Thousands attend Venezuela aid concert on barricaded border

Yahoo – AFP, Rodrigo Almonacid with Maria Isabel Sanchez in Caracas, 22 February 2019

Thousands wait for the start of the Venezuela Aid Live concert in Cucuta, Colombia

Thousands of people, many waving Venezuelan flags, flocked to the Venezuela-Colombia border Friday for a charity concert to push for humanitarian aid deliveries in defiance of a blockade by the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

Humanitarian aid has become a key focus of the power struggle between Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has been recognized as interim leader by more than 50 countries.

The tense aid standoff turned deadly even before the concert began, when two people were killed and 15 wounded when they tried to prevent Venezuelan troops from blocking an aid entry point on the Brazilian border.

"An indigenous woman and her husband were killed and at least 15 other members of the Pemon indigenous community were injured," said a local human rights group, Kape Kape.

The clash occurred in southeastern Bolivar state close to the border with Brazil, which Maduro ordered closed on Thursday.

Guaido, who on Thursday set out from Caracas in a convoy of trucks to personally bring in aid from the border, called on the military to arrest those responsible for the killings, "or you will be responsible."

Venezuelan singer Jose Luis Rodriguez "El Puma," performs at the "Venezuela 

Aid Live" concert in Cucuta, Colombia, on February 22, 2019

Fleeing shortage

Some 2.7 million people have fled Venezuela since 2015 amid a devastating political and economic crisis, according to UN figures released Friday. It said people were fleeing the crisis -- marked by acute food and medicine shortages -- at a rate of 5,000 a day in 2018.

Maduro, who retains the support of allies China and Russia and crucially, the powerful military, has blocked the entry of aid and accused the United States of plotting a military intervention.

US special representative Elliott Abrams kept up the foreign pressure on Maduro on Friday, joining a Cucuta-bound plane carrying medical supplies and enough food to feed 2,000 people for a month.

"The humanitarian and the social-economic situation in Venezuela is very bad, there's a terrible need for food, for supplies, and the international community is responding," Abrams said.

Moscow has blasted Washington for using aid as a "convenient pretext for conducting military action."

Workers load food and medical aid for Venezuela from a US Boeing 767 aircraft 

at the Hato International Airport in Willemstad, Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles 

on February 21, 2019

Chants of 'freedom'

Hundreds chanted "freedom" and "the government is going to fall" while they waited for the concert to begin under a hot sun on the edge of the Colombian city of Cucuta, the barricaded border crossing visible nearby.

"We must break the impasse, end the humanitarian crisis," British entrepreneur Richard Branson, who organized the concert, told the crowd shortly before veteran Venezuelan crooner Jose Luis Rodriguez began his set.

Branson said he hopes to raise $100 million for humanitarian aid over the next 60 days via internet donations, though meanwhile aid is being stockpiled in Colombia, Brazil and the Caribbean island of Curacao because of Maduro's ban.

Venezuelan singer Carlos Baute, one of 30 stars gathered by Branson to perform during the six-hour concert, said he was there "to open a humanitarian channel" for the delivery of aid. "Tomorrow we will be free," he said.

The line-up includes Latin American giants Carlos Vives and Juanes of Colombia, Juan Luis Guerra of the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico's Luis Fonsi.

Satellite photo locating rival concerts on Venezuelan border, with map of 

Venezuela-Colombia border crossings

Colombian President Ivan Duque, Chile's Sebastian Pinera and Mario Abdo of Paraguay will participate at the closing ceremony on Friday evening.

"The concert is an immense help because this type of initiative was necessary to open our eyes and pressure the Venezuelan government," said Wendy Villamizar, a 32-year-old Venezuelan woman wearing a cap with her country's yellow, blue and red tricolor.

In contrast to the milling crowds at Cucuta, hundreds of yards (meters) away on the Venezuelan side of the border in Urena, the site of a rival concert announced by Maduro was quiet.

A stage has been built, but there were few people around the site, heavily guarded by military. Maduro earlier this week announced a three-day "Hands Off Venezuela" concert to last until Sunday but few details of the line-up or schedule have been released.

On Thursday he warned those taking part in the Cucuta event: "All the artists that are going to sing in Colombia should know that they are committing a crime, they are endorsing a military intervention."

Zwarte Piet is a negative stereotype: court orders parade rethink

DutchNews.nl, Thursday 03 July 2014

The 'new look' Piet (right) was widely ridiculed. Photo: Nos

Amsterdam mayor Eberhard van der Laan has been told by a court in the capital to reconsider the licensing of the Sinterklaas parade through the city last year, which became mired in controversy because of the Zwarte Piet character.

The administrative court says the mayor has six weeks to look again at the decision to allow the parade to go ahead last year and determine if the correct one was taken.

The administrative court said in its ruling the Zwarte Piet character a negative stereotype which is insulting to black people and the mayor must decide which interest is more important: that of black Amsterdammers or society in general, news agency ANP reported.

Racist

Critics of Zwarte Piet – played by white people in blackface make-up – went to court last year in an effort to have the parade halted, arguing Sinterklaas’s servant is racist.  That request was rejected by the courts, resulting in an appeal to the administrative court. 

Van der Laan is already in talks with both the pro and anti Piet lobby about this year’s parade. Earlier this year, the Dutch folklore institute recommended making changes to Zwarte Piet's appearance but did not suggest removing the blackface make-up.

The court's ruling has no implications for Sinterklaas parades in the rest of the country, Nos television said.

Opponents of the Zwarte Piet character said the court's verdict was an important victory. 'The court has said Zwarte Piet is racist. You have to eradicate racism and the Dutch state has a role in this,' said Barryl Biekman, chairman of the national slavery heritage platform.

Children

Social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher, who in charge of integration issues, said the Sinterklaas celebrations should be a party which everyone enjoys.

Sinterklaas is a children’s event and should remain so, he said. But it is also subject to change, he said. ‘We used to sing ‘who is naughty gets a switch’ and that has changed,’ the minister said.

But Asscher declined to comment on the court case, saying it is up to Amsterdam city council.

Asscher is due to meet Verene Shepherd, the UN official who last year criticised the Zwarte Piet tradition, later on Thursday.

UN advisor Verene Shepherd (with sunglasses and colored

scarf) in slavery memorial (NOS)

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Dutch Santa faces ban in Suriname (+Video)

Kryon Q&A

Question: I’m a black woman who enjoys your teachings tremendously. It seems that there aren’t a lot of black people involved in these discussions. Is this true, and is there a reason for this? Is it cultural? Or am I wrong in this assumption?

Answer: Dear one, yes. If you’re speaking about black Americans, you’re right. It’s cultural. There are two basic reasons you won’t find many blacks in metaphysics in your culture: The first one is that in your land, your race is a minority with a history of oppression. This has created a very strong spiritual support base. Almost from birth, most of you have been exposed to very high church and spiritual support and a feeling of belonging and sticking together. There are few groups that have this kind of support and prayer base. So spiritually, you don’t look around much for answers other than what you have already learned about the love of God. This works for you and is honored.

The second reason is perhaps politically incorrect in your culture to speak of, but Kryon is not of your culture. Many of you are in survival mode due to sustained second-class citizenship you experience from birth. This causes despair, poverty, and a shift to crime among many due to despondency over life and a need to survive in a system that does not honor you. When a Human is consumed with survival in a difficult environment, they don’t have time or a desire for introspection or a search to better themselves spiritually. All their time is spent spinning within the challenges they have, many of which they assume to be their plight, many of which they have created themselves.

The sadness here is that if they did look within, they would find the tools to co-create a life outside of survival, and start processes that honors their endeavors and their lives. Blessed are those with life challenges, as so many of the minorities have, but who have decided to increase their spiritual knowledge as a solution, instead of trying to force-manipulate the reality of the cultural situation.

Guinea threatened with EU sanctions for illegal fishing

Google – AFP, 26 November 2013

Children play on fishing boats in the harbour at Conakry, Guinea, on August 10, 

999 (AFP/File, Issouf Sanogo)

Brussels — The European Commission on Tuesday urged EU governments to hit Belize, Cambodia and Guinea with trade sanctions over illegal fishing, while warning South Korea, Ghana and Curacao they may be next.

The European Union executive called for action against the first three with no 'credible progress' made since hitting them with so-called 'yellow cards' last year along with five others.

Once placed on an official list of "non-cooperating countries" in the fight against illegal fishing, related products from those territories will find themselves all-but shut out of the EU market of half a billion consumers.

The Commission also flagged up a new round of 'yellow cards' which puts key free-trade partner South Korea, Ghana and Caribbean island Curacao under mounting pressure to meet international obligations.

"West Africa was identified as a major source of illegal fishing and my intention is now take the same thorough approach in the Pacific," said EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki.

Damanaki told a press conference that for South Korea, Ghana and Curacao, "this is not about EU legislation -- we are implementing international rules."

"We are very much willing to give them more time."

She said the "right to fish as they want" had to be set against the EU's "right to protect consumers."

The EU says at least 15 percent of all landings around the world are done illegally, between 11 and 16 million tonnes each year, with international rules agreed in 2001 routinely flouted.

Five countries made sufficient progress this year to avoid being expelled from EU markets at least until March next year: Fiji, Panama, Sri Lanka, Togo and Vanuatu.

The EU imports 65 percent of its fishing consumption.

Campaigners Greenpeace said the decisions announced would "motivate all six countries to improve fisheries management and help create a better future for their seas and fishermen.?

Dutch royals visit roiling Venezuela

Google – AFP, 23 November 2013

(L-R) The Netherlands Queen Maxima, King Willem-Alexander, Venezuelan

 President Nicolas Maduro and Venezuela's first lady Cilia Flores during the

welcoming ceremony at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on

November 23, 2013 (AFP, Juan Barreto)

Caracas — Dutch King Willem-Alexander and his wife Maxima were to meet Saturday with President Nicolas Maduro, a visit coinciding with anti-government protests by Venezuela's opposition.

"We welcome them with great affection and appreciation," Maduro told reporters.

The royals have been visiting Dutch Caribbean territories Aruba, Curacao and Saint Martin, taking side trips to Colombia on Friday and Venezuela on Saturday.

Maxima was born in nearby Argentina.

Venezuelan opposition leader and Miranda

 state governor Henrique Capriles Radosnki

 speaks during a mass protest in Caracas, 

on November 23, 2013 (AFP, Leo Ramirez)

But the visit comes at a tense political time for Venezuela, where protests were planned Saturday against a year-long expansion of powers for Maduro.

The extraordinary powers were approved earlier this week by the legislature, which is controlled by his socialist party.

Ahead of the demonstrations, the government reportedly arrested a key opposition figure, detaining him in the middle of the night.

"We don't know the whereabouts" of Alejandro Silva, tweeted opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who was narrowly defeated by Maduro in presidential elections held in April.

Opposition leaders said they believe that Silva was taken away from the Caracas hotel he had been staying in by military intelligence officials.

Capriles added in his tweet that he "will hold @nicolasmaduro responsible if anything happens" to Silva.

Venezuela's National Assembly on Tuesday handed Maduro wide-ranging special powers to rule by decree.

Maduro requested the special powers last month, citing the need to fight corruption and take on opponents who are waging "economic warfare" against his government.

He said the powers will also help him battle soaring inflation and shortages of basic goods.

A protege of late president and socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez, Maduro two weeks ago launched a crackdown on prices, sending troops into home appliance stores and forcing merchants to slash their prices.

Related Article:

In Venezuela, opposition rallies against Maduro

Give us a ring if you want to quit the kingdom, Rutte tells Caribbean islands

DutchNews.nl, Saturday 20 July 2013

Mountains and coral reefs added

to Dutch landscape

Dutch Caribbean islands which want to leave the kingdom of the Netherlands only have to say so and it will happen, prime minister Mark Rutte has said during a visit to the former colonies.

Rutte told the NRC newspaper that officials looked at him shocked when he made the surprise announcement during a meeting.

‘I said ‘if you want to leave and a majority of your people support that position, then it is possible. Give us a ring and we will arrange it’,’ the prime minister told the paper.

Financial support

Rutte said he hoped the offer would prevent any further requests for financial support. ‘I told them that if we ever talk again about the way the state is organised then it will be if you want to leave the kingdom,’ the paper quoted him as saying.

The status of the five of the six islands changed in 2010. Curacao and Sint Maarten are now autonomous countries while Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius have the status of a local authority. Aruba has been independent since 1986.

Criticism

Rutte has visited all six islands during his visit and has been outspoken in his criticism of the way three – Curacao, Sint Maarten and Bonaire – are being managed, the NRC said.

In particular he has instigated a ‘far-reaching probe’ into the integrity of government on Sint Maarten.

The island’s justice minister was forced to resign earlier this year after it emerged he ran several brothels. There has also been criticism of the €9,000 a month paid to parliamentarians. Sint Maarten has just 39,000 residents.

Other islands also have financial troubles. In September 2012 Curacao was placed under a formal compliance order by the Dutch government when its budget showed a shortfall of 153m Antillean guilders, of which nearly 100m guilders was needed to cover debts from previous years.

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Mountains and coral reefs added to Dutch landscape

Senior Curacao politician shot dead while having a beer with friends

DutchNews.nl, Monday 06 May 2013

The leader of Curacao’s biggest government party and a fervent campaigner for independence has been shot dead close to his home.

(ANP)

Helmin Wiels, 54, headed the ruling party Pueblo Soberano but chose to remain in parliament when it became part of the government. He was shot by two men on the Marie Pompoen beach who drove off in a gold coloured Kia, Nos television said.

Wiels was having a beer with friends, having sent home his bodyguard earlier in the day. A spokesman for his party said they suspect organised crime to be behind the killing because of Wiels work in combatting corruption.

The Carribean island of Curacao is a former Dutch colony and now forms an independent country within the kingdom of the Netherlands.

Related Article:

Curacao politician Helmin Wiels shot dead

End of slavery in Dutch colonies commemorated

RNW, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1 July 2011

A two minutes silence was observed Thursday to commemorate the abolition of slavery in Dutch colonies. The memorial is the beginning of celebrations that continue Friday with the Keti Koti festival in Amsterdam.

Thursday’s observed silence was followed by the raising of the flags of the Netherlands, Suriname and Curacao. A choir also sang the countries’ national anthems. The theme of this year’s memorial is ‘Standing Together and Celebrating Life.’

A second commemoration, which kicks off the Keti Koti festival, will take place Friday at the National Slavery Memorial in Amsterdam’s Oosterpark. The emotional memorial will be followed by a day of music and celebration. A parade, live music and entertainment are scheduled to take place in the park until late afternoon.

Last year’s Keti Koti festival attracted 35,000 visitors.

Related Article:

Global record on fighting slavery

Mountains and coral reefs added to Dutch landscape

RNW, Gijs van den Heuvel, 8 Oct 2010

(Photo: Auntiem)

The Netherlands is turning into a tropical country. No, it's not global warming. It's an extension of the small state on the shores of the Northsea by three little Caribbean islands, a remnant of the country's colonial past.

It has been discussed for what seems like ages, but on 10 October 2010 it is really going to happen: the country called "Netherlands Antilles", a former Dutch colony in the Caribbean, will be disbanded. Of the five islands, the two biggest will acquire an autonomous status in the Dutch kingdom. The three smaller ones - Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, jointly known as the BES islands - will henceforth be governed directly from The Hague on a par with municipalities in Holland, adding a whiff of the tropics to the flat country behind the European dykes. A sixth Caribbean island, Aruba, was given autonomous status much earlier, in 1986.

This remains unchanged.

The changes are the implementation of new legislation drawn up by the Netherlands' government a couple of years ago aimed at improving the governability of the "overseas dominions". They had already lost their colonial status in 1954. In several referendums held since 2004 the islands' populations have voted in favour of the new form of government.

Facts and figures

So how will people in the former Netherlands Antilles experience the new form of government? And will the Netherlands and the rest of the world notice anything?

The change in the kingdom's make-up will hardly affect the average Dutchman in Europe, but it won't do any harm to adjust a few of the most-cited statistics about the Netherlands. Such as these:

• The Dutch territory will expand by 322 square kilometres (roughly the size of Malta)
• The Netherlands will have a new highest point. It used to be the Vaalserberg in the province of Limburg, with an altitude of 322.5 metres. But this will be dwarfed by Mount Scenery on the island of Saba, which reaches 877 metres. And a good number two is The Quill on Sint Eustatius, at 600 metres.
• In addition to its flat, sandy Northsea coastline, the Netherlands will acquire coral reefs. Divers know they are found off Bonaire, but Saba and Sint Eustatius are also surrounded by coral reefs.
• The two official languages of the kingdom, Dutch and Frisian, will be accompanied by two new ones: Papiamentu (on Bonaire) and English (on St Maarten).

On the islands

The Antilles islanders will be faced with quite a few changes, although not everyone will notice these immediately.

• In 2011, the US dollar will be introduced as the new currency. Owing to their proximity to the US, they are mostly dollar economies anyway.
• Dutch and European law will apply on the islands.
• But some of Holland's laws which are radically at odds with the local culture on Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba, will be introduced only gradually. These include liberal legislation on abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriages. The islanders will be allowed two years to get used to the idea before the laws come into force.
• Local schools have to change gears in order to better qualify pupils for Dutch school diplomas. The curriculum in subjects like history and geography has of course been adapted to the Caribbean location of the islands.

Misunderstandings

Friso Fennema, a spokesman for the Government Office for the Caribbean Netherlands told RNW that there are some persistant misunderstandings among the islanders. He would like to set the record straight:

• Many people believe that Papiamentu and English will be banned as official languages. That's not true; they will continue to be used.
• Many islanders are convinced that only European Dutch nationals can apply for government jobs. That is false, in fact 93 percent of vacancies are currently being filled by local applicants and that is not going to change.
• Employers on the islands fear that they will have to pay the European Dutch minimum wage, and are concerned that the unemployment benefit will be raised to the European level. That is out of the question, Mr Fennema said, because then the Antillean islands would become totally unattractive for Caribbean entrepreneurs.

Anthem

On Sunday 10 October the untitled national anthem of the Netherlands Antilles will give way to the Wilhelmus, the stately, sedate Dutch national anthem, dating back to the 16th century. But the Antilles anthem had a shadowy existence anyway, as every island had its own song.

It remains to be seen whether that will change in practice. Why on earth would the Caribbean islanders sing the words, "William of Nassau am I, of German blood". Speaking of which, many inhabitants of the flat European part of the Netherlands can't make sense of the anthem's text either.

Related Articles:

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Status change means Dutch Antilles no longer exists

Farewell to the Netherlands Antilles

US dollar introduced in Dutch Caribbean islands

RNW, 1 January 2011

The Dutch Caribbean islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba have introduced the US Dollar as their official currency to replace the Antillean guilder. As a result, the Netherlands now has two official currencies, the Euro in the European part of the country and the US Dollar in the Caribbean islands. The old Antillean guilder will remain legal tender for one month.

The 'dollarisation' of the islands comes after months of intensive preparations by local banks and businesses. The head of the Bonaire chamber of commerce said local businesses had not used the opportunity to secretly raise prices, but any offenders would be dealt with. All products will be priced in both guilders and dollars for another six months to help customers get accustomed to the new currency.

As part of a process of political reform of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, referendums were held on all five islands which formed the then Netherlands Antilles. The people of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba voted in favour of becoming special municipalities of the Netherlands. Curaçao and St Maarten voted in favour of an autonomous status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands Antilles were formally dissolved on 10 October 2010. The sixth Dutch Caribbean island, Aruba, had already become autonomous in 1986.

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