Venezuela – Nicaragua: successfully defeating the Monroe doctrine

This NSCAG webinar with support from the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition, provided a fascinating insight into external aggression in Latin America and the successful efforts of Nicaragua and Venezuela to defend their sovereignty and achieve progress.

Events in Venezuela following the elections on 28 July bear a striking resemblance to events which took place during the coup attempt in Nicaragua in 2018.

What happened in 2014 and 2017 in Venezuela, 2018 in Nicaragua, 2019 in Venezuela and Bolivia, has been repeated once again following the Venezuelan elections. US-backed extremist rioters have attacked government supporters, and destroyed public institutions that benefit poor and working-class people.

Following a well-established pattern, in Venezuela these ‘peaceful protesters’ set on fire a public hospital, burned buses, and attacked popular pharmacies where the government provides cheap subsidised medicine.

To those who lived through similar events Nicaragua in 2018, these attacks in Venezuela are a painful reminder of the past. This included extensive destruction of public buildings and hospitals, and the burning down of a Sandinista affiliated radio station.

The Panel explained how Venezuela and Nicaragua have overcome the respective failed coup attempts, and provided accounts of what was happening in Venezuela after the recent successful elections.

The focus was on different ways in which Venezuela and Nicaragua have defeated the Monroe Doctrine and in doing so recognised the democratic sovereign will of their peoples.

The panel also examined the the psychological warfare role of corporate media in creating false narratives that fan the flames of violence and demonise the respective elected governments in both countries.

Panel: –

Francisco Dominguez, former head of the Research Group on Latin America at Middlesex University, national secretary of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign, co-author of Right-Wing Politics in the New Latin America

Camila Escalante, writer and reporter on Latin America & the Caribbean, formerly with Telesur English, news correspondent for PressTV and co-founder and editor of Kawsachun News.

Stephen Sefton, community worker in Nicaragua for 28 years, since 2008 coordinator of the website Tortilla con Sal following events in Nicaragua and the region. Since 2003, his articles have appeared in online outlets in English and Spanish.

John Perry lives in Masaya, Nicaragua and writes about politics and social issues in Central America for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), FAIR, Covert Action Magazine, the London Review of Books and elsewhere

Moderator: – Becca Renk has lived in Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua, for more than 20 years working in sustainable community development with the Jubilee House Community and its project, the Centre for Development in Central America, also coordinates the Casa Benjamin Linder solidarity project in Managua.

Video below starts after 9 minutes

Click link to watch the recording