The U.S. threats and sanctions against Venezuela have sparked international solidarity with the South American nation, and Cuba has reiterated its full support for the Bolivarian Revolution with various activities organized by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), and other political and social organizations.

On Friday, August 25, residents of Havana, members of the diplomatic corps and Venezuelan students on the island marched along the central Avenue of the Presidents to the monument of The Liberator Simón Bolívar, to express their condemnation of interference by the U.S. and other governments in Latin America and the Caribbean in Venezuela’s internal affairs.

The Hero of the Republic, Fernando González Llort, emphasized the position of the Cuban state in support of the Bolivarian government under the leadership of President Nicolás Maduro Moros, in continuing the work initiated by Hugo Chávez Frías, eternal Comandante of Our America.
”The world knows that Venezuela does not constitute a military threat to any country,” ICAP President González noted, while he condemned the recent decision to indefinitely suspend the country from the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), a move that is devoid of any legal basis.

González also criticized the recent tour of several Latin American countries by U.S. Vice President Michael Pence, during which he openly declared his intention to diplomatically and economically isolate Venezuela.

The ICAP President also highlighted how this sister nation has closed ranks to contribute to peace on the continent. “The Venezuelan revolutionary government, from its beginnings, has worked for the integration of our region, dignifying the identity, culture, and values of all the diversity of our peoples,” he stressed. Speaking to the Venezuelans gathered, González went on to state, “Our identity of thought leads us to conclude that you are on the right path. A people that respects itself, defends its self-determination, independence, and sovereignty. That is what you are doing.”

Meanwhile, the Ambassador of Venezuela to Cuba, Alí Rodríguez Araque, condemned the U.S. attacks and the warped plans of the White House. “We have a course outlined many years ago and we will not give in to any extortion from Washington,” he stressed.

“While the United States spends its time monitoring democracy in distant countries, in its own territory it fails to meet the needs of minorities. Instead of using the budget to solve the problems of Chicanos, Blacks and the homeless, the Donald Trump administration undertakes war plans and uses other geographic spaces as laboratories to test out its powerful bombs,” the ambassador added.

Days before, at the ICAP headquarters, a panel of experts reported on the criminal actions of sectors of the Venezuelan right-wing opposition and oligarchy. The intellectuals called for progressive forces to unite to confront the mass media campaign against the sovereignty and the right to self-determination of Bolívar’s homeland.

Ambassador Alí Rodríguez Araque stated that his people are politically and morally prepared for this battle, and are also structured in militias, embedded throughout the country. “It will not be easy for them to invade Venezuela, it would be the war of a hundred years, as the Cuban leader Fidel Castro once called it,” he stressed.

After offering an overview of the historical struggles against imperial ambitions to seize Venezuela’s natural resources, the diplomat emphasized that should a military invasion occur, the country’s armed forces are united to face it, and that overthrowing the Bolivarian government through violence would be a difficult task.

“Our peoples also need a change in the political vision of the United States, as a state, something extremely difficult. It depends on the American people themselves, on the internal circumstances and on the antagonistic contradictions generated by U.S. imperialism,” he added.

Rodríguez Araque pointed out that opponents of the Bolivarian government had hoped that the death of Hugo Chávez would create a political vacuum, which no other similar government would be able to withstand. This fuelled the armed and media aggression to overthrow constitutional President Nicolás Maduro.

He concluded by emphasizing the certainty that the Bolivarian Revolution is moving forward and sending a clear message of resistance to any kind of invasion, as it will also have the support of the peoples of the world.
Graciela Ramírez, president of the International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity for the Peoples, condemned the international media campaign against Venezuela in which reality is manipulated and lies are repeated.

“What is happening today in Venezuela,” the political activist noted, “is an unprecedented battle, with novel elements that merit in-depth analysis, as it develops within a narrative and a story in which the word ‘people’ is appropriated, and the president is disrespected.

The oligarchic media replaces the term government with ‘regime,’ substitutes the name Nicolás Maduro with dictator, and wants to sell the world, through a media operation, lies regarding the Venezuelan reality.”

Ramírez urged the use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter to combat this media war and counter the lies spread by the mass media, as the lives of our peoples, the Cuban Revolution and Latin America are all at stake. “The supplanting of the repeated lie across the world confuses even some on the left. Therefore we must alert, explain, and demonstrate. We must generate statements and request solidarity, precisely to avoid all these ploys that imperialism wants to impose on us.”

She also warned of the imminent danger of an imperialist invasion of Venezuela, and stressed that this has not occurred so far because the readiness of more than 400,000 troops of the Bolivarian army to defend their homeland, as well as the mobilization of the peoples of the world against such action, is well-known.

Silvio Platero, president of the Cuban Movement for Peace and Sovereignty of the Peoples, noted that the organization has repeatedly analyzed the situation in Venezuela in events and forums both within and beyond Cuba, and stressed that media lies have resulted in confusion for many people.

He referred to the 860 U.S. military bases located in 144 countries around the world, installed on the pretext of combating drug and human trafficking.
Once Hugo Chávez came to power in Venezuela, the number of U.S. bases in Colombia, located in the border zones of the states of Apure and Táchira, increased.

“When President Barack Obama took up office, there were 558 military bases, and at the end of his term there were more than 800,” just one element that challenges his Nobel Peace Prize credentials, Platero noted. He also mentioned the presence of more than 16,550 nuclear warheads in nine countries, of which 3,200 are ready to be launched.

In this regard, Liliam Zamora, acting director of the ICAP Latin America and Caribbean Department, emphasized that Venezuela has contributed to peace through the creation of organizations such as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) and Petrocaribe, which promote regional integration.

She concluded: “(imperialist countries) do not believe that there are men with principles and loyalty to their people, that we fight for impossible dreams and do not give up until achieving them, recalling the legacy of Chávez and Fidel, our eternal Comandantes.”