"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)
Supporters of a Free Venezuela today at the Freedom Tower in Miami
Venezuelan exiles and friends of a free Venezuela gathered today at the Freedom Tower to call for the recall of Nicolas Maduro and for the restoration of liberty in the South American nation that for more than a decade and a half has been subjected to increasing repression and totalitarianism. Miami is one of sixty cities were advocates for a free Venezuela have gathered to protest between September 1st and September 4th. On September 1, 2016 the democratic opposition to the Maduro regime carried out the Takeover of Caracas mobilizing over a million Venezuelans calling for freedom and a recall of Nicolas Maduro.
As a human rights activist and a son of free Cubans I took part in today's protest for two main reasons:
1) Too many Venezuelans today are prisoners of conscience; too many Venezuelans have been murdered for peacefully dissenting; too many Venezuelans are going hungry in a country that is rich in oil; and for too long the world has remained silent despite these glaring injustices.
2) The Castro regime has played a key role in destroying Venezuelan democracy and Cuban soldiers and intelligence agents have engaged in planning and carrying out repression on Venezuelan soil therefore free Cubans must be present to support their free Venezuelan counterparts wherever they are in this struggle for freedom.
Listen to the sounds and sights of freedom from today at the Freedom Tower that now has great significance for both Cubans and Venezuelans.
There are times when one must speak out because to remain silent is to be complicit in a great crime. Over the past 16 years the Chavista regime in Venezuela has undermined democracy and the rule of law in that country while erecting a totalitarian regime there. Too many continue to pretend that Venezuela is still a democracy and keep silent. However the facts speak otherwise and we owe it to courageous democratic Venezuelans not only to speak out but to take a stand for freedom in Venezuela.
Last night imprisoned opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was able to get a message out over twitter reaffirming his commitment to nonviolence as the means to achieve a better Venezuela and calling on his fellow citizens to take to the streets of Caracas today, dressed in white and nonviolently in their exercise of their fundamental rights. Recall his final speech in freedom it remains extremely relevant today.
As I write these lines, in Venezuela journalists continue to be expelled from the country, armed raids by Maduro's political police are being carried out against the nonviolent political opposition, and confirmed that 37 Venezuelans arbitrarily detained over the past 48 hours leading up to today's protest. Among them, Yon Goicoechea, a youth leader and the 2008 Milton Friedman Prize Laureate.
What drives the dissatisfaction with the Maduro regime? Consider the following:
Hugo Chavez undermined the rule of law when in 2009 over television he denounced a judge's legal decision that followed both Venezuelan and international law to release an individual who had been arbitrarily detained and called for the judges imprisonment. The judge was jailed, raped, and today is still fighting a legal battle over that arbitrary and criminal act by the late President Hugo Chavez.
Chavez regime's arbitrary seizure of private property and campaign of slander led Franklin Brito, a biologist to engage in a series of hunger strikes to demand his rights. He died on August 30, 2010 while being held in custody.
Under Nicolas Maduro the targeting of the nonviolent democratic opposition has intensified as his popularity has plummeted.
44 students were killed while peacefully protesting the Maduro regime in 2014. Many were shot in the head by snipers and paramilitary armed groups called colectivos that work in coordination with the Chavista intelligence service and military.
There are prisoners of conscience in Venezuela who are jailed simply for wanting a better Venezuela and being willing to use nonviolent and constitutional means to achieve it. The European Parliament recognizes that there are 2,000 people arbitrarily detained for political reasons in Venezuela. Their names need to known and remembered and not just the high profile names such as: Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma (2015), former mayor of the Caracas municipality of Chacao Leopoldo Lopez (2014), Popular Will party activists Francisco Márquez and Gabriel San Miguel (2016) but those who are not known such as Vasco Da Costa (2014), Araminta González, who is a victim of torture (2014) and many more.
This is why we need to stand with Caracas today, denounce the Maduro regime, and support the Venezuelan people's recall effort to rid themselves legally and constitutionally of Nicolas Maduro and the Chavista regime. In Miami on Saturday September 3rd at 3:00pm at the Freedom Tower will be an opportunity to demonstrate solidarity with Caracas and free Venezuelans.
Venezuelans in sixty cities around the world are organizing solidarity events around the hashtag #ConCaracas which translates to English #WithCaracas beginning on September 1, 2016 and ending on September 4, 2016.
*AMSTERDAM*Thursday 1, 6:00pm, Location: to be determined.
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