*
*
*[image: Hands Off Venezuela]Hands Off Venezuela
@HOVcampaign<https://twitter.com/HOVcampaign>
*

*Spanish police claims to have expulsion order against
@PartidoPSUV<https://twitter.com/PartidoPSUV>
#LibertadJesúsValera<https://twitter.com/search?q=%23LibertadJes%C3%BAsValera&src=hash>but
he's married to Spanish woman, has child
*

*---------------------------------------------------*

Urge NYT Public Editor to Investigate Biased Reporting on Venezuela &
Honduras <http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/9302>

By VARIOUS, NYT EXAMINER, May 14th

The following petition, signed by over a dozen experts on Latin America and
media including Noam Chomsky and Greg Grandin, was sent today to Margaret
Sullivan, Public Editor for *The New York Times. *

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/9302

*
*

*-------------------------------------*

http://www.sabinabecker.com/2013/05/the-ironies-of-the-venezuelan-opposition-part-25.html


The ironies of the Venezuelan opposition, part
25<http://www.sabinabecker.com/2013/05/the-ironies-of-the-venezuelan-opposition-part-25.html>May
14, 2013 — Sabina Becker

Oh dear. Looks like MariCori has been pwned again in Colombia, this time
very nicely and politely by a member of the local opposition:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7dlDU6fjIek


Here’s the story,
<http://www.aporrea.org/internacionales/n228729.html> courtesy
of Aporrea:

*Last Wednesday, Venezuelan deputy María Corina Machado won the right to
speak in the Colombian senate chamber. Very dramatically, she told her
version of what happened during the brawl in the National Assembly, which
was provoked by right-wing deputies, and how the parliamentary president,
Diosdado Cabello, refused them the right to speak for not recognizing the
president of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro.*
*

During her talk, presented with a bandaged nose to show how democracy is
under attack in Venezuela, the senator from the Democratic Pole, Alexander
López Maya, told her that in reality it was she who was attacking
democracy, and countered with the tragic history of political
assassinations in Colombia.

Senator López Maya ran out of speaking time, and, in the interim, said that
it negated the possibility of expressing himself. He got a colleague to
cede his time to him, but there, before Machado, the president of the
senate ordered López Maya to say that there was indeed freedom of
expression [in Colombia], or he would not turn the microphone on.

Senator Alexander López (AL): The first order of business is that we
approve a proposition that a member of the Venezuelan opposition be allowed
to speak, but also the ruling party, so we should speak clearly and
concretely to the country.

Secondly, Deputy Corina, neither do we share the belief that differences
and discussions can be resolved by physical aggression. We lament that that
has occurred, and we wish that this had not happened to you and your eight
comrades. We are the opposition here in Colombia and, luckily, that is all
that happened to you. I want to tell you, Dr. Corina, that we leftists have
had four of our presidential candidates assassinated. They have
assassinated an entire political movement of ours, the Patriotic Union,
more than 3000 political directors, senators, representatives —
assassinated, Dr. Corina, totally wiped out of the politics of this
country. Today we, who represent the left in this land, have seen the
previous government intercepting not only our mail, but our telephone calls.

The previous government persecuted us all the time. I and several of my
comrades were victims of montages organized by the Army in this land. From
that “democracy” my colleagues speak of came the fact that a director of
the DAS, named by President Uribe, handed over to the paramilitary groups
lists of union leaders so that they would be assassinated, and from that
same “democracy” they speak of here, have come the murders of thousands of
Colombians. Some, not all, were members of the Public Force, and termed
“false positives”. In this “democracy” you speak of, the union movement has
minimal rights, minimal guarantees, and every day, labor rights are
violated here.

President of the Senate (PS): One minute remaining, Senator López.
Remember, this is a debate.

AL: Mr. President, this is a guarantee to the opposition and to democracy.

PS: Senator Camilo Romero has the floor.

AL: President, I need more time.

PS: Senator Romero, do you cede your time to your comrade?

Camilo Romero (CR): I will speak, of course, Mr. President, but I believe
it is necessary to hear out Senator López, so I ask for my time, and for
more time for Senator López.

PS: Do you plan to take the floor, Senator Romero?

CR: Of course, President, as I was telling you.

PS: Senator Alexander, I will give you the time you need if you affirm
truthfully that we have all democratic rights guaranteed here, but if you
plan to affirm that we do not have them when you have used them so that
someone will have a false image of this Congress, it seems to me that you
are lacking in truth. And the Senate also has the right to rectify that.
Turn on Senator López’s microphone again so he can make free use of the
speech as has always been done in this chamber.

AL: That’s how it must be for the opposition. So, Dr. Corina, I told you
that every day they were violating workers’ human rights here. Here, they
permanently violate human rights. The defenders of human rights are
permanently persecuted, attacked and assassinated, not all of them. Those
who reclaim the land, in the name of thousands of campesinos, are also
assassinated in this country.

So, Dr. Corina, I too lament having to tell you these particulars about my
country. I hope that in other congresses they allow that we divulge all
that occurs in Colombia, which is sometimes much more grave than what
happens in your country. I hope that this does not occur in your country or
mine, because we too love the Venezuelan people. We are Bolivarian peoples,
we are peoples who are called to freedom, and for that reason, we consider
that in every scenario and discussion that presents itself, everyone
interprets democracy in their own way, and the democracy in this country is
not such as they want to reflect in this Congress.

Just because we talk here doesn’t signify that there is democracy, not
because we do our activities or have a sector of Colombians accompanying us
does it signify that we have democracy here. For that reason, I too demand
on behalf of this opposition, the democratic opposition of the people, I
demand guarantees, not of speech, but that we can accompany the people of
Colombia in their tragedy, a people of whom more than half are living in
poverty, a people of whom more than a quarter are mired in indigence, a
people who currently receive from their government decisions absolutely
contrary to the social reality of this country.
*

*In this way, Dr. María Corina, I want to express to you our concern for
what is occurring in Venezuela, and we hope that in a spirit of
conciliation, you will be able to resolve your political conflicts of this
moment.*

Translation mine.

Recall that the last time we heard about MariCori, she was shut out of an
audience with Colombian President Juan Manuel
Santos<http://www.sabinabecker.com/2013/05/the-ironies-of-the-venezuelan-opposition-part-24.html>
—
who, unlike his predecessor, El Narco Uribe, is on good terms with the
Venezuelan government, and seems disposed to want to stay out of the
neighboring country’s internal affairs. MariCori wangled an invite to
address the Colombian congress instead, no doubt hoping to find a totally
captive and sympathetic audience there.

As you can see above, she didn’t get exactly what she’d been counting on.
She got a very polite, but very to-the-point dressing-down from a Colombian
oppositionist who faces a great deal more political persecution than she
could ever claim, legitimately or otherwise. And with that, she got a
timely reminder of the tremendous irony of her own position, and of how
silly she and her comrades are to come whining to the Colombian government
about matters which obviously are of no concern to it.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com 
    laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Reply via email to