Foreign Digest: Belarus and Venezuela

Belarus: The United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada issued a joint statement last week calling for Belarus to release over 1,400 political prisoners, criticizing its dictatorship for corruption and disrespect for representative government, and expressing solidarity with the Belarusian people in advocating for liberty The statement was issued on the fourth anniversary of the fraudulent 2020 elections, in which the Belarusian dictator claimed victory for another five-year term. The statement also threatened more sanctions both for suppressing freedom and representative government and for Belarusian military support for the Russian Federation’s aggression against neighboring Ukraine. Russian troops invaded Ukraine from Belarus, which, like Ukraine is a former Soviet Republic. Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin is an ex-Soviet intelligence officer who is trying to restore the Soviet Union. The U.S. announced targeted sanctions on certain Belarusians for military support of Russian aggression. Venezuela: United Nations observers late last week condemned Venezuela’s presidential elections for a five-year term earlier this month as not meeting the standard for being free and fair to represent the will of the voters. Along with the Carter Foundation, who I had posted also found the elections not to be free and fair, they were the only international observers allowed in the South American State. Also late last week, the Organization of American States overwhelmingly approved a resolution on the Venezuelan elections sponsored by the United States and several allies calling for respect for human rights and the popular will and the impartial verification of the electoral results that guarantees transparency, credibility and legitimacy in the electoral process. As I have posted, the Socialists have ruled Venezuela for 25 years after being elected and then becoming increasingly authoritarian. The united opposition, led by center-right candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, a former diplomat, had obtained documentary proof from 80% of polling places of a landslide victory, but the regime claimed a narrow win without providing the tabulations of each polling place, which has led to international doubts of the Socialists’ claim of victory or even recognition of the opposition leader as the President-elect. The Socialist dictatorship, which had already held many political prisoners, during the campaign barred from office and arrested opposition leaders, prosecuted vendors that served the opposition campaign, and did not allow equal access to state-controlled media, as well as vandalizing local opposition offices, among other intimidation and harassment, thereby violating a U.S.-brokered agreement to allow presidential elections in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions. The opposition staged mass protests this weekend in 380 cities across Venezuela, Latin America and five continents, including in America as international pressure. Anti-American Socialist Venezuela is an ally of Communist Cuba, imperialist Russia and Islamist terrorist Iran.