Venezuela: Assembly in Solidarity with Colombian Mass Protests

In the ordinary session held in the Federal Legislative Palace, presided over by the vice-president of the National Assembly, Iris Varela, the parliamentarians of both sides rejected the acts of violence caused by the Colombian state security forces.

Varela stressed that the Duque government has tried to export violence and cause harm to the Venezuelan people. "They have displaced Colombian peasants who are dedicated to cultivating the land, and in a very humble way produce with the sweat of their brow the sustenance for their families and communities."

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She denounced the agents of the Colombian police and the Mobile Anti-riot Squadron (Esmad) for the destruction caused to detract strength from the popular demonstrations.

For his part, Congressman Freddy Bernal exposed the betrayals, murders, and poverty experienced by the Colombian people in the face of a government incapable of protecting and guaranteeing the quality of life to its citizens.

"The Cepal, in its last report, pointed out that Colombia has a 34.1% poverty rate. Twenty-one million Colombians live in poverty, but also 4.3% are in acute poverty, which represents 7 million," he specified.

At the same time, Bernal stated that the Government of the South American nation surrendered its sovereignty and has installed seven U.S. military bases. "Colombia agreed with NATO and put its laws under the U.S. mandate."

"#Live @PPTI deputy @PPTIleniMedina: we have to be in absolute solidarity with the Colombian people. It is the same format of repression executed in Chile."

He recalled that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Counternarcotics highlighted that after Plan Colombia, coca leaf cultivation increased from 170,000 to 211,000 hectares. "It produces 951 metric tons of cocaine, 76% of the narcotic on planet earth, according to information from the U.S. federal agency."

In his speech, Bernal pointed out the six decades of violence since the assassination of leader Eliécer Gaitán. "From 1985 to the present, there are a total of 9 million victims, between the dead, disappeared and displaced."

He emphasized that in 2021 there were 3 thousand displaced families in the Departments of Antioquia, Chocó, Valle del Cauca, and Norte de Santander; 31 massacres were committed, with a total of 116 leaders murdered. "In Colombia, after the peace agreement in Havana, 250 ex-combatants have been murdered."

Given the above, the Deputy said that Colombia is a failed State and that it has broken the social-political order, wondering "what Luis Almagro of the OAS and Michelle Bachelet, the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations and the international community in general, have to say."