FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS CONTACT:
Teri Mattson: [email protected] | 415.259.9626
Paki Wieland: [email protected] | 413.695.1877
Activists available to share recent accounts of Venezuela under US unilateral sanctions. Observations include the daily lives of the Venezuelan people and miscalculations of US foreign policy.
Washington, D.C. 14 August 2019: Returning from a 9-day delegation to Venezuela that focused on respect for international law and the national sovereignty of Venezuela, CODEPINK activists Paki Wieland and Teri Mattson are available for media opportunities and public speaking events. Paki Wieland traveled to both Iran and Venezuela within the past six months. She has the unique experience of visiting two nations suffering the effects of illegal US unilateral coercive measures or “sanctions”. Her observations of US foreign policy and the use of “sanctions as warfare” adds context to the spread of US imperial and militarized policy, efforts to control of natural resources and the manufactured humanitarian crises suffered by innocent civilians on multiple parts of the globe. For Teri Mattson, this recent delegation makes 12 visits to Venezuela in as many years. In addition to this recent delegation, Teri spent March, April and May living in a politically mixed, working class neighborhood of Caracas. Her experience provides for discussion and commentary related to the daily lives of Venezuelans, a viewpoint rarely heard in the US media.
The delegation organized from July 25 - August 2 provided an opportunity for members of the Embassy Protection Collective, a movement organized to prevent the United States’ illegal seizure of the Venezuela Embassy in Washington DC, to meet Venezuelans from multiple community sectors, witness the conditions of an economically sanctioned country, and represent a US voice of non-intervention and respect for international law.
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CODEPINK is a women-led grassroots organization working to end U.S. wars and militarism, support peace and human rights initiatives, and redirect our tax dollars into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming programs.
