Meeting for a World Social Alternative
Friday, April 19th, 2024
Well, good afternoon, comrades, my brothers, my sisters. My sisters, welcome. Welcome, dear brothers, dear sisters to Caracas, on this very special date, a date of our American rebellion.
Exactly two hundred and fourteen years ago, April 19th, 1810 in the Plaza Mayor, today Plaza Bolivar (Bolívar Square), there are places and buildings of that time where the people were the first protagonists of what has been this beautiful and heroic history of struggle for freedom, independence, sovereignty, equality, against colonialism in all its forms.
Because it was here in Caracas on that day that zambos, mestizos, the poor white Creoles, black people, together in one voice as militants of the people, told the Captain General of the Spanish crown: “Enough is enough! Out of Venezuela” and a path began that would be a marvelous path. We could say that it was the first cry of a new era.
The peoples of South America, the peoples of Central America and Mexico had already awakened; Tupac Catari had already raised his voice, the flag, the wiphala, but it was at this stage, April 19th, 1810, that the cry of Caracas rang the bell of what would be the war against Spanish colonialism, the war that allowed political independence at that stage.
Today, we are commemorating two hundred and fourteen years of that cry. And the people are the same. The cry is the same. The battle is the same and the victory today belongs to us. Today, that excluded, exploited, enslaved people are in political power here in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
I want to thank, you said Patiño, Secretary General Jorge Arreaza, former Vice President of the Republic, former Foreign Minister, Secretary General of the Organization of ALBA States, OAS, didn’t you?
The Organization of ALBA States, right? Secretary General of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of our America. Jorge Arreaza, thank you, Jorge.
Against the OAS there is ALBA, the true Alternative, the true Alliance for Liberation. You said “comrades from sixty countries present” Correct? How many delegates are there? Almost three hundred delegates from all over the world, always welcome to Venezuela, brothers and sisters.
Please feel free to feel that this is your land, your homeland, your sky, and also to the delegates of the social movements and forces of ALBA at Latin America, the Caribbean and Venezuela, welcome.
They told me that there are several speakers; I would like to greet all those present. I apologize if I miss any of the guests, but it is very exciting to see all of you gathered here. I would like to greet, first of all, the Indigenous chief of the south, Evo Morales Ayma, from the Plurinational State of Bolivia. From the Indigenous-Peasant movements, Evo, welcome, comrade.
I would also like to welcome a great friend who caused me great headaches for a while, President Mel Zelaya, son of Francisco Morazán, Honduras, and who almost took my life. Passing the border from Nicaragua to Honduras, there were some snipers…
I went to Managua to deliver a message from Commander Hugo Chávez to President Mel, and he was holding a press conference at the headquarters of the Honduran Embassy. I arrived, so I told him we had to talk, then he told me to wait, the press conference was over and then he said: Nicolás, come with me. Well, I got into a Jeep, it is called Jeep, is that way how they call it over there too? In a Jeep that he still has. And I was in the passenger seat. He said: “Tell me.” Then I told him, no, Commander Chavez asked me to tell you this, this, to see what you think and this and so on… He was driving. I could see we were driving away from Managua, we left Managua until I asked him: “Where are we going?”, “To Honduras,” he told me.
“We’re going to enter Honduras”, he told me. I told him “Let’s go then!” We have never spoken about this in public. And when we got to the Honduran border, he was driving and he saw the crossing line and then he called Commander Chavez. And I gave him the phone. Those Motorola phones, do you remember? They were silver and you opened them like this. And he started talking to Chávez’s command. Then, the only thing I heard was Mel’s voice. He said, “Yes, yes President, of course. Yes, yes, yes. Here we are at the border. We are about to enter. Of course, yes.” Later, I found out what he told him: “Mel, be careful! Mel!” – He said: “be careful. And Nicolás is with you, be careful. Don’t do that”.
“Put Nicolás on the phone!” – Chávez told him.
And he gave me the phone and said: “Nicolás, don’t even think about convincing Mel, it could be very dangerous”.
Convincing Mel was very dangerous; it was easier to save my life. And at that moment, I received a call from comrade Rosario. Rosario Murillo, from here I send my greetings to Daniel Ortega Saavedra and Rosario Murillo.
And she told me, “Nicolás, where are you?” I told her, “here, in the Jeep with Zelaya.” “Be very careful, because there are snipers.” Then, a Nicaraguan police officer came up to me and said: “Watch out!” And they covered both of us. And they showed us, look. Micheletti’s dictatorship, Goriletti, do you remember Goriletti? Irvin? The fools, where are the fools? Do you remember? The fools of Honduras. Goriletti. That is what Chávez called him, Goriletti, and he will be Goriletti forever. What is he doing? Because imperialism uses people to stage coups d’état, to massacre peoples and then abandons them, Evo, like the coup d’état they staged against you, they put the coup perpetrators and then they ignore them, let the coup perpetrators do the dirty work.
Then they draped us and brought us crouching down to a sheltered area, they opened a door and we went in and then, the police chief explained to me, they stationed sixteen snipers. So at least I was going to get hit. That was good news, wasn’t it? No, no, for them, for us it was very bad. It was worse for me.
Although you do not know if the afterlife is better, they say it is better. Now, but that’s for later, let’s not discover that life. And then suddenly, I turn around and I see a human body on its back with long strides walking towards the border. Who was it? It was Mel Zelaya. He went inside. They had put up a barrier, he got in, he broke it and walked, and the police held him back, they wouldn’t let him enter Honduras, they feared him because on the other side of the border there were thousands of peasants, workers, women waiting for them to go on a victorious march to Tegucigalpa to re-conquer power. So my experience with Zelaya was very dangerous. My life was in danger several times. Welcome Zelaya. This is your homeland.
I send my greetings to the courageous President Xiomara Castro, President of Latin America and the Caribbean.
I would also like to greet a great friend, a great revolutionary, one of the most important social fighters of the South American continent, Joao Pedro Stedile, a comrade of the Landless Worker’s Movement, from Brazil born in Lagoa Vermelha, bemvindo Joao Pedro.
I would also like to welcome the comrade who arrives from Cuba, Havana, free territory of America, from the Martin Luther King Memorial Centre, Llanisca Lugo. Welcome, Llanisca.
I would like to welcome the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, comrade Yván Gil. Comrade Carlos Ron, Rander Peña, Comrade, leader of the Venezuelan youth, head of the Venezuela Great Mission Génesis Garvett, welcome.
Today is the 19th, tomorrow the 20th will be four months since we were able to rescue Alex Saab Morán, Free Alex Saab, alive and well.
Free Alex Saab, Free Alex Saab!
From his fellow human rights defender wife Camilla Fabri, also a heroine of the Great Homeland.
The President of the Communist Party of Venezuela, El Gallo, Henry Parra is also present. Quiquiriquiquí!
Nicaraguan Presidential Advisor Minister Orlando Tardencilla is also here.
Ecuador’s former Foreign Minister and living legend, Ricardo Patiño.
From the Red de Intelectuales arrives from Argentina Atilio Borón, Atilio Alberto.
The President of Casa de las Américas, Abel Prieto.
Intellectual, writer and Professor Juan Carlos Monedero from Spain. Welcome, Juan Carlos.
From India, from the Tricontinental Institute, Vijay Prashad namasté, namasté.
And the Honduran Deputy Foreign Minister Gerardo Torres.
Mexico’s Deputy, Polevnski Gurwitz Yeidckol, colleague.
From Tunisia of the Tunisian League of Human Rights Nayet Satmauri. Salan Aleikum.
From the free and independent Puerto Rico, Ramón Grosfoguel. Ramón, from the Central Committee of the glorious historic Communist Party of Cuba, Jorge Luis Broche Lorenzo.
Also from Ecuador, the Secretary of Internacional Progresista, María Luisa Ortega Salvador, comrade.
Long live Ecuador!
Long live Manuela Sáenz!
Long live Bolívar!
Long live Sucre!
Likewise, from Africa, my sister Africa, more than sister, our mother Africa, Kwesi Pratt Junior of the Socialist Movement of Africa.
Look, we were remembering these days, the Secretary General of the OAS, Arreaza, we were remembering the brutal, criminal assault on the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador, other brutal assaults. One of them was on April 12th, 2002; the brutal assault on the Cuban Embassy by Henrique Capriles Radonski, and the fascist right wing, in the midst of a coup d’état. Another that we remember was in Uruguay, brothers from Uruguay, the assault on the Venezuelan Embassy in 1976, to kidnap and disappear the teacher Elena Quintero, Ambassador of Mexico, but another assault that we must not forget was the assault on the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington by the FBI and the police forces, where they took prisoners, tortured and beaten on the floor American citizens who were defending our Embassy at a time of high tension. And I would like to greet one of the Embassy’s protection team who comes from the United States, Adrianne Pine, my colleague Adrianne Pine. Thank you for your courage. There are many good and courageous, humanist people in the United States who will make history in the future. Rest assured. This world is going to change. And the people of the United States will be one of the great protagonists of the future changes in the years to come.
From the International Assembly of the Peoples of the United Mexican States, Stefan Brito; Stefan, welcome.
From the Tekojoja Party, from the fellow Catholic father, but also father of Evo Morales, Fernando Lugo, is he your father, right?
You have to recognize your Bolivian son, Father Lugo. Evo always asked for his blessing when we went to the summits, father, give me your blessing and Fernando gave it to him. A greeting to Paraguay, to Fernando Lugo, and blessings for his recovery.
Sixto Pereira is present from the glorious Communist Party of Spain, Marta Martín, who confronted Francoism and brought democracy to Spain.
From Ecuador, Irene León, from the Red de Intelectuales y Artistas. Irene, I saw you in an interview these days on Telesur, it was very good. Also from the United States of America, from the People’s Forum, Manolo de los Santos, “Manolete”!
Well, I would also like to extend a very special welcome to the ambassadors accredited to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The Ambassador of Cuba, Dagoberto Rodríguez, the Ambassador of Bolivia, Sebastián Mitchell, the Ambassador of Mexico Leopoldo De Gyves de la Cruz, dear and beautiful México; the Ambassador of Honduras, Scarleth Ivette Romero Cantarero; the Ambassador of Nicaragua, Daisy Torres Bosques, Nicaragua; the Ambassador of our sister Haiti, also older sister Haiti, Leslie David. Long live free Haiti!
Sooner than later, we will conquer freedom and sovereignty and re-found the free Republic of Haiti. Sooner than later we will achieve it, take note of it.
The Ambassador of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Gareth Bynoe, welcome, the Ambassador of Palestine dear homeland, Fadi Alzaben, long live free Palestine!
The land of the Child Jesus. Zelaya, João Pedro, Evo, comrade Llanisca. Because where was baby Jesus born? In Palestine. Where is Bethlehem? In Palestine. And where did Jesus of Nazareth die, already converted into Christ the Redeemer? Where was he crucified? On a hill in Palestine. Child, man, son of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ, Palestine. So the struggle for Palestine is the struggle for justice and the truth of our Lord. Jesus Christ always, amen.
The Ambassador of the Sahrawi Arab Republic, Mohamed Salen Ali. Mohamed Salem, Salam Aleikum.
Well, I’m going to serve as moderator. I have been asked to… first, we have to give a round of applause to these girls as well, okay. It has given me a great surprise all these days going to events and finding groups of women, but quite a few groups of women playing our Afro-Venezuelan music, the Afro-Venezuelan drum that awakens the energy of battle. Let the drum, drum, drum of the group Viny sound! Applause!
You are eleven women, I’m surprised. Where are you from? You are from Curiepe. I had a friend from there.
Casimira! You are from Curiepe and you didn’t tell us.
Curiepe! Curiepe sounds like Africa, that’s where our brothers from Africa came from, they came from the Congo, right? From the Congo; to Venezuela, João Pedro, many came from the Congo, unlike Brazil and Cuba that came from Nigeria and brought the drums and the religion of Nigeria, with its Yoruba language, but here they came from the Congo but they brought their drums and those drums are more alive than ever and they accompany our battle for freedom, for independence, against imperialism.
Well, who is coming first, Secretary General? We will then give the floor to comrade João Pedro Stedile to make a set of reflections on this meeting, to move towards a World Social Alternative of this time; welcome, João Pedro.
Thank you, João Pedro Stedile, muito obrigado João Pedro você is very lucid, você. Muito lucid. Truly, the two great lines that I have launched these events are useful to grasp the light for the struggles. The revolutionary movements in power must maintain the permanent mobilization of the masses, this is one of the keys of the Bolivarian Revolution, the people activated, the people mobilized in any circumstance.
It is the only way to support the people, it is like an athlete, a boxer who is practicing for the world championship, and he is going to fight George Foreman. Does any of you know who George Foreman is? Look him up on YouTube, right? And then he doesn’t fight, he spends his time at home, he goes to the beach, like Evo who likes to go to the beach, when he goes to the fight he is not prepared. The only way to be prepared for the fights we have to fight is to have the people aware, activated, informed and mobilized with their muscles. In this time here at the job, at the right time, those of us who are in political power, and those who are in resistance and popular struggle even more so. It is a very successful line to take up the popular mass movements in the struggle now against neoliberalism and against fascism that is emerging as an alternative voice in Spain, Milei in Argentina, Bolsonaro in Brazil, and so on, Netanyahu in Israel, fascism, the horrifying face of Hitler’s image is on Netanyahu’s face, war criminal, murderer of the peoples and it is not by chance comrades, you who are scholars, the network of intellectuals and artists for peace and humanity, it is not by chance that behind a Bolsonaro, behind a Milei, is Zionism, putting its social networks to win the elections, putting the money and then when they come to power they crawl and surrender to the interests of Zionism. Is that a coincidence? I have been denouncing it. Evo, Zelaya, Atilio, Abel, comrades, Petro, we have been denouncing it but it seems as if it was not heard, Zionism is behind the extreme right here in Venezuela, they are behind the Machado’s and Capriles’ surnames, they all came out to applaud the genocide against the Palestinian people, they all came out to applaud the assault and bombing with missiles of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, all of them, Machado, Lopez, Capriles, those families here.
They are also a construct of Zionism. Coincidence? Sideshow? No, a line, imperialism has as its vanguard and also Zionism controls all the social networks. Does anyone doubt that? We have proof, as the Liberator would say “irrefragable” of how Zionism controls all the social networks that we have to fight the battle in the social media, we have to fight it, but those are theirs and they do what they want. In each country they select extreme right-wing candidates and they give them and wash their faces, normalize them, clean them and present them as leaders, so there is the Milei phenomenon. Where did Milei grow? In the face of a tremendous crisis in Argentine society, a crisis of credibility, legitimacy, leadership, alternatives, among others. Milei has grown up in the face of this crisis. Where did Milei grow? In the networks, a powerful strategy. Where did Bolsonaro grow? Out of nowhere, he had 4 points in the polls and he was even despised by people known to us, that incompetent captain has no life and they lifted him up, they lifted him up. So Zionism is the spearhead of fascism in the world and it is getting into Latin America. Be careful, what I can tell you, that in Venezuela they will not succeed; the people will defeat fascism, Zionism, the surnames, the oligarchy or whatever they call it. Well, then also, as I was saying, Pedro, we have Llanisca Lugo from Havana.
Llanisca, Llanisca, we have a reflection on this issue, Monedero, Juan Carlos Monedero, we were talking about it there in the Guayana exhibition, where you were, your visit to the south of Venezuela, 42 degrees in the shade; in Venezuela we have it proven, in Cuba too and in all countries we have 4 or even 5 degrees more of temperature since last October and it does not go down, climate change is already a climate emergency; What Fidel said, his prophecy in 92 was fulfilled, there will be time, I talked a lot with President Gustavo Petro this past week, we always meet, we talked for 3 hours and we spent almost an hour talking about the climate emergency, about the mitigation tasks, President Petro, I think he is one of the most brilliant minds in the world on the subject of climate change, I have no doubt, and I told him. President Petro is having his birthday, let’s give a round of applause to President Gustavo Petro, he’s having his birthday today April 19th, the founder of the M19 also, and he has his birthday on April 19th.
With Colombia they will not separate us, whatever the Northern empires do, Colombia and Venezuela have a common destiny, union, union, union, cooperation and shared development of this immense region liberated by the sword of Bolivar. We have a common father, Colombia and Venezuela, Simon Bolivar, our Founding Father; it is a lot to say, true, it is beautiful to say it. We have the same flag, the yellow, blue and red flag. What was the yellow, blue and red flag? The flag of the liberating armies of Bolivar and Sucre, that flag reached Pichincha, it reached Junín, it reached Ayacucho, that flag reached
Upper Peru to found Bolivia, that flag reached Boyacá, Carabobo, that tricolor flag is the same of Colombia and Venezuela and who drew it? Who created it? Francisco de Miranda brought it. Where did they make the Venezuelan flag? The flag of freedom, do you know? In Haiti, in Haiti the tricolor flag was designed and raised for the first time.
Evo, Francisco de Miranda created that flag and then Bolívar took it. And where does the word Colombia comes from? From the Colombeia project; Francisco de Miranda and Bolivar took it and founded it and made it a reality, he thought of a great republic that would be Colombia, the Republic of United South America and Bolivar founded Colombia Where? In the Orinoco, which is the south of Venezuela, on December 17th, 1819, a supreme decree of the Constituent Assembly founding Colombia, which integrated the territories of what today is Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Ecuador and then Bolivar confederated us with Peru, because Bolivar went to Peru at the request of Peru, he arrived with his armies, and it was his turn 200 years ago. We are going to celebrate 200 years of the great victory of the Battle of Junín in August and in December we will be commemorating 200 years of the victory of Ayacucho, where the armies of the south were united in one, there fighting, the armies that came from Argentina, Chile, the armies that came from Venezuela, Colombia, a single army, officers from Honduras, Nicaragua, Cuba, Puerto Rico, were there. It is the most beautiful and complete united army of our America that has ever been seen in history, which won its triumph at Junín in Ayacucho.
And what was the flag, the banner, the yellow, blue and red? Today is the beautiful flag of Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, it is a beautiful gesture, beautiful things unite us, transcendent, beyond the material, the spiritual, the shared dream and we feel that our heart beats faster when we see that tricolor and the Colombian from Medellín, from Cúcuta, from Cali, from Bogotá feels it; And the Venezuelan from Cumaná, from Caroní, where you were, from Maracaibo.
So, we have talked about this issue of climate change. And I see it is well reflected, Llanisca, in the document you have worked on, it is well reflected. This document is worth everything, because here we are proposing precisely what Joao Pedro has told us as a wise man, we have to create a council of wise men and Joao Pedro can preside it. Do you agree?
Council of wise men of the Social movements, President Joao Pedro. If you agree, raise your hand, please. Approved!
This document is one of a kind, because it makes an analysis and raises the new policies of the new era, Llanisca. I have talked a lot about this with Raul Castro Ruz.
Let’s give Raul Castro Ruz a round of applause! In Havana, general of armies, revolutionary leader, Raúl.
I have talked it over with Díaz-Canel, with Marrero and with all the comrades of the Cuban Revolution, we are in a new era of transition, we are rapidly entering a new era, Evo, Zelaya, and we have to be at the forefront of the new era, if we continue with the old rhetorical language, with the old slogans, with the old ways of doing politics, they will make cosmic dust of all of us. And they will come, as the Liberator said; we will leave for posterity several centuries of domination, slavery and colonialism, now of fascism. That will not happen, because we are ready now, I believe that this document, translated, explained, studied, allows us to update, allows us to fully update the programmatic, ideological political baggage, and puts us again in the vanguard, a world social alternative, to build a new world social alternative for the new transition period, and from Venezuela we say new period of transition to socialism, a new civilization, the civilization of love, solidarity, equality, life without hegemonic empires, without colonialism, without fascism, without neoliberalism, without savage capitalism, a new society that is invented and reinvented, there is a real alternative to build a multipolar world, the multipolar world has already been born, we have to realize, those who have not realized it, wake up, the multipolar world has already been born.
There is someone who has realized, Joao Pedro, that the multipolar world has already been born, it is imperialism, they know that it has already been born and that the countdown of the domination, the hegemony of the empire, or the collective empires of the West has begun, as President Vladimir Putin says, the collective empires of the West have begun their countdown, and the humanity to come will be better, much better. Hopefully we can reverse climate change, mitigate it. I am confident, I am a believing man, you know, I respect that some of you are Marxists, Marxist-Leninists and do not believe in God, although I know that some of you sanctify yourselves from time to time in hiding and light candles to any saint. Everybody lights candles to some saint, but at home, hidden, in the name of Marx, of Engels, of the Holy Spirit, amen. I know it is like that.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth, and in his son our Lord Jesus of Nazareth. I believe. I believe in the spiritual forces of Our America, of Africa, of Asia, they are powerful spiritual forces, very powerful, it is the power of God; it is a spiritual battle between good and evil, it exists, they are evil, we are good, and we will win with all the spiritual, moral, political, physical, material strength and I have faith, I say this -Alex, Camila, Génesis, Rander, Carlos, Iván- I tell you this because I trust that the great scientific-technological development will allow us to free the planet from global warming and from the destruction it has entered, and that the mitigation and prevention measures may at a given moment be joined with measures to heal the wounds that capitalism in 200 years has created on the planet. I believe in that. I have that faith, I have that hope.
And in this new era, it is a concept that I would like to add, Secretary General, besides, our Secretary General is a good-looking man. Look at him, look at him! Good-looking, good physique! One looks at Almagro’s face and he is a human freak, physically Almagro is a freak, an ugly, horrible guy. His face is like his soul! He has a decomposed soul!
Have you seen his pictures? I know him. And I warned him, Patiño, as Foreign Minister, I warned him, and as President I warned him, Patiño. Patiño was the Foreign Minister of Ecuador and I told him, because Almagro was captured by the CIA when he was Foreign Minister of Pepe Mujica, a network linked to the gringos of the Foreign Ministry of Itamaraty captured him. We knew everything. We had a way of knowing, Atilio. And he fought, Evo, for Venezuela not to join Mercosur, but we defeated him, because we had the decisive support of the governments at the time. And we already knew who he was. Unfortunately, we put him there.
But every cloud has a silver lining, because he took it upon himself to be the gravedigger of the OAS, and today the OAS is a thousand meters under the ground, the OAS is a rotting, putrefied corpse.
Thank you, Almagro. Thank you, Esperpento. Thank you for burying the OAS, esperpento.
That’s why we have to be proud to have a handsome Secretary General. Stop the “chalequeo” (make jokes), that’s what we say in Caracas.
And as Llanisca talked about where our giant is from. And I know, Evo, Zelaya, two soul brothers of our Commander Chávez, then, I am going to invite Chávez and Fidel to be present.
Let’s watch this video. Are we ready? Go ahead video.
That is simply priceless, that is our spirituality, which is our legacy. And only we have it, and you women, that fascist right wing has nowhere to draw inspiration from; it is only driven by hatred, the desire for revenge, and its ambitions for power.
That is the strength we have. And from this strength we have, I am going to give the floor to the Indigenous chief of the South, Evo Morales Ayma.
Indigenous Chief of the South and of the North as well; and the East and the West! Son of Tupac Catari, thank you very much. Evo embodies a wisdom that is our ancestral wisdom. That colonialism amputated from our history. Because we are children of ancestral greatness, but we also lived through the cultural and spiritual mutilation imposed by European colonialism throughout the continent. And now we are healing the wound of that mutilation and restoring the simplest, most humble, most human, most simple values, honesty, what are the three principles that you teach us, Evo? Don’t lie, don’t steal, and don’t be lazy, that is the most difficult one.
Who has the hardest time with that third one? Raise your hand. No one is lazy here, were we only have warriors and warrior women!
Well, speaking of warriors. From the land of Francisco Morazán. Also reviving his history. A man who deeply loved and in life accompanied our Commander Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías. And who was in the first spring of our continent. Last night, we were remembering him in a dinner we had and we were remembering those stellar moments that are still alive. He suffered a coup d’état. They were going to kill him. God’s hand intervened. They shot up his house, took him out in his pajamas, put him on a small plane without explanation and without speaking to him, landed him in San Jose, Costa Rica, opened the door and threw him to the ground on a runway. He then recovered, gave his first press conference and faster than a hummingbird’s blink, a plane of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of our America arrived to rescue him and take him to the free Managua, to Sandinista Nicaragua.
Unforgettable times. Twelve years have passed. A coup d’état. Two frauds. Repression, persecution, and the people of Honduras returned with you: Mel Zelaya!
We shall prevail! I agree with Zelaya. You just missed one detail, President Xiomara is President of Honduras, President of Latin America and the Caribbean, because she is President of CELAC, she is President of the Central American Integration System, SICA, she is President of the Forest Protection System, but also, I know, very well, she is President of your heart Zelaya, the first fighter of Honduras, “Mel” Zelaya.
He says he is handcuffed. He is the first combatant in Honduras. Or am I lying? First, combatant. And look what a combatant, because he is a deployed man, he never went to the rear, he never surrendered, he was always at the front, I know, every second, everything we did. The people of Honduras broke a world record. The people of Honduras had more than 300 days mobilizing every day by thousands and thousands in the streets against the dictatorship of Micheletti, they broke all forecasts. So the political and social force, to which they made two continuous frauds, and which triumphed and brought Xiomara to power, is a force that came from a great mass movement, João Pedro. And that he is passing all the tests, because here it is not… What’s that saying they use a lot in Cuba? Knitting and sewing, how is it? Sewing and singing is the saying. Here the thing is not sewing and singing, or blowing and making a bottle, which is difficult, I have seen the glassblowers and it’s a difficult exercise, it is an art, to make a vase, to make anything. I don’t know why it has been said to blow and make a bottle. Blow and make a bottle. Do you think this is blow and make a bottle? People are told that this is a difficult and complex struggle. ALBA, Commander Francisco Javier Arias Cárdenas, by then Vice Minister of the Republic, working with me in the Foreign Ministry, in a second, as soon as we knew he had landed in Costa Rica, Commander Hugo Chávez said: “Send Arias Cárdenas to Costa Rica to rescue Zelaya, because they can kill him there”. There, a far-right guy named Oscar Arias was governing. And as soon as he received Zelaya, he told him: Zelaya resign, retire, forget about it. The coordinated right wing, that’s why they left him at the airport in Costa Rica, and I can tell you that, not him. And he was surprised when, at the end of his press conference, still in shock, shaken by the coup, he saw Francisco Javier Arias Cardenas entering, they did not want to let him land and they landed. They did not want to let him enter the place where Zelaya was and he went in and said: “President, ALBA is coming to rescue you, you are coming with me, and we are going to Managua”. And they arrived in Managua and from Managua we received a message from Daniel Ortega and Rosario, comrade Minister, please.
Long live free Nicaragua! Nicaragua, Nicaragüita, the most beautiful flower in its orchard, Nicaragua, Nicaragüita. Thank you, Daniel, thank you, I will be waiting for you here soon, Daniel, thank you, Rosario, thank you all, to the Sandinista National Liberation Front, that beautiful flag, Sandinismo, we are Sandinistas, we are Morazanistas, we are Tupacataristas, we are Bolivarians, Martianos, San Martinianos, Latin Americanists, Manuelistas, Palestinistas, Christians and deeply Chavistas.
I would like to congratulate the organizers of this great meeting for a world social alternative, to all the participants, there were many, many social movements of the world that wanted to come, now we have great challenges ahead, comrades, we must think big, act big, we must re-coordinate all the social forces of the world, all of them, without sectarianism, with a broad criteria. I always, Patiño, I use, Atilio Borón, Abel, Juan Carlos Monedero, comrade, I always remember a slogan of the Vietnamese, which I learned when I was very young, I think in 1978, reading a document of victorious Vietnam, what was the strategy, the tactics, the policy, the plan, of Nguyen Giap, left by Ho Chi Minh, and it had a slogan that was engraved in my mind and at that time I was 16 years old, 16 or 15, I was there in the middle, I was a militant of the revolutionary movement here in Venezuela of the revolutionary left, of the political movement – excuse me – it did not say, political movement Ruptura, and the slogan was simple and striking, because it carried in itself the great concept that led to the victory of Vietnam, of Ho Chi Minh, and the slogan was to unite everything that can be united against the main enemy, that is, to unite the whole nation, the whole world solidarity, and so he made Vietnam, where were the solidarity movements more powerful with Vietnam? In New York, Washington, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, California, in the United States of America, in Madrid, London, Paris, in the whole world in general, they managed, in spite of the demonization campaign, Arreaza, Yván Gil, Carlos Ron, Rander, in spite of the demonization campaign, Vietnam managed to make its way to world solidarity, as powerful as the solidarity that has arisen for Palestine, all the polls measure in Europe and the United States a solidarity that exceeds 70% with the Palestinian people, a rejection that exceeds 70% against the genocide. The elections in the United States in November will be largely decided by the conflict, by the genocide, of Netanyahu against Palestine, you will see, you will remember me.
So let us have a great and broad vision, the time has come from the social movements of ALBA, with a very broad vision of coordinating a new world social alternative against capitalism, against fascism, in terms of a human civilization of peace and love. For life and hope; for a multipolar world from the peoples, because only the conscious, mobilized and organized, empowered peoples will be the ones that will be able to build the new world. This isn’t a matter of elites. An elite from here, or an elite from there; and we learned it quite well, Zelaya, Joao Pedro, Llanisca, Evo; here in Venezuela they said it: No, it’s Chávez, Chávez is a warlord; no, when Chávez is gone that will be the end of it. False, or is it that we need to prove it even more? As Zelaya says: Chávez lives today more than ever.
Then, they started saying that Maduro cannot do it because he is a fool, the guy is a fool, you can see it in his eyes, he is a fool. I say this because Cilia is not here, she doesn’t like it when I say these things. They told me it’s not Maduro, it’s Maburro (name-calling). When they rerun this program I cannot let Cilia to watch it, don’t tell her. He’s more of a donkey, a fool, and modestly, I have done what I have to do, and I will continue to do so.
But it isn’t Maduro either, nobody can believe that one man alone can do it, no, it is a people, Joao Pedro, I know that this is a concern of yours, very much, you who are the Lenin of America, the Lenin of Brazil, Joao Pedro is like a kind of Lenin, the reincarnation of Lenin in Brazil. Joao Pedro, he doesn’t like it when I say these things, and even less in public. Lenin reincarnated in the social movements of Brazil, in Joao Pedro.
I believe in reincarnation, Joao Pedro. It isn’t the man, comrades, it’s the values that are sown in the people; it’s having faith in the peoples, it’s educating the people from the deepest base, it’s activating their struggles permanently, it’s believing in the spiritual strength, in the identity, in the roots; it’s sowing today to harvest tomorrow and sow again, it’s having the capacity to renew oneself permanently; renewing the discourse, renewing the public policies. It is learning to listen to the hard criticism of the peoples face to face, and let that criticism to come, criticism is welcome; it is knowing how to make self-criticism to move forward, to sow hope, and not to flagellate ourselves; as I was saying last night to a friend of mine, criticism should not be used to flagellate ourselves, to destroy ourselves, to demoralize the people. No, it should be used to learn, to move forward.
We have faced the permanent conspiracy of imperialism. Last year, we dismantled 5 attacks, 2 of them were directly aimed at assassinating me. You don’t know this in the world, because the cable news and social networks don’t show it. At the same time we were talking and negotiating with the gringos in Qatar, we discovered the attacks prepared by them, by the gringos from Colombia; the secret base of the CIA, the DEA and the FBI, all 3 operating from Colombia, there is the evidence of it; they are convicted and confessed, all of them, but they covered it up, they silenced it.
This year, we have dismantled 4 conspiracies. Four weeks ago in a visit I made to the east of the country, to Maturin. We discovered them and captured them. They are convicted and confessed, 2 people: a leader of the east fascist movement, a psychopath, I do not say so, the psychiatrists say it; and a retired deserter sergeant. They were plotting to machine-gun the caravan I was going to ride through the streets of Maturin. I found out when I arrived and I said: “I am coming”; they are not going to take us out of the streets, let the people take care of me and you take care of me as well, but they are not going to take us out of the streets. I learned this from Chávez and Fidel.
Captured, convicted and confessed. Who planned the attack? Who financed them? Who gave them the instructions? And in the world you have learned about it, there’s evidence of it. On March 25th, when I was going to register for the presidential candidacy, 2 gunmen were captured, also people with psychiatric problems. They confessed their crime; they said who planned it, who gave them the orders, who did the logistics, who gave them the money. Convicted and confessed; and also the intellectual perpetrator, who directed everything, is captured. They were captured 20 meters from the place of the stage where I was going to be. They confessed that they were ordered to shoot in the air and hurt the people, so that the news would be confrontations within Chavismo, violence in Maduro’s electoral registration, etc.; I know, and I have my conviction that, although they did not confess it, they were going to shoot at me. Who is behind that? Venezuelan fascism, supported by whom? By the United States of America. That’s the truth, the real truth. So, we cannot lower our guard for a second.
Our people in these 11 years, and I believe it to be so, and you will see it in the coming days. Our people have become better organized; it is a people of values, a people of principles, and an empowered people. And if victory belongs to anyone in all the situations we have had to face; if resistance and victory against the blockade, the sanctions, the conspiracies and everything that imperialism has done belongs to anyone, it belongs only to the kind, mobilized, conscious, empowered and organized people of Venezuela.
The guarantee of the future has to be our people, that they have their program and their project; that they are more and more conscious, and that we can fulfill the Vietnamese maximum of uniting all those who can be united for the future; for happiness and for the guarantee of building socialism in Venezuela, and of a new and powerful social alternative in the world.
New steps are coming, right? Let’s get to work. I have been informed by Secretary General Jorge Arreaza, that we’re heading for the December summit. In December it’ll be 30 years since the first meeting between the two giants: Fidel and Chávez; December 14th, 2024, we will be commemorating that meeting from 1994, and on December 14th we will also be commemorating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America, today known as the Bolivarian Alliance.
History has proved us right, the prophecy has been fulfilled. Today, ALBA – Evo, Zelaya, Joao Pedro, Llanisca, comrades – today ALBA is consolidating; today ALBA is a moral, political and programmatic reference; today ALBA is a reference for the peoples who fight, who dream. Africa is already rising again in its struggle against European colonialism. Asia is becoming an alternative. Our America struggles to maintain its freed spaces and to liberate new spaces.
As Ernesto Che Guevara said in that historic speech: “The peoples of the world have said enough is enough and have started to walk”; and we can say that, with ALBA, those peoples of the world have moved forward. We will consolidate a new and powerful world social alliance.
I congratulate you, comrades. Let us unite all that can be united for a social alternative worldwide.
¡Hasta la Victoria siempre!