Thursday April 20th @ 7pm

Venezuela has  been a major target of US restrictive measures that include   devastating sanctions and policies opposed to the social justice and equity direction for the country’s development laid out by the late Hugo Chavez and now present President, Nicolas Maduro, The country has dealt with invasions and economic sabotage and  Colombian guerrilla incursions. The government has  boosted the global campaign to free diplomat and businessman Alex Saab, arrested without warrant or Interpol alert while seeking medical supplies, food and fuel in Iran for Venezuela,  and extradited or kidnapped to Miami. His present health condition while in prison remains dire say doctors, and attorneys and familiy members who are working legally on the case.

At a world gathering at the anniversary of Hugo Chavez’s death with hundreds of delegates from 70 countries, we of the US Delegation participated with 600 other delegates. Five nation’s presidents shared the impact of Venezuela’s positive revolution gains on many sectors and the difficulties of national security measures with intense neo-liberal opposition Conference leaders were presidents of Nicaragua, Honduras, Grenadines, Venezuela,  Bolivia, Dominica and Cuba, with large presence of  Rafael Correa former President of Ecuador. The group participated in food cooperative discussions and planning sessions with large neighborhoods and witnessed much socialism zeal from popular groupings.

Speakers:

Ellen Mass is a MAPA member from Cambridge with 19 years of Elementary and High School teaching in Social Studies, science, and international affairs that included school exchanges to 3 sister cities that a local Peace Commission helped arrange. She spent 2 Summers teaching Art History in Vermont, participated in active college union organizing in the 1960s, and Vietnam era activities in 60’s- 70s.  Environmental work on local state land doing stewardship conservation and pollution protection and climate change education, via directing for 20 years a local stewardship non-profit. In recent years, she has been participating with MAPA to lift the longtime Cuban Embargo, to lift Venezuelan sanctions, and stop incursions. She participates in anti-war-NATO campaigns in regards to the Ukraine war.

Martha Schmidt grew up in Middlebury, Vermont, lived in Chicago, New Orleans, Wisconsin, and have been here in the Pacific NW, Seattle area, lands of Coastal Salish-speaking peoples for most of my adult life. I’m a retired labor/equal employment lawyer. Also worked as union and community organizer and college teacher over the years and have been a union member. I’m part of the National Lawyers Guild International Committee and currently co-chair the Human Rights Framework Project. I work a lot against Unilateral Coercive Measures, aka sanctions, against war, and for the right to health, for people and the planet. I previously visited Venezuela in 2013 when I was an acompañante for the Municipal elections on December 8.