Venezuela & ALBA News 8.9.2024: US coup against Venezuela defeated; US opposition refuses to present evidence of “fraud” to Supreme Court; US opposition violence

Venezuelanalysis: CNE, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, Transfers Electoral Data to Supreme Court, US Revokes Recognition of González U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the Biden administration had not recognized González as president, a departure from Secretary of State Blinken’s position that González had won the election. The CNE provided evidence of the election requested by the country’s Supreme Court, including detailed voter data and totals. The CNE declared Maduro the winner of the election with 51.95% (6.4 million votes), compared to 43.18% (5.3 million votes) for U.S.-backed opposition candidate Edmundo González. González and Machado issued a statement declaring the former “president-elect” and calling on police and armed forces to follow his orders. In response, Attorney General Tarek Saab said his office had opened a criminal investigation into both on charges including usurping official functions and incitement of insurrection. Only the CNE has the constitutional authority to declare a winner in an electoral contest.

TeleSur: Venezuelan far-right opposition fails to deliver electoral registers to Supreme Court The right-wing opposition refuses to present their “evidence” of electoral fraud on July 28, when the Supreme Court summoned all presidential candidates to present the election data in their possession. All other candidates (9) appeared and none contested the election results. This request is a response to the action of President Maduro, who asked the Supreme Court to investigate the presidential election to debunk all allegations of fraud. Judge Rodriguez formally recorded that the far-right politician Gonzalez did not attend the judicial hearing, thus ignoring an explicit mandate from the Supreme Court.

Cuba’s Granma: A Global Call for Solidarity with Venezuela A Global Campaign for Democracy and Sovereignty: US Out of Venezuela, was launched yesterday by ALBA Movimientos, the International People’s Assembly, the Simon Bolivar Institute and the Caribbean People’s Assembly. This action also serves as a “global call for solidarity to defend the Venezuelan people from the stalking of US imperialism, which once again seeks to destabilize democracy and popular sovereignty in Venezuela through attacks and operations.” In this way, they called for “the disarming of fake news and lies that have been installed as a consensus, (…) for the communicative struggle of ideas about Venezuela, of the supposed technical-electoral elements that have been used as a bait to deceive even progressive sectors.”

Vijay Prashad on Venezuela’s election unrest: Venezuela is a beautiful country on the move Venezuela’s opposition is again claiming fraud in the July 28 presidential election, but is not providing any evidence. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Chavistas, frustrated by the realization that the hybrid war with the US is the cause of the crisis, are taking to the streets chanting no volverán: they (the oligarchy) will not return. I spoke to a high-level opposition adviser, who asked not to be named, about the results. He said that while he sympathized with the opposition’s frustration, he thought the final outcome looked about right. “It’s hard to beat the Chavistas because they have both the program of Chávez and the ability to mobilize their supporters to go to the polls,” he said. During the massive marches in defense of the government in the week following the elections, people openly talked about the two choices they faced: try to advance the Bolivarian process through the Maduro government or return to February 1989, when Carlos Andrés Pérez imposed the IMF-designed economic program known as the paquetazo (package) on the country.

Maria Paez Victor: Venezuela: A Coup Attempt by Another Name
Venezuela has once again been the victim of a combined media and diplomatic coup attempt, but this time with the added element of organized crime and a cyber attack. The presence of more than 635 international witnesses, including election experts from the United Nations, the African Union, and election officials from 65 countries. How many international witnesses are allowed for the US or Canadian elections? None.

There is a stark difference today from the street violence of 2015 and 2017, when images of the “guarimbas” were broadcast around the world to show that Venezuela was in chaos and needed to “intervene.” Back then, Venezuelans watched in horror and amazement as the violent criminals were never arrested for the assaults, arson and deaths. The then Attorney General, Luisa Ortega, gave strict orders that these street criminals were not to be arrested because they were “exercising their democratic right.” It turned out that she was a mercenary who collected millions of dollars given to her by the CIA and now lives in great luxury in the US, where she fled when her crimes were discovered.

The far-right opposition claims there is “fraud.” If they win, the election is legitimate; if they lose, it is fraud. So far, 1,062 detainees will appear in court. What would the US, Canada or Europe do if groups of armed people set fires, attacked and shot dead government officials and civilians, and terrorized their cities and towns? But this is a very different universe than that of 2015 and 2017. Venezuela is strong and prepared. Its economy has diversified and grown, despite sanctions. It no longer relies solely on the US oil market—the whole world wants its oil. Even the US needs Venezuelan oil to keep the price of gasoline down in a presidential election year.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega condemns US interference in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election in his speech This behavior (the pot-election violence) reflects that the plan was already very well organized, that part of the plan was a number of Latin American governments and that they all went against the election results, and already said that the elections had not been correct. And of course, the representative of the government that claims to be the purest and cleanest government in the world, the one that practices the purest and cleanest democracy, the spokesman of military and economic power, because there the presidents do not govern anything, there those who command are the economic powers, the military powers, those who want more wars. And they came out and disqualified the elections; that is, the biggest democrat, the United States of America, is the boss.

And I would like to know about those who are now acting as judges, the rulers who are acting as judges of what happened in Venezuela, where there was an election that President Maduro won; but first, who invited them to qualify or disqualify? None of them have dared to question the fraud that they say took place in the United States, what Trump says, or the fraud that took place in the United States when they stole the presidency of Al Gore to put Bush’s son in power. A terrible blockade and the Yankees stole from them, yes, the Yankees and the English stole billions of dollars from Venezuela, they stole them, just like that. Why? Because we have a state there, the imperialist states have gangster practices, they treat all these issues like gangsters and when they see the opportunity to steal the wealth of a people, they steal it, and nothing happens.

There is no body of the United Nations that condemns this, just as there is no body of the United Nations that says that what the Venezuelan people have decided must be respected, that what the Supreme Electoral Council of Venezuela has reported must be respected, and not that the United Nations also comes with the same discourse. Because the United Nations, its leadership, is nothing more than an instrument of the Imperialists of the Earth, the Peoples are represented there by the Governments, but unfortunately the Governments submit to the Imperialists of the Earth, because they always threaten them, they threaten the Governments and then they give in.

Orinoco Tribune: President Maduro presents report on human and material losses caused by far-right violence after the elections
Some of what has been destroyed by gangs with ties to the far right: 12 universities, including the Central University of Venezuela, seven kindergartens, 21 primary schools, 34 secondary schools,

six comprehensive diagnostic centers, one specialized health center, 30 outpatient clinics, one pharmacy, six CLAP food storage and distribution centers, one local radio station, 11 Caracas metro stations, one burning train in Valencia, 38 buses, 27 monuments and statues, including those of Simón Bolívar and Hugo Chávez.

Orinoco Tribune: Salvadoran ex-combatants expose Edmundo González’s role in US-backed massacres in El Salvador There has been a widespread campaign in mainstream and social media to paint González as a “bird-loving old grandfather”; a career diplomat with a “democratic calling” who “fights for democracy” against the “Maduro regime.” However, Salvadorans, particularly ex-combatants of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) from the Salvadoran war, remember him differently. During 1979-1985, Edmundo González served as second in command of the Venezuelan embassy in San Salvador, under Ambassador Leopoldo Castillo. Both officials participated in the US Plan Cóndor counter-insurgency project in El Salvador, aimed at destroying the Salvadoran popular armed revolution. According to former FMLN commander Nidia Díaz, plots to torture, disappear, and murder revolutionaries and their sympathizers were hatched in the Venezuelan embassy in El Salvador in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The plots were led by Leopoldo Castillo, whose closest collaborator was Edmundo González.

Events:

This is also available at ChicagoALBASolidarity.org. If you would like to publicize events or find useful articles for readers about the ALBA countries, you can post them on Facebook here: Venezuela; Nicaragua; Bolivia; Latin America in general (here or here) Or send them to [email protected] or [email protected].