Transcripts For ALJAZ Inside Story 20240711

That issued its largest ever emergency funding appeal for 6400000000 dollars to reach 300000000 people. 6 coronavirus patients have died in a pakistani hospice on the shower after oxygen supplies ran to hundreds of patients were left for hours on reduced oxygen because of a delay in deliveries polls to choose gonna us president and members of parliament have closed the incumbent president nana those main rival is the man he replaced 4 years ago john the hama both men have signed a pact saying they will accept the officially declared winner. French president of iran michael says future arms sales to egypt will not be made conditional on its human rights record but mike ross said he did speak frankly about Rights Violations of president had been fed to his c. C. In paris on monday without adding any more detail. I will not make our cooperation in defense or economic matters conditional on these disagreements 1st because i believe in the sovereignty of people and respect for our legitimate and reciprocal interests 2nd because i believe that it is more effective to have a policy of demanding dialogue than a policy of boycott that would reduce the effectiveness of one of our partners in the fight against terrorism and for regional stability leaders from across the European Union are continuing talks to see what hope remains of a post brought brics a trade deal with the u. K. The e. U. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has been meeting embassadors of the 27 Member States to see if a deal can be agreed before the january 1st deadline british Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to speak with the e. U. Commission she 1st of underlying later on monday yet today to the headlines well have more news at the top of the hour for now its inside story coming up with imran khan thanks for watching. Venezuelas president consolidates power right says hes retaking control of the last state institution in opposition hands so does his opponent have any legitimacy left this isnt such a. I. Program imran khan many say venezuelas parliamentary election was over before it even began the opposition boycotted sundays vote calling it a sham president Nicolas Maduro says hes regained the National Assembly the last institution controlled by his opponent one go i dont its the latest setback for the oppositions aim to remove madore from Office America editor lucien human reports. It wasnt necessary to wait for the official Election Results to be announced to know the outcome as a jubilant president. Made clear. We had the patience the wisdom to wait for this hour to wait for the state to get rid of that nefarious National Assembly that the opposition used to bring the plague of sanctions on to venezuela now with this vote we will have just. Been israels mainstream opposition boycotted the Legislative Assembly poll which they say lacked the minimum conditions of a fair and free election the progovernment Supreme Court had taken over 3 of the 4 principal opposition parties appointing new leaders who are accused of being pawns of mughal in addition the Court Appointed a new Electoral Council also to the government. And there were no independent observers only staunch supporters like former bolivian president evo morales despite threats to withhold subsidized food boxes to those who didnt vote the turnout was poor. In this Voting Center in the macoutes a district that is normally a lot of people when theres an election today what you have is a fraud now a country which is clearly my only real madrid as foreign allies like russia china and iran will likely applaud the elections which could give their commercial agreements with venezuela a stronger Legal Framework with which to circumvent u. S. And european sanctions but the United States the e. U. And many latin american countries say they wont recognize the new parliament. Mother who plans to ask the new assembly to appoint a special commission to try enemies of the state especially opposition you know one by the law but that could bring on more international reprisals dirtier. I think it would be better from a juror to leave quite a alone. And play cat and mouse with him grab him by the tail and let him go what will the world see an Opposition Leader who once had 61 percent support and now has half of that and is losing more by the day. My dog has been recognized it when israel is interim president by more than 50 countries but his legitimacy has rested on being the elected leader of the nationalists. Come january when the new legislature is sworn in the opposition will lose the only state institution it controlled destroying what critics regard as the national remnant of democracy in venezuela. You see in human aljazeera in 2019 declared himself interim president claiming the duros reelection the year before was illegitimate as head of the National Assembly gado said he had the constitutional right to lead more than 50 nations including the u. S. And venezuelas neighbors recognize him as the legitimate leader quite a promise to relive the door up form a Transitional Government and organize free elections but his powers were limited as mature or maint in control of the military and the judiciary. Lets bring in our guests pulled open is an analyst an electoral system specialist at venezuela analysis dot com he joins us from merida in venezuela and new york we have venison newman founder and c. E. O. Of the consultancy asymmetrical she recently resigned as the official representative for one gado to the United Kingdom and ireland and joining us from washington d. C. Eric phones with Vice President at the council of the americas and former Senior Advisor to white house special envoy for the americas the old lets begin in venezuela with paul dobson is one as well the no one party states. Not a toilet run not at all i think looking at the initial results of yesterdays elections we can see that the ruling party and that allies are 8 parties which will say back to that confidence of he won a majority in the National Assembly but there are also important representations for the opposition and one bloc of the opposition won 18 percent of the vote another block won 4 percent of the vote and even the left wing critics of the government the communist party won 3 percent so then that i was stunned to read representation in the new National Assembly which will start its ruling on january 1st but will it have any real teeth. When i was with every parliament in the world there is a Majority Party there is a majority voice we could all flee imposing the gender on the on the parliament this is how democracy way and we would expect that the ruling party will in well pass them majority of the laws but it wouldnt wish it to the president or the National Assembly but there will be opposition voices within the parliament how effective that will be and it would have another lot on the capacity of the parliamentary legislative took me to elected minister norman in new york is quite a rosy picture pulled of his painting that i think perhaps you think i dont. Know i dont agree with him at all. Absolutely not i mean this was 1st of all the middle regime is illegitimate whatever it does is illegitimate it has you know it has ups 1st of all it has. The mother was not supposed to be in power because he had a farcical election in 2018 the entire creation of basic kwang by though stems out of the legitimate National Assembly that that got sworn that won the election in 2015 so everything that my daughter does is illegitimate period. No constitutional guarantees we have no proper International Observation they had they call they made they coopted the insignias of the main opposition parties they paid for the socalled opposition they had no free air time they blocked communications and they threatened people with food i think if you dont vote you dont eat any election where you have a party that says threatens you with starvation without voting for the regime is is im tired democratic is using food is actually part of one of the complaints of crimes against humanity is using food as a political weapon so in this election they committed a crime against humanity in this socalled election and thats really all you need to know and the participation was really this fight. So starvation was absolutely reasonable its around 20 percent around 20 percent perhaps even that way now polio was a little unfair to you by saying you painted a rosy picture there but you were telling us with what was going on however the nasa paints quite a different picture is any part of that that you do agree with where the let lets just clarify the participation according to the data released by the independent National Electoral count for 31 percent. There are a host of International Independent International Observers in the country who are very who are verifying the electoral process they will be admitting a report within the next 48 hours on their conclusion so i think the election in itself doesnt fact meet International Requirements of comes parents and one of their element which manesar point out which is which is iranian is that all of the candidates we didnt have the effect of the communist Party Candidates but one of the opposition candidates had free airtime on national t. V. On private and public media and very what happened then the proposal to the country ok there were 107 parties running so i think we have to be very careful when we look at this election and we shouldnt be basing base our conclusions on preform prejudices or political analysis trying to distort it to to favor personal political agenda but there was food was used as a weapon in this election you cant deny that some of the government spokesmen did indeed point out that there was there was a link yes and this is also have to be looked at this has to be investigated of this is of course not nor right in any sort of functioning democracy without a doubt. In new york or in washington d. C. Eric phones where the u. S. Made a big deal of backing wide. Alarm bells must be ringing surely. Well in some ways yes in some ways no i mean this was a completely predetermined result i mean we couldve said what the result would have been 3 months ago or so the European Union refused even to send a delegation to observe because they said that even the basic elements of free and Fair Elections could not be met and this was months ago so this socalled election yesterday you know met no standards of legitimacy and because of that there was massive abstention across the country the United States knew that intice a paid it expected it so from that perspective it was a rather ho hum result in the context though Going Forward it does consolidate them of their oath dictatorship it does remove the last vestige of venezuelas once vibrant if imperfect democracy it does take away the last public space for legitimate opposition voices to be raised in a peaceful manner so Going Forward its going to be more complicated in venezuela no question about it and the question will be how does the United States and the International Community respond or now faced with a consolidated dictatorship and will that change policies Going Forward or will there still be an effort to try to make some sort of accommodation i think thats a real question thats going to have to be asked the Incoming Administration to the u. S. Joe biden has got a challenge on his hands with iran with china with russia. I mean how far up the agenda is venezuela going to get the u. S. Its a really good question that youre asking emraan because look any new administration in the u. S. Is going to be faced with a wide variety of challenges in the binah ministration coming and its going to be faced with an even greater set of challenges than normal because theyre simply not receiving the same level of cooperation from the outgoing Trump Administration in terms of transition in terms of building a smooth process to continue looking at some rather complicated issues Going Forward and you mentioned several of them ben as well it is however the worst humana. Tarion crisis in the modern history of the western hemisphere over 20 percent of venezuelas population is now outside of the country as refugees this is a situation that cant be ignored the question will be you know is there a policy that can really help address some of these issues and thats what people have struggled to find and it will be incumbent i think on the Incoming Administration to really work to try to find those solutions i would say however washington is driven often by a crisis and therefore if something happens and were not hoping or predicting or wanting this to occur but if some some crisis occurs in the bennis one context that would push the issue up the agenda in washington now if you were advising the special envoy for the americas the white house special envoy to the americas eric what would you be telling him right now. Well i would be telling him couple things the 1st is the humanitarian crisis has to be addressed by the International Community its not our fault but it is our problem because this is affecting neighbors its affecting the people of venezuela so we have to do better in terms of addressing humanitarian crisis number one number 2 we have to continue to work with the International Community this is not a u. S. Issue this is a venezuelan issue and we have to make sure that those that that perspective is maintained by the International Community the allies the friends certainly the democracies in the western hemisphere but then i also think that the work that the organization of american states has done is very important very profound showing the venezuela has the de facto government regime has and is committed crimes against humanity against its own citizens that process really has to be worked at the International Criminal court in the hague that process is Going Forward but it is taking a long time and my hope would be that for example that the United States could help encourage a more rapid process along those lines sanctions i believe will be continued against individuals in venezuela and of course then the question is is there a negotiation process in the future i guess you have to ask the question is when the goetia process do any good with their regime actually be willing to negotiate anything in particular and thats something that i think that the Incoming Administration in the United States will also have to decide. If you had any advice for the Incoming Administration what would it be and would you like them to push venezuela writes itself. Yes absolutely they would i mean i know that option for the Incoming Biden Administration National Merit is not top of the agenda however venezuela is at the top of that im american agenda because of the crises as eric was saying it isnt because its the biggest humanitarian crisis it also has 2 issues one of the main supports for my google you know touches upon 2 issues that are high on the agenda for the Biden Administration which is china and russia we can expect biden to take a much stronger line against russia. Than the trumpet administration did and china continues to be very high on the agenda if you read any of the white papers of many of the incoming people from the administration theyre all aligned and concerned about chinese influence in the western hemisphere im not you know i dont think that necessarily everything is the fairest but it is certainly an influence point that we have seen that we have seen in him and us whether that china continues the continued support helps keep mother there more broadly though that the russia issue russia has very long term plans to stay in venice well and to really dominate and shown it into another cuba that what does pose very strategic threats against the United States i believe that a lot of the incoming people in the Biden Administration get that there are number of issues that i think the opportunity to to work more collaboratively with the with the European Union presents an opportunity for the for the by the new administration and they can also they need to also go back to pushing things like anticorruption and integrity i personally would very much like to see them pursue a very aggressive and very coherent. Asset Recovery Program a lot of what has happened with why my google it remains in power and why has people who supposed to you know keep him there is because of the illicit financial flows from venice well other than russia it is one of the biggest come to talk received in history and all of that money that has flowed out has flowed through other political. Parties to foreign banks to Foreign Countries and there is no surprise that those countries have been corrupted into supporting them and they need to keep my doodle there because it is basically a washing machine for illicit financial flows so by tall getting that more broadly than just the sanctions were really cutting off those channels as a way to disincentive was the increased support from other rudolph and all that much to talk about honestly surely we are never going to come to i want to come to paul dobson on this if the United States and its allies play hardball with venezuela that plays in to the door his hands right he can just say well look the americans meddling once again in south america 1st without a doubt without a doubt one of the major policy line which helped the ruling party been a failure when yesterdays elections even find the us blockade against the country the us blockade their government have been ruling have been have been running on that line for months on end trying to explain away all of the problems in the country and put the blame exclusively at the door of the blockade when we look at the problems in the country only we can talk about them without mentioning the blockade of rocket a completely illegal criminal and their International Law and also been deprived of collective punishment but we also have to look at other internal factors which is something which the ruling party is not doing in Venezuela Corruption and mismanagement brain drain and Everything Else but these us policy under the trumpet ministration certainly gave a very easy scapegoat to the matter of government in terms of explaining away the on going to economic problems in the country but now weve got a challenge on his hands he has consolidated power which he has done hes got a real challenge on his hands in order to be able to deliver for the venezuelan people and you know if there are functioning there if the the resists blockading simply wont be able to do it well. With or without a doubt without a doubt one of the major lessons from yesterday to election is that there is cross party disillusionment with Political Leadership both in terms of the heaviest of forces but also the Opposition Forces and that really has a lot to do with the fact that people are looking for Solutions People are well aware of the problems people are well aware of the causes of the problems in venezuela they must consciousness about the illegal criminal brocade which is coming out of washington and the people now understand a lot of that want solutions and theyre looking for solutions from any party any group in which to which we will promise them to them and its really about time that we start seeing things things change here on the ground and the quality of life in peru for ordinary going to toil and see shaking hit the. Yes i just wanted to add one comment i want to be clear that what i was advocating was not actually the you know more sanctions or more of the blockade is as old obstinate as labeling it what im talking about is getting back the assets that were stolen the things that belonged to the venezuelan people the mismanagement the money that flowed out through corruption through illicit financial flows so im not saying wait a strangulation but we know that at least 302450 1000000000 dollars has been stolen from the venezuelan people that should be found and that you can incentivize banks by giving them sort of a certain percentage of like almost a finders fee and put it into a boss kit that becomes a trust becomes the basis of a future sovereign wealth funds and give everybody who collaborate in giving back what was stolen from the venezuelan people back to the future prosperity of venezuela a stake in the future prosperity for all solutions that can be found and i think that the illicit financial flows network is a very good way to do it im not talking about stopping the money to develop some people quite the opposite im saying what was stolen should be restored im talking about addressing the kleptocracy so and in terms that is a solution and there are many other solutions that can be proposed i do agree that we do need you know you know a coalition that is also more representative and opposition that looks like the people it purports to represent venezuela is a is a rainbow or the real running because they are not always but i would like to make great other guests as well. In d. C. Look sanctions are always not a great tool for governments as often they often backfire as in the case of iran for example in the maxim press a policy the us has held that is any of what vanessa is saying makes sense to you is a good strategy. Oh absolutely i mean hundreds of billions of dollars have been stolen by the regime through illicit sales of oil which is the patrimony of the country through outright theft through Money Laundering by those by definition those assets loads are devilishly difficult to track down there and thats not to say that the International Community hasnt been looking at those for a long time but i want to take you back to one other point and that is the issue of sanctions ideally sanctions are not just to youd be used to punish theyre also to be used to provide leverage to create conditions that the people in power will find it difficult to sustain and therefore want to negotiate a peaceful resolution to a political crisis there is no blockade on the country items are allowed in items are allowed out a blockade is not something that the United States and pursued it has pursued sanctions on individuals and in those core of course sanctions the Energy Sector as well and the individuals have been sanctioned for a fast and thats a little saying but also for things like Drug Trafficking also for things like human rights abuses things like that that the entire human and International Community is behind the other thing i think we have to mention is that the United States explicitly allows and encourages humanitarian assistance into venezuela and its moderate himself who refuses to accept it 2 years ago the International Community try to get humanitarian assistance into the country and when there are deployed thoughts on the border of colombia and brazil to literally kill people to make sure that humanitarian assistance did not come into the country and that was really looked because on the issue there if he would allow in humanitarian assistance from independent bodies like the red cross then in fact that would be something that would help the venezuelan people mentally. Youre shaking your head at almost everything eric phones us just said. What i think. With that with all due respect i think a little bit more tension need to be paid to whats actually happening in venezuela humanitarian aid has arrived has arrived many times over the last 2 years agone come from washington no but there are other instances in the Global Community which provide humanitarian aid maybe maybe for the people in washington it is hard to imagine that there are other powers in the world but yes they do exist and they house sentiment and inane red cross humanitarian aid chinese humanitarian aid latin American Humanitarian aid even from the vatican theyve sent a monetary nate ok so this has happened in the government are not blocking this and the other point i want to take issue with is the the light the the light that the u. S. Is allowing things to come in and out of venezuela only a few months ago the u. S. Seized some oil tank this bring in fuel to venezuela they took this oil and then they sold it and that money i presume is in the Federal Reserve but it doesnt you know harriman its way though so the u. S. Is not allowing things to come in and out of venezuela there is have been a shortage of the fuel in venezuela which again i repeat have something to do with mismanagement of the industry corruption brain drain a whole other range of of issues principally principally because of the blockade because the us is seizing fuel tankers bringing fuel to venice way that pulled into fuel and im going to feel that im not running. From iraq and iran is undecided you are as i a few are allowed in a few are allowed in and then subsequently u. S. East but they thats not of it as well an issue thats actually america and iraq but its a divide thats all those tankers were leaked it was it was it was you know if you look at 45 minutes whaler to distribute across the country for its population and the u. S. Did not allow the fuel it to arrive in the country this is a fact eric what do you think there has been sanction thats correct the Energy Sector has been function but under International Sanctions but there is a blockade on the country crude and medicine and humanitarian assistance and other things are allowed into the country the process. Well here is the color lapse of governance coming from caracas because of the economy instituted by maduro and the folks around him and the theft of the National Patrimony that has been conducted for almost 20 years by the government this is the real problem the International Community is trying to find ways to address that in a way thats consistent with democratic practices and that goes for the most good for the most venezuelan people who at the end of the day are the real people who are the losers in this entire political battle i want to thank all of. The nesson newman and eric fons with and i want to thank you for watching you can see the program again any site by visiting our website so does their adults column and for further discussion go to our Facebook Page at facebook dot com forward slash a. J. Inside story and you can also join the conversation on twitter we are at a. J. Inside story for me iraq and the whole team here in life and. I. In 1958 Charles De Gaulle made a famous speech in algeria to the but take a dont hold back the tide of algerian independence all keep frances colonies in africa and the pacific. In the final episode of the series aljazeera explores how the long and bitter fight for the french empire still resonates today blood in tears french to colonize a shanty on aljazeera. From mother to daughter an ancient craft kept alive by a bustling matriarch. From start to finish. All traditions intertwined with new designs making this familys place unique into uneasy as a rich tapestry of the threads on aljazeera. He uses Performance Art to draw attention to the critical controversial issues facing china. Want to win a states china. On aljazeera. This is aljazeera. Youre watching the news hour live from headquarters and. Coming up in the next 60 minutes californians face orders as the number of coronavirus cases surges across the u. S. States polls have closed where the incumbent leader and his predecessor are facing off in an election thats being called a battle of 2 giants. That wont make human rights a condition for arms sales to egypt president sisi