National and International Outrage Against the Sentencing of Leopoldo Lopez

On Saturday Venezuelans, Colombians,. andDemocratic people across the globe united against last week’s conviction of political leader Leopoldo Lopez for 14 years in prison by the Maduro regime. 

The regime’s sentencing is a clear sign of it’s fear for the political outcome due to the hyperinflation, corruption, delinquency, and the extreme lack of products that the country is experiencing today. The sentencing has

re-enforced Lopez’s position as a united leader of the opposition.

 In New York City, Colombian and Venezuelans were united in an echo of the same sentiment of anger and repudiation against the Lopez conviction, and against the brutal human rights violations to poor Colombians living at the Venezuelan-Colombian borders.

Over 600 people were victims of deportations, and their homes, and properties were destroyed. In many instances, the Venezuelan Militia raped women, and girls. With the upcoming December 6 Parliamentary elections, this border incident was provoked by the Venezuelan regime to distract the Venezuelan people and to cause discord with the neighboring country. In addition, the United Nations reports that thousands of  Colombian have left Venezuela in outrage against this savage regime.

Venezuela, a country that was once considered a Democratic model of for Latin America now has the second highest homicide rate in the world.  The United States warns US citizens there about the out-of-control crime.  According to the report, heavily armed criminals have used grenades and assault rifles to commit crimes at banks, shopping malls, public transportation stations, and Universities.  The situation in Venezuela today is not sustainable and the Maduto regime is fully aware that its time is up.

Maduro does it again!

To distract the Venezuelan people from the depressed economy where they are living, and from the illegal activities of the drug cartels within their borders, Nicolas Maduro used an oppressive and rather Nazi like tactic against the poor Colombians who live in the Venezuelan border towns.  

The tactics that the army used were very similar to Hitler’s 1938 Nazi Germany after they declared  “Cristal Night”,  a night where Jewish houses were marked and destroyed  and people were beaten and many killed by the Nazis.  Similarly, The Venezuelan Guards marked these poor houses with an R for revised or D for destruction and proceeded, with out conscience, to physically force  over a 1,000 men, women, and children back to Colombia after destroying their houses. The sad part is that these people came many years ago to Venezuela, seeking a better life for themselves and their families. 

Maduro who has shown to be a master of creating distraction, because he is incapable to solving his country’s basic economic problems has opted for extreme measures, ordering this disgraceful move, accusing these poor people to be paramilitaries under the direction of former Colombian president Alberto Uribe.  It took a long time for the complacent Colombian President Manuel Santos to come out and react against Nicolas Maduro’s abuse of Colombian citizens. Yet, when President Obama declared Venezuela a Threat to the United States, it didn’t take long for Santos to react, requesting the immediate repeal of the US sanctions against Venezuela. In the recent two-day Summit of the Americas, Santos argued that that the Summit was a great opportunity for the U.S. and Venezuela to clear the air and build a “constructive dialogue to make decisions on the growing deterioration of Venezuela’s political, social and economic situation.”

I wonder how constructive the dialogue between Santos and Maduro will be now that Maduro has shut down the borders and deported the many Colombian living in those vicinities

Meanwhile, the office of Tarek William Saab, head of the Organization for People’s Defense, released a statement denying that children were involved in the deportation, another lie from a Government that only lies and deceives the Venezuelan people.  The truth of the matter is that these people were horribly humiliated and the human rights of these people were violated. We hope that some Latin American leaders who had been silent  about the Venezuelan dictator have the decency to complain about this massive abuse against these poor people of Colombia.

Venezuelans Need a Visa to Visit Cuba

 On July 24, 2015 Conviasa, one of the airlines that provides service from Venezuela to Cuba, announced that Venezuelans will be required to obtain a visa to travel to Island. What has changed?  Did the love affair created by Hugo Chavez with the dictatorial Castro regime ended with the United States decision to lift the Cuban embargo?

Ever since Hugo Chavez started his relations with Cuba, Venezuelans enjoyed visiting the poor, oppressed and dilapidated country of Cuba without the inconvenience of getting a visa.  The new relation between the United States or the “Imperio” as the late Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro calls it, has awaken Cuba to a new reality. Venezuela is a broken country, with no money, damage infrastructure and an out of control delinquency.

 The biggest danger to the rest of the free world is terrorism. Venezuela has opened its door to Hamas, Hezbollah and it is currently the biggest bridge for drug trafficking coming from Colombia to Europe and the United States.

Cuba was removed from the list of countries that sponsored terrorism by the Obama administration, even though many in Congress disagreed with this move. Cuba was placed on this list in 1982, a year after Ronald Reagan was elected president and the discussion over the El Salvador’s civil was on the table. President Reagan’s decision was to stop the Soviet Union from influencing Latin America with the help of  Fidel Castro.

On August 2014 The Congressional Research Service release a study done by Mark P Sullivan Specialist in Latin American Affairs and June S. Beittel, Analyst in Latin American Affairs about "the United States concerns on Venezuela’s lack of cooperation on antiterrorism efforts, its relations with Iran, and the involvement of senior Venezuelan officials in supporting the drug and weapons trafficking activities of the FARC.”


Cuba is now under the watch of the United States and the Castro dictators know well that there is a big discontent among Cuban Americans with the Obama’s decision. The “Imperio” is watching them, and any terroristic activity is bound to jeopardize their future economic success. 

Latin America POV: Latin American Leaders Socialist Rhetoric

Latin American leaders at the Seventh Summit of the Americas repeatedly, and with obstinacy, talked about the United States being imperialist and portrayed Latin American countries as victims of the US empire. A wrong  term to describe the United States, which has never been an empire. President Obama rejected the Latin American leaders notion that the U.S is to blame for all their problems.

 The real victims have been the Latin American people from corrupt power-hungry leaders like Nicolas Maduro, Cristina Kirchner, Rafael Correa, Fidel and Raul Castro, Evo Morales and others.  These so-called socialists leaders have brought more poverty and economic hardship to their countries than the so-called "imperialist” American government. The most interesting part is that none of these leaders has taken responsibility for the corruption, human rights violations, and abuses that happen in their nations on their watch.

Nicolas Maduro’s regime has stolen billions of dollars from the Venezuelan Petroleum Company, PDVSA and has committed the worse human right abuses in the history of Venezuela against its citizens. But Nicolas Maduro continues accusing the United States of waging an economic war against the country.

 Vladimir Lenin used the term  imperialism as "the Highest Stage of Capitalism in which imperialism was a product of monopoly capitalism." For many, Lenin governed the early Soviet Union in the name of socialism as a dictator that carried out mass human rights abuses. Lenin was the creator of the Red Terror, an organized program of arrests, imprisonments, and killings. According to historian Michael Kort, "During 1919 and 1920, the Bolshevik regime killed or deported an estimated 300,000 to 500,000."

Joseph Stalin, Lenin’s successor in the Soviet Union,  caused a famine in the Ukraine that resulted in an estimated 7 million people dead. Stalin stole the food that the farmers  had cultivated with their hands.

This Leninist ideology can be traced in Central America through the turbulent modern political history of Mexico, and the total dominance of a single political party,  PRI (National Revolutionary Independent Party) for 70 years.  From 1929 to early 1990's PRI pilfered the money that could have been used to improve the quality of life for average Mexicans and converted the PRI into a nest of corruption and nepotism.

In El Salvador, in addition to poverty and a lack of the essential needs, the cruel civil  took 80,000 lives and destroyed most of the country’s infrastructure. It was a war between the leftist groups of the Frente Farabundo Marti and the Salvadorian military. Both sides committed great atrocities. Massacres of hundreds of innocent civilians took place.

Similarly, Fidel Castro’s socialist tyranny in Cuba killed thousands and imprisoned hundreds of thousands during more than half a century of oppression.

The birth and rise of the main Colombian terrorist group Fuerzas Armadas Revolutionaries de Colombia, or FARC, offers a terrifying example of the destructive powers of extremist political ideology.  Since 1948, the conflict between  FARC  and the government has claimed more than 300,000 lives in Colombia.

In Peru, the leftist group  Sendero Luminoso and the Peruvian Army became  engaged in a cruel struggle that took 50,000 lives and has driven thousands of Peruvians away from the country. The list of conflicts between leftists guerrilla groups and the governments in Latin America is long.  Latin American leaders  should stop the blaming game and also take responsibility for the economic and social problems that their nations are facing today.

The United States economy, often referred as a free market economy, allows  consumers, producers, and the government to make decisions on a daily basis, mainly through the price system. Although not perfect, a free market economy is the engine that makes this country very successful.

A Dictatorship in Venezuela

Diosdado Cabello, President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, threatens to take action against the Opposition if they protest. "If  they go out and protest they will regret it the rest of their life,” said Cabello. 

The question to Diosdado Cabello is: Why the threats, when the people of Venezuela just want to exercise their right to protest as stated in Article 68 of the Venezuelan Constitution?

In addition to Diosdado Cabello erratic threats, he also accuses the Opposition of trying to do an economic coup d'etat, masterminded by the United States.  Like Hugo Chavez did, Diosdado Cabello and Nicolas Maduro spent a lot of their time fantasizing with an attack from the United States instead of solving the basic food needs of the country.

The Chavez/Maduro/Diosdado Cabello clan ruined the economy of a rich oil producing country, destroyed its infrastructure, and changed its history.  Now they tell Venezuelan's to refrain from complaining, or they will pay with their lives. A real dictatorship.