Town Hall rally heard in Washington and Caracas

In the biggest event for Venezuela held in the U.S. to date, solidarity activists packed historic Town Hall in mid-town Manhattan on Nov. 8. The rally was initiated by the International Action Center (IAC) and the Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle. Many Cuba and Latin America solidarity groups organized for it, as well as other activists.

Slideshow of some of the speakers on Nov. 8.

The event brought together an impressive array of leaders and organizations. A sizable delegation, including cultural performers, came from Venezuela and from Venezuelan missions in the United States.

“Events like this show the people of Venezuela that they are not alone,” said the Venezuelan consul for Chicago, Martín Sánchez. “President [Hugo] Chávez said in Argentina that without the people of the U.S., we would not be able to build that better world that we all want.”

Teresa Gutierrez, co-director of the IAC and coordinator of the rally along with William Camacaro of the Bolivarian Circles, said afterwards that “The Town Hall event was a resounding success. We accomplished our goal, which was to organize a major event for Venezuela that would be heard in Washington and in Caracas.

“The advances of the Bolivarian Revolution led by President Hugo Chávez are clear. In late October, the government announced it had eliminated illiteracy. Health care is being brought to Venezuelans who had never received it before. The main thing we can do for Venezuela is to organize here against the danger of U.S. intervention. And on Nov. 8, we showed there is a vibrant movement for Venezuela.”

Many messages of solidarity from a wide range of groups and individuals were printed in an attractive journal distributed to the attendees.

Fermín Toro Jiménez, Venezuela’s Ambassador to the United Nations, told the crowd that the Bolivarian revolutionary process is happening within the context of “the crisis of the environment, of the biosphere, of hunger and mortal viruses and of nuclear weaponry. And these crises that produce wars of depredation and aggression are awakening uprisings in many countries. ... We are in rebellion against injustice, against hunger, against exclusion and racism and it seems that this time we are being accompanied by the peoples of the first world.”

Jorge Guerrero Veloz of Venezuela’s Presidential Committee against Racism explained that “As in any process of change, a leader is necessary, and ours is President Hugo Chávez, who embodies the voices of the most excluded sector and represents hope for the majority of the Venezuelan people.”

The Venezuelan Consul for New York spoke of the Missions, or social programs, that are being launched in Venezuela. “They are geared to emphasize the rights that people have to education, health care, housing and work,” explained Leonor Osorio. “In the last two years, more than 1.4 million people have received literacy instruction thanks to the method brought by the people of Cuba.” She also thanked Cuba for helping Venezuela develop preventative medicine.

Venezuelans Miguel Hernández and Gonzalo Gómez also spoke. Gómez, from the National Association of Alternative Media, said the rally was “also an act of solidarity with the oppressed in the U.S. and the Latin Americans and Afro descendants here who are victims of discrimination.”

Eleguá, a group of Afro-Venezuelan women, thrilled the audience with their songs, dance and drums. The New York cultural collective Welfare Poets also added energy and inspiration to this event. An audiotaped message from Mumia Abu-Jamal was played.

Broadcast throughout Venezuela

William Camacaro says that the event was broadcast throughout Venezuela in the days following the Town Hall rally. “It was a welcome development in Venezuela. The next step is that the Bolivarian Circles have called for a national organizing conference in New York City in February where Venezuelans in the U.S. invite everyone to come to help build a national movement in the U.S.”

The speakers also included Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general and founder of the IAC; Leonard Weinglass, attorney for the Cuban Five and a long-time people's lawyer; Rev. Lucius Walker of Pastors for Peace; Rev. Luis Barrio of John Jay College and San Romero Church; Larry Holmes of Troops Out Now Coalition; Nellie Bailey of Harlem Tenants Council; Ben Dupuy of Haiti's National People's Party; civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart; Marguerite Laurent of Fanmi Lavalas; noted actor Vinie Burrows, who also represents the Women's International Democratic Federation; Gloria La Riva of ANSWER and the Committee to Free the Cuban Five; New Orleans community organizer Curtis Mohammad; Wellington Echevarria of Cuba Solidarity New York; and Chris Silvera, president of the Teamsters National Black Caucus.

Guillermo de la Paz of the Socialist Front of Puerto Rico said that “In P.R. we feel that the Bolivarian Revolution is also ours.” Speaking about the recent assassination of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos by FBI agents, he added, “In Naguabo we buried Filiberto and his seed will sprout so that every Boricua [Puerto Rican] will be a Machetero” —a fighter for Puerto Rico’s self-determination.

Gerardo Cajamarca, a Colombian unionist in exile in the U.S. because of death squads in his country, said, “In Colombia we have continued to struggle for Bolivarian rights and the Latin America integration ideals of President Chávez.”

Berta Joubert Ceci was international outreach coordinator for the event. She says that “Just as important as the people who spoke are the numerous messages of solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution that we received. People wrote thanking the organizers for the initiative, from the United States and from Venezuela, including the famous Venezuelan cultural groups Lloviznando Cantos and Madera. Messages were also received from Ecuador, Spain, Portugal, France, Mexico and Canada, among others.

“The youth representative in Cuba’s National Assembly sent a warm message during the early phase of the organizing efforts. Both Nora Castañeda, president of the Women’s Development Bank in Venezuela, and board members of the Venezuelan National Union of Workers—who were scheduled to speak but due to visa problems could not attend—sent messages.”

Reporters from several major U.S. media attended the rally, but the editors did not run their stories. On the day after the rally, a reporter from the Miami Herald called the organizers. His questions showed that the U.S. establishment had indeed taken note of the event.