 For decades the United States has treated Latin America as a laboratory of neoliberalism. It has orchestrated coups, sponsored the growth of the right wing and has historically backed dictators. But what makes Latin America different is the undefeated will of the people and the fight that they have put up against the United States imperialism. Venezuela is a classic example for this. In this episode of Around the World in 8 Minutes, we first look at a protest demonstration organized in Venezuela against the sanctions imposed by the United States on the state-owned airline Conviasa. We also report on the arrest of Patrick Giorzaki, an Egyptian human rights activist, as well as the ongoing protests in Lebanon that have rejected the new Prime Minister Hassan Diyab and his economic reforms. On Monday, February 10, hundreds of Venezuelans marched through the streets of Caracas to protest against the sanctions imposed by the United States government on Venezuela's flag carrier Conviasa. The Office of Foreign Assets Control, or the OFAC, of the U.S. Treasury Department had imposed a set of sanctions against the airline on February 7 and included 40 Conviasa planes on the foreign assets control list. Venezuelan analysts reported that the sanctions against the state-owned airlines called for punitive measures against any U.S. or non-U.S. citizen or firm dealing with Conviasa. This will affect plane maintenance, refuelling, insurance, and a host of other operations. Passengers may also be sanctioned under the measure. Joined by Conviasa airline workers, the protesters marched through the Venezuelan capital before gathering outside the presidential office at the Miraflores Palace. The protesters rejected the United States imperialist tactics to cripple the Venezuelan economy by imposing harsh economic sanctions. At the Miraflores Palace, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro addressed the march expressing his solidarity with the airline workers. Venezuela has been facing a hybrid war with U.S.-backed opposition groups attempting to organize a coup d'etat against the democratically elected socialist government of Maduro. At the same time, the U.S. has been imposing various economic sanctions on the Venezuelan government and its assets to support the right-wing opposition groups led by Juan Guaidó. On February 11, the National Assembly of Venezuela rejected the U.S. imposed sanctions against Conviasa. The assembly also expressed solidarity with 2,100 workers of Conviasa. Conviasa was created in 2004 after the national airline Viasa was liquidated in 1997. The airline connects various domestic destinations in Venezuela and also flies to many international destinations including Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Bolivia. Moving on to Lebanon, on Tuesday, February 11, hundreds of protesters attempted to march towards the Lebanese parliament. As the Prime Minister, Hassan Diya was securing the approval for his new cabinet and economic plan. 120 member parliament approved Diya's proposal in a vote of confidence, with his government securing 63 votes in its favour, with 20 against it and one abstaining. The vote was largely on party lines with the Hezbollah, the Amal movement and the free patriotic movement voting in favour of the government, while former Prime Minister Saad Hariri's future movement and its allies voted against it. A large number of MPs could not make it to the parliament for vote due to the protest. Protesters were stopped near the parliament building by the security forces. Tier gas and water cannons were also fired, enduring more than 200. Various progressive sections in Lebanon have rejected Diya's economic plan as a mere continuation of the corrupt policies implemented by previous governments. Hana Garib, the Secretary General of the Lebanese Communist Party, said on Twitter that the party has no trust in the new government and that the battle is open until a change in power and the corrupt political system happens. Protest in Lebanon have been going on since October last year against a failure of successive governments to deal with the economic problems of the country. Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri had to resign after weeks of protests on October 29. Hassan Diab, a university professor and ex-education minister of Lebanon, was selected to be the head of the new government in December last year. He was sworn in as the Prime Minister on January 21. Speaking in the parliament before the vote, Diab assured that his priority would be to tackle the economic problems of the country. He emphasized that Lebanon needs to preserve foreign currency required to maintain the flow of imports. Banks in Lebanon have put strict regulations on the withdrawal of foreign currency, particularly US dollars, since the last few months. Lebanon has extremely high public debt due to the neoliberal economic policies implemented by previous governments. Protesters are also angry due to the poor service delivery in the country. Rising poverty and unemployment levels have made the youth disillusioned with the current political establishment. The prevailing corruption and inefficiency of the political elite have been often cited as the main reasons behind these problems and the protesters have demanded broader systemic change. We now take a look at Egypt, where on February 8, Patrick George Zaki, a human rights activist and researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, EIPA, was arrested on his return to Cairo from Italy. 27-year-old Zaki was visiting Egypt to meet his family and was detained from the Cairo airport. He has been charged with spreading false news, statements to distort social peace, inciting people to protest without obtaining permit, and seeking to overthrow the regime, harming national security and promoting the use of violence. These allegations have been mounted against him on the basis of some Facebook post. The activist was out of communication for 24 hours before he was produced in a court in Mansoura, his hometown 120 kilometers away from the capital. Zaki's lawyers claimed that during those 24 hours of disappearance, he was brutally beaten and tortured in the police custody. The prosecutors have secured 15 days of custody for him. In a statement published on its website, EIPA demanded the immediate release of the activist, calling for an end to the continued harassment and arbitrary detention of human rights professionals, members of civil society groups and journalists. Since you surping par in a 2013 coup against the elected president, Muhammad Mursi, the current president, Abdul Fateh Al-Sisi, led government in Egypt, has adopted an oppressive policy of preventing all forms of political dissent. His government has enacted several laws banning all kinds of protests without prior permissions and has used the state agencies, including the police and the courts, to imprison thousands of activists and journalists who would be critical of this government. Political rights of the people, including the right to freedom of expression, have been heavily curtailed by the cease government under the pretext of political stability and national security. Many activists have disappeared and later have been found dead. According to observers, persons involved in these acts of abduction have been provided complete immunity by the government. In 2016, a 28-year-old Italian PhD scholar, Giulio Regini, was abducted and murdered. Though the Egyptian government claimed that he was murdered by a gang, it was alleged that Regini was actually killed by Egyptian security forces for his involvement in left-wing politics in the country. The consortium of universities, during the Erasmus-Mundus Masters in Women and Gender Studies program, or DGEMA, published a joint statement asking for Zaki's release and demanded that all necessary measures be taken so that new threats and attacks against students, researchers and academics, journalists and human rights defenders are not repeated. Zaki is currently a student of the GAMA program at the University of Bologna, Italy. Protests were held in Italy on February 13, demanding Zaki's release. That's all that we have for this episode of Around the World in 8 Minutes. For more such stories, follow us on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. Thanks for watching.