Hands Off Venezuela in Rhode Island

On February 4th, the US Hands off Venezuela Campaign was invited to set up an table at the annual convention for the Rhode Island charity and political advocacy group Campaign to Eliminate Childhood Poverty (CECP). At the event, which each year gathers hundreds of community members and activists, there was also present Venezuelan consul from Boston. The consul was attending the event to receive an award being given by the CECP to the government of Venezuela for aid in the form of heating oil donated to thousands low income Americans in Rhode Island and across the east coast of the U.S. Venezuela has donated more than $200 million in oil to aid U.S. workers and poor as heating costs have doubled in the past two years.

Many of the attendees of the event took a keen interest in the HOV table. A few had recently returned from visiting the country and were eager to work with HOV in speaking publicly on the positive changes happing now in Venezuela. One woman whose husband was still visiting the Bolivarian Republic said, “What is happening there is something we should all pay attention to.”

More than a dozen people signed up to get directly involved in further HOV work, and a decent amount of money was raised for the U.S. HOV campaign.

The event happened only days after Donald Rumsfeld made his absurd comparison of the popular, democratically-elected Hugo Chavez and Adolph Hitler. No one at the event seemed to even remotely hold the odious position of the current U.S. leadership, led by the neo-conservative clique of Bush and Co. who have time and time again made it clear as to their position on revolutionary Venezuela.  This is summed up in the smug arrogance expressed by former CIA director George Tenet in the film “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”: “Obviously Venezuela is important because it's the third largest supplier of petroleum, now I would say Mr. Chavez, and the State Department may say this, probably doesn't have the interests of the United States at heart.”

Of course it all depends on whose interests in the U.S. you are speaking of: certainly not the multi-national corporations, banks, or the U.S. State Department. But beyond the wealthy and elite are the millions of working class and poor Americans who have the same basic class interests of their brothers and sisters in Venezuela. Had it not been for the massive movement of the workers in Venezuela in responding to the attacks of the oligarchy in each turn, and especially in response to the 2002 bosses' lock out of the state oil company PDVSA, then Chavez would certainly not have been enabled to earmark oil for such programs as the one now benefiting U.S. workers, youth and poor right now. If the workers had not acted to defend their class interests, the shutting down of PDVSA could have been used to destabilize the country, paving the way for a second coup attempt: most likely followed by the privatization of PDVSA.

Just as our class brothers and sisters have done in Venezuela, so must we in the U.S. fight for our interests here at home. We can count on the people of Venezuela to support us in this struggle. This is precisely what Hands Off Venezuela is all about: internationalist solidarity of the workers and oppressed of the world.

No to U.S. intervention in Venezuela!
Help build the HOV campaign, for the international solidarity of the working class!