Cuba Backs Venezuela in Conflict with USA
HAVANA TIMES — Cuban president Raul Castro reiterated today in Caracas the “firm and irrevocable” solidarity of his government with Venezuela, faced with the sanctions adopted by Washington and the Obama administration’s declaring it a threat to US national security, reported dpa news.
Castro said Cuba will defend the position that to attend the Summit of the Americas in April in Panama, it rejects any “attempt to isolate and threaten Venezuela” and will demand “a definitive end of the blockade on Cuba.”
At the opening of the special summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) in Caracas today, Castro expressed support for Venezuela before the “interventionist action and threats of the US government.”
“The position of our country is invariable. I reiterate the strong solidarity of the Cuban revolution with the Bolivarian revolution, with President Nicolas Maduro and the civil-military union that it leads. I reiterate the absolute loyalty to the memory of Hugo Chavez, the best friend of the Cuban revolution,” he said.
“The facts show that history cannot be ignored. The US relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean have been marked by the Monroe doctrine and the principle of exercising dominion and hegemony over our nations,” Castro added.
Castro, whose government initiated a thaw in relations with Washington after 53 years, said that the intervention policy has been a “complete failure.”
He added that the United States seeks to destroy the “generous” Venezuelan assistance under the Petrocaribe energy alliance to threaten its “members and separate them from Venezuela.”
“They don’t seem to realize that our people have decided irrevocably to continue their unstoppable advance and battle for a multipolar world,” he claimed.
Castro said the “empire” has tried “unsuccessfully all forms of destabilization against the Bolivarian revolution to control the largest oil reserves” of the world and affect the independence process in the region.
He also described as an “aggressive executive order” US sanctions approved by Obama against seven Venezuelan officials accused of human rights violations and declaring Venezuela as a “threat” to US security.
“It shows that the United States can sacrifice peace and the direction of hemispheric relations for reasons of domination. It is groundless that a supportive country like Venezuela, which has never attacked a neighbor, may pose a threat to the world’s most powerful nation, “he said.
Castro added that Cuba supports the position of Maduro, who despite the seriousness of the situation has extended his hand to President Obama to initiate a dialogue “based on international law and mutual respect that will lead to the repeal of the presidential executive order and a normalization of relations.”
“Today Venezuela is not alone. We will not tolerate the violation of its sovereignty and affecting peace in the region. The threat to peace and stability in Venezuela represents a threat to regional peace and stability.”
The United States should understand “once and for all that it is impossible to seduce Cuba and intimidate Venezuela, since our unity is indestructible,” noted Raul Castro.
“We will not tolerate any interference or conditioning of internal affairs. We will not relent in the just causes of South America, nor leave alone our brothers fighting in Venezuela… Our principles are not negotiable,” said the Cuban president.
The US government spends a great deal on helping the unfortunate at home and around the world.
Let’s hope President Obama offers some clarification to the falsehoods being spread by Maduro, Castro and others. Considering the massive government corruption in Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Argentina, the South American Left has no moral standing to lecture the US.
That’s not the question… the question is… does the US have THE RIGHT to impose sanctions on indefensible persons and meddle covertly with the political viability of any foreign government? Of course your answer will be yes…but then again… you too would rather turn a blind eye to the real problems facing the US population at home. If the US government dedicated half of their wasted time and efforts abroad to instead help the less fortunate at home, the world would be a much better place. Obama is due to get an earful on April 11th… it seems the US government will never learn. It should be very entertaining watching the sparks fly.
Hahaha! I use dictation software to write my comments and sometimes…..But thanks for reading my comments for spelling errors. Now try understanding what you read. Yes, Venezuela could sell their crude elsewhere but in no way with terms as favorable and payments as assured. A large percentage of the crude Venezuela sells to US-based petroleum companies is refined and sold back to Venezuela as gasoline. If Venezuela didn’t sell to these buyers they would still need to buy the gasoline from someone and no one sells it cheaper than their US customers. You can be sure that if Ma (burro) could sell oil to someone else at a better price he would do so. Especially now with oil prices still falling. Like I said originally….Fat Chance.
The word is spigot and not “spicket”
That ESL course didn’t help, eh ?
FYI, and how could you not know this?: oil is fungible .
It matters not at all as to who buys Venezuela’s oil as the world is burning oil as fast as it comes out of the ground. If the USA doesn’t want it, some other market will.
Venezuela will always have a market for its oil.
They teach this stuff at institutions of higher learning.
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Two friends. Admirable how they stick up for each other at time of need in words only. Cuba of course is well aware of the economic implosion in Venezuela and is preparing with all haste to avoid it’s crippling consequences. Raul is way too smart to go down with Maduro.
As to Barack Obama he is a historically non interventionist man of the left. He is about as friendly a U.S. President these folks are going to see in their life time. Attacks on Barack are simple projection politics to misdirect the public. It won’t work this time.
When is everyone going to realize this stuff is all just a big dog and pony show. It is all just political positioning by all parties involved and who struck John.
What’s your point? The existence of the US naval base in Guantanamo in no way refutes the fact that these Venezuelan officials committed human rights abuses.
Are you saying that because the US is a huge consumer of illegal drugs, the corrupt Venezuelan officials have the right to sell drugs to US drug dealers?
WTF? What are you talking about?
The US of a….ALWAYS “right” of course….”everyone” else totally wrong…clueless and out to lunch…..according to “FAT CHANCE”
Human rights abuses? Heard of Guantanamo? Oh, and remind me which country consumes the majority of the world’s illegal drugs?
It is hard to take these guys seriously. Who writes their speeches? The sanctions are against individuals not the country. If Venezuela really was as hot and bothered as they would have the world believe with all their bluster they would respond by cutting off the sale of oil to the US. That would really show us who’s boss right? Except for the part that the US is the largest purchaser of market price Venezuelan oil, they would probably cut us off. As it is, fat chance. The US could replace Venezuelan oil purchases with Saudi oil in two weeks. During those two weeks, US reserves estimated to meet US needs for a year would easily tide us over. On the other hand, if Venezuelan turned off the spicket to the US, they would lose 40% of their already disastrous oil revenues. Like I said before, FAT CHANCE.
Let’s stick to the facts shall we?
Contrary to Raul’s hysterical speeches, their are no US sanctions against the country of Venezuela.
The sanctions have been imposed on a handful of Venezuelans officials who stand accused of human rights abuses and drug trafficking. They are the scum Raul Castro is promising to defend.