Chris Williamson has been attempting to justify his continuing support for the murderous Maduro regime in Venezuela by quoting comments supposedly made by a UN rapporteur criticising US sanctions on Venezuela, including during his shameful speech in Parliament on Monday:
“The UN rapporteur, the first to visit Venezuela in 21 years, clearly said that the US sanctions were illegal and could amount to crimes against humanity”.
But who exactly is this mysterious UN rapporteur Williamson is so keen to promote?
Guido can reveal that Williamson’s source is in fact Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, a hugely controversial Cuban-born lawyer and prolific author of historically revisionist accounts of Nazi Germany, who has also made numerous anti-Semitic remarks. You couldn’t make it up…
De Zayas is also a big fan of Fidel Castro, saying after he died that he “would go down in history as a figure of the calibre of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.” Perhaps that helps to explain why de Zayas was installed in 2012 to the UN post of ‘Expert on Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order’. The post was created by the Cuban regime…
De Zayas is a hero to holocaust deniers for his writings accusing Churchill and Roosevelt of “genocide” against Nazi Germany during World War Two – in 2001 he was awarded a prize by the Zeitgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle Inglostadt, an openly historical-revisionist outfit which skirts the bounds of outright holocaust denial. De Zayas has also made a range of anti-Semitic comments himself including:
“Nuremberg was an exercise in hypocrisy. A continuation of hate and war… a corruption of legal norms and procedures, a pollution of philosophy, a truly Pharisee tribunal”
“Moses had a difficult time when he had the Jewish people cross through the Red Sea, because half of them were busy collecting beautiful shells.”
So it’s no real surprise that the actively anti-Semitic government of Nicolas Maduro controversially chose de Zayas in 2017 to be the first UN rapporteur allowed to visit the country since 2002. This prompted an outcry of a coalition of 50 NGOs who wrote an open letter to de Zayas questioning the validity and independence of his visit, and urging him to reconsider or insist that the regime allow other international observers in as a precondition of his visit. Naturally none of that happened…
Predictably, de Zayas’ report on Venezuela was a complete whitewash – it completely glosses over any notion of human rights abuses by the Maduro regime and even effectively accused opposition politicians such as Leopoldo Lopez who have been imprisoned by the regime of trying to foment war. Meanwhile, Maduro’s regime is characterised as a “democratically elected government” with de Zayas insisting that “only they can effectively protect the human rights of persons under their jurisdiction and implement change.” The UN should be ashamed to have allowed their name to be attached to a report like that…
De Zayas is no longer a UN rapporteur but is still actively dispensing his pro-Maduro propaganda, dismissing the current situation as a “so-called humanitarian crisis” and accusing the opposition of an “attempted coup d’etat”. The fact that Chris Williamson is repeatedly quoting a man like this so approvingly speaks volumes…
Juan Guaido, the newly declared legitimate leader of Venezuela, has written to Mark Carney and Theresa May imploring that they prevent the transaction of £1 billion in gold to the illegitimate Maduro regime. The gold held by the Bank of England makes up 15% of Venezeula’s foreign currency reserves…
In the letter, Guaido wrote “If the money is transferred it will be used by the illegitimate and kleptocratic regime of Nicolas Maduro to repress and brutalise the Venezuelan people.” Guido agrees with Guaido…
As the Bank of England is independent, the Government can’t block the transaction itself, but could lean on Carney to do so. This issue has been running for months. Why has Carney still not blocked it?
Chris Williamson stood up in the chamber to claim that “the truth is millions support the Maduro Government.” He’s probably right, just most of those millions are wealthy Trotskyist Westerners like him who have never had to endure socialist oppression…
Perhaps the only thing more predictable about a socialist government than brutal crackdowns on civil liberties and economic collapse is the UK’s hard left coming out in solidarity with it. Sure enough, the usual suspects are out in force in the Guardian, with numerous senior Labour MPs including John McDonnell, Diane Abbott, Richard Burgon, Chris Williamson and Clive Lewis co-signing a letter along with Owen Jones condemning the “US attempt at regime change” in Venezuela and instead calling for “dialogue”. Classic…
Never mind the fact that it’s millions of ordinary Venezuelans who are taking to the streets to demand regime change after seeing their lives ruined by the crippling socialist policies of successive dictators Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro – obviously they’re just part of a grand “far right” US conspiracy which must be resisted to keep Maduro in place.
At least they’ve got some renowned moral authorities on their side, the letter was also signed by antisemitism scandal-ridden Pete Willsman and the disgraced Ken Livingstone. When you’re on Ken Livingstone’s side of history you know you’re on the wrong one…
UPDATE: Labour MP Angela Smith has condemned the letter as a “disgrace”, as well as the fact that Baroness Massey’s name was wrongly attached to the letter.
UPDATE II: Labour peer Baroness Massey insists her name was wrongly included in the list. “I disassociate myself from this letter,” she told PoliticsHome, “I know nothing about it. My name is Doreen E Massey and I’ve never heard of this letter – it’s nothing to do with me. They have pursued this in a very unprofessional way. It’s crazy.”
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is coming under fresh fire over an imminent meeting with two of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro’s key sidekicks. Extraordinarily, Guido understands that Carney is due to meet a delegation from Maduro’s ruinous regime tomorrow including Calixto Ortega Sanchez, the self-styled “President” of the Venezuelan Central Bank, and Simon Zerpa, Maduro’s Finance Minister. The delegation want Carney to transfer them $550 million of gold held by the Bank of England. Nothing suspicious about that at all…
Ortega Sanchez was appointed by Maduro but never ratified by the Venezuelan National Assembly, who have accused him of “usurping” their authority. Zerpa was sanctioned by the US Government for stealing hundreds of million of dollars and is heavily involved in the many corruption schemes of the Venezuelan regime, including the FONDEN slush fund. Neither have the credentials for the roles they’ve been granted. Carney should not even be dignifying Maduro’s cronies with a meeting, let alone seriously be considering handing over $550m of gold to them.
Tory MP Andrew Lewer, who is Vice-Chairman of the Venezuela APPG, has written urgently to Carney and Philip Hammond, describing the meeting as “entirely inappropriate” and urging Carney not to “confer respectability on a regime placeman such as Calixto Ortega who is unlawfully seeking to present himself as a central bank president.” Lewer also warns that “any transfer of gold to the regime would be quite wrong, as the proceeds would either be used for corrupt personal enrichment of regime leaders, or intensified repression of the population, or both.” Carney has already tarnished the Bank’s reputation with his politicking on Brexit, this would take it to new depths…
Read Lewer’s letter in full here:
UPDATE: Interestingly, if Carney did hand over the cash it wouldn’t be the first time the Bank of England has handed over gold to a murderous regime in dubious circumstances…
There were dramatic scenes in parliament last night at the Venezuela APPG as a group of Corbynista MPs, including Chris Williamson and shadow minister Karen Lee, attempted to stage a takeover of the committee. Amid confusion about when and where the meeting was taking place, the Corbynistas attempted to eject the public from the AGM and force an early vote on the committee while they were in the majority. A classic Chavista-style manoeuvre…
However, the plan was foiled when quick-thinking MPs including Andrew Lewer activated their WhatsApp networks and rallied moderate colleagues, who promptly turned up in large numbers to outnumber the Corbynistas. After APPG Chair and Labour moderate Graham Jones refused to clear the room as the Corbynistas were demanding, Williamson realising he was in the minority got up and stormed out with his comrades. The Venezuela APPG – which is leading the way in exposing the plight of Venezuelan victims of the regime – was within a whisker of becoming a cheerleader for the murderous Maduro regime. As one counter-revolutionary Tory MP quipped afterwards, “Thank God for WhatsApp”…
