Caracas, Venezuela – Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Arriaza spoke to the international observers of the elections to the National Assembly, December 4. He said to us, “The town is not full of only resistance and consciousness, they are on the offensive. They have been attacked by the World Bank and other capitalists. The Venezuelan people are working, they are creative. It’s impressive how creative they are to fix the problems. We couldn’t do this without the people.”

He went on, “Imperialism has only increased the people’s resistance. The opposition said, ‘It wasn’t a movement, it was just a leader, Chavez.’ No, the people’s assembly has the power. There have been consequences for starting the people’s assembly. There has been violence, guarimbas and young people dying based on the opposition’s attacks against us. The opposition set 29 Venezuelans on fire and burned them alive. Why? Because their skin was brown, so they assumed they were Chavistas. The opposition is financed by the USA and the CIA.”

An activist leader from Puerto Rico stated, “The way you all run elections in Venezuela are a model for the world. On November 3, in Puerto Rico, we had elections and they have still not verified them today, December 4.”

David Denny, from the Caribbean, “In our region, we see this election as very important. This election is about defending the poor people. We visited a community, and we felt their strong defense of Venezuela.”

The vice president of the Communist Party in Kenya said, “The attack against Venezuela is not unique. The history of imperialism is a history of war and suffering. They have hurt Africa so much. You have friends in Africa willing to defend Venezuela. We want to have a national debate to share the socialist success of Venezuela and explain the USA’s attacks against Venezuela. You are not alone. You are with the progressives around the world. Send the opposition coup, who attack you all, to jail. They did that to Evo, in Bolivia. Don’t give them an inch.”

A feminist leader from Brazil stated, “We’ve seen a very successful movement from women here. I lived here for a few years. The reason the revolution has been successful is because many women are at the front of the revolution. Venezuela is a strong example that we want to follow in Brazil.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Arriaza responded, “I want to thank you all for the solidarity. It is so important. Lula said, ‘Chavez and I know the direction where we are going. We just go at different rates or speeds. We fight for an equal society with all society’s needs. We need a common agenda. The education needs to be accessible and free to everyone. The people need to choose their own process. You need a leader and a strong program. And we need to know that the enemy is imperialism.’”

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