The following call to action was issued by the Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity Committee. The ANSWER Coalition encourages all of its members and supporters to participate.
Dear friends,
This is a critical time for the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela.
For years, the U.S. government has been financing and promoting a destabilization campaign with the objective of overturning the tremendous progress for the Venezuelan people, first launched by Hugo Chávez’s presidency of 1999.
President Nicolás Maduro, the National Assembly progressive members, government leaders and the Venezuelan pro-Bolivarian masses, are struggling to continue and advance the revolutionary process, while standing up against a vicious right-wing campaign of violence, illegal attacks on the democratically-elected government, false accusations by the U.S. government and its corporate allies in Venezuela.
More than 16 years of a radical process by Venezuela’s democratic Bolivarian Revolution has lifted up millions from poverty, eliminated illiteracy, provided a healthcare system available to all, has built almost 1 million new housing units, with more to come. But it is threatened by the United States government’s attempt to restore the Venezuelan capitalist class to political power.
The real aim of the U.S. is to re-capture Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest in the world, and to destroy ALBA (the Bolivarian Alliance for Latin America). ALBA, founded by Cuba and Venezuela, today includes Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and some of the Caribbean states. It is an alliance of resistance to the long and destructive history of U.S. domination of Latin America, and Washington desperately wants to smash it.
On Sunday, Dec. 6, elections will take place for all seats in the National Assembly.
The Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity Committee, together with many progressive forces worldwide, are calling on people in the United States and around the world to join together with rallies and other actions to demand:
• U.S. Hands Off Venezuela
• Respect Venezuela’s sovereignty!
• Lift all sanctions on Venezuela, rescind Obama’s March 9 Executive Order against Venezuela
• Stop U.S. financing of the right-wing opposition, destabilization and coup attempts
• Stop the corporate media slander campaign
Rallies are being planned across the country. A major Latin American-wide mobilization is also underway.
In San Francisco: Rally on Sunday, Dec. 6, 1 pm at 24th & Mission. Click here to download the San Francisco flyer.
In Los Angeles: Rally on Saturday, Dec. 5, 1 pm at the CNN Building, 6430 W. Sunset Blvd. Click here for the Facebook event.
In New York City: Rally on Sunday, Dec. 6, 1 pm at the Venezuelan Consulate, 7 East 51st St. Click here to download the New York City flyer. Also in New York on Saturday, Dec. 5: subway train and outdoor leafleting, banner drops.
In New Haven: Rally and speak-out on Sunday, Dec. 6, Noon at College St & Chapel St, New Haven, CT.
Sponsored by Connecticut ANSWER: 203-903-4480 · [email protected]
In Vancouver, BC: Free Public Forum on Friday, December 4 at 7pm: Revolutionary Venezuela Advances Social Equality: What is at Stake in the Upcoming Elections?
Location: Joe’s Cafe (Large North Hall), 1150 Commercial Dr. @ William St., Vancouver, Canada. Click here for the Facebook event.
And on Sunday, December 6:
1pm to 3pm: Picket Action at US Consulate (1075 West Pender at Thurlow Street)
3pm to 5pm: Info Tabling at the Vancouver Art Gallery (Robson at Howe Street)
Downtown Vancouver, Canada. Click here for the Facebook event.
Both events organized by: Fire This Time Movement For Social Justice (FTT)
List of endorsers: Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity Committee • ANSWER Coalition • Haiti Liberte • Movimiento Política y Desarrollo • Juventud de PSUV-NY • Eva Golinger • Bay Area Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) • Venezolanos Bolivarianos en NY • Cop Watch Unit • New Yorkers Against Bratton • Coalition to End Broken Windows • Alliance For Global Justice • Bay Area Latin America Solidarity Coalition • Cindy Sheehan • Task Force on the Americas • School of the Americas Watch-San Francisco • Hondureños en Resistencia Nor-Cal. • Marcha Patriótica Nor. Cal. • La Mision Martín-Baró Proyecto de Transformación • Party for Socialism and Liberation • FMLN-SF • Workers World Party • Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition • Los Angeles Simón Bolivar Association • Jim Lafferty-National Lawyers Guild Los Angeles • Office of the Americas • Latin America Solidarity Network • ALBA-USA • Frente Indígena • Coordinadora Independencia • Kabataang maka Bayan – KmB Pro-People Youth • South Korean Prisoners of Conscience Committee • Revolution LA • March Forward • Fire This Time-Vancouver • Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC) • Friends of Cuba Against the U.S. Blockade-Vancouver • Mobilization Against War and Occupation-Vancouver • Youth Third World Alliance, Vancouver, Canada • Prolibertad Freedom Campaign, NYC • New York Cuba Solidarity • El Grito de Sunset Park • Women Organized to Resist and Defend-SF (WORD-SF)
Details on the other rallies will be provided soon. Send details of the events you are planning, to [email protected] and we will post your information and help spread the word.