Carcass, Venezuela – The Venezuelan Ministry of Work hosted a videoconference with leaders of Venezuelan trade unions and international labor representatives on January 8 to share their thoughts about the attack on January 3 and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and the First Lady Cilia Flores.

The International Commission of the Federation of Bolivarian and Socialist Workers (CBST) in coordination with the Constituent Assembly of the Working Class, thanked the delegates present, the trade unions and working class of the world for their rapid response to reject the military aggression against the Venezuelan people.

National Assembly deputy and trade union leader Francisco Torrealba said the purpose of the meeting was to hear directly from workers and update on the situation in Venezuela.

Torrealba stated, “The bombardment of our cities and states with over 100 dead, innocent civilians and military personnel faced an unequal, asymmetrical situation – 150 aircraft all at the same time attacked us. Our country, a country of peace, was still celebrating the end of the year and the U.S. carried out a cruel attack that murdered innocent civilians.”

Torrealba added, “Few could imagine, kidnapped in their home our worker-President Maduro and ‘la primera combatiente,’ who is also a deputy of the National Assembly, Cilia Flores. This is an act of war, a violation of laws, agreements and conventions, and even the constitution in the USA. Trump decided to start a war against the Caribbean and all of Latin America.”

Torrealba continued: “We thank you; the working class acted immediately and mobilized in all the cities of the world. You raised your voices to denounce this new aggression of the U.S. We appreciate all these actions that you participated as a trade unionists to pass on the precious information from here. We are here to cut through the manipulation of information coming from the White House.”

The group then heard from Professor Alexis Corredor, chair of the International Commission of the CBST. He shared that the meetings and assemblies of workers that took place from June until December were an important part of the popular process of the Constituent Assembly of the Working Class. Corredor added, “Despite a difficult situation, we have high morale. Every sector of workers has rejected the cowardly actions of Trump. We are here in the struggle to free our president who is a prisoner of war.”

Corredor reviewed a timeline of important events over the past two-plus decades of the Bolivarian Revolution, including in 2015 when President Obama decreed Venezuela a national threat to the U.S. He shared the next steps of coordination of international working class solidarity to develop international brigades.

After the microphone returned to Torrealba, he remarked that “only 27% want war in the U.S., it is not popular. We know it wasn't the people of the U.S.; they condemn the aggression.”

Torrealba continued: “Despite the criminal, cowardly attacks, we are still here free, never to be slaves of anyone. The Bolivarian Revolution continues, the government continues. The streets of cities across are full of Venezuelans demanding that their president be returned. Marches of women, the youth and soon the trade unions will join massive marches defending their revolution.”

“I want to make it perfectly clear: no one else is administering our resources, they belong to the Venezuelan people, we are not giving deals to our aggressor, we are not letting speculation divide us, neither Machado nor anyone of the opposition will win, we will never be slaves to anyone and we will sell our oil to anyone who wants to buy it, and we will keep selling oil to our friends in the world including Cuba and China!” Torrealba roared.

At the conclusion, the president of the CBST-CPP, Wills Rangel shared a final message, “The working class is the only force in the world capable of defeating fascism, defeating imperialism and our common enemy: capitalism. We will triumph!”

#International #Labor #Venezuela