Banner of the People's Summit in Brussels, with a fragmented map of South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, and Europe. Photo: Cumbredelospueblos2023.com.
The vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, stated at the People’s Summit, organized by grassroots organizations in Brussels in parallel to the CELAC-EU Summit, that Latin America and the Caribbean have been careful so that fascism does not grab political power in the region.
“We can say that we are trying to keep fascism away from power in Latin America, and if these ideologies reach political power, we know that it would be costly for our peoples,” the Venezuelan vice president said on Monday, July 17, during her participation in the People’s Summit plenary.
“If something defines this period of Venezuelan history, it is the capacity of resistance against multiform aggression—economic, financial, political,” she added. “If there is one thing you can be sure of, it is that fascism will not be tolerated in Venezuela.”
Vice President Rodríguez stressed that “imperialism has tried everything against the Bolivarian Revolution,” and in 2019 “a dangerous aggression against our homeland began—an aggression never seen before, an unprecedented blockade, a criminal blockade.”
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Dialogue among equals
Rodríguez explained that the hegemonic Global North “has tried to impose by force, with its military industry as a fundamental pillar, a model that has only created profound inequalities.” She added that Latin American and the Caribbean is the most unequal region on the planet.
“We claim this space, this summit with Europe, with the European Union, to talk to each other as equals, and not as subordinates,” she stressed. “We will always be standing up for equality that we have as a sovereign right, as mandated in the Charter of the United Nations.”
Rodríguez added that the Latin American heads of state and government and their representatives participating in the CELAC-EU Summit want to tell Europe that “there are paths for redemption, cooperation, respect for Latin America and the Caribbean; there are paths for friendship, but always upholding the historical dignity of our peoples.”
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President Maduro’s message of hope
Vice President Delcy Rodríguez shared the message of hope sent by President Nicolás Maduro to the People’s Summit.
“We know that the people of Europe are also going through an economic crisis, inflation, the denial of the right to housing, the lack of employment for young people, the absence of hope that reigns as a result of a conflict that originated precisely because of disrespect for international law,” she said, referring to the NATO’s proxy war against Russia.
Climate change
The Venezuelan leader said that Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez raised their voices against the consumerist model of capitalism that destroys the global ecological balance and emphasized that “it is about truly respecting the rights of Mother Nature.”
“We are already at a point where, unfortunately, all of us are going to be very adversely affected,” she said. “We know that our sister countries in the Caribbean may be wiped off and what it will mean for the most vulnerable people on the planet.”
She criticized the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for spending 30 times more on the military industry than on actions to mitigate the climate crisis.
“Then they turn to the countries of the Amazon basin and say ‘We have the right to that basin.’ These are dangerous times that we are living, in a global conjuncture that even has the dimension of nuclear risk,” Rodríguez warned.
(Últimas Noticias) by Kleybergel Gonzalez
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
