The nations and peoples of the world have rejected completely the Executive Order signed by US President Barack Obama, which declares, as Latin America hears it, that Venezuela is a threat to the national security of the United States.
The Obama declaration is interpreted widely as a preparation for more aggressive economic and/or military action against the South American nation. Latin American and Caribbean governments and popular organizations are mobilizing to protest this action at the upcoming Summit of the Americas.
An indication of the global rejection of the Obama Executive Order is the series of declarations being issued by associations of nations. ALBA, consisting of the five most progressive governments of Latin America (Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua) plus several Caribbean nations, has declared: We “solicit the government of the United States, and especially President Barack Obama, to rescind the Executive Order of March 9, 2015, inasmuch as it constitutes a threat to the sovereignty and an intervention in the internal affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.” The ALBA declaration maintains that “Venezuela is a threat to no nation, for it is a supportive nation that has demonstrated its will to cooperate with the peoples and governments of the region, and it has become a guarantor of social peace and stability in our continent.” The ALBA declaration states that the member nations have decided “to demand that the government of the United States immediately cease harassment and aggression against the Venezuelan government and people.” For the full text of the ALBA declaration, go to The Voices of Third World Leaders, ALBA, Declaration 3/17/2015.
CELAC, consisting of all the nations of Latin American and the Caribbean, has issued a communiqué: “The Community of Latina American and Caribbean States (CELAC) declares its rejection of the Executive Order of the government of the United States of America of March 9, 2015, and it considers that this Executive Order ought to be reverted.” For the full text of the CELAC declaration, go to The Voices of Third World Leaders, CELAC, Declaration 3/26/2015.
The Group of 77 plus China, consisting of 133 nations of the Third World and China, “expresses its rejection of the recent decision of the government of the United States of America to expand its unilateral sanctions against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.” The G-77 voices its strong rejection of extra-territorial, economic and coercive measures, and accordingly, it “urges the international community to adopt urgent and effective measures to eliminate the use of coercive economic measures against any state, and particularly against countries in development.” In complete contrast to Obama´s characterization of Venezuela, the G-77 Declaration stresses the positive role of Venezuela in the world: “The Group of 77 plus China underscores the positive contribution of Venezuela in the strengthening of South-South cooperation, of solidarity, and of friendship among the peoples and nations, with the intention of promoting peace and development.” For the full text of the G-77 Declaration, go to The Voices of Third World Leaders, G-77, Declaration 3/26/2015.
Venezuela is in no sense a military threat to the United States. Venezuela has never invaded another country, and the current Chavist government of Nicolás Maduro pursues a foreign policy of support and cooperation with other nations.
But these is a sense in which Venezuela is indeed a threat to the United States. Since the election of the democratic socialist Hugo Chávez in 1998, Venezuela has sought to attain full sovereignty and independence, a national project that includes control of its natural resources, including the important resource of petroleum. Such a project contradicts the interests of the large transnational corporations, whose profits require access to the raw materials and labor of the planet.
True sovereignty and independence for the nations of the world is a threat to the existing world-system structures, which promote the ransacking of the planet, necessary for the maintenance of the consumer societies of the North and the profits of the rich. Full democracy is indeed a threat to the neocolonial world-system and its imperialist power.
All empires and world-systems must legitimate the policies that maintain their structures. In light of the wide acceptance of democratic values in the world, no government of the United States, insofar as it continues to represent the privileges of the few, can politically afford to honestly affirm that the problem with Venezuela is that it seeks democracy in a world that structurally negates democracy. Thus, US governments, when they continue to defend the interests of the wealthy and the powerful, are compelled to utilize ideological distortions in order to generate popular support, or at least popular acceptance, of their essentially undemocratic policies. In this way, the confusion of the people is an important consequence of the structures of the neocolonial world-system.
The present structural crisis of the world-system, which has been made evident since the 1970s, makes necessary and calls into being a popular revolutionary movement in the United States, a movement that forms an alternative political party that seeks to attain political power and that intends to lead the nation toward policies of solidarity and cooperation with governments that seek true independence and with all the peoples of the world, casting aside imperialist policies in a quest for a more just, democratic and sustainable world-system.
The Obama declaration is interpreted widely as a preparation for more aggressive economic and/or military action against the South American nation. Latin American and Caribbean governments and popular organizations are mobilizing to protest this action at the upcoming Summit of the Americas.
An indication of the global rejection of the Obama Executive Order is the series of declarations being issued by associations of nations. ALBA, consisting of the five most progressive governments of Latin America (Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua) plus several Caribbean nations, has declared: We “solicit the government of the United States, and especially President Barack Obama, to rescind the Executive Order of March 9, 2015, inasmuch as it constitutes a threat to the sovereignty and an intervention in the internal affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.” The ALBA declaration maintains that “Venezuela is a threat to no nation, for it is a supportive nation that has demonstrated its will to cooperate with the peoples and governments of the region, and it has become a guarantor of social peace and stability in our continent.” The ALBA declaration states that the member nations have decided “to demand that the government of the United States immediately cease harassment and aggression against the Venezuelan government and people.” For the full text of the ALBA declaration, go to The Voices of Third World Leaders, ALBA, Declaration 3/17/2015.
CELAC, consisting of all the nations of Latin American and the Caribbean, has issued a communiqué: “The Community of Latina American and Caribbean States (CELAC) declares its rejection of the Executive Order of the government of the United States of America of March 9, 2015, and it considers that this Executive Order ought to be reverted.” For the full text of the CELAC declaration, go to The Voices of Third World Leaders, CELAC, Declaration 3/26/2015.
The Group of 77 plus China, consisting of 133 nations of the Third World and China, “expresses its rejection of the recent decision of the government of the United States of America to expand its unilateral sanctions against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.” The G-77 voices its strong rejection of extra-territorial, economic and coercive measures, and accordingly, it “urges the international community to adopt urgent and effective measures to eliminate the use of coercive economic measures against any state, and particularly against countries in development.” In complete contrast to Obama´s characterization of Venezuela, the G-77 Declaration stresses the positive role of Venezuela in the world: “The Group of 77 plus China underscores the positive contribution of Venezuela in the strengthening of South-South cooperation, of solidarity, and of friendship among the peoples and nations, with the intention of promoting peace and development.” For the full text of the G-77 Declaration, go to The Voices of Third World Leaders, G-77, Declaration 3/26/2015.
Venezuela is in no sense a military threat to the United States. Venezuela has never invaded another country, and the current Chavist government of Nicolás Maduro pursues a foreign policy of support and cooperation with other nations.
But these is a sense in which Venezuela is indeed a threat to the United States. Since the election of the democratic socialist Hugo Chávez in 1998, Venezuela has sought to attain full sovereignty and independence, a national project that includes control of its natural resources, including the important resource of petroleum. Such a project contradicts the interests of the large transnational corporations, whose profits require access to the raw materials and labor of the planet.
True sovereignty and independence for the nations of the world is a threat to the existing world-system structures, which promote the ransacking of the planet, necessary for the maintenance of the consumer societies of the North and the profits of the rich. Full democracy is indeed a threat to the neocolonial world-system and its imperialist power.
All empires and world-systems must legitimate the policies that maintain their structures. In light of the wide acceptance of democratic values in the world, no government of the United States, insofar as it continues to represent the privileges of the few, can politically afford to honestly affirm that the problem with Venezuela is that it seeks democracy in a world that structurally negates democracy. Thus, US governments, when they continue to defend the interests of the wealthy and the powerful, are compelled to utilize ideological distortions in order to generate popular support, or at least popular acceptance, of their essentially undemocratic policies. In this way, the confusion of the people is an important consequence of the structures of the neocolonial world-system.
The present structural crisis of the world-system, which has been made evident since the 1970s, makes necessary and calls into being a popular revolutionary movement in the United States, a movement that forms an alternative political party that seeks to attain political power and that intends to lead the nation toward policies of solidarity and cooperation with governments that seek true independence and with all the peoples of the world, casting aside imperialist policies in a quest for a more just, democratic and sustainable world-system.
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