Latin America Unites to Tell Uncle Sam “Hands Off Venezuela” | Black Agenda Report

Latin America Unites to Tell Uncle Sam “Hands Off Venezuela”

24 Apr 2013

🖨️ Print Article

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

Washington smelled blood when the successors to Hugo Chavez won by only a small margin in Venezuelan elections. The U.S. refused to recognize the results, gearing up for regime change. However, “Latin America quickly united to blunt the Yankee offensive in its tracks.” Washington must be taught, repeatedly, that it does not have a backyard to its south.

Latin America Unites to Tell Uncle Sam “Hands Off Venezuela”

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

“Republican and Democratic regimes in Washington have never acknowledged the legitimacy of the Chavez revolution.”

Venezuela has entered a new period of grave danger, the most perilous since George Bush backed an attempted coup against the late Hugo Chavez’s government in 2002. Earlier this month, Chavez’s successor, Nicolas Maduro, won a narrow victory over the U.S.-backed candidate Henrique Capriles, a front man for the business interests that still control most of the media and much of the economy in the country. Although the governing United Socialist Party won by only 1.6 percent of the vote, Venezuela’s elections system is so transparent – the best in the world, according to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter – there is virtually no chance that the opposition was cheated of victory. But that’s irrelevant to both Republican and Democratic regimes in Washington, which have never acknowledged the legitimacy of the Chavez revolution, no matter how many elections it won, by whatever margin. As the greatest disrespecter of democratic elections in the western hemisphere, the United States refused to recognize the results, holding out for a 100 percent audit, or recount. Naturally, Washington’s stooge in the race, Capriles, took the same position, and sent his people into the streets to create an atmosphere of crisis and instability. Washington also got the European Union to parrot the American line.

“Latin American presidents took such extraordinary measures to show their solidarity.”

The good news is, Latin America quickly united to blunt the Yankee offensive in its tracks. Leaders of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador, met in an extraordinary summit in Peru, where they agreed to throw their weight behind Venezuela’s President Maduro. Then they flew on to Caracas, where 17 Latin American presidents and delegations from 47 nations attended Maduro’s swearing in ceremony. Even Colombia, Venezuela’s neighbor and Washington’s closest ally in the region, broke with the U.S. on the election issue. So did the Organization of American States, an anachronistic entity that has long acted as a puppet for Washington. When Spain backed off from the U.S., so did the rest of Europe, leaving the Americans totally isolated. Haiti, a country that lost its sovereignty to invasion by the United States – even helpless little Haiti named the airport in Cap-Haitien, its second largest city, after the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Why, then, did I begin by saying that this is a time of great danger for Venezuela? Because U.S. imperialism is implacable in its determination for regime change in Caracas. The closeness of the recent election only encourages Washington to believe that Chavez’s party can be overthrown by subversion, including U.S.-backed armed insurrection. That’s why the Latin American presidents took such extraordinary measures to show their solidarity with President Maduro – so that Washington would take note that Latin America is united in opposition to U.S. intervention.

The last thing these Latin countries want is to pick a fight with the Rude Boy of the planet, the United States. Rather, they are urging Washington not to attempt regime change in Venezuela – that those days are over, with or without Hugo Chavez.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

listen

http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/20130424_gf_Venezuela.mp3

More Stories

Jehad Abusalim
"It Is Neither Death, Nor Suicide"
09 Apr 2025
For 76 years, Gaza has been has been the defiant heart of Palestinian resistance. Today, as Israel’s genocidal war lays bare the brutal dead end of Zionism, Gaza’s struggle transcends geography,…
Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist , Dr.Wilmer J. Leon, III
Ajamu Baraka on What the Hands Off March Left Out
09 Apr 2025
Tens of thousands filled the streets this weekend—marching, chanting, fists raised in defiance. It looked like a movement powerful enough to shake the earth. But beneath the banners and speeches,…
Socialist Workers Movement of the Dominican Republic
The march in Friusa failed and the neo-fascist movement was divided
09 Apr 2025
The Dominican far-right’s violent march on Friusa collapsed in disarray, exposing weakness in the movement as racist mobs failed to overrun a working-class community. However, the threat remains.…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio April 4, 2025
04 Apr 2025
In this week’s segment we discuss Secretary of State Rubio’s visit to Guyana and other nations, and U.S. efforts to control resources and interfere in the Caribbean region.
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Rwanda Continues Congo Invasion, Congo Seeks U.S. Protection
04 Apr 2025
Maurice Carney is the Executive Director of Friends of the Congo. He joins us from Washington to discuss the ongoing crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda’s continued intervention…