Oprah Winfrey Hands off Venezuela
and her mom’s
strong finish
Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
George Alleyne, Nelson King,
Vinette K. Pryce, Bert Wilkinson, Lloyd Kam Williams
GENERAL INFORMATION (718) 260-2500
Caribbean L 10 ife, Feb. 1–7, 2019
By Wayne Kublalsingh
On Jan. 22 Vice President
of the US, Mike Pence made
a video directly addressing
the people of Venezuela. In
it he declared that “Nicolas
Maduro is a dictator,
with no legitimate claim
to power.” He did so he
said, “on behalf of Donald
Trump and all the American
people.” He pledged his
“unwavering support” for
those planning to take to
the streets the following
day to try to oust President
Maduro from power. He
said he supported the call
by Juan Guaidó, opposition
leader and head of the Venezuelan
National Assembly,
“to declare Maduro a
usurper.”
After protests on the
streets the following day
Juan Guaidó declared himself
“Interim President.”
This followed a phone call
to him the night before,
according to the Wall Street
Journal (Jan. 25), from
Mike Pence offering US support.
The Journal reported:
“Mike Pence pledged that
he would back Mr Guaidó
if he seized the reins of
power from Mr. Maduro by
invoking a clause in the
South American country’s
constitution.” Meanwhile,
at a meeting on Jan. 24
in Washington, US Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo,
according to the New York
Times, “urged all of the 35
members of the Organization
of American States
to recognize Juan Guaidó,
the head of the National
Assembly, as Venezuela’s
new president.” And President
Trump has declared:
“All options are on the
table.”
The US response to the
political and social crisis
in Venezuela merits a
response:
1. It is no part of international
law or the charter
of the UN for a nation
state to unilaterally choose
a leader for another sovereign
state. This flagrant
violation of international
law and the UN Charter
is contrary to the ongoing
paralytic hysteria in the
United States over Russia’s
alleged “meddling” in US
elections process; a concern
that has been shared
by the British, French and
German governments.
2. This US response is
designed to mastermind
a political coup d’etat in
Venezuela from Washington.
It is cynical and reckless.
It attempts to browbeat
the OAS; and wilfully
ignores the views of other
stakeholders in this process,
the majority views of
South American nations
and CARICOM.
3. The current President
of Venezuela, Nicholas
Maduro, is the legitimate
president of the
country. He was sworn in,
after elected by the popular
vote, on January 10th,
and is legally entitled to
serve a six-year term as
president. Juan Guaidó
is the head of the legitimately
elected National
Assembly. He is an opposition
leader. He has
declared himself “interim
president of Venezuela.”
This situation is complex
and fraught with possibility
of further political
and social breakdown and
requires skilful and goodfaith
diplomacy. Cynical
political chicanery and
bluster from thousand
miles to the North are
unwarranted.
4. There is a social crisis
in Venezuela. It ought to be
resolved, not smoothened
over by apologies and ideology.
This crisis manifests
itself in real hunger, shortage
of basic household commodities,
mass migration
to Colombia, the US and
some migration to CARICOM
states including Trinidad.
Any military invasion
of the sovereign nation of
Venezuela will aggravate,
not resolve these problems.
The contending parties are
not averse to diplomacy
and political mediation.
Intervention (CIA subterfuge)
and picking a side is
nasty business and leads
to chaos.
5. The US, from the
1970’s to the late 1980’s,
has had its belly full of
genocide in Latin America.
Between these dates over
two million citizens, soldiers,
paramilitary personnel
and public officials died
in the proxy war between
the Soviet Union and the
United States. The jungles,
villages, streets and public
squares of El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua,
thundered with the
sound of CIA and Russian
supplied arsenal. Hundreds
of thousands died in urban
and suburban slums and
villages in Argentina, Brazil
and Colombia. This US
Venezuelan gambit is the
latest attempt by the Washington
‘Swamp’ to fully reenter
its historical role in
Latin America as congenital
genocidals.
6. US genocide in Latin
America in the last quarter
of the 20th century was followed
by the emergence in
the 21st century of a new
generation of leaders: Nestor
and Cristina Kirchner
in Argentina, Evo Morales
By Barbara Coombs Lee, PA,
FNP, JD
Oprah Winfrey’s mother,
Vernita Lee, died less than two
months ago on Thanksgiving
Day, and Oprah recently shared
with People Magazine the tender
story of their last conversation.
As usual, when Oprah shares
a personal experience, her generous
and insightful telling
contains important lessons for
us all in 2019. These lessons
are about mustering the courage
to admit the life of a loved
one is nearing its end. They’re
about bringing that knowledge
into the open and acting on it,
so the things that need to be
said, will be said. They’re about
creating an opening for words
to come that will ring in our
ears forever, close a life story
and heal our wounds.
Two crucial decisions enabled
Oprah and her mother to
have one of the most meaningful
conversations of their
lives. The first was to decline
aggressive, invasive treatment
regimens as bodily functions
deteriorated. Three years earlier,
when Vernita’s kidneys
began to fail, she put comfort
and quality of life first, and
declined dialysis. Recently, as
other organs shut down, the
family chose hospice care in
the home. Without this decision,
we might have heard
quite a different story, of desperate
medical interventions,
physical suffering and emotional
trauma. Researchers
have found these are a recipe
for complicated and prolonged
grief, haunting loved ones with
unfinished business, lingering
regrets or unresolved conflict.
So the first lesson here is
that we’d best consider our specific
end-of-life priorities before
consenting to intensive medical
treatments that usually diminish
the quality of a waning life,
but rarely prolong it. If Oprah
had been visiting her mom in
a hospital’s intensive care unit
instead of a very warm, small
room in her own home, if her
mom were riding a conveyor
belt of tests and treatments,
technology and misery, there
would have been little space
for their blessed and beautiful
goodbye.
It probably wasn’t easy for
Oprah and her mom to create
the setting for a loving truth to
emerge, as it rarely is. Our culture
sends constant messages
that we must treat death as an
enemy to be conquered, deploy
every medical technology in
the battle and reject the possibility
of “defeat.” It takes a lot
of courage to resist incessant
calls to battle. We need a new
kind of heroism. We need more
hero stories of people standing
bravely, alert enough and
informed enough to discern
the perfect timing for surrender
and retreat. Thank you,
OP-EDS
Cynical political
chicanery and
bluster from
thousand miles
to the North are
unwarranted.
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Continued on Page 12
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