Newsletter of the Hands Off Venezuela campaign www.handsoffvenezuela.org May 2013 Defend Venezuela’s democracy Nicolas Maduro won the presidential election - respect the democratic will of the people n April 14, the Bo- the day after, with the presence livarian candidate of opposition technicians and no Nicolás Maduro complaint was registered won the presiden- • on election night 54% of poll- Otial elections with 7,586,251 ing booths, chosen randomly, votes (50.61%) against the op- were publicly audited with the position candidate Henrique presence of opposition and Bo- Capriles who received 7,361,512 livarian observers. The voting votes (49.12%), with a turnout of results recorded by the voting 79.69%. machines were checked against The opposition refused to rec- the paper receipts in the boxes. ognise the results of the election No complaints were registered. and has launched a campaign of • the elections were observed violence. On the night of April by over 170 international observ- 15 several CDI health clinics ers from many countries includ- were attacked across the coun- ing India, Brazil, Great Britain, try, as well as alternative and Argentina, South Korea, Spain state media outlet buildings and and France. Among the observ- journalists, offices of the United ers were two former presidents Socialist Party of Venezuela, etc. (of Guatemala and the Domini- As a result of this politically mo- can Republic), judges, lawyers tivated violence 9 people were and high-ranking officials of killed, all of them in the Bolivar- national electoral councils. All ian camp. of them stated that the elections The noisy campaign of the had been free and fair and the opposition was combined with system transparent, reliable, The working masses defend the Bolivarian revolution pic: Prensa Presidencial a national and international well-run and thoroughly au- media campaign, international dited. audit and would not recognise cratic” opposition which is the interference and pressure (from • all governments around the its results and will challenge the same one which organised the the United States, Spain and world have now recognised the election results in front of the coup in 2002 and has constantly OAS), etc. In effect, the aim was democratically elected president Supreme Court of Justice. attempted to remove the demo- to create a situation of chaos, of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, Hands Off Venezuela confer- cratically elected government of challenge all of the democratic with the exception of the United ence therefore resolves to: Venezuela and destroy its Boli- institutions and prepare the way States. • recognise the democratically varian revolution for a coup, just as in April 2002. • instead of following the legal elected government of Nicolas • demand that those respon- Faced with this campaign, de- procedures for challenging the Maduro sible for the violence and the scribed by president Maduro as result or lodging specific com- • explain the real issues in- killings of the days after the a “developing coup d’Etat” we plaints, the opposition incited volved and counter the lies, ma- elections should be brought to note the following: violence. No complaints were nipulation and half-truths of the justice and punished, both those • the Venezuelan presidential lodged with the National Elec- mass media regarding the Boli- who committed those acts as election was conducted on the toral Council until four days varian revolution and particu- well as those who are responsible basis of the same electoral regis- later, when 9 people had already larly the election process for incitement - enough impu- ter, voting system and machines been killed. • campaign to defend the dem- nity as the October 7 presidential • at the demand of the oppo- ocratically expressed will of the • redouble our efforts to de- election, the results of which the sition, the National Electoral Venezuelan people and the elec- fend the Bolivarian revolution opposition did recognise Council decided to audit the tion of President Maduro against and organise solidarity with it • the voting machines and sys- remaining 46% polling booths. any attempts to remove him by in the British trade union and tems were audited prior to the The opposition then said it means of a coup reject the hy- labour movement and amongst elections, on election day and would not participate in this pocrisy of the so-called “demo- the population in general Gotcha textile factory: under workers’ control The Bolivarian Revolution has that many of them were not offi- suffered from the beginning from cially employed by the company, the economic sabotage of the but were technically “self-em- employers. Workers, following ployed”. Chavez’s call, have responded The owner of the factory re- by occupying some of these fac- sponded by making all of them tories and running them under redundant and abandoning workers’ control. This is one of production. the conquests of the revolution. The workers of Gotcha de- One such experience of work- cided to take over the installa- ers control is that of the women tions, occupy them and start to textile workers of Gotcha in Ara- produce under workers control gua. A representative from the from 2008. factory was present at the HOV Since the beginning of the oc- Conference 2013 in London and cupation the workers have had we passed the following resolu- to face many attempts by the tion about their struggle. former owner and also bureau- crats in state institutions (like his Hands Off Ven- electricity company Corpoelec) ezuela conference to sabotage production. Working women play a leading role in the Bolivarian revolution notes the courageous The women workers at Gotcha tive role in the national move- Organise solidarity with the struggle of the wom- also face problems derived from ment for workers control, un- struggling women workers of enT workers of Gotcha, the textile the lack of any legal status of derstanding that their struggle Gotcha within the British trade factory in Aragua. their occupation. is part of the wider struggle of union movement. The workers of Gotcha at- They have been struggling the Venezuelan working class. To request from the Boli- tempted to form a union in for the expropriation of the fac- The women workers of Gotcha varian government of Nicolas order to address the problems tory under workers control, as are an inspiring example of how Maduro the expropriation of of health and safety, working has been done previously by the workers can produce without the factory, so that the company conditions, legal rights and oth- Bolivarian government in the bosses, but bosses cannot pro- can be nationalised under the ers there were facing in the pe- cases of Venepal, CNV, INAF duce without workers. democratic control of the work- riod of 2006-08. In the course and others. We therefore resolve to: ers themselves. of their struggle they discovered Gotcha has also played an ac- President Obama: we are a nation of peace died on April 15, 2013, that you the United States, a great people. would falsely claim that “the en- (...) tire hemisphere has been watch- We are a nation of peace that ing the violence, the protests, the works arduously alongside our attacks on the opposition. Latin American and Caribbean Certainly, and despite the self- brothers in order to achieve the censorship of the media’s large true unity of our peoples, in or- “information” corporations der to be free and sovereign and against Venezuela, the hemi- consolidate ourselves as a zone of sphere witnessed how the losing peace. (...) candidate of the opposition and President Obama, your state- his call to hate and violence in ments promote the emergence of the streets caused the political a Pinochet in Venezuela. (...) assassinations of nine compa- We alert all the independent triots, Bolivarian leaders, pro- governments of the world, the Chávez people committed to the peoples and their political and revolution (...) social organizations to the U.S. As for the rest, what the whole government’s plan to provoke hemisphere and all of humanity the so-called “dogs of war” in he Government of the whose results were recognized watch in horror are the events Venezuela in order to justify an Bolivarian Republic of by electoral accompaniers com- at the illegal prison of Guantá- imperialist intervention. (...) Venezuela rejects with ing from the whole continent namo where torture and other We call all friends of the Ven- all the force of its Bo- and other countries of the world, cruel treatment degrading to hu- ezuelan cause to display the most livarian dignity the statements including the Electoral Mission man beings has been practiced active solidarity with our people. T for more than a decade. This is Today, just as Bolívar said in made by the president of the of the Union of South American United States, Barack Obama, in Nations (UNASUR) as well as one of the most shameful chap- 1818, we repeat “fortunately, a Mexico City on May 3, 2013. by all the governments of Latin ters of human history. handful of free people have often Once again, President Obama America and the Caribbean and The noble of the world are been known to defeat powerful attacks the legitimate govern- other continents. (...) shocked by the manner in which empires.” ment of Venezuela which was It is a source of outrage for the you have failed in your promise Compatriots, let us take up the elected on April 14 through a Venezuelan people, and espe- made in 2008 and 2012 to shut sling of David to face this new transparent electoral process, cially the families of those who down that prison which is an aggression by Goliath. embarrassment to the people of Caracas, May 4, 2013. Hands Off Venezuela Conference 2013 ver 50 activists, trade more, the actual voting system unionists, youth and underwent a whole series of audits Latin American activ- which were witnessed by opposi- ists, met in London on tion and socialist technicians. OMay 4 to discuss about the legacy We then screened a number of of Hugo Chávez and the challeng- short clips of Hugo Chavez. This es facing the Bolivarian revolu- included part of his BBC Hard tion. The meeting reaffirmed our Talk interview, when he stated that rejection of the opposition claims “there can be no democracy under of electoral fraud and renewed our capitalism, only in socialism can commitment to defend the demo- there be genuine democracy”; his cratically expressed will of the statement at the Copenhagen cli- Venezuelan people to elect Nicolás mate summit that “socialism is Maduro as president. the only way to save the world and The first speaker was Yaruma you can only do it through revo- Trade union and youth activists discussing solidarity with Venezuela Rodriguez, cultural attaché to lution”; his rebuttal of “the stupid the embassy of the Bolivarian people of Fox News”, as well as his even the main reason for the mass that we are fully prepared to take Republic of Venezuela in the UK, defence of socialism and thanks support for Chavez, which had over the running of society and who brought greetings and apolo- to the Hands Off Venezuela cam- to be found in a different factor: brush them aside.” gies from Ambassador Samuel paign during his visit to London. “Chavez gave voice to the poor, This was a moving speech Moncada who is currently in This was followed by Alan the working people, the dispossed, which showed the transformation Venezuela. He started by describ- Woods, founder of the Hands Off those who had never had a voice of ordinary working people in the ing the benefits to workers in Venezuela campaign and a friend before”, said Alan explaining that process of the Venezuelan revolu- the newly approved Labour Law. of Hugo Chávez, who spoke at this was the reason why millions tion. Yaruma also explained in detail length about the legacy of the late turned out at his funeral. The next speaker was Jorge the functioning of the Venezuelan Venezuelan president and revolu- Alan also stressed the role Martín who explained in detail electoral system in order to refute tionary leader. Mixing personal Chavez had played in bringing the attempted coup carried out by opposition allegations of fraud. anecdotes with political analysis back the debate about socialism, the opposition after the April 14 He explained how voters have to Alan described the crucial role describing how this was received elections. “The mass media have identify themselves, their ID cards which Chávez had played in the with enthusiasm by the work- talked of ‘post-election violence’, are checked against a picture da- Bolivarian revolution. “There ers and peasants gathered at the but never mentioned that the 9 tabase and then their fingerprints was a chemical reaction between Teresa Carreño Theatre, but with people killed were all Bolivarian, also checked. Voting is electronic the revolutionary masses and the horror by many bureaucrats and socialist supporters,” he said. He but then each voter receives a pa- president”, he said, “the fed on careerists in the Bolivarian move- also went on to discuss why the per receipt in order to confirm the each other.” Coming from a mili- ment. The Bolivarian revolution election result had been so nar- vote which is put in a box. After tary background, “he joined the can only be completed by expro- row. “In effect, between 600 and the closing of the polling stations, Army so he would be able to play priating the oligarchy, Alan un- 700,000 people who voted for 56% of all polling booths are cho- baseball”, he dared to challenge derlined. Chávez on October 7, 2012, then sen at random for an audit, which the power of the oligarchy and of The afternoon session was cen- voted for the opposition candidate involves checking the machine imperialism. tered on the report by Yenny Cor- on April 14,” Jorge said, “and this registered vote against the paper Alan Woods explained some tez, from the Gotcha occupied tex- is the result of the fact that the receipts. This audit is public and of the main achievements of the tile factory in Aragua, Venezuela, revolution has not been completed takes place in front of witnesses revolution, in the fields of health our guest speaker. She explained and the capitalists are continuing from both the Bolivarian and the care, education, housing, etc. but in detail the struggle of the wom- to sabotage the economy”. opposition campaigns. Further- also underlined that this was not en workers of Gotcha, starting Throughout the Conference from their immediate demands there was lively debate, which also for full rights and benefits against dealt with the question of what can the employer, their attempt to or- we do here in Britain to defend the ganise a union, and how this led Bolivarian revolution. There was a them to occupy the premises and strong feeling that our campaign eventually to re-start production is not just about abstract solidarity under workers’ control. with a far away country, but above She explained how their strug- all an activist movement fighting gle was part of a wider movement for revolutionary change in Brit- of occupied factories and the ain as well. In this respect the pol- movement for workers’ control. icy of HOV of getting involved in “We have had to struggle not only the struggle against austerity cuts against the old owners and for na- and linking up with other Latin tionalization under workers’ con- American campaigns and groups trol, but also against bureaucrats in Britain was reaffirmed. within the state institutions who The resolutions were voted and are sabotaging workers’ control,” amended, the financial report was she said. The way forward is to approved and a new steering com- create a “workers’ state, one which mittee elected in the best demo- is controlled by the workers and cratic traditions of the revolution- Yenny Cortez, Gotcha textile factory addressing HOV Conference peasants, to show the bureaucracy ary movement. The legacy of Hugo Chavez

by Jorge Martin, tion budget from 3.4 to 7% of GDP, the youth, peasants and the poor HOV International Secretary created 1.3 million new tuition in general have become politically enezuelan president free university places and erradi- aware and organised in the last 14 Hugo Chávez passed cated illiteracy by teaching the years. They have had to come out away on March 5 at basics of how to read and write to to defend the Bolivarian revolu- 4.25 pm local time. His 1.5 million of its people. Venezuela tion against the constant attempts Vdeath, though somewhat expect- has nationalised or renationalised of the oligarchy and imperialism ed, came as a shock. In the follow- key sectors of the economy (tele- to smash it: during the coup in ing days millions took part in the comms, steel, cement, etc). April 2002, the oil sabotage and funeral procession, waited many In Spain 350,000 families have bosses lock out of December 2002, hours (in some cases days) to see seen their homes repossesed by the the guarimba counter-revolution- him at his chapel of rest and then banks in two years, the Bolivarian ary riots of 2004, etc. accompanied him to his final rest- government has built and handed Hugo Chavez played a key role ing place next to the militant Ca- over the same amount of homes to in raising the political conscious- racas parish of 23 de Enero. families in need, in most cases free ness of those who had always been The descriptions of Venezu- of charge. excluded from the “democratic” ela after the death of Chavez by Misión Barrio Adentro (Into process. He proved to be respon- the world’s mass media paint a the Neighbourhood) has brought sive to pressure from below (in picture of war zone crime levels, primary preventative health care relation to nationalisation of oc- an authoritarian “regime” and into the poorest areas of the coun- cupied factories, introduction of Hugo Chavez, 1954 - 2013 a crumbling economy. The only try, with the help of Cuban doctors elements of workers’ control, etc) conclussion one could draw is and nurses. as well as pushing the process for- of important challenges. The that millions of Venezuelans, are These are just some of the social ward himself. In 2005 he said that economy remains fundamentally gripped by collective madness. programs of the Bolivarian revo- the revolution had to go beyond capitalist and so is the state appa- The truth however is very dif- lution affecting the overwhelming capitalism and towards socialism. ratus. It will now be down to those ferent. Hugo Chavez has presided majority of the workers and the He also stood up to US meddling struggling for workers’ control, over a period of a massive rise in poor, and significant sections of in the region and championed the the women and the poor in the the living standards of the poorest those who described themselves as cause of Latin American integra- communal councils, the peasants sections in society. Between 2004 “middle class”. tion. still fighting for agrarian reform and 2012, poverty was reduced There are however deeper rea- All of this created a very strong and the revolutionary youth to by half and extreme poverty cut sons for the outpouring of grief bond of loyalty between Chavez complete the revolution towards by 70% and its Gini coefficient of and solidarity we witnessed. In and the revolutionary masses, socialism. There are of course, inequality is Latin America’s low- Venezuela there is not just a pro- something which the mass media, many criticisms which can and est. Governments in advanced gressive government carrying constantly referring to caudillismo should be made, but for those of us capitalist countries cut education wide-ranging social reforms. There and populism, is unable to grasp. struggling for a better world, a so- spending and increase tuition fees, is also a revolution in course. Mil- The revolution has not been cialist world, the legacy of Chavez Venezuela has doubled the educa- lions of working people, women, completed and faces a number is overwhelmingly positive.

Join Hands Off Venezuela! To join, please complete this form The international broad-based Hands Off Venezuela campaign and return to the address below was established in 2002 to generate awareness about Venezuela, especially within the trade union and progressive movements. Our main task is to promote the social gains of the Bolivarian Revolution Name: and mobilise public opinion against imperialist aggression towards Venezuela. Address: The basic aims of the campaign are to: • Give full support to the Venezuelan revolution, which has repeatedly proved its democratic credentials, in its struggle to liberate the op- pressed of Venezuela. • Defend the revolution against the attacks of imperialism and its Post code: local agents the Venezuelan oligarchy. Telephone: • Support the new trade union confederation, the UNT, as the legiti- mate voice of the workers’ movement. Email: • To counteract the media distortions and lies about Venezuela and mobilise the maximum support for the above aims. Trade union/organisation: Hands Off Venezuela organises public events, film shows, speaking tours and delegations to Venezuela, provides news and information about the latest events and promotes solidarity and links both in Britain and internationally. Please make cheques payable to: Hands Off Venezuela To get your trade union or other organisation affiliated, here are the rec- ommended annual affiliation fees: National trade unions: £500, regional bodies: £250, branches/trades councils: £50, others: £25. Membership Post to: Hands Off Venezuela, fees for individuals are waged: £7.50 and unwaged: £5 (suggested) PO Box 47274, London, W7 9AB Contact us at [email protected]