Latin America House in London screened No Volverán

The Latin America House in London screened No Volverán: The Venezuelan Revolution Now! last night at it's Cine Club. Sixteen people were present including the film makers (both Hands Off Venezuela members) who were there for the discussion afterwards.

There was a lot of interest and fascination about how worker's control actually functioned at Sanatarios Maracay and other factories, a point of view of the revolution that is rarely covered. Everyone was sad to hear that the struggle at Sanitarios ended in defeat but the mood lightened up with news of the recent victories at Sidor.

The group was updated on the latest external and internal threats facing Venezuela. Unfortunately, the list was long. First, the economic attack of US courts freezing 12 billion dollars worth of Venezuelan offshore assets in response to a petition by ExxonMobil.

Then, the overt military posturing of the U.S. in it's reconstitution of the U.S. navy's Fourth Fleet. Effective July 1st 2008, U.S. aircraft carriers, battle ships and nuclear submarines will once again patrol the Caribbean, Central America and South America for reasons of 'security' and anti-narco trafficking. Something that hasn't happened since the cold war.

Also, there is the possibility of a new U.S. military base being built in Colombia right on the border with Venezuela. This threat is in response to the Ecuador government of Raphael Correa - a close ally of Chávez - refusing to renew the agreement for a U.S. military base on Ecuadorian territory which is set to expire in 2009. Correa said "We'll renew the base on one condition: that they let us put a base in Miami - an Ecuadorean base....If there's no problem having foreign soldiers on a country's soil, surely they'll let us have an Ecuadorean base in the United States."  He said.

Then, most alarming was the surprise, unauthorized bomb attack by the Colombian military (Colombia is a client state of the U.S. and receives the most U.S. 'aid' funding second only to Israel) in Ecuador that killed 24 people including Raul Reyes one of the main FARC negotiators in hostage release talks with Venezuela.

Then, inside Venezuela itself, there is the continued economic sabotage of the food industry by the internal opposition. Shortages of milk and sugar have been caused when owners of these businesses refuse to abide by government price controls (intended to make goods affordable to the poor) and practice hoarding, speculation and smuggling.

All of this is to undermine the process of change taking place in Venezuela in a desperate attempt to keep Venezuela and the whole region, which is fantastically rich in oil and natural resources, in its usual semi-colonial state.

There was also an interesting contribution from a young Venezuelan in the audience who seemed exasperated and frustrated with the pace of change taking place in her home country and sited several problems with bureaucracy and inefficiency. She hoped to do her best to participate in improving the situation when she returned home.

Hands Off Venezuela would like to thank Jorge Rodriguez for organizing the screening. Latin America House is a place that aims to provide space and support for Latin Americans, Spanish and Portuguese speakers and local communities of Kilburn, where it is located.

They offer help with legal issues, a chance of acquiring life-long skills and a place to meet people, share ideas and enjoy the rich culture of Latin America!

We thank them for their warm welcome and hope to work with them more in the future.

Please go to their website for more information and the up-coming program for their Cine Club.