Latin America 2010 Conference Report

The sixth annual Latin America ‘Adelante’ conference packed out Congress Hall on Saturday 4 December, despite a snow struck morning in London. Possibly in respect of this year being the 200th centenary year of many Latin American countries independence and that in 1810 Simon Bolivar travelled to London to enlist support from the British for the revolution that had finally begun in South America or because as Walter Sandino said “the continent is now changing as my grandfather dreamed”, more than 400 people heard speakers and workshops go into detail about the “other world that is possible” and happening today in Latin America.

Welcomed by SERTUC Regional Secretary Megan Dobney, George Galloway set the scene by remembering the ‘other’ 9/11 when the US sponsored coup d’etat “drowned in blood the socialist experiment of Allende in Chile”, yet the continent has now seen the great internationalist sacrifices and social achievements of the Cubans inspire people across the whole continent. Joking about being on Fox news and constantly hearing Chavez referred to as a dictator he pointed out to applause that he is the most democratically elected politician on earth.

Jean Lambert Green MEP, talked about the positive and inspirational role the peoples movements from Latin America are having, as we try to rebalance the world and restore harmony with nature and human beings, for all our futures sake.

Christine Blower General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers said “Yes to social progress and no to US intervention”. She praised the commitment to education she had witnessed on a recent trip to Cuba and especially the fact that it did not promote consumerism and contempt for others. By investing in education and seeing it as an inviolable human right she described some of the success and achievements in Cuba and Venezuela. Contrasting them with Colombia she reminded us all of the dangers of being a Trade unionist and teacher in that country.

Seumus Milne, Guardian journalist, contrasted the situation twenty years ago – with the end of the Soviet Union, heralded triumph of capitalism and the death of socialism, a unipolar world – with today. The US is embroiled in a failed war on terror, the rise of China goes on, the 2008 financial crisis is not over and the progressive tide sweeping Latin America is offering a real alternative. It is no surprise that Latin America, which was the first to experience the neo-liberal economic shock doctrine, is the continent now challenging that economic orthodoxy, challenging racism and promoting indigenous peoples rights. It is not a settled outcome though and it will be resisted by a US committed to “roll back”. As Wiki Leaks has proved, the coup in Honduras was clearly a coup although it was denied by the US. Therefore the need for solidarity and support for the demand that the media report fairly on Latin America has never been more important said Seumus.

Workshops took place on climate change and global negotiations, the US militarisation of Latin America, Cuba’s economic development and labour relations, the struggle to develop national identity and culture, Media representation of Latin America, ALBA and economic development, Haiti, the earthquake and beyond and Venezuela – empowering the people and social inclusion. The impressive array of speakers, the level of detail and debate in each workshop meant that all delegates wanted to be in more than one room at a time!

At the next plenary, Latin Americans took centre stage with Samuel Moncada, the Venezuela Ambassador telling us how the current environmental emergency in his country brought about by extreme rain was only averted from real disaster by state “organisation, preparation and the will to act”. He contrasted this climate catastrophe affecting his country with Wikileaks revelations on how powerful countries are spending all their time trying to stop countries from helping themselves or their people.“The social policy of the US is to destroy our social policy” – for example “to encourage Cuban doctors to defect to Miami instead of letting them help poor people who need them” he explained. Through their slanders, smears and spinning information they “obviously see us as dangerous but Venezuela’s social policy, to help the poor who are being cheated by the banks and the rich is an integral part of our world view.” Proclaiming that Venezuela will not “shut up” he predicted further problems for Obama who no longer controls a Foreign Affairs committee now dominated by the right wing in Congress.

At her first appearance in front of a large European audience new Cuban Ambassador Esther Armenteros told us the blockade is stronger than ever against Cuba despite all the hopes people had for the Obama administration. Recalling her personal horrors at the effects of a blockade that denies small children eye cancer treatment she asked why “does someone up there say we are the enemy: what kind of enemy can a child be with cancer?”

She reiterated that Cuban socialism is an equality of opportunity and human rights for all and that each will receive according to what they offer to society. The pressures Cuba now faces will mean the success of this battle will sustain the socialist model into the future.

Reminding us of the solidarity shown by Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago on the 8th December 1972 by re-establishing full relations with Cuba she expressed gratitude for them for ending the isolation and promised Cuba would always stand up for social justice and solidarity not only in the Caribbean, Latin America but also the world.

Guisell Morales-Echaverry, the Nicaraguan Ambassador, praised the voice of unity and respect that was Sandino and proclaimed ALBA as his legacy, embodying solidarity and mutual respect. It has given us an opportunity to develop economic independence and improve social conditions, not only in Nicaragua but throughout all the countries involved.

Fidel Narvarez described how the agenda for Ecuador was the long standing one “of all indigenous peoples”. The “recovery of sovereignty, by shaping our own destiny” along with the control of natural resources aligned with the “pursuit of social justice, redistribution of wealth to benefit the most vulnerable and a decrease in the gap between the rich and the poor” are all interlinked he said. Describing his countries efforts and achievements he highlighted how social investment is now higher than debt repayments and has increased every year for the last four years. “What we are witnessing is more than a few South American countries challenging imperialism” he said “We are at the forefront of the implementation of post neo-liberal economies”. “This is not a time of changes but a change of time” he said as he predicted even greater things to come for a continent striving to achieve one great Bolivarian nation.

Former London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, praised London’s Latin America community for its diversity and culture which he said enriches all of us, but lamented why so many were forced to flee their countries either as result of coups or poverty. Commenting on Wikileaks he deplored the accounts of our politicians sucking up, obsequiously to their American counterparts who are responsible for so many of the problems in the world. Praising the role of Cuba and others as an inspiration he warned of the dangers of the US backlash. He stressed the significance of China as a country that invests 46% each year in internal infrastructure projects and he urged Latin America to do likewise.

Referencing ‘The Spirit level’ and the need to share wealth and reduce inequality he stressed that only Cuba stands out in the book as having the best indices for the life of its citizens. Imagining what Cuba would have done without the effects of the blockade waged against it since 1962, he re-iterated his pledge to hopefully celebrate Cuban achievements as part of his term of office when he is, hopefully re-elected as Mayor in 2012.

More workshops on the Cuban Blockade, Mexico and the USA, Colombia and its political prisoners, Ecuador and Honduras and the coup attempts, Venezuela, Nicaragua and the life of Augusto Cesar Sandino, Bolivia and the Morales Government and a film screening of Quien dijo Miedo (We are not afraid) inside the coup in Honduras completed the afternoon sessions.

The final Plenary heard from Hugh Lanning, Deputy General Secretary of the PCS who posed the question as to how Ireland, Greece, the UK and others would fare in the current economic climate if we were in ALBA. Reminding us in the words of Jose Marti that they will “inflame us, subvert us and suffocate us” Hugh urged us all to remain vigilant and our solidarity strong because “we want them to win so we can too”.

Steve Hart, London Regional Secretary from Unite also reminded us of the threats from the US. As the UK Secretary of the Chile Solidarity Campaign during the 1970s, after the coup, he described the horrors of what happened because we need to “remind ourselves of the raw face of capitalism”. The recent coup attempts in Latin America could easily happen again or terrorist attacks could be stepped up and sanctioned again by the US. Referring to his union’s work on behalf of the Miami Five and Unite General Secretary Tony Woodley’s recent visit to Gerardo Hernandez, he urged everyone to never forget these brave Cuban heroes imprisoned in US jails for fighting against terrorism.

Jeremy Corbyn MP referred to the situation in Haiti and the cycle of debt and poverty it has been forced into for nearly 200 years for having the audacity of overthrowing slavery and becoming independent. That mentality, as typified by the Monroe Doctrine, remains to this day part of the US mindset.

In posing the question as to why someone like Evo Morales was elected he said it was “not because he was an indigenous Indian or didn’t speak Spanish”, but because he fought against “structural adjustment programmes, water privatisation and for reducing the gap between the rich and the poor”. Praising ALBA, he said Cuba’s involvement was key to countries trying to close the economic gap by prioritising health and education. A political economy based on the social needs of people and the elimination of poverty is what ALBA is about and why it is so important. He also reminded us that what is going on will inevitably attract the attention of the US for the simple reason that the continents natural resources are so vast.

Calling on us to put aside the idea that only left progress can come out of European thinking he urged us all to learn from the fantastic and inspirational social movements coming out of Latin America.

With fist aloft and crying out “Viva Sandino” Walter, grandson of Nicaraguan revolutionary leader Augusto Sandino, described all of delegates as descendants of those Latin American leaders who like his grandfather fought and inspired others. Power is changing from the hands of a small rich elite to new leaders who are supported by trade unions, women, indigenous people and all those who believe in the fact that “another world is possible”. It was a fitting and passionate note on which to end a truly inspirational, informative and well organised conference.

Celebrations continued into the night at Bolivar Hall, where the Fiesta Latina enabled conference participants to enjoy the continents vibrant and varied culture with live music and dancing. Rum cocktails and Latin American food were served, and performances from Cuban, Venezuelan and Colombian performers were weaved together with the latest Latin dance tracks from Movimientos DJs.

The evening opened with an acoustic set of Latin American folk songs from Silvia Fox followed by a virtuoso performance form Cuban jazz and classical violinist Omar Puente and guest guitarist, including a rousing finale and encore with audience participation to Che Comandante and Guantanamera. Headlining the night were five piece Cumbé, whose Afro-Colombian sounds got the audience up on their feet, completing 12 hours of discussion, seminars, speakers, films, food, dance, and live music which brought Latin America and the Caribbean to snowbound central London.

Thanks to organisers Cuba Solidarity Campaign, Venezuela Solidarity Campaign and SERTUC, and all sponsors.

Beating the Blockade Seminar Report, Latin America 2010

In a lively discussion on the US blockade of Cuba, Steve Ludlam, lecturer at the University of Sheffield, denounced the embargo as the “relentless strangulation of Cuba”. As Ludlam contended, the blockade of Cuba constitutes just one facet of a dirty war against the island which includes US-sponsored terrorist groups attacking the Cuban government and the persecution and imprisonment of those defending Cuba’s right to self-determination, such as the Miami 5.

Bob Oram, Unison NEC, affirmed that the US blockade has been tightened and intensified since 1962 to “asphyxiate the economy and wear down the Cuban people”. The blockade and associated legislation has been expanded extraterritorially to adversely affect other countries trading with Cuba. As Oram postulated, US-initiated restrictions on banks, companies and shipping mean that it is practically impossible for most businesses to trade with Cuba, whilst those that do often face penalties from the US.

US pretext for the blockade asserts that Cuba fails to promote human rights but, as both the United Nations and Amnesty International have recently testified, the blockade disproportionately affects the most vulnerable people in Cuba. Luis Marron, Political Counsellor at the Cuban Embassy, described how a two year-old girl was denied medical treatment because the required medication was only available in the US. As Marron concluded, “the little girl wasn’t a communist and didn’t know who Castro was, she just happened to be born in Cuba”. Marron and Oram both rejected the US declaration that Cuba requires the blockade to justify internal economic conditions and referenced the Cuban Foreign Minister’s challenge to lift the embargo and normalise relations.

Both Ludlam and Luis Marron cited three obstacles to the removal of the blockade. Firstly, there is a lack of political will within the US to end the blockade as the political establishment seeks to demonstrate to Latin America and the developing world that “resistance is futile”. Secondly, the authority to remove the embargo is no longer held by the President and instead has to be passed by Congress. This further entrenches reactionary legislation and makes it harder to revoke. And finally, the influence of Cuban nationals in Miami prevents any repeal of the blockade. Florida is a key state in presidential elections and Barack Obama is the first President since 1959 to not have the electoral support of the ex-patriate Cuban lobby within Miami.

As a result, any policy change will not come from within the US political system. It requires solidarity across Latin America and real pressure from Europe. Ludlam heralded the work of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign working with the trade union movement within the UK to champion the Cuban cause whilst Luis Marron acclaimed the amazing support which Cuba has received – both politically and materially – and declared all solidarity as victory over a blockade which seeks to isolate Cuba. As Marron affirmed, “Cuba has survived 50 years without the US and will continue to exist and advance with or without the US”. Despite constant harassment and persecution, Cuba has met Millennium Goal targets in education and health - just think what would be possible without the blockade.

Latin America 2010 Speaker Videos

Cuban Ambassador, Esther Armenteros, Latin America 2010


Fidel Navarez, Latin America 2010


George Galloway, Latin America 2010


Ken Livingstone, Latin America 2010


Seumas Milne, Latin America 2010

Another world is possible, and Latin America is creating it now

The article below is an edited version of Seumas Milne's contribution at Latin America 2010. Seumas is a journalist at the Guardian.

Seumas Milne, Latin America 2010

Twenty years ago, when the Soviet Union collapsed and the Cold War came to a close, we were told that we were witnessing the end of history, the triumph of the free market, the emergence of a unipolar world and the death of socialism — in fact, the end of any systemic alternative to neo-liberal capitalism at all.

Two decades on, that all looks pretty foolish. Four things in particular have changed the picture fundamentally. The first has been the war on terror, the strategic defeat of the US in Iraq and Afghanistan and the failure of its attempt to impose its will by force on the Arab and Muslim world. The second has been the rise of China. The third has been the crash of 2008 and the discrediting of the neoliberal economic model. And the fourth, and most underestimated shift, has been the progressive tide that has swept Latin America.

All four elements are closely interconnected. But crucial to this whole process has been the fact that Latin America was the first region of the world to experience the full force of neoliberalism — during the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile in the 1970s — and also the first to revolt against it, in the wake of the financial crisis of 1998.

That led in turn to the wave of change which swept the old elites from politics and brought to power a succession of radical socialist and social-democratic governments, from Ecuador to Brazil, Paraguay to Argentina: challenging US domination and neoliberal orthodoxy, breaking down social and racial inequality, building independent regional integration and taking back resources from corporate control.

For decades, Latin America was mired in US-backed rightwing dictatorships, and socialist Cuba stood alone. The transformation of the past decade is symbolised for me by the fate of Che Guevara’s killer, Sergeant Mario Teran. On 9th October 1967, Guevara faced a shaking Teran in La Higuera, Bolivia, and told him: “Shoot coward, you’re only killing a man”. The moment is the climax of Stephen Soderbergh’s film Che, and in real life it marked the defeat of the attempt to spread the Cuban revolution in Latin America.

But forty years later, the blind, reviled Teran had his sight restored by Cuban doctors, paid for by revolutionary Venezuela in the radicalised Bolivia of Evo Morales. That’s part of a programme that has seen 1.5 million free eye operations carried out in 33 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa, courtesy of the Cuban and Bolivarian revolutions.

It’s an emblem of the humanity of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara’s legacy – but also of the passing of the Cuban torch to a new generation of Latin American revolutionaries and progressives.

And the radical change they are making in Latin America is multi-dimensional. First of all it has a social and class dimension: at the cutting edge, Venezuela has halved poverty, massively expanded free health and education and boosted public ownership and control – echoed across the continent.

Second, it has a democratic core, reflected in the constitutional transformation and experiments in direct democracy in a string of Latin American countries. Then there is the ethnic dimension, seen in the political awakening of the indigenous population of the entire region and symbolised by the previously unthinkable election of Morales, an Aymara Indian, as president of Bolivia.

On top of that there is the regional dimension, made clear by the powerful new drive towards autonomous Latin American economic integration. And finally, there is the vital international dimension, played out in the ejection of US military bases, such as the Manta airbase in Ecuador, and the assertion of an independent foreign policy by almost every state across the region, notably including Brazil.

But most important of all, there has been the global impact: Latin America has shown that there can be systemic alternatives, that a 21st century socialism can be constructed, that people make their own history — and another world is not only possible, but is being created right now.

Of course none of these advances is settled or irreversible. Some are more radical than others. There are, naturally, many internal weaknesses and challenges in all the countries where progressive change is taking place. And the process is threatened from both within and without.

In particular the US, which has long dominated Latin America, was distracted fighting its war on terror in the Arab and Muslim world while this movement of transformation was gaining strength. But now, even under the Obama administration, the US foreign policy establishment has made clear that it is committed to rollback, building new bases in Colombia, potentially to intervene again across the region.

Despite Obama’s warning that it risked creating a “terrible precedent”, the 2009 coup in Honduras was allowed to stand with US support – or, as Hillary Clinton put, “managed to a successful conclusion”. Honduras was a signal that the democratic and radical tide could be turned back, and was followed by the failed coup against Rafael Correa in Ecuador.

That’s one reason why the Latin American left needs international solidarity. Such support should include pressure on the British government and the European Union to oppose any anti-democratic backlash or foreign intervention against a movement for social justice that any decent person should be able to back, along with the demand that our media report fairly what’s actually going on in the region.

But we also need to learn from what is taking place in Latin America. Of course these are diverse societies which face some very different problems from our own. But the common sense about the bankruptcy of neoliberal capitalism that was first recognised and acted on in Latin America has now gone global.

There are direct lessons now for countries such as Ireland and Greece from Argentina’s debt default in the early years of the last decade — and its subsequent economic expansion. But the wider question for us is whether some of the progressive and socialist change that has delivered for the people of Latin America in the last decade can be generated here, in this part of the world as well.

Cuba – a better world is possible

"Cuba demonstrates how much nations can do with the resources they have if they focus on the right priorities - health, education, and literacy." Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General

May Day Parade, Havana

The current changes sweeping across Latin America have their roots in the same principles of social justice that transformed Cuban society 50 years ago.

On 1 January 1959 the Cuban Revolution freed the country from the brutal US-backed Batista dictatorship. Immediately, the government committed itself to a sweeping programme of health and education reforms, and to returning to the people the country’s natural resources and land from the hands of a local elite, foreign governments and multinationals.

Just as progressive Latin American governments are facing a backlash from the right today, Cuba has withstood extreme propaganda and attacks from the most powerful state on earth for 50 years. For 48 of these it has suffered under sustained economic warfare in the form of an inhumane and illegal US blockade – the longest in history.

Even the US itself admits the severity of its actions. According to the United States Government Accountability Office in 2009: “The embargo on Cuba is the most comprehensive set of US sanctions on any country, including the other countries designated by the US government to be state sponsors of terrorism”.

In 2007, the Personal Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights stated:

The restrictions imposed by the embargo help to deprive Cuba of vital access to medicines, new scientific and medical technology, food, chemical water treatment and electricity.

Numerous reports, most notably the 300-page, 1997 report by the American Association for World Health (AAWH) identify that the blockade contributes to the malnutrition of women and children, poor water quality, and lack of access to medicines and medical supplies. The AAWH declared that “a humanitarian catastrophe has been averted only because the Cuban government has maintained a high level of budgetary support for a health care system designed to deliver primary and preventive health care to all of its citizens.”

The United Nations and human rights groups including Amnesty International have condemned the blockade for violating international law, and on moral, political and economic grounds. Yet, President Obama has taken no steps to dismantle it.

US academic Noam Chomsky argues that the blockade remains in place for the same reasons it was imposed by President Kennedy in 1962:

The actual reasons for the terror and economic warfare were explained clearly at the very outset: the goal was to cause “rising discomfort among hungry Cubans” so that they would overthrow the regime (Kennedy); to “bring about hunger, desperation, and overthrow of the government” (Eisenhower’s State Department). The threat of Cuba, as Kennedy’s Latin American advisor Arthur Schlesinger advised the incoming president, is that successful independent development there might stimulate others who suffer from similar problems to follow the same course, so that the system of US domination might unravel.

Almost half a century after Kennedy, US aggression towards Cuba continues. Aside from the everyday deprivations caused by the blockade, undercover operations and open backing for invasion and terrorist attacks have been replaced by USAID funding that increasingly focus on the internet to promote so-called democracy programmes. In this manner, the US government continues to fund groups and individuals in and outside Cuba intent in bringing down the government and imposing neo-liberal models and privatisation on the island.

Despite this, Cuba maintains a healthy, educated and vibrant society. Cuba is not perfect. Like anywhere it faces problems and struggles, but its achievements and spirit of international solidarity reach across the globe. As Nelson Mandela said: “The Cuban revolution has been a source of inspiration to all freedom-loving people.”

Cuban internationalism from playing a pivotal role in the liberation of Angola and downfall of Apartheid in South Africa, to the 938 medical staff currently volunteering in Haiti, and the tens of thousands of students from developing countries receiving free Cuban medical scholarships are an inspiration to millions of people, especially in the developing world.

Through free health and education programmes for the poorest and most vulnerable on the planet Cuba offers hope that a better world is possible. And just as Schlesinger feared, US domination in the region is unravelling. As Noam Chomsky said:

Cuba has become a symbol of courageous resistance to attack. It has been invaded, subjected to more terror than maybe the rest of the world combined--certainly any other country that I can think of--and it's under an economic stranglehold that has been ruled completely illegal by every relevant international body, It has been at the receiving end of terrorism, repression and denunciation, but it survives.

The Cuba Solidarity Campaign works in the UK to campaign against the illegal blockade of Cuba and for Cuba’s right to self-determination. Please join CSC today!

Natasha Hickman, Communications Manager at the Cuba Solidarity Campaign. Please email for more information.

Venezuela’s social progress under threat from US intervention

For decades most Venezuelans lived in poverty, in barrios (shanty towns) with unreliable electricity, unsafe water and desperately inadequate public services. In recent years, ordinary people’s lives have been transformed.  This inspiring process has been made possible by a sustained rise in social investment, with the government redistributing the country’s oil wealth from a small and privileged elite to the majority of people.

 

Inspiring social changes include:

• More than 2.7 million Venezuelans have been lifted out of poverty since 1998, with extreme poverty halved, and poverty rates continuing to fall.
• Over 17 million people now have access to free healthcare for the first time, with a national heath service being built for the first time.
• Over 1.6 million adults have benefited from literacy campaigns with illiteracy now abolished according to UNESCO standards.
• More than 6 million more people now have clean drinking water, with access increasing from 80% in 1998 to over 92% today.
• 98 per cent of Venezuelans now eat three times per day thanks to government provision of subsidised food and free school meals.
• New rights for working people - Venezuela’s minimum wage is now the highest in Latin America, unemployment has been significantly reduced and outsourcing made illegal.
• The creation of a Women’s Development Bank and new Ministry for Women, giving opportunities to millions of previously excluded women.
• Historic racism is being tackled with new constitutional rights for indigenous people and recognition of the rights of other black and minority ethnic communities.
• The expansion of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra programme, which provides free musical education to thousands of children from poor backgrounds.

Due to these progressive social policies, amazingly, Venezuela has met the UN Millennium Development Goals six years ahead of schedule, whilst many countries are decades behind.

 

Additionally, although against the backdrop of global recession the Venezuelan economy shrank by 3% in 2009, the government held firm on its commitment to maintain and increase spending in areas such as health, education and poverty reduction.

 

It is the case that much still needs to be done to overcome decades of neglect of the interests of the vast majority of Venezuelans, especially in the cities, but the achievements of the current government stand in stark contrast to previous governments, who oversaw rising poverty and failing living standards for 25 years.

 

Freeing Latin America from exploitation

 

As well as this social progress domestically Venezuela is seen as a beacon of hope across Southern America, encouraging progressive regional co-operation, as an alternative to decades of US domination and neo-liberalism.

 

Venezuela’s inspiring work internationally includes:

• The joint programme with Cuba ‘Operation Miracle’ which is providing free eye operations to hundreds of thousands of poor people in Latin America, the Caribbean and now Africa.
• Supplying oil at preferential prices to 13 Latin American and Caribbean countries to help their economies.
• The ALBA (‘Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas’) agreement with other Latin American and Caribbean nations - an alternative to the US-promoted Free Trade Area of the Americas.
• Creating a Latin American television station, Telesur, to challenge US cultural domination and the distortion of the truth by the media.

Chávez’s Democratic Record

 

These changes in Venezuela have received enormous democratic approval, with Chávez and his supporters have won fourteen out of fifteen national elections and referenda since 1998.

 

In this time, democratic participation in Venezuela has increased, with millions of previously excluded people being enfranchised. Grassroots democracy has also been expanded with the formation and funding of thousands of ‘Community Councils’ across the country.

 

Contrary to distortions in the media and from opponents of the government, the annual survey of Latin American views, by the respected Latinobarametro, shows that Venezuelans have a strong approval for their democracy.

 

Venezuela next goes to the polls for National Assembly elections in September 2010. In these elections, the right-wing opposition will inevitably increase its number of seats, as it boycotted the previous parliamentary elections – in a blatant attempt to undermine their legitimacy – when it was clear they would lose.

 

Threats to social progress and sovereignty — solidarity needed!

 

Inevitably, the progressive changes of recent years have not been welcomed by the former ruling elite in Venezuela and their allies internationally who remain committed to neo-liberalism. In particular, many within the United States want to regain control of Venezuelan oil resources, by putting the old Venezuelan elite back into power, and prevent a further strengthening of national sovereignty and economic independence across Latin America.

 

In recent years, this has seen various attempts to undermine Venezuela’s elected government. The US appeared to be behind a failed military coup in 2002. The following this, organised attempts to sabotage fist the oil industry — the mainstay of the economy — strongly indicated US involvement.

 

This threat has not gone away under the Obama administration. The US National Director of Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair, in his annual report for 2010 classifies Venezuela as an “anti-US Leader” in the world.

This followed the announcement of more US bases in neighbouring Colombia meaning that Venezuela is surrounded by 13 US military bases in addition to the aircraft carriers and ships of the US Fourth Fleet, which was reactivated in 2008 in order to patrol the Atlantic Coast of South America.

 

The coup against the progressive government in Honduras, and the discovery of similar plots in Ecuador and Paraguay, also show the continuing threat of social progress in Venezuela being overturned.

 

Within Venezuela, the right wing opposition also continues to hold democracy and the rule of law in contempt, seeking to destabilise the government.

 

Media Distortion and Misrepresentation

 

Alongside these developments, opponents of Venezuela’s elected government have also orchestrated an international media campaign of distortion and misrepresentation aimed at isolating support for the Chávez-led Government.

 

Within Venezuela, there is great concern that such international demonization of Chávez could be used as a pretext for further interventions and ‘regime change.’

 

That is why the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign works to explain the truth about Venezuela and support the country’s right to self-determination – you can help by joining VSC today.

 

Matt Willgress, Coordinator of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign

"United, organised and trained we are invincible!"

Helen Yuill, Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, interviews Orlando José Mercado Mendoza who is appearing at Latin America 2010 about how informal sector workers are organising and the new spaces created for them under the recently elected FSLN government.

Helen and Orlando

Orlando Mercado is Secretary of the Confederación de Trabajadores por Cuenta Propia (CTCP) in Nicaragua. From its formation in 2002 the membership has grown to 40,000 and the Confederation now coordinates a network of informal sector unions throughout Central America. As Orlando points out, this is a great achievement but, with an estimated one million workers engaged in informal sector activity in the country, there is much to be done.

Informal sector work comprises many different activities. Orlando Mercado is General Secretary of the Currency Exchangers Federation, one of seven federations which unite to form the CTCP. Workers could be street traders, traffic lights vendors, craftspeople, tricyle taxi drivers, agricultural workers, rubbish pickers or tortilla producers. As well as running training workshops in union organising and labour rights, the CTCP also run workshops aimed at raising workers’ self esteem and provide training in business administration and literacy. The union is also fighting for greater recognition of the valuable contribution they make to the economy.

Orlando emphasised that self employed work is growing in Nicaragua and worldwide. Although over 65 per cent of Nicaragua’s workforce are working within the informal sector, between 1990 and 2006, under successive neoliberal governments they were largely ignored. When the current FSLN government was elected in 2007, they were finally given formal recognition. As most workers in the sector are not covered by social security the union has set up mutual health funds allowing access to cheaper medication and health promotion. International support has been important to this work and a number of external organisations, including UNISON from the UK, have supported their activities.

Through the union, members are enabled to act collectively to oppose evictions. In a protest in early 2009 unionised workers from the different unions within the CTCP mobilised in solidarity with the currency changers to protest their eviction by a local supermarket, blocking entrances and bringing sales to a standstill. The owners were forced to negotiate and the union achieved an agreement that they could stay, something they have had to fight for since 1990.

As Orlando points out, ‘In the UK you are learning about informal sector workers and how we are organising. In other parts of the world people do this kind of work too but it’s hidden. This is a country that is starting to know about our work and what we do for the economy in our country.  The CTCP works with the hungry, dispossessed and forgotten. We are not afraid to mobilise because it is the only way to defend our right to work. Our work can only happen through solidarity between our members. This is why the CTCP has the slogan: UNIDOS, ORGANIZADOS Y CAPACITADOS SEREMOS INVENCIBLES! United, organised and trained we are invincible!’

Mandate for Morales in Bolivia

Evo Morales’s sweeping victory in the 6 December 2009 general elections is a clear indication that the Bolivian MAS party (Movimiento al Socialismo) has emerged strengthened from its first period of government, having passed key constitutional, economic and social reforms in the face of often undemocratic challenges by a determined opposition.

As well as winning over 64%of the vote for president, the MAS also won a majority in both houses of Congress (now called the Plurinational Legislative Assembly). This will greatly help passage of the large number of laws required to implement the new Bolivian constitution, approved by referendum in January 2009. The MAS benches in both houses now include more social movement leaders, such as Isaac Avalos - executive secretary of the powerful peasant union, the CSUTCB, as well as middle-class professionals such as Ana Maria Romero, a journalist who was Bolivia’s first human rights ombudsman.

While the MAS has shown great strength and unity at the ballot boxes, the opposition was divided and lacked credible leadership. Of two main opposition fronts, the most successful was Plan Progreso para Bolivia (PPB) headed by Manfred Reyes Villa. 

Reyes Villa, a former captain in the Bolivian army who had close ties to the highly repressive Garcia Meza dictatorship of the early 1980s, had already suffered electoral defeat in the national recall referendum in August 2008 when he was removed from his post as prefect of Cochabamba. His running mate, former Pando governor Leopoldo Fernandez, an associate of former dictator Hugo Banzer, also had a history of close involvement with Bolivia’s authoritarian-right. He campaigned from his jail cell where he awaits trial for his alleged role in the 2008 Pando massacre of indigenous peasants. They managed a showing of just 26.6% of the national vote.

As well as receiving the firm backing of its support base in the western Andean region, the MAS also made important inroads in the eastern lowlands, the focus of opposition activity during the government’s first term. The MAS vote in the department of Santa Cruz increased from 33% in 2005 to nearly 41% this time round, and the MAS came first in the gas-rich department of Tarija. Voting percentages for the MAS in the other two eastern departments of Pando and Beni more than doubled from their 2005 totals.

An element that contributed to this increase in support in the country’s eastern departments was the inclusion of departmental autonomy in the new constitution, an issue that the opposition had used to rally local support against the government. As well as paving the way for greater decentralisation of power and resources through departmental autonomy the constitution also includes autonomy for indigenous areas, allowing indigenous communities to control the territory where they live and benefit from the resources on it. Among the congress members elected, there were seven – nearly all MAS candidates – who will represent special indigenous constituencies. Special autonomy was also approved by referendum for the gas-rich province of the Gran Chaco in the department of Tarija, in the extreme south-east, an area peopled largely by Guaraní indians.

Alex Tilley, Coordinator of the Bolivia Information Forum

The impact of the Honduran coup on women maquila workers

The Honduran Women’s Collective, known as Codemuh, is a women-led rights organisation and long-term War on Want partner that works to empower women workers in Honduras’ Export Processing Zones (EPZ). Over the last 20 years the “maquiladora” industry, as it is known in Latin America, has become an integral part of the Honduran economy. Codemuh has monitored and documented human and employment rights violations in EPZs, especially among women workers.

Honduras’ maquila industry is highly dependent on the US and Central America markets. It is one of the largest exporters of textile products to US and the leading exporter to Central American and Caribbean countries. Employing 133,000 people , of which 70% are women, the country’s main export product is clothing, including well-known names such as WalMart, Adidas, Hanes, HBI, Fruit of the Loom and GAP. Though the maquila industry has bought much needed investment to Honduras, the benefits are felt by a minority, and these benefits have come at the expense of employment  rights.

Codemuh, as well as other Honduran grassroots organisations, is campaigning against the human and employment rights violations in the maquila industry in the aftermath of the coup. 

In July Codemuh reported that maquila workers were forced by factory owners to join in so-called "Marchas de la Paz" – Peace Walks – organised by the de facto president Roberto Micheletti and financed by the business community with the support of the military. Despite the fact that the majority of workers opposed the coup, they felt forced to attend these rallies two or three times a month for fear of  losing their jobs.  Workers were told  that they would be paid the daily minimum salary (around 100 lempiras,  roughly £3), but Codemuh informed War on Want that workers have received no payment. In fact, after attending demonstrations they were forced to make up for the ‘lost’ time by working an extra day.

As a consequence of  a curfew imposed by the de facto government, workers are forced to make up for the “time lost” by working two additional hours each day without pay. Codemuh condemns this flagrant violation of Article 23 of the Honduran Labour Code.

Codemuh has also denounced the actions of the Honduran Council of Private Companies, which is using the crisis to try to push through legislative reforms that would relax employment laws in EPZs. Under this proposed legislation, factory owners would be able to employ workers on a temporary or part-time basis. For EPZ workers, who already face appalling working conditions, long hours and low pay, such reforms would result in losing social security benefits, less job security and other long-term consequences that would affect their livelihoods.
 

Codemuh has been campaigning against these proposed changes, as well as raising awareness among  women workers of the impact of the current crisis on their civil liberties and employment rights. Working in partnership with Codemuh, War on Want is dedicated to exposing and taking action against the violation of basic human rights in sweatshops.

This article was originally published by Central American Report