Intellectuals against the coup d'etat | "They pushed Ven …

A group of 70 intellectuals, historians and experts in Latin American politics have asked the US government not to interfere in Venezuela's domestic politics and support dialogue between Chavism and anti-Chavism.

"By recognizing the President of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, Venezuela's new president, illegal under the OAS Charter, the Donald Trump government has accelerated the political crisis in Venezuela in the past. hope to divide the Venezuelan army and polarize even more the population, forcing her to choose her side, "denounced last night the group of intellectuals in an open letter.

The signatories, including philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky and independent UN rapporteur Alfred de Zayas, ensured the recognition of Guaidó as the legitimate leader of Venezuela to the detriment of President Nicolás Maduro from the United States. United and its allies. this will worsen the situation in this country and will result in "unnecessary human suffering, violence and instability".

"If the Trump administration and its allies continue their reckless course in Venezuela, the most likely consequences will be bloodshed, chaos and instability," intellectuals warned, including the faculty heads, emeritus professors and directors of study centers. .

"The obvious, and sometimes stated, goal is to expel Maduro by a coup," intellectuals said, saying the United States should have learned from their societies of change regime in Iraq, Syria, Libya or the United States. historical sponsorship of regime change in Latin America.

The government of President Donald Trump was the first to recognize Wednesday the Speaker of Parliament, Juan Guaidó, as the legitimate leader of Venezuela. "Under the Trump administration, aggressive rhetoric against the Venezuelan government has reached an even more extreme and threatening level." Officials spoke of "military action" and condemned Venezuela, as well as Cuba and Nicaragua as part of a "troika" of tyranny, "intellectuals said of the White House's national security advisor, John Bolton.

"The United States and its allies, including OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, and Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro have pushed Venezuela to the precipice," he said. they insured.

The researchers concluded that the only possible solution is "a negotiated agreement, as was the case in the past in Latin American countries when politically polarized societies could not resolve their differences through elections" .

Full text of the declaration

The government of United States must stop interfering in the internal policy of Venezuela, especially in its attempts to overthrow the government of this country. It is almost certain that the actions of the Trump administration and its regional allies will get worse the situation Venezuela, which will cause human suffering, unnecessary violence and instability.

The political polarization of Venezuela it is not new The country has long been divided into racial and socio-economic terms. But the polarization has increased in recent years. This is partly due to support from United States an opposition strategy aimed at overthrowing the Nicolás Maduro government by extra-electoral means. Although the opposition has been divided in this strategy, the support from USA He has supported extremist sectors in their goal of overthrowing the Maduro government through often violent protests, a coup of the military state or other ways that bypbad the electoral path.

Under the Trump administration, aggressive rhetoric against the Venezuelan government has reached an even more extreme and threatening level, with officials of the Trump administration speaking "military action" and condemns Venezuela, as well as Cuba and Nicaragua, as part of a "the troika of tyranny"The problems resulting from the policies of the Venezuelan government have been solved. worse for economic sanctions of the United States, which would be illegal under the parameters of the Organization of the States Americans and the United Nations, as well as of the legislation of States International treaties and conventions and others. These sanctions limited the means by which the Venezuelan government could have escaped the economic recession while causing a dramatic fall. in the oil production and worsening of the economic crisis, causing the death of many people who could not have access to drugs that could have saved their lives. Waiting, US governments and its allies continue to blame only the Venezuelan government for economic damages, including those caused by US sanctions.

Now the US and its allies, including Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, and the far-right president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, pushed Venezuela to the edge of the precipice. By recognizing the President of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, new president of Venezuela – down illegal the Charter of the OAS– The Trump administration has dramatically accelerated the political crisis in Venezuela in the hope of dividing the Venezuelan army and further polarize the people, forcing him to choose his side. The evidence, and sometimes explicit The goal is to expel Maduro by a coup.

The reality is that, despite hyperinflation, scarcity and deep depression, Venezuela remains a politically polarized country. The United States and its allies must stop encouraging violence by lobbying for violent and extralegal regime change. If the Trump administration and its allies continue their reckless course in Venezuela, the most likely outcome will be bloodshed, chaos and instability. The United States should have learned from its "regime change" initiatives in Iraq, Syria, Libya and its long and violent history of sponsoring "regime changes" in Latin America.

None of the parties in Venezuela can simply defeat the other. The army, for example, has at least 235,000 front-line members and at least 1.6 million militia members. Many of these people will fight, not only on the basis of the conviction of the national sovereignty that is largely maintained in Latin America, in the face of what appears to be a US-led intervention, but also to protect itself from harm. A possible crackdown if the opposition overthrows the government by force.

In such a situation, the only solution is a negotiated agreement, as was the case in Latin American countries when politically polarized societies could not resolve their differences through elections There have been potential efforts, such as those led by the Vatican in the fall of 2016, but did not receive support from Washington and his allies focused on regime change. This strategy must change so that there is a viable solution to the current crisis in Venezuela.

In the interest of the Venezuelan people, the region and the principle of national sovereignty, these international actors should support negotiations between the Venezuelan government and its opponents in order to enable the country to finally emerge from its political and economic crisis.

Sign:

Noam Chomsky, Professor Emeritus of MIT and Professor Laureate of the University of Arizona

Laura Carlsen, Director, Americas Program, Center for International Policy

Greg Grandin, history professor at the University of New York

Miguel Tinker Salas, Professor of Latin American History and Chicano / Latin Studies at Pomona College

Sujatha Fernandes, Professor of Political Economy and Sociology at the University of Sydney

Steve Ellner, Associate Editor of Latin American Perspectives

Alfred de Zayas, former independent UN expert on the promotion of a democratic and fair international order and the only UN rapporteur who visited Venezuela in 21 years

Boots Riley, writer / director of Sorry to Bother You, musician

John Pilger, journalist and filmmaker

Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Political Research

Jared Abbott, Ph.D. Candidate, Government Department, Harvard University

Dr. Tim Anderson, Director of the Center for Hegemonic Studies

Elisabeth Armstrong, Professor of Studies on Women and Gender, Smith College

Alexander Aviña, PhD, Associate Professor of History, Arizona State University

Marc Becker, history professor at Truman State University

Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK

Phyllis Bennis, Program Director, New Internationalism, Institute for Policy Studies

Dr. Robert E. Birt, Professor of Philosophy, Bowie State University

Aviva Chomsky, professor of history at Salem State University

James Cohen, University Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle

Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, Associate Professor, George Mason University

Benjamin Dangl, PhD, editor of Hacia la libertad

Dr. Francisco Dominguez, Faculty of Social and Professional Sciences, University of Middlebad, United Kingdom

Alex Dupuy, Professor Emeritus John E. Andrus of Sociology at Wesleyan University

Jodie Evans, co-founder of CODEPINK

Vanessa Freije, Assistant Professor of International Studies at the University of Washington

Gavin Fridell, Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor of International Development Studies, St. Mary's University

Evelyn González, Consultant at Montgomery College

Jeffrey L. Gould, Rudy Professor of History, University of Indiana

Bret Gustafson, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington in St. Louis

Peter Hallward, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kingston

John L. Hammond, Professor of Sociology, CUNY

Mark Healey, Associate Professor of History, University of Connecticut

Gabriel Hetland, Assistant Professor of Latin Studies in Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States, University of Albany

Forrest Hylton, Associate Professor of History, National University of Colombia-Medellín

Daniel James, Bernardo Mendel Chair of Latin American History

Chuck Kaufman, National Co-Coordinator, Alliance for Global Justice

Daniel Kovalik, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh

Winnie Lem, Professor of International Development at Trent University

Gilberto López y Rivas, Research Professor, National University of Anthropology and History, Morelos, Mexico

Mary Ann Mahony, Professor of History at Central Connecticut State University

Jorge Mancini, Vice President of the Foundation for the Integration of Latin America (FILA)

Luís Martin-Cabrera, Associate Professor of Latin American Studies and Literature, University of California at San Diego

Teresa A. Meade, Professor of History and Culture Florence B. Sherwood, Union College

Frederick Mills, Professor of Philosophy at Bowie State University

Stephen Morris, Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Middle State State University

Liisa L. North, Professor Emeritus, York University

Paul Ortiz, Associate Professor of History, University of Florida

Christian Parenti, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, John Jay College CUNY

Nicole Phillips, Professor of Law at the University of the Foundation, Aristide, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences and Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of California Law School in Hastings

Beatrice Pita, Professor, Department of Literature, University of California, San Diego

Margaret Power, Professor of History, Illinois Institute of Technology

Vijay Prashad, Editor-in-Chief, El TriContinental

Eleanora Quijada Cervoni FHEA, Staff Training Facilitator and Mentor of the ISC, Center for Higher Education, Learning and Teaching at the National University. ;Australia

Walter Riley, lawyer and activist

William I. Robinson, Professor of Sociology at the University of California at Santa Barbara

Mary Roldan, Dorothy Epstein Professor of Latin American History, Hunter College / CUNY Graduate Center

Karin Rosemblatt, professor of history at the University of Maryland

Emir Sader, professor of sociology at the State University of Rio de Janeiro

Rosaura Sánchez, Professor of Latin American Literature and Chicano Literature, University of California, San Diego

TM Scruggs Jr., Professor Emeritus, University of Iowa

Victor Silverman, history professor, Pomona College

Brad Simpson, Associate Professor of History, University of Connecticut

Jeb Sprague, professor at the University of Virginia

Christy Thornton, Assistant Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University

Sinclair S. Thomson, Associate Professor of History, New York University

Steven Topik, professor of history at the University of California at Irvine

Stephen Volk, Professor of History Emeritus, Oberlin College

Kirsten Weld, John. L. Loeb Associate Professor of Social Sciences, Department of History, Harvard University

Kevin Young, Assistant Professor of History, University of Mbadachusetts at Amherst

Patricio Zamorano, Latin American Studies University; Executive Director, InfoAmericas