Granma & Alexandra Valiente / Libya360 WordPress.com & Asad Ismi / Global Research – 2013-10-01 23:16:45
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/news-i/26sept-evo.html
Evo Morales Affirms That as Long as
Imperialism Exists There Will Never Be Peace
Granma
UNITED NATIONS (September 29, 2013) — Bolivian President Evo Morales stated September 25 at the UN that as long as imperialism exists, there will never be peace, justice or sovereignty for the peoples of the world, and that war is the business of capitalism.
Speaking during the second day of the 68th period of sessions of the UN General Assembly, Morales added that while some nations are working to end poverty, to search for peace and social justice, certain powers are promoting wars and acts of intervention in other countries.
In this context, he proposed the creation of “a tribunal of the peoples” to try US President Barack Obama for crimes against humanity, giving the example of the bombing of Libya, the war in Iraq, the promotion of acts of international terrorism, and the financing of terrorist groups.
At another point of his speech, Morales said that US espionage services in the region are violating the privacy and sovereignty of other states. He also reiterated his support for the transfer of UN headquarters to a country, which has ratified the treaties of that international body.
Peruvian President Ollanta Humala agreed with the stand of a number of Latin American leaders in relation to reforming and extending the UN Security Council, “in a way that it reflects the realities of the 21st century.”
More than 30 heads of state and government participated in the debate, among them the presidents of Panama, Estonia, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Burkina Faso, Serbia, Chad, Rwanda, Kiribati, Poland and Georgia. Issues addressed included the conflict in Syria, human rights, climate change and disarmament.
The leaders of the international community also agreed during this General Assembly session to hold a summit in September of 2015 to establish new goals of sustainable and anti-poverty development, thus giving continuity to the Millennium Goals.
BLOCKADE CONDEMNED
The condemnation of the US economic, financial and commercial blockade of Cuba was another issues addressed by presidents.
Timor Leste President Taur Matan Ruak stated that this US policy does not consider Cuba’s reality and, in reference to the case of the Five, urged President Obama to act in accordance with his powers and release Antonio, Gerardo, Ramón and Fernando, still incarcerated in the United States.
The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Winston Baldwin Spencer, expressed his pride in the relations of his people and government with Cuba, and condemned any discriminative policies.
“Once again, I reiterate my government’s firm condemnation of the implementation, in a unilateral and extraterritorial manner, of coercive laws and measures contrary to international law, the United Nations Charter and the principles of free navigation and international trade,” he stated referring to the blockade.
Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes described the blockade as a bad habit of the past and said that Cuba was part of the soul of America.
The Presidents of Bolivia, Evo Morales and of Chad, Idriss Déby, also denounced this criminal policy in their speeches. (SE
US Provocations Against Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, and Potential Consequences
Alexandra Valiente / Libya360 WordPress.com
Editorial Comment: This is a compilation covering the current efforts of the US to provoke and destabilize Latin America, particularly targeting Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela. I highly recommend readers begin with the following interview: “Toni soli in discussion with Don Debar about contempt for international law by the US and its regional allies.”
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Denied Travel through US Airspace
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua told media that an aircraft carrying President Nicolas Maduro was denied travel over Puerto Rico’s airspace. President Maduro’s flight, which was en route to China, was forced to find an alternate path according to Jaua, who denounced the act as “an act of aggression.”
“We have received information from American officials that we have been denied travel over its airspace,” Jaua said, speaking to reporters during an official meeting with his South African counterpart. “We denounce this as yet another aggression on the part of North American imperialism against the government of the Bolivarian Republic,” he added. “No one can deny airspace to a plane carrying a president on an international state visit.” There is “no valid argument” for denying travel through American airspace, Jaua said, adding that he expected the US to rectify the situation.
President Maduro was due to arrive in Beijing this weekend for bilateral talks with the Chinese government. Jaua was adamant that the Venezuelan leader would reach his destination, regardless of any perceived interference.
Though the US has yet to issue an official response, the latest incident will likely add to the already strained relations between the two countries.
In July, the Venezuelan president announced that his government was halting attempts to improve relations with the US. The move was in response to comments made by the newly appointed US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, who told a Senate committee that her new role would include challenging the “crackdown on civil society” abroad, including in Venezuela.
Relations under former President Chavez had been acrimonious, as he had long held suspicions that the US had actively intervened on behalf of an attempted coup in 2002.
Since his election in April, President Maduro has often made pointed criticisms at alleged US interference in Venezuelan affairs.
Bolivian President Evo Morales, who’s own plane was grounded this summer allegedly due to suspicions by US authorities that the aircraft was transporting whistleblower Edward Snowden, has said ALBA bloc nations should consider a boycott of the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York as a response.
“We cannot accept that the US carries on with politics of intimidation and the prohibition of flights by presidents,” said Morales, adding that the latest incident “demonstrates the country’s predisposition to humiliate other governments” and committing crimes against other nations.
The Snowden Affair:
Denying President Morales’ Plane Fuel
Seen As Attempted Assassination
Asad Ismi / Global Research
(September 29, 2013) — On July 2, the United States put pressure on several European countries to prevent a plane carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales from landing to refuel at any of their airports. The excuse for this unprecedented denial of landing rights was the unfounded claim that Morales was hiding American whistleblower Edward Snowden on board his presidential jet.
The plane was running dangerously low on fuel by the time it was eventually permitted to land at an airport in Vienna. There is reason to believe this was actually an attempt to kill Morales as well as Snowden.
Morales had been attending a conference on energy in Moscow, where Snowden had taken refuge to escape arrest by the US government for exposing details of its secret surveillance of American citizens. Morales’ plane was scheduled to fly from Moscow to Lisbon in Portugal to refuel, but shortly after it took off from Moscow, Portugal suddenly revoked his landing permit without giving any reason. This prompted a planned change of route to refuel at Spain’s Canary Islands, but Spain also denied Morales’ plane landing rights as did France and Italy.
By this time, the Bolivian president’s jet was running dangerously low on fuel, imperiling his life and the flight crew’s. Finally the plane was allowed to land at Vienna, Austria. The president of Bolivia had survived what could justifiably be termed a combined US-European assassination attempt.
It is hard to imagine a more deadly, hostile, and insulting treatment of a head of state, which incredibly continued at the airport in Vienna, where Spain’s ambassador to Austria actually demanded to search President Morales’ plane. Morales of course refused to submit to such a humiliating breach of his diplomatic immunity.
José Manuel GarcÃa-Margallo, Spain’s foreign minister, later admitted that the decision to hamper Morales’ journey home was based on “a tip” that Edward Snowden was on board. “They told us that the information was valid, that he was inside,” the minister explained. He did not divulge the source of this specious information, but no one doubts that it came from Washington.
After finally arriving back at La Paz, Morales lost no time putting the blame for his ordeal and narrow escape squarely on the United States. “It was an open provocation,” he said, “and not just to the president of a Latin American nation, but to the entire continent. They used the agent of North American imperialism to frighten us.”
Bolivian Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera described the intolerable mistreatment of Morales as “the most shameful page of the political history of some European countries, not only because they violated international agreements, but also because they violated their own dignity as countries. It was verified that the colonies today are not in America and Africa, but rather, sadly, in Europe.”
Many other Latin American governments condemned the endangerment of Morales’ life by the US and European countries. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared that: “The European people have seen the cowardice and the weakness of their governments, which now look like colonies of the US.”
Jose Mujica, Uruguay’s president, made clear that “We are not colonies any more. We deserve respect, and when one of our governments is insulted, we feel the insult throughout Latin America.”
Trying to discourage countries from granting Snowden asylum in such an arrogant and ruthless manner, the US ended up causing the opposite effect: Snowden has been offered asylum by Venezuela and Nicaragua, as well as Bolivia, and he has been allowed to stay in Russia for a full year.
The question remains whether the US government’s real objective was not merely to harass and insult Morales, but actually to assassinate an outspoken political opponent of US imperialism and a highly progressive leader of the Latin American Revolution. And, if the Obama administration really did believe that Snowden was on the same plane, causing it to crash would have had the added “bonus” of eliminating a whistleblower who had exposed Washington’s massive clandestine spying on millions of US citizens.
The US, after all, had also tried to kill President Chavez of Venezuela, a close ally of Morales, as well as other progressive Latin American presidents. Since his election in 2005 and again in 2009, Morales has not only liberated Bolivia from prolonged US domination, but actually expelled the US Ambassador, the US Drug Enforcement Administration, and the US Agency for International Development — mainly for their involvement in attempts to overthrow him. He has nationalized Bolivia’s rich oil and gas sector and has drastically reduced the role of foreign corporations in the country, especially those based in the US
“The US action against Morales can certainly be considered an attempt to assassinate him,” Bolivian-Canadian activist Juan Valencia told me in Toronto. “The US acted purposely against Morales because of his anti-imperialist stance. Washington was telling Bolivia that it will not tolerate those who challenge a world order in which the US decides what other countries will do.”
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