PEOPLES’ STRUGGLES IN GLOBAL SOUTH

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(VIDEO) HAITI 2007: Chavez Visits Haiti and Gets One Hell of a Reception

This is a terrific 30 minute video that chronicles President Chavez’ March 2007 visit to Haiti.  If you take the time to watch it, you will not regret it.  It begins with Chavez’ motorcade leaving the airport in Port-au-Prince and ends at the National Palace for a meeting with President Rene Preval.  In the middle, you will find one rockin’ ride with thousands of Haitians running alongside his motorcade, as Chavez hangs out the door of his car to greet them. At one point, Chavez pops out of the car and RUNS with the people in the street. Naturally, this scared the beejeebers out of his security detail, but Chavez was delighted with his own audacity.  Also, listen to the crowd as they chant “aba Bush,” down with Bush.

The people of Haiti have gone through hell since the US-backed coup in 2004 robbed them of their democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Chavez’ visit signaled the rare instance in which a world leader comes to Haiti, not with the intention to interfere, but to provide help and solidarity. Viva Venezuela! Viv Ayiti!

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VIDEO: Venezuela Thwarts Recent Plot – Docu about 2002 Coup Gives Context, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”

Just fished out this 2007 post from a now-defunct blog of mine and re-posting it here because I think the story of Venezuela, especially the 2002 coup, can not be told often enough. Luckily, a highly informative documentary was made about the coup, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” and it provides much needed context for the current situation in Venezuela.  Many of you reading this may have seen the film.  If so, please consider passing this along to someone who hasn’t.

Below is my original post about the film and a link.

Haiti-Cuba-Venezuela blog, Posted on October 13, 2007

Venezuela and Hugo Chavez’ service as its president are among the most maligned topics in US (and much of European) media. In spite of valiant efforts by solidarity activists to refute the unfounded and shameless accusations hurled at President Chavez and the Bolivarian revolution, it is tough to stay ahead of the endless stream of propaganda spewed by cable news, the LA Times, The New York Times, Washington Post, The Economist, etc. And then, there are those snotty State Department briefings where the reporters are treated with disdain and Venezuela is a perennial punching bag.

I think it’s time to resurrect one of the most powerful antidotes I can think of to counter the poisonous US government and media lies — the brilliant documentary about the 2002 coup in Venezuela, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”  Two Irish filmmakers came to Venezuela in September 2001 to work on a film about President Chavez when, in April 2002, the coup unfold before their cameras. If it had not been for Kim Bartley and Donnacha O’Brian, we might never have known the depth and breadth of the people’s resistance to the US-backed, elite military coup in which the democratically-elected president, Hugo Chavez, was taken hostage.

If you have not seen this film, I urge you to watch it. If you have seen the film, please share it with someone who has not. Why am I so insistent that people see a film about an unsuccessful coup d’etat in Venezuela that took place five years ago? Because it provides background, context, and information about the Bolivarian revolution that will never break the “fact barrier” at Fox News or much of anywhere else. In addition, the more you know about the Venezuelan coup, the more you will know about US-backed coups that came before and after it.

Haiti, The Gaza Strip of the Caribbean: UN Massacre, July 6,2005

 

On the occasion of the anniversary of the United Nations, I thought it would be a good idea to share an article I wrote a few years back about a massacre committed by UN “peacekeepers” in Haiti – you know, for perspective.

Below is a July 2007 article (with a few tweaks) I wrote about the heinous UN “peacekeeping” forces’ massacre in Haiti, committed on July 6, 2005, against the people of one of Port-au-Prince’s most devastated neighborhoods, Cite Soleil. It is this kind of crime that makes the removal of the UN occupation forces from Haiti paramount.  Further, do yourself a favor and watch a superb film, “We Must Kill the Bandits” by Kevin Pina, journalist and documentary filmmaker, that spans from Aristide’s kidnapping to the Cite Soleil massacre. This is one of those films that, after you watch it, you will understand everything that takes place thereafter.

 

JULY 6, 2005: UN MASSACRE IN HAITI

Posted on July 5, 2007

July 6, 2005: Haiti, the Gaza Strip of the Caribbean
by Shirley Pate

“Two helicopters flew overhead.  At 4:30 a.m., UN forces launched the offensive, shooting into houses, shacks, a church and a school with machine guns, tank fire and tear gas. Eyewitnesses reported that when people fled to escape the tear gas, UN troops gunned them down from the back.” – from a report by a San Francisco-based labor/human rights delegation that was in Haiti on Wednesday, July 6, 2005, when UN forces committed a massacre against the residents of the neighborhood of Cité Soleil

In previous articles, I warned the head of the UN “peacekeeping” effort in Haiti, Brazilian Gen. Augusto Heleno Ribeiro, that if he continued to implement the UN Security Council’s unwritten mandate to insure a Haitian elite victory in the upcoming elections by killing as many Aristide supporters as possible, there would not be enough soap and water to wash the blood off his hands. It looks like General Heleno may have figured this out for himself, but not before commanding his forces to attack Cite Soleil with close to 400 “peacekeepers”.  He resigned shortly after the attack. 

On Feb. 29, 2004, the lives of most Haitians turned decidedly worse when a coup d’état deprived them of their democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The coup was masterminded and supervised by a colonial cabal consisting of the U.S., France and Canada, supported by their military forces which slipped into Haiti days earlier.  Before the coup, Haiti was already under occupation.

Shortly thereafter, the cabal formed a multi-national interim force that reigned for three months.  I was in Haiti six weeks after the coup and heard stories of how MIF brutally repressed Aristide-supporting neighborhoods along with the Haitian National Police and assorted death squads.  Knowing that the political stakes were too high to remain the sole supplier of the military muscle in Haiti, the cabal cleverly engineered a UN “peacekeeping” operation that has, by all standards, mutated into an occupying IDF-like assault force.

In the wee hours of the morning of July 6, UN troops (MINUSTAH)  attacked Cité Soleil, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, and slaughtered close to 50 residents and wounded many more. The operation raged for seven hours during which, according to a de-classified cable, 22,000 bullets were expended amounting to one bullet fired EVERY second.  It was a bloodletting worthy of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and, on that day, Haiti became the Gaza Strip of the Caribbean. It was a bloodletting that, if there is any justice left in the world, will land Gen. Heleno Ribeiro before an international tribunal.

It is proving extremely difficult for Haiti solidarity activists, who are working to stop this carnage, to convince the public that a UN peacekeeping effort could be capable of such heinous crimes. Most think of UN “peacekeeping” missions as non-belligerent, neutral operations that are deployed to separate warring factions and enforce peace agreements.

And this is the genius of the cabal’s decision to bring the UN to Haiti. It is vital for the public to understand that, in Haiti, the UN is the primary warring faction, a proxy for the cabal and nothing about their mission is neutral. The permanent members of the UN Security Council dictate political goals and UN peacekeeping operations fulfill them.  As the more dominant of the permanent members, the U.S. and France are masters at designing peacekeeping operations to serve their own foreign policy interests. As a result, peacekeeping missions are more insidious and deadly than most people are aware.

In 1961, the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Patrice Lumumba, was betrayed by UN peacekeepers when they failed to maintain neutrality in the conflict between the central government and Western opponents of Lumumba. Lumumba was subsequently kidnapped and murdered, leaving the Congolese, for the next 32 years, in the vicious grip of Sese Seko Mobutu, the US’ main man in Africa.

In Bosnia, thousands of Muslims sought safe haven with Dutch-led UN peacekeepers. The peacekeepers yielded to Bosnian Serbs, who kidnapped the Muslims and killed them.

The purposeful impotency of the UN peacekeeping mandate in Rwanda resulted in an indescribable genocide that has soiled forever the legacy of UN peacekeeping. Yet, amid the presumed “failures” of each of these UN peacekeeping efforts, the interests of the permanent members of the UN Security Council were well-served.

Throughout their occupation of Haiti, UN forces maintain that the primary objective is to bring peace to Haiti so that elections can be held.  The problem is that a lot of lousy things are done in the name of “peace.” Not unlike the lousy things that are done in the name of “democracy.” Often, elections are treacherous, violent endeavors which saddle countries with leaders who didn’t win their elections fair and square.

The same tactics the IDF use to maim and wreck the lives of Palestinians were employed by UN forces against Haitians in Cité Soleil on July 6: aerial attacks with gunfire aimed into densely populated residential areas, use of massive numbers of troops, destruction of homes by firebombs and grenades, indiscriminate tank fire (50mm shells) into alley ways and homes and not so indiscriminate assassination of residents as they were shot in the back trying to flee the horror.  Thirty wounded residents made it to a clinic in Cite Soleil, 23 of them were women and children.  There were no weapons found on the dead bodies of Haitians lying in their own blood.  Almost all were murdered with head shots meant to kill instantly.

When the UN forces first arrived in Haiti, their activities consisted largely of securing the perimeter of poor neighborhoods while the Haitian National Police raided and often summarily executed residents. But it was not long before UN forces began joint operations with the HNP and then graduated to doing raids on their own.  Cooperation among all three turned the killing into higher gear.  Often MINUSTAH would arrest very young men and boys, hauling them off in armored vehicles and deliver them to the death squads.

This is all to say that the UN’s deadly assaults on poor and largely Aristide-supporting neighborhoods are not new. Yet the UN raid on July 6 was in another category altogether. The arrogance, massive nature and sheer audacity of the operation signaled that, for UN forces, killing Haitians had become sport.

Khan Yunis is one of the most god-forsaken refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.  Often, in the late afternoon when the children are out to play, the Israeli soldiers taunt them, through a loud speaker, with disgusting sexual innuendo about their mothers. The children, incensed, climb the highest hill, perch themselves atop like sitting ducks at the carnival, and engage in their own mini intifada of rocks. The Israelis, having lured the children to the designated target area, play a game of maiming them by calling out the body part they are aiming for before they shoot – sort of like calling out your shot in billiards. Sometimes, a head shot is called for and the kids are executed on the spot.

Much of the cabal’s genius lies in the make-up of the UN forces in Haiti – largely Latin American. It serves to tie Latin America and the Caribbean together in a tight knot. Brown brother helping Black brother. Yet, the unifying theme belies a cruel reality.

Brazil’s populist-seeming president, its overwhelmingly multiracial society and desperate ambition to win a permanent seat on the UN Security Council made it the perfect choice to lead the UN “peacekeeping” effort in Haiti. Yet, this is a country that has over 30 different descriptions used by Brazilians to differentiate themselves from one another based on skin color. This is a country, where an Afro-Brazilian, after attaining a certain level of success, might start referring to himself as white. Racism in Latin America is pervasive and is directed at both Indians and African descendants. MINUSTAH “peacekeepers” did not leave their racism home, but used it for cruel repression. Haitian women are raped as well as young men. Stringing up a noose at a UN facility sent a chill down the country’s spine.  Personal interaction between “peacekeeper” and Haitian was straight from the plantation.  Many of the MINUSTAH soldiers were from humble beginnings and being in Black Haiti was their first opportunity to oppress rather than be oppressed.  Colonial powers created this social structure in Latin America because they knew they would lose everything if black, brown, and red ever got together. Like most conflicts of imperial intent, manipulating racial tensions is key to ensuring that people of color stay engaged in the dirty business of fighting one another. Belief in the inherent inferiority of those whose land you occupy is an essential element of occupation.

Haiti is Gaza and Gaza is Haiti because occupation always yields the same things: relentless provocations of the population, murder on a massive scale, oppression, persecution, incarceration, disenfranchisement, joblessness, homelessness, starvation and yes, resistance.

It’s a wicked, purposeful merry-go-round of peace through provocation – profess peace, provoke the occupied until they resist, label the resistance a criminal, kidnapping, gang mongering, raping, murdering “threat to peace” and then it’s open season for the occupier. This method has worked quite well for the IDF.

Just like the meaningless UN resolutions demanding an end to the slaughter in Palestine, it is doubtful that we will see any sanctions against the cabal or Gen. Heleno Ribeiro for their crimes against humanity. No doubt the UN will proceed to issue its cheerful press releases re-emphasizing its commitment to peace and democracy in preparation for the fall elections, and the incursions into the popular neighborhoods for a night of bloodsport will continue.

But this will not go on forever. When and how will it stop? The UN would do well to check out the Haitian history books for answers to these questions. There, they might learn that they are occupying the land of the sons and daughters of L’Ouverture and Dessalines. If the UN is unable to grasp the significance of this, they should seek clarification from the French.

* http://www.sfbayview.com/041305/unsecuritycouncil041305.shtml

Shirley Pate is a Haiti solidarity activist in Washington, D.C. Email her at magbanaoye@gmail.com

Fidel Castro: “Ebola and The Hour of Duty” (EN-ES)

 

FIDEL WITH  MAURICE BISHOP, PM OF GRENADA

 

EBOLA and the HOUR of DUTY — BY Fidel Castro

(VERSION en español abajo)

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Posted on October 18, 2014
Source: Cuban News Agency
HAVANA, Cuba,
October 18 2014
“The Time of Duty,” as published by the http://www.cuba.cu
Our country did not take a single minute to give a response to the international agencies requesting its support to combat the brutal epidemic outbreak in Western Africa.
This is what our country has always done, without excluding anyone. The Cuban Government had already given the relevant instructions to urgently mobilize and reinforce the medical personnel that were offering their services in that region of the Africa continent. An equally fast response was given to the United Nations, as has always been the case in an event of a request for cooperation.
Any sensible person would know that the political decisions that entail some risk for the highly qualified staff involve a high level of responsibility from those who call on them to fulfill a risky task. This is something far more difficult than sending soldiers to fight and even die for a just political cause; and they also did so because they always thought it was their duty.
The best example of solidarity that human beings can offer
The medical staff that is ready to go to any region to save lives, even at the risk of losing their own, is the best example of solidarity that human beings can offer, particularly if they are not moved by any material interest. Their closest relatives are also contributing to that mission a part of what they love and admire the most. A country seasoned by long years of struggle can fully understand what is being expressed here.

(Photo: A tent, part of a field hospital set up for training purposes, is pictured in the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute, where Cuban doctors train for their Ebola mission, in Havana October 17, 2014.(Reuters / Enrique De La Osa)
We all understand that in fulfilling this task with maximum preparation and efficiency, we would also be protecting our people and the brother peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, by avoiding the spread of the virus, since it unfortunately has entered and could further spread in the United States, a country with so many personal links and exchanges with the rest of the world. We will gladly cooperate with the US staff in this endeavor, not in the pursuit of peace between the two States which have been adversaries for so many years, but, in any case, for world peace, which is a goal that could and should be pursued.
Cuba to host meeting on Ebola on Monday October 20
On Monday, October 20, at the request of several countries of the region, a meeting will be held in Havana, which will be attended by high authorities from these countries who have expressed the need to take all relevant steps to prevent the spread of the epidemic and combat it in a fast and effective way.
We, the Latin American and Caribbean peoples, will also be sending a message of support and struggle to all other peoples in the world.
The time of duty has come.
Fidel Castro Ruz
October 17, 2014
9:23 p.m.

—————————————————————————————ESPAÑOL———————————————————————————————————-

LA HORA DEL DEBER

No tardó nuestro país un minuto en dar respuesta a los organismos internacionales ante la solicitud de apoyo para la lucha contra la brutal epidemia desatada en África Occidental.

Es lo que siempre ha hecho nuestro país sin excluir a nadie. Ya el Gobierno había impartido las instrucciones pertinentes para movilizar con urgencia y reforzar al personal médico que prestaba sus servicios en esa región del continente africano. A la demanda de Naciones Unidas se dio igualmente respuesta rápida, como se ha hecho siempre ante una solicitud de cooperación.

Cualquier persona consciente sabe que las decisiones políticas que entrañan riesgos para el personal, altamente calificado, implican un alto nivel de responsabilidad por parte de quienes los exhortan a cumplir una peligrosa tarea. Es incluso más duro todavía que la de enviar soldados a combatir e incluso morir por una causa política justa, quienes también lo hicieron siempre como un deber.

El personal médico que marcha a cualquier punto para salvar vidas, aun a riesgo de perder la suya, es el mayor ejemplo de solidaridad que puede ofrecer el ser humano, sobre todo cuando no está movido por interés material alguno. Sus familiares más allegados también aportan a tal misión una parte de lo más querido y admirado por ellos. Un país curtido por largos años de heroica lucha puede comprender bien lo que aquí se expresa.

Todos comprendemos que al cumplir esta tarea con el máximo de preparación y eficiencia, se estará protegiendo a nuestro pueblo y a los pueblos hermanos del Caribe y América Latina, y evitando que se expanda, ya que lamentablemente se ha introducido y podría extenderse en Estados Unidos, que tantos vínculos personales e intercambios mantiene con el resto del mundo. Gustosamente cooperaremos con el personal norteamericano en esa tarea, y no en búsqueda de la paz entre los dos Estados que han sido adversarios durante tantos años, sino en cualquier caso, por la Paz para el Mundo, un objetivo que puede y debe intentarse.

El lunes 20 de octubre, a solicitud de varios países del área, tendrá lugar una reunión en La Habana con la participación de importantes autoridades de los mismos que han expresado la necesidad de dar los pasos pertinentes para impedir la extensión de la epidemia y combatirla de forma rápida y eficiente.

Los caribeños y latinoamericanos estaremos enviando también un mensaje de aliento y de lucha a los demás pueblos del mundo.

Ha llegado la hora del deber.

Fidel Castro Ruz

Octubre 17 de 2014

9 y 23 p.m.

Finally, El Salvador’s FMLN Gets One of Their Own as President – Good for Them and Good for the People

On June 1, 2014, Salvador Sánchez Cerén, historic leader of the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN), was inaugurated as President of El Salvador. At a formal session of El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly, held before a crowd of thousands at the country’s international convention center, the presidential sash was officially handed over from Mauricio Funes, elected in 2009 as the first FMLN candidate to win the presidency, to Professor Salvador Sánchez Cerén, elected in a runoff election on March 9 of this year.

Sánchez Cerén was one of the founders of the militant teachers union, ANDES-21 de junio and went on to become a commander of El Salvador’s powerful guerrilla forces that battled a military dictatorship during the country’s civil war (1980-1992). A signer on behalf of the FMLN of the historic Chapultepec Peace Accords that ended the war in 1992, he has remained a leading voice within the party for a revolutionary, democratic and socialist vision, making his victory all the more significant as a departure from two decades of hard-right rule by the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party and a further step to the left from the progressive Funes administration.

As Angela Sanbrano, President of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC) and former Executive Director of CISPES commented, “This victory is deeply rooted in the democratic revolutionary movement and represents the possibility of creating a new El Salvador, a just El Salvador, a country that can serve as an example to all of Latin America in showing that the people who struggle will triumph.”

The historic memory of the Salvadoran struggle against state repression was a strong theme throughout the inauguration, a marked distinction from Funes’ inauguration in 2009. An artistic installation guiding visitors into the auditorium featured striking human figures paying homage to El Salvador’s often-marginalized cultural history – from assassinated indigenous leader Anastasio Aquino to late-19^th century feminist scholar Prudencia Ayala. The President of the Legislative Assembly, Sigfrido Reyes, opened the ceremony by saluting the representatives of the unions, campesino organizations, the student movement and women’s organizations that have continued the popular struggle they began in the 1960s and 1970s who were in the crowd.

After being sworn in by Reyes, President Sánchez Cerén addressed the public. “After long years of struggle for justice and democracy in my country, I humbly and with deep respect accept this presidential sash. I receive it with a commitment to exercise the presidency for all Salvadorans, here and abroad.”

He outlined the three primary pillars of his administration: security, employment and education, as well as some of the early plans, including the creation of a Women’s Ministry, the expansion of the free school uniforms and school supplies program from elementary to high school, and an agenda for environmental sustainability that includes “taking action against the environmental crisis and climate change.”

Quoting Pope Francis on his recent trip to Brazil, he urged El Salvador’s youth, “not to be afraid to dream big.” Young adults are one of the country’s largest demographics; nearly 50% of the population is under the age of 24, due in part to high migration rates out of El Salvador. “To the youth: I invite you to be participants in this government. Not only because you are the present and the future but because you should be the dynamic force in the work of public policy. The well-being of the children and the youth is the well-being of all of society, ” said Sánchez Cerén.

Declaring the country’s national resources “sacred,” his strong call for an end to corruption and active citizen participation in government oversight was received with cheers from thousands of people energized by outgoing President Funes’ unrelenting quest to bring justice to former ARENA officials accused of corruption, including ex-president Francisco Flores.

The overriding theme of the speech, however, was a call to national unity, and the need to unite diverse sectors in the country in order to advance a national agenda and to resolve the problems the country faces, especially the high levels of violence. “United, we all grow,” he echoed throughout the speech. “I am convinced of this. We did it during the Peace Accords, when we united to move the country forward. This moment requires that we unite all our efforts and our strengths, even though we have diverse ways of thinking. But we’re Salvadorans and we love our country. We cannot forget that we are one people, one country, where each of us deserves the opportunity to live in happiness and peace.”

While no direct mention was made of ARENA’s attempts to reverse the results of March’s election nor concerns that the right-wing will continue to follow in the footsteps of the Venezuelan opposition and attempt to destabilize the new government, the president’s call to unity was a sign to the country, and to the international community, that there is one political force that stands in the way of progress in El Salvador – and it’s not the FMLN.

Demonstrating his stated commitment to reclaim El Salvador’s historic memory, he paid special tribute to several key leaders of El Salvador’s revolutionary movement, his teacher Mélida Anaya Montes, also a founder of ANDES-21 de junio and leader of the Popular Liberation Forces and to Schafik Handal, former leader of the Communist Party and his fellow commander in the FMLN, saying, “This government begins with a lot of hope and happiness. This is only possible due to the labors of our heroes and martyrs, those men and women, visionary people, who gave their lives dreaming of a democratic country.”

Fittingly, the formal ceremony was peppered with excited cheers from the crowd, from rounds of “El Pueblo Unido Jamás Sera Vencido!” to “No volverán! No volverán” (“They won’t be coming back!”), which sang an a capella version of the FMLN’s party hymn. Jeers and boos were reserved for a group of ARENA deputies who shunned President Funes upon his entrance, the president of El Salvador’s Supreme Court of Justice, Florentín Meléndez, frequently accused of responding to ARENA party interests, and various ARENA deputies who are being investigated for corruption and slander.

Delegations from over 100 countries attended the inauguration. Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Evo Morales of Bolivia and Salvador Valdés Mesa, the Vice-President of Cuba were greeted with the loudest cheers as they descended the staircase into the auditorium, a demonstration of the support of El Salvador’s organized social movement for further integration into the leftist bloc in Latin America and the Caribbean. No one from the United States joined the parade down the red carpet, as the US sent only a low-level delegation, another departure from the Funes inauguration, which was attended by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

A popular celebration was held later in the afternoon in San Salvador’s historic Plaza Cívica, the site of the Salvadoran armed forces’ horrific 1980 attack on the crowd gathered at the adjacent cathedral to attend the funeral of Monseñor Romero. Sánchez Cerén’s supporters were too buoyed by excitement to be bothered by the cold rain that began to fall.  With genuine admiration, gratitude, love and respect, the new President exchanged saludos with dignitaries from Cuba and Venezuela, as the crowed cheered for champions of Latin American independence, including Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and El Salvador’s own Schafik Handal.

In a rousing speech, El Salvador’s new president ended the day taking once more about dreams: the dreams of a revolutionary, the dreams of a nation.  Calling on the country to dream for its children, he shouted, “El Salvador is worth the struggle. It’s worth sacrificing ourselves. And it’s worth struggling all of our lives for our dream…  In my dream, El Salvador will become a country of buenvivir, where everyone can have happiness, where inequality is torn down, where we all see each other as brothers and sisters – this dream is worth fighting for.”

(VIDEO) Venezuelan Opposition Makes a Mistake in Thinking it Can De-stabilize the Country

Over the last two months, the US-financed opposition in Venezuela has committed numerous acts of serious violence in an effort to destabilize the country and to depose the democratically-elected president, Nicolas Maduro.  This video is a parody of opposition efforts and provides a perfect example why they are failing.  The video is in Spanish with English subtitles.

 

A Salute to the People of Honduras and Their Persistent Resistance

My hat remains perpetually off to the people of Honduras, beginning with the coup on June 28, 2009, to this day for resisting a murderous regime sent special delivery from the US State Dept.  Below is a post I put up on January 27, 2010, on my now defunct blog, Honduras Oye.  I am trying to incorporate stories of peoples’ struggles I have chronicled in separate blogs over the years on Guinea, Honduras, and Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela into this blog.  This particular entry focuses on the song that united and fueled the Honduran Resistance.  It is presented in two, short compelling  short videos.  Of particular note, at the end of the first video you will see the Honduran Resistance gathered at the airport in Tegucigalpa waiting on a plane carrying their exiled president, Mel Zelaya.  Of course, the thugs who took over the government denied the plane landing rights.  Yet it was able to pass by the airport, tipping its wing in salute to the people on the ground.  Oh yes, it was a Venezuelan pilot doing the honors.  Thanks, Hugo Chavez.

January 27, 2010

It seems like a good time to look back at the last seven months and honor the Honduran Resistance which hit the streets June 28, on the day of coup, and has not stopped.

The Resistance is Not Afraid:

The anthem of the Honduran Resistance is a beautiful and compelling song:  “Nos tienen miedo porque no tenemos miedo” or in English, “They are afraid of us because we are not afraid.”  Two versions.

MARTELLY: Haiti’s Second Great Disaster

Martelly: Haiti’s second great disaster

Greg Grandin Last Modified: 04 May 2011 19:14

Haiti’s new president is a friend of coup-plotters, fascists, and armed right-wing groups in his country and abroad.

No sooner had Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly been confirmed the winner in Haiti’s deeply flawed presidential election than he jumped on a plane and headed to Washington, where he met with his country’s real power brokers: officials from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the US Chamber of Commerce and the State Department.

There, he committed his desperately poor country – where some 700,000 people are still homeless as a result of last year’s earthquake – to fiscal discipline, promising to “give new life to the business sector”. In exchange, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave him a strong endorsement. “We are behind him; we have a great deal of enthusiasm,” she said. “The people of Haiti may have a long road ahead of them, but as they walk it, the United States will be with you all the way,” she added

VIDEO HAITI: “Tent” City Made of Cardboard

In the first few weeks after the earthquake, President Preval made an impassioned plea to the international community for donation of tents to provide shelter for earthquake victims.

About a month later, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) put the word out to the NGO community that Haiti was “eating up” all of its money and that it could not promise that there would be enough funding to cover future worldwide disasters.  The NGO community read the tea leaves and realized that if it wanted to continue to feed at the USAID trough and avoid firing staff it would need to tighten its Haiti belt.  Immediately after USAID communicated its warning, the NGO community did an about face on tents.  Suddenly, tents were too big and too expensive.  The new recommendation for “adequate shelter” became the less expensive tarps — one to each homeless family.  Of course, as the preliminary “killer” rains have proven, the tarps provide insignificant protection.  After watching the following video, filled with cardboard hovels, you have to wonder if USAID issued yet another belt-tightening warning.