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.