Venezuelans march against the genocide perpetrated by Israel. Photo: Fausto Torrealba/AVN.
The flags of Venezuela and Palestine flew together as one during the Great March in Solidarity for Freedom and Full Sovereignty, which departed from Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda Park to the headquarters of the Palestinian Embassy in Altamira, Chacao municipality, Miranda state.
The event took place Tuesday, October 7, marking two years of continuous genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip carried out by the Zionist regime of Israel, which has claimed at least 67,000 lives and left more than 170,000 people injured to varying degrees, according to figures published by the United Nations.
Hundreds of people joined the rally. Sending a message of resistance, there was music, singing, smiles, dancing and joy in the streets. Solidarity was also expressed and calls for justice were made through slogans and messages on banners and posters.
“Stop the genocide in Gaza. Free Palestine,” read a banner several meters long, carried during the march by about 100 people.
“The children of Gaza are not a threat,” “Up with Palestine, it will win, down with Zionism, it will fall,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will win” were among the slogans chanted by Venezuelans.
A song was dedicated to the Palestinian people by singer Leonor Fuguet and the group Black Presence in America. “Palestine lives, Palestine cries, Palestine beats in our hearts. Your Gaza, soaked with innocent blood, has mourners here,” Fuguet’s voice echoed.
Black Presence in America sang, accompanied by the audience, the chorus: “Free Palestine, free as the wind. No to genocide and so much suffering.”
“We are here to give great support to Palestine, which has been besieged, which has been battered—its children, its men, its women, its people completely destroyed by Zionism that refuses to stop, by a Zionism that believes there are no citizens left to continue fighting,” said Ligia Ramírez, one of the Venezuelans who joined the mobilization. “But we are going to fight for our Palestine, because Palestine must be free.”
The same fight
“Our struggle is the same,” read another banner. “We are also raising our voices for the sovereignty and full independence of our peoples—of Palestine and Venezuela—because it is the same cause: the cause of humanity,” explained Hindu Anderi, coordinator of the International Platform of Solidarity with the Palestinian Cause.
Speaking to Diario VEA, the journalist and Palestinian rights activist stated that “we cannot choose to be indifferent.” She added that “indifference is a crime in the face of the horror that the Palestinian people are experiencing, where hundreds of thousands of people have been murdered by that imperialist entity—the twin brother of US imperialism”: the Netanyahu regime.
She also emphasized that the Palestinian people have faced Israeli occupation and genocide for 78 years, “but for the past two years they have been suffering an unprecedented onslaught by the terrorist entity.”
The empire does not care about the people
“The empire doesn’t care about the people,” declared Caracas Mayor Carmen Meléndez a few minutes before the march began. She emphasized that imperialism’s sole purpose is to seize the territories of sovereign peoples.
For this reason, she asserted that Venezuela, which has been besieged in recent years, stands in solidarity with and supports its sister country, and that “from here we shout, ‘Long live free Palestine!’”
“As brothers and sisters, we join together in this great march of solidarity two years after the beginning of this crime against the Palestinian people,” she added.
Venezuela is hope
The Palestinian ambassador to the Bolivarian Republic, Fadi Alzaben, asserted that “Venezuela is hope, a beacon of peace that comes out to defend those under siege and defends peace in the world.”
He stressed that, therefore, the people must remain vigilant because “the hegemon wants to replicate what is happening in the Gaza Strip in other parts of the world.”
He also expressed his gratitude to the Venezuelan people for their solidarity. “It fills me with pride, honor, strength and hope to see thousands and thousands of Venezuelans marching freely today in front of the Palestinian Embassy,” he said.
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For her part, Representative Blanca Eekhout emphasized that “the life of humanity” is at stake in Palestine, referring to extermination plans against that people, where thousands have been murdered not only through bombing but also through starvation. She also stressed the importance of establishing a military force to stop the genocide, as well as the need to halt the delivery of weapons in order for peace to prevail.
(Diario VEA) by Yonaski Moreno, with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JB/SH
