Ministry of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs Weekly Newsletter / July 16th 2021 TOPIC OF THE WEEK

Venezuela dismantles terrorist operation In a joint operation, State security agencies In addition, the Colombian paramilitary leader aka cenaries who assassinated the President of Haiti, dismantled criminal gangs connected with para- “José Peligro” was arrested, who confessed that Jovenel Moïse, with recent events in Venezuela. military groups, linked to a destabilizing plan he had instructions to move to Caracas from the That company was also contacted to perpetrate the that included terrorist actions in popular areas of border state of Apure, where Colombian armed frustrated assassination against President Nicolás Caracas and assassination attempts. groups linked to drug trafficking and terrorism Maduro, in August 2018. According to investigations, these plans were have been repelled. The assassination plans have not ceased. articulated from the US and Colombia, where the The review of seized telephones revealed that the President Maduro denounced this week that head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), actions of the criminal gangs were planned and they were planning to assassinate him during William Burns, visited two weeks ago. financed by extreme right-wing agents headed by the celebrations for the Bicentennial of the More than 3,000 troops participated in Operation Leopoldo López, a fugitive from Venezuelan justice Battle of Carabobo, on June 24, and on July 5, Gran Cacique Guaicaipuro, which dismantled living in Spain; Freddy Guevara, already arrested for Independence Day. the operational structure of groups in sectors his links to these actions; Hasler Iglesias, Gilber Caro He also announced that a group of US investiga- connecting the west and south of Caracas, where and Emilio Graterón. tors sent him documents evidencing the design weapons of war and trenches were found, evi- of systematic plans against the nation. In this re- dencing the training received by criminal groups, Exporting violence gard, he asked the security forces: “Be ready for informed the Vice President of the Republic, Delcy The President of the National Assembly, Jorge winning every day peace, stability, security, let’s go Rodríguez, and the Minister for Interior Relations, Rodríguez, denounced the connection of CTU to combat and victory!”. Justice and Peace, Carmen Meléndez. Security, the company that allegedly hired the mer- Photo: Courtesy

sanctions against Venezuela are lifted and Peace and reunion, the only way forward that the Public Powers are recognized. “I In a meeting with the Special Commission round table with the support of representatives hope you stay on the path of peace, dialogue for Dialogue, Peace and Reconciliation, from Mexico and Norway. and reconciliation to continue building that President Maduro reiterated that the For that purpose, it is vital that the opposition Venezuela we all aspire to”, he told opposi- Government is willing to participate in a sectors that participate renounce violence, that tion parliamentarians.

IN THIS EDITION DIPLOMACY HUMANITY ON THE MOVE BEATS OF OUR PEOPLE • NAM unit • Neoliberalism and migration • Unity and organization NEWS BRIEF UNBLOCK HEROIC ROOTS • Support for Cuba • Challenges of science • Miranda, universal hero VENEZUELA IN IMAGES CAPSULES OF IDEAS UNCOVERING FAKE NEWS • The Guácharo Cave • “... venerated Cuba ...” • Violence in social networks July 16th 2021 / Page 2

DIPLOMACY NEWS BRIEF

Venezuela calls for NAM unity in the face of global challenges The Foreign Minister, Jorge Arreaza, called on the for the conduct of our international relations,” said countries of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) the Foreign Minister in his telematics intervention to strengthen unity in order to successfully face at the NAM Ministerial Conference. the current challenges facing humanity, such He also called for an end to the hoarding of as the Covid-19 pandemic, global warming, anti-virus vaccines and Unilateral Coercive inequality, terrorism and the lack of progress on Measures, “which are part of a deliberate policy disarmament. to inflict the greatest possible pain and suffering “The success of our response to these global on more than a third of humanity, including 30 Support for Cuba challenges is rooted in the Charter of the United million Venezuelans.” Social movements gathered in front of the Nations, which should serve as a permanent guide Photo: MPPRE Cuban Embassy in Caracas, in solidarity with the Caribbean nation in the face of actions that seek to undermine its stability. President Nicolás Maduro also ratified Venezuela’s support for the Cuban government and peo- ple: “Brothers in good and bad times, always brothers. Cuba will move forward with the union and humanitarian conscience of that heroic people that it has.” He said that if the United States wants to help Cuba, it must im- mediately lift the blockade. In the same vein, Alba-TCP expressed itself in a communique in EU exploratory mission to Caracas which it repudiated “any attempt at political As part of the guarantees agreed in the national and other political actors. destabilization against Cuba.” Photo: Courtesy dialogue process between the political forces of The visit arose from the invitation made by the the country for the local and regional elections National Electoral Council to the EU and the United Friendly encounter of November 21, which include international Nations to be part of the international observer Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza held a meeting accompaniment, the European Union (EU) program for the elections in November, in which in Caracas with the head of the Peace responded to a call from the Electoral Power and governors, mayors, state and municipal legislators and Human Rights Division of the Federal sent an exploratory commission to Venezuela to will be elected. Department of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss meet with representatives of the Public Powers Photo: Courtesy Federation, Simon Geissbühler, to discuss bilateral issues and progress in the process of CAPSULES OF IDEAS political dialogue in Venezuela. “I also think of venerated Cuba Iran-Venezuela the one that raised its independent head cooperation with Che, with my distinguished comrade, Authorities from Venezuela and Iran held a that with Fidel, the brave captain meeting in Caracas, in which they constituted a road map for the next meeting of the High-Level and against broom and worms Joint Commission. The objectives are framed in raised the star of the Caribbean the “Plan of the Homeland of Venezuela” and the vision of the “Development Plan of Iran”. For in our American firmament.” 20 years, Caracas and Tehran have maintained Pablo Neruda, “Cuba, always”, 1973. strong ties in strategic cooperation.

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HUMANITY ON THE MOVE UNBLOCK Science challenges to face the blockade

When talking about scientific development, people usually think about investment, increasing resources, and purchasing new technologies. But when you are facing an economic blockade, scientists, investigators and people who work with technology have Neoliberal practices promote the challenge to innovate in the middle of limitations such as the impossibility to access migration in America commodities and patents. Francisco Durán, Vice Minister for Investigation Neoliberal and interventionist measures and Application of Knowledge of the Ministry condemn millions of people to poverty and Keys: for Science and Technology, referred that exclusion in our continent. They promote before the application of Unilateral Coercive migratory flows and reconfigurate their patterns • Venezuela faces an illegal and criminal Measures, Venezuela lived under a model to create a new economic and political order economic blockade that produced an that privileged imports and purchase of and a global work market that subdues workers unusual immigration process for the technology. That is part of a structure that to extreme exploitation conditions. country due to a coercive policy led by the Bolivarian Revolution seeks to transform As emblematic examples we can see Colombia, the US government, destined to seize our and it constitutes one of the objectives of the where the migratory phenomena is not only economic and natural resources. Homeland Plan, to move forward towards related to it’s internal war, but also with neoliberal scientific and technological independence. measures that have sunk the country in poverty During the forum “The blockade and coercive and has displaced millions of people inside This reality was analyzed by specialists at the seminar measures”, the Vice Minister explained that and outside its territory: 33% have migrated to “Migratory flows in the Americas: structural causes between 1998 and 2014, more than $400 Venezuela, 28% to the United States and 13% to and challenges,” organized by ARGOS (International billion where destined to imports. The Spain. Whilst in Honduras privatization policies Observatory of Migrations and Human Rights) application of Unilateral Coercive Measures have obligated thousands of citizens to abandon along with other organizations, in the 47th period of and low crude prices pushed an urgent their country in large caravans in search for new sessions of UN’s Human Rights Council. transformation of the oil rentier model opportunities in USA. Photo: Courtesy with an impact in areas such as agriculture, telecommunications and health. Under this context, scientists and VENEZUELA IN IMAGES technicians must respond to irreplaceable needs using our own capacities by understanding the scientific events from a social and decolonizing viewpoint. They have achieved this through the work of multi disciplinary collectives dedicated to the fabrication of medical and educational equipment, amongst others; as well as research for development in diverse areas, including production processes for food. Another example is the fight against Covid-19. German virologists recognized the high level of the scientific teams that are studying this disease in Venezuela. “The main thing they asked was how in a besieged country we could do the same as them,” Durán referred. Natural heritage from 130 million years ago Last June German scientists visited the country to exchange on the approach to SARS-CoV-2. The Guácharo Cave is a fascinating place in our ge- carved out of rocks formed 130 million years ago. The Venezuelan experts presented part of the ography, declared a Natural Monument of Venezuela guácharos live there, birds typical of South America, work done in areas such as viral isolation, on July 15th, 1949. Located in the Guácharo National reddish brown in color and adapted to darkness. genomics and genetic susceptibility. Park, in the eastern Monagas state, it is a cavern Photo: Courtesy

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HEROIC ROOTS

Miranda, universal hero BEATS OF OUR PEOPLE A revolutionary of ideas and action, his love for freedom led him to become a hero of the French Revolution and of the South American Unity and organization set the pace independence struggle. Born in Caracas, The strength of a united and organized people Reinaldo Mijares, San Agustín’s cultural worker Francisco de Miranda is rightly called the “most knows no limits. This is shown by the community and promoter, says that “Guaguancó de universal American.” His name is the only one of San Agustín, an emblematic popular neighbor- Colores” allowed progress towards the “Plan of this continent that appears on the Arc de hood in downtown Caracas, by organizing to per- 100% San Agustín Marca Parroquia 2030,” Triomphe in Paris, and his signature is stamped form the “Guaguancó de Colores” project, born 6 aimed at strengthen artistic, sports, urban, on the Act of the Declaration of Independence years ago and planned towards 2030 with cultural, economic and productive projects such as of Venezuela. social and productive development plans for the the tourist route, music and dance festivals, Miranda also made a mark for his revolutionary so-called musical parish of the Venezuelan capital. art and gastronomy fair; in addition to local thinking and contributions to the symbolic It took the name “guaguancó” from an governance projects. battle. He was the first to militarily occupy the Afro-Caribbean musical genre, which in Venezuela It is an expression of Popular Power. Mijares says: territory of the Spanish crown in Venezuela, also means contagious charisma, rhythm and joy. “We assume ourselves as ‘Caribbean’, we are in 1806; he promoted the Patriotic Society in Since the project began, the Plazoleta de Marín, the Caribbean identity and we assume ourselves as 1810. In addition to the independence ideology epicenter of cultural life in the area, has been re- part of that ‘expanded Caribbean’, we are rebel linked to identity and continental unity, he paired; 2,000 square meters in murals rehabilitated; and insurgent Caracas. Caracas, our beautiful city brought to the country the printing press and 120 tons of asphalt laid, and fixed facades for the that feeds on that Caribbean Sea.” the yellow, blue and red tricolour that to this well-being of 1,400 families. Photo: Courtesy day shines in the flags of Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. UNCOVERING FAKE NEWS That tricolour was first hoisted on the mainland on 3rd August 1806, when Miranda landed at Violence fuelled on social media La Vela de Coro, northwest of Venezuela, on his liberating expedition. There is an old saying that says “paper holds and over again that Caracas “is the most violent Five years later, it was adopted as the official everything.” In the XXI century, one could city on the continent,” while ignoring realities flag by the Supreme Congress, after the say “the social media holds everything,” such as the weight of paramilitarism and drug declaration of independence. As the National when observing how they are used with trafficking in Colombia. Flag, it was first raised in Caracas on 14th July false matrices on the security in Venezuela Thus, from digital environments, the communi- 1811. Coincidentally, the Generalissimo died and the work of the State to ward off the cational component of actions such as that of on the same date, 14th July, in 1816. pretensions of instituting paramilitary criminal gangs with paramilitary ties recently The name and the idea of Gran Colombia came violence. It seeks to misplace the country dismantled in the southwest of Caracas is from Miranda. A nation that would unite the in Human Rights, the capacity to confront executed. In this case, lies were spread and in- countries liberated from empires on this side of criminal groups and the operation of the formation was manipulated to, among other the world, from Mexico, which then comprised security forces, to justify the aggressions by objectives, detract from the actions of the se- territories located on the right bank of the the United States and its allies. curity agencies and hide that the violence was Mississippi River, to Tierra del Fuego: the great This ploy includes agents of various kinds, in- planned and financed by the extreme right, homeland of our America. cluding political actors and influencers on so- with local operators and articulated with factors Image: Courtesy called social media. These operators repeat over of power in Colombia and USA.

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