Sean Jacobs's Blog, page 352

‘Virunga’ is an important film, even if it lacks perspectives from local stakeholders

The documentary film Virunga (2014), about a national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, recently made headlines for its Oscar nomination. Mostly for its prominent backers. The actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who might just replace Ben Affleck as Congress’ designated Congo expert and starred in his own version of Heart of Darkness, heavily supported the documentary. 

As for the film — directed by Orlando von Einsiedel — it revolves around the Virunga National Park, situated in the province of North Kivu, in the country’s east. The park, formerly known as Albert National Park, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and comprises 7,800 square kilometers, and has a breathtaking natural landscape. The park is also under threat from mining interests.

Virunga is unique due to range of different issues it seeks to cover. It attempts to situate natural conservation, and care for extinct gorillas against the dangers posed by armed groups, and the oil exploration firm SOCO International, which is threatening the very existence of the park.

As von Einsiedel says himself:  “We almost had three separate films; a National Geographic nature documentary, an investigative film, and a war movie.”

By beginning with the imagery of “instability returns” to the DRC, the documentary already positions the DRC as a country in which violence just “comes and goes,” and shows that underlying causes take a back seat to the ideals of popularity and simplicity.

Contrary to the depiction of the director of Virunga National Park, the Belgian Emmanuel de Merode, whose experiences are clearly prioritized over discourses of park employees, or the local population, Congo’s history, cannot be reduced to one of “Great Men.” As Congolese historian George-Nzongola Ntalaja shows in his work The Congo, it is often collective resistance that defines Congolese history, and allowed the country to stay united despite all the odds. Congolese expert Mvemba Phezo Dizolele rightly credits the park’s patriotic “civil servants doing their job in spite of the State”, but as in other Western awareness campaigns, Congolese actors ultimately are overshadowed by the need for white “heroes”.

Virunga effectively describes the dangers of poaching caused to conservation, but an interrogation, and actual presence of local stakeholders in the documentary, could have highlighted that views on the park vary. The Congolese investigative journalist Eric Mwamba exposed this here, and others have highlighted that there have been several clashes of conservationists, and refugees, as demand for fishing and hunting grounds is contested.

Through the hidden camera of journalist Melanie Gouby, Virunga gives insight into the imperial mentality of firms like Soco, as one employee reveals in conversation: “The best solution effective for everyone is to recolonize those countries.” It was especially shocking to see that the same white mercenaries that were paid to combat Lumumba’s elected government, were still haunting the DRC today, in the form of a “private security firm”, which intimidated local activists, and park employees.

Despite the insights, Congolese resistance, and reporting remains unacknowledged. One should be rightly impressed by Gouby’s courageous attempt to investigate SOCO, and M23, but one should also note that despite her dangers, Gouby operated within a realm of white privilege that protects her from certain dangers that many local journalists and activists continue to face.

Virunga missed the opportunity to critically interrogate the role of the “West” in proliferating instability in the Great Lakes Region. It might have been necessary for the documentary to portray M23 through the prism of the park, but this resulted in an ahistorical depiction of the uprising. Talking points such as “the Congolese army is in no mood for compromise” contribute to such a depiction. It is not a secret that the Congolese army suffers from organizational weakness and a very poor human rights record, but also international stakeholders help(ed) proliferate insecurity and instability.

As journalist and Columbia University professor Howard French points out, international alliances in the region have been heavily influenced by 1994 genocide guilt, and the West has indirectly supported, or consented to several illegal interventions, and wars by the Rwandan, and Ugandan army or their proxies. Instead of emphasizing the Congo’s helplessness, the actual role of the international community should be scrutinized. Bilateral relations of the US, and UK often undermine regional stability, and equitable terms of power. As a leaked UN report points out, the M23 was heavily supported by illegal taxation, and Rwanda, and thus not as reliant on cooperating with SOCO as the documentary portrayed.

The recent fall-out between the Congolese army, and MONUSCO, has again underlined the strong need to rethink the synergy between different actors in the region.

Virunga currently does not air in the DRC, which means locals don’t get to see and engage with a film about them. Nevertheless there is hope that greater access to the documentary can stimulate national debates, and enable the public-private partnership Virunga Alliance to be more inclusive of local stakeholders. 

Virunga does evoke the need for “Western action”, and taps into an audience, which feels reaffirmed in their core beliefs when it views Congolese as lacking agency in the realm of conflict, and exploitation. Congolese history has never been defined by “lack of oversight” as Virunga describes, or by “isolation” as a recent “article” by Owen Jones described. The DRC has a history of overlapping international, regional, and personal strategic interests, which must be understood in order to make the “awareness”, which the movie is attempting to evoke, meaningful. Narratives and imagery are important, as they might just fuel the never-ending motor of the white-savior-industrial-complex.

Despite my criticisms, I’d still recommend the film as it is important to expose the complicated history of the eastern DRC internationally.

*For indepth analysis on the eastern DRC and the Great Lakes Region, I can recommend following the Rift Valley Institute.

Labor protests in Swaziland: when no news is not good news

On Sunday there were no reports of teargas, arrests and beating of democracy activists in Swaziland. Having worked with African unions since 2006, I got used to the annual reports of abuses of trade unionists and other democracy activists calling for democracy on April 12. It was always followed by international solidarity actions, including faxing protest letters to current ruler, King Mswati III. This year there were no April 12 protests in Swaziland.

King Sobhuza II set aside the constitution April 12 1973, declaring a state of emergency and proclaiming  all executive, judicial and legislative functions his prerogative. The little landlocked kingdom between South Africa and Mozambique is the last absolute monarchy on the continent with no guarantee of basic human or trade union rights. The Swazi democracy movement has used April 12 as a day of protest and call for democracy; a date dreaded by the government.

The 2005 constitution did not change the status of the King. Additional anti-terror acts have worsen the situation for the democracy movement, in reality prolonging the state of emergency and where political parties are still banned. The biggest opposition party, The People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), operates partly underground, partly from South Africa, and when sticking their head out: Facing the police.

The trade union movement has spearheaded the democracy movement. Since the two federations SFTU (Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions) and SFL (Swaziland Federation of Labor) started close cooperation in 2010, they also blew new life and vigor to the democracy movement and the April 12 protests. Further ignited by the Arab Spring and the many protests in Sub Saharan Africa, the April 12 Uprising of 2011 was the biggest mobilization in the history of the protest, described as a war-zone, followed by forceful clampdown from army and police. The arrest and torture of the student leader Mazwell Dlamini, sparked the international student and solidarity NGOs to action.

When SFTU and SFL merged to form one joint confederation, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), in March 2012, it took the government only a month to find a loophole: The 2005 constitution provides for the right to organize trade unions – but there is no reference to trade union federations: hence it cannot be legal. TUCOSWA was deregistered to massive protest from solidarity organization and trade union bodies. For a while, it looked like the government would back down. The unions did not back down, and April 12th 2012 saw another democracy protests followed by arrests. After this is it gradually more and more silent in Swaziland on April 12. Last year, there were some minor protests.

Yesterday, there are no reports of protests. TUCOSWA is still banned and continuously disturbed by the police, despite repetitive protests from the international union movement, and a host of United Nations bodies. But they have little leverage on the kingdom. There is a dangours silence from the most important actor: South Africa. COSATU has been one of TUCOSWAs most ardent supporters, but internal troubles have hampered its international and solidarity work. To add to it, the South Africa’ government has many ties, in addition to the personal and cultural (the Zulu-Dlamini connection) and direct investments by the ruling ANC. To quote an old adage by the late Steve Biko (who is also the inspiration for student protests over curriculum, name changes and public symbols at universities in South Africa), the Swazi workers are on their own.

Despite the troubles, Swazi trade unionists do have the spirits (and some international support) and is actually an inspiration of unity and commitment, on a continent sadly characterized by splits and disunity in the trade union movement.

Weekend Music Break No.69

A general round-up of tunes that caught our ear this week at Africa is a Country, in no particular order.

Martinique-born Jazz composer and pianist, Chassol returns home to film a Carnival-inspired video for his song “Reich & Darwin,” off of his album Big Sun.

 

Here’s one for the DJs: UK-based Hagan is back with another EP for Italian-Liberian duo Pepesoup’s label Soupu Music. This one I’m pretty sure samples one of those Angolan Kuduro can players.

Liberia’s David Mell moved from Monrovia to Minnesota in the past year, but that didn’t stop him from producing Afropop heat!

South Africa’s Kid X has been turning heads in Africa is a Country circles.

 

Ghanian “AfricanEDM” duo Red Red release a video with Sarkodie and some great dancers in Jamestown.

 

Percy gives “Bonnie and Clyde” a Nigerian update:

 

The Very Best released their new album Makes a King last week. They have two videos already out from songs on the album. Here is one.

 

Nigerian rapper Kelvin King filmed a video (called “Freestyle”) in Johannesburg. It’s seem Pan-Africanism is contagious.

 

Stromae is endlessly pursued by a blue bird.

 

Last but not least, one big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Africa is a Country founder, Sean Jacobs!

Danny Mekonnen of Debo Band previews this weekend’s Aputumpu Festival in Boston

To kick off this weekend’s Aputumpu Festival in Boston, Danny Mekonnen from Debo Band gives us a preview of what people can expect to see from the city’s vibrant international music community.

Debo Band has had the good fortune to play some incredible festivals at home and abroad, from Bonnaroo and New Orleans Jazz Fest in the US, to the Montreal Jazz Fest and Sauti za Busara in Zanzibar. Festivals offer the best opportunity for both bands and fans of music to be heard and to discover to act, in a focused, compact event. That’s why we’re excited to be able to participate in the inaugural edition of our hometown’s Aputumpu Festival, this weekend in Boston.

The producers of the Aputumpu Festival have created a line-up that reflects the eclectic nature of the local music scene with an emphasis on bands that groove. And this is just what New England needed, our winter was historically brutal with almost three meters of snow (110.6 inches, but who’s counting). Aputumpu is literally bringing the heat to the Middle East, one of the longest running independent rock clubs in this part of the country.

Tonight features a smorgasbord of acts that are at the pulse of the of genre-blurring that we see in Boston, while Saturday showcases the who’s who of African-influenced bands in the area, with five groups that have been making their mark on the local scene.

Led by myself and fronted by charismatic Amharic crooner Bruck Tesfaye, Debo Band has won praise for their groundbreaking take on Ethiopian pop music, which incorporates traditional scales and vocal styles, alongside American soul and funk rhythms, and instrumentation reminiscent of Eastern European brass bands.

The maghrebi funk of Atlas Soul celebrates polyrhythm and melodies rooted in Afro-Mediterranean musical styles, while bringing together musicians with diverse backgrounds that include Morocco, Algeria, and Greece.

One of the largest bands of the festival, Federator No. 1, plays uptempo afrobeat, reggae, and afro-dance music with a pool of players from Berklee, and other globe trotting touring musicians and dancers.

Led by Mozambican native, Helder Tsinine, Kina Zoré seeks to illuminate social issues that impact communities near and far. His songs feature the lyrics and rhythms of social change in the spirit of Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, and Thomas Mapfumo.

Master sabar drummer Lamine Toure has been a mainstay on the New England music scene for over 10 years, notably as an Artist-in-Residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he leads drumming ensembles. He wears a different hat as the front-man of Group Saloum, a Senegelese Mbalax band.

Africa is a Radio: Season 2, Episode 2

In this edition of Africa is a Radio, the Africa is a Country team discusses the Nigerian Election results, #CadaanStudies, the Garissa Attacks in Kenya, and South African Cricket. Plus music from all over Africa and beyond.

Digital Archive No. 16 — Nigerian Nostalgia

Nigeria has gotten a lot of attention on this platform in the past few weeks, with the publication of a new e-book the week prior to the election of Muhammadu Buhari over Goodluck Jonathan. I have been wanting to cover the Nigerian Nostalgia Project since Sean brought it to my attention a couple of months ago, but I was waiting for the right time. This time of change and possibilities in Nigeria seems like the right time to look at a project that aims to preserve Nigerian pasts while also facilitating the development of national pride amongst members of the global Nigerian diaspora.

Nigerian Nostalgia has been featured on Africa Is a Country previously, but the project has expanded and evolved since that 2011 post. This hybrid crowdsourced digital archive and social media project originally launched on Facebook as part of an effort to use social media as as “place for the estimated 6 million Nigerian users online to gather and piece together, through commentary and discussion, the fragmented history of our collective recent past.” This emphasis on the psychological potential of this project, according to the Tumblr site, was meant to “reconnect the Nigerian psyche to pre-existent, indigenous and proper thought giving base to national pride and a foundation for a sustainable future.” This emphasis on reconnecting Nigerians to their past is linked to the founder, Etim Eyo, being called unpatriotic by a friend. Based on this, Eyo said that he “wanted to find inside myself what would I be celebrating? And I realized that we have to celebrate the values, history and the things that identify us.” That is the impetus driving the community-building activities associated with this project. Olayemi, the founder and administrator of the Tumblr site, similarly found this project to be an outlet to reconnect to her personal history, as well as challenging popular misconceptions of Africa.

For me, the purpose of this blog is simply to learn more about my history. Collectively, there is constant negativity that surrounds Nigeria and Africa as a whole, so the objective of this blog is to show Nigeria’s true beauty and richness in culture both in the past and at this very moment. And who doesn’t like to see old pictures of their beloved country? Haha.

As Olayemi’s comments indicate, the main focus of this project, whether on Tumblr or Facebook, is on photographs as a means to preserve the past, in addition to inspiring nostalgia among Nigerians, wherever they may be located. The Facebook group (which requires membership) is host to a whole range of content, from advertisements in magazines to profiles of athletes to family photos. The photos posted on the group range from the 1960s to the 1980s. This was a conscious choice by the founders, who wanted to limit the chronological frame to the pre-digital age.  The Tumblr offers photographs, gifs, and videos that span the Nigerian past from the nineteenth century to the present.  Between the two different platforms, users can explore a wide expanse of Nigerian realities, inspiring critical thought and nostalgic reflection.  You can see a selection of photos pulled from Tumblr below.

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Over the years, the project has jumped from social media to the art scene, being featured in art exhibitions in LagosPhoto 2012 and a “Native Nostalgia” exhibit in Johannesburg in 2013-2014. The Lagos event, in particular, marked the first time that the project left the confines of social media, with the “intimately scaled prints cover the walls of the exhibition venue to form an encapsulating mural.”  Curator of LagosPhoto, Joseph Gergel, found that although there was doubt about the transition of the project into a gallery space and the ability to maintain the connectivity that marks the project online, but, he found, “it did: visitors conversed in person and exchanged their own memories of…cultural events.”  The analog presentations of the fruits of this digital projects shows just how far an endeavor of this kind can go in forging community outside of physical boundaries.

A shot of the Nigerian Nostalgia installation at LagosPhoto 2012.

Contribute to Nigerian Nostalgia through Facebook. You can also submit photos through the Tumblr site.  You can also follow Nigerian Nostalgia on Twitter.  As always, feel free to send me suggestions in the comments or via Twitter of sites you might like to see covered in future editions of The Digital Archive!

Ryan Gosling’s Film ‘White Shadow’ is an Unflinching Take on Albino Killings in Tanzania

White Shadow, a new feature film directed by Noaz Deshe and executive produced by Ryan Gosling, tackles the persecution and killing of albinos, and the underground trade of their body parts for traditional medicine. This has long haunted Tanzania, a country that ironically has one of the highest percentages of albinism in the world. The film tells the story of Alias, a Tanzanian albino adolescent who after witnessing the brutal hacking of his albino father for traditional medicine, is sent by his mother to the city where she hopes a safer life awaits him.

Alias’ mother leaves him in the care of her brother, a man the boy has never met. He befriends his cousin, the streetwise but alluring Antoinette, who playfully taunts him as he learns to adapt to city life. Alias’ tense experience of Dar es Salaam, the port of peace, is brilliantly captured. As he wanders through a backdrop of picturesque scenes typical of the placid charm of the city, the viewer carries the incessant anxiety, distrust and fear that plague him. Many commentators found that the middle section of the movie dragged on for too long, but I found this to be effective in conveying the extended apprehension of waiting to be hunted down. Deshe spares the viewer no censorship in illustrating the violence of this industry, and the trauma of these jarring, visceral visuals keep one guarded throughout the movie, and in my case beyond.

Only when Alias is with Salum, an albino friend who initially only appears in dreamlike scenarios, do we feel safe. However, as the film’s fragmented sequence aligns, we discover that Salum is definitely real, and suddenly a nightmare lurks in every shot of this double bounty’s escapades.

White Shadow explores, to varying degrees, themes of traditional medicine, mental health, religion, poverty, urbanization, and dehumanization, highlighting the power of belief systems in driving social reactions to these phenomena. The film leaves one plagued with question after unanswerable question.

White Shadow is immensely difficult to watch. I had to watch the film in two sittings because of the sheer assault on my senses, my nerves, my conscience. My husband abandoned me for the second half and said while the film is beautifully made, he could not confront its inevitable conclusion. I, on the other hand, was captivated by its glorious imagery, its blunt truths, and its protagonist, Alias –particularly his endearing navigation of pubescent life under unimaginably strenuous circumstances. Ultimately, however, my husband was right – the film’s conclusion, whatever it may be, cannot provide respite. Albino killings continue to happen as you read this.

Deshe’s revelation of Dar es Salaam’s dark side, while not entirely surprising, felt like a stark betrayal to the easy going city I know. Likewise, any inclination to obligingly defend a traditional indigenous practice is absent in this instance. These observations are deeply uncomfortable. Deshe claims that the film cannot judge who the real villains are and to some extent neither can we. For all the shame, devastation and anger one feels, it is a complex tragedy to deconstruct, let alone resolve.

#AfricanLivesMatter, Why Do They Not Mourn Along With Us?

One week ago, one hundred and forty seven/147 young adults met their death at the hands of terrorists in Garissa, Kenya. The number, whether alphabetically or numerically written out, holds no value. It is so arbitrary and trivial, yet it is what most media headlines were fixated on. As the hours went by and the death toll slowed to its final knell, it became even harder to visualize each tallied body as a being unto its own.

When the shock and confusion died down a few days later, fellow Kenyans and I awoke to a deafening silence. Headlines in the West quickly shifted to ‘Terrorist attack raises security questions for Obama’s visit to Kenya.’ On social media my Kenyan friends shared #AfricanLivesMatter and #147notjustanumber, a call to arms to our brothers and sisters around the world, which to our chagrin, was again met by silence. The world had moved on, another bunch of Africans had died — too far away, in a land either too vast or small but either way insignificant, imagined as akin to World Vision commercials and nature documentaries.

Image credit Capital FM Kenya Twitter

I ask, why do we need the West to care? Will it lessen our sorrow for our slain brothers and sisters? Are we still in the clutches of colonialism where the reaction of our former masters gives us any sort of satisfaction? When will we stop holding onto righteous indignation causing us to always fill the role of a victim?

Don’t get me wrong; it is an injustice to care for one life above another just because of their random geographical placement and apparent shade of their skin. But don’t we Africans have enough of our own to mourn along with? We can ask where the West was, but we can also ask where were the leaders of our very own African Union?

Image credit Capital FM Kenya Twitter

During the Charlie Hebdo attack, 9/11 or the Boston bombings, I succinctly remembered the lack of gory images of victims – not to say they did not exist. However, the media networks held back these images out of respect for the unique identities of every single one of the dead or injured victims. A dead body is identified by the physical arrangements that make up a bodily visage, but not by their personality, voice or vigour. This is what makes a person; their movements, sounds, thoughts, and energies. Let us continue to remember them this way and not as simply ‘bodies’ to be paraded around our virtual streets.  If you would like to celebrate the lives these individuals have lived, share this link.

If there is one thing almost all university alumni share is the remembrance of that universal feeling of idealism, a hunger for knowledge and a hope for the future yet untainted by cynicisms that burgeon with age. What a tragic time in one’s life to die; so many promising lives unfulfilled and inventions, innovations, inspirations nipped at the bud.

The Aliens Have Already Landed: The Landscape of African and Afro-Diasporic Science Fiction

In recent years, African and Afro-Diasporic science fiction has been gaining notice in scholarly and literary circles. It’s a welcome change for those of us who grew up devouring stories about adventurous souls bravely going forth into the final frontier. The writers of this fiction still rely on some familiar tropes such as alien invasions, augmented humans, and alternate timelines but also push the boundaries of what we understand as science fiction.

There are, of course, earlier texts from African writers that are similarly innovative… In Emmanuel Dongala’s short story “Jazz et vin de palme” (“Jazz and Palm Wine”), aliens land in a Congolese village and can only be pacified with the jazz and palm wine of the title. Sony Labou Tansi’s classic La vie et demie (Life and a Half) has also been read as science fiction by scholar Lydie Moudelino. The frame of a future look back on 1970s politics in Boubacar Boris Diop’s Temps de Tamango (The Time of Tamango) can also be read productively in the context of science fiction.

More recently, Nigerian-American Nnedi Okorafor’s novel Lagoon envisions aliens landing in Lagos and what happens thereafter. As Okorafor puts it in an interview on the radio show To the Best of Our Knowledge, “Lagos is . . . the perfect place for an alien invasion to happen.” In the hustle and bustle of contemporary Lagos, the extraterrestrials interact not only with the city’s human inhabitants but also with animals, plants, spirits, and ancestors.

Works like Lagoon, in which literal aliens arrive not in New York, Washington, or a cornfield in Iowa, centralize their respective locations and place them firmly in a planetary context. Why wouldn’t aliens end up (or choose to land) somewhere on such a large continent?

While not strictly science fiction, Ken Bugul’s novel La Pièce d’or (The Gold Coin) makes free use of the term “extraterrestres” in the context of a threatened apocalypse, raising uncertainty and forcing readers to rethink existing narratives of colonial and postcolonial encounters. The text depicts desolate urban and rural landscapes that are repeatedly described has having declined “since the 1960s” – a common literary refrain. However, “the occupiers from afar” and “the new occupiers,” as they are referred to in the novel, might not quite be the European colonizers and neo-colonialist Senegalese ruling class; perhaps they are “extraterrestres,” literally as well as figuratively. After all, the world could end because a comet is rushing towards an enormous mountain of trash in the center of not-quite-Dakar. Ken Bugul uses science fictional allusions to introduce doubt in our expectations about what typically happens in a postindependence novel.

Beyond alien invasion, other recent novels combine cosmology with technology in exciting ways. In these works, enhanced beings and supernaturally modified everyday objects intersect with existing belief systems. Importantly, the results are unnerving as much for the characters as for the reader. In Deji Olukotun’s recently featured Nigerians in Space, for example, a young man’s solar-powered “moon lamp” seems mysteriously able to replicate actual moonlight. In Zoo City by South African writer Lauren Beukes, a mysterious global outbreak punishes those who commit murder or manslaughter by giving them an animal familiar (with whom they share a close emotional and physical bond) and a personalized supernatural power; the new abilities come into conflict with technologies and beliefs that have developed simultaneously. Protagonist Zinzi has a sloth familiar and can read minds, but when she’s brought in for a police interrogation, she cannot use her power to read her interrogator’s thoughts because of the police station’s “magic blockers” that are “regulation infrasound.” On the cosmological side of things, a dangerous black market trade in the magical animals has developed because some believe that they can be used effectively for ritual sacrifice.

Despite growing recognition for these and other contemporary authors, some of the questions raised by this post about the interest of African audiences in science fiction remain. The longstanding intersection of music and Afrofuturism offers another avenue through which to imagine alternative worlds in Africa and beyond (see, for example, Chimurenga’s Pan-African Space Station), as do films, comic books, and other forms of visual art – each of which warrant their own articles and have. But really, there’s no point in questioning whether or not Africa is ready for science fiction. It has already arrived in various urban locations where sci-fi already had a fan base.

The Consequences of Obama’s Sanctions Against Venezuela

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro started this year facing a political crisis. The economic depression the country is going through affected Maduro’s public approval. And Latin American leaders, like Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff and the former Uruguayan President José Mujica, sent letters to Maduro expressing their concern for his treatment of the Venezuelan opposition.

But in the middle of this crisis, Maduro received help from an unexpected source: President Barack Obama. On March 10, the U. S. government declared Venezuela to be a “threat to national security,” and announced sanctions against seven Venezuelan officials for alleged human rights violations and corruption. One month after the announcement it seems that, paradoxically, the sanctions ended up helping Venezuela’s leader.

Citizens and politicians in Latin America criticized the sanctions against Maduro’s Government. The Union of South American Nations that gathers 12 countries officially called for the revocation of sanctions and said Obama’s announcement “constitutes an interventionist threat to sovereignty and the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.”

Uruguayan president Mujica, who sent a letter of concern to Maduro, organized a march in solidarity for Venezuela. Hundreds of Uruguayans attended. “To say that Venezuela is a threat the United States security you need to be have a screw loose,” Mujica said at the rally.

The Latin American diplomatic actors are now focused on the sanctions, not on Maduro’s treatment to the opposition. In an interview with Democracy Now!, Ecuador’s foreign minister explained that the Summit of the Americas, which will be held in April, is now an opportunity to find a diplomatic solution between Venezuela and the United States. It was supposed to celebrate the new relations between the U. S. and Cuba.

Maduro’s popularity has not risen dramatically within his country after the sanctions. According to the local pollster Datanalisis, the president’s popularity increased to 25 percent after the U. S. declared Venezuela a security threat. The same poll had announced that Maduro’s popularity was 23 percent in February. The increase is not remarkable yet, but it is not good news for the opposition either. Maduro’s popularity could keep rising as he capitalizes an anti-American sentiment. He is constantly talking about the sanctions on public radios and state television stations to gather ten millions signatures and demand Obama to take back the sanctions. Millions of Venezuelans have already supported Maduro’s initiative, since many don’t forget the U.S. supported the coup d’état against former President Hugo Chavez.

“Obama’s sanctions reveal how little he cares for Venezuela,” a reporter from Caracas said. According to her, after the Republican Party criticized Obama’s position towards Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu, the negotiations with Iran, and the diplomatic relations with Cuba, Obama’s sanctions were seen by some people within Venezuela as a political move to please the Republican Party with one foreign policy decision. Republicans have always opposed Venezuela’s socialist leaders like Maduro and former President Hugo Chávez.

“With Venezuela Obama has nothing to lose because he knows the economic relations will be maintained,” she said. Despite the anti-American rhetoric and former tensions, Venezuela remains the U. S. third largest trading partner in Latin America, behind Mexico and Brazil, exporting $11,339 millions on goods last year. Most of the exports were agricultural products. Venezuela exported $30,219 million goods towards the United States on the same year, 90 per cent being oil.

Not even the Venezuelan opposition supported Obama’s action. The country will hold legislative elections at the end of this year and the opposition has not gained the majority in Congress since 1998. The economic crisis–which consists of high inflation and scarcity of basic goods–increased the opposition’s possibilities to gain power, as did the public outrage created by the arrest of leaders of the opposition. But after Obama’s sanctions, opposition leaders had to express their rejection to the U. S. decision. “This announcement is not helping the Venezuelan opposition by interfering in internal problems,” an opposition leader and Governor of the Lara region, named Henri Falcón, said.

Experts on Latin American politics criticized Obama’s sanctions for being hypocritical. After security forces disappeared and possibly killed 43 students in the Mexican’s region of Ayotzinapa last September, the U. S. Government did not announce similar sanctions against Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

“The reality is that in Mexico 43 students disappeared in Ayotzinapa in the state of Guerrero, and hardly a peep from the U. S.,” professor of Latin American Studies at Pomona College Miguel Tinker Salas said. “It took weeks for the State Department to actually respond. So we have a duplicitous policy, on the one hand highlighting human rights issues in Venezuela, while on the other hand turning a blind eye to what is really a humanitarian crisis in Mexico, with over 80,000 dead, 40,000 disappeared and 15 million people being expelled from their own country.”

Obama also ignored Colombia’s human rights record as NYU history professor Greg Grandin explains. “The most dangerous consequence of this action is to put Colombian peace talks between the government and the FARC [guerrillas] in jeopardy,” he said. The left-wing guerrillas are supporters of the Venezuelan government. Since Colombian President Santos is the United State’s most faithful ally, an escalation of the tensions between Venezuela and the U. S. puts him in an uncomfortable position during the peace process.

Obama’s sanctions will probably be a bump on the road, but will not determine the future of Venezuelan politics. The opposition still has a change to win the legislative elections if inflation continues to rise in Venezuela, and the support to President Nicolas Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution does not depend only on Obama’s decisions. But the fast reaction against any form of U. S. intervention shows how important the ‘scars’ of past interventions in Latin America are. During the Cold War, the U.S prevented left-wing leaders from reaching power by supporting right wing dictatorships or death squads. Without acknowledging this traumatic history of U. S. unilateral interventions, Obama missed the opportunity to seriously talk about and to Venezuela.