Newsletter39 by Venezuelan Embassy in Nairobi

Bolivarian Government of Venezuela

Ministry of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs

Vol. 3: Issue 39, 25th September, 2017

Embassies of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the World

Weekly Newsletter Trump’s new Anti-Venezuela travel ban Inside The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in reaffirming its principled position regarding the condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, denounces to the international community the unfriendly and hostile actions of the Government of the United States of America, which seek to stigmatize our country under the pretext of combating terrorism, by including it in a list drawn up unilaterally and accusing other States of being supposed promoters of this terrible scourge. These types of lists, it is worth emphasizing, are incompatible with international law and constitute in themselves a form of psychological and political terrorism. Our people are also punished for their pacifist vocation, as well as for their tolerance and respect for the different religions and beliefs that are professed freely and harmoniously in our country.

U . S . President Donald Trump has announced that Venezuela and North Korea will be added to the list of countries banned from traveling to the United States. The order outlines different restrictions for each country on the list. In the case of Venezuela, the new decree is aimed at "certain Venezuelan government officials and their immediate family members," according to the White House press office.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounces to the free people of the world that this action, in addition to being part of the already denounced campaign of systematic aggression against our country, seeks to justify the use of such serious issues as the fight against terrorism as a means to achieve political goals, while seeking to sow a wrong view of the American population and put pressure on the institutions of the Venezuelan State and the alleged public officials sanctioned with the measure just adopted to coerce or force a change in the Venezuelan government.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela categorically rejects the irrational decision of the Government of the United States of America to once again classify the noble people of Venezuela as a threat to their own national security, this time under false assumptions that pose a terrorist threat and an American public order. Venezuela, by endorsing the Political Declaration of New York adopted unanimously on 20th March 2017 by the 120 Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), reaffirms its strong condemnation of the promulgation and implementation of unilateral coercive measures, in flagrant violation of the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations of international law, and of the norms that should govern friendly relations and cooperation between States.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in exercise of its sovereign rights, repudiates the imperial conduct of the Government of the United States of America and informs that, in accordance with the principle of reciprocity, it will consider all necessary measures to defend national interest and sovereignty. www.mppre.gob.ve www.telesurtv.net

This Issue

1. Trump’s new anti-Venezuela travel ban 2. Canada imposes sanctions on Venezuela 3. Celebration of the Day of unification of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 4.Trump's UN Speech on Venezuela 5. Venezuela Delivers 10.4 Tons of Aid to Mexico 6. Kenyans triumph at the Berlin Marathon

Canada imposes sanctions on Venezuela Canada will impose targeted sanctions against 40 Venezuelan senior officials, including President Nicolás Maduro, to punish them for “anti-democratic behavior,” the foreign ministry said on Friday the 22nd September. The measures include freezing the assets of the officials and banning Canadians from having any dealings with them. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela strongly rejects the decision of the Canadian Government that intends to impose illegal sanctions on Venezuelan senior State officials in flagrant violation of the objectives and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, the OAS Charter, the international law and the rules that govern the friendly and cooperative relations among the States.

CANADA

VENEZUELA

Venezuela denounces these unfriendly and hostile measures before the international community, which violate, among others, the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of the States, and intends to undermine the peace and social stability achieved in our country after the installation of the National Constituent Assembly and the continued efforts made by the National Government in favour of dialogue and political understanding among the different sectors of our country. These sanctions aim at to undermine the efforts of the Venezuelan Government and opposition to engage on a dialogue supported and accompanied by some members of the international community. The objective of this aggression is to disavow the Venezuelan State institutions and to continue to support the violence of extremists groups that the Canadian government itself has protected and fostered at international fora. Once peace was achieved by means of defeating the violent actors, the anti-national interests attempt to create a crisis from abroad. On the past September 5th, 2017, the government of Canada established an abhorrent relationship of subordination with the President Donald Trump’s administration with the explicit purpose to overthrow the constitutional government of Venezuela, employing economic sanctions as political weapons. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in exercise of its sovereign rights, rejects the imperial behaviour of those States that think of themselves with the power to violate the international law and denounces the false progressive rhetoric of the Canadian government, which makes partnership with the most retrograde spokesperson of the American white supremacism, who is attacking the majority of the countries in the hemisphere. This decision of the Canadian government deeply harms the bonds of friendship and respect that have led the relations between our countries for years; therefore, Venezuela shall consider all measures that may be necessary to defend its national interest and sovereignty. Caracas, September 22nd, 2017 www.mppre.gob.ve

Day of unification of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The unification of Saudi Arabia was a military and political campaign, by which the various tribes, sheikhdoms, emirates, and kingdoms of most of the Arabian Peninsula were conquered by the House of Saud, or Al Saud, between 1902 and 1932. Both Saudi Arabia and Venezuela are founders and members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).The two countries have had a long history together and good bilateral ties and have been working on ways to inrease oil prices. The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro Moros, on behalf of the people and Bolivarian Government, expresses his warmest congratulations to the Saudi brotherly people and friendly government, on the celebration of the Day of unification of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Bolivarian people avails itself of this opportunity to convey to the people and government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a warm, friendly and brotherly greetings, and expresses its wishes to keep furthering the bonds of friendship and strategic cooperation among our countries. The Bolivarian Government sincerely hopes to continue building bridges that allow deepening our historical partnership and joint struggle in defense of our interests and natural resources, as well as to strengthen our fight in common causes for human development and justice for our peoples and regions. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reaffirms the full willingness of the Bolivarian Government to work hard for the well being of our peoples and to continue to follow the path towards peace and a better future for humankind. Caracas, September 23rd, 2017

Trump's UN Speech on Venezuela: Symbolic Framework, Exceptionalism and Maneuvers to Wreck Dialogue US President Donald Trump in his maiden UN speech branded Iran, North Korea and Venezuela as “rogue” and “dictatorial.” An equally angry response from Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro did not take long, calling his remarks “shameless”, “ignorant” and “aggressive.” The political dialogue begun in the Dominican Republic as a result of the National Constituent Assembly has provoked a series of actions to wreck it.

within the U.N., “She is someone who is prepared to publicly pressure corrupt and ineffective U.N. agencies such as the Human Rights Council for their hypocrisy and anti-Semitism, while reaffirming the U.S. alliance with Israel in a way that is normally the business of the Secretary of State.” The U.N. General Assembly opened with a hyper-warlike speech from Donald Trump and a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Lima Declaration group of countries and constitutes a golden opportunity to take new steps to further the interventionist agenda, clearing the way to take the “Venezuelan problem” to the U.N.’s highest level, the Security Council, just as was done on Libya and Syria before.

The New York dinner’s main course were the phony hearings by Luis Almagro of the OAS with NGOs and corrupt Venezuelans protected by the U.S., in coordination with Zeid Al Hussein, UN High commissioner for Human Rights, aimed at paving the way to send Nicolas Maduro to the International Criminal Court for “crimes against humanity.”

While parallel coercive criminal measures are activated against the Venezuelan leadership, that route is still strewn with obstacles as, too, is the placing Venezuela as a permanent issue before the UN Security Council. The pieces in place on the chess board at the moment suggest that the most feasible option in the short term is to consolidate the case arguing that Venezuela is a failed State, using the corporate media, U.N. agencies and the U.S. Congress to justify more aggressive unilateral action in the economic and financial sphere.

A few days beforehand, they tightened the screws of the financial blockade against CITGO, PDVSA’s subsidiary in the US, curtailing its lines of credit so as to cut its profits and the repatriation of dividends back to Venezuela, even outlawing the Treasury Department’s own licenses following Trump’s executive order. Likewise, tons of food and medicines are unable to enter Venezuela because US banks, like Citibank, will not process payments from importers. 4

Beyond what appearances and public rhetoric suggest, calibrating objectives against Venezuela requires the U.S. to get around the roadblocks of the traditional multilateral institutions, or at least to combine them with informal structures like the Lima Declaration group so as to free itself of the restrictions of international law and ultimately to take the law into their own hands. The case of Syria serves as an example of how even after ignoring international law to invade a country via unconventional means, future hybrid wars need still more flexible global institutions, deregulated, expeditious, stripped of control by Nation States, erasing military, diplomatic and political frontiers within a given theater of operations. Without that state of affairs being yet fully developed and despite the U.N. being an institution that has served U.S. geostrategic interests very well, nothing could prevent Syria’s authorities using the U.N. to ironclad the talks and negotiations in Astana. Across the Atlantic, Venezuela has received support from U.N. Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, and from the Human Rights Council. That explains the reason for United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley’s “recommendations” to reform the UN, broached in the run-up to this year’s General Assembly, namely, to dismantle the agencies that block or criticize the exceptionalist agenda of the US, with special attention to UN bodies where Venezuela, Russia, China, Iran and Syria exercise key influence.

A Developing Conclusion None of that figured in Trump’s speech to the U.N. The three military chiefs, who are the real U.S. government now, up the ante trying to pressure partner countries and neutral countries among the world’s nations to accompany their anti-political violent agenda against Venezuela. They do so in all the multilateral bodies where they have influence. 5

Among themselves, refusal to recognize the Venezuelan State and breaking it, have become points of honor. No mechanism of negotiation and political stabilization, either via elections or dialog, alters their stance, unless it means a defeat for the Government of Venezuela. This is not only on account of the war they want to inflict on Venezuela out of their own basic economic need, but also because the premise from which their financial blockade and diplomatic siege starts is based on regarding as illegitimate any political scenario that recognizes Chavismo as Venezuela’s government. www.telesurtv.net www.washingtonpost.com

Mexico’s Earthquake:Venezuela Delivers 10.4 Tons of Aid

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck central Mexico on Tuesday the 19th Sept, collapsing buildings and killing scores of people on the anniversary of a 1985 quake that devastated Mexico City. Coming less than two weeks after a deadly temblor off the country’s Pacific coast, and just hours after a siren signaled an annual earthquake drill in the capital, Tuesday’s quake shook the ground with terrifying force, buckling walls and sending panicked residents fleeing into the streets. There were reports of fires and gas leaks. At least 217 people were killed, according to Luis Felipe Puente, head of Mexico’s civil protection agency. They included 71 in Morelos state south of Mexico City, 43 in the state of Puebla, four in Guerrero state, one in Oaxaca, 12 in the state of Mexico — which surrounds the capital — and 86 in Mexico City. Two more earthquakes shook southern Mexico on Saturday, further rattling a country still coming to grips with the devastation from stronger temblors earlier this month.

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake Saturday morning was centered in Oaxaca state near Matias Romero, a town about 275 miles southeast of Mexico City, the US Geological Survey said. Venezuela has delivered more than 10 tons of humanitarian aid to earthquake-ravaged Mexico City, which arrived early Sunday morning. Venezuelan ambassador to Mexico, Maria Urbaneja, who coordinated the humanitarian aid, told teleSUR that the gesture underscored Venezuela's commitment to foreign relations, adding that it reflected the importance of “friendship, solidarity and integration." The sentiment was echoed by Minister of Interior Relations, Justice and Peace Nestor Reverol, who said the Venezuelan people sympathize with the current pain and sorrow of the Mexican people. Venezuela's National Armed Forces arrived with much-needed mattresses, blankets, tents, perishable and non-perishable foods, along with other items to ease the pain of the devastated population until the rebuilding of the affected areas gets underway. www.telesurtv.net www.creedpolitico.com

Kenyans triumph at the Berlin Marathon

Kenya's Gladys Cherono made it a Kenyan double when she reclaimed the Berlin Marathon title in 2 hours, 20 minutes and 23 seconds on Sunday the 24th September.

The 32-year-old Kenyan’s winning time of two hours, three minutes and 32 seconds was outside the intended world record, but nonetheless saw him reaffirm his status as arguably the best marathon runner of all time.

Cherono broke out in the last 10km, hitting the 30km mark in 1:38:52 and 40km mark in 2:12:46 to win beating Ethiopia's Ruti Aga (2:20:41) to second place as another Kenyan Valerie Ayabei came in third in 2:20:53.

Interestingly, Sunday’s race was run against the backdrop of Germany’s parliamentary elections that saw the polls open simultaneously with the start of the marathon. And while Schulz was struggling to catch up with Merkel, Kipchoge faced a huge challenge from the unlikeliest of contenders, free-spirited 26-year-old Ethiopian debutant Guye Adola who dared the king until the 40-kilometre mark before succumbing to inexperience to finish second in an amazing time of 2:03:46, the fastest time for a first-timer in the marathon.

The 2014 World Half Marathon champion, said she is please to make a return after two years, having battled a hip injury that saw her fail to defend her Berlin Marathon title last year. “I would have bettered my personal best or even break the course record,” said Cherono, a corporal with Kenya Defence Forces. Japanese Mizuki Noguchi holds the course record time of 2:19:12 set in 2005.

"This was my hardest marathon ever since the weather wasn't conducive for a World Record," said Kipchoge. "The grounds were slippery because of the rains." Kipchoge said that Adola's challenge in the last 10km surprised him but he had to concentrate to win the race.

She is the second Kenyan woman to have won in Berlin Marathon twice after Florence Kiplagat in 2011 and 2013. The only other Kenyan winner in Berlin is Tegla Loroupe in 1999. Eliud Kipchoge proved why his unique cocktail of physical and mental strength is a huge asset when he chalked up his eighth win in nine marathons by securing victory in a rain-soaked 44th Berlin Marathon on Sunday.