Caracas, Venezuela – Nearly 1000 people from over 70 countries attended a videoconference with the Ministry of Popular Power and Foreign Affairs of Venezuela in the morning of January 5. A continuation of the Assembly of the Peoples of Our America for Peace and Sovereignty that met in Caracas on December 9 and 10, participants expressed their solidarity with Venezuela in the face of the brutal military aggression of the United States and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.

The assembly heard first from Blanca Eekout, director of the Instituto Simón Bolívar for Peace and Solidarity Among Peoples (ISB). Eekout said the reasons for the attack on Venezuela and the targeting of President Maduro were to steal the oil that belongs to the people and because Maduro is not a banker or business owner but a worker from the streets of Caracas.

“The resources in the ground belong to the people of Venezuela, not the elites of the foreign corporations. You will not steal one ounce of our oil!” Eekout declared, adding, “We will defeat this imperialism that is in decline and only knows war and genocide!”

After honoring the 80 victims of Trump’s bombing of the capital of Caracas and the states of Aragua, La Guaira, and Miranda, Eekout delivered a message to the international activists: mobilize actions to demand “Free President Maduro and Cilia Flores!”

The call to continue actions in these streets comes as cities all over Venezuela mobilized to defend their democratically-elected President Maduro and their Bolivarian Revolution. Close to 100 cities in the U.S. held actions to demand an end to the U.S. war on Venezuela and the return of President Maduro and his wife.

On the morning of January 5 in New York City, many organizations, including Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) , Anti War Action Network (AWAN), Workers World Party (WWP), United National AntiWar Coalition and many other organizations, gathered outside the court building for the arraignment of President Maduro.

#CaracasVenezuela #Venezuela #International #AntiWarMovement #ISB #FRSO #AWAN #WWP #UNAC

Caracas, Venezuela – It has now been more than 1000 days since Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab was first kidnapped by the U.S. government on the island of Cabo Verde, off the west coast of Africa. Since then, he’s been subjected to physical, psychological and chemical torture and moved to a federal detention center in Miami, Florida.

Two members of Minnesota's Anti-War Committee met with Saab’s wife, Camilla Fabri Saab, on Tuesday, March 7, alongside a delegation from the Alliance for Global Justice and progressive lawyers with the Free Alex Saab Movement. Camilla, Fabri Saab, mother to their two young daughters, provided updates on his case, emphasizing that his health has taken a severe turn for the worse.

Saab is missing several teeth due to beatings and has been denied access to all medical treatment beyond aspirin. Camilla’s account of the weaponization of psychiatric treatment in the Miami Detention Center was particularly shocking. First U.S. officials tortured Saab, then they diagnosed him with PTSD resulting from the torture that they themselves inflicted. Using that diagnosis as a pretext, Saab was forced to take pills which made him feel exhausted, dizzy and nauseous to such a degree that he was sometimes unable to even speak on the phone. Prison staff refused to tell him what was in these pills, and it was only after Alex Saab's lawyers intervened that this chemical torture ended.

Saab is a diabetic cancer survivor, making the Miami FDC’s decision to deny him medical attention especially cruel and life-threatening. Four weeks ago, he began to vomit blood. Despite this, he is still being denied the right to see a doctor. Saab’s rapidly deteriorating health means that the urgency of his fight for freedom intensifies day by day.

Everything indicates that this medical mistreatment is intentional U.S. policy, an extension of efforts to immiserate the Venezuelan people as a whole. The dark irony of Saab being deprived of healthcare is that he is being targeted for his efforts to bring exactly that – healthcare – to the people of Venezuela. Under a U.S.-led blockade that prevented Venezuela from importing basic goods like food, medicine, fuel and agricultural supplies, many Venezuelans suffered tremendously. Saab traveled the world as a diplomat for the Venezuelan government in order to secure the basic, critical supplies needed to save Venezuelans from starvation and death by preventable illnesses.

Camilla also provided the Anti-War Committee with an internal U.S. government email from Elliot Abrams, a neoconservative and former U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela. She described this email as a “smoking gun.” District Judge Robert Scola’s ruling against Alex Saab in December of last year relied on the assertion that he is not a diplomat and thus doesn’t have any diplomatic immunity. In the email Camilla presented, however, Abrams admits that Saab was in possession of a diplomatic passport and suggests that the U.S. will have to find a way to discredit the passport, such as claiming that it is a fake, in order to successfully prosecute him. The case against Alex Saab has been clearly politically motivated and illegal from the beginning, but this new evidence is concrete proof.

Since the visit, Camilla and the Free Alex Saab Movement have continued the fight, holding the U.S. government squarely responsible for Saab’s life. Their current demands are:

For the International Committee of the Red Cross to send a representative to the Miami Detention Center; for the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights to denounce Saab’s imprisonment as an illegal detention and a violation of human rights; for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to denounce the illegal detention of a diplomat by the U.S. as a violation of international law; and, immediate freedom for Alex Saab.

Activists in the U.S. know we cannot rely on the legal system to do its job and free Alex Saab. The U.S. government willingly violated international law. It will take a concerted, popular struggle for Saab to see his family again. The Free Alex Saab Movement is calling for activists to take to the streets for a National Week of Action from May 1-7 to build the movement and show U.S. leaders that we will not stand by while Saab, and Venezuelan people as a whole, are criminally attacked.

Free Alex Saab!

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #Venezuela #AlexSaab #BolivarianRepublicOfVenezuela #Americas

Caracas, Venezuela – On March 4 a member of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee visited the Feria Conuquera Agroecológico (Agroecological Small Farmer's Market) in Caracas’ Caobos Park and interviewed activist and biologist Giselle Perdomo. Perdomo, who organizes the farmer’s market, detailed how U.S. sanctions have impacted both the struggle for food sovereignty and her own family.

The market is run by Chavistas but is not itself a government program. It works to bring farmers from in and around Caracas to sell in the city. Under the weight of U.S. sanctions, food is very difficult to import into the country, but in the last couple of years the country has seen vast improvements in food sovereignty: Venezuela now produces 94% of its own food after importing 80% for the last 100 years. The farmer’s market is a small part of that effort.

Perdomo’s group also defends Venezuela’s revolutionary 2015 Seed Law that outlawed the use of transgenic or GMO seeds. Without the laws, Venezuelan farmers would be pressured to adopt seeds supplied by transnational GMO corporations in order to sell their crops on the international market. Under that system farmers must buy specially designed seeds, fertilizer and herbicide from the agricultural monopolies year after year, becoming fully dependent. Although the law was passed after his death, Hugo Chávez led the fight against transgenic foods. In one instance he ended a soybean contract with GMO giant Monsanto in 2005, advocating that the land be used instead for indigenous crops and calling transgenics a threat to the nation’s food sovereignty.

Promoting indigenous foods remains key today, although there are hurdles in getting the people to accept them over the international market foods they are accustomed to. Perdomo explained, “So, for example, I plant something that's called purple yam. And even Venezuelans don't know what it is, right? So I offer it here in the market, and many people just ask, you know, what's that? Because it looks like the color of beets. So people just look at it, it's weird. And they go on. So we need to try and change people's attitudes towards things that are local.” To this end the fair bakes the yams into bread to get people used to the taste and works on educating about local foods, how to make organic pesticides, and farming techniques.

Perdomo lost her six-year-old son in part because of the horrors of a medical system under attack by the U.S. Many doctors fled the country, live-saving medicines and equipment were impossible to import, and at times the electricity was spotty in hospitals. “My son, he had difficulties with his muscles. They were all very hard, so he couldn't breathe very well. He couldn't cough. So if he got a cold that was a life threatening thing for him. And taking him to a public hospital was just heartbreaking, because you saw kids queuing up to breathe, to get to the one piece of equipment that’s working. You know, the lighting sometimes didn't work. And then it was just chaos. It was chaos. You should be able to, you know, have a hospital that doesn't give you nightmares.”

It’s different now. Medicines like those that Perdomo’s son needed are more easily available, but it’s cold comfort to her and others who have lost loved ones to the U.S.’s cruel unilateral coercive measures.

The Caobos Park is full of farmers with stands selling fresh produce – plantains, vegetables, honey and much more. One man sells homemade rice wine, and a woman makes infused tea bags. Next to the market a government health program has tents set up to fight obesity. They give people free check-ups and vaccinations, and there is a dance party, soccer and games to promote wellness. Thanks to their enormous strength of will and a people-oriented government, Venezuelans have been able to claw back a sense of normalcy, but still suffer under the economic pressure. Organizations like the Anti-War Committee still call for an end to the U.S. sanctions regime.

But the very nature of the U.S. hybrid war campaign makes it harder to organize around than a traditional invasion. Nevertheless, Perdomo says the anti-imperialist movement must persist: “It has impacts on human health, just like wars with bombs do. And it has impacts on emotional health, just like wars with bombs do. The most insidious thing is that people don't consider it to be war. Therefore there's not a whole lot of newspapers talking about the war on Venezuela because if there aren't explosions, then there isn’t outrage. And there should be outrage because we are suffering, we have suffered. But the flip side of that is we have made resistance a lifestyle and we have made happiness in the face of struggle a lifestyle.”

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #Venezuela #BolivarianRepublicOfVenezuela #Americas

Caracas, Venezuela – Friday, March 3 was the first day of an international anti-imperialist conference in Venezuela held to commemorate the legacy and continuing struggle of the late Venezuelan President and leader of the Bolivarian Revolution Hugo Chavez. A delegation of Chicano and Latino members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), led by long time Chicano activist Carlos Montes, were invited to attend by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

Chavez is not dead

The theme of the conference was carrying on the legacy of Hugo Chavez. The mood in the room was lively, with every seat in the large auditorium filled and two rows of standing room only in the back. In between speeches, local delegates from Venezuela led the room in popular Chavista chants. One common chant was “Chavez no murio, se multiplio,” meaning “Chavez is not dead, he multiplies.”

Local delegates representing different sections of Venezuelan society – such as the youth, fishermen, cafeteria workers and more – were in attendance at the conference as well as international delegates. One member of the PSUV told the FRSO delegation, “In every province, in every community, in every street in Venezuela – the PSUV is there organizing the people.”

Popular democracy

Though the U.S. media portrays Venezuela as a dictatorship, the reality is much different. Hector Rodriguez of the PSUV stated, “In the U.S. they have democracy, but it’s only democracy for capital. In Venezuela we have a true, representative, popular democracy.” He invited international delegates to talk with the Venezuelan people about their participatory government and to question the narrative put forth by the U.S. media.

Anacaona Marin, an indigenous leader of the commune movement and councils, spoke about building revolutionary communes and local people taking their own action to solve problems. She said that for the government to meet the people's needs, the people have to “hacer gobierno” or “make government” themselves, by studying, learning and debating.

Multicolor revolution

One aspect that the PSUV emphasized was the diversity of the Bolivarian Revolution and the participation of indigenous and Afro-Venezuelans in the people’s movement. “I was inspired to see the leadership of women in the conference and the government,” said FRSO member Enya Silva, “the people cheering and chanting the loudest were always women.”

This was also evident in the international delegations, as the conference placed special emphasis on elevating Caribbean, African, and other Latin American countries.

Free Alex Saab

A highlight of the first day was a panel discussing the U.S.’s unjust detention of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, who has been held for over 1000 days by the U.S. government for negotiating food and medical aid for Venezuela. Camila Fabri Saab, his wife, spoke about his case. “What the U.S. media doesn’t talk about is how his detention affects our family,” said Fabri Saab. “His oldest child misses him dearly and his youngest child is growing up without him.”

Carlos Montes spoke from the floor of the wide support and work of FRSO in the campaign to demand freedom for Alex Saab. Camila Fabri Saab smiled and expressed gratitude, telling the FRSO delegation that the work we do is important not just for Saab’s family, but to fight U.S. sanctions against Venezuela.

Fighting imperialism

The day ended with a speech from Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez. She spoke on the importance of uniting with other nations to combat U.S. imperialism. “The world will be multipolar, but do we multiply capitalist poles? Poles that will put us in the same position as they have in the past? The world needs diverse poles, a pluripolar world.” Rodriguez used the example of China to show how a country can surpass the economy of the U.S. without resorting to the exploitative methods of imperialism.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #Venezuela #HugoChavez #antiimperialism #Americas

Caracas, Venezuela – The Freedom Road Socialist Organization delegation to Venezuela visited downtown Caracas, March 2, and spoke with working-class Venezuelan people. Delegation members include Chicano activist Carlos Montes, student organizer Enya Silva and anti-police crimes activist Omar Flores.

The group visited the home of Simon Bolivar (the Liberator), Bolivar Plaza, and several historic sites. Carlos Montes said, “I enjoyed the popular theater performance in the outside plaza with the public of all ages watching, and the displays of Simon Bolivar.”

FRSO delegate Omar Flores stated, “The city is exceptionally clean, I did not see any homeless people, which is in stark contrast to what I’ve seen in large U.S. cities. Living in the most segregated city in the U.S., Milwaukee, it is also stunning how integrated Caracas is.”

The delegation is participating in an anti-imperialist conference hosted by the PSUV, United Socialist Party of Venezuela, to honor and promote the work and legacy of Hugo Chavez, who passed away ten years ago on March 5.

The group viewed many murals dedicated to Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution throughout the city, as well as murals calling for an end to the blockade on Cuba; celebrating the victory over fascism at Stalingrad; and calling for the liberation of Palestine. Organizers for the conference are working to promote unity in Latin America and against U.S. imperialism. The demand to stop U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and freedom for diplomat Alex Saab will also be raised.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #Venezuela #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #Socialism #BolivarianRepublicOfVenezuela

Caracas. Venezuela – On March 1, a Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) delegation landed in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. Members of FRSO report being shown great hospitality from the Venezuelan people. These members of FRSO were invited to attend an anti-imperialist conference being hosted in Caracas.

FRSO member Enya Silva stated, “I’m excited to learn about how the Venezuelan people continue to grow their economy despite U.S. sanctions, which are specifically used to undermine the Bolivarian government.” The conference will also cover the subject of Alex Saab’s unjust detention in the United States. Enya Silva had been present in the courtroom when Alex Saab was on trial in the U.S. and will be reporting on her experience.

While the United States has reported Caracas as being a desolate wasteland, members of FRSO have reported that the city is thriving. FRSO member Omar Flores stated, “There is an abundance of food, public transit and commuters heading out to their jobs.”

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #Venezuela #BolivarianRepublicOfVenezuela #Americas

Caracas, Venezuela – Day three of the PSUV 5th Congress began on March 8, with thousands filling the large auditorium again as Afro-Venezuelan dancers took to the stage and Caribbean coast music filled the air. The Chavista delegates smiled and swayed to the steady rhythm of folkloric songs about the Bolivarian Revolution. PSUV militants came prepared to listen to speeches and consider the changing conditions and forces in motion, explanations of errors, questions about how to achieve new goals, and implementation of the Three R’s: Resistance, Rebirth, and Revolution.

Luis Brito Garcia, a professor, spoke on ethics, responding to the arrest of a mayor and others in a drug smuggling scandal. He taught theory, using the ideas of ancient and modern philosophers. He gave people the words and ability to discuss and formulate anti-corruption campaigns within the party and society. He warned against relying too much on criminal justice systems and courts to obtain good outcomes.

His entertaining style included teaching hard lessons from the U.S. He warned of the weaknesses and problems of relying on prohibition laws to deal with drugs. He explained how U.S. prohibition of alcohol caused large mafia gangs and criminal families to arise, including the Kennedys, who smuggled whiskey. He also challenged the current casino culture in Caracas and its role in society. At one point he joked that the U.S. failures to undermine Venezuelan society might lead the White House to consider, “using Amazon to make the invasion.”

Later that day, thousands rose to their feet when Venezuela Vice President Delcy Rodriguez was introduced by current Minister of Education Eduardo Pinate. Rodriguez spoke of the PSUV leaders setting an example and the role of the Units of Battle Hugo Chavez (UBCH). The UBCH is the basic party and self-defense unit, organizing as a political body of the grassroots that elected officials must be responsible to.

Rodriguez explained how the party and state needed to act together to meet the needs of the people, repairing derelict hospitals, abandoned by private owners. Rodriguez described the party organizing health brigades that sought out sick people during COVID, to both stop the spread and provide the best treatment possible. Venezuela has one of the highest vaccination rates, and lowest death rates in the world.

On an international level, Rodriguez spoke of how capitalism causes war, including the war in the Ukraine. She asked, “What is the U.S. purpose of aggression against Russia? Why not peacefully settle conflicts?”

She explained Venezuela experienced 500 years of violence and environmental destruction by foreign interests, that continues today with U.S. raids and sanctions.

Rodriguez ended her speech by saying, “This is a meeting of the working class, of women and youth. We need to use the ‘one times ten’ method to consolidate the revolutionary state. We are consolidating people’s power on the road to socialism!”

In the late afternoon, PSUV delegates attended breakout sessions where one after the other they rose and spoke to proposals according to sectors and issue. Their passionate arguments were well thought through and based on summations of local experiences. After back-and-forth debates on proposals, the outdoor gatherings of hundreds would raise their hands to vote up or down.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Socialism #UnitedSocialistPartyPSUV #PSUV5thCongress

Caracas, Venezuela – The second day of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) 5th Congress, March 6, featured speeches and workshops about building the party among working people, while strengthening the role of women and youth. Facts and figures played an important part in educating the PSUV militants, with data and explanations appearing on giant video walls. However, it was the speaker’s analysis of problems, and proposed solutions that kept everyone talking.

For example, there are 8 million registered to vote for the PSUV, but until now, no way to check how people participate in the party. There is a proposal to clarify and organize, so besides the millions who vote, PSUV members can be organized to participate in unions, community groups, the student and youth movements, and other mass organizations.

Leon Heredia explained, “The PSUV uses an ‘Activist x 10’ method to register party members.” The goal is to create a “protagonist democracy” where workers and others are making collective decisions and changing their own work places and communities.

Going beyond elections, the party needs to lead the struggles of the masses, attempt to solve problems and overcome difficulties. Two examples are the CLAP food program that now feeds more than 70% of households, and the over 3.5 million new apartments and homes built by the Bolivarian Revolution. These efforts come directly from the process of the party listening to the people in mass meetings, and using state structures to make changes happen rapidly, setting up new economic systems run by workers for all the people.

Another dynamic is the PSUV defense of the revolution due to ongoing attempts by the U.S. to strangle the Venezuelan economy with sanctions.

The PSUV has more women and youth leading the party at all levels than before. At the labor sector meeting, Francisco Torrealba, vice president of the Working Class Sector of the PSUV, spoke to a room full of international guests and PSUV labor delegates organized as the PCOA (Anti-imperialist Platform of the Working Class).

Torrealba explained, “More than half the delegates of the working class are women and nearly half are youth. They were elected from 23 assemblies, with 3573 workers participating, and 678 new leaders from health, food and agriculture, PDVSA oil and gas, chemicals and pharma, teachers, health, and transport unions. Also, the vice president of the Women’s Sector comes from the Working Class Sector.”

Tom Burke, the organizational secretary for the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), was one of three international guests invited to speak at the PCOA meeting. Burke said, “We are here in solidarity with the PSUV 5th Congress as part of the PCOA.”

Burke continued, “The FRSO wants to express our solidarity with the Venezuelan people and the Bolivarian Revolution. The FRSO respects the vanguard role the PSUV earned in the Venezuelan liberation movement as you struggle toward socialism. We support the one and only president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. We hope to deepen our bilateral ties and to free Alex Saab!”

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #Venezuela #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #UnitedSocialistPartyPSUV