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Dan Kovalik | |
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| Born | Daniel Kovalik 1968 (age 55–56)[ citation needed ] Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Education | Columbia University (JD) |
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| Years active | 1987–present |
| Spouse | Christine Haas |
Daniel Kovalik (born 1968) is an American human rights, labor rights lawyer and political activist. [1] [2] He previously taught International Human Rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. [3]
Kovalik graduated from Columbia Law School in 1993. [3] He then served as in-house counsel for the United Steelworkers, AFL-CIO (USW) until 2019. While with the USW, he worked on Alien Tort Claims Act cases against The Coca-Cola Company, Drummond and Occidental Petroleum – cases arising out of egregious human rights abuses in Colombia. [3]
Kovalik received the David W. Mills Mentoring Fellowship from Stanford University School of Law. He was the recipient of the Project Censored Award for his article exposing the unprecedented killing of trade unionists in Colombia.
He has written extensively on the issue of international human rights and US foreign policy for the CounterPunch and The Huffington Post and has lectured throughout the world on these subjects. [1] [3]
He is the author of several books, his first book was, The Plot to Scapegoat Russia, was published in 2017 by Skyhorse Publishing. [4] He was co-author of the book No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using 'Humanitarian' Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interests, which was published in 2020. [5] His book “The Plot To Overthrow Venezuela, How The US Is Orchestrating a Coup for Oil” includes a foreword by Oliver Stone. In 2024 The Case for Palestine, Why It Matters and Why You Should Care, with a foreword by George Galloway, was published.
He worked on the Alien Tort Claims Act cases against The Coca-Cola Company, Drummond Company and Occidental Petroleum over human rights abuses in Colombia. [3] Kovalik accused the United States of intervention in Colombia, saying it has threatened peaceful actors there so it may "make Colombian land secure for massive appropriation and exploitation". [6] He also accused the Colombian and United States governments of overseeing mass killings in Colombia between 2002 and 2009. [7]
Kovalik defended the Venezuelan government following both the 2014 Venezuelan protests [8] [9] and the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 law enacted by the United States allowing the sanctioning of individuals who allegedly violated the human rights of Venezuelans. [10] In a radio interview with Matt Dwyer about Venezuela's 2013 elections, Kovalik called the Bolivarian Revolution "the most benevolent revolution in history". [9] [11] On 26 February 2014, he attended the "Chávez Was Here" gathering created by the Embassy of Venezuela, Washington, D.C. to commemorate the presidency of Hugo Chávez and to show support for the Bolivarian Revolution. At the gathering, Kovalik spoke beside the Venezuelan ambassador Julio Escalona and economist Mark Weisbrot. [11] [12] [13]
Kovalik is supportive of the Russian government in the Russo-Ukrainian War and has defended the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In a 2022 column for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , he wrote that the 2014 Euromaidan was a "coup" led by the United States and the Ukrainian military, in particular the far-right elements such as the Azov Battalion, targeted civilians in the Donbas prior to the full-scale invasion. [14] The Ukraine Crisis Media Center wrote that Kovalik's views contradicted his human rights activism, "bordering on conspiracy theories," and "correlating with the rhetoric of the Russian Federation". [15]
He has visited Russia, including Crimea. [15] Kovalik has appeared on Russian state media RT and has written a book titled The Plot to Scapegoat Russia about "the decades-long effort to escalate hostilities with Russia". [16] [15]
In the case of the Israel-Hamas War, Kovalik has been supportive of a humanitarian ceasefire, and at a campaign event for Sara Innamorato at Shorty's restaurant in West Homestead, Pennsylvania on October 29, 2023, he was forcibly expelled from the premises after questioning Senator John Fetterman and urging the legislator to reverse his stance against a ceasefire in the conflict until the operational capabilities of Hamas were neutralized by Israel. [17] [18]
The Bolivarian National Armed Forces of Venezuela are controlled by the Commander-in-Chief and the Minister of Defense. In addition to the army, navy, and air force there is also a national guard and national militia primarily focused on internal security.
The foreign relations of Venezuela had since the early twentieth century been particularly strong with the United States. However, since the election of Hugo Chávez as President of Venezuela in 1998, Venezuela's foreign policy differed substantially from that of previous Venezuelan governments. This change in foreign policy direction continues under the current president Nicolás Maduro.
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías was a Venezuelan politician and military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period of forty-seven hours in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when it merged with several other parties to form the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which he led until 2012.
The Bolivarian Revolution is an ongoing political process in Venezuela that was started by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, the founder of the Fifth Republic Movement and later the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), and his successor Nicolás Maduro. The Bolivarian Revolution is named after Simón Bolívar, an early 19th-century Venezuelan revolutionary leader, prominent in the Spanish American wars of independence in achieving the independence of most of northern South America from Spanish rule. According to Chávez and supporters, the Bolivarian Revolution seeks to build an inter-American coalition to implement Bolivarianism, nationalism and a state-led economy.
Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez also known as CAP and often referred to as El Gocho, was a Venezuelan politician who served as the 47th and 50th president of Venezuela from 1974 to 1979 and again from 1989 to 1993. He was one of the founders of Acción Democrática, the dominant political party in Venezuela during the second half of the twentieth century.
Telesur is a Latin American terrestrial and satellite news television network headquartered in Caracas, Venezuela, and sponsored by the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.
Since 2 February 1999, Venezuela has seen sweeping and radical shifts in social policy, moving away from the last government's officially embracing a free-market economy and liberalization reform principles and towards income redistribution and social welfare programs.
Thor Leonardo Halvorssen Mendoza[a] is a Venezuelan human rights advocate and film producer with contributions in the field of public policy.
The foreign policy of the Hugo Chávez administration concerns the policy initiatives made by Venezuela under its former President, Hugo Chávez, towards other states. Chávez's foreign policy may be roughly divided into that concerned with United States-Venezuela relations and that concerned with Venezuela's relations with other states, particularly those in Latin America and developing countries on other continents. In many respects the policies of the Chávez government were substantially different from the previous administrations that governed Venezuela.
Sinaltrainal v. Coca-Cola, 578 F.3d 1252, was a case in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit upheld the dismissal of a case filed by Colombian trade union Sinaltrainal against Coca-Cola in a Miami district court, demanding monetary compensation of $500 million under the Alien Tort Claims Act for the deaths of three workers in Colombia.
Leopoldo Eduardo López Mendoza is a Venezuelan opposition leader. He co-founded the political party Primero Justicia in 2000 with Julio Borges. López was elected mayor of the Chacao Municipality of Caracas in the regional elections held in July 2000. He is the National Coordinator of another political party, Voluntad Popular, which he founded in 2009.
Nicolás Maduro Moros is a Venezuelan politician and the 53rd president of Venezuela since 2013. Previously, he was the 24th vice president of Venezuela from 2012 to 2013, the minister of foreign affairs from 2006 to 2012, and the 3rd president of the National Assembly of Venezuela from 2005 to 2006.
The record of human rights in Venezuela has been criticized by human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Concerns include attacks against journalists, political persecution, harassment of human rights defenders, poor prison conditions, torture, extrajudicial executions by death squads, and forced disappearances.
The level of corruption in Venezuela is very high by world standards and is prevalent throughout many levels of Venezuelan society. Discovery of oil in Venezuela in the early 20th century worsened political corruption. The large amount of corruption and mismanagement in the country has resulted in severe economic difficulties, part of the crisis in Venezuela. A 2014 Gallup poll found that 75% of Venezuelans believed that corruption was widespread throughout the Venezuelan government. Discontent with corruption was cited by demonstrators as one of the reasons for the 2014 and 2017 Venezuelan protests.
Bolivarian propaganda is a form of nationalist propaganda, especially in Venezuela and associated with chavismo, Venezuelan socialism. This type of propaganda has been associated with Hugo Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution, which used emotional arguments to gain attention, exploit the fears of the population, create external enemies for scapegoat purposes, and produce nationalism within the population, causing feelings of betrayal for support of the opposition.
Crime in Venezuela is widespread, with violent crimes such as murder and kidnapping increasing for several years. In 2014, the United Nations attributed crime to the poor political and economic environment in the country—which, at the time, had the second highest murder rate in the world. Rates of crime rapidly began to increase during the presidency of Hugo Chávez due to the institutional instability of his Bolivarian government, underfunding of police resources, and severe inequality. Chávez's government sought a cultural hegemony by promoting class conflict and social fragmentation, which in turn encouraged "criminal gangs to kill, kidnap, rob and extort". Upon Chávez's death in 2013, Venezuela was ranked the most insecure nation in the world by Gallup.
In 2014, a series of protests, political demonstrations, and civil insurrection began in Venezuela due to the country's high levels of urban violence, inflation, and chronic shortages of basic goods and services. Explanations for these worsening conditions vary, with analysis blaming strict price controls, alongside long-term, widespread political corruption resulting in the under-funding of basic government services. While protests first occurred in January, after the murder of actress and former Miss Venezuela Mónica Spear, the 2014 protests against Nicolás Maduro began in earnest that February following the attempted rape of a student on a university campus in San Cristóbal. Subsequent arrests and killings of student protesters spurred their expansion to neighboring cities and the involvement of opposition leaders. The year's early months were characterized by large demonstrations and violent clashes between protesters and government forces that resulted in nearly 4,000 arrests and 43 deaths, including both supporters and opponents of the government. Toward the end of 2014, and into 2015, continued shortages and low oil prices caused renewed protesting.
Colectivos are far-left Venezuelan armed paramilitary groups that support the Bolivarian government, the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP) political alliance and Venezuela's ruling party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Colectivo has become an umbrella term for irregular armed groups that operate in poverty-stricken areas.
The 2015 Colombia–Venezuela migrant crisis refers to a diplomatic and humanitarian crisis that occurred in mid-2015 following the shooting of three Venezuelan soldiers on the Venezuela–Colombia border that left them injured and President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro's response of deporting thousands of Colombians. Maduro's response of declaring a state of emergency, closing the border to Colombia indefinitely and deporting thousands of Colombians that lived near the border, struck fear in tens of thousands of other Colombians living in Venezuela resulting in their emigration from the country and a crisis involving separated families and Colombians seeking food and shelter. The actions of President Maduro were questioned by human rights groups, the United Nations, the European Union and the United States.
An ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis began in Venezuela during the presidency of Hugo Chávez and has worsened during the presidency of successor Nicolás Maduro. It has been marked by hyperinflation, escalating starvation, disease, crime and mortality rates, resulting in massive emigration.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)My take on it is that it is a revolutionary government and that it is the most benevolent revolution in history, and I'm not exaggerating.
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