The Cuban Parliament Closes Ranks Around Nicolás Maduro

A session of Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power.

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 1 June 2017 — A statement of support for “the people and the Government of Venezuela” came at the last minute in the extraordinary session of the Cuban Parliament this Thursday and was unanimously approved. The text salutes “the constant calls for dialogue” made by President Nicolás Maduro.

Deputy Yoerkis Sánchez, a member of the parliamentary group of friendship with the South American country, presented the statement denouncing “the serious escalation of internal violence and international intervention that has destabilized” Venezuela.

The document criticizes harshly the role of “the media of the oligarchy that distort the reality of the achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution.” An informative line that supposedly hides “the barbaric coup of the right, including the murder of young people.”

The members of the National Assembly had hard words for the Organization of American States (OAS) and its secretary general Luis Almagro, who they accused of “double standards.” According to the document, the entity seeks to “surround and overthrow the government of Nicolás Maduro, while silencing other serious manifestations of violence and the breakdown of democracy in other countries of the region.”

Deputy Yoerkis Sánchez, a member of the parliamentary group of friendship with the South American country, presented the statement denouncing “the serious escalation of internal violence and international intervention that has destabilized” Venezuela

Criticism against the OAS comes within hours of the organization’s foreign ministers failing to agree on a statement on the Venezuelan crisis on Wednesday and setting another meeting before the June General Assembly in Cancun.

The Cuban deputies called for “the cessation of any intervention in the internal affairs of Venezuela” and invoked “respect for the determination of its people and their right to build the model of society it determines.”

The statement included a call to the legislators of the world to show solidarity with the South American country.

Since the protests began two months ago, there have been marches convened by the opposition against Maduro’s government, which have resulted in at least 59 deaths. There have also been 2,977 arrests, of which 197 were ordered by military courts, according to the Venezuelan NGO Penal Forum.