Caracas Commemorates the Death of Salvador Allende, Hosts Antifascist Encounter Led by President Maduro, Caracas hosts the first International Anti-Fascist Encounter this week, commemorating 40 years since the fascist coup d’état that ousted the democratic elected socialist President Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973. The Antifascist Encounter, which lasts from the 11th to 15th Sept, will be attended by artists, political and social leaders, and intellectuals from around the world, as well as the daughter of the martyr President Allende, Maria Isabel Allende, and comrades who worked alongside the communist Salvador Allende before he took his own life instead of waiting for the tanks at the gates of the Presidential Palace in Santiago to take it for him. As a consequence of the fascist coup, it is estimated that over 40,000 left wingers disappeared or were killed in the years that followed under the dictator General Pinochet. Recently, evidence has shown the hand of both the US and British Governments, under Nixon and Thatcher, in the coup d’état and the multiple human rights abuses of Pinochet, which including extermination camps and torturing. “Today starts a grand world antifascist session in our nation” stated President Maduro via his Twitter account, “welcome intellectuals, artists, leaders of the world who bring light with them”. The program for the encounter starts with a great antifascist march, under the slogan “now and forever Allende” from the Salvador Allende Square in Caracas, to the Llaguno bridge, where numerous Venezuelans died in the defeated coup d’état in Venezuela in 2002. Later, in the Jose Marti Square, an exposition dedicated to the five Cuban heroes, who have been illegally held in the US for 15 years, will be unveiled. On Thursday two forums will be held, entitled ‘Fascist Ideology: social, political and economic models’ and ‘The History of Fascism in Europe: concrete experiences in Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, Belarus and Poland’. In the evening a concert will pay homage to the Cuban Five. Friday sees the forum on the topic of ‘Expressions of Fascism in Latin America: concrete experiences in Paraguay, Honduras and Venezuela’, followed by another focusing on Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay and Argentina. Saturday and Sunday see an antifascist camp in one of the major parks in Caracas, Parque Los Caobos, which will combine cultural events and antifascist activities. President Maduro reminded those at the encounter that fascism today is still alive and threatening the democratic peoples of the world. “Fascism is an old mortal illness which can relapse, like all old viruses”. The Encounter coincides with the commemoration of the ousting of Salvador Allende, and pays a timely reminder to the people of Venezuela of the continuing threat of fascism in the country. For many, the wound of the defeated coup d’état of 2002 is still open, and more recently, that of the assassination of 11 revolutionaries after the electoral defeat of Capriles Radonski this past April. As the iconic thick rimmed glasses of the late President Allende sprung up in murals all around Caracas, Bernardo Castañeda, President of the Chilean Socialist Party in Venezuela, reminded us that the date should not be forgotten: “this date must be remembered each year because fascism is still alive. We have to be alert and have revolutionary political consciousness”. Venezuelan Vice President Arreaza also paid homage to Allende, who led the first socialist project to come to power through a bourgeois democratic system: “the lessons which Chile left us, which Allende left us, the lessons of that historic moment have generated in us a consciousness”. President Maduro proclaimed “Allende lives, the struggle goes on!” “Allende was left without friends, without comrades, this won’t happen to us” stated the President. “The people, popular power, will assure that Chile won’t be repeated here in Venezuela”. “The best response of the people to so much evil from a fascist minority” he went on, “is what we have done on Saturday and Sunday with the Communes… Fascism is defeated with work and concrete advances in the construction of Popular Power”. Vladimira Moreno, spokeswoman for the Communist Party of Venezuela, who will be holding additional commemorative acts, drew parallels between the hand of the USA in ousting the President Allende, and their actions in Venezuela since the revolution in 1998: “today we have enough elements that show that the coup d’état against President Allende was directed by the CIA”. Only last week evidence was presented to the nation of the US-backed attempts to assassinate President Maduro, as well as the sabotage which caused the explosion in the Amuay refinery last year, causing countless deaths. The leaders of the 2002 fascist coup d’état in Caracas, today represented by the US financed political opposition, criticized the anti-fascist activities and the homage paid to Allende through their puppet front man Capriles Radonski: “the great project of Maduro and today they march automatically! Nothing is more fascist than this government!”
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 21:52:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015