http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/11277

By Nicolas Maduro & the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela, March 17th 2015

We are the people of Simon Bolívar, our people believe in peace and
respect for all nations.

Freedom and Independence

More than two centuries ago, our fathers founded a Republic on the
basis that all persons are free and equal under the law.

Our nation made the greatest sacrifices to guarantee South American
people their right to choose their rulers and to enforce their own laws
today. The historical legacy of our father, Simón Bolívar, is always
remembered. Bolívar was a man who gave his life so we would inherit a
nation of justice and equality.

We believe in Peace, National Sovereignty and International Law

We are a peaceful people. In two centuries of independence, we have
never attacked another nation. Our people live in a region of peace,
free of weapons of mass destruction, and in freedom to practice all
religions. We uphold respect for international law and the sovereignty
of all people of the world.

We are an Open Society

We are a working people, we care for our families, and we have
freedom
of religion. Immigrants from around the world, live among us, whose
diversity is respected. We have freedom of press and we are
enthusiastic users of social media.

We are friends of the American people:

The histories of our people have been connected since the beginning
of
our struggles for freedom. Francisco de Miranda, a Venezuelan hero,
fought with the American people during their independence fight. We
share the idea that freedom and independence are fundamental elements
for the development of our nations.

The relations between our peoples have always been peaceful and
respectful. Historically, we have shared business relations in
strategic areas. Venezuela has always been a responsible and trustful
energy provider for the American people. Since 2005, Venezuela has
provided “heating oil” through subsidies for low-income communities in
the United States, thanks to our company CITGO. This contribution has
helped tens of thousands of American citizens survive in harsh
conditions, giving them relief, and necessary support in times of need,
evidencing how solidarity can create powerful alliances across borders.

Incredibly, the U.S government has declared our country a threat to its
national security and foreign policy

In a disproportionate action, the government of Obama has issued a
“National Emergency” declaring Venezuela as a threat to its national
security (Executive Order, 03-09-2015). This unilateral and aggressive
measure taken by the United States Government against our country is
not only unfounded and in violation of basic principles of sovereignty
and self-determination under international law, but also has been
unanimously rejected by all 33 nations of the Community of Latin
American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the twelve member states of
the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).  In a statement made on
March 14, 2015, UNASUR reiterated its firm rejection of these coercive
measures that do not contribute to the peace, stability and democracy
in our region and called on President Obama to revoke his Executive
Order against Venezuela.

We reject unilateralism and interventionism

President Obama, without any authority to interfere in our internal
affairs, unilaterally issued a set of sanctions against Venezuelan
officials with potentially far-reaching implications, interfering in
our constitutional order and our justice system.

We advocate for a multipolar world

We believe that our world must be based on the rules of international
law, without interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
We are convinced that the relationship of respect between all the
nations is the only path for strengthening peace and coexistence, as
well as for ensuring a more just world.

We honor our freedoms and uphold our rights

Never before in the history of our nations, has a president of the
United States attempted to govern Venezuelans by decree. It is a
tyrannical and imperial order and it pushes us back into the darkest
days of the relationship between the United States and Latin America
and the Caribbean.

In the name of our long-term friendship we alert our American
brothers
and sisters, lovers of justice and freedom, of the illegal aggression
committed by your government on your behalf. We will not allow our
friendship with the people of the United States to be affected by this
senseless and groundless decision by President Obama.

We demand:

1- The U.S. Government immediately cease hostile actions against
Venezuelan people and democracy.

2- President Obama abolish the Executive Order that declares
Venezuela
a threat to U.S. national security, as has been requested by the Union
of South American Nations (UNASUR).

3. The U.S. Government retract its libelous and defamatory statements
and actions against the honorable Venezuelan officials who have just
obeyed our laws and our constitution.

Our sovereignty is sacred

The principles of the founding fathers of the United States of
America
are followed today with the same dignity by the people of Simón
Bolívar. In the name of our mutual love for national independence we
want the government of President Obama to think about and rectify this
dangerous precedent.

We are convinced that the defense of our freedom is a right we shall
never give up because the future of the humanity lies also in our
country. As Simón Bolívar said: “The freedom of the New World is the
hope of the universe”.

“Venezuela is not a threat, but a hope”

“Independence or nothing”

Simón Bolívar

THE IMPERIAL EAGLE PERSISTS ON ITS DREADFUL FLIGHT

By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/

A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs4303.html

In his new defense doctrine (National Security Strategy), President
Obama issued a clear warning: “We are on the side of citizens whose
full  exercise of democracy is in danger, as is the case of
Venezuelans.” The warning presaged serious threats to Venezuela’s
efforts for independence and the redistribution of its national wealth.

These are the views of Voltaire Network Director, Thierry Meyssan
–presently residing in Damascus, Syria– expressed in an article
entitled “Obama’s Putsch in Venezuela Fails”, published on February 23.

Meyssan recalls Washington’s grim  history seeking a regime change
in
Caracas since it organized, in 2002, a coup d’état against the
democratically-elected president, Hugo Chávez Frías,   until the recent
manipulation of anarchist  groups that performed countless acts of
vandalism that Venezuelan citizens know as the Guarimba.

Meyssan describes the new  aggressive exercise against Caracas this
way: Operation Jericho would begin on February 12th. It would be
overseen by the National Security Council (NSC).

Washington, as usual, tried to make the world believe it was not
involved in the event it had orchestrated. The CIA organized and
directed the coup through NGOs: the  NED (National  Endowment for
Democracy), the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National
Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House  and the International Center
for Non-Profit Law.

The United States resorted to the use of contractors from several of
its allies for certain aspects of the putsch. Germany would be in
charge of protecting NATO countries’ citizens during the coup; Canada
would control the civil airport in Caracas; Israel would guarantee the
assassination of “Chavista” important persons, and the United Kingdom
would handle pro-coup propaganda.

It also mobilized political networks that would provide legitimacy
recognition for the coup:  Sen. Marco Rubio in Washington; former
Chilean President Sebastián  Piñera; former Colombian presidents Alvaro
Uribe and Andres Pastrana; former Mexican presidents Felipe Calderon
and Vicente Fox; and in Spain, former Prime Minister José María Aznar.

Large Venezuelan companies were asked to hold back huge amounts of
staples in their warehouses to cause long lines at shops and riots that
would be promoted by actions of provocateurs infiltrated among
disgruntled customers.

For their services attacking the forces of order, gang members were
paid four times the average income of Venezuelan workers.  These false
students  killed 43 people and created terror in the streets of Caracas.

The military action was to be overseen by General Thomas W. Geary,
from SOUTHCOM headquarters in Miami, and Rebecca Chavez, from the
Pentagon’s Academi private army (formerly known as Blackwater), a firm
currently managed by Admiral Bobby R. Inman (former head of NSA) and
John Ashcroft (former Attorney General of the George W. Bush
administration) who was subcontractor for the whole operation.

A military plane owned by Academi –diguised with the insignia of
the
armed forces of Venezuela– taking flight from Colombia,  would bomb the
Miraflores Presidential Palace, the Ministry of Defense, the
Intelligence Directorate and the seat of Telesur channel. The putsch
headquarters had been set up at the US Embassy in Bogota, Colombia.

Several senior officers, active and retired, involved in the coup
had
recorded a message to the Nation [Venezuela]  announcing that they had
taken power to restore order in the country. On February 12th, a
Transition Plan drafted by the US State Department would be released.
The plan included the formation of a new government, headed by former
parliamentarian Maria Corina Machado.

According to Meyssan, it was while investigating a previous plot to
assassinate President  Maduro that the Venezuelan Military Intelligence
discovered “Operation Jericho”.

On the night of February 11th, the main leaders of the conspiracy,
and an agent of the Israeli Mossad were arrested. Protection of the air
space of the Venezuelan capital was reinforced. Other persons involved
in the coup were arrested on February 12th. On February 20th the Mayor
of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, was arrested. He was the liaison officer
with Israel and had secretly travelled there in 2012.

There is no doubt this was a blow to the imperial eagle; but no one
expects that this  will make it change its dreadful flight.

“For those who still mistakenly believe that the US has ceased to be
an imperialist power  and now defends democracy in the world,
“Operation Jericho” is an obligatory subject for reflection” concludes
Meyssan.

March 7, 2015.

……………………………………………………………….

………………………………………
Cuba: Just as Cuba was never alone, Venezuela will not be either.

Statement from the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba

Cuba states its position with regards to the aggressive Executive Order
issued by the President of the United States against the Government of
the BolivarianRepublic of Venezuela, which declares the country a
threat to U.S. national security

The Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba has learnt of the
arbitrary and aggressive Executive Order issued by the President of the
United States against the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela, which declares the country a threat to its national
security, in reprisal for the measures adopted by Venezuela in defense
of its sovereignty against the interventionist actions of the U.S.
Congress and governmental authorities.

How does Venezuela threaten the United States? Thousands of kilometers
away, without strategic weapons and without employing resources nor
officials to plot against U.S constitutional order, the statement is
unbelievable, and lays bare the intentions of those who have come up
with it.

However, such a statement during a year in which legislative elections
will be held in Venezuela reaffirms once again the interventionist
nature of U.S. foreign policy.

The severity of this executive measure has alerted the governments of
Latin America and the Caribbean who, in January 2014, at the Second
CELAC Summit in Havana, declared the region a Zone of Peace, and these
countries repudiate any act prejudicial to this, as they have
accumulated enough experiences of imperial intervention throughout
their history.

The Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba reiterates once
again its unconditional support and that of our people for the
Bolivarian Revolution, the legitimate government of President Nicolás
Maduro Moros and the heroic sister nation of Venezuela.

Nobody has the right to intervene in the internal affairs of a
sovereign State or to declare it, without grounds, a threat to its
national security.

Just as Cuba was never alone, Venezuela will not be either.

Havana, March 9, 2015
……………………………………………………………….

……………………..
Venezuela Reinforces Plan to Fight Extreme Poverty

Caracas, Mar 8 (Prensa Latina) More than 38,000 Venezuelan families
have been registered in the national list of the Great Housing Mission,
a program aimed at fighting extreme poverty, said a government source
on Sunday.

According to the vice president for the Social Area, Hector Rodriguez,
the register, which started on February 22, aims to study the food,
health, and education needs that still affect a sector of the
population.

Rodriguez added that the study will allow quantifying the families who
are in extreme poverty conditions, and along with other social plans
created by the Government, meeting their demands.

Figures show that 5.4 percent of the population still live in those
conditions, and the Government must protect them, said Rodriguez.

The register includes holding assemblies with the communities, listing
the families in extreme poverty situation, visiting houses accompanied
by experts, and making a diagnosis and designing a program to assist
those families.

The vice president for the Social Area added that the plan’s objective
is to reach 3,500 communities nationwide in no less than 30 months.

With regard to this initiative, President Nicolas Maduro said that
protecting the Venezuelan families is a task for the ministers and
other top government officials who are visiting home by home.
……………………………………………………………….

…………………………………….
Venezuela Implements New Measures against Economic War

Caracas, Mar 9 (Prensa Latina) Control measures in places of food
distribution are implemented today in Venezuela as part of strategies
to overcome the economic war staged by the right-wing with foreign
support.

To prevent hoarding, speculation on prices and smuggling of goods at
borders, from today some 20,000 devices with fingerprints scanners will
be placed at public markets and seven private ones, seeking a better
control of consumers.

According to President Nicolas Maduro, the initiative seeks to ensure
safe food and staple supply for the population.

Maduro reiterated that these actions are part of the economic
offensive carried out by the Government.

Maduro regularly denounces that opposition groups are involved in
economic sabotage, hoarding, speculation and induced shortage to affect
the quality of life of Venezuelan families and spread a false image of
crises and chaos in the country.

Despite this economic war, Venezuela managed to lower the usual
unemployment rates and continues reducing poverty and misery, as well
as increasing university registration up to 2,7000,000 students with
free and quality education as a social right, said Maduro.