October 11, 2017

Attention:
Antonio Cordero
Venezuelan Consul General in San Francisco
1700 California Street, Suite 420
San Francisco, CA 94108(Email: ven.sanfrancisco@gmail.com)

Dear Consul General Cordero,

On October 7, labor and antiwar activists from across the San Francisco Bay Area came together at a “U.S. Out Now!” public forum that was sponsored by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) and held at the Niebyl Proctor Library in Oakland.

Forum speakers addressed all the major arenas in which the U.S. government is intervening throughout the world, sowing chaos, death, and destruction — but special attention was paid to the urgent situation facing the Venezuelan people as a direct result of the U.S. intervention.

At the conclusion of the meeting, participants voted a “U.S. Hands Off Venezuela!” statement that we are forwarding to you and to the people of Venezuela. The statement reads as follows:

We, the participants in the October 7 “U.S. Out Now!” public forum in Oakland, California, were informed by the speakers of some very disturbing developments involving the stepped-up U.S. intervention in Venezuela:
 
* On July 14, the U.S. Congress, with a large bipartisan majority, approved an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2018 Budget titled, “On the Situation in Venezuela.” This amendment has a military component. It begins by talking about the “instability” in Venezuela (“which risks spreading throughout the entire region”) and directs the Secretary of Defense to hold a briefing (“which could be classified or not”) no later than September 30, 2017 to lay the groundwork for a possible “humanitarian” multilateral intervention to address the “deteriorating situation in Venezuela.”
 
* Eight hundred U.S. Marines are slated to participate in November in joint military exercises in the Amazon jungle of Brazil, at the invitation of the illegitimate Brazilian coup government headed by Michel Temer, together with troops from Brazil, Peru and Colombia. Across Brazil, these exercises are seen to be targeting Venezuela and its Bolivarian government.
 
According to credible sources, on October 13, the Venezuelan rightwing opposition will be declaring a “Government in Exile” and will be receiving the immediate support of the U.S. government and the OAS. The opposition will also establish a Supreme Court in Exile.
 
We, UNAC forum speakers and participants, express our deep concern that this fraudulent and U.S.-funded “Government in Exile” will at some point call on the “international community” — led by the United States — to approve a “humanitarian” military intervention in Venezuela, much like they did in Haiti under the cover of the U.N. MINUSTAH troops.
 
We, UNAC forum participants, reaffirm out commitment to building the broadest antiwar united front coalition, with actions in the streets across the United States, to demand U.S./OAS Hands Off Venezuela!
 
United, we can prevail to stay the hands of the U.S. warmakers. U.S. Hands Off Venezuela!

In solidarity,

* Cindy Sheehan, Gold Star Mother, antiwar activist
* Jeff Mackler, Administrative Committee, United Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)
* Tova Fry, Workers World Party
* Alan Benjamin, Editorial Board, The Organizer Newspaper