Argentines march to US Embassy to protest interference in Venezuela
Social organizations, unions and leftist political groups in Argentina on Tuesday marched to the US Embassy in this capital to protest what they called Washington’s “interference” in Venezuela.
About 500 people gathered at the doors of the University of Buenos Aires Law School and then marched some three kilometers (about two miles) to the US diplomatic mission.
Along the way, about 100 of the demonstrators staged incidents with police, when the latter tried to cut off the column of marchers.
“The motive for the mobilization is to repudiate the foreign intervention of the United States and its allies in the life of a brother country like Venezuela,” Hugo Belon, the organizational secretary of the State Workers Association (ATE) in the capital told EFE.
The union leader emphasized that involving themselves in the Venezuelan conflict are “countries that show that they are in line with its history, like Bolivia and Uruguay, and who are trying to find a solution (to the crisis) via dialogue.”
“And there are other countries where the only thing that’s clear is that they’re puppets of the United States and that they follow what the Yankee government says and it doesn’t matter to them if there’s a bloodbath in Venezuela,” he added.
The protesters rejected Washington’s decision to recognize the president of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as that country’s interim president.
On Jan. 23, Guaido proclaimed himself interim president, given that the opposition considers the current elected president, Nicolas Maduro , to be a “usurper” and to have won an illegitimate election last May since key opposition leaders were not allowed to run against him.
Among the countries that have recognized Guaido as president are Argentina, Brazil and Colombia, the US and about 20 members of the European Union .
Manuel Bertoldi, a member of the Great Homeland Front, told EFE that what’s occurring in Venezuela is a “coup d’etat” with “different elements that are coordinating so that that a coup d’etat develops.”
“Among those elements, a key factor is the coordination of the international community against Venezuela and its president, Nicolas Maduro,” Bertoldi said, going on to hail the positions of countries like Uruguay, who are promoting dialogue.
