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

Caracas, Venezuela – The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) opened their 5th Congress, March 5, with music and a cheering crowd, followed by serious speeches of the PSUV leaders. The international delegation, including the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, with ambassadors from People’s Korea, China, South Africa, Cuba, Russia, Bolivia, Palestine and Nicaragua, were welcomed by every speaker.

Diosdado Cabello, first vice-president of the PSUV, described the 1572-plus delegates representing the workers, indigenous, Afro-Venezuelan, women and youth sectors participating. Women are more than half the delegates and more of the leadership. The largest PSUV section of members are in their thirties, having grown up with the Bolivarian Revolution. For nearly half the room this is their first congress.

In the afternoon, when Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro took the stage, he led a minute of raucous clapping and cheering in memory of President Hugo Chavez. It turned to chanting by the PSUV youth, “Chavez did not die! He made us millions!”

Flanked by the former President Evo Morales of Bolivia and the former president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, and Vice President of Venezuela Delcy Rodrigues, Maduro spoke of the continuing struggle to develop and broaden the economy in Venezuela. The president spoke about the “at your door” food delivery for more than 70% of the people, the over 3 million new apartments and houses built, the necessity to start new production factories for the many goods that the U.S. embargo is trying to deny Venezuela. The U.S. policy is failing.

President Maduro hammered on the theme of the 5th Congress, “Resistance, Rebirth, Revolution.” He spoke at length about problems the PSUV needs to overcome, especially corruption in government.

“The PSUV is based on ethical principles defined by President Chavez, so mistakes get confronted and corrupt people get punished,” said Maduro. He continued, “Sometimes people wear a red shirt to obscure who they really are, but we will find out!”

President Maduro finished by reminding the cadres that they need to resist the U.S. empire and the sanctions which they can overcome through developing their own economy, currently boosted by high oil prices. Growth and improvement is apparent everywhere, despite two years of difficulty with COVID. Over 90% are vaccinated with Russian, Chinese or Cuban versions of the vaccine. There is a new sense the economy is going to grow dramatically if U.S. sanctions can be overcome.

The idea of rebirth was described as the young cadre being trained to leave the colleges and go to the workers and other sectors of the people to teach them to take power and learn from them, to then improve their lives – to build party unity with the millions of PSUV voters throughout society.

The revolution component involves new organizations in workplaces and communities to change power dynamics in a country where the vast majority of the economy is in private hands. The PSUV is planning to shift ownership to public, collective, communal, and state ownership.

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

Caracas, Venezuela – The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) opened their 5th Congress, March 5, with music and a cheering crowd, followed by serious speeches of the PSUV leaders. The international delegation, including the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, with ambassadors from People’s Korea, China, South Africa, Cuba, Russia, Bolivia, Palestine and Nicaragua, were welcomed by every speaker.

Diosdado Cabello, first vice-president of the PSUV, described the 1572-plus delegates representing the workers, indigenous, Afro-Venezuelan, women and youth sectors participating. Women are more than half the delegates and more of the leadership. The largest PSUV section of members are in their thirties, having grown up with the Bolivarian Revolution. For nearly half the room this is their first congress.

In the afternoon, when Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro took the stage, he led a minute of raucous clapping and cheering in memory of President Hugo Chavez. It turned to chanting by the PSUV youth, “Chavez did not die! He made us millions!”

Flanked by the former President Evo Morales of Bolivia and the former president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, and Vice President of Venezuela Delcy Rodrigues, Maduro spoke of the continuing struggle to develop and broaden the economy in Venezuela. The president spoke about the “at your door” food delivery for more than 70% of the people, the over 3 million new apartments and houses built, the necessity to start new production factories for the many goods that the U.S. embargo is trying to deny Venezuela. The U.S. policy is failing.

President Maduro hammered on the theme of the 5th Congress, “Resistance, Rebirth, Revolution.” He spoke at length about problems the PSUV needs to overcome, especially corruption in government.

“The PSUV is based on ethical principles defined by President Chavez, so mistakes get confronted and corrupt people get punished,” said Maduro. He continued, “Sometimes people wear a red shirt to obscure who they really are, but we will find out!”

President Maduro finished by reminding the cadres that they need to resist the U.S. empire and the sanctions which they can overcome through developing their own economy, currently boosted by high oil prices. Growth and improvement is apparent everywhere, despite two years of difficulty with COVID. Over 90% are vaccinated with Russian, Chinese or Cuban versions of the vaccine. There is a new sense the economy is going to grow dramatically if U.S. sanctions can be overcome.

The idea of rebirth was described as the young cadre being trained to leave the colleges and go to the workers and other sectors of the people to teach them to take power and learn from them, to then improve their lives – to build party unity with the millions of PSUV voters throughout society.

The revolution component involves new organizations in workplaces and communities to change power dynamics in a country where the vast majority of the economy is in private hands. The PSUV is planning to shift ownership to public, collective, communal, and state ownership.

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

Tucson, AZ – On Wednesday November 17, former union bus driver and current president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, spoke to over 500 international solidarity activists from over 70 countries.

“Venezuela has been giving an intense battle against the aggression, siege, and lies from U.S. imperialism and its direct allies from the right on this continent and around the world,” Maduro stated. Maduro also lambasted the “cowardly left, the new indirect allies of U.S. imperialism who hide behind their masks of progressivism threaten our noble peoples who have been fighting.” Adding to the many achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution, Maduro said, “In Venezuela, we have advanced a real democracy that is direct and communal, with millions of men and women participating in the Communal Councils that every day is carrying out decisions and actions of the government and local self-government.”

The session concluded with Adán Chávez, Vice President of International Affairs for the United Venezuelan Socialist Party (PSUV). Chávez, the brother of deceased revolutionary President Hugo Chávez, expressed his appreciation and gratitude for the hundreds of international electoral observers in the country for the upcoming November 21 elections.

Venezuela has had an astounding 29 elections in the past 21 years, thanks in large part to the National Electoral Council, which Adán Chávez accounted for as one of the major achievements of the new constitution. These elections are expecting more than 20 million voters to participate in the vote to pick 335 mayors, 23 governors and more. He asked the electoral observers and solidarity activists to help Venezuela by transmitting the truth to the world in order to as a “counter-offensive to the media who has been sowing lies.” To rousing cheers and revolutionary salutes, Chávez said the Bolivarian Revolution “continues on the road to peace and our Bolivarian socialism.”

#TucsonAZ #Venezuela #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #NicolásMaduro #UnitedSocialistPartyPSUV

Acarigua, Portuguesa state, Venezuela – Long lines, including a lot of red-clad United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) supporters of the Chavez/Maduro party, wrapped around the block until 1 a.m. on August 9, waiting to vote for the tens of thousands of new candidates running in the primary regional elections. Polls were to close at 6 p.m. August 8, but Venezuelans felt energized to participate in the democracy and vote to continue the revolutionary policies of PSUV.

“75% of the candidates running are new candidates. Everyone knows that they can participate in our democratic elections and lead the country. PSUV has thousands of people running in the country and often 20 for one seat; whereas, the opposition party only has one person running for each seat because they don’t have enough members,” says Marifred Rodriguez, a 28-year-old Portuguesa state deputy to the National Assembly.

It is evident that Venezuelans support these democratic elections because after visiting three different polling sites, every single one was packed, with lines down the block.

“People in the USA say we have a dictatorship, but the elections are open to everyone. Everyone can run and people know that. You can’t see more democracy or candidate participation in any other country. It is impossible to cheat here. The machine won’t even open a ballot without your fingerprint. People sign their names and also put an ink fingerprint next to their signature. Chavez changed the elections this way to be more secure. The Carter Center said our elections are the most secure in the world,” says Rafael Torrealba, PSUV primary winner for mayor of Páez Municipality, which includes 198 communities.

At each polling place, taped to the walls, are long lists of everyone’s name who can vote there. The poll workers check the name of each person before they enter the polling place.

“We are here in Acarigua City, in the Páez Municipality of Portuguesa State. Today, the grassroots will decide who is going to represent us in the November 21 regional elections. As you can see, we are in peace and harmony, waiting in the line, to vote because we are one big team, one family. We are here in Venezuela building socialism,” says Hicter Angulo, a community member in line to vote.

“I am a journalist and a member of a local organization of socialist journalists. Today, we can show the world, that in Venezuela, there is a democratic system where our government representatives are chosen by the people, they are not imposed from outside our country. I fully support the PSUV because I am a community activist,” says Raúl Alexander Alvarado, a community member in line to vote.

Not only did Chavez and his PSUV party make the elections extremely secure and reliable, they also added gender equity by law. 50% of all candidates in the primaries must be women.

“Gender equality is mandatory in our elections. If there are ten men candidates, there must be ten women candidates. Our process breaks the world paradigm. We value and uphold the rights of women,” says Torrealba.

In this primary election, droves of women candidates and new candidates are running, but also young ones.

“More than 60% of the candidates are young. This is a way to build new leadership in the PSUV party. A lot of new young people run in city elections, do a couple of terms and then move up to national elections. We have 60,000 PSUV candidates running,” says Tulio Virguez, Secretary of International Relations of the National Federation of Public Workers.

“As PSUV supporters, we support one another to vote. The communes are especially political conscious. They use trumpet music to wake people up, since Chavez was in the military. Often, the community leaders each call ten people reminding them to vote. We also bring elderly and people with disabilities to the polling places,” says Tulio.

This support is seen outside each of the polling places. There are specific lines for elderly and people with disabilities. Neighbors or family members hold the arms of some elderly, walking them in the polling places.

The regional elections will be in November 21. PSUV, Maduro’s party, is expected to win by high margins. This is especially evident after the high turnout for PSUV of the primaries.

“I expect we will win 85 to 90% for PSUV because Maduro handled the pandemic very well and people support him continuing the socialist programs Chavez began,” says Tulio.

Many Venezuelans discuss how they think leftist candidates are expected to keep winning this year and next, since they handled the pandemic so well.

“Lula, the socialist candidate of Brazil, will win. He is currently ahead by 30 points over the current president Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro is a fascist. His policies caused mass deaths during the pandemic. Trump’s policies did too. USA has the most COVID deaths and cases in the world,” says Rafael.

“I want to know, when will people in the USA wake up and support socialist programs that help the people?” asks Rafael Torrealba.

#AcariguaPortuguesaStateVenezuela #Acarigua #Venezuela #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #UnitedSocialistPartyPSUV

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.”

The election of the National Assembly in Venezuela was Sunday, December 6. Election observers from around the world attended the voting sites in the schools around the country. They were able to observe the entire voting process.

There were multiple observers from the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, Dominican Republican and Barbados.

Donald Denny, an election observer from Barbados, says, “I represent the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration. We have a very close working relationship with the United Socialist party of Venezuela. We are also very supportive of the removal of the political economic embargo against Venezuela. We are here to witness this election and to be able to report to our people in the Caribbean about what is taking place. We know that the USA and the imperialist forces in the region will do everything possible to attack the election in Venezuela and criticize it, but we want to bring information to the people of Barbados and our region to have a clear understanding of what is happening in Venezuela. We are very supportive of this election and the progressive left forces. We are looking forward to a victory for the united socialist forces of Venezuela.”

There were also many observers from Africa, including the Congo, South Africa, Kenya, Morocco and Tunisia.

Obed Babela, an election observer from the African National Congress (ANC), said “I am part of the ANC, and we are together with other delegates from the South Africa Communist Party. We are here to pledge our support with the PSUV. We hope there is a clear winner, so the illegal blockade and the illegal sanctions must come to an end because the whole world will have seen that people from Venezuela went peacefully to vote, without being pushed by anyone, without intimidation, freely expressing who they want to be their own government. Once that has been determined, we are asking all countries to respect the outcome of the elections in Venezuela, so that the economy can grow and they can focus on development and not worry about sanctions and the illegal blockade.”

Contrary to the reporting of the corporate newspapers of the West, the observers saw a secure and democratic election process.

To vote, people walk up to an election worker and place their ID on a mini platform. The worker types in their ID numbers into a machine, checks their name and the voter places their finger on the machine to confirm their identity with the Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).

After their identity is verified, the voter goes to a computerized, touchscreen voting machine, which is behind a barrier for privacy. The ballot has all the different parties that are running candidates. The people click the party they want to vote for and then a printed receipt comes out.

The voter takes this ticket and puts it in a sealed box with a slit in it. They walk over to another election worker, who has an election notebook. The notebook lists everyone who can vote in that polling station. The voters sign their name and put their fingerprint next to their name.

The voting centers usually close at 6 p.m., but they won’t close if there are people in line. The votes are counted electronically, but also have backup with the paper tickets being counted. The whole process includes many checks and balances and confirming people’s identity. The international observers asked voters what they thought about the election. People said the election was democratic and just.

“Voting is very quick and easy here. Our election process is a democratic process, we’ve never let go of our democracy. It’s a good process. Everything is going well with our current government, thank God. There are a lot of good, cheap, services and utilities. We always have water and electricity. The public services here are very good,” says Eddy Guzman, an elderly voter.

The results of the election are usually known by 10 p.m. the same day. Venezuelans are expecting a strong victory for the Chavista party, PSUV, and President Maduro. This is the main reason that the U.S. government and right-wing newspapers are claiming the election is undemocratic; they know it is likely that the Chavista party will win. The Chavista party is the opposite of the USA’s two capitalist, imperialist parties. It offers free universal healthcare, free public education and college and free housing to over 3.3 million people. Most importantly, the PSUV is a party of the people and Maduro uplifts their voices.

A victory for the PSUV and Maduro is a victory for working people around the world and a victory against imperialism.

“The common thing we have among us is that we are human beings and we have to support each other and help in every way to improve life, in every sense, for all the people of the world. The government of Venezuela is in power because the people of Venezuela put them there. The people elected Maduro democratically. He’s the one that should be in power because it was the decision of the people. We should support them because we believe in democracy, so we should accept it,” says Ahmed Laamraoui, the secretary general of the Moroccan Worker’s Union and an election observer.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #Venezuela #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Socialism #UnitedSocialistPartyPSUV #HandsOffVenezuela

In January, Fight Back! reporters participated in the World Anti-Imperialist Gathering in Caracas, Venezuela. While there, they interviewed delegates from Venezuela and from several other countries. In this interview, Ender Sabalsa, a leader of the youth sector and the Afro-descendent sector of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), gives his message to the people of the United States. Ender Sabalsa: Revolutionary greetings to everyone reading this and to all the peoples of the world. My name is Ender Sabalsa. I’m a member of the youth sector of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). I’m also in the Afro-descendent sector and the social movements that are supporting the progressive governments here in Latin America and especially the elected government of our constitutional president Nicolas Maduro Moros.

I’d like to remind people in the U.S. that we are not against the people there, we are against the U.S. government – President Trump and the Trump administration – which has done so much damage in Latin America and in the world in general, which doesn’t recognize our governments’ policies, our self-determination, our international rights, and above all doesn’t recognize what great damage capitalism does to nature and to life on our planet.

I’d like to send a fraternal greeting to all the peoples of the world and especially the people of North America asking for you to support the liberation of the peoples of the world, to support democracy, to support social justice, to support a state based on laws. To all revolutionaries in the United States and in all fraternal countries, we ask you to support the government of our president, Nicolas Maduro Moros, and above all the Bolivarian revolution.

Fight Back!: Do young people and Afro-descendants play an important role in the Bolivarian revolution?

Sabalsa: Young people have a fundamental role in all revolutionary processes. Throughout history in all revolutionary processes, young people are one of the pillars because young people have that rejuvenating spirit, a desire to advance and build the future – of course young people together with people with more experience. And throughout the American continent, Afro-descendent people are also carrying out their revolution. Here we are waking up and we’re seeing that we are part of Africa. We no longer feel like immigrants that at some point in time, like a diaspora that was born because of the trade in Black people, this diaspora born of the slave system. Now we feel like we’re part of Africa and we’re profoundly tied to our roots both in Africa and in the indigenous peoples here.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #US #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #ChicanoLatino #Socialism #DonaldTrump #UnitedSocialistPartyPSUV #WorldAntiImperialistCongress #JuventudPSUV

En enero unos periodistas de ¡Lucha y Resiste! participaron en el Encuentro Mundial Antiimperialista en Caracas, Venezuela. Allí hicieron entrevistas con delegados de Venezuela y de varios otros países. Esta es una entrevista con Ender Sabalsa, un líder de la Juventud PSUV (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela) y del sector afrodescendiente en que él comparte un mensaje al pueblo de los Estados Unidos. Ender: Un saludo revolucionario a todos los que nos están viendo y a todos los pueblos del mundo. Mi nombre es Ender Sabalsa, milito en la juventud del Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, del sector afrodescendiente y de los movimientos sociales que están apoyando a los gobiernos progresistas de acá de América Latina y especialmente del gobierno electo y nuestro presidente constitucional Nicolás Maduro Moros. Quiero recordarles al pueblo estadounidense que nosotros no estamos en contra del pueblo norteamericano, estamos en contra del gobierno de Estados Unidos, el presidente Trump, la administración Trump que ha hecho tanto daño en América Latina y en el mundo en general, que no reconoce las políticas de los gobiernos, no reconoce la autodeterminación de los pueblos, no reconoce el derecho internacional, y sobre todo no reconoce el daño tan grande que le hace el capitalismo a la naturaleza, lo que le hace el capitalismo a la vida de nuestro planeta.

Yo quiero mandarle un fraterno saludo a todos los pueblos del mundo y en especial al pueblo norteamericano que apoya la liberación de los pueblos del mundo, apoya la democracia, apoya la justicia social, apoya el estado de derecho. A todos aquellos revolucionarios en Estados Unidos y en todos los países hermanos, que apoyan el gobierno de nuestro presidente Nicolás Maduro Moros y sobre todo la revolución bolivariana. Muchas gracias.

Lucha y Resiste: La juventud y los afrodescendientes tienen un papel importante en la revolución bolivariana?

Ender: La juventud ocupa un papel primordial en todos los procesos revolucionarios. A lo largo de la historia en todos los procesos revolucionarios la juventud es uno de los pilares porque la juventud tiene ese rejuvenecimiento, esas ganas de salir adelante y de construir el futuro, claro, la juventud, juntos con la experiencia. Y acá en todo lo que es el continente americano, los pueblos afrodescendientes están también haciendo su revolución. Acá nosotros estamos despertando y estamos viendo que nosotros somos parte de África, ya no nos sentimos como los migrantes que en algún momento...esa diáspora que se dio por la trata negrera, esa diáspora que se yo por el sistema esclavista, si no que ya nos sentimos como parte de África, y estamos arraigados profundamente a nuestras raíces, las raíces tanto en África como acá en nuestros pueblos originarios.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #US #Opinion #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Interviews #ChicanoLatino #Socialism #DonaldTrump #UnitedSocialistPartyPSUV #WorldAntiImperialistCongress #EncuentroMundialAntiimperialista #JuventudPSUV

Caracas, Venezuela – Hundreds of delegates arrived in Caracas from around the world, January 21, the eve of the World Anti-Imperialist Congress. The Congress is being held January 22-24 in Caracas and is hosted by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Venezuela's governing party, which has been under sharp attack by U.S. imperialism.

The congress is bringing together a broad range of anti-imperialist organizations, movements and governments from around 100 countries. At the congress they will exchange views and experiences and will strategize about strengthening the struggle against U.S. imperialism, to create a more peaceful world where countries' national sovereignty is respected.

At the opening reception of the congress tonight, delegates were warmly welcomed by members and leaders of Venezuela's Bolivarian revolutionary movement.

Today the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) delegation talked with local and national Venezuelan socialist leaders from the PSUV. This included conducting an in-depth interview with Gladys Requena, the vice president of Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly, and the vice president of the Women's Commission of the PSUV. In addition, the FRSO delegation met anti-imperialist delegates from a range of Latin American countries. As the congress gets underway, they hope to continue to learn from inspiring anti-imperialist movements in Venezuela and around the world and bring that information back to the U.S. where the corporate media generally ignores or demonizes any movement or government that resists U.S. imperialism.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Venezuela #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #Socialism #UnitedSocialistPartyPSUV #WorldAntiImperialistCongress

Chicago, IL – On August 6, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton attended a gathering of representatives from the right-wing governments of Latin America. There, he announced the next stage in the U.S. campaign to defeat the Bolivarian Revolution: A total blockade of Venezuela. All U.S. citizens are banned from doing business with “the Maduro regime,” and any company – U.S. or international – that does business with the Venezuelan government will be subject to fines, asset seizures and sanctions. While the announcement did not include the immediate deployment of the U.S. Navy to enforce the blockade, Bolton hinted that the option remained on the table if foreign companies and governments did not comply.

A blockade is war by another name; it is a modern-day siege with the singular goal of starving a nation into submission. The U.S. government uses its hegemony to threaten any business or government that does business with the targeted nation, to risk its isolation in a global economy run on U.S. terms. If you run an agribusiness willing to sell food for the Venezuelan food subsidy program – you will be sanctioned. If you run a shipping company willing to transport Venezuelan oil to be traded around the world – you will be sanctioned. If you are a government that receives Venezuelan oil in exchange for social services – you will be sanctioned. In one fell swoop, the United States has committed itself to preventing any Venezuelan exports from leaving its shores, and from it receiving imported goods from anywhere around of the globe. Already, the U.S. military has prevented a ship carrying thousands of tons of soy products from reaching Venezuela.

The decision is a historic one. It ends all economic relations between the United States and Venezuela. Up until a few years ago, the U.S. was Venezuela's main trading partner. For decades, the Venezuelan government had sold heavy crude to ExxonMobil and other U.S. firms, and with the U.S. dollars it received from these sales it bought U.S. agricultural and consumer goods to meet domestic demand. Ending this dependency was a key goal of Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian movement when they came to power in 1999, and the process of building economic sovereignty has been underway since then.

For 20 years, the U.S. has resisted this struggle for national independence. It backed a coup d’état in 2002 to try to install a pro-U.S. dictatorship, and firmly supported a bourgeois opposition that worked tirelessly to take back power and return Venezuela to the imperialist fold. After Chávez's death and Nicolás Maduro was elected president, the U.S. and its bourgeois lackeys began an economic war to try to break the masses from their revolutionary movement. But the coup failed, the opposition proved incompetent at winning elections, and the masses have endured the economic war without wavering in their revolutionary commitment. By declaring a blockade, the Trump administration is admitting that all their efforts to defeat the Bolivarian Revolution have failed. Nothing done so far has worked – so now starvation will be tried.

While the blockade directly targets Venezuela, it also sends a signal to other nations that refuse to fall in line behind the United States: namely, China and Russia. Both nations stepped in to fill the void left by the United States as the imperialist power gradually withdrew its historic relations with Venezuela. After the U.S. ended all military support for Venezuela during Hugo Chávez's administration, the Russian government stepped in. And as the U.S. began to withdraw its economic ties with Venezuela – a process begun in 2015 with a series of sanctions put in place by Obama – the Chinese government filled the void. Today, China is Venezuela's largest creditor and is providing crucial support for the nation's productive development. There should be no doubt that both nations will continue their support for the Venezuelan people – a sign of U.S. imperialism in decline, and of the determination of the world's peoples to defend their sovereignty.

This weekend, hundreds of thousands marched through the streets of Caracas in defiance of the imperialist blockade. The Venezuelan masses stand organized and mobilized, ready to defend the sovereignty they have won through hard struggle. “U.S. imperialism and its allies have tried to destroy the Bolivarian Revolution for 20 years, and again and again they have crashed against the granite wall of our unity and our conscience as a people fighting for freedom,” said Eduardo Piñate, the executive secretary of the United Socialist Party (PSUV), in an essay about the blockade. “Despite the damage they have caused us with the economic war, the blockade and all other forms of war done against us, we resist and advance because we are stronger than them.”

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Caracas, Venezuela – The delegation from Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) met with Jacobo Torres, May 6, the international relations coordinator for the Central of Bolivarian Socialist Workers (CBST) and a member of the international relations commission of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). He also is a delegate for the working class in the Constituent National Assembly (ANC).

They met Torres at one of the work stations of Corpoelec, the state-run electricity company that provides power to the entire country. In March, far-right terrorists, with the support of the United States, attacked the electrical system, leaving most Venezuelans without power for days. The station where they held their meeting, in the neighborhood of Chacao, had come under attack during this week, with snipers firing on workers and their trucks as they put all of their efforts into repairing the electrical grid.

According to Torres, the opposition had planned to leave Caracas without power for two months in order to stir unrest and break the morale of the revolutionary movement. Thanks to the workers of Corpoelec, the “socialist electric company,” power was restored to most of the capital in five days. The workers defeated the terrorist attacks on the electrical grid in March and are recognized as the heroes they are by the elected government of Maduro.

When discussing with the FRSO delegates the current stage of the Bolivarian process, Torres said that “our battle is for the working class to recover what has been abandoned by the bourgeoisie, to empower the workers” and play the leading role in building a new economy.

Torres also spoke at length on the workers’ militias. The trade unions have contributed over 300,000 militia members to the Bolivarian National Militia, but their militias take on a unique form. They are based in their own workplaces, led by their own union leaders, and are tasked with defending these sites of production and the neighborhoods that surround them. Torres told the delegates that during the worst days of street violence in 2017, the 60 militia members at this one Corpoelec station patrolled the neighborhood daily, and drove off more than one attack intending to cripple their workplace.

Reflecting on the great struggle their movement has been in, Torres said with a smile, “We have done Mao's Long March many times in the past 20 years.”

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Milwaukee, WI – On May 20, the revolutionary forces of Venezuela won a great victory with the re-election of Nicolás Maduro as president, who received a landslide 67% of the vote. The reactionary opposition parties, stumbling over themselves, ran a sub-par candidate that they could not even unite behind. For the foreseeable future, the political forces of the comprador bourgeoisie are defeated, and they and their imperialist partners will need to explore other means to try to defeat the Bolivarian Revolution. Now is the time for the revolutionary movement to advance, and that is what they are doing.

Seizure of local marketplaces

Nicolás Maduro, president of Venezuela and head of the United Socialist Party (PSUV), is committed to driving imperialism and its lapdogs from the country. Since May 20, his administration – and the broader Bolivarian movement that it leads – has launched a sweeping offensive against the vestiges of entrenched comprador bourgeois power that still hold on to key sectors of the economy. The goal is to create a stable, sovereign national economy capable of meeting the needs of the Venezuelan people and enabling them to fulfill their revolutionary desires.

Venezuela has been in severe economic crisis for years, the product of sharp class struggle and imperialist meddling. The comprador bourgeoisie, although weakened by their political failures, continue to use their dominance of the imports and distribution sectors to strike blows against the masses. Goods are hoarded, prices are gouged, and the fuel for crisis is made. Criminal elements actively aid the bourgeoisie in these efforts. It is at these key sectors of the economy that the Bolivarian movement now aims its sights.

To this effect, Maduro announced that the Sovereign Supply Chain Mission – a government body that combats corruption in the imports and distribution networks – would seize control of all local markets in the country. “The people demand a cleansing of all the local markets in this country, that we take all of the mafias away in handcuffs,” Maduro said a week after his re-election. “It is not socialism that is failing us, but this old savage capitalism that lives on like a zombie, plunging its claws into the people and preventing them from buying [what they need] with their high prices.” He added that any local officials that worked against the seizure of local markets would be treated as sympathizers of the “mafias” currently holding power over the local markets.

Strengthen the state sector

As battles wage between comprador and revolutionary forces in the private sector, efforts are underway to strengthen the large state-owned sector of the economy. Productive forces need to be further developed if Venezuela is to survive outside of the imperialist world. All revolutionary forces are working to construct this new economy. Agricultural communes are developing new methods to grow and process corn and other food staples. Workers are taking control of their factories, taking advantage of a new law that allows Worker Production Councils (CPTs) to legally seize and run their own workplaces.

While these revolutionary efforts are underway, work is being done to strengthen the existing state-owned businesses. On June 29, Maduro directed the Francisco de Miranda Front (FFM) – a cadre youth organization jointly organized by the PSUV and the Cuban Communist Party – to take managerial control of over 700 state-owned companies in order to strengthen their productive abilities and ensure they function in the national interests.

“Prepare yourselves, form into cells, because I want the best of the working class to take control over these companies!” Maduro declared before an assembly of FFM leaders. The youth will be assisted in this grand project by experienced officers from the National Bolivarian Armed Forces, who have been active in managing some of these companies for years.

¡Socialismo o nada!

The Venezuelan masses are hemmed in by enemies at home and abroad. On their border, the far-right regime of Ivan Duque is coming to power in Colombia, and he has made it clear that his central foreign objective is defeating the Bolivarian Revolution. Steps are certainly underway for the Colombian military, a full member of NATO, to attempt such a feat. They will be backed to the hilt by the Trump administration. It was leaked this week that, months ago when Trump and his advisors were discussing Venezuela, he incredulously asked why the Marines could not be sent in to overthrow Maduro. While this option has not been attempted yet, it is clearly on the table, and is beginning to look like the last option the imperialist have left.

Despite these real threats, the Venezuelan people have no fear. They know what they want, they know how to get it, and they are willing to get there.

Challenging times are ahead. The Venezuelan people's desire for independence cannot coexist with the profit hunger of U.S. imperialism. This contradiction is sharpening and will reach its breaking point. There are only two paths available for Venezuela – forward or backward. The present cannot last. The choice is now more than ever, to push forward the national democratic process towards socialism or barbarism.

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