Photo: Supporters of late Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez take part in a campaign rally Nov. 28, 2015, held by pro-government candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections, in Caracas. Venezuela will hold parliamentary elections on Dec. 6. (Reuters)
From In Defense of Humanity December 21, 2018
The sixth presidential election in the contemporary history of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela took place on May 20. Nicolás Maduro Moros was elected Constitutional President of Venezuela who according to the Venezuelan Constitution will take office for a new presidential term on January 10, 2019.
The election took place in a climate of peace and tranquility with a participation of 46.02% of the total electoral voters, very similar to percentage in the US elections.
Candidates of different political party participated in the electoral contest, such as Henry Falcón, leader of the Advanced Progressive Party, and Javier Bertucci, leader of the El Cambio party, both opponents of the currently constituted government. It should be noted that of the total turnout 67.84% of voters cast their ballots for Frente Amplio de la Patria and its elected candidate Nicolás Maduro. This represents 6,245,862 valid votes. The opposition party with the next most votes was Henry Falcón who received only 20.93% of the votes, which represented 1,927,387 votes.
The electoral result and the democratic response of the Venezuelan people resulted in their decision to continue a path of democratic construction as their destiny.
During the last 5 years, different U.S. administrations have been implementing a sophisticated destabilization plan against Venezuela to overthrow a democratic elected government through an electoral system that even former U.S. President Jimmy Carter described as the best in the world.
The U.S. government’s attitude of regime change systematically violates the sovereignty and self-determination of the Venezuelan people.
In March 2015, under an Executive Order the U.S. Government declared Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” declaring a “national emergency in order to confront that threat.” Another Executive Order in August 2017 requires the Treasury Department to implement “irreversible” sanctions against the Venezuelan economy and financial system, a set of unilateral coercive measures unacceptable under international law. With these legal frameworks, the economic siege has been activated against the recovery plans of the Venezuelan economy, affected by the collapse in oil price beginning summer 2014.
Compounded by the economic blockade of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the backbone of the Venezuelan economy, the commercial and financial blockade is hitting hard the quality of life of the Venezuelan people. William Brownfield, former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela referring to the South America Country declared in October of this year that…
“At this moment perhaps the best solution would be to accelerate the collapse, even if it produces a period of suffering to the population of months or perhaps years”.
Using the monopoly of media power, the United States is manipulating world public opinion by imposing the narrative matrix of a “humanitarian crisis” in Venezuela, thereby seeking to justify a military intervention disguised as “humanitarian intervention”. In September of this year, Trump openly told the media at the United Nations that when it comes to Venezuela,
“all options are on the table….”
In 2016, the document “Venezuela Freedom-2 Operation” of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) signed by Commanding officer Admiral Kurt W. Tidd was published, where the plan for the implosion-collapse with a set of policies aimed at overthrowing the Venezuelan Government was outlined, using a broad-spectrum strategy where simultaneous, combined and continuous operations were developed in the period 2016-2018.
The United States and a group of governments obedient to the orders of the White House are preparing to ignore the legitimacy of the mandate conferred on President Nicolás Maduro Moros as of January 10. Given this fact we call upon the people of the United States and the international community not to intervene, and to recognize and respect the sovereign will of the Venezuelan people, who continue to chart their own path of peace, guided by their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
In Defense of Humanity: Network of Intellectuals, Artists and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity, U.S. Chapter and the Executive Secretariat of the Network.