Category: Latin America
‘Fidel Castro Was the Most Prominent Hispanic Statesman of the 20th Century’
| November 26, 2016 | 8:28 pm | Fidel Castro, Latin America | Comments closed
04:46 27.11.2016(updated 04:47 27.11.2016)
Long-standing Cuban leader Fidel Castro was the most prominent statesman in Latin America in the 20th century and he passed away in very challenging times, Ernesto Samper, the Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and a former president of Colombia, told Sputnik on Saturday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Fidel Castro, one of the world’s longest-serving leaders, died late Friday at the age of 90. His death was announced by his brother and the incumbent Cuban president, Raul Castro. “[Castro] was the most prominent statesman in Latin America in the 20th century¦ People do not choose the time to die. But he passed away in the most difficult moment, when the region is facing a great uncertainty connected with the election of Donald Trump,” Samper said. According to Samper, the world will forever remember Fidel Castro as “a supporter of social equality, transparency and ideological coherence.” Samper added that there were currently “dark clouds” over relations between the United States and other states in the region due to possible consequences of new US government’s decisions regarding migrations issues and restoration of the diplomatic relations with Cuba. “It is our turn now to follow some of his [Castro’s] ideas in order to know how to overcome this uncertainty,” Samper added. Fidel Castro was born in 1926 in the Cuban village of Biran. He became Cuban prime minister in February 1959 and the country’s president in 1976. In 2008, he announced his resignation as head of state. He remained the first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party until April 19, 2011, when he officially announced his resignation from the post.

Read more: https://sputniknews.com/latam/201611271047882691-castro-ost-prominent-hispanic-statesman-20-century/

Africa/Global: Climate Threat, Action Tracks
| November 11, 2016 | 6:06 pm | Africa, Climate Change, Donald Trump, environmental crisis, Latin America, political struggle | Comments closed

AfricaFocus Bulletin
November 10, 2016 (161110)
(Reposted from sources cited below)

Editor’s Note

“Africa is already burning. The election of Trump is a disaster for
our continent. The United States, if it follows through on its new
President’s rash words about withdrawing from the international
climate regime, will become a pariah state in global efforts for
climate action. This is a moment where the rest of the world must
not waver and must redouble commitments to tackle dangerous climate
change,”  Geoffrey Kamese, Friends of the Earth Africa.

For a version of this Bulletin in html format, more suitable for
printing, go to http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php, and
click on “format for print or mobile.”

To share this on Facebook, click on
https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php

[This version of this AfricaFocus Bulletin sent out by email contains
only brief excerpts from each article. For more extensive excerpts,
read on-line at http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php; for
full articles go to the link cited in each case.]

There is no doubt that the election of Donald Trump poses an extreme
threat to action on climate change, as on a host of other
interconnected issues. But, in this case, as in many others, it is
important to remember that a U.S. president, no matter how powerful,
is only one of the forces affecting the outcomes.

Yes, this is a major setback, but the threat did not begin with
Trump and the struggles to combat it must and will continue – on
multiple fronts. While no one organization or movement can fight on
all fronts, those forces fighting for justice and for a future for
our planet must have a vision of a wider background than one U.S.
presidential election.

The context is not only the United States, but the world. And the
arenas are not only political (at multiple levels of government, and
even within the executive branch of the federal government itself),
but also technical, economic, and activist (from divestment to
protest sites such as the Dakota Pipeline). No one organization or
even movement can be on all fronts at once, but together we must
find ways to strategies embedded in a wider vision rather than
engage in fruitless debates about which action track is the “most
important.”

This AfricaFocus Bulletin consists of excerpts from a selection of
statements and articles illustrating the multiple tracks on which
action to combat the threat of global warming can and must take
place, globally, in Africa, and in the United States.

* The first two statements are reactions from climate activists to
the additional threat posed by the election of Donald Trump.

* The third highlights the continuing technical and economic success
of cheap off-grid and mini-grid solar in Africa, which is now
estimated to be reaching 10% of the 600,000 Africans living off
national  electricity grids.

* The next provides a summary of both the necessity and the economic
and technical viability of a comprehensive transition away from
fossil fuels, from Oil Change International and a coalition of
related organizations.

* The fifth is an open letter from climate activist groups to the
Equator Principles Association of banks committed to social
responsibility principles, calling for withdrawal of support for the
Dakota Access Pipeline.

* The sixth is an update from the International Energy Agency,
revising upwards its projections for growth of renewable energy
worldwide.

* And the last is a report from South Africa’s Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) noting that “new power
from solar PV and wind today is at least 40% cheaper than that from
new baseload coal today.”

For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on the environment and climate
issues, visit http://www.africafocus.org/intro-env.php

Other background articles worth noting:

“There’s no way around it: Donald Trump is going to be a disaster
for the planet,” Vox, Nov 9, 2016
http://tinyurl.com/oturdlb

“10 Ways You Can Help the Standing Rock Sioux Fight the Dakota
Access Pipeline”

25 Snapshots from the Stillwater Pow Wow

++++++++++++++++++++++end editor’s note+++++++++++++++++

“Deep breaths. Now let’s plan the fight ahead,” 350.org, Nov 9, 2016

[Excerpts: full text at
https://350.org/deep-breaths-now-lets-plan-the-fight-ahead/]

Here’s what I’m keeping in mind right now:

* This is a global movement. It’s more important than ever to
remember our connection with people in literally every country who
are fighting the fossil fuel industry right now — many in the
toughest conditions imaginable. I believe in our collective power
like nothing else.

* The fossil fuel industry is in a fight for its life. When we
expose their lies, stop their pipelines, divest from their stocks
and take away their social license — they fight back. Their
investment in this election was no secret, and they’re going to
double-down in its aftermath.

* Local fossil fuel resistance is taking root everywhere. Not only
has the fight against the Dakota Access pipeline spread like
wildfire, but other campaigns against fracking, pipelines, and coal
are too many to name. None of us are giving up or going home today.

********************************************************

Global Community Must Unite Against Trump to Avoid Climate
Catastrophe

Friends of the Earth International

Joint Press release

9 November 2016

http://tinyurl.com/pe4u693

As news of Donald Trump’s victory in the US Presidential Election
reached Marrakech, climate justice groups gathered at the COP22
United Nations annual climate change talks reacted:

“Whilst the election of a climate denier into the White House sends
the wrong signal globally. The grassroots movements for climate
justice – Native American communities, people of color, working
people – those that are at this moment defending water rights in
Dakota, ending fossil fuel pollution, divesting from the fossil fuel
industry, standing with communities who are losing their homes and
livelihoods from extreme weather devastation to creating a renewable
energy transformation – are the real beating heart of the movement
for change. We will redouble our efforts, grow stronger and remain
committed to stand with those on the frontline of climate injustice
at home and abroad.. In the absence of leadership from our
government, the international community must come together redouble
their effort to prevent climate disaster,” said Jesse Bragg, from
Boston-based Corporate Accountability International.

“For communities in the global south, the U.S. citizens’ choice to
elect Donald Trump seems like a death sentence. Already we are
suffering the effects of climate change after years of inaction by
rich countries like the U.S., and with an unhinged climate change
denier now in the White House, the relatively small progress made is
under threat. The international community must not allow itself to
be dragged into a race to the bottom. Other developed countries like
Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan must increase their pledges for
pollution cuts and increase their financial support for our
communities,” said Wilfred D’Costa from the Asian Peoples’ Movement
on Debt and Development.

[continued on-line http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php]

***************************************************************

As prices plunge, Africa surges into clean, cheap solar energy

Maina Waruru

Mail and Guardian, 12 Oct 2016

http://tinyurl.com/nu7f9v8

Solar systems in Africa can now provide electricity for many
households for as little as $56 a year.

Last August Kenya won $36 million in support from France to put in
place 23 mini-grid systems in northern Kenya that will use solar
panels, wind or a combination of the two. (Bloomberg) Last August
Kenya won $36 million in support from France to put in place 23
mini-grid systems in northern Kenya that will use solar panels, wind
or a combination of the two. (Bloomberg) Until almost two years ago,
James Mbugua, a farmer living in Karai, a village on the outskirts
of Kenya’s capital, relied on kerosene to light his house, and a car
battery to power his television so he wouldn’t miss the news.

Part of the reason he couldn’t plug into the power grid, despite
being so close to Nairobi and in an area where electricity is
readily available, is that he lives on government land as a
squatter, with no papers to show he owns the 70-foot by 80-foot
parcel where he has put up a makeshift house.

Now, however, he has found an alternative: An affordable solar
system to power his home.

“I could not go on like that and had to seek an alternative way of
lighting my house and I discovered that with only $150 I could use
solar to light my house and power the television plus radio,” he
told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The money for the purchase, he said, came from a loan from his
community savings group, which asks members to contribute $5 a month
and then offers loans from that pot of cash.

The father of five grown children is one of the millions of people
across Africa who are taking advantage of falling prices of home
solar panel systems to get cheaper, cleaner and more reliable
energy.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), home
solar systems in Africa can now provide electricity for many
households for as little as $56 a year – a cost lower than getting
energy from diesel or paraffin.

Of the estimated 600 million people living off-grid in Africa, about
10 percent of them are now using off-grid clean energy to light
their homes, according to IRENA statistics.

[continued on-line http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php]

******************************************************

The Sky’s Limit: Why the Paris Climate Goals Require a Managed
Decline of Fossil Fuel Production

Greg Muttitt, September 22, 2016

Oil Change International, in collaboration with 350.org, Amazon
Watch, APMDD, AYCC, Bold Alliance, Christian Aid, Earthworks,
Équiterre, Global Catholic Climate Movement, HOMEF, Indigenous
Environmental Network, IndyAct, Rainforest Action Network, and
Stand.earth

http://priceofoil.org/2016/09/22/the-skys-limit-report/

September 2016

Press Release

A new study released by Oil Change International, in partnership
with 14 organizations from around the world, scientifically grounds
the growing movement to keep carbon in the ground by revealing the
need to stop all new fossil fuel infrastructure and industry
expansion. It focuses on the potential carbon emissions from
developed reserves – where the wells are already drilled, the pits
dug, and the pipelines, processing facilities, railways, and export
terminals constructed.

Key Findings:

The potential carbon emissions from the oil, gas, and coal in the
world’s currently operating fields and mines would take us beyond
2deg C of warming.

The reserves in currently operating oil and gas fields alone, even
with no coal, would take the world beyond 1.5°C.

With the necessary decline in production over the coming decades to
meet climate goals, clean energy can be scaled up at a corresponding
pace, expanding the total number of energy jobs.

Key Recommendations:

No new fossil fuel extraction or transportation infrastructure
should be built, and governments should grant no new permits for
them.

Some fields and mines – primarily in rich countries – should be
closed before fully exploiting their resources, and financial
support should be provided for non-carbon development in poorer
countries.

This does not mean stopping using all fossil fuels overnight.
Governments and companies should conduct a managed decline of the
fossil fuel industry and ensure a just transition for the workers
and communities that depend on it.

[continued on-line http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php]

***************************************************************

An open letter to the Equator Principles Association

Civil society groups call for stronger climate commitments in EPs
and a halt to financing the Dakota Access Pipeline

By: BankTrack,Friends of the Earth US,others & RAN

For full version, including signatories and references, visit
http://www.banktrack.org/ – Direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/p4pwhpr

Nov 7 2016

[For contact on this letter: johan@banktrack.org)]   To:  Mr. Nigel
Beck, Standard Bank, Chair of the Equator Principles Association,
All Equator Principles Financial institutions (EPFIs)

Concerning:  Equator Principles climate commitments, and EPFI
financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline, for discussion at your
Annual Meeting and Workshop in London

Dear Mr. Beck,

The undersigned organizations are writing to you, as Chair of the
Equator Principles Association, to urge the Association at its
upcoming Annual Meeting in London to address two distinct and
important issues:

* Equator Principles Financial Institutions (EPFIs) must take long
overdue, concrete steps to strengthen their climate commitments.

* Our deep concern about the involvement of a substantial number of
EPFIs in the financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).

[continued on-line http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php]

************************************************************

IEA raises its five-year renewable growth forecast as 2015 marks
record year (Paris)

International Energy Agency 25 October 2016

https://www.iea.org – Direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/h6x3qrc

The International Energy Agency said today that it was significantly
increasing its five-year growth forecast for renewables thanks to
strong policy support in key countries and sharp cost reductions.
Renewables have surpassed coal last year to become the largest
source of installed power capacity in the world.

The latest edition of the IEA’s Medium-Term Renewable Market Report
now sees renewables growing 13% more between 2015 and 2021 than it
did in last year’s forecast, due mostly to stronger policy backing
in the United States, China, India and Mexico. Over the forecast
period, costs are expected to drop by a quarter in solar PV and 15
percent for onshore wind.

Last year marked a turning point for renewables. Led by wind and
solar, renewables represented more than half the new power capacity
around the world, reaching a record 153 Gigawatt (GW), 15% more than
the previous year. Most of these gains were driven by record-level
wind additions of 66 GW and solar PV additions of 49 GW.

About half a million solar panels were installed every day around
the world last year. In China, which accounted for about half the
wind additions and 40% of all renewable capacity increases, two wind
turbines were installed every hour in 2015.

“We are witnessing a transformation of global power markets led by
renewables and, as is the case with other fields, the center of
gravity for renewable growth is moving to emerging markets,” said Dr
Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director.

[continued on-line http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php]

*****************************************************

Comparative Analysis: The cost of new power generation in South
Africa

Chris Yelland

Daily Maverick, 9 November 2016

http://tinyurl.com/nbdwh3o

In a presentation dated October 14, 2016, the head of CSIR’s Energy
Centre, Dr Tobias Bischof-Niemz, and Ruan Fourie, energy economist
at CSIR’s Energy Centre, provide a comparative analysis for new
power in South Africa based on recent coal IPP bid price
announcements by Minister of Energy Tina Joemat-Pettersson on
October 10, 2016, and other data.

This study is seen as important for any review of the draft update
to the Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity (Draft IRP)
currently in progress by the Department of Energy (DoE).

The Draft IRP was to have been presented to the Cabinet last week,
and thereafter made available to the public for comment, but this
has since been delayed, with no further dates being given.

Since the previous due date of end March 2016, the request for
proposals (RFP) for the proposed 9.6 GW new nuclear build in South
Africa has also been further delayed from the revised issue date of
end September 2016.

However, it is known that in the meantime various stakeholder
structures reporting to the Minister of Energy are currently
reviewing the Draft IRP and its proposals for new renewable,
baseload coal and nuclear power, and making further input and
recommendations.

The CSIR study shows the significant reduction in the cost of energy
from wind and solar PV generation technologies in South Africa since
submission of bids for Window 1 of the renewable energy IPP
programme (REIPPP) on November 4, 2011, to those of the expedited
round of Window 4 on November 4, 2015.

The result of this reduction is that new power from solar PV and
wind today is at least 40% cheaper than that from new baseload coal
today.

[continued on-line http://www.africafocus.org/docs16/ren1611.php]

*******************************************************

AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a
particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.

AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please
write to this address to subscribe or unsubscribe to the bulletin,
or to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about
reposted material, please contact directly the original source
mentioned. For a full archive and other resources, see
http://www.africafocus.org

Partido Comunista rechaza maniobras militares en Puerto Rico
| March 14, 2015 | 7:59 pm | International, Latin America, National, Party Voices, political struggle | Comments closed

  • El Partido Comunista de Puerto Rico rechaza la presencia militar de EE.UU. en la isla caribeña.

    El Partido Comunista de Puerto Rico rechaza la presencia militar de EE.UU. en la isla caribeña. | Foto: EFE

Publicado 13 marzo 2015 (Hace 21 horas 38 minutos)

La organización comunista asegura que esas maniobras responden a un ensayo para luego imponer el orden militar cuando se desplome el poder colonial impuesto por Estados Unidos en Puerto Rico.

El Partido Comunista de Puerto Rico (PCPR) rechazó este viernes los ejercicios militares que realizará la próxima semana la Guardia Nacional con la presencia de soldados estadounidenses.

A través de un comunicado, la organización comunista lamentó que Puerto Rico sea utilizado como el centro de entrenamientos militares de Estados Unidos.

“Resulta inexplicable, desde la perspectiva humanitaria, que se militarice a Puerto Rico ante eventuales catástrofes naturales, cuando la respuesta del Estado (federal y colonial) debería ser simulacros de las agencias encargadas de protección y socorro de la población”, subraya la comunicación.

El PCPR lamentó que la denominada Operación Respuesta Borinqueña conformada por soldados puertorriqueños y unos mil efectivos de los estados de Nebraska, Vermont, West Virginia y Washington sean enviados a realizar esas actividades en vez de promover la paz y la integración entre los pueblos.

Asimismo, el partido advirtió que estos ejercicios que se realizarán en San Juan (capital de Puerto Rico) y otros municipios del país caribeño responden a las recientes amenazas del presidente estadounidense Barack Obama contra Venezuela.

“Los ejercicios se realizan como parte de la política norteamericana de usar a Puerto Rico como plataforma de lanzamientos de agresiones militares contra los gobiernos de Latinoamérica”, añade el texto firmado por la dirección del PCPR.

Colombian Government Asks United States to Consider Repatriating Ricardo Palmera/Simon Trinidad
| March 5, 2015 | 8:18 pm | Action, International, Latin America, National, political struggle | Comments closed

http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/7315/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1322922

 

Alliance for Global Justice

Colombian Government Asks United States to Consider Repatriating Ricardo Palmera / Simon Trinidad

An Opportunity for Peace–Please Take Action!

The news that the Colombian government has asked the United States to consider returning Simón Trinidad aka Ricardo Palmera to his home country is a major step forward for the likelihood of securing a lasting accord to end five decades of war. All peace loving persons must urge the US government to do what is necessary so that Trinidad / Palmera can take his place at the negotiating table.

Trinidad / Palmera is one of the primary negotiators for the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Colombia (FARC). The FARC have made clear that Trinidad must be consulted before a peace accord can be finalized. Trinidad is held in solitary confinement in the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, having been extradited to the United States in a process that undermines Colombian sovereignty and that is motivated by political considerations. By repatriating Trinidad, the US government can show a commitment to peace in Colombia that is based on actual deeds and not just words.

TWO Actions you can take:

1)  Call the Colombia Desk of the State Department and urge that the US government repatriate Ricardo Palmera (Simón Trinidad) in accordance with the request of the Colombian government. Calls are more effective than emails, so please take this step if you can! Use the sample email/script below as a guide. THE PHONE NUMBER IS: (202) 647-3142

2) CLICK HERE to send the following email to the White House and State Department. The form is editable, so if you have time, please feel free to add your own words.

SAMPLE EMAIL TEXT:

The United States has the opportunity to take action in a real and meaningful way to help bring peace to Colombia and end more than five decades of war. The Colombian government has requested that the US consider repatriating Ricardo Palmera aka Simon Trinidad to Colombia. Palmera is one of the primary negotiators for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and is currently being held in solitary confinement at the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. The FARC have made clear that Palmera’s presence is required for any final peace accord to be achieved. The Colombian government’s request underscores how important is his participation. I urge the White House and State Department to take whatever actions are necessary to repatriate Palmera and assure that a meaningful and durable peace agreement can be reached. I also urge the US to end the tactic of requesting the extraditions of both insurgents and paramilitary members. This practice undermines Colombia’s own sovereignty as well as the peace process and investigations into paramilitary ties to Colombian politicians and government officials.

Click HERE to take a stand for peac in Colombia! And if you can, be sure and call the State Department Colombia desk to ask that the US government repatriate Ricardo Palmera to Colombia. The phone number is: (202) 647-3142

Background Information:

The imprisonment of Simon Trinidad, aka Ricardo Palmera, in the United States is a very particular obstacle to the negotiations. Trinidad was a university professor and belonged to a Leftist teachers’ organization. All but two of its members were murdered for their activities. One survivor, Imelda Daza Cotes, went into exile in Sweden. The other survivor, Trinidad, joined the FARC in 1987.

The CIA seized Trinidad in Ecuador, while he was traveling under terms of “safe passage”. Trinidad was on his way to meet an aide to UN chief Kofi Annan so they could discuss terms of a prisoner release by the FARC. Trinidad was extradited from Colombia to the US on Dec. 31, 2004 to face terrorism, hostage-taking and drug charges. The terrorism and hostage-taking charges stemmed from a Feb. 13, 2003 incident in which three US mercenaries were taken prisoner after their plane crashed inside FARC-controlled territory. Trinidad himself had nothing to do with this and was charged entirely on the basis of his membership in the FARC. In fact, the prosecutor at one point identified 20,000 FARC members as co-conspirators, later reducing it to 50 FARC officers. Trinidad was convicted on one count of hostage-taking and sentenced to 60 years. Prosecutors were unable to get convictions on the other counts.

According to journalist Hernán Camacho, writing for the Colombian newspaper Voz, “Simón Trinidad was chosen as an envoy and negotiator of this guerrilla army in the peace dialogues in Havana, Cuba because of his profound knowledge of the regional and national economy, his political capacity and boldness, in addition to his experience as a negotiator in the Caguán peace process [1999 – 2002]. Today Simón Trinidad passes his hours in the federal prison of Florence, Colorado (United States), with only one hour of sunlight per day. He is a political prisoner held in unjust captivity.”

The rightful place of Simón Trinidad is not in solitary confinement in the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, but at the negotiating table in Havana.

For more information:

Free Ricardo Palmera!

Could Ricardo Palmera be Released to Participate in Colombia’s Peace Negotiations?

 

Send an email in support of peace in Colombia!

Venezuela Continues to be Chavista, According to New Poll
| March 2, 2015 | 7:37 pm | Analysis, Economy, International, Latin America, Venezuela | Comments closed

Caracas, March 2, 2015  – According to a new poll released by International Consulting Services (ICS), approximately 57% of Venezuelans have confidence that the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro will improve the economy.
The poll also featured several results which suggest that Chavismo continues to be the preferred political option for the country’s citizens.
In the midst of an economic crisis triggered by crashing oil prices and economic war in which basic goods remain scarce, only one fourth of Venezuelans regard scarcities as the country’s biggest problem. This finding contradicts the image of widespread hunger and desperation among Venezuelans projected by the international media.
Moreover, in the face of an inflation rate fast approaching 70%, only 1 in 10 Venezuelans consider inflation as the nation’s principal issue. Rather, insecurity, a perennial problem in Venezuela, remains the top concern for half of the country’s citizens.
The study also contained some unexpected findings regarding upcoming parliamentary elections. Contrary to international predictions of a landslide victory for the opposition, 43.6% of Venezuelans said they would vote for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and its allied parties if elections were held today.
This figure means that even in the midst of acute economic difficulties, the PSUV retains a strong lead over the opposition, which was the preference of less than 32% of poll respondents.
Additionally, the poll found that on the eve of the second anniversary of the death of Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, around 62% of Venezuelans consider themselves chavistas, or “partisans… of the ideals” of the late Venezuelan leader. This result attests to the ongoing majoritarian popularity of the Bolivarian project initiated by Chávez, even despite his physical absence.
Furthermore, in the area of human rights, the survey discovered that 80% of Venezuelans believe that respect for human rights is guaranteed in the Bolivarian republic. This figure stands at odds with statements by the U.S. government and international media, regarding alleged “human rights violations” committed by the government of Nicolas Maduro.
The poll was conducted between February 10 and February 20 and included a sample of 1300 respondents drawn from every state in the country. The figures were reported with a confidence level of 95%.
U.S. Behind Coup d’Etat Attempt in Venezuela
| February 23, 2015 | 7:49 pm | Analysis, International, Latin America, National, Venezuela | Comments closed
U.S. Behind Coup d’Etat Attempt in Venezuela
Pretoria, Feb 19 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan ambassador to South Africa Mairin Moreno today reiterated that the hand of the US Goverment was behind the latest coup d” etat attempt in her country, and stressed that they will not stop condemning it.

Just a week ago, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro uncovered this new coup d’ etat that was planned for last February 12, when the Youth Day was celebrated in Venezuela, said Morena in an interview with Prensa Latina.

The ambassador warned that the plan was orchestrated by the opposion and funded by the US Government and included a series of violent acts.

Moreno recalled that the coup was planned meticulously, and they tried to buy the support of Venezuelan top ranking military officials for that purpose.

However, thanks to the consolidated Venezuelan Armed Forces and the Intelligence services, the new coup d’etat was uncovered, stressed the ambassador.

Moreno said that Venezuela will not stop denouncing to the world the atrocities that have been attempted against the Bolivarian Revolution.

The diplomat added that they planned to bomb with Tucano warplanes some of the main Government headquarters, such as the Miraflores Palace, Telesur television channel, and some ministries.

She added that Venezuelan leaders, as it is the case of Robert Serra, have been killed in desperate acts staged by the opposition and forces from abroad to overthrow the Venezuelan revolutionary process.

The ambassador also noted that the chaos created in the country through the increase in prices, smuggled goods, stockpiling activities, are part of the constant attack against the Venezuelan people.

sgl/ajs/rc/dfm

Modificado el ( jueves, 19 de febrero de 2015 )
A Book that was Missing

Havana, February 13, 2015
Remarks at the presentation of the book ¿Quién mató al Che?
Cómo la CIA logró salir impune del asesinato by Michael Ratner
and Michael Steven Smith, Social Sciences Publishing House, Cuba.
[Spanish translation of Who Killed Che? How the CIA Got Away With Murder]

Unofficial translation by Susana Hurlich, Havana
================================================
A Book that was Missing
Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada

Michael Ratner and Michael Steven Smith, in addition to being eminent lawyers, are active participants in the most important battles of the North American people for justice and freedom. Their book, dedicated to Leonard Weinglass – who, up to his last breath, devoted his life to the liberation of the Five Cuban anti-terrorists who served long years of unjust and cruel imprisonment in the United States – pays well-deserved tribute to our mutual friend when our heroes have now returned free to the Homeland.

To fight for justice in that country means, above all, to seek the truth and make it known in the most difficult of circumstances, confronting the concealment and manipulation of a powerful machinery determined to impose nothing else but ignorance on millions of people. This is a task that Lenny as well as Ratner and Smith have known how to carry out assiduously and consistently.

To prove that Ernesto Guevara was assassinated by the CIA, that his death was a war crime – a crime that never perishes – and that this deed was entirely the responsibility of the U.S. government called for an unremitting search.

After many years of demanding that the authorities comply with their own laws with respect to public access to information, today we can read documents that, despite the crossings-out and deletions that still seek to conceal numerous facts, allow the reader to discover that the official versions about Ernesto Guevara’s final combat were deliberately distorted.

It’s all about trying to make us believe that Washington preferred that Che, defeated and taken prisoner, would continue to live and that the crime was the result of unilateral decisions made by soldiers of the Bolivian Army who were then a docile instrument of the Empire.

Much has been written about Che and his epic Bolivian campaign and there are many authors who echoed the interpretation fabricated by the exponents of “plausible deniability.” At this stage, when both selective and massive assassination and the practice of torture and extrajudicial executions have become a generalized practice of a new way of making war, the book by Ratner and Smith is an opportune reminder that such treatment has a long trajectory.

It is as old as that of using servile armies and assassins – uniformed or not – as simple tools causing countless suffering to the peoples of Latin America under military dictatorships that the United States equipped, trained and managed.

In an earlier book, published in 1997 and the result of an equally relentless pursuit, the authors had revealed how the FBI tracked Ernesto Guevara’s activities in Guatemala and Mexico when he was not yet Che. In this book that they offer us now it can be confirmed that during his Bolivian campaign he was obsessively followed at the highest levels in Washington.

The U.S. Government’s Central Intelligence Agency was responsible for the cold-blooded murder of a wounded and unarmed young prisoner by the name of Ernesto Guervara. The actual perpetrators of the cowardly act were soldiers who acted under the control of the CIA and obeyed their orders without batting an eye.

Some are still walking, however, on the streets of Miami or are in their offices at Langley, mulling over their frustration. Because they could not kill Che. Che continued to live and his message returned victorious in a new Bolivia and in a Latin America that confidently moves ahead towards complete emancipation.

Because Che fought all his life leading the list of those named as essential by Bertolt Brecht. Essential are those who are never missing when they are most needed, those who are present, always on the front line, when the struggle is harder and more complex.

That is why Che lives. Because we need him now more than ever.

The Cuban edition of this book appears in a new juncture in which we greatly need the Guevarian light. Now we are entering a stage that poses new challenges that we must face with wisdom and firmness. The historic enemy of our people has not changed its nature or its strategy of domination, only its tactics. Because its crude and violent policy – and it is recognized as such – of half a century failed, now it will test methods that intend to be more subtle to achieve the same ends.

We must accept the challenge and advance down that path without ever abandoning our principles. And always remembering Che’s visionary warning. Do not trust the imperialists “not even a little bit, not in anything.”