Arlington, TX – On November 9, Dozthor Zurlent, a former adviser to Hugo Chavez, came to the University of Texas at Arlington to give a lecture to over 30 attendees on the status of the Bolivarian Revolution.

Dozthor Zurlent recounted how, despite Venezuela being termed as “rich” prior to the tenure of Hugo Chavez, the actual living conditions of the ordinary people did not reflect this. Housing was always cramped, nearly slums. The housing issue was a priority for Hugo Chavez, as it is with current President Nicholas Maduro.

Dozthor also explained how the economic war on Venezuela, the sanctions on the Bolivarian Republic, ravished the economy by making it incredibly difficult to continue to sustain the needs of the people.

Alex Saab, a business leader from the food producing industry, offered to assist in this regard and was given diplomatic status by the Venezuelan government – and despite this the United States illegally detained him in Cape Verde and now in Miami. Several students had questions about how they can help with easing the crisis in Venezuela and how international events, such as Gustav Petro’s victory in Colombia, will effect Venezuela.

Zurlent said that many of the great things that are happening now – such the elections of progressives in Colombia and in Brazil – could not have been possible without the Bolivarian Revolution.

Members of the Progressive Student Union, the Dallas Anti War Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the Democratic Socialists of America attended the event.

All the participants gathered for a photo and later video to call for the release of Alex Saab.

#ArlingtonTX #Venezuela #PeoplesStruggles #BolivarianRevolution #AlexSaab #Americas

Paez, Venezuela – Groups of mainly women stand with pride in front of Manuelita Saenz Bolivarian School and Community Center. The new center and school provide classes on music, culture, politics, feminism, sports, etc. Children and adults from all over the neighborhood attend to open their minds and improve their education.

“We are a vanguard. We started workshops on politics, religion, feminism, cooking and much more,” says Adelheidh Salcedo, teacher at the Manuelita Saenz Bolivarian School and Center.

In Venezuela, the communes – community organizations – have the power to choose what projects need to be funded for their communities. Over 47,000 commune councils are registered with the Venezuelan government. They write proposals to the Maduro-led government, then the government provides resources and guidance to support them. These projects are seen all over Venezuela, with communes choosing to build new housing, such as the 93 apartment building built in the community of Antimano, Caracas. Others chose to construct community food gardens, schools, playgrounds, or to meet other needs.

The community members of Paez contacted the government about an abandoned building that they wanted to use to start a new school and community center. The government approved the project, and the group, led by over 75% women, hit the ground running to build the Manuelita Saenz Bolivarian School and Center.

“The Paez community organized everything, with rehabbing the building, finding teachers and planning extensive curriculum. The governor also helped us with supplies, painting and rehabilitation. There is a lot of participation from everyone. Women are critical for our revolution here in Venezuela,” says Karla Mogollon Lucena, Paez community organizer.

In the rural mountains of Monte Carmelo, the community chose to develop a center that includes all women’s food production, workshops and community meetings. The food production collective used local farming to make pasta sauce and sweets. All the ingredients were locally harvested by the local garden and sold to nearby regions. They proudly display their jars that contain a symbol of a woman with flowing hair.

“Not only, do we garden and make our own food, but we hold feminist workshops. We invite women from all over to share their expertise and experiences with us. Some are feminist experts at giving women a voice, others share with us how to do mechanic and fix cars, others tell us ways to improving vegetable gardening. We learn a lot from women from all over Venezuela. Women are most of the ones who lead these workshops. Women are warriors and leaders in the revolution,” said Gaudy Garcia, a leader of the Family and Gender Equity Committee of the Monte Carmelo Commune.

The Systemic Commune Laws, which started under the President Chavez’ government, include 77 articles on how the commune councils are elected, how they make decisions, their popular participation in the economics and production in their communities, their function and duties of serving their community, ideas of possible projects, how to promote justice and equal rights for all genders and members, respect social traditions and cultures, and provide workshops on social justice.

“There is a lot of machismo and sexist culture in Latin America. From our feminist classes, I learned how to stand up for myself and tell my husband that he needs to do half the cooking and cleaning. It shouldn’t all fall on the woman. In most of Latin America, women do all of the cooking and cleaning,” said Maria Rodriguez, a community member of the Family and Gender Equity Committee of the Monte Carmelo Commune.

When starting the Systemic Commune Law, Chavez said, “Commune or nothing.”

These communes have been key to political education, building up the communities, increasing the resources and supporting local production. Communes are seen in every part of the country, from the rural areas, small towns to large cities.

“We make a lot of our own materials for our school and use recycled materials too. We work hard and are passionate about improving our community. We are a rural area, but we make sure the kids are educated well. We also teach about sexism in the language and how often society uses male dominant language, we want to change that. Us women are the political leaders here. We celebrate women because we are feminists,” says Maribel, community leader of Monte Carmelo.

The communes have been an effective way to build local leadership, promote collaboration among workers, and improve the economy. Every commune our staff visited tells us about how their commune is helping lead the revolution to improve the lives of the people and promote the people’s democracy.

“We have won national and international awards for our innovation and achievements,” says Gaudy Garcia.

#PaezVenezuela #Paez #Venezuela #WomensMovement #PeoplesStruggles #WomensLiberation #BolivarianRevolution #Americas

Caracas, Venezuela – Images of men sitting in prison, looking down at their shoes, awaiting court for violating and committing acts of violence against women appear on the TV screen. Scrolling across the bottom of the screen are the words, “The most people in prison in Venezuela are men who have committed gender violence.”

Venezuela has one of the strongest gender laws of any country in the world. The laws strongly protect women, so men are held accountable and cannot hurt them again.

“We made laws in Venezuela so we will be a country without violence against women. These laws don’t just protect us from being physical violence, but all forms of abuse,” says Maribel Santos, director of the Manuelita Saenz Bolivarian School.

In 2007, when Chavez was president, he and his party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), helped to passed the Law for the Right of Women to a Life Free of Violence. The law protects women from physical, emotional and sexual violence, among other types of violence.

“If you go to the police, and say that a man violated or hurt you, he will be immediately put in jail. Why? If a man is not put in jail, if he finds out the woman went to the police, he will probably hurt her more or kill her,” said Tulio Virguez, International Relations Secretary of the Federation of Public Service Workers.

This is unlike the U.S., where only 5.7% of rapes reported to the police are arrested, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN).

“In Venezuela, if I go to the police for an assault, they will immediately do forensics [a rape kit], to collect evidence about the incident. After an assault, some women take a shower, before going to the police, because they feel violated. Even in these cases, the men will be put in jail, to wait for court. Neighbors, community council members, parents etc. can also be witnesses to tell police that the men were hurting the women,” says Karla Mogollon Lucena, community organizer of the municipality of Paez.

Rape kits are also processed far faster in Venezuela than in the U.S. Many women in the U.S. find the whole process does not protect women fast enough since rape kits are processed slowly.

A U.S. woman who asked to be remain anonymous for safety reasons spoke of her U.S. experience: “I was assaulted in my own home by a neighbor in my building. I immediately drove to the ER after it happened to receive an extensive rape kit, that took hours. I already felt horrible, from the whole incident, but it was made even worse when I was told by the hospital social worker that the rape kit would take two to three years to process. Imagine, knowing your rapist lives within feet of you and the rape kit and court would take years.”

In contrast, “My friend was raped and went to the hospital for the rape kit. She had her results within weeks and went to court within 40 days. During this whole period, the men who raped her were locked up, so she was protected. According to the law, after the report is made, the police have to act within the first 12 hours,” says Tulio Virguez.

The failure of laws and court systems lead to mass amounts of death among women in the U.S. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, an average of three women every day are killed by an intimate partner.

“In Venezuela there are more men in prison for gender violence than for drugs,” says Maribel Santos.

This is a far contrast from the USA, where only 0.7% of reported rapes receive felony convictions, according to RAINN.

Charging men for abuse is an important part of the law, but also information sessions and trainings have helped reduce rates of gender violence. The PSUV Chavez/Maduro government started the structure of communes, which are community organizations with local political representation. There are currently around 3200 communes in Venezuela. According to the Law for the Right of Women to a Life Free of Violence, each of these communes is supposed to have a Family and Gender Equity committee to support these trainings.

Gaudy Garcia, a leader of the Family and Gender Equity Committee of the Monte Carmelo Commune says, “We are a feminist organization, so we hold feminist workshops. On average, 25 women attend our classes. We share our experiences and provide trainings on sexism. We are warriors.”

“There are orientations for women on the law and their rights. There are also information sessions for the community as a whole, so men know the repercussions if they hurt a woman,” says Karla Mogollón Lucena.

The U.S. should learn from Venezuela’s gender laws, which are quick and effective. Clearly, the U.S.’s laws are not protecting women, since less than 1% of rapists in the USA are in prison.

“Here in Venezuela, we believe and protect the women. We have a saying here that the revolution has the shape of a woman. There is also a big push to add LGBT+ language to the law,” says Tulio Virguez.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #WomensMovement #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #BolivarianRevolution

Caracas, Venezuela – Groups of women, wearing blue hardhats, stand proudly in front of a five-floor building, surrounded by lush mountains. The community members are building 93 apartments for families in the area. 80% of the workers are women.

“We carry all the materials up on our backs, we are self-sufficient. We work together as a community,” said Melida Riva.

They came together and decided they wanted more housing to accommodate their growing community. They reached out to Misión Vivienda, a program started in 2011 to build millions of homes around Venezuela. Once approved, the government sent them the supplies, provided them training and helped supervise the project.

Riva relates, “A tourist said to me here, ‘I saw a couple homeless people here in Venezuela.’ I responded, ‘Nowhere near the number of homeless people you see in the USA. You will rarely see homeless people here because in the last ten years, through Misión Vivienda, our government has built over 3 million homes, and this is with the horrible blockade and economic warfare against us by the USA. You are the richest country in the world and you have homeless people all over your streets. And your homelessness is only increasing.’”

“Your government wants to help the rich people; our government fights to help the poor and working people,” Riva added.

The Misión Vivienda program, which the late-President Chavez started, and President Maduro expanded, has built 3.6 million houses for communities all over Venezuela. You can see many of these buildings all around Caracas because they have Chavez’s signature on them.

Even during the pandemic, the Venezuelan government continued to build housing through Misión Vivienda. Whereas in major cities in the U.S., there is rampant homelessness and housing prices are dramatically increasing. 20 to 30% of those in living in large U.S. cities were at risk of homelessness during the pandemic. Los Angeles has Skid Row, an entire homeless neighborhood, and 41,290 homeless people, according to the homelessness count in 2020.

“We are able to build this grand building thanks to the collaboration of the government and Commander Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, who started these programs to give accommodations and resources to those in need. The Gran Misión Vivienda, which started ten years ago, gives us rights and resources to make new housing a reality. We are building 93 apartments with two to three bedrooms. 80% of us constructing this building are women. It is not easy, but sí, se puede,” said Blanca Villegas, a community member.

Communities, often the commune councils, vote on these community-led projects. The projects are then carried out with the resources and/or funds from the government. Some communities choose to build playgrounds, community gardens, shops, factories, etc. Many of these communities have strong women leads, who advocate for the resources their pueblo needs.

Seeing these women, beaming with pride and unity, one feels the sense of community emanate from them. They are proud to have a voice and build the services their community needs.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #WomensMovement #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Socialism #BolivarianRevolution

Caracas, Venezuela – A Freedom Road Socialist Organization labor delegation toured the Canaima laptops and tablets factory in Caracas, Venezuela on March 12. The Canaima plant is located within walking distance of the bridge where U.S. puppet Juan Guaido launched a failed coup d’état April 30, 2019. Upon arrival, leading representatives of the Canaima assembly plant greeted the American Teamsters with genuine smiles and warm handshakes.

A Venezuelan educator and Canaima spokesperson, Oscar Martinez, explained the assembly plant’s purpose, “Our goal is to produce a laptop or tablet for every school-aged child in Venezuela, over 6 million. We have delivered millions. Children are allowed to keep the laptops and bring them home. They are made of heavier casing material so they do not break easily if dropped on the ground.”

Martinez continued, “We are currently producing our fifth version, and we are hoping to launch a sixth one soon. Unfortunately, U.S. economic sanctions are making it difficult to obtain necessary parts, so production is slowed for now.”

The spokesperson then introduced workers in the plant who prepare and test different components. At the first station, he pointed out two women testing hard drives. They unpackaged them and plugged them in. A green light indicates correct functioning, ready for assembly. A red light requires further testing for repair.

Next, the American trade union delegation proceeded down the fast-moving line to where the components were assembled into laptops. This required soldering and precision attachment with tiny screws. The workers were intently focused on their tasks, but paused to smile and share their role in production. They clearly took pride in their work.

Quality control was next with three steps, including for software and hardware, with the occasional laptop being sent back. At the end of quality control, a worker placed each laptop in a protective sleeve, another worker would put the sleeves into padded boxes, and another would weigh each box to make sure that none of them were missing any components. All of the boxed laptops and tablets were then put into larger boxes, which were put on pallets ready to be shipped out and distributed to Venezuelan students free of charge.

After seeing the whole process and taking photos with some of the factory workers, the labor delegation toured another part of the plant. They were shown large windows that wrapped around a tree. Martinez explained that if you see the building from a bird’s eye view it is a strange shape because an architect designed the structure around the existing trees to minimize the impact on the landscape. The design gives the building a pleasant feel and some natural sunlight.

Spokesperson Martinez then pointed to a wall with striking images of two of Venezuela’s greatest heroes, Simon Bolivar and Hugo Chavez. The worker who created these images framed them using reused packaging materials from the factory. The worker-artist then presented autographed versions, including two of Venezuelan President Maduro, as gifts to the American trade unionists. He was proud to the point of tears, thanking the FRSO labor delegation for their support, especially coming from U.S. workers.

The tour was not over yet though. The Canaima representatives led the American Teamsters back to the front entrance and they were asked to sit down. Canaima workers, professionals and staff packed into the entranceway, shoulder-to-shoulder, beaming with excitement. Martinez and the others then brought out five boxes with brand new tablets inside, handing one to each delegate.

The American trade unionists stood up, amazed by the generosity of the gifts, profusely thanking everyone within reach. The Venezuelans were grinning from ear to ear, proud of their work.

Gabriella Killpack spoke for the delegation: “We are overwhelmed by your generosity today. This is totally unexpected! We came here to show our solidarity with our fellow workers in Venezuela and to understand the gains being made with the Bolivarian Revolution. We thank you so much!”

The Canaima tour guide Martinez spoke with passion, as tears welled up in his eyes, “Speaking from the heart, solidarity with workers in the U.S. is so important for us. We cannot believe you have come all the way here to stand with us! We recognize that the sanctions are imposed by the U.S. government and not the American people. We do not hold any resentment or anger towards workers in your country, but rather share a sense of solidarity that we face similar struggles against the same people in power in the U.S.”

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #Labor #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #US #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Teamsters #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #Socialism #BolivarianRevolution #DonaldTrump

Caracas, Venezuela – On the final day of the World Anti Imperialist Congress, January 24, Venezuelan President Nicólas Maduro spoke to the hundreds of international delegates from over fifty countries. A delegation from Freedom Road Socialist Organization is participating in the Congress.

With a Syrian professor and member of Ba’ath Party at his side, Maduro began with a story of a visit he had alongside Hugo Chavez to Syria when thousands of Syrians surrounded his vehicle in Damascus and lifted the car in celebration of a brave anti-imperialist leader. Maduro followed this with a declaration of solidarity to the Syrians for surviving an imperialist intervention.

After a brief comment on the vicious brutality of the capitalist system, Maduro stated: “It is here that we are the vanguard of a model of socialism, of anti-imperialism that will transform the world for humanity.” He followed with a quote in reference to the decline of U.S. Imperialism: “Mao Zedong called US Imperialism a paper tiger.” And that “we will build the new world that is coming.”

Mentioning the recent massive demonstration of millions of Iraqis in the streets of Baghdad, Maduro shamed the human rights organizations of the world for not caring about the lives of Iraqis for the last seventeen years of US Imperialist murder, terrorism and bombings. “All of my support to Iraq, all of our support to Iraq! All of Venezuela stands with Iraq!” he added.

Maduro, a former union bus driver, shared that the Washington Post recently asked him what the key was to surviving the Juan Guaidó coup attempt. He responded: “Don’t ask me, ask the people who went in the streets to defend their revolution.” He said the U.S. has spent tens of millions of dollars but could not break the spirit of the Venezuelan people in a revolutionary process.

“I know the US well. I used to drive a bus from Boston to New York, to Philadelphia, to Washington DC. I am not anti-American. I am anti-imperialist. We are anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist, anti-racist,” Maduro expressed in a statement of solidarity to the working people of the US.

The meeting finished with a surprise presentation from the Communist Party of Russia who presented the Order of Lenin to President Maduro. “We all have Lenin in our hearts. This is a commitment. A revolutionary commitment to build socialism in the 21st century” said as they shook hands.

At the conclusion of the Congress, the working groups of delegates presented their resolutions containing many statements of solidarity and their plans of international collaboration against imperialism.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #International #AntiwarMovement #Venezuela #US #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Socialism #NicolásMaduro #BolivarianRevolution #DonaldTrump #WorldAntiImperialistCongress

Caracas, Venezuela – On January 23, thousands marched in Caracas and listened to a fiery speech from President Maduro to mark two important historic events. In 1958, mass movements joined with patriotic forces in the military to bring down the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jímenez. This was the model of civic-military unity that President Hugo Chávez used in his vision of a Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. Unfortunately for Venezuelans, the fall of the Jímenez dictatorship was a short-lived victory. The betrayal of this victory ushered in 40 years of violent repression of communists and other dissidents and disastrous economic policies like import substitution and neoliberal privatizations of important public services. By 1989, the massive poverty created by neoliberal policies led to an urban rebellion of workers and the poor, which led to a vicious police crackdown that killed over 3000 people. Three years later, paratrooper commander Hugo Chávez led a military uprising that ultimately failed but created a lasting popularity in the minds of millions of Venezuelans.

Also, On January 23 one year ago, the largely unknown National Assembly member Juan Guaidó, with full support and coordination from billionaire President Trump and the U.S. government, declared himself the new president of Venezuela. Like the U.S.-sponsored coup attempt against Hugo Chávez in 2002, it was the masses of working people and campesinos who rescued their leader and saved their revolution from the oligarchs in the opposition.

From the historic balcony of the Miraflores Presidential Palace, former union bus driver President Nicólas Maduro recounted the past year of coup attempts and mocked the political circus of the opposition to the crowd of supporters of the Bolivarian Revolution. “Did they win?” he asked the crowd. “No!” they roared. “Did their actions serve the people?” “No!” “Are they more divided?” “Si!” “Are they powerless?” “Si!” went the exchange between Maduro and the crowd of the various sectors of social movements.

Maduro continued with his plan to create dialogue between the government and the right-wing opposition by inviting international partners like UN General Secretary Antonio Gutierrez to observe this year’s National Assembly election. “We want everybody to participate in this coming National Assembly election so that we can crush the opposition and leave no doubt!” boomed Maduro to a thunderous approval.

At many points during his speech Maduro addressed the hundreds of international delegates from the World Anti-Imperialist Congress in attendance as he declared the firm position of anti-imperialism of the Bolivarian Revolution.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #Venezuela #US #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Socialism #NicolásMaduro #BolivarianRevolution #DonaldTrump #JuanGuaidó