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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>G77 and China Slam US Sanctions Against Venezuela<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><img width=600 height=340 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D01F41.1155DF00" alt="Description: Evo Morales closing the 13th ALBA summit on Sunday. "></span><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Evo Morales closing the 13th ALBA summit on Sunday. | Photo: Cubadebate<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Published 22 December 2014 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Morales and the G77 Group referred to the last package of sanctions – which include visa travel bans – recently signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 18.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The President of Bolivia and current chairman of the G77 + China, Evo Morales, condemned Monday, in behalf of the bloc, the diplomatic sanctions that the U.S. government has imposed against Venezuela.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>“The Group of 77 and China expresses its strong opposition to the unilateral sanctions imposed by the US government against Venezuela,” read Morales during the opening ceremony of an arts institute in Cochabamba, Bolivia.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Morales also reminded that last month during the bloc’s summit in Bolivia, the group signed an agreement condemning the imposition of legal sanctions with extra-territorial effects by some nations to others, as well as the “rest of the economic coercive measures being implemented against developing countries.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The U.S. government says that Venezuelan government officials committed human rights violations during the protests that erupted last February in Venezuela.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Despite U.S. claims, the Venezuelan government has consistently denied that excessive force was used against protestors.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The United States has long maintained a hostile stance towards Venezuela, including the coup against ex-President Hugo Chávez in 2002.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:red'>READ MORE: </span></b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-US-Sanctions-Give-Free-Rein-to-Right-Wing-Violence---20141219-0039.html"><span style='color:blue'>Venezuela: US Sanctions Give Free Rein to Right-Wing Violence</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><a href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Protest-in-Los-Angeles-Opposes-US-Sanctions-on-Venezuela-20141222-0013.html"><span style='color:blue'>Protest in Los Angeles Opposes US Sanctions on Venezuela</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:navy'>Also watch:</span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>