Warned UNHRC in 2014 that Venezuela would spiral out of control and that it required their attention

 "These situations in Cuba and Venezuela require the Human Rights Council´s attention before they spiral out of control." - John Suarez to the UN Human Rights Council 9/15/14 

Venezuela under Maduro's regime on May 18, 2016

What is happening now in Venezuela could be foreseen, but the world chose not to act. On September 15, 2014 at the United Nations Human Rights Council  under Item 4 on the agenda I read a statement ( 1 hour 33 minutes and 59 seconds) that made the case that the failure to address human rights issues nonviolently in Syria had ended in disaster and that this would be repeated elsewhere  where human rights are systematically violated. Two examples offered up as future regional disasters where Venezuela and Cuba. Repressive regimes attempted to disrupt the presentation with points of order, but the full statement was eventually read out and is reproduced below.  

Text taken from Directorio Archives

Item 4
United Nations Human Rights Council
September 15, 2014 

We welcome the conclusions of the Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic and particularly the observation that what was a “conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, once between the Government and a limited number of anti-Government armed groups, has morphed into multiple shifting conflicts involving countless actors and frontlines,” and we are in complete agreement with the report that “the regional conflagration, of which the commission has long warned, illustrates the fallacy of a military solution.” 

The disaster in Syria did not arise yesterday but is the long term result of the failure to have human rights respected there.

Unfortunately other areas exist that can also unexpectedly erupt into regional disasters. Years of freedom of expression and association being systematically outlawed, arbitrary detentions constant, along with politically motivated beatings, torture and extrajudicial killings lead to destabilizing responses.

The 2012 deaths of Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero have not been cleared up. Sonia Garro, a lady in white, remains jailed without trial since 2012 and Angel Yunier Remon Arzuaga, a musician, has been jailed for his dissenting views since March 2013. 
Bassil Dacosta, Robert Redman, Génesis Carmona and Geraldine Moreno were the first shot and killed by government agents in their country in 2014.

Since 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. Investigations are needed into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 43 Venezuelan students and Cuba’s Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero.

Ms. Garro and Mr. Arzuaga should be freed.

These situations in Cuba and Venezuela require the Human Rights Council´s attention before they spiral out of control. 

Last Chance for Freedom? Venezuela's dictatorship is cracking down on Venezuelan democrats

"Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship." - George Orwell, 1984

MariaCorina in #Aragua, Venezuela with demonstrators tonight

The democratic opposition is using constitutional means and nonviolence to seek an outcome from the current political crisis, but unfortunately according to Secretary of State John Kerry "the United States and Cuba are talking about ways to solve the Venezuelan crisis." This implies that the U.S. is on board with Maduro continuing in power in Venezuela while trying to find ways to stabilize the country by improving the government's behavior. At the same time, despite the Venezuelan regime's rhetoric, remains a major U.S. oil supplier.

Protesters gassed today in Venezuela by the Maduro regime

The Maduro regime has declared a state of emergency as a pretext to crackdown on nonviolent demonstrators exercising their constitutional rights. Today the military and national guard beat up, and tear gassed opposition demonstrators. Maduro has threatened to disappear the National Assembly.

Students repressed and hurt in Merida, Venezuela by regime

 At least 30 were arbitrarily detained today according to Alfredo Romero of the Penal Forum. At the same time armed collectives backed by the police set out to terrorize Venezuelan democrats. Some of these colectivos shot at demonstrators and burned installations at a medical school in Merida to terrorize university students. Meanwhile the regime brought in their own supporters to give the appearance of still have some measure of popular support.

Venezuelan opposition blocked by Bolivarian National Guard

Naturally the Maduro regime resorts to these same old tactics perfected by their Cuban handlers. Meanwhile the same old worn out attacks are made to any who criticize its dictatorial turn. This ignores an unpleasant fact that many would prefer to leave unmentioned. What is taking place today not only in Venezuela, but also in Nicaragua, Ecuador, Bolivia and elsewhere in Latin America is the cost of tolerating injustice in Cuba when a concerted hemispheric response in the early 1990s supporting the democratic aspirations of the Cuban people would have made all the difference.

The head of the National Assembly of Venezuela is complaining of the leadership role played by Cuban officers over the Venezuelan military over social media.

Indignación fan: Gral cubano Gregorich dentro Fuerte Tiuna emite órdenes militares cubanos y también a oficiales venezolanos clan Cabello.

— Henry Ramos Allup (@hramosallup) May 15, 2016

Núcleo 60 oficiales cubanos vive Fuerte Tiuna área Villa Alba infiltrados unidades operativas clave comanda gral cubano apellido Gregorich.

— Henry Ramos Allup (@hramosallup) May 15, 2016

The two tweets above from Henry Ramos Allup are translated as follows:

Outrage FANB: Cuban General Gregorich in Fuerte Tiuna issues orders to Cuban military and Venezuelan officers clan Cabello. Core of 60 Cuban officials live in Fuerte Tiuna infiltrated key operating units commanded by Cuban Gen last name Gregorich.

Maria Adela Castellanos of the CEA University of the Andes tweeted today that "University students protesting peacefully, and the Bolivarian National Guard and collectives lashing out and kidnapping us in the medical school."

Los universitarios protestando pacíficamente, y la GBN y colectivos arremetiendo y secuestrandonos en medicina pic.twitter.com/bKxPapXTze

— Ma Adela Castellanos (@Ade_castellanos) May 18, 2016

The Obama administration's detente policy with Cuba means that Venezuelan democrats on their own. If they are to succeed then understanding this is key to the grand strategy being plotted out and they should also understand that the military has been deeply infiltrated by and controlled by Castro regime agents and officials. The likelihood of a military coup are minimal. The best, and perhaps,  only option is nonviolent civil resistance that recognizing these realities can plot out a path to a democratic transition and the end of the Maduro regime.

Otherwise the Venezuelan government will complete its metamorphosis into a fully totalitarian communist regime and client state of the Castro regime. The difficulty in ridding oneself of that regime will be exponentially more difficult as the ongoing tragedy in Cuba demonstrates.

OAS Secretary General to President of Venezuela: To deny the people that vote ... would make you just another petty dictator

Over social media today Luis Almagro, the OAS Secretary General, responded to attacks by Nicolas Maduro and issued a press release challenging the latest dictatorial move by the government of Venezuela.

Almagro challenges Maduro not to be just another petty dictator

Message from the OAS Secretary General to the President of Venezuela

 May 18, 2016 President Nicolás Maduro,

I am not a CIA agent. And your lie, even if it is repeated a thousand times, will never be true. Nevertheless it should be clarified, although this is to deny the absurd. My conscience is clear, President, and my behavior more so. There is no threat that you can make that will even remotely affect either.

I am not a traitor. I am not a traitor to ideas, nor to principles, and this means that I am not a traitor to my people, those who feel themselves represented by the principles of freedom, honesty, decency, public integrity (yes, those who assume power as poor people and leave the same way), democracy and human rights. But you are, President. You betray your people and your supposed ideology with your rambling tirades, you are a traitor to ethics in politics with your lies and you betray the most sacred principle in politics, which is to subject yourself to the scrutiny of your people.

You should return the riches of those who have governed with you to your country, because they belong to the people, you should return justice to your people in all the senses of the word (including finding the true killers of the 43 and not the people you hold prisoner for their ideas, although they may not be yours nor mine). You should return the political prisoners to their families.

You should give the National Assembly back its legitimate power, because this comes from the people, you should return to the people the decision about their future. You will never be able to give back the lives of the children who have died in hospitals because they did not have medicine, you will never be able to free your people from so much suffering, so much intimidation, so much misery, so much distress and anxiety.

I hope that no one commits the folly of carrying out a coup d’état against you, but also that you yourself do not do so. It is your duty. You have an obligation to public decency to hold the recall referendum in 2016, because when politics are polarized the decision must go back to the people. That is what the Constitution says. To deny the people that vote, to deny them the possibility of deciding, would make you just another petty dictator, like so many this Hemisphere has had.

I know that the OAS and my work bothers you because, as the song goes, “entre los Ceibos estorba un Quebracho.” I am sorry to inform you that I neither bow down, nor am I intimidated.

Reference: E-062/16

 

All eyes on Venezuela today: Opposition takes to the street in support of Maduro recall

Opposition calls for massive and nonviolent protests in the streets

"LET US ALL GO TO THE STREET TO TOGETHER  DEFEND CHANGE"

Despite President Maduro's state of emergency in order to silence and intimidate dissent the opposition is taking to the street at 10:00am today Caracas time and one main gathering point is the Plaza Venezuela.

This at a moment when Maduro is calling the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in Brazil a coup, despite the process there being constitutional, and one that Rousseff's party had backed in removing a previous Brazilian president from power.  He has also recalled the Venezuelan ambassador to Brazil in protest.

At the same time Nicolas Maduro is claiming that there is a global media "hate" campaign against Venezuela. Let us review the real crisis in Venezuela which is caused by the Maduro regime and its Cuban advisers:

Maduro is threatening to dissolve the democratically elected National Assembly because members are rejecting the state of emergency, which would limit political freedoms.

Opposition leaders, including students, continue to be shot in the head in Venezuela, with the most recent documented incident being on May 5, 2016.

Nonviolent opposition leaders, such as Leopoldo Lopez, have been subjected to show trials and arbitrarily detained for years.

There is no independent judiciary in Venezuela. Judges are expected to do the executive branch's bidding and if they follow the rule of law can be imprisoned and raped.

Venezuela is imploding and the Maduro regime and its Cuban handlers are responsible. Shockingly the Secretary of State of the United States now views Cuba as a partner in stabilizing Venezuela despite the fact that it is the Castro regime that is responsible, in large part for the mess there.

All eyes on Venezuela today when the opposition is taking to the streets and the Maduro regime is threatening civil and political liberties there.

Call to action: Sign on the Petition to Seek Truth About the Two Tiananmen Tank Men

The power of two individuals to make a difference

What became of the two Tiananmen tank men?

Following the June 4, 1989 crackdown and massacre on June 5th one man stood up to a line of tanks involved in the Tiananmen Square slaughter to express his moral outrage and blocked them. At the same time it is important to remember that the driver in that lead tank refused to run over the protester. Both individuals are heroes and both their fates remain unknown.

The 2004 Frontline Documentary Tankman explores the significance of this act, and attempted to discover what happened. Now Initiatives for China has a campaign underway to petition the Chinese government to reveal the truth of what happened to the two Tiananmen tank men. Below is the text that Chinese human rights defenders and former prisoner of conscience Jianli Yang sent and asked to have reproduced to spread the word.

Please Sign on the Petition to Seek Truth About the Two Tiananmen Tank Men

The iconic image on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square bravely confronting PLA tanks is one of the most important photographs of the twentieth century.  It represents ordinary citizens confronting the State violence, and it is not forgotten by history.  Over more than two decades, the whole world has been asking: Where is the tank man?  As of today, the background of the tank man "Wang Weilin," and his subsequent fate are still unknown to the world.  At the same time, we should not forget that, despite the CCP's massacre order, the soldier in the tank chose not to shoot or run over his compatriot. The most logical explanation is that his conscience made him disobey the order.  This soldier is equally a hero.  As Time magazine pointed out: “[T]he heroes of the tank picture are two: the unknown figure who risked his life by standing in front of the juggernaut and the driver who rose to the moral challenge by refusing to mow down his compatriot. "

Nobody knows the fate of the two heroes, but it is our responsibility to know and to find them. For together, they symbolize that timeless truth that moral courage will triumph over cowardly cruelty.

We hereby launch the initiative of collecting signatures across the world to petition Xi Jinping for the identities, background, and the  whereabouts of the two tank men. Please sign your signature and encourage others to sign.  There is no deadline for this project, and we will continue to collect signatures until the truth is obtained.

Ways to sign

(1). Go to http://tinyurl.com/finding2tankmen

(2). Enter First Name, Last Name, Email, Country, City or Zip code.

(3). If a street address is asked, and privacy is a concern, please enter N/A.

(4). Click sign

Note: When more than one people want to use one same device to sign, the previous signer must click the small arrow beside the signer’s name and then click Log Out before the following one to enter through the link.