[P2P-F] Fwd: 88 Organizations and Individuals Oppose US Sanctions Against Venezuela

Fri May 30 01:54:36 CEST 2014

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Alliance for Global Justice <afgj at afgj.org>
Date: Thu, May 29, 2014 at 3:03 PM
Subject: 88 Organizations and Individuals Oppose US Sanctions Against
Venezuela
To: michelsub2004 at gmail.com

             [image: Alliance for Global Justice]
<http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=uiR1WUlV7VPkeJDFdQQRc2uzh2pezmaN>
    88 Organizations and Individuals Oppose US Sanctions Against Venezuela

For Immediate Release

May 29, 2014

Contact: Chuck Kaufman

 Chuck at AFGJ.org

202 540 8336 x 1

202-540-8336

*88 Organizations and Individuals Oppose US Sanctions Against Venezuela*

In reaction to House-passed bill instructing the Obama Administration to
impose sanctions against Venezuela, 88 organizations, academics, and
prominent individuals signed an open letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid. Academics Noam Chomsky and James Petras, leaders of the United
Steelworkers and United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America
(UE), Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, lawyer/author Eva Golinger,
religious leaders Fr. Roy Bourgeois and Gerry Lee, and others signed the
letter to Reid.

The letter opposes sanctions, comparing it to the internationally condemned
55-year old sanctions against Cuba. The letter also calls for cutting off
US Aid for International Development and National Endowment for Democracy
funding for violent groups within the Venezuelan opposition which are
responsible for more than half the deaths arising from violent
demonstrations which began in February.

Finally, the letter calls for the normalization of relations between the
two countries, pointing out, “Venezuela holds the largest proven oil
reserves in the world. As the largest consumer of oil, it is in the
interest of the people of the United States to maintain friendly and
regular relations with Venezuela.”  The letter asks the Obama
Administration to name an ambassador to Venezuela, a position that has been
vacant since 2008. Venezuela’s democratically elected president Nicolas
Maduro has named an ambassador to the United States who has been kept
waiting for his credentials to be accepted by the State Department.
------------------------------

   Open Letter to Sen. Harry Reid Opposing Sanctions Against Venezuela

May 29, 2014

Sen. Harry Reid
Majority Leader
US Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Sen. Reid,

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals strongly oppose bills in
both Houses of Congress to impose sanctions on Venezuela during a time when
the Venezuelan government and democratic forces in the opposition are in
formal talks mediated by the Vatican and the Union of South American
Nations (UNASUR).
We do not think that sanctions would in any way contribute to a peaceful
resolution of the problems facing Venezuelans in this polarized environment.

Sanctions against Venezuela would be all too reminiscent of the failed
55-year US policy of sanctions against Cuba. Each year in the UN General
Assembly, the US policy toward Cuba is condemned by a nearly unanimous vote
of the Community of Nations. At the beginning of his presidency, President
Barack Obama promised
Latin America a new chapter in US relations. Instead Latin America has
witnessed the same old policies of interference in their sovereign affairs
and a lack of respect for the right of self-determination. To now impose
sanctions against Venezuela would further confirm the perception of the
United States as a bad neighbor and a
bully.

We are also troubled that some groups in the violent opposition receive US
funding through the US Agency for International Development and the
National Endowment for Democracy. The violent opposition is responsible for
more than half the 41 deaths since the beginning of street violence in
February, including the decapitation of a motorcyclist from razor wire
strung across a street. While the democratic opposition sits down at the
table and talks to the democratically elected government of President
Nicolas Maduro, the violent opposition attempts to win in the streets what
they have failed to win in 16 elections since 1998 – elections that former
President Jimmy Carter calls “the best in the world” in terms of
transparency and fairness. We call on the Congress to stop funding violence
in Venezuela.

Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves in the world. As the
largest consumer of oil, it is in the interest of the people of the United
States to maintain friendly and regular relations with Venezuela. To that
end we further call on the Administration to appoint, and the Senate to
approve, an ambassador to Venezuela and to approve the seating of the
ambassador President Maduro has named to represent his government to the
United States. Just as peaceful dialogue is the only rational solution to
Venezuela’s social divisions, normalized relations and peaceful dialogue,
based on respect, is the only rational solution to the differences between
our two nations.

Sincerely,

Noam Chomsky, MIT
Chuck Kaufman, National Co-Coordinator, Alliance for Global Justice
Ramsey Clark, former US Attorney General,
James Petras, Binghamton University,
Eva Golinger, Lawyer/Writer,
Larry Birns, Director, Council on Hemispheric Affairs
Dan Kovalik, Senior Counsel, United Steel Workers
Father Roy Bourgeois, Founder, School of the Americas Watch
Azadeh Shahshahan, President, National Lawyers Guild
Ronald Chilcote, Managing Editor, Latin America Perspectives
Bruce J. Klipple, General President, United Electrical, Radio & Machine
Workers of America (UE)
Andrew C. Dinkelaker, General Secretary-Treasurer, United Electrical, Radio
& Machine Workers of America (UE)
Robert B. Kingsley, Director of Organization, United Electrical, Radio &
Machine Workers of America (UE)
Gerry G. Lee, Director, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Patrick McCann, President, Veterans for Peace
Katherine Hoyt, National Coordinator, Nicaragua Network
Suzanne Baker, Co-Coordinator, Nicaragua Information Center-Community
Action (Oakland, CA)
Tanya Cole, Director, Witness for Peace Southwest
Rev. Dan Dale, President, Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin
America
Blasé Bonpane, Director, Office on the Americas
Marc Becker, Professor of History, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO
Dale Sorensen, Director, Marin (CA) Interfaith Task Force on the Americas
Midge Quandt, Board,  Princeton (NJ)-Granada Sister Cities
Fred Mills, Jr., , Bowie State University (MD)
Williams Camacaro, Artist/Radio Host, New York City
Susan Letendre, RO, Regional Organizer, Witness for Peace New England
Sara Flounders & Teresa Gutierrez, Co-Directors, International Action Center
Alexis Stoumbelis, Director, Committee in Solidarity with the People of El
Salvador (CISPES)
Craig Hennecke, Organizer, Portland (OR) Central America Solidarity
Committee
Robert Nixon, Steering Committee, School of the Americas Watch West
Michael Bass, Steering Committee, School of the Americas Watch West
Peter Bohmer, Faculty in Political Economy, The Evergreen State College,
Olympia, WA
Hector Perla, Jr., Assistant Professor, University of California, Santa Cruz
Isabel Garcia, Board Chair, Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, Tucson, AZ
Babette Grunow, Board Coordinator, Latin America Solidarity Committee
(Milwaukee, WI)
Steve Ellner, Professor, Universidad de Oriente, Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela
Michael Eisenscher, Coordinator, Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace &
Justice
Rosalind Bresnahan, Editorial Board, Latin American Perspectives
William I. Robinson, Professor of Sociology and Global and International
Studies, University of California-Santa Barbara
Donald W. Bray, Professor Emeritus, California State University, Los Angeles
Marjorie Woodford Bray,PhD, Director of Latin American Studies, Retired,
California State University, Los Angeles
Nora Hamilton, Professor (Retired), University of Southern California
Sheryl Lutjens, Chair, Chair, Women's Studies Department, California State
University San Marcos
Dr. Claudia Ferman, Latin American & Film Studies, University of Richmond,
VA
Tamar Diana Wilson, Community4ImmigrantRights, University of Missouri-St.
Louis
Horacio N. Roque Ramírez, Associate Professor, University of California,
Santa Barbara
Prof. Bruce Calder, Emeritus Professor of Latin American History,
University of Illinois at Chicago
George Leddy, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Science, Los Angeles
Valley College
Clifford A Welch, Professor, UNIFESP - Universidade Federal de São Paulo
William Aviles, Professor, University of Nebraska, Kearney
Alejandro Alvarez Béjar, Professor, UNAM-Mexico
John L. Hammond, Professor, Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY
David Horvath, Chair , Kentucky Interfaith Taskforce on Latin America and
the Caribbean
Beth Baker-Cristales, Ph.D., Director, Latin American Studies Program,
California State University, Los Angeles
Dra. Mercedes Olivera Bustamante, Professor, Universidad de Ciencias y
Artes de Chiapas, México
Marilyn Frankenstein, Professor, College of Public and Community Service,
University of Massachusetts
Suren Moodliar, Professor, Massachusetts Global Action
Paul Lauter, Allan K. & Gwendolytn Miles Smith Professor of Literature,
Trinity College
James Cockcroft , Honorary Editor, Latin American Perspectives
Armando Gonzalez Caban , Editors Collective, Latín American Perspectives,
UC Riverside
Lauren Carasik, Director, International Human Rights Clinic*, Western New
England University School of Law
James Levy, Professor, University of South Wales, Australia
James W. Russell, CSU Professor of Sociology, Eastern Connecticut State
University
Buddy Bell, Organizer, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Chicago, IL
Karyn Hollis, Ph.D., English Department, Villanova University
Diana Bohn, Organizer, Bay Area Latin America Solidarity Coalition
Rev. John Fife, Co-Founder, No More Deaths & Sactuary Movement, Tucson, AZ
Tom Baker, Director, Chicago Fair Trade Group
James Jordan, Coordinating Committee, Latin America Solidarity Coalition
Emily Zucchino, Associate Director, Witness for Peace Southeast
Julian Kunnie,  Professor, University of Arizona, Chi Endeh (Chiricahua
Apache) Community Alliance
Dana Frank, Professor of History, University of California, Santa Cruz
George Ciccariello-Maher, Assistant Professor, Department of History &
Politics, Drexel University
Lee Artz, Ph. D., International Communication, , Purdue University Calumet
Kim Scipes, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Sociology, Purdue University
North Central, Westville, IN
Cori Ring-Martinez & Catie Johnston, Co-Coordinators, US-El Salvador Sister
Cities
Jerry Pendergast, Board, Chicago-Cinquera Sister Cities
Lee Sui Hin, National Coordinator, National Immigrant Rights Network
Colleen Rose, Events Coordinator, Marin Interfaith Task Force on the
Americas
Dave King, Co Chair , Climate Jobs committee, PDX*
Laurie King, Co Chair, Portland Jobs with Justice*
Lee Robinson, PAIA Secretariat, All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party-GC
Banbose Shango, National Co-Chair, National Network on Cuba
Manik Mukherjee, General Secretary, International Anti-imperialist
Coordinating Committee (IACC), Kolkata, India
Collective, Power through Community Action (PICA)
Collective, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA)
Alejandro Mencha, Collective Representative, 3rd Space, Phoenix, AZ
Cecelia Kluding, Board, Communities Engaged in Global Justice

* For identification purposes only

<http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=qm%2FQFdgXp1swnopJF%2B2iqWuzh2pezmaN>

 Like the work AFGJ is doing? *Please support us today.*
<http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Od%2FG24IDI7TXAVZt0CcHLGuzh2pezmaN>
     You
are subscribed to Alliance for Global Justice's email list. Click here to
unsubscribe
<http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=COnRIOdowf0CmTwwjSpeCmuzh2pezmaN>
Call
Send SMS
Add to Skype
You'll need Skype CreditFree via Skype

[image: empowered by Salsa] <http://www.salsalabs.com/?email>

-- 
*Please note an intrusion wiped out my inbox on February 8; I have no
record of previous communication, proposals, etc ..*

P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net

<http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates:
http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

#82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://lists.ourproject.org/pipermail/p2p-foundation/attachments/20140529/f8d64351/attachment-0001.htm 