Hands Off Venezuela Campaign- http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org



A Face of the Revolution

'Comandante Lina'



Lina Paul'Comandante Lina' is head to one of the largest of the Bolivarian Circles, they are the neighborhood and workplace groups which are part of the Venezuelan revolutionary process.Some call her the soul of revolution.

"People say we are the ugly face of the revolution.But in fact we are the beautiful part, the honest part, the part that won't sell out." Her group passes out cash and medicine to the poor and organize's the homeless to take over abandoned buildings so they can have shelter.

"I am working for the poor.These are the people who all their lives have been mistreated."

Many fear her because she talks of class warfare and the injustices of the past " Are we armed ? Up to our cheeks "although she does not carry weapons. " Any time the fascists lift a finger again they will be punished by our popular militias."

She is loved by the poor and the masses and as one of her closet friends recently said " She is a revolutionary" and " Words are not enough for a revolution.A revolution needs a fire."



Venezuela Week in Review- May 8th



May-2-2004 Ministry of Labor press release; President Chavez has set an increase in the minimum wage of 30% throuugh decree# 2,902.The increase will take place in two phases: 20% as of May 1, 2004 and 10% Augest 1, 2004.



In a press conference President Hugo Chavez criticized the torture of Iragi prisoners by U.S. personnel. Pointing at the photos, the President said that" U.S. troops are terrorists an worse, savage." and also restated that" There are U.S. troops on the border" and warns "that if U.S. troops try to invade Venezuela, they will start a 100 years war."

Venezuela asks National Endownment for Democracy to stop financing the Venezuelan opposition- the goverment asked the NED to immediately halt funding to groups who were behind the coups and economic sabotage.

The NED and U.S. are in violation of Venezuelan law but also Articles 2 and 19 of the Organization of American States Democratic Charter, which forbids intervention in the internal affairs of members states.

The OAS should invoke the charter against them for these violations. see the evidence at http://www.venezuelafoia.info



Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Organization of American States Sectretary General, Cesar Gaviria will be part of the monitoring team in repair process for the re-call referendum against President Hugo Chavez at the end of the month. They will arrive on May 29.

There are two problems with this, the first is that former president of Venezuela, Carlos Andres Perez and some radical right wing groups, have called for another Guarimba to disrupt the repair process and cause violence durning Carter's and Gaviria visit and that Hands Off Venezuela Campaign has asked these organizations to stay out of Venezuela's internal affairs and we are not alone.

On March 27th, the oil workers Guiding Committee and some class struggle unions of the UNT, demanded the goverment expel these pro-imperialist bodies because of their hypocrisy and that they are just another form of a coup against the Bolivarian Process.



The Carter Center, OAS and the UN on the question of democracy are very selective, we didn't hear a word from them when the democraticlly elected President of Haiti was overthrown in a U.S. backed coup recently or for the fraud committed durning the election for President of the U.S. in 2000.



We are calling on our readers to e-mail the Carter Center and OAS, and tell them to stay out of Venezuela's internal political processes. carterweb@emory.edu , POLJLM@langate.gsu.edu and Fjaramillo@oas.org , SCanton@oas.org and Espehar@oas.org



May-3-2004 Venezuela and Cuba-hater Otto Reich resigned as the White House's emissary to Latin America that will take effect as of June 1st.Reich is a radical right wing political partisan, whose views have been clouded because of his anti-communism in the region.

In a parting shot he said that he had wished "he had a accelerated the end of ditcatorship in Cuba and warmed the Veneuelan people against a dictatorship." The envoy also said "There is not a dictatorship in Venezuela yet, but it is necessary to be very careful."



The U.S. accounts for 57% of hydrocarbon export from Venezuela- according to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Venezuela ships 1.5 million barrels of oil to the U.S. per day.



May-4-2004 The developing revolution in Venezuela has brought about into sharp relief what the correct approach should be . Unfortunately many who claim to be leftists and Marxists have no idea what is really going on. for a great article on the subject- read "Marxists and the Venezuelan Revolution" by Alan Woods



http://www.marxist.com/Latinam/marxists_and_venezuela.html



May-5-2004 the Venezuelan goverment has taken steps to reform the judicial system, who many have said is the "most corrupt in the world."

The legislation approved by a majority of lawmakers makes its easier for Venezuela's National Assembly to appoint new Supreme Court magistrates, who are holdovers of a corrupt system and who have tried to block the Bolivarian Process at every turn.



May-6-2004 " U.S. Presidential candidate lashes out again at President Hugo Chavez Frias" - Eva Golinger in a very informative aticle writes about John Kerry's continued support for the disinformation campaign of Bush's State Department and others.

http://www.vheadline.com/printer_news.asp?id=21015



after reading the article write john Kerry and tell him what you think! info@johnkerry.com



May-7-2004 Costa Rica rejects Fugitive CTV Carlos Ortega's asylum petition- Costa Rica's Constitutional Tribunal rejected the request for asylum by Carlos Ortega of the CTV union, who is wanted for corrupton and recieving funds from the CIA and NED. Also Ortega has made statements in Miami and Costa Rica calling for the "assassiantion of President Hugo Chavez" and a violent overthrow of the Venezuelan goverment.



President Chavez has reiterated his denouncement against the U.S. goverment intervention in Venezuela and says that Venezuelans will defend themselves to keep their freedom, liberty and land.

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