Talking Points for VSG 2002 Delegation
- This delegation of community leaders is going to offer our support to the Venezuelan people who, through democratic means, are struggling to develop an alternative economic model opposed to the destructive neoliberal policies of globalization. We support the sovereign right of the Venezuelan people to elect their political leadership and shape their political process.
- We want to appeal to the Bush administration to respect the democratic process in Venezuela, including the elected government led by President Hugo Chavez. We oppose any kind of US intervention in the sovereign affairs of Venezuela.
- We oppose the tactics of the opposition to undermine the will of the majority of Venezuelans who have twice elected Hugo Chavez and have voted to support the economic and political reforms proposed by the Chavez government.
- We also oppose the role of the corporate controlled media in Venezuela that daily manipulates and misinforms both the Venezuelan people and the international community. We appeal to the US press to investigate and balance their reporting on the situation in Venezuela.
- We disagree with the US government’s ongoing support of the coup leadership and anti-democratic forces in Venezuela. It is indefensible that the US government granted Pedro Carmona, the leader of the Venezuelan coup, a visa to speak at a university in southern Florida.
- The US must respect democracy in Latin America regardless of the politics of the elected government. We cannot return to the days of CIA-supported, right-wing military coups, like those of Salvador Allende in Chile and President Arbenz in Guatemala, which led to tens of thousands of disappeared people, mass violations of human rights, and civil war. Hugo Chavez must complete his elected term without further illegal opposition.