2020-09-21: News Headlines

Ben Norton (2020-09-21). Grandson of overthrown Chilean President Salvador Allende defends Venezuela against U.S. coup attempt. mronline.org The grandson of Chile's former elected socialist President Salvador Allende, who was toppled in a 1973 CIA-orchestrated military coup, has lived in Venezuela for 10 years. The Grayzone's Ben Norton interviewed Pablo Sepúlveda Allende in Caracas.

Alan Macleod (2020-09-21). Pompeo Announces Funding for Welfare, Healthcare and Indigenous Support. In Venezuela. mintpressnews.com The sweeping $348 million aid package, which includes funding for healthcare, direct cash assistance, and even psychosocial support, runs in stark contradiction to a long-held US policy of sanctions on Venezuela.

Alan MacLeod (2020-09-21). US Pompeo Venezuela Feature photo REGIME CHANGE TOUR Pompeo Announces Funding for Welfare, Healthcare and Indigenous Support. In Venezuela. thealtworld.com The sweeping $348 million aid package, which includes funding for healthcare, direct cash assistance, and even psychosocial …

Alan Macleod (2020-09-21). From Mass Incarceration to Plan Colombia: Biden's Role in the Failed War on Drugs. mintpressnews.com Former vice president Biden has a sordid history of opposing progressive criminal justice legislation, spearheading draconian police and immigration measures, and playing a central role in waging America's failed war on drugs.

Morning Star (2020-09-21). Maduro claims CIA spy arrested with explosives near oil refinery. peoplesworld.org Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Saturday that authorities had detained a former United States Marine and CIA operative after he was caught spying on two oil refineries. Speaking on national television, the Bolivarian leader said: "He was captured with heavy weapons, specialty weapons. He was captured with a great amount of cash in dollars …

Staff (2020-09-21). Headlines for September 21, 2020. democracynow.org Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dies at 87, Sparking a Deluge of Tributes and a Fierce Succession Battle, U.S. COVID-19 Death Toll Poised to Top 200,000, U.N. Says 150 Million More Children May Face Poverty as Global Coronavirus Death Toll Nears 1 Million, California Grapples with Evacuations, Toxic Air as Record-Breaking Wildfires Continue to Blaze, Trump Announces $13 Billion for Puerto Rico, as Elections Near and 3 Years After Hurricane Maria, Leaked Docs Show Major Banks Helped Criminals Launder Billions of Dollars, International Community Counters Trump over U.N. Iran Sanctions, Peru's President Survives Impeach…

Timothy Alexander Guzman (2020-09-21). Pompeo's "Humanitarian Intervention" in Latin America: Is Washington Planning A Coup In Venezuela Before The November Elections? globalresearch.ca The US and its long-time Puppet state, Colombia are moving towards another attempt for regime change against Venezuela's President, Nicolas Maduro. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's Latin American tour which included Colombia, Brazil, Guyana and Suriname, all share …

Eds. (2020-09-21). In Bolivia, Washington has replicated past fascist horrors. mronline.org The campaigns from imperialist propaganda operatives to brand Bolivia's coup regime as some sort of example of progressive governance, or as in any way superior to the Morales government on human rights, have been pure smoke and mirrors.

Brasil de Fato (2020-09-21). Brazilian parliamentarians denounce gov't absence in combating wildfires in the Pantanal region. peoplesdispatch.org After a visit to the "We would like to ask for help from the Federal government to end the fires, allow for the ecosystem to recover and create a preventive strategy,"

yenisafak (2020-09-21). Turkey's Antalya Film Festival picks jury, films. yenisafak.com The 57th Antalya Film Festival announced on Monday jury members and films which will participate in its International Feature Film Competition.Directors, screenwriters, and artists from all over the world will evaluate the films picked elaborately for the festival.The jury members include Turkish screenwriter and director Emin Alper, Romanian producer Ada Solomon, Tribeca Film Festival's artistic director Frederic Boyer, Iranian actor and director Niki Karimi, and Brazilian filmmaker Sandra Kogut.The films, most of which were premiered at the Venice Film Festival in Italy earlier this month, will meet a Turkish a…

yenisafak (2020-09-21). 77% conflict-hit people lost income amid virus: Study. yenisafak.com The Norwegian Refugee Council's report — titled Downward Spiral: the economic impact of Covid-19 on refugees and displaced people — said a survey was conducted in Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Uganda and Venezuela and additional research in Somalia, DR Congo, Lebanon, Jordan, Burkina Faso and Yemen."The devastating economic impact is tipping many into a hunger, homelessness and education crisis," it said.According to the findings from the 1,413 people surveyed, 77% of people had lost a job or income from work since March, 70% of people had to cut the number of meals for their househ…

teleSUR, ce (2020-09-20). Seven Killed in Colombia's 60th Massacre of 2020. telesurenglish.net At least seven people were killed today in a massacre in the municipality of Buenos Aires, department of Cauca, Colombia as denounced by the Red por la Vida de los Derechos Humanos de Cauca (Network of Life of Human Rights of Cauca). | RELATED: | The Network says this is the ninth massacre to occur in Cauca department since the start of the year, bringing the total number of massacre victims to 35. So far in September, ther…

A Guest Author (2020-09-20). Cuba socialista es líder mundial en la lucha contra el COVID-19. workers.org Por Rosemari Mealy Rosemari Mealy Esta es una charla ligeramente editada que se dio en un seminario web del Partido Mundo Obrero el 20 de agosto sobre "COVID puede ser derrotado: Cuba, China, Venezuela y Vietnam lideran el camino". Me gustaría agradecer a Workers World/Mundo Obrero por la oportunidad de . . . |

Peter Koenig (2020-09-20). Venezuela — A Tribute for Her Endless Pursuit of Democracy. globalresearch.ca Venezuela is again the shining light of Democracy — pushing ahead with the 6 December 2020 National Assembly (NA) elections — despite the endless challenges of covid — of sanctions, of embargos, of confiscation of foreign assets, and even of …

Peter Koenig (2020-09-20). Venezuela: A Tribute for Her Endless Pursuit of Democracy. dissidentvoice.org Venezuela is again the shining light of Democracy — pushing ahead with the 6 December 2020 National Assembly (NA) elections despite the endless challenges of covid, of sanctions, of embargos, of confiscation of foreign assets, and even of a totally illicit blockage of reserve currencies — Venezuela's gold — naturally in the world's protectorate of …

_____ (2020-09-20). Venezuela Blasts 'Politicized' Report By UN 'Ghost Mission'. popularresistance.org The Venezuelan government rejected a recent report by a United Nations (UN) human rights mission. | "It's a report ridden with falsehoods, written from afar, with no methodological rigor whatsoever," Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza wrote on Twitter. He went on to emphasize that the report had been written by a "ghost mission" which had not set foot in Venezuela. | "This illustrates the perverse practice of playing politics with human rights," Arreaza concluded, accusing the authors of the report of being "controlled" by US-allied governments.

teleSUR, ce (2020-09-20). Venezuela's Electoral Head: Doors Open to Accompany Dec. 6 Vote. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) is weighing whether to take the unprecedented decision to hold the December 6th National Assembly election vote over a period of two days rather than one, exploring the benefits of the possibility, while undergoing the necessary audits and while working to develop the most optimal and efficient conditions. | RELATED: | As CNE President Indira Alfonzo told Ernesto Vil…

AlejandraGarcia (2020-09-20). Brazil: Ex-Foreign Ministers Decry Pompeo's Hatred of Venezuela. telesurenglish.net Brazil's Former Foreign Ministries rejected U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to their country as they described it as a "spurious use of a foreign nation as a platform for provocation and hostility towards a neighboring state." | RELATED: | All the former officials that took office after Brazil's dictatorship period (1964-1985) stood in solidarity with the Chamber of Deputies's President Rodrigo Maia, who He was the firs…

_____ (2020-09-20). Bolivia: Violent Pro-Coup Extremists Assault MAS Canvassers. popularresistance.org Bolivian coup supporters waged an attack on Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) canvassers, setting fire to campaign tents and destroying materials. | Videos circulating on social media show what appears to be people in MAS t-shirts being chased down in the area of the 4 de Noviembre plaza in Cochabamba, while posters and other materials were taken down. | Speaking to local news networks, MAS members said they were campaigning for the party's Arce-Choquehuanca ticket and local candidates in the Plaza, when members of the Resistencia Juvenil Cochala (RJC) appeared and began setting off firecrackers and tear gas, whil…

_____ (2020-09-20). Political Trials And Electoral Bans. popularresistance.org Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno and his allies have gone to great lengths to prevent former president Rafael Correa and his political movement from returning to power. | In order to achieve this goal, the current government has persecuted opponents and barred candidates from running. Moreno's authoritarianism has, so far, gone largely unnoticed internationally. With elections scheduled for February 2021, it is crucial that the international community keeps a vigilant eye on the Ecuadorian government's persistent attempts at perverting the course of democracy.

teleSUR (2020-09-20). Over 10 LATAM Ex-Presidents Urge End to Proscriptions in Ecuador. telesurenglish.net Former Latin American presidents led by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva (Brazil), Jose Mujica, (Uruguay), Ernesto Samper (Colombia), and Evo Morales (Bolivia), Saturday asked Ecuador's administration to end the proscriptions of candidates ahead of the country's elections in 2021. | RELATED: | "We express our deep concern about the Ecuadorian electoral authorities' decisions to banned the "Citizen's Revolution" politica…

_____ (2020-09-19). Mainstream US Reporters Silent About Being Spied On. popularresistance.org A Spanish security firm apparently contracted by US intelligence to carry out a campaign of black operations against Julian Assange and his associates spied on several US reporters including Ellen Nakashima, the top national security reporter of the Washington Post, and Lowell Bergman, a New York Times and PBS veteran. | To date, Nakashima and her employers at the Washington Post have said nothing about the flagrant assault on their constitutional rights by UC Global, the security company in charge of Ecuadorian embassy in London, which seemingly operated under the watch of the CIA's then-director, Mike Pompeo.

_____ (2020-09-19). Venezuela: The 2016-2020 National Assembly — Part Of The Plan. popularresistance.org It's hard to decide which of all the actions of the Venezuelan opposition representatives was the most shameful. Was it Ramos Allup giving the legitimate elected President Nicolas Madura a 6-month deadline to leave office while removing the portraits of Simon Bolivar and of Comandante Chavez from the Federal Capitol? Or Julio Borges spreading letters throughout the world in which he called for an increase in the economic blockade against the Venezuelan people while he labeled us a plague in the region?

Mehr News Agency (2020-09-19). Maduro names Pompeo's war-mongering' tour a 'failure'. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Sep. 19 (MNA) — Condemning the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to Latin American countries, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro named it a "war-mongering" tour that has failed.

_____ (2020-09-19). Venezuela Foils CIA Terror Plot; Pompeo On Regime Change Tour. popularresistance.org Venezuela's government has announced it has foiled a potential terror attack, arresting a former CIA operative while he was on a stakeout near the country's largest oil refining facility. | Matthew John Heath was arrested with three other Venezuelans outside the Amuay and Cardon refineries in Falcon state in the west of the country, reportedly carrying a submachine gun, a grenade launcher, four blocks of C4 explosives, a satellite phone, and stacks of U.S. dollars. He has been charged with terrorism and weapons trafficking.

WSWS (2020-09-19). US, Colombia stage war games as Pompeo threatens Venezuela. wsws.org Pompeo's Latin American tour is aimed both at escalating aggression against Venezuela and countering China's influence in the region.

Peoples Dispatch (2020-09-19). Argentinians commemorate the 44th anniversary of the Night of the Pencils. peoplesdispatch.org The night of September 16, 1976, was one of the bloodiest night of the last civic-military dictatorship in Argentina, when a group of high school students were kidnapped and tortured by the state security forces…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-09-19). Bolivia's de-facto president Jeanine àÅñez withdraws from October elections. peoplesdispatch.org Bolivia's coup appointed interim president, Jeanine àÅñez, on September 17, announced that she was withdrawing her candidacy for the general elections scheduled for October 18. Añez said she was pulling out from the electoral race to help unite the conservative vote and try to block the MAS presidential candidate and progressive former economic minister, Luis Arce, from winning. | In a recorded video message, accompanied by her running mate Samuel Doria Medina and other officials, àÅñez said that she decided to "put aside" her candidacy for the greater good, avoiding the situation in which "the vote g…

Cecilia Siliansky de Andreazzi, Martha Lima Brandà£o, Marina Galvà£o Bueno, Gisele R Winck, Fabiana Lopes Rocha, Rafael L G Raimundo, Jean Paul Metzger, Marcia Chame, José Luis Passos Cordeiro, Paulo Sérgio D'Andrea (2020-09-19). [Correspondence] Brazil's COVID-19 response. thelancet.com We read with interest the Editorial1 about Brazil's response to COVID-19. As Brazilian scientists, we would like to express major concerns about the multiple crises that our country is facing.

Lise Alves (2020-09-19). [World Report] Brazilian doctors condemn new rules on abortion. thelancet.com Experts say that the new rules for health workers will discourage access to health services and increase the risk of unsafe abortion. Lise Alves reports from Sà£o Paulo.

Mehr News Agency (2020-09-19). Iran, Brazil stress expanding agricultural coop. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Sep. 20 (MNA) — Iranian envoy to Brazil and the governor of the Mato Grosso state of Brazil discussed the expanding of bilateral cooperation in the fields of agriculture, extraterrestrial agriculture, and agricultural products.

The Canary (2020-09-18). Assange 'offered win-win deal by Trump to avoid extradition. thecanary.co The WikiLeaks founder's extradition hearing was told that Trump associates sought the source of leaks from the Democratic National Committee. | By | WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was offered a "win-win" deal by Donald Trump to avoid extradition by revealing the source of the hacking of Democratic party emails, a court has heard. | Trump approval: | Barrister Jennifer Robinson said she was asked to attend the meeting by her client, Assange, with Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Trump associate Charles Johnson at the Ecuador…

sputniknews (2020-09-18). Venezuela's President Maduro Calls Pompeo's 'War-Mongering' Tour a 'Failure'. sputniknews.com The US Department of State earlier announced Pompeo would be visiting South America with the aim of showing support for local democracies and containing the "threat" coming from "Maduro's illegitimate regime".

Mark Weisbrot (2020-09-18). Silence Reigns on the US-Backed Coup Against Evo Morales in Bolivia. commondreams.org A man holds a flag with a picture of former Bolivian President Evo Morales during the first campaign event of MAS party ahead of presidential elections on September 9, 2020 in El Alto, Bolivia. (Photo: Gaston Brito/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/morales_coup.jpg

_____ (2020-09-18). A Cold War Power Play At The Inter-American Development Bank. popularresistance.org Having launched his presidential campaign by labeling migrants from south of the U.S.-Mexico border as "rapists and criminals," Latin America was perhaps one of the last places President Donald Trump expected to rely on as a source of steadfast friends. It thus comes as no surprise that in the new Cold War against China, Trump's tactics in recruiting allies in Latin America have been reminiscent of the many "caudillos" that have plagued the continent in the past. The politicized impeachment of Dilma Roussef, deposing of Evo Morales, and attempted invasion of Venezuela set the backdrop to U.S. efforts to bring Lat…

Ben Chacko (2020-09-18). Coup figurehead drops out as Morales's Socialists set to win Bolivian presidency. peoplesworld.org Bolivia's coup President Jeanine Añez has dropped out of next month's presidential elections after polls showed her scraping just over 5% of the vote. Añez, who was appointed by the army after it forced just re-elected president Evo Morales from power last November, said she was withdrawing "to ensure there is a winner who defends …

a guest author (2020-09-18). Latin American ex-presidents stage 'rebellion on the farm' following IADB appointment. workers.org By Sergio Rodriguez Gelfenstein The web magazine lapluma.net published this article by its author, a Venezuelan analyst, on Sept. 3. The article refers to George Orwell's novel,"Animal Farm," which pro-imperialist intellectuals have used for reactionary purposes in the past. In this case the author highlights the role of Latin American . . . |

Matt Sedlar (2020-09-18). What the OAS Did to Bolivia. cepr.net The Guardian See article on original site Bolivia has descended into a nightmare of political repression and racist state violence since the democratically elected government of Evo Morales was overthrown by the military on November 10. That month was "the second-deadliest month, in terms of civilian deaths committed by state forces, since Bolivia became a …

Matt Sedlar (2020-09-18). Political Trials and Electoral Bans: the Battle for Democracy in Ecuador. cepr.net OpenDemocracy See article on original site Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno and his allies have gone to great lengths to prevent former president Rafael Correa and his political movement from returning to power. In order to achieve this goal, the current government has persecuted opponents and barred candidates from running. Moreno's authoritarianism has, so far, gone …

WSWS (2020-09-18). Brazilian teachers call strikes against back-to-school drive. wsws.org Brazil's fascistic President Bolsonaro declared: "We are the country with the highest number of days of lockdown of schools. This is absurd."

Luis Arce (2020-09-18). Last November's Coup Was About Plundering Bolivia's Resources. zcomm.org Massive protests last month forced Bolivia's postcoup government to pledge that elections will take place on October 18…

Peoples Dispatch (2020-09-17). Journalist Carlos Rabascall replaces Rafael Correa as vice-presidential candidate. peoplesdispatch.org The Union for Hope (UNES), an alliance of progressive forces, on September 16, elected journalist Carlos Rabascall as the new candidate for the vice-presidency of Ecuador in the general elections scheduled for February 7, 2021. The decision was taken after Rafael Correa was Last week, on September 7, Ecuador's national court of justice ratified the 8-year prison sentence and the 25-year political ban for Correa in the "Bribes 2012-1…