.5 million children newly obtained access to school, 1 million adults learned to read and write, 1.5 million people obtained access to drinkable water, the economy is recovering steadily in spite of the sabotage, and the United Nations PNUD has recognized (last report 2003) that poverty in Venezuela has declined 3 points ... a unique case in Latin America and the United States where the number of people in poverty increased."

"Venezuela has a new form of democracy that the US does not like ... a democracy where people not only participate in discussions about their process of development (participation) but also have the legal instruments that allow them to make the decisions. They do not have to depend on politicians or political parties to make decisions for them, people make their own decisions about their projects of development (articles 166 and 182 of the 1999 Constitution) ... this is called "protagonism." Venezuelan democracy is then called participatory and "protagonistic." Since there is no room for corporations to influence the decision-making process this kind of democracy is not liked by the USA."

"As the opposition failure in collecting the required signatures for the referendum on Chavez comes to light, attempts are being made to undermine the Elections Council and democratic life in Venezuela. Richard Boucher, Roger Noriega and other US State Department officials and the US News & World Report, UNIVISION and some other media outlets are misrepresenting what is happening in Venezuela with the object to create conditions for an OAS political and military intervention. Cesar Gaviria and the OAS have presented a one-sided view of events and there is danger that they will continue to follow US directions in the Venezuelan process."

Dozthor Zurlent
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