Venezuela Won the First Round
Venezuela Won the First Round Against the Empire
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
The clash between Venezuela and the Empire last weekend ended with a humiliating defeat for Elliott Abrams, the alleged designer of the operation.
What the neocons initially planned may never be known, but what is known is that they could not culminate in an invasion or another false flag operation.
The most notable facet of the confrontation, according to the most objective international experts and observers, has been the scant effect that Anglo-Zionist propaganda had inside Venezuela.
Although certainly a few senior officers and Venezuelan soldiers betrayed their country by uniting with the enemy, the overwhelming majority of the Venezuelan military remained faithful to the Constitution and their homeland.
President Maduro and his government successfully carried out a strategy that combined roadblocks, a musical concert on the Venezuelan side, and the minimal – but effective – use of riot police to keep the border closed and order throughout the homeland. Most notably, the “unidentified snipers” did not seem to shoot on both sides (the Empire’s favorite tactic to justify its interventions).
Outside Venezuelan national territory, this first confrontation was also a defeat for the Empire. Not only because most countries in the world refused to recognize Washington’s puppet, but because the level of rejection of a possible invasion proved remarkably intense, and the Internet and the blogosphere overwhelmingly opposed U.S. intervention. This situation created many internal political tensions in several Latin American countries whose public opinion is firmly opposed to any form of U.S. interference in Latin America, even if not with the historic oligarchy.
The leaders of the Empire and their puppets do not hide the fact that their goal is to overthrow the constitutional government and to replace it with the kind of regime that Washington seems to have been able to impose on Colombia. Pompeo, Abrams, Pence, Elliot Abrams and Marco Rubio were particularly hysterical in their threats, although the oligarchies (not so the peoples) of the “Lima Group” countries submissively abided by them.
Certain American politicians resorted to their usual childish language for threats in situations of gravity as an obvious show of contempt for their own population. For those bewildered because adult politicians used the language.
No one should be surprised when they claim that Maduro is a “new Hitler” who commits a “genocide” against his own people. Or that he is accused of using “chemical weapons”.
Last weekend’s military defeat of Venezuela’s self-appointed interim president, Juan Guaidó, has been publicly reproached by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. The White House has attempted to evade responsibility for what its espionage and subversion agencies have been unable to achieve. They’d saught the adherence of an emblematic number of traitors from the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) to the action of the alleged coup plotters, and failed to get it. Pence reproached the supposed interim president of Venezuela for the failures suffered after his recognition last January 23, actions called to justify the military intervention designed by Washington.
Their main demand was against the support of the FANB for the legitimate president, Nicolás Maduro.
Guaidó had promised the U.S. government that if the majority of world leaders recognized him as president of Venezuela, at least half of the FANB officers would defect, which did not even remotely happen.
The U.S. official also questioned the uncommitted attitude of Venezuelan millionaires abroad who “were expected a more determined contribution of money to finance the bribery of police, military and politicians and their adherence to the Guaidó sphere, which did not happen either.
Important international decision-making centers allied to the Trump regime have warned that the Venezuelan opposition “could lose the momentum” that the U.S. supposedly provided with the sudden appearance of the puppet Guaidó. He certainly has not yet found territory to govern and perhaps would have to do so from Colombia or another nation whose government is not ashamed to cede a piece of its sovereignty to the United States.
March 4, 2019.
This article may be reproduced by citing the newspaper POR ESTO as the source.
Cuba Debuts “Gay-Friendly” Constitution
Cuba Debuts “Gay-friendly” Constitution or,
the Battle for LGBTI Rights Has Just Begun
by Francisco Rodríguez Cruz
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
With its ratification by a resounding majority of its citizens, Cuba gets the first Constitution in its history and one of the few in the world that explicitly supports the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people.
But don’t tell anyone!
The new Magna Carta is the result of more than a decade of citizen and institutional activism for the sexual rights of LGBTI people, of progressive political and governmental work for comprehensive sexuality education, and of the growing overcoming of homophobia and transphobia among the Cuban population.
The contents that most directly express the gay-friendly character of the new constitutional text are:
It expressly proscribes and punishes by law discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, among other grounds (Article 42).
It recognizes the right of everyone to found a family, and protects all families, regardless of their form of organization (Article 81).
It deletes the previous definition of marriage as the union between a man and a woman, and conceptualizes it only as a social and legal institution, and one of the forms of family organization, which is based on free consent and the equal rights, obligations and legal capacity of the spouses (Article 82).
This 2019 Constitution, more than a goal, then, is a starting point.
Great trials will have to be faced in the future, in particular the process of popular consultation and referendum on the draft Family Code. Within two years from the entry into force of the Constitution, the Family Code will have to establish the way of constituting marriage, among other issues that concern LGBTI people very.
The convincing success of the YES in the constitutional referendum that we have just held does not mean that the great majority of Cubans understand, respect or support our rights as lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people.
On the contrary, the great lesson of the popular consultation and of some of the modifications that the draft Constitution underwent, as well as its interpretation, was that there are still many prejudices, much ignorance and even recalcitrant, retrograde and extremist positions in our population.
Such objections and resistances, deliberate or unconscious, do not exclude individuals or sectors that support the Revolution in other areas, and even occupy leadership responsibilities at different political or governmental levels of the country.
Nor does the defeat of the NO in the vote imply that among the minority that in one way or another showed its disagreement with the new Law of Laws there are no sensitive people, directly interested or sympathetic to the defense of LGBTI rights.
We will then have to promote, activate or recompose alliances, excuse grievances, appease hostilities and resentments, overcome disunity and strengthen strategies for working together among activists, organizations and institutions that advocate for free sexual orientation and gender identity.
It is also foreseeable that on this road towards the realization of such constitutional guarantees there will be controversies, conflicts and disagreements, including clashes and rebellions, questioning and injustices; advances, stagnations and setbacks, all of which should not discourage or discourage us from taking the necessary risks.
It will therefore be essential to deploy all our intelligence and responsibility, negotiation skills and capacity, maturity and political courage, so that we can ensure that this wonderfully advanced constitutional chrysalis spreads its multi-colored butterfly wings in specific laws that effectively regulate and guarantee our rights as LGBTI people.
February 25, 2019
Who is Paquito?
Photo by Jose Goitia
I am , also known as Paquito, from Cuba; I am a Marti follower and an author; I am a communist and gay journalist; I am a convinced and superstitious atheist; I am the father of a son whom I have adored and have been a partner for fifteen years with a seronegative man who loves me; I have been an AIDS patient since 2003 and am a survivor of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma for more than twelve years; I am a university professor and a student of life; a follower of Cuban economic issues and a passionate devourer of universal literature; an incontinent and belligerent moderate; a friend of my friends and a compassionate friend of my enemies; often wrong and never repentant; a hardened and eternal enthusiastic optimist; alive and kicking; in short, another ordinary man who wants to share his story, opinions and desires with you…
Cuban cigarettes
CUBAN CHRONICLES
by Walter Lippmann
February 15, 2019
These are Cuban cigarettes, not at the duty-free, and you’ll notice the price is 6 cuc for a carton, that is 10 packs and other words 200 coffin nails.
Originallly posted to facebook February 15, 2019 at 9:06am
The plane has been called for boarding
CUBAN CHRONICLES
by Walter Lippmann
February 15, 2019
The plane has been called for boarding so I’m going to go now I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do any more posting from inside the plane. On the way to the airport, I had to make a quick stop at the office of the newspaper Juventud Rebelde. It is located catty-corner from the office of the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
You’ll notice the red berets, quite distinctive, which identified them as members of the internal security force within the Ministry of the Armed Forces. Look closely and you will see that this detail includes both male and female soldiers. Okay, perhaps this is a good place to stop recording any more impressions and go line up to board my flight to Miami which leaves in about a half hour.
Originally posted on Facebook February 15, 2019
With Suitcases at The Airport
CUBAN CHRONICLES
With Suitcases at The Airport
by Walter Lippmann
February 15, 2019
Here I am at the airport. Over a two months nap over a two-month span, I accumulate a massive quantity of books. If there’s any space left beyond the books, and the Cuban coffee that I purchase, I sometimes by a few little touristy things to drop my last few see you sees into the Cuban economy.
And I am still amazed, as I think about it, that with one suitcase entirely filled with books and others including books and Cuban coffee and those lovely little small coffee cups that we drink are Cuban coffee in, that I paid no overweight, for the very first time in my memory. I think I will always fly American because they give you two checked bags. Getting in here, and going through airport security, was a snap they were just as thorough as anywhere else but it was very easy and the security people were very polite.
I cannot resist pointing this out, and it’s true in many other Cuban installations as well, that these security officials, the female ones, often wear skirts that measure as much as 8 to 10 INCHES above the knee.
Originally posted on facebook February 15 at 9:24 AM
Cuban Coffee
CUBAN CHRONICLES
by Walter Lippmann
February 15, 2019
After all these years, I finally have learned the correct way to make Cuban coffee in the cafetera. Here is my final cup being made this very morning. Serrano isn’t around these days, so we’re drinking Turquino. Also very good.
A Few Final Thoughts February 2019
CUBAN CHRONICLES
by Walter Lippmann
February 15, 2019
These are a few final thoughts after 2 months in Cuba. I may have something else to say while I’m waiting for the airplane to depart.
First, the most important thing going on on the Cuban agenda during this period, inside of Cuba, has been the discussion of the approval of a new constitution to govern the islands politics For the next period of time.
Within the print and electronic media inside of Cuba there is only one point of view: Vote Yes. There is a small negative campaign on the internet, and there are obviously some individuals inside of the country who will vote no, but there has been no active public campaign against ratification of the new constitution.
Therefore, there is no reason to believe that it will not pass by a substantial majority. The only question that would be of interest will be how much of that majority it will be and how many people will choose to express whatever protest they have in an electoral form. We will know that within a few days after February 24th.
This is not the first Constitution that Cuba has ever had, including during the Revolutionary period, and it’s unlikely to be the last one. Cuban society as a whole, and the legal structure which governs it, is a constant process of development. It is a continuous, uninterrupted, or if you like the term, a permanent, revolution that is going on here in Cuba. There’s no other meaningful way to look at it.
Internationally, the number one issue for Cuba is Washington’s attempt to overthrow the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and turn it back into a US dominated client regime. That’s the one that Washington has recognized, even though it has no power inside of the nation of Venezuela.
The biggest change that I have noticed since my previous visit to Cuba last year, was that anyone with a cell phone can now access the internet at home, if they have the money to afford the service. It is not cheap but it is available to anyone with the money. In previous years, there used to be long lines to get into the Cuban internet offices, in order to get
Today there is almost never a line to get onto the computers there, because people can do so through their cell phones. And, unlike the past where you had to go to an office which was only open from 8:30 in the morning till 7 p.m. at night you can access the internet 24 hours a day 7 days a week, as I am doing right here in writing this email on my cell phone using the voice texting capability.
inflation is certainly affecting the country where wages are basically stagnant but prices continue to go up especially for food but other things as well. Because everything here is heavily subsidized by the state, the prices that Cubans pay for food is still substantially lower than comprable prices in the United States.
In part that’s because here very few people still pay anything for rent. However, even I have noticed the escalating prices of food which is making life even more difficult for ordinary people that it has been all ready for a long time.
Cuba is fortunate to have diplomatic, economic, and military allies, but in the final analysis, Cuba must always rely on its own natural resources, the most important of which are the ordinary people who live in this country. Most of them are too young to know anything about life under capitalism so the government makes an effort to give them some idea of what life is like outside of this country.
A few years ago, the Cuban government pretty much gave up control over whether or not people could travel abroad, so anyone who can afford a passport, and who can get a visa to go to another country, can now do so with ease.
This has meant many Cubans have been traveling abroad, and have begun to get a sense of what daily life is really like in the capitalist world. People that I have met here during my years visiting since 1999, and it had a relatively easy life, although they complained all the time about it, are now finding themselves living outside of Cuba, trying to get by on the minimum wage, having to pay for health insurance, having to pay rent for the very first time in their lives. They are learning what it’s like to be in debt, what it’s like to clean other people’s houses, and to have to pay for their medical coverage.
Unemployment, racism, police brutality, these are things which are largely, though not entirely unknown and unknown in Cuba, even though the country has many many problems have become a shocking and somewhat disappointing reality for some who have travelled and begun to live outside of the country.
Younger Cubans who did not believe the stream of negative stories in the Cuban media about life under capitalism, have begun to find out through their own daily life experiences that those stories were not exaggerated.
Saying all this, does not even remotely mean that the Cuban system and the Cuban government does not have its own responsibilities for many of the problems that are caused here. Corruption is a daily reality which provides a corrosive undertone to life here.
But every single one of these problems is made worse by the fact that the United States, with the collusion of its Western allies, does what it can to both sabotage the islands economic relations with the rest of the world.
The Trump administration’s threat to allow the full implementation of title 3 of the Helms Burton law, is the latest example of the kinds of threats that hang over this country every single day.
In May of this year, there is going to be a Conference held here to take a look at the life and works of Leon Trotsky and his impact on politics. The orientation of the conference is favorable, many people have expressed interest, have been invited, and are planning to attend.
I spent many years in Trotskyist organizations, where I learned a lot of useful and helpful material, but picked up a certain amount of ideological baggage as well. Those were good years, and I would not be doing the work that I do, in the way that I do had I not had that experience.
Through the Yahoo News Group which I have directed for most of the last 20 years, I have been responsible for bringing out more information from and about Trotsky then any other source in English language world, so I’m very much interested in I’m looking forward to this event. Speakers have been invited from all over the world a few of whom I know and many of whom I do not so it should be an interesting event when it takes place.
Most media sources on the political right and in the mainstream establishment have been given the impression that Cuba is nothing but a small island in the gulag archipelago. This impression was magnified, to a certain extent, by the publication, a few years ago, of Leonardo Padura’s extremely depressing novel, The Man Who Loved Dogs.
Some people on the political left, including some who even consider themselves left-wing and revolutionary, have echoed a variant of this notion.
The island remains under relentless assault by the United States and its allies, who hope to either turn the revolution back or at least make the country as bad an example of what socialism can be as possible. This process has been going on for over 60 years and isn’t about to stop, but under the Trump presidency it seems to be escalating, even more than it has in the past.
One thing I enjoy particularly here in Cuba is that for two entire months I do not have to put my hands on a steering wheel. Another thing I enjoy is not having to open up and read the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times. There is information in those publications which I I do enjoy reading, and which I occasionally miss.
However, commercial advertising, which is the main reason these publications exist, served in one way or another to glorify life under the private property system, and to try to instill a sense of inferiority and incompetence on anyone who doesn’t have enough money to enjoy all the glories that capitalism has to provide, at least for those who have the money.
Friends in Los Angeles tell me that it is cold and rainy, but on the other hand I’m looking forward to the many conveniences which I have in my own very nice Los Angeles home. I’ve lived there for 30 years and I’m very comfortable living in it. Wherever you are, home is still home oh, and there’s nothing else like it.
My plan and hope is to try to take a couple of days to relax and rest and otherwise to continue doing the work that I do. This is to provide a steady stream of reliable information about this wonderful country and to provide translations from the Cuban media into English to help those whose first language is not Spanish, as mine is not, either.
Though I’m not a wealthy person, I’ve been very fortunate, and very privileged, to have a decent pension, and not have to struggle every day to make a living, I know people here who have friends and co-workers were still employed in their seventies and even in their 80s, because they have to struggle to get by. The stories of old retirees now working as greeters at Walmart means that this is a generalized phenomenon in many parts of the world up.
It would help Cuba, which needs the money that travelers bring, but it would also help people from other countries, to come and get the sense of what it actually is like to live in a society that is a under revolutionary leadership and living under the shadow of a large and hostile next door neighbor who does everything that it can to make life difficult for this country. So Irish people to come and visit Cuba as but as much as possible.
At the same time, people should not come to Cuba expecting it to be some sort of paradise on Earth. Anyone who has not been to Cuba before, or who has not come in a very long time, would benefit by reading an essay published a few years ago in the magazine called monthly review.
The article was called how to visit a socialist country, and it was written by the Harvard biophysicist Richard Levins. it is at once sympathetic yeah completely sobering unrealistic and provides a good preparation for those who are about to come to Cuba. I try to read it once before I come and once when I get back to give myself a sense of the context in which this country exists and functions, and in many ways thrives in the face of adversity.
Yesterday, February 14th, is known as Valentine’s Day or here in Cuba it’s called the day of love and friendship. In addition to avoiding the inevitable preparations for travel and packing, I spent a large part of yesterday going around to see friends, and giving 8.5 by 11 color enlargements of people whose pictures I took, to as many of those individuals that I could find. That was most of them.
And everybody was delighted to receive pictures of themselves. You know, people often take pictures of strangers and then leave. I like to give pictures, in print, to the people whose images I have taken them.
My ride to the airport is coming to get me in just a few hours, and I still have to put a few more things into my suitcases so that I am ready when they come to get me. I may have a few more things to say while waiting at the airport but I hope you found these thoughts and impressions of interest, and will give you some things to think about.
Well, that’s enough for now, I have to go and finish up putting the last things in my suitcases. I have a lot more pictures on a lot more stories to tell, once I get settled back in in Los Angeles. I would like to thank all my friends here new and not so new, and I promise to continue telling stories and sharing photographs and images and impressions of what I’ve seen during my latest 2-month visit to Cuba.
These notes are a rough sketch and hardly cover all of the Impressions that I’ve had here but I really think it’s important for me to share these Impressions with you, before I get back into a completely or largely different world in Los Angeles California.
And, please keep in mind, that these are just one person’s hurried, last-minute impressions I don’t claim to give a full and complete analysis of everything you ever wanted to or needed to know about Cuba. I have the advantage that I have the time and the ability to be here, and the desire to share some of what I’ve seen with others who are interested as well
I would like to also thank each and every one of you who has taken the time to read these Impressions, and I will be happy to receive any feedback that you wish to share.
During this visit, just a few weeks ago, my long time friend, the revolutionary exile, Nehanda Abiodun, joined her ancestors. we used to speak nearly every day during my visits here and she often helped me to better understand the complex reality that this country is. The last time we saw each other was when she attended my 75th birthday party a few weeks ago. I’m truly sorry that she has gone.
Nehanda Isoke Abiodun, Presente!
Walter Lippmann
Havana, Cuba
February 15, 2019
4:20 A.M.
POST FINAL, PRE-AIRPORT NOTES
First, when I left Miami 2 months ago, I weighed 171 lb. This morning I now weigh 165. I am, of course, delighted at this. And, you can trust me, I eat regularly on the street.
Second, and perhaps as a practical reminder of many of the ways that Cuba is different from the United States, there was no hot water in the system here today. So we had to heat water in the stove, put it in a big bucket, and carry the big heavy bucket into the shower, where I use a cup in the bucket to shower and shave. It’s about 2 hours now before departure time and, I’m still not quite ready, but I will dress and feel much better with a shower and a shave. If I have more thoughts oh, yes I will add them because I just keep the phone sitting here plugged up and it’s charged 100%.
This is one of the areas where the blockade has a real impact. If you did not have to ask permission, or have to qualify under the restrictive qualities of US law, anyone could come to Cuba and anyone could pay for their bills with US dollars or American credit cards. My landlady would be filled more of the time since I am her only long-term guest. As a result of that she might have gotten the water heater fixed or maybe had more tanks for water on the roof.
Plastic Bags Alive and Well in Havana
CUBAN CHRONICLES
Plastic Bags Alive and Well in Havana
by Walter Lippmann
February 13, 2019
You remember those plastic bags that we used to get for free when we bought things in supermarkets and so forth in the United States? They are now considered to be ecologically unsound and harmful to the environment so in most big cities and markets these bags are banned and you have to pay $0.10 to get a paper bag.
Here in Cuba, these bags are easily available. This year, for the first time ever, I’ve noticed inflation has even hit the little plastic bag market. For as long as I can remember they were being sold for one peso a piece and then some places two for one peso. But now, they all go for 2 pesos each.
Originally posted on Facebook February 13, 2019
Iran has grown in resistance
Iran has grown in resistance
In 40 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has resisted all kinds of compromises on the part of the United States, in the imperial eagerness to destroy the Revolution
Author: Elson Concepción Pérez | mailto:internet@granma.cu
February 11, 2019 21:02:44
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
This economic war has been imposed on us, but we will stand,” said Hasan Rohani, Iranian president. Photo: AP
In 40 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has resisted all kinds of compromises on the part of the U.S., in the imperial eagerness to destroy the Revolution.
There have been four decades in which significant advances have been made as a guarantee that its project looks towards the present and future, from the economic, scientific and peaceful nuclear development, among other achievements.
That February 11, 1979, the founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, who had returned to the Persian country after 15 years in exile in Iraq, Turkey and France, became the leader of his nation until his death in 1989.
According to Ayatollah Ahmad Yanathi, the current president of the Assembly of Experts, “Khomeini succeeded in restoring the dignity of Islam and taught the population to fight against the humiliation of the West.
History recalls that, in 1951, Iran managed to establish the first democratically elected government and as leader held the post of Prime Minister, Mohamad Mosadeq, who nationalized the country’s oil industry.
Two years later, in 1953, the U.S. and British intelligence services staged a coup d’état and wiped out the popular government of the time and entrenched Mohamad Reza Pahlavi in power.
Today, the same enemy of that time – the governments of the United States and its ally Israel as a spearhead – maintains and increases the threats against the country and applies more and more economic sanctions with the aim of surrendering to the population.
An unprecedented and very characteristic event of the current US administration of Donald Trump was the unilateral break with the Nuclear Agreement signed by Iran and five other powers in 2015, considered one of the greatest achievements in international relations in recent decades.
In that imperial greed that takes no account of the people at all, National Security Advisor John Bolton assured last year that Iran would not celebrate the 40th anniversary of its Revolution, frankly threatening to reverse that nation’s revolutionary process.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, whose project in all orders has its vision in the autonomous development of the different fronts, including the military, exhibited during these days of celebration a long-range missile with a radius of 1 350 kilometers.
The Iranian Ministry of Defense presented the new cruise missile called Hoveize, manufactured locally and successfully tested, according to the ISNA news agency. The authorities claim that their missiles are only defensive and deterrent.
According to Hispantv, with the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Iran designed great objectives such as economic independence, self-sufficiency, the creation of jobs and a standard of living for its citizens.
Among its achievements is the significant reduction of poverty in the country. In 1977, according to the World Bank, 46% of Iranians lived below the poverty line. This figure dropped to 8% in 2015, according to a World Economic Forum report.
Although Iran is ranked among the developing countries, it has made great strides in aerospace, becoming one of the pioneers in the field. In 2009, it launched its first home-made satellite, Omid, to join the small club of nine countries with such capacity.
Its scientific achievements also stand out in biotechnology. Genetic engineers have started important research in recent years, which has resulted in the production and export of dozens of biomedicines.
Iran is among the top ten countries in the world in stem cell research and technology. It has recorded great successes in animal cloning. It has also excelled in bone marrow transplantation, occupying the second position on the planet, after Italy, reported Hispantv.
The Persian country, undoubtedly, has made resistance a major reason, first to defeat their enemies and then to develop the people and make the nation self-sustainable.
An example of these days is the decision of Iran and Russia to use their national currencies in reciprocal exchange, which implies dispensing with the U.S. dollar.
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