Venezuelan Embassies are filters for the Maduro Regime

Venezuelan embassies and consulates around the world are serving as filters for the Maduro regime to keep the opposition from traveling in and out of the country.

According to the agency AFP, (Agence France-Presse), only10% of those Venezuelans that hold diplomatic positions in embassies around the world have a diplomatic education.  It is not unusual for some diplomats to be selected because of their affiliation with the president, but in the case of Venezuela the majority of the diplomatic personnel are relatives of high profile chavistas. As a result, outrageous injustices are occurring in those institutions. 

Venezuelans in foreign lands are having difficulties renewing or even obtaining new passports. Furthermore, the Maduro regime now requires that Venezuelans with foreign passports obtain a visa to return to their country; otherwise they will be deported. Last week the first Venezuelan in the history of Venezuela, was deported because she did not have a visa. 

Since the embassies are controlled by chavistas with family ties to the regime, they decide who does and does not receive a visa. It is preposterous and despicable that Venezuelans living abroad cannot go back to their country without facing the obstacles imposed by their oppressive government. 

The Maduro regime is trying to ensure that Venezuelans who are not aligned with this tyrannical government have no rights under the same constitution and as members of the same nationality.

Autocracy for a Dictator

Last week President Obama declared Venezuela a threat to the United States. Maduro, instead of reviewing  his policies and behavior towards it's dissidents, enacted a new “Anti-Imperialist Law” to fight the U.S. 

The National Assembly, with the consent of the corrupt and one-sided Assembly body, unanimously approved the law which gives Maduro's  autocratic powers. According with Maduro, this law is to make immediate decisions in the event of an "attack".  In the two years of Maduro’s governing,  he has requested absolute powers from the National Assembly several times.

While this mockery to the democratic process was taking place in the National Assembly, Maduro showed his high level of economic mismanagement. He deployed 80,000 troops to display to the U.S what they will be facing in the event that the Obama Administration decides to take military action.   

Maduro, who's approval rating is below 22%, continues his total  disregard to the economic crisis in Venezuelan.  The Cost of mobilizing troops for a useless  “Anti-Imperialist” pantomime indicates how ignorant and out of touch Maduro is with Venezuelan calamities.

Maduro's cowardliness is seen in the unjustified arrest of  Leopoldo Lopez, and what Lopez represents. He has kept Lopez  in prison for more than a year without any proof to substantiate his detention.  Maduro has also shown to be a repressive dictator that hides under the shadow of his predecessor, Hugo  Chavez, who handed him the regime.

Meanwhile, other political leaders like City of Tachira's Major Daniel  Ceballos and Caracas' Major, Antonio Ledezma were imprisoned by Maduro under false accusations. Student protestors remain victims of this government, many in prison and suffering abuses and tortures.

The script continues being used against Maria Corina Machado, another opposition leader, constantly harassed, while labeling  her as a traitor for "plotting" to assassin the dictator.  

Whether a removal of Maduro, with foreign assistance, remains to be seen, and quite frankly, many of us are hopeful. The truth is that the dire situation in Venezuela is what will ultimately cause the collapsing of this regime.

Could Nicolas Maduro be Removed from Office like Manuel Noriega from Panama?

The Obama Administration has recently sanctioned a number of Venezuelan officials who are involved in human right violations against protesters.  President Obama added that Venezuela also poses a threat to the United States. 

These accusations coming from the most powerful nation in the world, are troubling.  There are a few theories floating around as to why this Caribbean nation is considered to be a threat. Could it have been just as a protocol to expedite Congress to act? Or does the Maduro regime, in fact, possess terrorist threats to the United States? 

Venezuelan maintains strong connections with Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas. All of these groups are operating freely in Venezuela. With Cuba's help, Venezuela is making false passports, and providing these passports to Islamic Extremists.  According to the 2014 report of Canada on Guard,- "from 2008 to 2012, Venezuelan authorities provided at least 173 passports, visas and other documentation to Islamic extremists seeking to slip unnoticed into North America." There is no doubt that the list has increased with Maduro in power. This poses a great danger to the national security of the United States.

If the Maduro regime poses a threat to the United States, could he be removed from office just as Manuel Noriega was removed from Panama?

In December 1989 President George H. Bush invaded Panama and arrested Noriega, the Panamanian dictator.  The reasons for the US actions here are very similar to the reasons why Venezuela is considered a threat. Panama had become a center for money laundering and drug trafficking into the United States.

Venezuela’s threat goes even farther than Panama's by enabling terrorists with false passports to enter not onlydccssd Venezuela, but also to the United States through Canada with the intention to do harm. 

This Venezuelan tragedy has now become a dilemma for the United States. How to stop Nicolas Maduro from continuing his efforts to inflict Americans inside their country?

One option to stop Maduro might be to reduce oil purchases from Venezuela. While this action might strangle the Maduro regime, it will also hurt the Venezuelan people already affected by the highest inflation in the world.

The other option might be the United States to forcefully remove Nicolas Maduro from power, similar to Noriega.  

I believe that the Venezuelan people will favor the later.

Celebrating Life in Union: A Cuban Story

Celebrating Life in Union is a story of human resilience, community, and brotherhood.  It follows a group of former Cuban political prisoners through their memory of imprisonment and their half century fight with the aging Castro regime.  Having developed a strong community for themselves that now crosses three generations in Union City, NJ they struggle with the realization that their own mortality may come before they can return to their homeland.  The movie is currently under distribution.

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Venezuelans from around the Globe Stand with our Students in their Fight for Democracy

The frustration of Venezuelans living under democratic rules abroad runs high. Young brave students are getting abused, tortured and even killed by Nicolas Maduro oppressive regime   Since Maduro took office, his Bolivarian guards have murdered over 45 students, many others have disappeared, and hundreds are imprisoned and being tortured.  

Lying and deceiving the Venezuelan people about foreign plots against Venezuela was Chavez’s tactic to create fear and hold on to power. 15 years later Nicolas Maduro is using the same technique. Although this time, not even the Chavistas are buying it.

Maduro has taken the repression even further. He doesn't allow journalist to photograph the long lines and the empty store shelves. His inability to solve the Venezuelan economic crisis has left this rich oil producing country rapidly falling into an economic and social abyss.

The bravery of our young student protesters and their desire for a better nation have forced them to forfeit their dreams and confront the dictator with their only weapon: Protesting. The Maduro regime has decided to not only steal their futures with economic uncertainty, but also to take their lives for speaking out. In a perfect world, Nicolas Maduro should have been forced to resign by the international community, and be prosecuted for crimes against humanity.

Our Venezuelan students are fighting an unfair battle for wanting a better life. They want what other kids have abroad: freedom to express themselves, freedom to have a decent and productive life. We stand with our Venezuelan Students for their bravery, and we shame those neighboring countries that have aligned with Nicolas Maduro, for economic gain. History will remember this travesty and their disregard for human rights and dignity.

International Pressure Against Maduro to stop his Killing Machine

Violence has increased in Venezuela under the Nicolas Maduro's watch.  Maduro has demonstrated a blatant disregard for human rights, particularly against students and political leaders since he took office in 2014. Last week Antonio Ledezma, the Mayor of Caracas was arrested, and  Opposition leader Jorge Borges is “under investigation.”

This past Tuesday, a 14-year-old high school student from San Cristobal was shot in the head at point blank range when he was protesting. This style of murdering dissidents is becoming common in Venezuela. Last week we heard the senseless killing of three university students who were in police custody. They were found tortured to death.  The list of human right violations goes on and on with no end in sight.  The Maduro regime and his clan are very aware  that the Venezuelan problems of food shortage and lack of productivity are not going  away.  Protesters in Venezuela have emerged since last February against the regime’s inability to perform its duties.  Nicolas Maduro is again focusing his attention on oppression and human rights violations instead of solving the immediate economic crisis.

This past January, General Vladimir Padrino López, passed a resolution which gives  license to  police to murder students who protest.  This mandate supports the use of firearms and other weapons against “immediate aggressions” according with the Minister. 

International Pressure Against Maduro to stop his  Killing Machine 

The subsequent abuses of power in Venezuela has prompted international outrage. This past Wednesday the US Secretary of State John Kerry accused Maduro regime of  "egregious behavior" and promised  to expedite  the implementation of recent sanctions to those members of his cabinet that have committed human right violations. These sanctions are crucial, but in addition to the sanctions, international pressure must also  come from the UN, the OAE,  the European Communities, and all the democratic Latin American nations.

This is to stop  the Nicolas Maduro killing rampage and hopefully force him out of office through democratic means. 

It is interesting to note that the students today who are protesting this violent and oppressive regime only know Chavismo as a way of government. They have no other point of reference.

When Chavez came to power in 1999, most of the students where either toddlers or were just entering elementary school.  These young people only have known the Chavez Socialism of the XXI Century , a failing political ideology, hybrid from the collapsing  Cuban  political system under the Castro brothers, who are still holding  power after 56 years.
Maduro will not last that long. The protests will continue. Maduro will go,  but the question is,  how much more  damage will he cause on his way out.