00:00And the Norwegian capital saw a day of protests and demonstrations.
00:04This in rejection to the decision of the Noble Committee to award far-right opposition leader Maria Corina Machado,
00:11a person who has supported an ongoing genocide and also called for armed intervention on her own land and people, Venezuela, with the Nobel Peace Prize.
00:22And to get a feel of what is happening over there, we are now joined by Sam Miguel, Venezuela correspondent of the Revolutionary Communist Group of Great Britain.
00:32Hello, Sam. Thank you so much for joining us here in From the South.
00:37Hi, Belen. Thank you for having us.
00:39It's a pleasure to have you as always.
00:41So, first of all, tell us a little bit about the spirit on the streets yesterday ahead of this formal event for this award that has been rejected by different and very diverse sectors of society.
00:55Yeah, I mean, we got off the plane from, you know, in Oslo and we went straight to a press conference that was being held in the city center where Mauro Manuel Mendoza was speaking.
01:09Now, this person is a person who, he's a Venezuelan, and he has actually launched a formal complaint about the awarding of the Peace Prize to Maria Corina Machado.
01:21After the press conference, you know, there was a lot of different groups there, a lot of energy there, then people went out on the streets.
01:28And despite the cold weather, we were out on the streets for hours.
01:32There were thousands of people on the streets outside the Norwegian Noble Peace Center.
01:38And then we took the march up and down the streets of Oslo.
01:42And there were a lot of people who were supportive as well.
01:45I think, you know, it is in the consciousness at the moment that this award is being awarded to a warmonger.
01:51And so, yeah, there was a lot of support.
01:54There was a lot of energy on the streets, drumming bands, megaphone, sound systems, flags, and people demanding an end to the war on Venezuela and to reject the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to somebody who is backing that war.
02:11Of course, and all of this in the context of the ongoing aggressions in the Caribbean as well.
02:17Now, Sam, in your words, what does this say about our geopolitical context that this award that is or was supposed to represent the connection among peoples is now giving to a figure that has backed Netanyahu, that has called for foreign armed interventions in Latin America?
02:34Yeah, I mean, I think it is a complete hypocrisy.
02:40It is, you know, the upside down will, the mundo al reverse, that it is being awarded to Maria Karina Machado.
02:49At a time where we've seen over two years of genocide in Gaza, you know, over 70,000 people died and so many people under the rubble, it's going to take years to even really understand the impact of the genocide on Gaza.
03:03And, you know, to award the prize to Karina Machado, somebody who has backed Israel, who has said that the struggle of Venezuela is the struggle of Israel, that has signed agreement, cooperation agreements with the Likud party and with Netanyahu.
03:21I mean, that is a kick in the face to anybody who's been organizing in solidarity with Palestine against the genocide in Gaza.
03:31And then not only that, here is the Peace Prize being awarded to somebody who is calling for sanctions against Venezuela, who's applauded the sanctions against Venezuela.
03:41These sanctions have killed an estimated 100,000 people over several years, you know, due to lack of access to medical imports and medicines and other important goods.
03:53Not only that, Maria Karina Machado has backed and supported the deportation of Venezuelans to the CICOT security prison in El Salvador.
04:04You know, another scandal that was basically just, you know, extrajudicial deportation and imprisonment of Venezuelans that was widely condemned.
04:14And now with the bombing of fisher boats in the Caribbean, you know, targeting Venezuelans, Colombians, Mexicans and people from Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago that, you know, she's been applauding that.
04:29She's been applauding Trump's war on a so-called war on narco-terrorism.
04:35And, you know, that is completely hypocritical, as we've seen this week of the pardoning of Hernández from Honduras.
04:44But, you know, the fact that she has applauded these acts of war that have been, again, they have been identified as extrajudicial murder at a time where the biggest aircraft carrier in the world, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is aiming itself right in the Caribbean, right at the heart of the Caribbean and threatening Venezuela.
05:10I mean, I can't think that, you know, this award could have been awarded to somebody who is really right now supporting the war effort against the Caribbean.
05:21That was so clear how you were pointing out the whole context that really puts into perspective what is happening at that moment.
05:28And the demonstrations we were seeing and we're highlighting that as well.
05:33So, Sam, the Global North Lobby Centers and the international right has a clear agenda with all of this to ramp up pressure in Latin America.
05:43You were just mentioning the context right now at a time in which key natural resources are at stake also.
05:50And several popular projects are fighting to defend that sovereignty.
05:54We were talking about Venezuela, but also the process in Mexico, Colombia, just to name a few.
05:59What do you think that is the role of international organizations in this context?
06:07Yeah, well, I mean, I think there are two different roles.
06:11You know, you have the international organizations of imperialism, those same organizations and the NGOs and, you know, the charities and the think tanks that pretend to speak for human rights.
06:23You know, the same people who will fund and give journalism awards and platform people like Maria Carina Machado and, you know, talk about human rights in these countries who are actually really aligned with the interests of imperialism, you know, receiving a lot of donations for their work from, you know, from USAID, from the National Endowment for Democracy and those types of organizations.
06:49And they are the ones that are always, you know, they are mouthpieces, they are liberal mouthpieces for war, for intervention, for, you know, imperialist control over natural resources.
07:05And, you know, these organizations are the ones, I believe, that have, you know, really allowed the Peace Prize to go to Maria Carina Machado.
07:14On the other hand, you have internationalist organizations, the people on the streets who were organizing against this.
07:22And it's been really heartening to see that there have been mobilizations not only here in Oslo and Norway, but in the U.S.
07:29I believe there was a delegation from the U.S. that was blocked from attending the peace conference in Caracas this week.
07:36And they've been on the streets and there have been other protests in Germany and in Holland, from what I can see, and people organizing in solidarity with Venezuela.
07:47And of course, we have this international peace conference that is taking place right now in Caracas with delegations from all over the world.
07:56And I think, you know, it is this kind of people's power and the connection between the people who are really organizing for peace, for democracy, for justice, against the warmongering imperialists, against the attacks on human rights that we've just seen, you know, live streamed with the genocide on Gaza, that, you know, these are the forces that we need to galvanize.
08:21Thank you so much, Sam. So clear. And also, thank you for allowing us to go deeper into this topic, sharing your experience.
Be the first to comment