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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'><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Several organizations organized a protest Monday to denounce U.S. sanctions 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"'>Latin American solidarity and community organizations in Los Angeles protested Monday to denounce President Barack Obama's decision to sign sanctions into law 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 protest was organized by the Simon Bolivar Association, Union de Barrio, Witness for Peace Southwest, and School of the Americas Watch Los Angeles.<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"'>“Our goals for the protest today is to tell our Congress and the president that we want no more U.S. embargoes in Latin America,” Tanya Cole, regional organizer for Witness for Peace, told teleSUR.<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"'>Cole explained, “We also hold responsible media outlets like the Los Angeles Times who continue to have biased and unfair reporting on Venezuela. That is why we are holding our protest at the LA Times building, then we will march to Senator Barbara Boxer's office who allowed this vote to happen without any dissent. We want the United States to treat our neighbors in Latin America as allies and with respect.”<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 groups said that “The passing of U.S. Sanctions on Venezuela at the height of U.S. police brutality protests and CIA torture reports is case in point of U.S. hypocrisy and interventionist policies in Latin America, while ignoring glaring human rights abuses at home and among key U.S. allies like Mexico, Honduras and Colombia.”<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"'>Witness for Peace’s Cole added, “The U.S. government here goes as far to pass sanctions against Venezuela and turn the other way when Mexican police hand over <a href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/telesuragenda/Justice-for-Ayotzinapa-20141014-0077.html"><span style='color:blue'>43 students of Ayozinapa</span></a> to be burned to death. The U.S. looks the other way when <a href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/teleSUR-Investigation-The-Human-Rights-Crisis-in-Honduras-20141023-0023.html"><span style='color:blue'>hundreds of political activists are killed in Honduras</span></a> and Columbia leading to the highest death rate among journalists and Union activists in the world.”<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. is in no moral or ethical position to place sanctions on any country; especially after the CIA torture report was released. The U.S. cannot point the finger at Venezuela for their alleged attack on protesters and at the same time be a silent accomplice of the narco-government in Mexico that has been denounced around the world for the disappearance of the 43 students and thousands of others,” one of the protest organizers, Ron Gochez from Union del Barrio, told teleSUR.<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"'>Furthermore, the groups <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'>questioned U.S. motives for the sanctions</span></a>, affirming that the violent right-wing opposition protests earlier this year “sought to accomplish through extralegal means what the opposition has been unable to accomplish at the ballot box.”<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"'>U.S. Congress approved sanctions on Venezuela early last week and Obama signed the bill into law Thursday. The bill, the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act, was authored by Cuban-American Congress members Senator Bob Menendez and Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.<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/Venezuelas-Maduro-Rejects-Obamas-Signing-of-Sanctions-20141218-0032.html"><span style='color:blue'>Venezuelan government officials</span></a>, as well as social movements in the country, have denounced the U.S. actions against the South American nation.<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 Ecuadorean National Assembly has approved an official resolution of solidarity with Venezuela in opposition to sanctions imposed by the United States.<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"'>Meeting Monday for the<a href="http://telesurtv.net/english/news/Ecuadorean-Government-to-Support-Venezuela-Oppose-US-Sanctions-20141228-0007.html"><span style='color:blue'> final session of 2014</span></a>, 66 out of 88 assembly members voted to reject U.S. interference in Latin America.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>