A new social media campaign demanding President Barack Obama repeal sanctions on Venezuela is trending globally. Thousands of protesters took to social media Friday to demand President Barack Obama rescind a controversial executive order labeling Venezuela a national security threat.
At 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. local time, supporters of the Venezuelan government were called on to mass tweet to #ObamaDerogaElDecretoYa (Obama repeal the decree now) and #ObamaRepealTheExecutiveOrder. Shortly after 11 a.m., the first hashtag was trending worldwide. The bilingual social media campaign is aimed at promoting a global petition against Obama's executive order on Venezuela.
Signed by Obama earlier this month, the executive order describes Venezuela as a “threat” to the United States, and imposed sanctions on several high ranking Venezuelan officials. President Nicolas Maduro has condemned the sanctions as an attack on Venezuela's sovereignty. Since being launched on Wednesday, the petition against Obama's executive order on Change.org “calls on the U.S. government to fulfill its international obligations regarding the respect for a country’s self-determination and the right of its people to freely choose their own path.” Over 13,000 people have already signed the petition.
