Salute to Cuba
• Salute to Cuba! Long Live Fidel!
• Message from President Fidel Castro
• Memory and Future: Cuba and Fidel
• Magnificent “All Voices Together” Concert
at Anti-Imperialist Tribune
• Armed Forces Day and 50 Anniversary
of Landing of the Granma
• Your Duty to Humanity Is to Look After Yourself
and Go on Living
Congratulations to the Peoples of the Americas
• People Vote for Change, Reject U.S. Interference
• Decisive Victory for Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Alternative
Salute to Cuba! Long Live Fidel!
On the occasion of the 80th Anniversary of the life and work of Fidel Castro of Cuba, the U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization sends its warmest revolutionary greetings to Fidel and all the Cuban people. We salute the valiant struggle of the Cubans against the brutal interference of U.S. imperialism and its hundreds of attempts to assassinate Fidel and crush the Cuban revolution. We stand with you in demanding an end to all U.S. interference and wish you continued success.
Fidel is a revolutionary leader who has inspired millions worldwide, young and old, to persist on a revolutionary path and refuse to kneel before the power of U.S. imperialism. He and the Cuban people have stood firm, waging battle after battle to build their nation on their own terms, in their own image, and done so with courage and optimism. Despite being faced with repeated state terrorism by the U.S., the Cuban people have responded in a principled manner, demanding justice. We take this opportunity to call on the U.S. government to immediately free the Cuban Five, brave anti-terrorist fighters and to end the brutal sanctions against Cuba.
The example of Cuba for the world has always been one of revolutionary vigor and vision. It is one that has demonstrated the ability of a small country to make large contributions to the struggle of humanity for a new world that favors the peoples and respects the rights of all.
Fidel’s example has been one of unity and cohesion, of putting in place what is needed to favor the revolution while also blocking every effort by the U.S. to subvert and provoke the Cuban people. This effort by the U.S. has continued without let up and does so today, as imperialism strives to block any hope of humanity for progress.
But as Fidel and the Cuban people stand up and march forward, they also demonstrate that it is imperialism that is failing and has no future, while the peoples are advancing their struggle to create a new world for all humanity.
Salute to Cuba! Long live Fidel![TOP]
Message from President Fidel Castro
Dear compatriots and dear friends from all over the world:
During this time, I have worked intensely to guarantee in our country the objectives of the Proclamation of the 31st of July.
Now we find ourselves facing an adversary who has led the United States into a disaster of such magnitude, that it is almost certain that the U.S. people themselves will not allow him to conclude his presidential mandate.
In addressing you, intellectuals and prominent individuals of the world, I was in a dilemma: I could not bring you all together in a small venue. It was only within the Karl Marx Theater that all of the visitors would fit and, according to my doctors, I was still not in a condition to face such a colossal encounter.
I opted for the variant of speaking to all of you utilizing this channel. My thinking is well-known regarding José Martí’s ideas of glories and honors, when he said that they can all fit on a grain of corn.
Your generosity really overwhelms me. There are so many people that I would like to mention here that once again, I am opting not to do so, and I ask you to forgive me for mentioning just one name: that of Oswaldo Guayasamín, because he was able to synthesize many of the best virtues of those present here.
He made four portraits of me. The first one that he painted in 1961 was lost. I looked for it in every possible corner, and it never appeared. I suffered so much when I found out what an exceptional person Guayasamín was. The second was in 1981 and is kept at the Casa Guayasamín in Old Havana. The third, in 1986, is kept at the “Antonio Núñez Jiménez Foundation for Nature and Man.” How far we were, he and I, when we first met, from imagining that the fourth portrait would be his birthday gift in August 1996.
How inspired his words were when he said: “From Quito and in any corner of the Earth, leave a light burning, because I will be back later.”
About Oswaldo Guayasamín, I wrote one day, during the inauguration of the Capilla del Hombre, “He was the most noble, transparent and humane person I have ever known. He created at the speed of light, and his magnitude as a human being was limitless.”
As long as the planet exists and human beings breathe, the work of creators will exist.
Today, moreover, thanks to technology, the work and knowledge that humanity has created throughout thousands of years is within everyone’s reach, even though it is not yet known how human beings are affected by the radiation from billions of computers and cell phones.
Recently, the prestigious World Wildlife Fund, based in Switzerland and considered internationally to be the most important NGO overseeing the global environment, stated that all of the measures taken by Cuba to protect the environment made it the only country on Earth that meets the minimum requirements for sustainable development. This is an encouraging honor for our country, but of little importance in the world, given the weight of its economy. That is why, on this past 23rd, I sent a message to President Chávez saying:
“Dear Hugo:
“By adopting a Comprehensive Energy Savings Program, you have become the most prestigious defender of the environment in the world.
“The fact that Venezuela is the country with the largest oil reserves is extremely important, and will make you an example that will draw along all other energy consumers to do the same, saving a countless amount of investment.
“Just as Cuba, a nickel producer, can mobilize resources worth billions of dollars for its development, Venezuela, with its exports of hydrocarbons, could mobilize trillions.
“If the rich industrialized nations were to achieve the miracle of reproducing throughout the planet -- within several dozen years -- solar fusion, having first destroyed the environment with hydrocarbon emissions, how will the poor nations, who constitute the immense majority of humanity, be able to live in that world?
“¡Hasta la victoria siempre!”
Finally, dear friends, who have done us the immense honor of visiting our country, I very sorrowfully take my leave of you, because I was not able to personally thank you and embrace each one of you. We have the duty to save our species.
Fidel Castro Ruz
November 28, 2006
(Translated by Granma International)
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International Colloquium
Memory and Future: Cuba and Fidel
On November 29 the International Colloquium “Memory and Future: Cuba and Fidel,” organized by the Oswaldo Guayasamín Foundation to honour the Cuban President and leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro began at the International Convention Center in Havana. The Colloquium was part of a tribute to him on his 80th birthday, August 13, and included a gala welcoming event by Cuban artists for the participants. International Relations Director of the Guayasamín Foundation Alfredo Vera confirmed the participation of 2,200 intellectuals, political leaders and artists, including former Ecuadorian President Rodrigo Borja, Vice President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Yerodia Abdoulaye Ndombasi and Deputy Secretary of Nicaragua’s Sandinista National Liberation Front Tomas Borge.
For two days, political leaders, social activists, writers and artists addressed the achievements attained in Cuba under Fidel’s leadership, his perspectives and international impact. Sessions were organized which covered the solidarity of the Cuban Revolution; achievements in popular participation, social justice, science, health, education and sports; and culture and the mass media.
Speaking with Granma International, participants in the colloquium were enthusiastic about their participation and the contributions of Fidel. Argentinian Hebe de Bonafini, one of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, said “He is the greatest, wisest, most integral and sincere man whom I have ever met.” Italian popular communicator Gianni Mina stated: “The collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe began 17 years ago, and Cuba, under the leadership of the Comandante, is still on its feet and moving forwards.” In the words of Chilean lawyer, author and politician Volodia Teitelboim, “Fidel’s homeland is not only Cuba, but the planet Earth.”
The younger generations of Latin America also expressed themselves. Luther Castillo, a Honduran graduate from the Latin America School of Medicine, stressed that 115 years since the founding of the Autonomous University of Honduras, hardly any black doctors have graduated, while in Cuba the total is now 18 from his country’s Garifuna community.
Mozambican writer and historic leader Marcelino dos Santos recalled that the liberation of the peoples of Africa is fertilized by the generously spilled blood of the Cuban people.
From Bolivarian Venezuela, Francisco Sesto, minister of culture, highlighted that the combination of a humanist vision with a firmness of principles can be seen in the person of Fidel, and poet and politico Tarek William Saab described the work of the Cuban leader as a continuation of that of Venezuelan liberator Bolívar.
After recounting her experience in promoting literacy programs drawn up on the island, Argentinian Claudia Camba drew applause by saying: “The best tribute to Fidel is for all of us to go out to sow his dreams everywhere, and to make them real.”
Cuban First Vice President Raul Castro chaired the closing plenary of the Colloquium held at the Karl Marx Theater. The event was co-chaired by Presidents Evo Morales (Bolivia) and Rene Preval (Haiti), Nicaraguan President-elect Daniel Ortega and the Saint Vicente and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.
The issues centered on the international projection of Fidel’s work and thought, the solidarity encouraged by Cuba in the field of health, education and its support to the liberation of other peoples.
Raul Castro remarked that while the foundation had the privilege of convoking the activities, the mass support was achieved thanks to the Fidel’s importance, and added that in Cuba they have corroborated what the Cuban people call the Battle of Ideas.
Another aspect of the tribute was an exhibition of 100 works by the Ecuadorian painter Oswaldo Guayasamín illustrating his principal pictorial series in the Museum of Fine Arts.
Three of them, in essence: Huacayñán (The Road of Weeping) La edad de ira (The Age of Anger) and La edad de ternura (The Age of Tenderness) and part of his graphical works. Alongside them were three of his portraits of the Cuban president.
The Colloquium will publish an article describing the function of the revolution and the role of Fidel, and will launch a book of poems illustrated with paintings by Guayasamín.[TOP]
Magnificent “All Voices Together” Concert
at Anti-Imperialist Tribune
On November 30 Cuban musicians and other international artists came together for the All Voices Together concert with which the Oswaldo Guayasamín Foundation paid an artistic tribute to President Fidel Castro for his 80th birthday.
The concert took place at the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribune by Havana’s Malecón, an open-air venue filled by thousands of people, with the music irradiating its own poetry, its song to reason, justice and beauty. Beginning at 9:00 pm on Thursday it lasted for nine hours until early Friday morning.
The music spilled its clarity over the vast space in which Latin American flags: Paraguay, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Peru and Ecuador were waving, their colors mingling.
Pablo Milanés opened the concert with Acto de fe (Act of Faith), an anthem composed by him and Silvio Rodríguez which moves from the individual to the collective, merging into a revolutionary creed.
“I bring a strong embrace from Uruguay for compañero Fidel, that young man of 80 who resists and resists,” said Daniel Viglietti.
“Thank you for the fire,” he added, quoting a line from his compatriot Mario Benedetti, “thank you for having taught us to be more and more in solidarity.”
He performed the preamble to three classical numbers from his repertoire, including A desalambrar (Cutting the wire), with which he transmitted greetings to a new trova movement which is involving more and more young people and whom he called on to maintain “with all their pores open,” thus examining the truth.
Silvio Rodríguez came after Viglietti, bringing indispensable numbers in the spiritual, political and affective imagery of the Americas, like La era está pariendo un corazón (The Era is Giving Birth to a Heart), Ojalá (Maybe) and El necio (The Fool): I want to be on the left more than the right; I will die as I lived.
From Ecuador came Margarita Lazo and the Pueblo Nuevo group to offer their tribute “to the greatest man born in the universe in the 20th century” and to proclaim themselves active participants in the triumph of the new president of their country, Rafael Correa.
Committed songs, a beacon of new forces that are awakening in the region extended into the night, expressing the dreams and hopes of the popular sectors marginalized up until now, of the growing motion for change in the nations of the Americas.
The lyrical beat of Andean music in a Paraguayan melody filtered through the sweet timbre of Ricardo Flecha. His special gift for the Cuban president: a version of the Internationale in the indigenous language Guarani.
In both the classical and the popular, the symbolic presence of the five Cuban prisoners in the United States, was reaffirmed throughout the concert.
Speaking to Prensa Latina following the concert, Cuban Culture Minister Abel Prieto described it as a unique event due to its intensity and emotional charge. He also gave assurances that Fidel is recuperating and is continuing his work with absolute clarity.[TOP]
Plaza Covered in Olive-Green
Armed Forces Day and 50 Anniversary
of Landing of the Granma
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The Granma yacht, the emblematic boat of the Rebel Army, once again sailed through the waters of dignity. On this occasion, it moved through a sea of Cuban children who escorted it down Paseo Avenue and through José Martí Plaza de la Revolución waving their blue kerchiefs. A military band played “La Lupe,” a song composed by Commander of the Revolution Juan Almeida Bosque before the revolutionary expeditionaries departure from Mexico in 1956, as the yacht passed in front of the military review stand.
The yacht was preceded by 120 horseback riders carrying machetes, representing the Mambí Calvary, in allusion to the Liberation Army, the seeds of the Rebel Army and today’s Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR).
The Granma was then followed by the companies of infantry troops from the various military divisions of the FAR. In compact blocs, uniformed regular and reserve troops marched goose-step, along with special battalions, the Revolutionary Navy, cadets from the Camilo Cienfuegos military schools and members of the Territorial Troop Militias (MTT).
As the sound of the soldiers’ boots marching in step echoed through the José Martí Plaza de la Revolución, the parade announcer explained the weapons they were carrying, including Cuban-produced Alejandro sniper rifles and Russian-made AKM automatic weapons with telescopic sights.
After the battalions came the combat equipment, including armored cars, trucks, command posts and tanks, all technologically modernized to provide them with greater combat capacity
Likewise, there was a representation of mobile anti-aircraft and reactive artillery, the famous BM-21s, self-propelled rocket-launching platforms for various types of rockets and anti-aircraft guns in optimal combat status, among other equipment.
The military aspect of the parade ended with a squadron of Mig-21, Mig-23 and Mig-29 fighter-interceptor jets from Cuba’s Air Force, as well as Mi-35 and Mi-17 helicopters.
The parade, which also served as a tribute to President Fidel Castro on his 80th birthday, wound up with 300,000 compatriots from neighborhoods surrounding the Plaza, in representation of the entire Cuban people, many waving Cuban flags and carrying handmade signs in tribute to Fidel and the Revolution.[TOP]
You Do Not Have a Duty to Be Anywhere, Fidel:
Your Duty to Humanity Is to Look After Yourself
and Go on Living
Voice of Revolution is reprinting below the remarks of Alfredo Vera, Director of International Relations for the Oswaldo Guayasamín Foundation and Coordinator of the Tribute to Fidel.
* * *
Dear brother and sister followers of Fidel:
Fidel’s transparency has made us clearly understand reality. But what he would most want is that we continue going forward. First you heard the voice of Oswaldo Guayasamín, creator of the Foundation 30 years ago, and whose living memory holds the thinking and sentiment of hundreds, thousands, millions of human beings, who are here or who have been unable to come to be with us in these days that are going to be marvelous, not only because of the love that we, you and the maestro’s family will be giving, but because of the personality of the man who is being honored: that volcano called Fidel!
The Guayasamín Foundation wishes to share with you, the visiting women and men from 80 countries, the privilege represented by being able to participate in this unparalleled tribute.
It is our wish that each segment of the program will be fulfilled as successfully as possible. It includes the Guayasamín exhibition, made concrete in an embrace from the artist to his brother Fidel; the international concert Todas las voces, Todas (All Voices Together) in which artists and singer-songwriters who are generously dedicating their music to Fidel will participate; and the colloquium in which we are going to dialogue on and update the memory of what has taken place and look at the projections of what is to happen in this world in turmoil, everything in relation to Fidel and to Cuba, both of whom symbolize the real concept of Revolution.
In the framework of this tribute, we are going to launch a book reproducing the works of Oswaldo Guayasamín twinned with poems from Pablo Neruda’s Canto General (General Song), and another book that brings together marvelously the thinking and a large part of the history of the Comandante, Cien horas con Fidel (One Hundred Hours with Fidel), written with such intelligence by the journalist Ignacio Ramonet, present here, in its third edition, which is an additional privilege for all of us.
However, that is little enough of what we can do as a tribute to a man who has given everything in favor of others, his own Cuban people and other peoples from Latin America and the world, whom he treats as if they were his own in the exemplary attitude of converting himself into the driving force of the most internationalist solidarity known to contemporary history.
An example of decorum, of austerity, of total detachment from material ambition, personal sacrifice in his inexhaustible work, all those virtues that have brought him to occupy that unique place in the history of these times in which he has dedicated most of his 80 years to fighting, leading battles, defeating -- one after the other -- the governments of imperialism and many of their figureheads, with all their blockades, their assassination attempts, their perverse genocidal practices.
Eighty years, which are many, many more for a person who found the strength to extend his days and working hours to the infinite.
His being this volcano that he has been, as Oswaldo Guayasamín describes him, is the reason for us meeting here to say to him:
Thank you, Fidel, for existing.
Thank you for having had the valor to forge the 26th of July.
Thank you for everything that you have done and for attaining the absolution of history a long time ago.
Thank you for the Granma landing, the beginning of the victory.
Thank you for making Cuba a free territory.
With the beneficiaries of the “I Can Do It,” Operation Miracle (programs), and the thousands of medical students, we say to you: Thank you for making your dreams of social justice a reality.
Thank you for continuing to be a guerrilla.
With Elián González and with the five patriots imprisoned by the empire, we say to you: Thank you for being tenacious and for winning all your battles.
You do not have a duty to be anywhere, Fidel: your duty to humanity is to look after yourself and to go on living.
Friends: And so that Fidel hears from where you are, from the hand of the memory of Oswaldo Guayasamín, let us lavish to that volcano of tenderness th e most loving standing ovation.
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Ecuador Elections
People Vote for Change, Reject U.S. Interference
Voice of Revolution warmly congratulates the people of Ecuador for delivering a resounding defeat of the U.S. imperialists and the financial oligarchy by electing a new president Rafael Correa. Correa was elected by a wide margin. He promises an agenda that is against the neoliberal agenda of the U.S. and world financial institutions it dominates like the IMF and World Bank. This electoral success, like that in Brazil and Venezuela represents another defeat for U.S. efforts to intervene in the affairs of Latin America and dictate in the region, which it has always considered its “backyard.” This is a victory based on the grassroots and revolutionary movement responsible for the removal of the three previous presidents who did not fulfill their promises to the people.
According to results released on November 27, Rafael Correa, of the Alianza Pais, defeated Alvaro Noboa of the Institutional Renewal Party (PRIAN) with 68.28 per cent to 31.17 per cent with 47.73 per cent of electoral registers counted. The Organization of American States (OAS) validated the election and confirmed the victory by Correa. The Supreme Electoral Council is expected to ratify the results by November 29.
The November 26 elections were polarized like few have been in Ecuador, “where the contenders for the presidency were not just well-defined but also totally irreconcilable opposites,” writes Nidia Diaz for Granma International.
From the start of the race, an all-against-one campaign, in which the United States actively intervened, developed against the Correa candidacy. His electoral victory is seen as an alternative to the neoliberal model and he is also expected to join with the other movements that are developing on the continent to build a new society, with the implementation of projects for social justice and economic integration for the mutual benefit of all. Speaking about Ecuador’s relations with Venezuela after his victory, Correa stated, “Hopefully, we will get much, much closer to Mr. Chavez.” “Chavez is my personal friend, but in my house, my friends are not in charge, I am. And in Ecuador, it will be Ecuadorians in charge,” Correa added.
Another pillar of Correa’s program is the rejection of the Free Trade Treaty with the United States, and instead support for political, economic and financial integration of Latin America without U.S. interference and dictate. He has also expressed his determination to renegotiate the foreign debt on the basis of upholding Ecuador’s dignity and sovereignty which includes getting rid of dollarization — the use of the U.S. dollar as Ecuador’s currency. He has also said that Ecuador would rejoin the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Correa’s platform also includes a call for a popular vote on a Constituent Assembly to end the system of corruption and party control, which dominate the country. Correa also rejected renewing the agreement that allows the U.S. to operate its Manta military base in southwest Ecuador when it expires in 2009. “We will honor the agreement but when it expires it will not be renewed because we do not want to get involved in a war that is not ours,” he said referring to the role the Manta installation plays in Plan Colombia. It is utilized as part of the U.S.’s counter-revolutionary strategy in the region, to suppress the numerous struggles of the people for their rights.
Preserving its foothold in Latin America with the Manta military base was one of the aims of the U.S. imperialists’ intervention in the Ecuadorian election. During the election, the chief of the U.S. Southern Command, -General Bantz Craddock admitted that the permanence of the U.S. military base in Ecuador was was in doubt, the Miami Herald reported. Craddock noted the U.S. military command was closely following the election as the future of its units in that territory depend on the next president.
The Ecuadorian people came out en masse to defeat the candidate championed by the rich and the U.S., Alvaro Noboa. According to the World Bank, the richest 10 per cent of the population receives three times the income of the poorest 50 per cent, with Noboa the richest man in Ecuador. Scion of the banana industry, he has a fortune estimated at some $1.2 billion and owns 120 companies. This was his third consecutive bid for the presidency. In exchange for the support given to his candidacy by the United States he would have extended the lease of the U.S. Manta military base. Furthermore, Noboa promised that were he to become president, he would break off relations with the governments of Cuba and Venezuela. Noboa and PRIAN sought to guarantee a bigger boost to foreign investment, open the road to a free trade agreement with the United States and drive forward with privatizations.
Noboa had the full support of the U.S. and forces it supports in Ecuador, including the traditional Social Christian Party and those of the -Ecuadorian -Roldosist Party and the national oligarchy, as well as the accompanying media blitz that attempted to demonize Correa.
In the coming year, the defense of the rights of all people to peace, development which favors them, dignity and justice will continue to determine the future course of the world. Buffalo Forum calls on the U.S. working class and people to go all out to support the people of Ecuador as they defend their aspirations to realize an alternative and way forward for Ecuador and affirm their right to determine the future of their country without outside interference. We call on all to support the same for all of Latin America and the Caribbean. This defeat for the U.S. is also a victory for the working people of the U.S. and the world.
Congratulations to the people of Ecuador and their new president![TOP]
Venezuela
Decisive Victory for Hugo Chavez
and the Bolivarian Alternative
Voice of Revolution congratulates President Hugo Chavez and the revolutionary Venezuelan people on their decisive victory at the polls on December 3, giving Chavez another 6-year term. This was another significant defeat for the U.S. and its efforts to dominate Latin America. The peoples of the U.S. join those of Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and all of the Americas in welcoming this defeat for the U.S. This victory is another step in the direction of creating another world that favors the people!
The National Electoral Council (CNE) reported at 11:49 pm on December 3 that Chavez had won 61.62% per cent of votes cast (6,191,652 votes) versus the U.S.-backed candidate Manuel Rosales with 38.12 per cent (3,830,370 votes) based on returns from 85 per cent of polling stations. Rosales conceded defeat prior to this announcement that evening when similar results based on returns of 78 per cent of polling stations were reported by the CNE.
Sixteen million people were eligible to vote in the presidential election, including 17,000 who were registered to vote in Miami, Florida. A 62 per cent voter turnout was reported.
We denounce the various U.S. efforts to interfere in Venezuela, including continued efforts to organize a coup d’etat, provide financial backing for Chavez’s opponents and more. The U.S. has seen repeated defeats, including the sound defeat of their candidate for this election, Manual Rosales. Rosales is the governor of an oil-rich state in the west of Venezuela. He headed an alliance of opposition groups that accused Chavez of squandering the country’s oil revenues. The peoples handed them a clear defeat.
On Monday, Chavez greeted the crowds from a balcony on the presidential palace in Caracas, saying “Long Live the Popular Victory!” Chavez said he will start an era of “new democracy” in Venezuela. Already the achievements of the Bolivarian revolution are impressive.
Pablo Navarratem writing for Red Pepper Blog points out:
“According to Venezuela’s most recent census, the number of households living in poverty has dropped from 49 per cent in 1998, the year before Chavez took office, to 33.9 per cent in early 2006. Households living in extreme poverty dropped from 17.1 per cent to 10.6 percent during the same period. And during Chavez’s presidency the poorest quintile of the population has seen its consumption power more than double. Even the World Bank announced in June this year that Venezuela had achieved ‘substantial improvements in the fight against poverty.’ If you contrast this with the fact that between 1970 and 1998, the year before Chavez came to power, per capita income in Venezuela fell by a staggering 35 per cent, the worst decline in the region and one of the worst in the world, it becomes quite easy to understand why Chavez has won 10 electoral contests during his nearly eight years in power.”
In addition, 17 million Venezuelans have received free health care; 1.5 million adults learned how to read and write in two years, with hundreds of thousands of poor people also doing primary, secondary and university studies.
About 15 million Venezuelans currently benefit from Mission MERCAL with subsidized food, with prices reduced by up to 60 per cent from market price, among many other initiatives oriented towards a redistribution of oil income.
On the international scene, Chavez is promoting a process of Latin American and Caribbean integration, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), similar to the European Union, but based on a social policy designed to meet the needs of the people.
Interference by the U.S. in the election also included efforts to create hysteria and promote the notion that there would be violence during the elections. On November 28, the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela released a statement warning U.S. citizens living in Venezeula to stockpile food in case of major political disturbances following the presidential elections on December 3. The embassy qualified the warning by saying there was no evidence that any disturbances had been planned. None occurred.
The main bulk of the statement read as follows, “In light of recent history of street disturbances occasioned by political activity, and current levels of anti-U.S. Government sentiment on the part of the Venezuelan Government, American citizens in Venezuela should maintain a high level of personal security awareness, especially during the election period.” It goes on: “Common sense measures include, among other things, avoiding large gatherings and other public events where disturbances could occur, and monitoring local developments and media reports. The Embassy specifically recommends that American citizens resident in Venezuela defer local travel on Election Day and maintain a few days’ supply of food, water, and medications at home for Election Day and the immediate post-election period.”
The victory of Chavez and the progressive social forces in this election confirms the success of the work carried out thus far in the Bolivarian revolution. The renewed mandate of Hugo Chavez represents the people’s recognition of the need for its further development in the service of the Venezuelan people. Let all the people of the U.S. support the Venezuelan people and the Bolivarian revolution.[TOP]