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<div id="print-page"><b><big><big>Venezuelan Social Movements Take
to the Streets to Oppose U.S. Aggression </big></big></b>
<p class="print-submitted">Mar 13th 2015, by Lucas Koerner</p>
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<p>"A lot of balls and ovaries there are here to defend this
land. Yankees of shit." An anti-imperialist refrain inspired
by a popular Chávez slogan. (Credit: Lucas
Koerner/venezuelanalysis.com)</p>
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<p>Caracas, March 13, 2015 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan
social movements converged in Plaza Venezuela in the center of
the capital on Thursday to manifest their firm rejection of
the latest round of U.S. sanctions.<br>
<br>
On Monday, President Obama issued an executive order
sanctioning seven top officials of the Venezuelan government
as well as declaring the Bolivarian nation an <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11256">"unusual and
extraordinary national security threat,"</a> a step that
could pave the way for <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11261">possible
economic sanctions</a>.<br>
<br>
This latest move by the U.S. administration has been <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11259">roundly
condemend by a host of nations</a> and regional bodies,
including Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, UNASUR, CELAC,
and most recently China and Russia.<br>
<br>
Among the movements assembled in the center of Caracas on
Thursday were various collectives such as the Pioneers
Encampament, government-affiliated social missions such as the
Great Housing Mission and Barrio Tricolor, as well as a
plethora of people representing their neighborhood communal
councils.<br>
<br>
Chanting "Yankee go home" and "Venezuela respects itself",
thousands of Venezuelans of all ages filled the streets with
their characteristic red shirts, exhibiting national pride and
indignation in response to the White House’s announcements. <br>
<br>
"We are here to defend the motherland left to us by Chávez,
Bolívar, Zamora, and all of our heroes and heroines, because
we've also had many heroines, many barefooted women who
defended this country. We're following in the same legacy as
all of them," Lies Guzmán of the Socialist Environmental
Workers' Front told Venezuelanalysis.<br>
<br>
"We are steeled, knee to the ground, for anything that
happens, with the women in the vanguard, prepared on all
fronts, including the diplomatic, military, and guerrilla
fronts if necessary."<br>
<br>
In his executive order, President Obama expressed concern for
alleged human rights violations in Venezuela. <br>
<br>
Olenia Quintana, 32, of the Pioneers Encampment collective
challenged what she perceives to be a clear double standard
underlying the U.S president's accusations.<br>
<br>
"If you're talking about human rights, the first thing that
Obama needs to do in his country is revise all of the laws.
[The United States] is the only country [in the hemisphere]
with the death penalty. Here there is no death penalty."<br>
<br>
This critique has been repeated on numerous occasions by
President Nicolas Maduro who has denounced the U.S.
government's human rights record vis-a-vis its own people.<br>
<br>
On Monday, the Venezuelan leader called on Obama to defend the
rights of U.S. citizens, including "Black people killed in
U.S. cities every day, the thousands of people who don't have
a place to sleep and die of cold on the streets of New York,
Boston, or Chicago, and those detained in Guantánamo."<br>
<br>
Despite general indignation, Venezuelans attending yesterday’s
rally were keen to distinguish between the actions of the U.S.
government and its people.<br>
<br>
"The message to the people of the United States is that they
should rise up," declared José Zegarra, 36, a construction
worker and general coordinator of the Revolutionary Hugo
Chávez Workers' Front. <br>
<br>
"In the United States, there are many dignified people who
know that their government has regrettably interfered in the
affairs of other countries, believing itself the world
policeman. But the average North American person isn't any
kind of world policeman, but a person who has to work to eat,
work to pay the mortgage, work to pay the heat and everything
else."<br>
<br>
Guzmán echoed this sentiment, underscoring the need for social
and political transformation in the U.S.<br>
<br>
"[The U.S. people] must organize and make the necessary
changes in their country, which is a noble but subdued
country, whose people are much more subdued than our own
[people]."</p>
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<div class="print-source_url"><strong>Source URL (retrieved on <em>14/03/2015
- 10:55am</em>):</strong> <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11268">http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11268</a></div>
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