President Maduro Sends Message of Solidarity to the People’s Summit in Los Angeles

“Our voice has been there, as we said, the voice of the rebellious peoples of Our America, of Cuba, of Nicaragua, of Venezuela, there in the streets of Los Angeles,” said the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, via a video message sent to the People’s Summit for Democracy, held in Los Angeles, California. The People’s Summit was a counter-event to the 9th Summit of the Americas, from which Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela had been excluded by the United States government.

President Maduro’s message was broadcast during the closing ceremony of the People’s Summit, on Friday, June 10.

President Maduro criticized the US authorities for their attempt to silence the voice of the people by prohibiting demonstrations outside the Summit. However, such measures by the Biden administration could not achieve their stated objectives.

“They prohibited the march of the social movements because they were afraid of the colorfulness and the strength of our voice, but they have not been able to stop it,” declared the Venezuelan president. “That voice is over there, over here. And it is a voice that is accompanied by a smile—the smile of hope that moves us. The hope for a new humanity, without imperialist hegemony, without neocolonialism, without neoliberalism. A new humanity building new social, economic, political, and cultural models that allow us to see each other, person to person, face to face. That allow us to recognize ourselves, among differents, but also to recognize ourselves as equals; recognize ourselves as brothers and sisters of all the peoples of the world.”

Maduro mentioned the Eurasian tour that he has been undertaking since last Tuesday, June 7, that has already touched ground in Turkey and Algeria, and which has now taken the president to Iran, which he called a “necessary tour for the new world.”

“There is a world beyond Washington,” he continued. “There is a world beyond imperial arrogance. And it is a world that is emerging… Here we are firm in the construction of a different world, a multipolar, multicentric world, a world based on dialogue and respect, on the equall treatment of states, of peoples, of governments.”

The US imperial vision of the world is completely contrary to this, Maduro pointed out. “The world is much bigger than the dominance and arrogance of Washington, the dominance and arrogance of an empire in decline that wants to behave as if it were still the dominant and hegemonic empire of the world and Our America. That time has passed. That time should definitely be canceled. We, the peoples of Our America, are choosing our own path, in the diversity of creation and innovation, in the diversity of the struggles of popular movements.”

President Maduro thanked the organizers and the attendees of the People’s Summit for their solidarity and for bringing Venezuela’s message to the streets of the United States. “That is why I want to thank you from the Bolivarian Revolution, from the Socialist Revolution of the 21st century, founded by our Commander Chávez,” he stated. “From the most genuine spirit of solidarity and love of the people of Venezuela, all our support and all our solidarity to the People’s Summit in Los Angeles.”

Maduro also assured those present in the People’s Summit that Venezuela continues to resist and is moving forward in its economic recovery. The Venezuelan economy showed signs of improvement in 2021, and is forecast to improve even more in 2022, despite the odds and the sanctions and coercive measures imposed on the country. “Venezuela is standing tall, fighting and victorious,” he declared.

The Venezuelan president concluded by stressing that Venezuela will continue to struggle against adversities. “We are combatants, that is how we consider ourselves,” he said. “And no one will ever be able to silence our voice. No one will be able to exclude it from the streets and from the struggle we wage… Here we are standing tall, ready to continue building the fight, joining forces and moving forward… towards a new America, Our America—popular, socialist, revolutionary and humanist, the America of the 21st century.”

Attendees at the People’s Summit expressed that this was an example of international solidarity and struggle against imperialist hegemony.

As one of the last speakers via web President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro, who has also been excluded from the Biden Summit came to give a speech to the attendees of the #PeoplesSummit2022. This is a huge level of international solidarity against western hegemony. pic.twitter.com/Pkxf1Y7Kx3
— Fiorella Isabel (@FiorellaIsabelM) June 11, 2022

President Maduro made it to the Summit in Los Angeles, the good one, the People’s Summit. They shouted “Chavez Vive, la Lucha Sigue.” Venceremos! https://t.co/4J9Yb4mC1M
— Orinoco Tribune (@OrinocoTribune) June 11, 2022

Miguel Díaz-Canel and Evo Morales send messages to the People’s Summit
The President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and former President of Bolivia, Evo Morales also sent messages of solidarity and recognition to the People’s Summit, which were also broadcast during the closing ceremony.

President Díaz-Canel thaked the People’s Summit for being the voice of Cuba. He stated that the Cuban Revolution “always had it very clear: where governments deprive us of our voice, peoples will be there to represent us, to speak on our behalf.”

“Wherever there are peoples in struggle, Cuba will be there,” continued Díaz-Canel, “and wherever Cuba is, there will be people in struggle.” He connected the present struggle to the wars for independence from colonialism in the previous centuries, as today’s struggle is “against the powerful neighbor’s attempt to recolonize our American nations.”

The Cuban president criticized US policies of funding and promoting coups and color revolutions in the region, as well as “sanctions and punishments” against countries that do not submit to US designs. He, however, assured that such policies do not always work. “We are the honorable survivors of 63 years of blockade,” he pointed out. “And to the disgrace of that powerful Empire that is 30 times bigger than our island, we are among the countries in the hemisphere that have the highest levels of education, health, as well as our own scientific development.”

He also expressed his solidarity for the peoples of Venezuela and Nicaragua who are being subjected to similar kind of blockades and coercive measures. He thanked the heads of state who have refused to attend the US’ exclusionary Summit, as well as those who attended the Summit and denounced the exclusion of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. He further asserted that the poor people, the workers, indigenous peoples, immigrants of the US are not the enemy but natural friends of Cuba.

“Thank you for ratifying, once again, that a better world is possible,” he concluded.

La Revolución siempre lo ha tenido muy claro: allí donde los gobiernos nos nieguen la palabra, estarán los pueblos para representarnos, para hablar en nuestro nombre. #Cuba 🇨🇺#CumbreDeLosPueblos #PeoplesSummit2022 https://t.co/wa4W31giQ2
— Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) June 11, 2022

Evo Morales, former president of Bolivia, sent his thanks to the organizers for convening the People’s Summit. He criticized the US government that claims to defend democracy and freedom, but “the only thing that the United States does is to exclude people, marginalize them, interfere with their policies.”

Morales, however, stressed that US policies are failing. “It used to be scary to be expelled from the OAS; now withdrawing from the OAS is dignified and healthy,” he said, referring to the recent withdrawal by Nicaragua. He also stressed that the Monroe Doctrine is being challeged after almost 200 years, and “now this generation is declaring Plurinational America of the Peoples for the peoples.” He concluded his message by declaring that the people, united in their struggle for freedom and dignity, will triumph.

(Alba Ciudad) with Orinoco Tribune content

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/GMS/SC