[AUDIO] Jorge Martin HOV Tour in Minneapolis

Jorge Martin’s North American tour continued with a stop in Minneapolis, MN. On Wednesday, May 16, he attended a demonstration at the Federal building in downtown Minneapolis, to protest the release of Posada Carrilles, an admitted anti-Cuban terrorist. Venezuela wants the CIA-trained operative extradited to stand trial for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner which killed 73 people. He is also wanted in connection with several other politically motivated bombings across Latin America. Held on immigration charges for illegally entering the country, he has been released by U.S. authorities and is now free to continue plotting and whipping up anti-Castro and anti-Chavez hysteria. The case illustrates the hypocrisy of the U.S. government when it comes to terrorism and immigration. Spanish-language TV station Univision covered the protest, and interviewed Jorge as well as Minneapolis-based HOV activist John Peterson.

On Thursday, May 17, Jorge spoke to a crowd of around 25 people in south Minneapolis. His outline of the main gains of the revolution – health care, education, and land reform - as well as a detailed update on events since the December 3 presidential elections, provided the basis for a wide-ranging and intelligent discussion. Everyone in attendance agreed that the best way to defend Venezuela is to work for change here in the U.S. Jorge’s full speech will be available online soon, both as an audio file, and as a transcript. Eric Angell and Karen Redleaf of SPNN’s “Our World In Depth” filmed his speech for future use on local community cable access. We will keep everyone posted on when it airs.

Finally, on Friday, May 18, before heading to Providence, RI for the final stop on his 3-week-long tour, Jorge was interviewed on KFAI “Radio Without Boundaries”. He and John Peterson were featured on host Don Olson’s “Northern Sun News” from 11:30 am to 12:00 noon. Don was well-informed on the situation in Venezuela and asked many questions which Jorge answered in detail.

Jorge’s visit to the Twin Cities was a clear success, and highlighted just how much interest there is in the revolutionary process sweeping not just Venezuela, but the whole of Latin America. We invite everyone in the Twin Cities who is interested in defending Venezuela to get involved with the Hands Off Venezuela Campaign. We hold regular meetings not only to organize public events, but to educate ourselves about the latest developments, debates, political and theoretical ideas, etc. that make the Bolivarian Revolution such a dynamic and inspiring process.

The next meeting of the Twin Cities Hands Off Venezuela Campaign will be held on Wednesday, May 30 at 7 pm at HOV’s new offices, located at 1304 University Ave. NE, Suite 200 in NE Minneapolis. Please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 651-373-7609.

Hear Jorge Martin's speech, given in Minneapolis, MN on May 17, 2007. Click here for the audio file.