Peasants organize for people’s power

On July 11, thousands of poor peasants from 10 Venezuelan states arrived in the capital, Caracas, for an event they called “Zamora toma Caracas” (Zamora takes Caracas). They were armed only with their dignity, the knowledge of their rights under the Bolivarian Constitution, the 2001 Land Laws and the newly acquired awareness of their own power.

The event was called by the Ezequiel Zamora Peasant National Front (FNCEZ), named after a 19th-century Venezuelan general who fought for the rights of
peasants and the poor, under the slogans “free land and men” and “respect for the peasantry.”

They went directly to Miraflores, the presidential residence, carrying concrete demands addressing their long-standing suffering and exclusion, among them an end to impunity in the murders of peasants and the inclusion of the peasant masses into the legal framework of the National Land Institute (INTI). The INTI was created in January 2002 to put into practice the land reform laws decreed by President Hugo Chávez. Many peasant leaders complain that counter-revolutionary elements from past administrations still hold some of the institute’s posts.

The Land Laws, a first step by President Chávez to empower peasants and develop agriculture to avoid reliance on imported food—which at the moment supplies 70 percent of Venezuela’s consumption—have put the interests of the oligarchy and transnational corporations on a collision course with the interests of the peasantry, bringing to the surface the contradictions inherent in a revolution that is developing where the capitalist state is still in existence and where the oligarchy has much power and property.

One of the consequences has been the assassination of at least 138 peasants by hired guns at the service of big landowners. Just last month, on June 23, MVR (Movement for a Fifth Republic) representative Braulio Álvarez, a well-known peasant leader from the FNCEZ and member of the Yaracuy State Legislature, was wounded, narrowly escaping death when he was shot twice while on his way to a meeting with peasants.

The “Zamora takes Caracas” event, therefore, was a crucial step in the deepening of the revolution. Workers World spoke with Roberto Viera, an FNCEZ representative from Sur del Lago, about the outcome of the July 11 action.

Viera was pleased with some of the results, although he cautioned that they still have much work to do. He explained that they were able to gain access to nomination of candidates to the INTI. “The agreement,” he said, “is that the rank and file of the FNCEZ from now on will be able to determine who will lead the INTI, the Ministry of Agriculture and Land, and FONDAFA, the fund for agriculture investment.” He explained that the problem until now has been that “many in the agrarian administration are reformists, who have put into place an anarchic and bureaucratic system inaccessible to the small farmers, who cannot then get information nor services.”

In regard to peasants being murdered with impunity, Viera told WW that the National Office of the Prosecution will nominate 34 prosecutors to investigate those crimes and pledged to pay retribution to the victims’ families, adding that “If they do not respond as promised, we will act, since we have decided to be in permanent mobilization.”

He made the point that they are determined to succeed, giving as an example a recent event where 7,000 peasants went to Caracas without help from the government. “This was subsidized by ourselves, we brought food from the countryside, and we are ready for a larger action if they do not honor the commitment.”

Viera highlighted the support received by several organizations and institutions, among them many working-class neighborhoods of Caracas; the National Association of Community, Free and Alternative Media (ANMCLA); and the Bolivarian University of Venezuela.

He stated that the “Zamora takes Caracas” action was “a demonstration that we are taking responsibility to defend our government by all means. We protest against any interference with our sovereignty. ... Our revolution is unique in the world, we are transforming society in a peaceful way. In contrast Bush’s policy is to dominate through the help of weapons, to conquer the planet to bring more poverty, more misery.”

WW asked Viera what he thought of President Chávez’s recent statements about socialism. He said, “I think that socialism is the most exact formula for humanity,” adding that political awareness cannot be developed overnight. “We do not agree with the neoliberal, capitalist system that has endangered countries, particularly Third World countries.”

Lending insight to the internal organizing in Bolivarian Venezuela, Viera told WW that FNCEZ holds popular assemblies in communities. “We talk with the people about the need to create a new society, of building a new country. These are our workshops, this is how we get cadres. We have to go to the countryside, to the mountains, where our compatriots live. Pop ular assemblies where we explain about the system, about the new state policies toward the agrarian system—we talk about building the new society, the new political consciousness. We don’t have a school; we talk touching their hearts. We do not ask to get paid nor to be fed, sometimes we go without eating and return with out eating. We do not even ask for coffee.

“We are creating political consciousness, forming the basis to construct a real people’s power where the power is held by the people; that is what we are fighting for.”