The international Organization of American States (OAS) has called on its 35-member nations to reject the parliamentary elections planned by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro next month on Dec. 6.

“It cannot be accepted by the international community. We must be clear about it, reject that idea and any political margin to try to validate that process,” Luis Almagro, Secretary-General of the OAS said during a press conference earlier this week, according to El Nacional.

US THREATENS TO DESTROY IRANIAN MISSILES SHIPPED TO VENEZUELA

“It is definitely unacceptable from every point of view,” he added. “These elections are one more mechanism of impunity and cooptation of the Powers of the State.”

Almargro believes that Maduro is attempting to seize power over the opposition-controlled National Assembly – a sentiment shared by the leader of the government body Juan Guaido, who is recognized by the United State and the European Union as the acting president of Venezuela.

“We will not recognize the results of these elections and reiterate our demands for free and fair presidential elections, which is the only way to resolve this now international crisis,” a State Department spokesperson told Fox News.

Guaido has already denounced the December election as “fraud,” and points to Venezuela’s Maduro loyalist-Supreme Court having appointed officials to the nation’s top electoral body, instead of recognizing parliament’s role in the process, France 24 reported.

The National Assembly is the only body currently under control by the opposition but was deemed ineffective by the Supreme Court in 2017 when the high court found it in contempt and effectively revoked the body’s powers.

But Maduro is still looking to gain control of the legislative body.

“Here we don’t elect Donald Trump, [Jair] Bolsonaro or [Ivan] Duque,” Maduro said earlier this month, commenting on who he associates as right-wing leaders in the U.S., Brazil and Colombia – all of which denounce the Maduro presidency and regime.

Almagro said that Venezuela’s dictatorship began under Hugo Chavez and “has accelerated with the inauguration of Nicolás Maduro.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Dictators must leave the country and be tried for their crimes,” Almagro said Wednesday.

“The U.S. government agrees with calls from the Organization of American States (OAS) that the illegitimate Maduro regime’s fraudulent parliamentary elections to be held December 6 will not meet the conditions for free and fair elections,” said a spokesperson from the Department of State.  “These electoral conditions, fraught with regime manipulation, censorship, and harassment, are the worst that have been seen in modern Venezuelan history.”

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/world/organization-of-american-states-warns-of-sham-elections-in-socialist-venezuela

The post Organization of American States warns of sham elections in socialist Venezuela first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Guaido has already denounced the December 6 election as a “fraud” while the United States, European Union, and Organization of American States (OAS) have all voiced their concerns.

The opposition leader’s main gripe is that Venezuela’s regime-loyalist Supreme Court-appointed officials to the top electoral body ahead of the vote when that role should be performed by parliament.

The National Assembly is the only government branch in opposition hands, but it has been left impotent since 2017 when the Supreme Court declared it in contempt and subsequently annulled its every decision.

Nevertheless, Maduro is desperate to reclaim control of it.

“Here we don’t elect Donald Trump, (Jair) Bolsonaro or (Ivan) Duque,” socialist Maduro said on Sunday, alluding to the right-wing leaders of the US, Brazil, and Colombia.

Maduro is no stranger to being accused of fraud over an election. The opposition rejected his 2018 re-election and declared him a “usurper.”

That led to Guaido proclaiming himself acting president in January 2019 in a direct challenge to Maduro’s authority — a move that quickly garnered support from about 60 countries.

But “Maduro doesn’t seem to care much about legitimacy,” Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank, told AFP.

Taking back control of the legislature would allow him to “consolidate a hegemonic authoritarian regime, with Guaido no longer as a relevant player.”

– Little hope for change –

The planned boycott by Guaido and other main opposition parties leaves the way open for Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) to win a parliamentary majority.

In an attempt to minimize the impact of the boycott, the National Electoral Council announced that more than 14,000 candidates representing 107 parties are standing for the 277 seats.

But the list even includes Guaido’s Popular Will party amongst others to have announced they would boycott the vote.

Maduro “is entrenched, protected by force and the powers he controls,” political scientist Luis Salamanca told AFP, referring to support the president receives from the armed forces.

Luis Vicente Leon, director at pollsters Datanalisis, believes there will be high levels of abstention among the 20.7 million voters in the country of 30 million.

But “the unresolved problem is what to do after abstaining,” added Leon, who said on Twitter that the chance of an opposition boycott leading to political change “is not very promising.”

Despite almost two years of pressure from Guaido and increasing sanctions against government figures and the state oil company PDVSA, Maduro has held onto power.

– Last roll of the dice –

Guaido, whose popularity has fallen dramatically since his bold move in January 2019, says he will hold his own vote between December 5-12 without the electoral council, although he hasn’t said how.

His vote would ask Venezuelans whether or not they would support “all national and international pressure mechanisms” to ensure “free presidential and parliamentary elections” and whether they reject the December 6 vote.

Guaido’s intention is that if the legislative election is invalidated then the current make-up of the National Assembly, with its opposition majority, would remain in place.

But Salamanca doubts this will maintain allow Guaido to retain his influence.

“He needs to offer other initiatives to stay afloat. I don’t think the poll will help.”

A similar move in 2017 saw the opposition claim to have gathered 7.6 million votes in rejection of the Constituent Assembly — a body made up entirely of regime loyalists that was effectively created to replace the legitimate parliament’s functions.

But “today, Venezuelans are disillusioned with Guaido because he failed to deliver on his promise of regime change,” said Shifter.

“Expectations of a political transition under his leadership are very low.”

What’s more, “Guido will lose formal legitimacy as president of the National Assembly in January, when Maduro consolidates total power.”

It will also leave those governments that backed Guaido with “a very tricky and complicated problem.”

They “will not want to abandon Guaido … but may eventually be forced to recalibrate, depending on how the realities on the ground evolve.”

Source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/maduro-looks-for-total-power-in-venezuela-legislative-election/article/580513

The post Maduro looks for ‘total power’ in Venezuela legislative election first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Photo by: Leah Millis – Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido waves as President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020. (Leah Millis/Pool via AP)

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Bipartisanship was in short supply at last week’s State of the Union address — with one notable exception.

Nancy Pelosi had been looking dyspeptic, shuffling the papers she would later rip to shreds when President Trump reminded his audience that “the United States is leading a 59-nation diplomatic coalition against the socialist dictator of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro.”

Suddenly, the House speaker applauded. Mr. Trump then introduced “the true and legitimate president of Venezuela: Juan Guaido.” Mrs. Pelosi rose from her chair, smiled and put her hands together for the tall, dark and handsome Latin American in the House gallery. When Mr. Trump said, “All Americans are united with Venezuelans in their righteous struggle for freedom!” she again stood up and clapped.

I wondered: Was Bernie Sanders, the socialist senator and perhaps leading candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, applauding, too? Or was he sitting on his hands and scowling? It turns out he was in New Hampshire, viewing the event on television.

However, Keane Bhatt, one of his policy advisers, tweeted: “There is no better distillation of Washington, D.C. than a State of the Union in which Nancy Pelosi-having just led the impeachment of Donald ‘All Roads Lead to Putin’ Trump-twice joins in a rousing standing ovation of Juan Guaido, Trump’s appointed ‘president’ of Venezuela.”

There’s more. A year ago, Mr. Sanders told Univision’s Jorge Ramos that he didn’t recognize Mr. Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Asked whether he regarded Nicolas Maduro as a dictator, he refused to say. That prompted Rep. Donna Shalala, a Miami Democrat, to charge that Mr. Sanders “has demonstrated again that he does not understand this situation.”

On the campaign trail, the Brooklyn-born Vermonter likes to say he’s a Scandinavian-style socialist. But in 2003, he signed a letter in support of Mr. Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, a self-proclaimed Marxist and comrade of Cuba’s Fidel Castro, whom Mr. Sanders also has praised. He’s called Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua’s far-left leader, “an impressive guy.” And of course, in 1988, newlyweds Bernie and Jane honeymooned in the Soviet Union.

Want to guess which candidate Mr. Maduro is rooting for?

Let me remind you of Venezuela’s riches-to-rags story. Though the country possesses the world’s largest oil reserves, over recent years 90 percent of the population has fallen into abject poverty. Millions of Venezuelans have fled to neighboring countries, burdening those economies.

The nation’s descent began during the 11-year rule of Hugo Chavez. He died of cancer in 2013, having designated Mr. Maduro as his successor.

On Jan. 10, 2019, following an election widely viewed as neither free nor fair. Mr. Maduro has sworn in again. The Organization of American States promptly declared his presidency illegitimate. Venezuela’s National Assembly invoked a state of emergency and, on Jan. 23, Mr. Guaido was declared acting president.

The United States, Canada, Brazil and dozens of other countries are behind him. But a Cuban-Russian axis, also including Iran, China, Nicaragua, North Korea, and Syria, supports Mr. Maduro. Oh, by the way: The U.N. sides with the authoritarian bloc. U.S. tax dollars at work.

Trump administration efforts to bring about regime change in Venezuela have been principled, persistent and, so far, ineffective.

Russia controls roughly 70 percent of Venezuela’s oil production, profiting to the tune of $2 billion last year, according to estimates I regard as reliable.

No fewer than 25,000 Cubans reside in Venezuela. Some are teachers and doctors but others advise and guard Mr. Maduro. Still, others are spies and de facto commissars within the country’s bureaucracies, military units and intelligence agencies.

Also playing an especially nefarious role — the Islamic Republic of Iran. Research conducted by Emanuele Ottolenghi, my colleague at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, reveals that the Maduro regime makes passports and travel documents available to Iranian agents.

Tehran’s regional propaganda headquarters is in Caracas. The two regimes collaborate in a disinformation war against the United States. Their Spanish-language television networks, Hispan TV and Telesur, respectively, share journalists across Latin America.

Hezbollah, a proxy of the clerical regime, is firmly ensconced within Venezuela’s large (about 200,000) Lebanese Shia community. “Simply put,” Mr. Ottolenghi notes, “Maduro and his cronies use the trappings of a sovereign state to run a criminal syndicate involved in pillaging state resources and taking commissions from organized crime to use Venezuela as a staging ground for their global smuggling operations.”

He adds: “Hezbollah supporters, concentrated in several areas of Venezuela and along the Venezuela/Colombia border, have, over the years, lent their businesses to trade-based money-laundering schemes designed to repatriate drug money for the cartels — minus a hefty commission for Hezbollah.”

The day after the State of the Union, President Trump met with Mr. Guaido to discuss how “to expedite a democratic transition in Venezuela that will end the ongoing crisis,” according to a White House press statement.

I’d argue that will require additional sanctions, not just on the Maduro regime but also and especially on Russia which is violating the Monroe Doctrine — President James Monroe’s 1823 warning to Europe that further imperialism in the Western Hemisphere would not be tolerated.

Of course, in 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry announced: “The era of the Monroe Doctrine is over.” What he probably meant was that the Obama administration had no wish to dominate the Americas.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian neo-czar toward whom Mr. Bhatt believes Mr. Trump is too solicitous, may have interpreted Mr. Kerry’s words differently: As an invitation to exploit U.S. neighbors — an invitation he and others have been only too pleased to accept.

• Clifford D. May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for The Washington Times.

Source: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/feb/11/president-trump-finds-bipartisan-support-for-a-pro/

The post Trump finds bipartisan support for a pro-U.S. Venezuelan leader Guaido first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Pompeo’s remarks at the opening of the OAS General Assembly reflected a renewed push to increase the economic and diplomatic cost of what Pompeo called the “dismantling of democracy” under President Nicolás Maduro.

“That suspension is not a goal unto itself,” Pompeo said. “But it would show the OAS backs up its words with action and would send a powerful signal to the Maduro regime — only real elections will allow your government to be included in the family of nations.”

Vice President Pence also called for the suspension of the “Maduro dictatorship” from the organization at a White House reception for OAS members Monday night, in advance of a Tuesday vote.

Pence declared that the “once-great Venezuela is now a failed state.”

The U.S. officials’ call for Venezuela’s suspension from the premier political institution representing the Western Hemisphere is shaping up to be a rush to expel the country before it withdraws on its own. A year ago, Venezuela said it would withdraw from the organization because of its attacks on the country’s sovereignty, but the process will not take effect until next April.

Appearing on Venezuelan state TV, Maduro struck an equally scornful tone Monday.

“We denounce the OAS and we’re leaving the OAS,” he said. “From the ministry of colonies, we’re leaving. We ratify that we’re leaving. Thirteen of the 24 months we have to wait to make our request to leave effective, and that day we will have a national party. When Venezuela leaves the OAS we will have a party, of the people. We will make it a holiday for the entire country.”

Suspension from the OAS would have little practical effect.

“This suspension only works against a democratic government that cares about its image in front of neighbors. That doesn’t appear to be Maduro’s case,” said Mariano d’Alba, a Venezuelan lawyer who specializes in international affairs. “In terms of pressure, I don’t think there’ll be much change.”

Although previous efforts to pressure Maduro have failed, the anger by the United States and other countries in the region sharpened after Maduro won reelection last month in what was widely regarded as a vote marked by low turnout and improprieties. Pompeo has labeled it a sham, and the United States and other nations have refused to recognize it.

“The so-called election held two weeks ago only ratified a sad truth,” Pence said in prepared remarks at the White House reception. “Under Maduro, Venezuela’s democracy is dead.”

OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro has been a critic of Maduro and has urged stern action against his government for the past two years. Venezuela has maintained enough support from a handful of countries in the OAS — most of which have gotten subsidies from Venezuela for years — to block previous attempts to suspend it.

The United States has increasingly turned to sanctions against Venezuelan government and oil officials, and Pompeo urged other OAS countries to do the same.

“In addition to suspension, I call on member states to apply additional pressure on the Maduro regime with financial sanctions and diplomatic isolation until such time as it takes the actions necessary to return genuine democracy and provide people desperately needed access to international humanitarian aid,” he said.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza criticized the OAS as part of a “corporation” led by the United States to undermine Venezuela’s sovereignty.

“We have moral authority. You do not have moral authority,” he said, citing U.S. invasions of Panama in 1989 and the Dominican Republic in 1965.

Arreaza accused the United States of fostering violence that has accompanied protests and the deprivation caused by sanctions and mocked U.S. offers of humanitarian aid.

“You impose economic sanctions, and then you offer your help to wash your hands,” he said. “The U.S. has been perpetrating a coup d’état against Venezuela for 20 years.”

Vowing not to buckle under the pressure, Arreaza added, “We are free. We are sovereign. And no imperialist will intervene in our country and hinder our people from voting for their own authorities and having their own democracy.”

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, welcomed the tough stance against the Venezuelan government but questioned whether there is the political will to push for change.

“We believe this Cold War rhetoric should not be utilized,” she said. “It gives Maduro justification when he says, ‘We are going to be attacked by the United States,’ and it doesn’t have impact on the protection of human rights.”

Rachelle Krygier contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pompeo-urges-kicking-venezuela-from-oas-and-more-sanctions/2018/06/04/32fbba1e-6806-11e8-bea7-c8eb28bc52b1_story.html

The post Pompeo calls for kicking Venezuela out of OAS and more sanctions first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.