Call In Day: Show solidarity with Venezuela!
Call In Day: Show solidarity with Venezuela!
Tuesday – Wednesday April 7-8th – all day
Call on MN’s senators to speak out against Trump’s increase in hostility against Venezuela.
Senator Amy Klobuchar: 202-224-3244
Senator Tina Smith: 202-224-5641
Minnesota’s senators have been silent on U.S. sanctions on Venezuela during the COVID 19 pandemic. Please call them to challenge Trump’s war threats and his use of sanctions on Venezuela!
Call to say: “I am calling to express my concern about Trump’s war threats on Venezuela. Right now the president should be focused on saving people from COVID 19 not on starting new wars. I am also concerned that U.S. sanctions have devastated the Venezuelan health care system. As our senator I want you to challenge Trump on both his war threats and his use of sanctions during this pandemic. Please contact me at X with how Senator Smith/Klobuchar will respond.”
The U.S. should be working with other countries to fight the pandemic. Instead President Trump is trying to distract the world’s attention from his abysmal leadership of the pandemic at home by using this moment to attack Venezuela. Recently the Trump administration indicted Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, on bogus drug charges and is now deploying Navy ships to the coast of Venezuela. Trump is using the pretext of anti-drug operations despite the fact that the drugs the DEA claims Venezuela transits are only one-tenth that of Colombia, U.S. ally and top recipient of foreign aid in the Americas. Trump is further making the ridiculous claim that the drug trade might be partially responsible for the spread of coronavirus in the U.S.
Additionally the U.S. has been using sanctions to punish the Venezuelan people for reelecting Maduro. These sanctions were already causing tens of thousands of people to die in Venezuela, but in the context of this pandemic, U.S. sanctions will be even more lethal. Leonardo Flores explains the significance of U.S. sanctions in a recent piece for Common Dreams:
“The sanctions have taken a heavy toll, causing at least 130 billion dollars’ worth of damage to the economy between 2015 and 2018. Even worse, according to former U.N. special rapporteur Alfred de Zayas, the sanctions have been responsible for the death of over 100,000 Venezuelans. It is therefore not surprising that Venezuela asked that the International Criminal Court investigate the sanctions as crimes against humanity. The effects of the sanctions are most noticeable in Venezuela’s health sector, which has been decimated over the past five years. These measures have impeded banks from carrying out financial transactions for the purchase of medical supplies. In addition, they have caused a 90% decrease in Venezuela’s foreign income earnings, depriving the health sector of much needed investment. Were it not for the solidarity of China and Cuba, which sent testing kits and medicine, Venezuela would be woefully ill-equipped to handle the coronavirus. The sanctions are worsening an already dangerous situation, forcing Venezuela to spend three times as much for testing kits as non-sanctioned countries.”
For more background:
Common Dreams “’Maximum-Pressure March’: US Hybrid War on Venezuela Heats Up”
Washington Post “Why is the U.S. pushing regime change in Venezuela during a pandemic?”
Venezuela Analysis “US Sends Navy Ships to Caribbean in ‘Anti-Drug’ Mission Targeting Venezuela”
Code Pink’s Action Alert and petition is here.
Initiated by the Anti-War Committee and the MN Peace Action Coalition.