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The Venezuela Solidarity Campaign held a protest outside the Melbourne office of the Australian government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on July 18. Here is a speech I made. Chris Slee **** We are here to protest against the Australian government's complicity in the US attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government of Venezuela. Last year Nicolas Maduro was elected president of Venezuela for a second time. International observers said the election was free and fair. But in January this year right-wing politician Juan Guaido declared himself president. The United States immediately recognised this claim - and Australia followed suit. The US has imposed an economic blockade on Venezuela. US allies such as Britain and Australlia are cooperating in this blockade. The blockade has created shortages of many products. For example, there are shortages of some medicines. There are shortages of spare parts for water pumps, causing millions of people to lose access to running water. There are shortages of spare parts for the oil industry, reducing oil production and damaging the economy. The United States and its allies have confiscated Venezuelan assets, such as the US subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company. We call on the Australian government to stop cooperating with the US blockade of Venezuela. We call on the government to cease regarding the unelected Juan Guaido as president of Venezuela. Instead Australia should once again recognise the government of democratically elected president Nicolas Maduro. _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
