Caracas, Venezuela – The closing event of the 25th Foro de Sao Paulo (Sal Paulo Forum) on July 28 began with a speech by Monica Valente, the Executive Secretary of the Foro de Sao Paulo and the International Secretary of the Workers Party of Brazil. The next speaker was Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, leading up to a spirited speech by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The event honored the 65th birthday of President Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013. The speakers referenced his ideas and leadership in making the Bolivarian revolution possible. During a video display of the life of Hugo Chavez, women and men in the crowd were openly weeping while others simultaneously cheered.

Delegations to the Foro de Sao Paulo committed in the final declaration to act together in solidarity with Venezuela, Latin America and other countries of the world against U.S. aggression. Among the 1200 audience members were Foro de Sao Paulo members and leaders of socialist, communist and revolutionary parties from every Latin American country, most of Central America and the Caribbean, as well as Mexico.

Delegations from other countries included the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ambassador to Venezuela, Palestinians from various groups, the grandson of Nelson Mandela from South Africa, representatives of movements and left parties of Europe including the Basque Country and Ireland, as well as Canadian international solidarity activists and, from the U.S., the Venezuelan Embassy protectors, and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization delegation.

After President Maduro took the stage, smiling, waving and pumping his fist in the air, the crowd chanted, “Alerta! Alerta! Alerta que camina, la espada de Bolivar por America Latina! (Alert! Alert, Alert! Bolivar's sword is marching through Latin America!)”

Upon finishing greetings and saluting all the participants, Maduro praised the Puerto Rican independence movement, saying “Adelante Puerto Rico! Que viva Puerto Rico libre!” (Forward Puerto Rico! Long live free Puerto Rico!”

President Maduro then spoke about Colombia saying, “We are waiting here for Ivan Marquez and Jesus Santrich of the FARC. They are welcome here in Venezuela, at the Foro de Sao Paulo, or whenever they want to come, because they are the leaders of the peace in Colombia.” The two FARC leaders are being threatened with prosecutions by the Colombian government, despite the peace process, and are now on the run, rumored to be in the mountains.

The audience rose in a standing ovation. Maduro explained how, despite signing a peace accord, the leaders of unions, peasant groups, and FARC members continue being killed by the death squads of the Colombian government. He then called to and waved at a woman waving a FARC flag, ex-political prisoner Liliana Obando.

President Maduro then spoke of an international campaign targeting him that is “brutal, manipulating, lying, and opposed to our political process.” He joked about those attacking him, by labeling him a ‘dictator.’

Maduro said, “This does not offend me. For sure, we are now considering the dictatorship of the proletariat, the dictatorship of the proletariat of Karl Marx...the dictatorship of the anti-imperialist workers.”

President Maduro finished by saluting the Foro of Sao Paolo. He called for the unity between the movements and parties of Latin America. He praised the important leadership and vision of President Chavez, the falsely imprisoned President Lula of Brazil, and Cuba’s Fidel Castro. Lula and Castro were the original founders of the Foro de Sao Paulo.

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Caracas, Venezuela – From July 25 to 28, over 1000 delegates gathered for the 25th Sao Paolo Forum in Caracas, Venezuela. Historically the largest gathering of the Latin American left, the Forum was transformed this year by its hosts into an assembly of revolutionary parties and movements from around the world, with the sole focus of how a new global revolutionary offensive can be launched against imperialism.

The range of invitees was spectacular. There were representatives from every socialist state and Latin American nation, along with revolutionaries from Palestine, the Philippines, Spain, the Basque Country, Russia, Ireland, South Africa and every Latin American nation. Everywhere you walked in central Caracas, you would see these fighters from around the world meeting each other, debating, discussing the lessons they have learned in the struggle against imperialism. Some were high-ranking politicians, others were rank-and-file workers, some were very old, and others were quite young. All referred to each other as comrade.

There have been hard defeats in recent years. Delegates often referred to “the countries we have lost” in the continental rollback of the Pink Tide. There was much talk about Lula da Silva, the former President of Brazil and co-founder of the Sao Paolo Forum, who now sits in prison as the victim of a far-right coup. Members of the FARC and other Colombian revolutionary groups attended, standing as a reminder of their hundreds of comrades murdered by the state since the Peace Accords were signed. Their very presence was an act of bravery.

But recent events have affirmed the words of worker President Nicolás Maduro, who declared that a new tide would wash across the Americas, an offensive deeper and more radical than the last, that would strike deep at the heart of U.S. imperialism. In just the past few weeks, these words have been made material in the fearless fight of the Puerto Rican people, who appear to be poised to engage in the fiercest struggle against their colonial subjugation in decades. Representatives from Mexican parties and trade unions reminded the Forum attendees of the change underway in their country, now led by a president who is committed to respecting the self-determination of all Latin American countries.

Yet, the greatest sign that revolution is on the rise and imperialism is in its death throes is the honest fact that the Bolivarian Revolution continues to stand, and stand tall. Since the beginning of 2019, imperialism and its lackeys have organized coup attempts, launched terrorist attacks, sabotaged electrical grids, robbed billions of dollars from the Venezuelan people, and have harshened sanctions at the cost of over 40,000 lives. The bourgeoisie, at home and in the United States, want the masses to suffer and die for having the gall to stand up and demand their freedom. Yet in every battle they have declared against this peaceful nation, they have been soundly defeated. The Venezuelan masses are on the march, and they are not stopping. Over the course of the Sao Paolo Forum, they celebrated the very fact that they themselves were the hosts of this international gathering, another victory.

What did the international delegates learn about the Venezuelan nation, and why it must be defended? They learned that over the course of imperialism's vicious offensive, nearly 3 million families were taken out of the slums and provided with new, high-quality homes (5 million families is their goal by 2025). That, despite international economic strangulation, the state has dedicated nearly 75% of its revenue to social services, more than any other country on earth. That they are on track to achieve food sovereignty within six years, forever severing their dependence on U.S. agribusinesses. They learned that over 3000 communes, tens of thousands of housing assemblies, nearly 50,000 communal councils and nearly 2 million militia members represent the now-existing embryo of a new, revolutionary state; that the working class is the vanguard of the Bolivarian Revolution, and it is with their leadership that a new economy will be built and the bourgeoisie will lose their hold on society.

In short, they learned that Venezuela is a breakthrough to the future we all desire, and it must be defended at all costs.

Over the course of the four days, there were cold reminders of what is at stake for the Venezuelan movement. The opening day of the Forum corresponded with the anniversary of the murder of Jorge Rodríguez, a young and inspiring revolutionary who was tortured to death by the Venezuelan secret police in 1976. Among the hundreds of attendees of his memorial were his comrades, former cadre of the Socialist League who had dedicated their lives to revolution and now all belonged to the United Socialist Party (PSUV).

Although the Bolivarian Revolution has been in power for 20 years, when you speak with these lifelong fighters you realize that the brutal past is not too far away. More than once, you could overhear people who had been comrades for decades forget each other's names. They had lived so many years in the underground that they only knew each other by their red names. Fernando Soto Rojas, the League's leader for many years, made the solemn joke in his speech that it still feels strange to speak before a crowd and mention his comrades by name. For far too long, something as casual as telling someone who your friends are could have been a death sentence.

Then, on the closing day of the Forum, news came out that six Venezuelan revolutionaries had been assassinated in the rural west. A class war has been waging across Venezuela, and is being fought with bullets in the countryside. From their rural strongholds, the big landowners look favorably on the genocidal tactics of their Colombian counterparts and deploy them without a second thought. To be a revolutionary in Venezuela is still a dangerous act – and yet there are millions of them.

All delegates left Caracas feeling emboldened and ready to carry on the fight until imperialism is pushed out of all territory on this earth. While there were not many of us from the United States, our presence was appreciated by all. To more than a few, it was a surprise to know that there are revolutionaries on the other side of Trump's wall. Yet we are here, and our numbers must multiply, and it is on all of us to organize ourselves as workers and freedom fighters and link arms with our comrades around the world. Our enemy is united in its desire to force upon us a wretched system, the offspring of slavery and colonialism and genocide, that has no right to exist on our planet anymore. Let us too unite, so that humanity can enter the future that it must.

Sean Orr is a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization to the Sao Paolo Forum.

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Caracas, Venezuela – On July 26, the delegation from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) participated in a gathering of trade unionists from around the world with the leaders of the Central of Bolivarian Socialist Workers (CBST), the largest labor federation in Venezuela.

Taking place as part of the 25th Sao Paolo Forum, the purpose of the meeting was to debate the current conditions – both internationally and nationally – in the anti-imperialist struggle, and how the working classes of the world can support the Bolivarian Revolution. The gathering was chaired by Carlos López, the national coordinator of the CBST. There was a sense in the room that there was a long struggle ahead, but that the direction of events was on their side and a great revolutionary offensive was underway in the Americas.

The topics under discussion began in Europe, where the Venezuelan revolutionary movement sees a potential fissure in the U.S.-EU alliance. While many European countries were quick to support Juan Guaidó in his coup attempts, one by one many of these countries have moved to recognize Maduro as the only legitimate president. A crucial part of this rollback has been played by the labor movements of these countries.

There was also a lot of talk about “the countries we lost” to the reactionary coups across Latin America, with trade union leaders from Brazil, Argentina, Chile and El Salvador speaking to the ongoing resistance to these new regimes. Despite the electoral defeats in these countries, there are signs elsewhere in the region that the anti-imperialist struggle continues to make advances. Trade unionists from Mexico spoke about the new labor federation being created to replace the old PRI-dominated formation, and that solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution would be a key part of its international work. Other speakers referred to the historic struggle underway in Puerto Rico, where unions are playing a critical role in the anti-colonial struggle

Tom Burke of FRSO spoke on the conditions of the working class in the United States and the need to build internationalism within the labor movement. The gathering concluded with the distribution of a solidarity statement to be signed by the attending unions and shared with its members.

The FRSO is participating in the 25th Sao Paolo Forum, the largest gathering of the Latin American left. Be sure to follow Fight Back! for further reports from their delegation.

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The FRSO delegation will be led by Tom Burke, the Organization Secretary of Freedom Road.

Much has happened since the Sao Paolo Forum first began in 1994. At that time, the international left was trying to summate the overthrow of the Soviet Union and the apparent victory of imperialism in the late 1980s. In Latin America, this world-historic tragedy followed three decades of carnage, during which U.S. imperialism did everything that it could to prevent socialism from taking hold in its hemisphere. Successive presidential administrations organized the overthrow of progressive and socialist governments, propped up murderous dictatorships, and armed and trained militaries that waged genocidal civil wars in Central America and Colombia. In every country in Latin America, thousands of revolutionary cadre and civilians were killed. The organized forces of the left were physically weakened, more so than any other region in the world.

Coming out of that period, two of the main left-wing organizations largely intact in the region – the Communist Party of Cuba and the Workers Party of Brazil – founded the Sao Paolo Forum as an attempt to gather those forces that remained. Their numbers were small, and there was little unity around what path must be taken to defeat imperialism and capitalism. Many of those who initially came together were reformists without any revolutionary commitment. Then, the anti-imperialist struggle was given strength by the victory of Hugo Chávez in 1998 and the start of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. The so-called Pink Tide began, and many of the wide-ranging political parties of the Forum found themselves elected into government. Many believed that the dark days of U.S. dominance were a thing of the past, and that the masses could now democratically determine their own future. Venezuela played a leading role, directing part of its oil revenue to support these new progressive governments.

Then, Barack Obama became President and the United States began to reassert its dominion. In 2009 the world watched stunned as a military coup d'etat took place in Honduras, with the full support of the CIA and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Pink Tide began to be rolled back. The tactics varied by country – impeachment, trials, street violence, betrayals from within their own ranks – but the message was the same: “Every attempt to bring change through reforms and elections that you try will be broken by the old forces of reaction whose institutions you now occupy, but they still own.”

Today, only the governments of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua remain firm against imperialism. All others have been defeated. The Bolivarian Revolution stands out, for while the imperialist counter-offensive came crashing down around them, the Venezuelan masses deepened their revolutionary process. Socialism is their horizon. President Nicolás Maduro says that a new popular offensive must sweep Latin America, one more radical and profound than the last – a “Red Tide” perhaps? And as Latin America's left-wing forces gather once again, the Venezuelan movement plans to lay the groundwork for such an offensive. FRSO will be there, building relations with the revolutionary forces of our hemisphere for the common goal of ending U.S. imperialism and building a future that belongs to the masses.

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