PHM-Exch> PHM signs on the open public letter against the weaponization of food aid and the undermining of food sovereignty in Venezuela

Thu Mar 28 07:08:57 PDT 2019

<https://www.fian.org/en/news/article/against_the_weaponization_of_food_aid_
and_the_undermining_of_food_sovereignty_in_venezuela/> Against the
weaponization of food aid and the undermining of food sovereignty in
Venezuela

An open letter regarding the situation in Venezuela and the use of food aid
as a political weapon against the people 

<http://www.fian.org/fileadmin/media/publications_2019/Letter_and_statements
/photo_venezuelan_flag.jpg> 

<http://www.fian.org/fileadmin/media/publications_2019/Letter_and_statements
/photo_venezuelan_flag.jpg> Photo by: Anyul Rivas, under Creative Commons
License

To international public opinion: 

As members of the international community concerned about the right to food
and food sovereignty, including advocates, practitioners and scholars, we
denounce the use of food aid as a political weapon against the Venezuelan
people and government at present while standing in solidarity with efforts
on the ground in Venezuela focused on feeding communities and supporting
communities’ capacity to feed themselves.

At the time of writing, shipments of food provided by USAID are sitting
across the Venezuelan border in Colombia, as the US government threatens to
force these shipments into the country without authorization of the
Venezuelan government, amidst mounting threats of military intervention.
Such actions have been  <https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14316>
criticized by a number of internationally recognized development and aid
organizations, including the International Red Cross and the United Nations,
both of which are already working in partnership with the Venezuelan
government and both of which have refused to collaborate with USAID on this
attempted aid delivery due to its overtly political nature.

Venezuela has well-established domestic food distribution networks, as
recognized by the United Nations
<http://www.fao.org/americas/noticias/ver/en/c/283757/>     Food and
Agriculture Organization as recently as 2015. Any aid coming into the
country should serve to complement - and in no way undermine - already
existing national food distribution efforts. That this most basic norm of
humanitarian aid is being compromised concerns us not only for the impacts
upon the Venezuelan population, but also for the dangerous precedent this
could set globally.

While there are multiple factors at play in the challenges facing Venezuela
at present, the issue of aid cannot be decoupled from the sanctions imposed
upon Venezuela by the US government and its allies. According to US National
Security Adviser John Bolton, the latest round of sanctions imposed by the
Trump administration represent an
<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-47104508>     estimated loss
of 11 billion dollars worth of revenue for the Venezuelan government via its
state-owned oil company PDVSA over 2019, while blocking access to an
additional 7 billion dollars worth of assets. These illegal sanctions, part
of a broader financial blockade,
<https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24131&Lan
gID=E>      directly hamper imports of food, medicines and other necessities
into Venezuela, with disastrous effects upon the population, particularly
those most vulnerable. Meanwhile, the aid in question pledged by USAID is in
the amount of
<https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/jan-24-2019-united-st
ates-ready-provide-urgent-humanitarian-aid-people-venezuela>     20 million
dollars. This amount of aid, even if it were to be increased, pales in
comparison to the estimated 30 million dollars daily lost in oil revenue due
to the sanctions. The sanctions and financial blockade are also making it
increasingly difficult for grassroots movements throughout the country to
carry out critical food sovereignty efforts, including distributions of food
and agricultural supplies such as seeds, although these efforts continue as
possible under adverse circumstances. For instance, this past February 23,
which had been the designated deadline for the entry of the USAID aid into
Venezuela, the Pueblo a Pueblo grassroots food sovereignty effort delivered
30 metric tonnes of fresh produce from small-scale farmers of the Venezuelan
countryside to families in need in Caracas.

While we the undersigned may have differing personal opinions regarding the
internal politics of Venezuela and how Venezuelans might best resolve their
differences, we are united in our concern over the weaponization of food aid
and threats to the national sovereignty of Venezuela, as well as united in
our solidarity with movements on the ground who continue to work toward food
sovereignty against increasingly difficult odds. We call upon the US
government and its allies to lift the deadly sanctions as the most immediate
and necessary first step toward addressing humanitarian concerns and to stop
using food aid as a tool of political maneuvering. We also call to
international and regional organizations such as the Organization of
American States to monitor the support of their member states in order to
ensure their measures are in line with the American Declaration on the
Rights and Duties of Man.

Signatories: 

1.    ActionAid USA
2.    Actuar 
3.    Agroecology Research-Action Collective
4.    Biowatch South Africa
5.    Bolivarian Circle New York City
6.    Campaña Guatemala 
7.    Centro de Documentación en Derechos Humanos “Segundo Montes Mozo S.J.”
(CSMM)
8.    Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism
9.    Colectivo de DDHH (Venezuela) - Antonio González Plessmann 
10.    Crocevia
11.    Defensoría del Derecho a la Salud/Centro de Capacitación en Ecología
y Salud para             Campesinos / IBFAN México - Marcos Arana Cedeño
12.    FESPAd
13.    FIAN Austria
14.    FIAN Brasil
15.    FIAN Colombia
16.    FIAN Honduras
17.    FIAN International
18.    FIAN Mexico
19.    FIAN Portugal
20.    Geneva Infant Feeding Association
21.    Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
22.    International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity
23.    Justicia Alimentaria
24.    Massachusetts Peace Action
25.    National Fisheries Solidarity Movement of Sri Lanka 
26.    Nicaragua Center for Community Action (NICCA)
27.    People’s Health Movement
28.    Popular Resistance 
29.    Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC)
30.    POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (Anti-POSCO Movement-PPSS)
31.    RAPDA
32.    Right to Food Network Malawi
33.    Task Force on the Americas
34.    The MOVE Organization
35.    Terra Nuova
36.    The international Action Center 
37.    THEATER OF THE OPPRESSED LABORATORY (TOPLAB).
38.    Unidad de la Fuerza Indígena y Campesina (UFiC)
39.    United Steelworkers Local 8751, the Boston school bus drivers' union
40.    WFF
41.    WFFP
42.    Why Hunger
43.    WUNRN
44.    People’s Health Movement
45.    The Oakland Institute

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