 Welcome to what the F is going on in Latin America, CodePink's weekly YouTube program of hot news out of Latin America and the Caribbean. In partnership with Friends of Latin America, Massachusetts Peace Action, and Task Force on the Americas, we broadcast every Wednesday, 7.30 p.m. Eastern on CodePink YouTube Live. On July 24, the 238th anniversary of Simone Bolivar's birth, Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador addressed an audience of foreign ministers and international dignitaries saying, Let's initiate a relationship in our hemisphere based on the premise of George Washington, according to which nations should not take advantage of the misfortune of other peoples. I am aware that this is a complex issue that requires a new political and economic outlook. The proposal is no more and no less than to build something similar to the European Union, but in accordance with our history, our reality, and our identities. In this spirit, the replacement of the OAS by a truly autonomous organization, not a lackey of anyone, but a mediator at the request and acceptance of the parties in conflict in matters of human rights and democracy should not be ruled out. Serving as President Pro Temporre of Salac, AMLO reconvened members of the organization in Mexico City on September 18 after a several-year-long pause. President Nicolás Maduro attended the summit representing Venezuela's democratically elected government. Such of the summit's conversation focused on creating a unified Latin America and Caribbean economic bloc similar to the European Union free to trade in a multi-polar global framework. Last week, the world witnessed the opening of the 2021 United Nations General Assembly debate. Thursday morning, 18 countries, including Venezuela, gathered to sign a declaration to uphold the founding principles of the United Nations. The countries are collectively known as the group of friends in defense of the UN Charter. Also in Mexico City, we've witnessed since August Venezuelan dialogue occurring between the democratically elected government of Venezuela and all opposition parties. So a lot has been happening in the Americas. I'm sure all of you have witnessed some, if not all of these events. And I'm so happy this evening to have a very special guest, Carlos Roan, who is the Venezuelan vice minister of foreign affairs for North America. He's joining us this evening from Caracas to talk with us about all of these changes and exciting events occurring in the Americas and the Caribbean. So welcome, Carlos. I'm so thankful you had time to join us today. No, thank you very much. My pleasure. Always ready to share whatever we can with our friends from Copenhagen. So let's talk about, I'm not really sure, where's the best place for us to start? I could tell you here in Mexico City, where I'm talking to all of you from, we were all, and not just me being an extranjero, but the city was really a buzz in July, 24th with on those discourse and laying out what we thought was a really exciting and progressive vision for the Americas. But then here on September 18, we end up having this fantastic Salah summit with 31 of the 33 members represented. So maybe we should start with this vision and then how we, how you see a potential evolution for the Americas, a unified block. The I agree. A very important moment back in in July. When the state. And send American states. As you know, had. In the path. Those running. That's that forum, the United States and American states. We, you know, first of all, we've realized that. It never, it was never a space for Latin American unity of Latin American solidarity or cooperation, but rather it was always a place where the interest of the United States government sort of imposed itself over the rest of the region. And then we see this because in instances where there has been controversy and disturbances and attacks between. You know, from the Secretary General's office to the rest of the or some of the countries, for example, you know, they constantly attack Minnesota's democratic government, but not only Venezuela, there's a long history of interventionism within the organization for American states. You know, it's an organization that allowed or sort of, you know, legitimated U.S. intervention in the 1960s in other countries, such as the Dominican Republic. 1965 particular. It also approved the exclusion of Cuba from from the space, you know, and that's that's the exclusion of country, you know, unlike Venezuela, which decided to you know, in a sovereign move to leave the space of the organization American states, Cuba was expelled in soon after the Cuban Revolution arrived. So so it was never really a space of complementation of, you know, or where you could actually work together, but rather it was it was an attempt to impose a certain line on the rest of the region. And it's also, I believe, and you know, this before that sort of mentality, a tonial framework where you still hold many of the countries in the region, you know, subjected to funding and other other things that come from the inter-American system that sort of generate dependency. So for example, politically today, politically, the organization American States is an empty shell. I mean, this is not really the space where Latin American countries can feel like they can go and, you know, communicate their concerns. But there's an inter-American system that includes a human rights board that includes the American Bank, the government bank, other instances within this framework strongly financed by the United States, which also generate dependency in some of the countries that have weaker economies or that have, you know, other issues that tie them to the system. So what we believe is that it's time to present this type of framework to develop a space where we can actually be on equal terms, on equal footing, where our interests are more similar and where the main interest is to cooperate with each other, respecting each other's political orientation, respecting every country's sovereignty, respecting every country's internal affairs, not sanctioning other countries or not, you know, not the aggression that we see. I mean, for example, the organization of American States in its charter states explicitly that not one country can use measures of coercion against any other for whatever political reasons. This is not followed at all, you know, we see the United States sanctioning Venezuela, Nicaragua, you know, Cuba's no longer a member, but, you know, at the time it also applied measures against Cuba. And there's nothing, there's a silence because the secretariat doesn't respond to the interest of the interest of who pays the bills, which is mainly the United States. With the CELAC, the purpose was to go back to our own history and again to create a space among equals where we could actually think about solving the problems that the region faces collectively. Could you, could you tell us? And, you know, we believe that this is today, sorry. Well, oh, I'm sorry, I think you froze a bit. And I wondered if you could just digress for a minute and tell our audience what CELAC is because this is a creation from Venezuela. And that's why and 33, well, I don't know, we have to question Brazil at this point, but 33 of the 35 nations in the Americas are members and the three, the two that are not in the U.S. and Canada. And maybe just give a quick description of CELAC. Sure, so CELAC is a space that is, that was created to be the space of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Like you said, the only two countries in the Internet that do not belong in CELAC are the United States and Canada because they have another history, another sort of interest and another way of viewing each other with relation to the region. Unfortunately, last year with the President Bolsonaro assumed the reins in Brazil, he decided to take out Brazil from the organization, which is a great loss. And we hope that Brazil can come one day, come back. Brazil is an important, essential part of Latin America, like all the other countries are. And it was really a political decision. And that's the whole point. The issue here with CELAC is that the relations between the countries are not, the political relationship should not be the main issue because we must accept each other's differences. It is our diversity that makes us strong. The issue with CELAC in particular is that we want to face together the problems that we all face as Latin American countries, as countries come out of colonialism and countries that come out of an independent struggle or dependency within our own region, dependency to the United States and to Europe. We have similar problems and similar challenges and that is where we come together. So this space, and this is, I mean, the idea that a person, López Obrador brought up about this being a space for Latin America that must stress. And the other way around is that there is now a new environment, a new climate in the region that sees this as an opportunity. And I would have to say that one of the key issues that brought us together, or maybe two key issues that have brought us together to strengthen, one has been the COVID-19 pandemic. It is urgent for us to find ways to address this as a common group, because there's a very different situation between Latin America and North America. I mean, Canada and the United States have totally different realities, have had totally different to tend to the pandemic. So we can't compare and we cannot be in a position of on these countries in order to move forward and address the pandemic. We must try to put together our potentials and see which ways we can resolve them. This was one of the issues that was discussed in the summit a couple of weeks ago. And the other issue that I think is important is that we are facing, we are also facing a common reality of climate change. And the common reality of Latin America, you know, problems, you know, from forest fires and rains to earthquakes and volcanoes. I mean, so all these things that have been the product of the alterations of India Earth. Well, we need to draw a common position that again cannot be the same position that, you know, the United States and Canada have. We're going to have different perspectives and different, and we're affected in different ways. So another thing that I think is very important that came out of this meeting was that we will have a common position as select on the environment issue that we will take together at the COP26 in the coming months or coming weeks in November in Glasgow. So again, the issue here is not, is not to divide the continent but rather to strengthen unity to find a space where we talk to each other on equal footing and where we address concerns that are common, interests that are common and solutions. We lost you for a moment. Yeah, and I was saying, you know, the issue here is that we can, we can face, you know, together challenges and, you know, and, and our common potential. There were a couple of things that, that were really poignant to me listening to this was basically a graduate Spanish class for me here in Mexico City. I listened to the whole summit on the 18th. And most of it was in Spanish and a few countries speaking English. And there were, there were two things. Well, one thing that made a big impression on me, as were the comments from Vice President Ulloa of El Salvador, despite some of our impressions of his president Bukele, I was interesting to me. I mean, he started his comment saying that OAS was created in 1948 as part of an instrument of the Cold War when the world was divided into two distinct political camps in 1962. Cuba was expelled, as you mentioned earlier, because they had a different political ideology. He went on to mention interference by the Secretary General of the OAS regarding election returns in numerous countries, particularly Bolivia. And it was, was really a surprise. But he all, for me personally to hear that, because we have this vision of what is happening in El Salvador now, particularly with the president. But it was also very telling that he was expressing on behalf of El Salvador this position of manipulation by the OAS, that there was a need to find the common ground. And he did flat out say the political differences, you know, are secondary and can be resolved later. But the need to create a unified response to COVID-19, to create a unified economic block that can deal with the world in a multilateral fashion. And he flat out said, we have Salak. It's an existing institution. It's efficient. It's effective. And it already exists. He didn't flat out say, let's get rid of the OAS. But it was, so that, that was a real surprise to hear that from El Salvador. And the other theme that kept, that I kept picking up on, were clearly the unification because of COVID-19, but also the push for an economic block and a multilateral approach to the globe today, which is in fact the true structure of the globe. I think the United States doesn't quite understand that yet or doesn't want to embrace it, but the rest of the world pretty much knows that's how things are. But it was impressive. I mean, the real, the multi, the multilateral statement came up over and over again throughout the entire summit. And there were a few detractors, but not really. I mean, there were some little tit for tat diplomatic stuff going on, but not, you know, the unity seemed very clear. No, I agree with you. And again, I think this is the product of years of interventionism in our region. You have to remember that when this process started before the, you know, 2011 meeting, you have people as the similar as President Hugo Chavez and President Alvaro Uribe in the, in the makings of, of CELAC. I believe that, you know, Uribe was already out by the time of the 2011 meeting, but, you know, he was in Uribe in CELAC to say we have worked this thing. I mean, we know, we know we have differences from that we, that we do this. Now, what we can't tolerate is not of opinion or political positions from our governments. What we can't tolerate is interventionism. What we can't tolerate is, is, you know, another to try to exert pressure on them. Okay, everyone, let's give Carlos a minute to see if he can reconnect. Thank you for your patience. Carlos, do you want to, do you want to talk with us audio only? Would that maybe be better? So everyone, if you could just give us a few minutes before, are you back? Yes, I'm back. Okay. Do you want to try and talk with audio only? Or should we just keep, we'll just keep going. I found the question. Let me share the video in case that, you know, that helps. I believe that might help better. Okay. I'm sorry about that. No, it's all right. I'm not sure. Okay. I'm not sure if we got caught off at that moment, but what I was saying is, you know, in the past, when the process of CELAC was starting, you know, right before even, you know, the CELAC was actually formed, but when we're in the process of making the space, you have positions as this similar as President Chavez and President Alvin Alvarez in Colombia. These are, you know, two very extreme positions and very, quite very different. There's probably nothing that you can say is in common between the two leaders. However, there was, you know, there was a room for talking and moving forward and carrying out the, you know, the eventually what became CELAC. What we're not able to tolerate is intervention by, you know, that tries to attempt against the integrity of the countries against, you know, internal issues within our countries. I think that's probably what Bukele was pointing to. You know, the great tension that is created within the OAS system is the amount of interventionism that we clearly see from the United States and sometimes from Canada as well. So I think that, you know, we are, we're able to, you know, we've proven historically that we are able to deal with our differences. We are either on, you know, some of the, some specific issues and we're able to raise them and move forward. And I think this meeting in itself was approved for that, you know. The fact that we were able to agree about, you know, a plan for the vaccines and to tend to the pandemic. I think that's a good, you know, it's a good, it shows, you know, that we can cooperate despite our differences. The fact that we can come together and draw, you know, a common position on the environment I think is also important. The fact that most of the, I mean that all of the countries actually, you know, approved during the CELAC, meaning a statement against the blockade on Cuba. It's very important as well. It's not the, again, it's not the first time that we had this position. So, you know, and this is, you know, governance from the left and governance from the right. So I think, I think the problem is when we have open interventionism against our countries, when we have the United States trying to pit countries against each other, trying to, you know, to force rivalries and to try to, you know, force, you know, country to question the internal affairs of the other country and so forth. And that's what generates divisionism. That's what the OAS is in working because the OAS has just become a space, you know, to divide each other and not to, you know, find common solutions. There's some presidents there that spoke very clearly. The president of Uruguay, the president of Paraguay, they spoke very clearly in support of the OAS. They believe, you know, it's a space that it works. We think the OAS is a dead space, but that's great. You know, that's, again, this shows our differences in position, but we did come all together to participate in SELAC. So I think it is a very important moment for our region. I think the meeting in and of itself is very important. It's that it was a presidential meeting, you know, a high-level meeting. It shows we're a different conjunction. It shows we're in a moment where we have a different position. We have, we know that the challenges are big and that we know that we need to, you know, get ourselves a common position to face them together. Let's, I wonder if you could tell us a bit about, you were in New York City for the opening of the, of this year's UN general debate. How did this meeting here in Mexico City on the 18th, the SELAC summit, how did the SELAC summit transition, translate to some of the activities that we witnessed opening week in New York City? For instance, 18 countries, including Venezuela, signed the declaration of friends to defend the UN Charter, which I would presume are some of the, preserving some of the very same principles across the globe that SELAC is attempting to preserve in the Americas. Well, I think that you made a mention of a bit ago, which I think is important. You talked about multilateralism, and I think that it's a very key issue. I mean, one of the reasons that SELAC moved forward is precisely because we all believe that, you know, solutions are not unilateral to our challenges. Solutions must be addressed in a multilateral format. Now, this is, you know, this is a position that we hold not only in the region, but we also hold worldwide. And some countries, you know, there were 18 countries that manifested the need to strengthen this principle of multilateralism, you know, to strengthen also this idea that, you know, we must respect the values, the core values, historical values of the United Nations, you know, the values to defend peace, the values of defending the self-determination of the peoples, you know, the values of the principles of defending non-intervention. So when we gathered in New York to defend the United States, I'm sorry, the United Nations charter, it is, of course, not against anybody. It's not a position that we take against any country in particular, but we think against the actions of unilateralism that try to distort, you know, international relations, that try to pressure countries into, you know, into taking different positions through the issuing of, you know, unilateral coercive measures, things that are illegal according to you and Charter. If you remember, for example, sanctions as such are only legal when they are taken by the Security Council of the United Nations, not when they are taken by specific countries on their own. And again, you know, the meeting of the friends of the Charter was a meeting that took place with countries that, again, are very, very dissimilar in their political orientation and their historical background, but that they come together realizing that it is important to make a stand, to take a stand in defense of multilateralism, in defense of diplomacy, you know, in defense of peace, because, you know, when countries start acting outside of international law, outside of this framework that we have built, I mean, the whole reason we built the United Nations was to preserve peace around the world, to preserve, you know, country sovereignty and have, you know, allowed for countries to develop themselves, you know, through their own needs and through cooperation. Now, if we depart from those principles by trying to impose one country's view over the other by, you know, promoting war, by promoting all this, you know, we overlook the whole United Nations. So we feel that it is a time where we need to go back to the principles of the Charter and to remind the world that most, you know, are still defending this Charter, are still committed to the principle on this Charter. So there's a lot, I've got like a ton of things I want to ask you now as we start talking. There's something that hit the news today that to me is another sign of this embrace of multilateralism and trying to break this yoke, this stranglehold that the United States and its related international institutions have on so many countries. Peru announced that it's going to adopt blockchain technology and adopt a cryptocurrency that is going to be I guess you can exchange it into a basket of currencies including the Euro and the US dollar and I think the Real in Brazil. Venezuela introduced the Petro in 2019, I think one of the first countries to adopt a cryptocurrency and we heard El Salvador has done the same. So what does this mean to you? This adaptation of cryptocurrencies by a number of countries now Argentina is exploring this option as well. Oh, I think it's a sign of the times as well. I think countries have different reasons for doing them. We in Venezuela for example adopted Petro as part of our struggle against the financial blockade in the United States and that was attacked also by the United States unilateral measures. But I think it's a sign of the times. It's a new way of engaging financially and it's a new way to also contest the dominance of the United States that the United States have over the international system. Because most of what we see today is some type of United States. Now these initiatives are not new in the sense that for many years we know that countries have been seeking ways to have a more independent financial system that gets brought by the whims of the other. There's exchanges that take place between Russia and China for example within their own currencies and there's other attempts. But it is a difficult thing to do in reality is the part to completely establish a whole different system because the US has dominated financial institutions for a very long time the networks and the flow of money and how banks connect to each other. It's a sign of the times that things are changing, that people are trying to have a more independent financial system that I think is important for humanity again. Depend depends on one country or depends on whatever aspects that may be, whether it be for cooperation or for health, it's always a dangerous thing. I think what the world is seeking through multilateralism and through all these different alliances that we see regional alliances everywhere is to find common ground between similar currencies and that you generate cooperation and not dependency. At the end of the day, most countries after the fall of the Berlin Wall in the new context that we have after the Cold War well, it's important which does not tie the specific superpower of diversity and in that make sure that we respect each others and I think that is key you're a little garbled and are you there still? Okay, everyone, if you could just sit tight for a minute or two, let's see if Carlos can rejoin us for some closing comments. We're very lucky that he was able to connect, oh here you are. Hello. I'm so sorry, guys. No, it's okay. We won't keep you much longer because I'm just so thankful you had some time today to do this. So yeah, I mean, I would this crypto, this blockchain technology and the development of cryptocurrencies really is a way and I know this is somewhat controversial when I say because not all countries feel this way, but I think for so many of us that have done anti-sanctions work we view it quite like you have said it's a way to break through one country's currency and one country's financial system controlling what everyone else on the planet can or cannot do as far as international trade and exchange and it's also just a very good example. You know, it's a modern way of handling economic transactions and I think there were a couple countries that were very particularly with younger governments such as yours where this is just the way of the future and things are just evolving that way for multiple reasons. I wonder Carlos if you could tell us two things I'd like to ask you if it's possible for you to comment on the Venezuela dialogue happening here in Mexico City I guess I personally would say it's been quite an experience living here for the past year I've been going to language school as many in the audience know the leadership that the Mexican government specifically President Lopez Obrador has shown for the hemisphere in helping orchestrate this dialogue meeting on September 18th it's really pretty exciting what we're all witnessing here I'm not you may not be able I'm not expecting you to divulge what's being discussed at the table but it's a great it's a great thing we're witnessing and not just for Venezuela it's a terrific sign for all of the Americas with what your country is doing at the moment yeah well I think I'll say this of course I'm not part of the negotiating team so I cannot give you specific details on the negotiations but I can tell you what has gone on you know so far and I think that and we can probably talk about a couple things that are important first of all as you well know during the last few years very tough moments in Venezuelan history I mean 2014 we saw very violent actions on behalf of or by some of these actors in the opposition that you know we're trying to we're almost pushing Venezuela into the brink of civil war or constitutional transition trying to overthrow the president trying to kill the president trying to just engage in political violence the fact that the same groups that are led these movements into violence that they are now back on the negotiating table I think it's a great achievement and it's a great benefit to the country and that is one of the things if anything that we take away tonight on this issue of the dialogue it should be that it is important that these groups that have opted for violence are now sitting back on the table it is not an easy negotiation it's very as you can imagine it's very complicated because there are many many differences of views on what the future of Venezuela is should be but that this part of the opposition finally is back at the table I think it's very important and we are thankful of Mexico and Norway and all the countries that have cooperated into facilitating this also I think that it's important that when you see the document that was established the rules of how the the agenda better is going to be discussed the document clearly states that this is a dialogue process between the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela headed by President Maduro represented by the President of the National Assembly Jorge Rodriguez and the unity platform of the opposition which represents this one part of the opposition we're not talking about two governments we're not talking about two presidents we're talking about the government and an important opposition so I think that is also very important for what we've seen so far besides this there have been some agreements that have already come up in the sense of united positions that Venezuela has taken both the government as well as this opposition for example the support of the Esaquibo region this is a historical claim that we have on the border dispute with Guyana which was really our border dispute with the British empire but you know that was inherited after Guyana's independence and then we have also agreed to set up a round table for addressing important social concerns that the country has elements that we are bringing to the table include the lifting of sanctions there is a discussion that we are bringing up of course these sanctions are imposed by the United States government but it was part of this opposition and from the unity platform that called and eventually asked for some of these sanctions to be implemented against Venezuela so it is important that this discussion is going on and in the days there was also an announcement another common position that was made a rejection to the attacks that were suffered by Venezuelan immigrants in Chile where it was very difficult that we saw this xenophobia and these attacks against our Venezuelan by people that unfortunately seem to have a threat or who knows what but there is a common position by and this should not take place and there was also a statement that was read by the facilitator from Norway where it was mentioned that we will include or take into consideration more of the issue of gender when we address and consult in the coming days society as to where this dialogue process is going as far as I believe I can share with you with regards to the dialogue process I must emphasize the government has always been open to dialogue we have been in permanent dialogue with parts of the opposition part of the opposition is already participating in the last elections in the national assembly so what is important is that this one part that was read by the unity platform the so called G4 which is four political parties in particular including that of where Juan Guaido was a member well they finally came to the table and I think if we can conduct a process where violence is completely discarded is completely renounced is completely abandoned by the opposition as a means of doing politics but rather on the ballot box we concentrate in public debate we concentrate on all those things that strengthen our democracy then we will have a very successful outcome of this dialogue and that is what we really seeking for the peace and for the future of the country so I think these are very hopeful times again these are difficult negotiations because there is a widespread differences in our opinions and how we look at the country and what we think the country's future should be but it is important that for the sake of the Venezuelan people we are all sitting down and trying to work these things out peacefully and in dialogue and not through violence I think it is an absolutely perhaps it is very exciting it is very hopeful and it is an incredible example for the rest of the Americas the rest of the world actually what your country is doing right now it is such a it is a microcosm or it is one nation's example of what all of Salah like to achieve where you have a country resolving its politics its economics its cultural issues all of it you have a nation resolving all of the issues itself you have all these different political factions sitting at the table the government and all the other political parties and it is just such it is such a fantastic thing to see after so many years of attacks from outside of your country to see this this is what everyone is striving for to be left alone to solve problems ourselves or each nation's on its own with its own people and its own institutions and its own structures that is one of the things that we have often strive for and that we've asked people to understand that this is an issue the solution to Venezuela's problems can only and will only come from Venezuelans everything that you try to impose from outside that you try to force from outside will eventually crumble and fall there is no example in history where intervention has somehow improved situation of any country and you could just take Afghanistan as a recent example yeah you change the intervention yes play a role and maintain certain positions and once you take intervention out then you almost have the same scenario all over again with the fact that you had 20 years of terrible war now we don't want that for Venezuela we don't want an intervention that would take us 20 years to find out that it never should have been I mean what we want is to have the opportunity to solve our own problems on our own with you know at the end of the day some people outside don't realize that we Venezuelans still have a lot of things in common both government and our position we have common history we have families in both sides of the debate so it is up to us to clear out our differences and find our solutions and avoid war and avoid confrontation and avoid tensions but we happen if we solve our problems ourselves not if we have interventionism from any kind trying to meddle into our own affairs it is such a beautiful example of what is possible and you and your nation are making it a reality for the rest of the world the rest of the hemisphere to witness this possibility is such a great recognition and preservation of national sovereignty which every nation is pushing to well maybe not the United States is pushing to preserve for itself and its people there are several people watching this evening who were in Venezuela for the national assembly elections December of last year and we had those people participating tonight had an opportunity to meet with the opposition parties that participated in the elections in December and it really you helped expedite that meeting for us it was really one of the best educational moments for those of us who have been doing solidarity work with Venezuela and anti-US intervention work and anti-sanctions work it was a really eye-opening moment for us to meet with people against the government who overtly said and this is not a narrative you hear in the United States they opened the meeting with us saying we believe the Venezuela electoral process is free and fair and without fraud and they continue to participate they believe that they do want change in the country it's a different political and economic model than currently exists but they believe and again they overtly shared this with us that they believe in affecting change by constitutional means forming political parties which means participating in the electoral process that is the majority of the opposition in your country and those are the people we never hear about in the United States we only hear about the violent faction who thank goodness are sitting at the table in Mexico City now and have stated they'll be participating in the November elections as well it's a fantastic evolution of events and it's just so inspiring for everyone no indeed I think it's very important like you said there has been there has always been part of the opposition that wants to maintain within the democratic norms in the constitutional framework now we have to take this opportunity now that we have at the style of the table we have those that announced the constitution that acted against it to now maybe come back and maybe abandon those practices definitely definitively so we can preserve our peace and our democracy the way it should be again I think it is important that there is understanding outside of Venezuela of the importance of dialogue that we like you said the narrative that you often hear in Washington or in other places in the United States comes from a small group there is still a small group even a smaller group of people in the opposition that have nothing to do with the dialogue for them the best option is the marine plan and just hand over power to them and hand over the country this unfortunately is still true of a very small minority but it is still true so what people that are engaged in peace and committed to democracy around the world should do is precisely support the dialogue process there are going to be many attempts to attack this process we have already seen it by irrational actors such as the government of Colombia trying to intervene because their interests are other their agenda is a different agenda their agenda is not the agenda of peace for Venezuela their agenda is the collapse of our country so they can have some benefit from it so I think it is important that anybody again you don't have to agree with our policies with socialism, with our views but please we ask that you respect the world of Venezuelan people to carry out our democracy freely to carry out our dialogue process freely free of intervention and to allow us to solve our own problems I think anybody who is really committed to democracy and to peace has to support the dialogue process and help them to their conclusion without any interruption without any intervention from anywhere else it is such a great example a single nation example of what is possible for the entire hemisphere specifically for the countries that create Saloc Venezuela is really setting the example of what is possible when people are left alone to solve their own problems their own way and as president Lopez Obrador said in July to solve the problems based on your own history and culture and your own norms and your own internal systems so it is just really we just are all wishing you know the best for you and your country that this dialogue process it seems to be progressing in a very positive way and we want it to ultimately end in a very positive way for all of you I wonder if you would like to comment on this program 30 minutes long well approaching an hour and I am thankful you have been able to stay with us is there is there anything you would like to comment on before we close this evening anything that we have neglected to talk about well again I think first of all I thank you for this opportunity I thank you always for the interest in the region I think very few organizations are doing this important work of taking solidarity to the steps of making sure that the public understands what really goes on in our countries and we have very complex realities and it is always important to show that complexity and I think all the organizations that also work together with Copenhagen I thank you for allowing Latin America and Latin American movements to express themselves in this way and to talk about our reality again I think it is important that we see that we are under a new moment where again unity seems not only possible in our region but it is also a necessity these great challenges that we face throughout the planet like climate change like the pandemic these are moments to come together as equals to come together with the principles of cooperation so that we can move forward and I think it is important to for you we appreciate that you reflect this reality that people can understand why even when we are diverse and even when we have very different positions we can find common ground enough to push for these spaces such as SAILAC such as the group of friends so I think again multilateralism is the guarantee that there will be world peace that there will be respect for national sovereignty and self-determination this is not just an idea or rhetoric this is actually truth I mean when we respect international law when we are here to international law we know that we can expect peace and to prevail when we attempt against international law when we try to impose ourselves over the rights of other countries and other peoples we can only expect terrible things to happen so that will be I guess the message that we have and again thank you for this opportunity to engage on these issues thank you so much I want to share with you a comment in the chat as we sign off from Leslie Sago who is with friends of Latin America in the DMV and friends of Latin America is one of our broadcast partners for this program and she says oh we've got a couple things thank you for your positive and hopeful presentation I thank you on behalf of friends of Latin America thank you Carlos Ron for sharing this very valuable presentation about Salak and efforts towards peace in Latin America and the Caribbean so you're right it's a moment it's a very special moment and we all need to grasp it and help push it forward so thank you for joining us this evening I want to remind our audience that you've been watching what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean of hot news out of Latin America and the Caribbean we broadcast every Wednesday evening on Code Pink YouTube live 7 30 p.m. Eastern also you can catch us now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and please don't forget to catch Code Pink Radio every Thursday morning 11 a.m. Eastern on WBAI out of New York City and WPFW out of Washington DC so thank you for joining us everyone thank you for your time Carlos really appreciate your comments and you joining us this evening really it's such a special moment that's right and Venezuela has a lot to do with achieving this moment I think everyone in Latin America and I think everyone elsewhere can also have a role to play and to promote the respect of national law so everyone even in the United States has a role to play in defense of Latin American sovereignty and independence thank you very much okay thank you good night