Some Observations: Venezuela, Cuba and the Trump Administration

Venezuela's slide into Cuban totalitarianism needs to be confronted

Venezuela should allow Leopoldo Lopez, a political prisoner & husband of @liliantintori (just met w/ @marcorubio) out of prison immediately. pic.twitter.com/bt8Xhdo7al

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017

 The Maduro regime in Caracas on February 15, 2017 ordered cable providers to take CNN in Spanish off the air, days after CNN aired an investigation into the fraudulent issuing of Venezuelan passports and visas. Minutes later, reported Hannah Dreier over twitter "it's already gone from all cable channels" in Venezuela.

Freedom House had already declared Venezuela "not free" in its annual world report and removing CNN in Spanish from all cable channels in the country only underlines and confirms that this South American nations is no longer free.

The Trump Administration's press spokesman announced on February 3, 2017 that the White House was conducting a review of U.S. - Cuba policy with a human rights focus. Ten days later on February 13, 2017 the Treasury Department announced sanctions against Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami who has been linked to drug trafficking. These items are connected because Venezuela is a de facto colony of Cuba. Cuban intelligence officers and generals are operating on the ground training the Maduro regime in totalitarian tactics to repeat the Cuban model there.

Nicolas Maduro and Cuban General Ramiro Valdez in Venezuela

On the same day that the Maduro regime pulled CNN in Spanish off the air in Venezuela President Trump met with Lilian Tintori, wife of imprisoned opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez and according to Senator Marco Rubio's communication's director Alex Burgos over twitter she spoke to him and Vice President Pence "about human rights abuses by [the] Maduro dictatorship and the 109 political prisoners behind bars." 

This meeting was important because the Obama Administration had sought to marginalize her, refusing to receive her and today she is in The White House briefing both the President and the Vice President on the situation in Venezuela. Following the meeting President Donald Trump tweeted that Leopoldo Lopez was a political prisoner who should be immediately freed.

President Trump is right that Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez is a prisoner of conscience who should be immediately released.

Hopefully Cuban democratic opposition leaders will have the same opportunity and the bad days of the Obama Administration bending over backwards for the Castro dictatorship including threatening to forcefully eject the daughter of martyred Cuban human rights icon if she dared ask a question in the Kerry State Department.

The Trump Administration's ongoing review of Cuba policy with a human rights focus is good news for Cuban democrats and human rights defenders. As is the meeting with Lilian Tintori and call for the freedom of her husband, Leopoldo Lopez.

All eyes on Venezuela: Mass civil disobedience underway

Venezuelan women take to the streets demanding change

We did it Venezuela, told the dictatorship recall will be this year. - Ana Karina Garcia

Venezuela is in the news again with The Washington Post declaring Maduro's regime a dictatorship because it is ignoring its own constitutional laws in blocking a referendum on his continued rule.

Today, Venezuelan women are protesting by the thousands met in Miranda Park and took to the highway demanding the law be respected and the referendum on Maduro's rule to be held this year.


However it is important to remember that Venezuela has been a dictatorship for far longer than this past week. Students have been shot, killed and tortured for their nonviolent opposition to the regime. Cuban state security is assisting the Maduro regime to repress Venezuela's democrats along with Cuban soldiers. Workers are being stripped of their rights in Venezuela. Opposition leaders have been subjected to show trials and sentenced to long prison terms. The 2012 presidential election in Venezuela fell far short of international standards and was stolen from the opposition.

Secretary of State John Kerry in  August of 2015 ignoring the above reality and believing that the relationship between the U.S. government and the Castro regime had been fundamentally changed said "the United States and Cuba are talking about ways to solve the Venezuelan crisis." 

Meanwhile members of the Maduro regime hide billions in overseas bank accounts, traffic in narcotics, while Venezuelans go hungry in Venezuela and do not have access to the most minimal healthcare.

The international environment and the Obama Administration's outreach to the Castro regime leaves the Venezuelan democratic opposition in a more isolated and vulnerable position. This was easily predicted when the new Cuba policy was announced and is now a reality with Latin America imploding. The only option for the democratic opposition in Venezuela is to resist nonviolently and to develop a well thought out strategy of non-violent civic resistance.

Venezuelans have been standing up for freedom and need the solidarity of all people of good will. These are difficult times when international leadership on human rights is absent to a large degree.

All eyes on Venezuela this week because the democratic opposition needs your solidarity. 

Update October 23, 2016: Opposition National Assembly votes to place Nicolas Maduro on trial for violating Democracy.

The Maduro regime's inhumane treatment of Venezuela's political prisoners

"In Venezuela there is a tomb for prisoners, in Venezuela human rights are violated #AmnestyIsFreedom" - Lilian Tintori over twitter, April 18, 2016

Lilian Tintori, wife of Venezuelan prisoner of conscience and opposition Leopoldo Lopez alluded in her tweet to a powerful article that appeared the same day. Attorney and human rights defender Tamara Suju Roa began her essay "The Tomb and the isolation cell" on the unseen harm done to Venezuelan prisoners of conscience:

The invisible wounds that Lorent Saleh and Gabriel Valles present may be overcome, maybe not. Perhaps only time really know what physical and psychological damage that confinement in The Tomb is going to leave them for the rest of their lives. Fear, humiliation, guilt, profound sadness, nervous disorder, despair, boredom for their physical appearance, form part of the psychological symptoms that those long isolated in extreme locations without ventilation and natural light.

 Venezuela, under the Maduro regime, continues to be a country in which there is not an independent judiciary that has rejected an amnesty law for prisoners of conscience and where Cuba's Castro regime continues to have undue influence over the internal affairs of the country. More information on the Tomb continues in the video below.

Rosa Maria Payá in solidarity with Cubans and Venezuelans

"We wish to express our solidarity with all those who suffer from any form of oppression and injustice, and with those in the world who have been silenced or marginalized." - Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas

"We can't look away while human rights are violated in a sister country" - Patricio Walker, President of the Senate of Chile 

Rosa Maria Payá with Patricio Walker in Venezuela

Rosa Maria Payá, daughter of martyred Cuban opposition leader Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, is carrying on her father's Christian democratic legacy of solidarity with those suffering oppression and injustice both inside and outside of Cuba. Rosa Maria, along with Cuban musicians, visited her compatriots stranded on the frontier with Nicaragua and took part in a solidarity concert  on Thursday, December 3rd to lift their spirits.

Rosa Maria Payá with David D Omni and Cuban refugees in Costa Rica

 Today she is in Venezuela as an observer in the parliamentary elections that will be held on Sunday, December 6, 2015 over twitter Rosa Maria stated her objectives clearly: "I'm in Caracas for the elections to support transparency and democracy [for] Venezuela and Cuba." In an earlier tweet she explained that she had been invited to Venezuela by Patricio Walker, a long time friend of human rights and liberty in Cuba, who is now president of the Chilean Senate.

All eyes on Venezuela, international solidarity with Venezuelan democrats needed!

Rosa Maria Payá together with Ana Karina Garcia, Lilian Tintori and other activists

Wife of jailed Venezuelan opposition leader reads his letter to the Venezuelan people

Lillian Tintori reads Leopoldo's letter to the Venezuelan people 

Lilian at a rally September 11, 2015 at the Plaza Martí in Chacaíto

Translation taken from Free Leopoldo

Leopoldo's Letter to the Venezuelan People

What follows is the English translation of a letter from Leopoldo to the people of Venezuela. The letter was read by his wife Lilian at a rally today at the Plaza Martí in Chacaíto, where Leopoldo was arrested in February 2014.

He who tires, loses and I will never tire of fighting for a free Venezuela!

More than a year ago, the corrupt elite that governs Venezuela ordered my arrest in the vain hope that I would flee the country.  I chose to step forward, and present myself to the dictatorship in full view of the world.  I made this decision without hesitation.  I was prepared to confront the full weight of the dictatorship’s abuses.  I was fully aware of what I was facing and the likely consequences.  I was, and am, at peace with that.

Today, those consequences are a reality.  I have been convicted by an elite that has demonstrated openly and brazenly that there is no level of dishonesty it won’t stoop to in order to preserve its power and privileges.  But even now I do not regret in the least the decision I took.  I am at peace, for a simple and powerful reason:  great causes deserve great sacrifices.

I am more convinced than ever of the righteousness of our cause, which is none other than the liberation of an entire people who suffer the painful consequences of a model that has failed economically, politically and socially;  a fair and democratic cause seeking Venezuela's peace, well-being and progress; a human cause that wants all rights for all people, without exclusions or privileges; above all a moral cause, one that compels us to always be on the side of the victims and never on the side of the predators.

In issuing this judgment, Venezuela’s governing elite hopes to utterly demoralize all those who strive for a better country.   They want to kill our hopes and make us believe this noble cause is not worth the suffering.  They want us to surrender to their abuses without further resistance.

But sisters and brothers, this judgment can only make us stronger in our convictions.  We cannot allow ourselves to be overcome, we cannot tire, on the contrary, we must rise again and again to achieve peacefully and democratically the change that our country so badly needs.  This is what I'm going to do and it is also what I, from the bottom of my heart, urge you to do.

For Venezuela to move forward we must change the system, which can only happen by standing up to the corrupt elite that holds our country prisoner. On December 6, we have an excellent opportunity to move in that direction, and secure change that will allow us to open the door to a better future for ourselves and our children.

In these difficult times, I recall the words of the pacifist leader Mahatma Gandhi who said: "You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.”

Today they have Venezuela in chains but we have the strength, the endurance and the faith to make our country free again.

Lastly, to my beloved Lilian, give to our children a very special message: they will hear from some people that their father is guilty and that he will be imprisoned for many years.  That is not true.  Today your father is freer than ever.  My soul, my ideas and my love for you flies high, very high, in the sky above our beautiful Venezuela.  I am here and I am not going anywhere.  They will not be able to tear us apart and I promise that we will soon all live together in the Best Venezuela, where we will laugh, play and sing without feeling fear.

 

¡Strength and Faith!
 Leopoldo López
September 11, 2015
 Ramo Verde Military Prison
 Sentenced to 13 years and 9 months in prison

Free Leopoldo López Mendoza Now!

"Chances are when you read this letter I will already be jailed on the orders of Nicolas Maduro; a situation that I 'm willing to take on if in something it contributes to awaken our people on the need to together make a change." - Leopoldo López Mendoza, letter to Pope Francisco February 17, 2014

Leopoldo López on February 18, 2014 addressing supporters before turning himself in

On June 29, 2015 thirty human rights organizations in a written statement to the UN Human Rights Committee gave an overview of the human rights situation in Venezuela which included the following:

"There are persistent reports of extrajudicial executions, excessive use of force, torture and other ill-treatment and arbitrary detentions. Journalists, human rights defenders and critics of the government continue to be attacked and harassed." [...] "The justice system is inefficient and continues to suffer from a lack of independence and impartiality. As a result, the vast majority of  human rights violations remain unpunished, depriving victims, who often face ongoing harassment of their right to truth and justice, and adequate reparation."

The ongoing political show trial of Leopoldo López Mendoza is a cautionary example of the radical deterioration of human rights in Venezuela and the lack of an independent judiciary to defend them. Leopoldo López has been arbitrarily detained since February 18, 2014. The Venezuelan opposition leader turned himself over to authorities after gathering tens of thousands of Venezuelans in a massive street protest where he explained the reasons why he would subject himself to this unjust process and then reaffirmed his commitment to nonviolence:

"Well brothers and sisters I ask you to continue in this fight and do not leave the street, to assume our right to protest, but to do it in peace and without violence, I ask that us, all of us that are here, all of the Venezuelans that want a change, to get informed, educated, organized, and to execute non-violent protests, the protests of masses, and the will of souls and hearts that want to change, but without hurting your neighbor."

In August of 2014, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined that the detention of Leopoldo López was arbitrary, and recommended that Venezuela immediately release him. On June 30, 2015 in an address to the United Nations Human Rights Council Lilian Tintori outlined the circumstances of his imprisonment:

My husband Leopoldo is in jail for speaking out against the human rights violations that occur in our country, the right to life is violated every 20 minutes, homicides last year were above 25,000, inflation, medicine and food scarcity is more that 72%. [...] In 2014, there were more than 3700 arbitrary detentions. I am here as a wife, as a mother that is raising her two children alone.  My husband and opposition leaders are in jail for demanding democratic change through constitutional, non-violent methods. They have not committed any crime.

Leopoldo López has spent one year, 6 months and 19 days jailed for his defense of human rights and his call for nonviolent resistance to restore Venezuelan democracy. Unfortunately the political show trial he has been subjected to threatens him with a 14 year prison term.  What is being done to Leopoldo in Venezuela is unheard of in a democracy, but common practice in Cuba. The small island nation now controls the Maduro regime in Venezuela.   Only a combination of international solidarity with internal civic nonviolent resistance will obtain Leopoldo's freedom. This is my small contribution to inform and demonstrate my solidarity. What do you plan to do?

Leopoldo López Mendoza in his prison cell in 2015

Wife of Jailed Venezuelan Opposition Leader Addresses U.N.

Lilian Tintori, the wife of Venezuelan opposition leader and prisoner of conscience Leopoldo Lopez, testified this week before the UN Human Rights Council. 

Testimony of Lilian Tintori before UNHRC, 30 June 2015

Thank you, Mr. President.

My name is Lilian Tintori and I am Venezuelan. I have the honor to make this declaration on behalf of UN Watch.

Article 2 of the Durban Declaration prohibits all forms of discrimination, including discrimination based on political or other opinions.

I am here for all the names I have on my chest and my back. They are tortured, persecuted and killed. My husband Leopoldo Lopez, opposition leader in Venezuela, unjustly in jail, is only one of many cases. I speak in his name and in the name of all those silenced, like Geraldine Moreno, assassinated in close range, and Jose Manuel Carrasco, raped with a weapon in his anus, both by state security forces.

My husband Leopoldo is in jail for speaking out against the human rights violations that occur in our country, the right to life is violated every 20 minutes, homicides last year were above 25,000, inflation, medicine and food scarcity is more that 72%. Leopoldo has been in jail for 16 month, 9 of which in solitary confinement, with inhuman treatment and torture. In 2014, there were more than 3700 arbitrary detentions. I am here as a wife, as a mother that is raising her two children alone.

My husband and opposition leaders are in jail for demanding democratic change through constitutional, non-violent methods. They have not committed any crime. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined that Leopoldo had been detained in violation of international law, as did the Committee Against Torture, the High Commissioner and the Special Rapporteur Against Torture.

The Venezuelan government must respect the rights of all people. Today there are 75 political prisoners that should be liberated. Isolation should stop. The Tumba, a white torture center, has to be closed. The Red Cross should have access to prisons and we have to put an end to impunity.

Venezuela continues to be a member of this Council, when it violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We dream and work for a positive change for all Venezuelans. I ask this Council to demand the liberation of all political prisoners in Venezuela.

Thank you, Mr. President.

 

World Protest for Freedom in Venezuela Reaches Miami

From Caracas to Miami and across the world Venezuelans gather to demand freedom under hashtag
#30MVamosTodos

"This is the sign that in Venezuela Yes We Can! United all is possible!" - Lilian Tintori

The above image was taken in Venezuela today and tweeted by Lilian Tintori, the wife of prisoner of conscience and opposition leader Leopoldo López Mendoza, this morning at 11:22am Caracas time. In Miami at 9:00am Venezuelans gathered under the statue of Simon Bolivar at the Torch of Freedom in Bayfront Park and listened to rousing calls for freedom from Venezuelan opposition leaders and community activists.  Among them was Carlos Vecchio, of Leopoldo's political party "Voluntad Popular."

The event ended with scores of Venezuelans singing their national anthem above are some videos and below are some photos from this morning's event in Miami. This world protest comes one day after the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights expressed its concerns over the treatment of Daniel Ceballos and Leopoldo López. Both men are currently on hunger strike and these protests around the world are calling for their demands to be met.

Carlos Vecchio, of Voluntad Popular, addressing the gathering in Miami

Venezuelans singing the national anthem at the end of the event this morning

Briefly met Carlos Vecchio, of Voluntad Popular today at the rally

Lilian Tintori's Call to Action: Dress Venezuela in white for peace and hope

Marking one year of Leopoldo Lopez's unjust imprisonment

#DressVzlaWhite

Text in the above photo:"This next 18F, as we did a year ago, lets dress in white in solidarity with all Venezuelans victims of the abuses and arbitrary actions of the dictatorship. Let us dress Venezuela in white, dress her of peace and hope."
 
One year ago today opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez addressed a letter to His Holiness Pope Francis on the eve of turning himself over to the Nicolas Maduro regime on February 18, 2014 in which he stated:

I am writing this letter from the underground and within a few hours of appearing before the manipulated justice of my country, which has issued an arrest warrant attributing against me the crimes of murder and terrorism, for the simple fact of having called our people to exercise our right to protest as it is protected in our Constitution and the fundamental rights of free men. This situation of persecution and criminalization of protest has affected hundreds of youth who have been detained, tortured and subjected to unfounded processes that seek to plant fear and limit the voice of millions of Venezuelans who promote change.

The next day addressing a crowd of tens of thousands, before peacefully turning himself in, Leopoldo called on Venezuelans to continue in their nonviolent struggle for change:

Well brothers and sisters I ask you to continue in this fight and do not leave the street, to assume our right to protest, but to do it in peace and without violence, I ask that us, all of us that are here, all of the Venezuelans that want a change, to get informed, educated, organized, and to execute non-violent protests, the protests of masses, and the will of souls and hearts that want to change, but without hurting your neighbor. I ask you not to lose faith, and I am sure in the name of my children, my daughter Manuela, my son Leopoldo, and like Luis Eloy Blanco once said, who is the father of one child is the father of all the children. In the name of all the children of Venezuela, I swear we will prevail and that soon we will have a Free and Democratic Venezuela. 

His wife Lillian Tintori, who has campaigned for her husband's release inside and outside of Venezuela for the past year, is warning that her husband's life is in danger and is calling over twitter on people of good will tomorrow (February 18, 2015) to dress in white and to place a white scarf or flag in your window in solidarity with Leopoldo Lopez and for peace in Venezuela.

Protests at the United Nations in Caracas and New York City a success

"Together we will achieve the FREEDOM of political prisoners in Venezuela!" - Lilian Tintori

Protests at the United Nations today in New York City (Left) and Caracas (right)

Lilian Tintori, the wife of Venezuelan prisoner of conscience Leopoldo López Mendoza, successfully held simultaneous nonviolent protests at the United Nations in New York City and in Caracas to demand that human rights be respected in Venezuela and that all prisoners of conscience in Venezuela be freed. Over twitter today she announced:

"To protest for our rights is not only a right it is our obligation! Today I go to the United Nations. Venezuela our call is to a nonviolent and peaceful protest. Today I go to the United Nations for my human rights. Human rights belong to us, they are not negotiated and are enshrined in our constitution and in the United Nations."

Letter turned into the United Nations in Caracas today

 In Caracas, Lilian Tintori met with United Nations officials and turned in the above letter demanding the release of political prisoners and measures to restore human rights and democratic norms in Venezuela. Demonstrations in solidarity with these demands also erupted in Mexico.

Protest in Mexico for human rights in Venezuela on September 26, 2014

In recent days the systematic decline in and violation of human rights in Venezuela has called the attention of the Organization of American States and The New York Times. 

The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on September 22, 2014 expressed "its deepest concern for the deterioration of the right to freedom of expression in Venezuela in light of the recent events that took place in that country. These events include the continued stigmatization by high-level public officials of critical media outlets and journalists, punitive lawsuits and the dismissal of journalists, and the reported blocking of the internet signal of media outlets." 

The New York Times Editorial Board published an editorial on September 20, 2014 titled, "Venezuela's Crackdown on Opposition" highlighting among other travesties the show trial of opposition leader, Leopoldo López that has been underway since July 2014.

The struggle for freedom and human rights in Venezuela continues.

Simultaneous Protests at the UN in New York and Caracas for human rights in Venezuela

"Living the abuse of a dictatorship leads me to have an unwavering commitment to achieve democracy." - Leopoldo López Mendoza, Venezuelan prisoner of conscience September 17, 2014

For Freedom: Protest Against Maduro Friday Sept. 26 at 12 noon at the UN in NYC

Lilian Tintori, the wife of Venezuelan prisoner of conscience Leopoldo López Mendoza, has called for simultaneous nonviolent protests at the United Nations in New York City and in Caracas to demand that human rights be respected in Venezuela.

Ten days ago on September 16, 2014 addressing the UN Human Rights Council I named the first students extrajudicially executed by Venezuelan government agents in February of 2014: Bassil Dacosta, Robert Redman, Génesis Carmona and Geraldine Moreno and went on to recall that "[s]ince February 12, 2014 forty three youths have been killed while protesting rising insecurity and vanishing rights in their country. Over 5000 have been injured and 3,000 arbitrarily detained."

"Freedom for all the youths and students jailed"

 Now is the time to stand up and nonviolently protest and demand that those responsible for the killings be brought to justice and those arbitrarily detained such as Leopoldo López Mendoza.

Although I am far away from Caracas and New York City tomorrow the Venezuelan men and women who continue to be unjustly imprisoned and those peacefully protesting for them will be in my thoughts and prayers.

All to the UN this Friday September 26 at 11am in Caracas

Imprisoned Opposition Leader Gathers Tens of Thousands of Venezuelans and Calls on Maduro to Resign

"Who Tires Loses"-  Leopoldo López 

Leopoldo's wife, Lilian Tintori reads his letter at Saturday rally

 On March 19, 2014 Leopoldo López called on Venezuelans to take to the streets on Saturday, March 22, 2014 to increase their nonviolent defiance of the Maduro dictatorship and in doing so break it. On Saturday tens upon tens of thousands of Venezuelans went into the street across Venezuela. At an open air rally surrounded by tens of thousands, his wife, Lilian Tintori read a letter Leopoldo had written for that day in which he called on Maduro to resign in order to save the country or be forced out by the Venezuelan people. Video of the event is embedded below along with pictures of the mass protest. Leopoldo López has been unjustly imprisoned since February 18, 2014 the same day that Génesis Carmona was shot in the head by agents of the Maduro government. She died a day later. The torture and killing of students by government forces continues and the number of dead , due to regime repression of nonviolent dissent, stands at 34.

Leopoldo López to Maduro: Resign to save Venezuela 

Lilian Tintori: I will read this letter that is Leopoldo’s message today:

"This letter that I write from my cell in Ramo Verde is addressed to Nicolás Maduro who no one doubts has become the dictator of Venezuela. The serious crisis facing our country today is not the fault of the people, or of those who support the regime, or those of us whom oppose it. The blame Maduro is yours and of the inefficient, corrupt and undemocratic system you lead.

I invite you from the solitude of power, of one who does not have the ability to lead the destinies of the nation and who has only repression and violence remaining, to think: How you would save Venezuela if you would resign:

If you resign we could advance towards a system of justice respectful of human rights and fair to all without exclusions or privileges;

If you resign we would have a chance to bury impunity thus reaping the security, peace and tranquility we Venezuelans so desire;

If you resign the whole country could get to work on building a strong economy, made in Venezuela and for Venezuelans, the source of prosperity and progress for all and thus overcome inequality and poverty in peace and democracy.

The first solution you have in your hands but it should be clear, very clear, that you are not the owner of Venezuela. We are not afraid of you, your tanks, your unjust justice, or your lies. The people remain in the streets because the constitution indicates it. The people have lost so much that they have lost fear.

For Venezuela, for our children, Strength and Faith!
Leopoldo López

#22M Protest in Chacao, Venezuela

Spanish text of the speech as delivered:

 Leopoldo López a Maduro: renuncia para salvar a Venezuela

Lilian Tintori: Voy a leer esta carta que es el mensaje de Leopoldo el día de hoy:

“Esta carta que escribo de mi celda de Ramo Verde va dirigida a Nicolás Maduro quien ya nadie duda se ha convertido en el dictador de Venezuela. La grave crisis por la que hoy atraviesa nuestro país no es culpa del pueblo ni de los quien apoyan al régimen ni de los quien nos oponemos. La culpa, Maduro, es tuya y del sistema ineficiente, corrupto y antidemocrático que diriges.

Te invito a que desde la soledad del poder, de quien no tiene la capacidad de conducir los destinos de la nación y solo le ha quedado la represión y la violencia, a que pienses: cómo salvarías a Venezuela si tú renunciaras:

Si tu renuncias pudríamos avanzar hacia un sistema de justicia respetoso de los derechos humanos y justo para todos sin exclusión ni privilegios;

Si tu renuncias tendríamos la oportunidad de enterrar la impunidad para así cosechar la seguridad, la paz y la tranquilidad que tanto deseamos los venezolanos;

Si tu renuncias el país entero podría ponerse a trabajar en la construcción de una economía fuerte, hecha en Venezuela y para los venezolanos, fuente de prosperidad y progreso para todos y poder así superar la desigualdad y la pobreza en paz y en democracia.

La primera solución la tienes en tus manos pero debe estar claro, muy claro, que no eres el dueño de Venezuela. No te tenemos miedo, ni a ti, ni a tus tanquetas, ni a tu justicia injusta, ni a tus mentiras. El pueblo seguirá en las calles porque así lo indica la constitución. El pueblo ha perdido tanto que a perdido el miedo.

Por Venezuela, por nuestros hijos, ¡Fuerza y fe!”

Leopoldo López

#22M protest in Maracaibo, Venezuela.

Venezuela: Repression and Death versus Freedom and Life

Women protesting outside the Cuban Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela

 Today marks two weeks since the Youth Day in Venezuela began on February 12 sparking a series of nonviolent demonstrations that were met with deadly force by President Maduro's security forces and paramilitaries. The response to Maduro's repression has been two weeks of massive protests across the country. Maduros and his Cuban allies have responded by escalating repression by what has now revealed itself to be for all purposes to be a dictatorship operating in Venezuela. Alessandra Solini who produced a video explaining the reasons for the protests on February 16, 2014 has produced another video showing compelling images of what is taking place across Venezuela which is embedded below.



Opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, unjustly jailed on February 18th continues imprisoned and is a prisoner of conscience. His wife  Lilian Tintori and a National Assembly Deputy, María Corina Machado, are calling on "mothers, grandmothers, and sisters" at 10:00am today February 26, 2014 to protest in the streets of Venezuela "for the fallen, the tortured, for the prisoners" under the name "women for LIFE" asking women to dress in white and to march silently with white flowers.

 The number of deaths, and equally disturbing the number of students who are being disappeared, are escalating. The picture below has the names and images of nine of the victims of the Maduro regime's brutality but the number of known murder victims is now at 16 as of five hours ago.

Meanwhile in Cuba activists have taken to the streets in solidarity with their Venezuelan counterparts and have been subjected to threats, brutal beatings, and detentions. Last week Cubans and Venezuelans came together in Miami announcing a coalition.

Today will have the women of Venezuela in my thoughts as ten in the morning approaches and they begin their silent protest dressed in white carrying white flowers. The tactics of repression of the Castro regime are duplicated in Venezuela by Maduro but also the democratic opposition, in this case women dressed in white silently carrying white flowers demanding an end to repression, are following a path laid down by Cuba's Ladies in White.

Prayers and solidarity for the student movement in Venezuela seeking to be the authors of their destiny and to rescue their country from the totalitarian abyss and to the women of Venezuela who are demanding an end to repression and risking their own lives in the process.

The choice is clear in Venezuela: Maduro government offers violence, repression and death versus a student movement nonviolently fighting for freedom and life.

What is taking place in Venezuela is an example of civic courage that will be remembered through the ages.