Hundreds of thousands of Argentines march for truth and justice in the Nisman case

 Silent protest for truth and justice in Argentina

Silent protest in Buenos Aires on February 18

The case of Alberto Nisman, the Argentine prosecutor found dead hours before testifying on the 1994 AMIA bombing on January 18, is shaking up not only the political establishment with an investigation that reaches into the office of the presidency but the entire country. Panam Post provided a breakdown of who's who in the Nisman case. On the one month anniversary of his death a quarter of a million Argentines took to the streets in a silent march carrying signs that read: "Verdad" and "Justicia" (Truth and Justice in Spanish). The protest was called by federal prosecutors and attended by the prosecutor's family and opposition politicians. The prosecutors organizing the event called for a silent march to elevate from the hustle and bustle of normal political protests and it succeeded.

Reuters/Enrique Marcarian

The motive for killing Nisman was apparently in order to avoid implicating President Kirchner in a criminal conspiracy to cover up the 1994 AMIA bombing, the  greatest terrorist act in Argentine history. Below is an advert for the February 18, 2015 protest.

Geraldine Moreno shot repeatedly with iron pellets at close range by the Bolivarian National Guard

23 year old college student standing in her doorway attacked by National Guard died three days later

Geraldine Moreno (23 years old) before and after the attack

Brutal February 19 attack destroys 23 year old women's face

Liseth Madía, cousin of Geraldine Moreno Orozco, recounted to El Universal that the 23 year old university student and athlete from Carabobo was shot repeatedly in the face by members of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) on February 19, 2014 during a demonstration in the area of the Naguanagua municipality in the Tazajal sector. "That was around 8:00 pm in front of her house in Bayona Country I residences, she was assaulted in a cowardly manner with a weapon that fires pellets, which were not plastic but of iron."

Geraldine Moreno who was in her fifth semester of Cytotechnology at Arturo Michelena University, was with four friends and from her residence they watched the persons protesting on the corner of the street where there was a barricade when six members of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) on motorcycles arrived on site to disperse the demonstration.

Everyone present ran. "She (running) turned when the persons behind her came and she fell because they shot at her and fired near the face, then when she tried to stand up they fired again into her face and that is when they destroyed all her visage," said Geraldine's cousin Madia .

She died three days later from her injuries

At 12:43pm on February 22, 2014 the student from Valencia, Geraldine Moreno, died.  She died from the wounds generated by the pellets fired at close range into her face by members of the National Guard who destroyed her face and one eye.

One year later

Geraldine's mom Rosa Orozco seeks justice for her daughter

According to the Panam Post four military functionaries have been arrested and are on trial for the killing of the 23 year old studis no longer independentent. On January 8 the hearing for the functionaries implicated in this murder was deferred for the sixth time. Unfortunately, the judiciary in Venezuela is no longer independent and is subject to the whims and designs of the executive which means in practice Nicolas Maduro. 

Geraldine's mother, Rosa Orozco in a February 5, 2015 interview with NTN24 denounced the judicial delays and recalled the circumstances of her daughter's murder: "Those GNB fired into Geraldine's face, she was peacefully standing in the door way of her home and some GNB arrived shooting." ... "Finally she asked the Ombudsman to dedicate himself to all the victims"and work to resolve the cases of the 43 victims of the violent protests that took place between February and June 2014."

Remembering Génesis Carmona one year after Maduro's colectivos shot her in the head

Mass to be held for her at her alma mater in Venezuela tomorrow at 9:30am

Génesis Carmona: 20 September 1991 – 19 February 2014

The headline in the February 20, 2014 edition of People Magazine read " Venezuelan Beauty Pageant Winner Killed in Anti-Government Protest." The beauty pageant winner's name was Génesis Carmona and she was 22 years old. She was a model who had won the Miss Tourism Carabobo beauty pageant in 2013. On her Twitter account Génesis described herself as “friendly, but not stupid!” and “passionate about life.” She was studying marketing at Center Technological University (UNITEC) and was in her last year of study. Her alma mater has announced a special service in her memory tomorrow marking the one year of her untimely death:

UNITEC will officiate a Mass in memory of the student Génesis Carmona. Center Technological University will officiate a Mass in memory of the student Génesis Carmona on Thursday February 19 at 9:30 am at the Guacara Campus, after a year of her untimely death when she was overtaken by gunshots during a march in Valencia. The UNITEC authorities invite the entire university community to attend Mass to remember our alumn, who lost her life following some acts of violence.

What happened
Génesis Carmona was marching at approximately 4:00 pm on Tuesday February 18, 2014, near Cedeño Avenue and the intersection of Carabobo, when  a group of masked gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on the demonstrators. Génesis was shot in the head in the left occipital region. She was with her sister Alejandra Carmona at the moment it happened. Alejandra in a radio interview said "I was with her, when the motorized units (of the Government), we fled running. We were stopped on a street corner, looking up and then suddenly she fell."  

Genesis Carmona is evacuated on a motorcycle after being shot.

According to VOXXI the "22-year-old was rushed in a motorcycle to the Medical Center Guerra Mendez in Valencia, where she was operated and kept in intensive care. Less than 24 hours later on 12:14 p.m., the doctors announced that she had died from her injury. 

Jorge Ramos of Univsion interviewed Gabriel Cegarra,  the young man who was holding Génesis on the back of the motorcycle as they hurried to get her to the hospital. Below courtesy of John Sexton of Breitbart is a translation of an excerpt of the interview:

Ramos: The images of the students that have lost their lives in the protests in Venezuela are impressive because, in the majority of cases, they have been shot at and they have no way of defending themselves. To these images we add this impressive photo: beauty queen Genesis Carmona being carried away as she was dying. The student is named Gabriel Cegarra, who had her in his arms to try to save her life. He joins us now via satellite from Valencia, Carabobo state. Gabriel, thank you for speaking with us. What happened that day? Where were you?
Gabriel Cegarra: We were in Cedeño Ave, Valencia. We were protesting there– the protest concentration was there. There was a large group of us there protesting normally, peacefully. All of a sudden we began to see motorcycles on the north side of Cedeño Ave. That is a steep street, and at the top of the street we saw motorcycles with, um, they were armed and over there. At first they were not doing anything, they were just there
concentrated, and we were concentrated in our part and we took note of each other. Then, all of the sudden, there were gunshots, there were three rounds of gunshots. In the third, unfortunately, a bullet hit her in the head.
Ramos: The government said, without proof, that the shots came from the opposition group itself. Do you think the shots came from an armed Chavista group?
GC: Yes, because they were the only ones who were armed. We
do our protesting with a simple tricolor hat, a white shirt– which was what we
organized for that day—
Ramos: So the official version from the government is not true from your point of view? The bullets came from Chavista groups, not the opposition? This is very important.
GC: Not from the opposition, because among ourselves, I don’t think we are there to kill each other. We were just there peacefully protesting. The motorcycles that were shooting, you could see they were armed and they had red shirts, some were black striped, but there were people with red shirts.
Ramos: You already knew Genesis. At what time did you see her get shot through the head?
GC: Yes, I knew Genesis, she is my– was my “buddy” for all life. She was my friend for five years. I realized that she was shot in the head when… I heard the gunshots from where I was, I ducked, and then when I see that she is leaning on a friend’s arms.
The friend brought her to me– it was a short route, about 5 meters, something like that– and I see that when I touch her with her left arm, which I put behind my neck, I started to feel something cold on my arm, and a doctor who was there at the protests also told me, “get on your bike and get help, she’s been shot in the head.”
Ramos: That is precisely what you did. That image and that photograph traveled the world. When you were carrying her with you on the motorcycle, she was still alive, right?
GC: Yes, she was conscious.
Ramos: She was conscious. Could she talk? Did she say something?
GC: No, she didn’t speak to me but her eyes were open. With her right hand she was pulling my shirt, as you can see in the image, and with the left hand she was pulling the shirt of the motorcycle driver.
Ramos: What did you tell her?
GC: Stay still, everything will be fine, I would do everything possible I could to arrive quickly so they could treat her, not to worry, that nothing was going to happen.
Ramos: Then you arrived at the hospital. When did you find out she had died?
GC: I found out yesterday, Wednesday, around 12:50– I was making some declarations and was not at the clinic at the moment, but I got a message simply saying she had died. It was really very sad, that moment; reading that message was nothing good. I didn’t expect that to happen.

Génesis Carmona's aunt, Martha Baron, who lives in Calgary spoke out in English concerning her nieces death on February 24, 2014 to the Calgary CBC: "I would like her to be remembered as a brave girl that died for her country. That's the only way I want her to be remembered." 
 
Her last four tweets were re-tweets from others but give an insight into this young woman's state of mind and are reproduced below:

The first RT is from Leopoldo Lopez announcing that he would be on CNN in Spanish and asking for a RT which she obliged. The second from VVSincensura said that "the opposition united should defend Leopoldo Lopez and Maria Corina Machado before the intention of the government to jail them. The third from Reinaldo dos Santos gave technical advise stating "If they drop Twitter for Venezuela use a "hotspot shield" which is private navigation without restrictions. Spread the word." The last retweet from Evo Morales (not the president of Bolivia) said: "Stay with the one who tells the best stories. One day they will tell yours."


A year later

Génesis Carmona's mother, María Eugenia Tovar, and sister left Venezuela and on December 10, 2014 revealed that they are seeking political asylum and continue to demand justice for Génesis. All evidence points to the Maduro regime and its agents being responsible for this young woman's death.  Maria Eugenia Tovar, emphasized on February 12, 2015 in a sentence what that day signified for her: "Forbidden to forget our children, forbidden to forget so much pain."

 

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.

Details on Commutations Granted by Obama to 3 Cuban spies

President Obama on December 17th didn't have much to say about the release of three Cuban spies that had planned terrorist acts on U.S. soil. However the US Department of Justice offered a few more details on the release of Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernandez, and Luis Medina III.

December 15, 2014

Antonio Guerrero
 Offense: Conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, 18 U.S.C. § 371; conspiracy to gather and transmit national defense information, 18 U.S.C. § 794(c); acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General, 18 U.S.C. § 951

District/Date: Southern Florida; December 27, 2001

Sentence: 262 months' imprisonment (as amended on October 13, 2009); five years' supervised release

Terms of Grant: Sentence of imprisonment to expire on December 17, 2014, term of supervised release commuted in its entirety, and any unpaid balance of the special assessment remitted; conditioned on commutation recipient's departing from the United States on December 17, 2014, voluntarily renouncing his United States citizenship within two weeks of December 17, 2014, thereafter remaining outside the limits of the United States, its territories and its possessions, not accepting or receiving any financial benefit from any book, movie or other publication or production about his situation, renouncing any claim to benefits, including benefits under the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Program, related to employment while in the United States, and waiving and releasing any and all claims against the United States of America, its agents, servants and employees, including any actions challenging his conviction or sentence

Gerardo Hernandez
Offense: Conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, 18 U.S.C. § 371; conspiracy to gather and transmit national defense information, 18 U.S.C § 794(c); conspiracy to commit murder, 18 U.S.C. § 1117; fraud and misuse of documents, 18 U.S.C § 1546(a); possession with intent to use five or more fraudulent identification documents, 18 U.S.C. § 1028(a)(3); acting as an agent of foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General, 18 U.S.C. § 951

District/Date: Southern Florida; December 12, 2001

Sentence: Life imprisonment; five years' supervised release

Terms of Grant: Sentence of imprisonment to expire on December 17, 2014, term of supervised release commuted in its entirety, and any unpaid balance of the special assessment remitted; conditioned on commutation recipient's departing from the United States on December 17, 2014, thereafter remaining outside the limits of the United States, its territories and its possessions, not accepting or receiving any financial benefit from any book, movie or other publication or production about his situation, renouncing any claim to benefits, including benefits under the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Program, related to employment while in the United States, and waiving and releasing any and all claims against the United States of America, its agents, servants and employees, including any actions challenging his conviction or sentence

Luis Medina III, aka Ramon Labanino
Offense: Conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, 18 U.S.C. § 371; conspiracy to gather and transmit national defense information,18 U.S.C. § 794(c); fraud and misuse of documents, 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a); false statement in passport application, 18 U.S.C. § 1542; possession with intent to use five or more fraudulent identification documents, 18 U.S.C. § 1028(a)(3); acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General, 18 U.S.C. § 951

District/Date: Southern Florida; December 13, 2001

Sentence: 360 months' imprisonment (as amended on December 8, 2009); five years' supervised release

Terms of Grant: Sentence of imprisonment to expire on December 17, 2014, term of supervised release commuted in its entirety, and any unpaid balance of the special assessment remitted; conditioned on commutation recipient's departing from the United States on December 17, 2014, thereafter remaining outside the limits of the United States, its territories and its possessions, not accepting or receiving any financial benefit from any book, movie or other publication or production about his situation, renouncing any claim to benefits, including benefits under the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Program, related to employment while in the United States, and waiving and releasing any and all claims against the United States of America, its agents, servants and employees, including any actions challenging his conviction or sentence.

Source: http://www.justice.gov/pardon/obama-commutations