News and Views from the People's Struggle
Chicago, IL – Prominent Argentinian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel and 43 other human rights activists from 18 countries have written to President Donald Trump asking him to free Colombian revolutionary Simon Trinidad.
Political prisoner Facundo Molares, an Argentinian photojournalist who was incarcerated by the Bolivian Añez regime, is now safely home in his native Argentina.
Caracas, Venezuela – 60 international observers of the Venezuelan election were stuck at the airport December 8, for a flight to Mexico. The flight kept getting delayed and delayed. After six hours of waiting, people were sleeping on the floors, tables and couches. Then the head of Conviasa’s national flights spoke to the observers in the airport and said that Venezuela asked Colombia permission to have observers fly over Colombia to return home. Colombia approved it. Two hours before the flight was going to leave, they denied the flight route. He said, “This has happened many times. They do this to try to control us.” He told us that this is part of blockade and is a form of oppression, and that they suffer under these attacks every day. “As observers, you should show the world the oppression and how the blockade affects us.”
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In a compelling victory, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and its allies won 68% of the vote for the Venezuelan National Assembly on December 6. This strengthens the position of President Nicolas Maduro and buries any hope the U.S. had of installing a right-wing pretender in office.
Caracas, Venezuela – A middle-aged man in Guairda waits in line to vote for the National Assembly and says, “Here voting is easy and safe. It takes 30 seconds to one minute. With all the participation from the people in the Guairda area, we will show the world that we want to live in peace, without guarimbas [street blockades], without violence, without economic sanctions, and we will show to other people that we are demanding sovereignty. This is why the majority of Venezuelans are carrying out our duty and our right to vote.”
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.”
U.S. role in the world and its election
Members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization answered the call from the Partido Socialista Unido Venezloano (PSUV) to participate in a virtual gathering to uphold proletarian internationalism in the face of U.S. imperialism. The virtual conference demonstrated a truly international character, as 61 different delegations of trade unionists and activists attended from all five continents. It is clear that workers and communist parties from around the world stand in solidarity against U.S. imperialism and the blockade against Venezuela.
Miami, FL – A caravan of some 60 cars and 15 bicycles made up a caravan against the Cuba blockade, October 25 in Miami. It was the fourth caravan here since July. Those in attendance overcame not only threats by right-wing Cubans in the area, but pouring rain in the early morning hours before the 8 a.m. departure.
Chicago, IL – On November 10, 2019, a hastily-assembled coalition of generals, middle class liberals and fascist paramilitaries overthrew the democratic government of Evo Morales in Bolivia. Coming on the heels of a coup attempt in Venezuela and the vicious repression of a people’s uprising in Chile, it seemed to many that the continental struggle against U.S. imperialism had reached a tipping point in the empire's favor.