Maduro and Morales welcome global support

The presidents of Venezuela and Bolivia hailed the great show of solidarity from across the world in Caracas on Sunday.

Bolivian President Evo Morales was the surprise guest on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's weekly TV programme, Sundays with Maduro.

Hundreds of national and international delegates to the Todos Somos Venezuela (We are all Venezuela) conference rode the 2-mile cable car to the 8,000 foot summit of Mount Waraira Repano, overlooking the capital, as the audience for the live broadcast.

Mr Maduro said US President Donald Trump's threat of military action against Venezuela “is a threat to the whole world.”

Washington has since imposed serious financial sanctions over the election of the new National Constituent Assembly (ANC) in the face of deadly riots and a boycott by the US-backed opposition.

Mr Morales hailed last week's resumption of internationally-mediated talks with the Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) in the Dominican Republic after four months of riots that left 124 dead.

“Our struggle is justified to defend our natural resources,” the Bolivian president said. “Whatever the pretext for military action, it is intended to rob our natural resources.”

He said Mud claims the convening of the ANC is an attack on democracy and a move towards dictatorship merely served as an excuse for US intervention.

“The Constituent Assembly will guarantee peace in Venezuela,” he said.

“We are with the people, with reason, with democracy... struggling for sovereignty.”

“Between imperialism and capitalism, the struggle continues.”

Mr Maduro said the opposition's plan was to “set the country on fire, fracture the military,” and like in Libya and Syria “justify bombing and occupation.”

“We crushed this plan. They failed,” he said.

And the Venezuelan president slammed the “cowardly left” around the world who have turned against his country's “Bolivarian Revolution”

“It scares them to hear the word Venezuela,” he said, mocking them as “traitors in red jackets who call themselves Chavistas. 'I'm a Chavista, that's why I'm against Maduro'.”

The mustachioed former bus driver even joked about his passing resemblance to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

Reminding viewers of the approaching 100th anniversary of the birth of the Soviet Union in 1917, he declared: "Viva the revolution! Viva Lenin!"

Mr Maduro gave a special welcome to visitors from African nations, saying “we are Afro-Americans here.”

Democratic Republic of Congo representative Roland Lumumba, the son of colonial liberation leader Patrice Lumumba – overthrown by a coup and assassinated a year after independence – called for the building of new institutions between the two continents.

He said anti-imperialists must not wait for the neo-colonial powers to act against them. “We must take this opportunity to anticipate their actions.”

The mystery of the Guanches

The origins and language of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands remain a mystery, writes Dr Sabina Goralski Filonov Translation by James Tweedie The guanches, the aboriginals of the Canary Islands whose origin, lost in the mists of time, still arouses intense and passionate debate and great controversy about their origins and the how the seven Canary Islands were populated – which according to some studies occurred between 10,000 and 8,000 years BC. Literally, the word ‘Guan’ means man or person and ‘Chenech’ or ‘Chinet’ is applied to the island of Tenerife, thus meaning a man or inhabitant of Tenerife – although according to Núñez de la Peña, the Spanish named them the Guanchos during the conquest of the islands. But with the passage of time, experts in the subject are questioning whether the word Guanche was used to designate the primitive inhabitants of all the islands in the pre-Hispanic period. The term ‘Guanche’ has also ceased to be applied to the di...

Venezuela condemns MUD silence over terror attack

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Los Gigantes Beach Landslide Tragedy - Three Days of Mourning for Victims

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Ex-pats hail extinction of ‘mammoth’ development

Socialists and conservatives unite to defeat CC plan for Las Teresitas beach Protesters outside the town hall SAN ANDREAS residents are celebrating victory after Santa Cruz council voted to deny permission for a controversial development on Las Teresitas beach. by James Tweedie The Association of Friends of Anaga, Las Teresitas and its Coast (Asociacion de Amigos de la Playa de las Teresitas, Anaga y su Litoral), which includes a number of ex-patriots, mounted a demonstration outside Santa Cruz town hall on Friday September 18 to urge opposition councillors to “keep their word” and support a Socialist Party of the Canaries (PSC) motion against the mammoth development. Some wore long paper ‘noses’ and chanted “concejal Pinocho” – councillor Pinocchio – to express their distrust of local politicians. A coalition of small businesses in Anaga, the Friends of the Port group and environmentalists Ben Magec – Ecologistas en Accion also supported the campaign against the scheme...

Venezuelan opposition declares "Zero Hour" for regime change

Venezuela’s opposition declared “Zero Hour” in its putsch against the socialist government on Monday — emboldened by US support. Leaders of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) coalition gathered for the announcement of their takeover plan a day after their unauthorised referendum seeking a mandate for regime change. National Assembly vice-president and Popular Will (VP) acting leader Freddy Guevara said the Mud-controlled parliament would announce the results of the plebiscite on Tuesday. It asked voters to reject President Nicolas Maduro’s calling of a constitutional reform assembly demand the army support the opposition and back a “national unity government.” But before the announcement of the result Mr Guevara said the national Assembly would form a new government on Tuesday — a move beyond its constitutional powers — along with 1,020 local “Zero Hour committees.” He called a “national general strike” for Thursday while on Friday the assembly would again exceed its powe...

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