Venezuela solidarity activist Arnold August travelled from Canada to Venezuela to observe the July 28 election. He explains below how Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) was created through a popular democratic process following the election of Hugo Chavez in 1998.
Arnold August
Talking about the Supreme Court, how about a little history.
On June 15, 2009 the United States Supreme Court announced its decision to reject the request for a revision of the Cuban Five case.
The Cuban Five are Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labanino, Fernando Gonzalez, and Rene Gonzalez The five Cuban men jailed in the US for their role in collecting information on behalf of the Cuban government on potential terrorist acts by violent anti-Cuban groups in Miami.
The Fabio Di Celmo Committee for the Five, (CFDCF) of Quebec-Cuba Solidarity, has been organising picket lines in front of the US Consulate in downtown Montreal the first Thursday of every month for more than three years in solidarity with the Cuban Five.
The five are Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernandez, and Ramón Labanino and Fernando Gonzalez. They were arrested 12 years ago on September 12, sentenced to long prison terms and held in terrible penitentiary conditions.
There are many myths about Cuba that the mainstream media happily reinforces, especially about Cuba’s democratic processes.
Contrary to media assertions, in Cuba there are general elections, the last ones taking place in 2007-08. In these elections, deputies to the parliament (National Assembly of People’s Power) and delegates to the provincial assemblies are elected for a five-year mandate.
On July 15, the US State Department once again refused a visa for Adriana Perez to visit her husband Gerardo Hernandez who is imprisoned in the US.