Hands Off Venezuela--San Francisco Meeting

Come to the next meeting of the San Francisco Bay Area Hands Off Venezuela!

Two years ago, the United States government organized an unsuccessful military coup against the democratically elected government of Venezuela, headed by President Hugo Chavez. Many US representatives, first and foremost Condoleezza Rice, has called Chavez a "negative force" in the region. Since the attempted coup, the US government has been beating the war drums while making preparations for war against Venezuela. The underlying motivation of the US government is clear: the Chavez government has been shifting the benefits from the country's oil wealth from the rich giant corporations to the vast majority of the population by providing food, housing, health care and education. Moreover, Hugo Chavez has recently spoken out against US "free market" policies that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy few. He has nationalized some industries and has declared Venezuela's right to institute democratic socialism to further this development. He also opposes the U.S. war in Iraq. The stakes are high. Therefore, we believe it is vitally necessary for all those in the US and around the world to affirm Venezuela's right to determine its own destiny by joining forces to forge a resistance to the US government's aggressive aims.

The Hands Off Venezuela Campaign has started meeting in San Francisco to try and raise awareness about the inspiring events in Venezuela and to organize against the threats against them from the US government. A report on recent developments by Sonia Zerpa , a resident of Caracas, Venezuela will be presented at the meeting.

NEXT MEETING: Thursday, June 9, at Centro del Pueblo in the auditorium, 474 Valencia St. SF. Call Adam Richmond at 415 864 3537 for more info or to arrange a speaker to talk about the inspiring events in Venezuela and the need to protect it from US attack.