Global Marches For and Against Venezuelan President See Mixed Turnout

There is clearly a lot of money and effort being put into these attacks by the global right on Chavez and his policies in Latin America - it is clear that the US government is helping orchestrate this movement - hard times coming....

Global Marches For and Against Venezuelan President See Mixed Turnout
September 7th 2009, by Tamara Pearson - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, September 6th, 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) - In response to a "global" protest promoted over Facebook.com against Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, there were marches and rallies across Venezuela and in various other countries on Friday and Saturday to both support Chavez and to reject the new US run military bases in Colombia.

Participants report that around 50,000 Chavez supporters marched on Saturday in Caracas, beginning at various points around the city and finishing outside the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry.

Chavez spoke to the protest by phone from Iran, where he was visiting as part of a week long diplomatic tour. He said, "I congratulate everyone for continuing to defeat the plot against this country and the revolution...from here, from far away, I send you all my revolutionary heart and my promise that I won't rest [in the struggle] for freedom and the country."

There was also a large rally in Caracas on Friday in the main plaza, and smaller rallies in the main plazas of the other states on both Friday and Saturday. In Merida, an opposition leaning state, there were small concentrations on Friday and Saturday, and no opposition protests.

International Rallies in Support of Chavez and Against US Bases

Latin American alternative TV station TeleSUR reported rallies in front of Venezuelan embassies to protest the US bases in Colombia and in support of Chavez in over 50 countries of South America and Europe, including a "large demonstration" in Ecuador, with speakers calling for the truth to be told about what is happening in Latin America.

In Buenos Aires on Friday there was a protest with the theme of ‘Colombian Yankee military bases out'. Participants read out a statement titled, ‘With Chavez and against the bases' and the Venezuelan ambassador in Argentina, Arvelo Mendez, spoke to the crowd.

TeleSUR reports that in Colombia students, intellectuals and university lecturers rallied in the capital, Bogata, to reject the war policies and rights violations of their government. In El Salvador marchers showed their solidarity with Chavez to the "rhythm of drums".

In Madrid, Spain there was a large participation in a conference against the bases and in solidarity with Chavez, which was called by the Spanish Bolivarian Assembly. In Holland, following a small rally, there was also a public meeting in the Venezuelan embassy there, and Venezuelan legislator Edgar Lucena spoke, as well as ambassadors from Bolivia, Cuba, and Nicaragua.

The Bolivarian Committee in Switzerland called a meeting in Geneva, in which various left wing party and movement representatives attended. The Venezuelan ambassador to the country also spoke there.

Legislator to the Venezuelan National Assembly, Augusto Montiel, reported that social and political organisations in Belgium mobilised in support of Chavez and against the bases. He also said that united European left parties and environment parties expressed their support for Chavez in the European parliament.

Opposition protests in Venezuela

According to news agency EFE and aerial footage, around 5,000 people marched in the opposition protest in Caracas on Saturday, finishing outside the Attorney General's office. The march was peaceful and there were no incidents.

Opposition spokespeople said they were asking for the "end of persecution against those who think differently" and were rejecting the "threat against marching freely" in reference to the comments by the attorney general that people who disturb the peace "to destabilize the government, or attack the democratic system," will be charged.

Two weeks ago there were also pro- and anti-government protests in Caracas, in which the opposition protest ended with some violence after the opposition broke through police barriers in an effort to defer from their approved route.

International protests against Chavez

Organisers in Colombia used social networking sites Facebook and Twitter to call "No more Chavez" demonstrations for Friday 4 September. Organisers hoped for a large global turn out, but only Venezuela, Colombia and Honduras had sizeable marches.

CNN quoted organisers saying the turnout was lower than expected. "We are not interested in quantity but quality," Marcela Garzon told the El Heraldo newspaper in Honduras, reported CNN.

However, many major international media channels such as ABC and SBS in Australia only covered the anti-Chavez protests, and other channels such as CNN and BBC covered both anti and pro protests, but highlighted the anti-Chavez protests in their headlines and content.

CNN reported, "Critics of Hugo Chavez marched in cities across the globe Friday, calling the Venezuelan president a dictator and violator of human rights." The US cable news network said, "In Colombia... marchers in Bogota blew whistles and held up signs saying ‘Get out of Colombia'" and explained that Colombians accuse Chavez of supporting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The BBC estimated 5,000 participants in the Bogota protest in Colombia and other agencies report another 3,500 protestors in Cali, Colombia.

There was a sizeable march in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, lead by coup president Roberto Micheletti and organised by the Civic Democratic Union. Protestors were dressed in white and agencies report attendance of between 2-5,000 people to "reject the interventionalism of Chavez". They also report that 200 people rallied in New York City, outside the United Nations headquarters.

Other protests were small or didn't happen. According to Venezuelan daily Diario Vea, in Australia there were less than 20 people, in Madrid there were less than 100, and Paris and Berlin also called protests but with no or little attendance. TeleSUR reports that no one turned up to the advertised rally points in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in Asuncion, Paraguay or in Montevideo, Uruguay and that 12 people rallied in Brussels.

El Universal (Mexico) reported that "dozens" protested against Chavez in Chile and EFE reported around 100 in a protest in Panama. Nevertheless, Venezuelan daily El Universal carried the headline that, "144 cities in the world shouted ‘No more Chavez!'"

Alejandro Gutierrez, one of the main organisers of the protests, told the press, "The world is tired of the tyrannical attitudes of president Hugo Chavez, and his intention to export his crazy revolution."

The Venezuelan ambassador in Colombia, Gustavo Marquez, said the protests against the Venezuelan government are part of a US lead strategy against the Latin American region and its progressive governments.

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Source URL (retrieved on Sep 8 2009 - 07:49): http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4775
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Chavez: US Government Giving Oxygen to Honduran Coup

July 13th 2009, by Kiraz Janicke - Venezuelanalysis.com

Thousand of Hondurans protested against the coup on July 11 (Alex Guzman/ABN)

Caracas, July 13 2009, (Venezuelanalysis.com) - Speaking during his weekly television show, Hello President, on Sunday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called on United States President, Barack Obama to withdraw all support for the coup government in Honduras that deposed the democratically elected president Manuel Zelaya on June 28.

Although the Obama and secretary of state, Hilary Clinton have made comments condemning the ouster of Zelaya, the US government has thus far refused to legally recognize the coup as a "coup", maintained diplomatic ties with the illegitimate coup government in Honduras, and continued to send millions of dollars in aid.

"Obama withdraw your soldiers from Honduras, withdraw all support for the coup plotters, freeze their bank accounts, withdraw their visas so that this government falls immediately," the Venezuelan head of state said.

"If the US government truly doesn't support the coup, it would withdraw all of its troops from the military base at Palmerola," he added.

Chavez argued that it is imperative that his counter-part in the White House take a clear position on Honduras, and that this represents a test for Obama, who promised a shift away from previous US president George Bush's interventionist foreign policy approach.

"Don't deceive the world with a discourse that contradicts your actions," he warned Obama, "demonstrate that it's true that you are disposed to confront the imperialist hawks, if not, its better that you go away, because you will end up worse than Bush."

US-backed talks aimed at promoting "dialogue" between Zelaya and coup president Roberto Micheletti, mediated by Costa Rican president Oscar Arias ended last week without resolving the crisis.

During a press conference on Friday, Chavez slammed the US initiative of promoting dialogue with the coup government as a "crass error."

"A dialogue with who? With these usurpers? The same people who are now persecuting the Honduran people? Those who have killed people?" he questioned.

"This would constitute a trap for democracy, a danger and a serious error, not only for Honduras, but for the whole American continent," he said.

Fortunately Zelaya walked out of the trap rapidly Chavez said, but lamented the fact that Micheletti was received in Costa Rica as if he were a legitimate head of state.

Through these types of measures the US government is "giving oxygen" to the de facto government of dictator Roberto Micheletti, Chavez continued on Sunday.

"The aim of imperialism, the continental bourgeoisie and the media is to draw out the game...What the immoral coup plotters in Honduras are trying to do is wear out the people of Honduras, wear out the constitutional president Manuel Zelaya, and his government which is in exile, some of whom are prisoners or have gone underground," he added.

"Then there are elections in Honduras in November," Chavez explained, "this is what the game is...we will not recognize any government that emerges, including from elections that this coup government carries out."

"They want to close the path to democratic transformation because they are afraid of democracy and popular power, which is waking up and shaking Central America, South America and the Caribbean."

Chavez emphasised the necessity of protesting in the streets, "like the people of Honduras," and building a solidarity movement around the world in order to defeat the coup.

"The situation in Honduras is explosive... this coup government will not be able to govern, the Honduran people won't be governed by a tyrant like Roberto Micheletti, this coup plotter will not be able to take forward any kind of economic project," he said.

Honduras is paralysed Chavez said, "There are no classes, the factories are closed, the people are in the street, the farmers have left their tractors and taken to the highways, blocking commerce in Central America, there is hardly any fuel. Honduras is a country on the verge of exploding."

"There are soldiers that have refused to repress the people, it's only that they haven't come out [against the coup government], but it shouldn't surprise anyone, if a military current pronounces against the actions that have been carried out against president Zelaya," he declared.

Despite military repression Honduras has entered its third week of protest against the military coup demanding the return of the democratically elected president.

President of the United Workers Federation in Honduras, Juan Barahona, confirmed that protests are continuing this Monday, Venezuelan Radio YKVE Mundial reported.

"We are going to continue until the coup plotters abandon the power they have usurped," Barahona told thousands of people who rallied in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, in a massive show of resistance to the coup government on Saturday.

Xiomara Castro, wife of the ousted Zelaya also spoke at the rally, which then marched to the Toncontin international airport to commemorate the death of 19-year-old Isis Obed Murillo, shot by the military on July 5 as he protested the coup.

Chavez also condemned the murder in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, of Roger Iván Bados, a popular leader and left-wing activist.

Quoting Barahona, Chávez stated that unknown assailants killed Bados, a leader of the People's Bloc and the National Resistance Front against the coup.

He explained that this killing was part of the selective repression being carried out against political and social movement leaders in Honduras by the coup government.

Dictatorship in Honduras Issues 600 Arrest Warrants for Popular Leaders and representatives of Social Missions
ANMCLA - (digital)
Distrito Capital - 29-06-2009
Autor: ANMCLA


Today, the dictatorship in Honduras has issued 6000 arrest warrants, signed by Ortiz Colindre, de facto government's foreign affairs minister. The list includes social leaders, officials of the legitimate government and Cuban and Venezuelan representatives of the social Missions.

Popular leaders have organized a press conference at 11:00 a.m. to summon the people to a national strike and rallies in the defense of the rule of law. At the Presidential

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Prensa del Sur

URGENT OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE EMBASSY OF VENEZUELA

PRESS RELEASE

DECLARATION

Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and

Embassy of the Republic of Cuba

The Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba as members and representatives of the countries of the Alliance for the nations of our America (ALBA), denounce and condemn to the community of Trinidad and Tobago and the International community the coup d’etat against Jose Manuel Zelaya, Constitutional President of the Republic of Honduras. We condemn this coup action against the legitimate aspiration of the Honduran people of been taken into account through process of consultations and other democratic forms of expressions. We reaffirm our unconditional solidarity with the Conrad president Jose Manuel Zelaya and the brother nation of Honduras. Equally we reject the outrage and indignation that the Ambassadors of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua accredited suffered in the mentioned brother country. Also we express that our people and governments do not and will not recognize any other authority in the exercise of the presidency of Honduras different from the one that has been decided by the people, in the person of JOSE MANUEL ZELAYA.

Port of Spain, June 28th, 2009