Venezuelans visiting the Conuquera Fair in Caracas. Photo: AFGJ.
By William Camacaro and Natalia Burdyńska Schuurman
Earlier this month, on October 5, the Feria Conuquera celebrated a decade of existence. The celebrations took place in the Sucre de Los Caobos park in Caracas, Venezuela.
Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ) has fostered a close bond with this agroecological collective working to advance food sovereignty in the midst of a U.S. blockade that for years has severely strangulated Venezuela’s economy. Together with our dear founder, the late Chuck Kaufman, we’ve worked in solidarity with this group of frontline resisters.
Feria Conuquera was founded in the years during which the anti-transgenic movement in Venezuela gave a beautiful battle from the grassroots to draft a law that would protect autochthonous seeds native to the agroindustry. A symbol of Venezuela’s agroecological movements, the organization is committed to promoting equality, justice and respect for Mother Earth.
Today the organization hosts fairs on the first Saturday of each month, where local producers bring healthy food and products, artisanal and free of agrotoxins, directly from the hands of their producers to the population of greater Caracas. Approximately 40 small producers meet to offer agricultural products, processed foods, plants, herbal medicine, artenia and more. One can hear live music, socializing and political discussions about Venezuelan social reality, such as alternative medicine, climate change, sustainability, sanctions and food security.
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AFGJ congratulates our friends at the Feria Conuquera for ten years of struggle and life in spite of a brutal imperial blockade comprising over 900 illegal unilateral coercive measures designed to destabilize Venezuela’s economy, one of the most harmful effects of which has been the creation of food insecurity. We congratulate the Venezuelan people for their commendable advancements in the establishment of food sovereignty, evident in the country’s shift from 80% dependence on food imports to nearly complete food self-sufficiency today.
There is so much to celebrate for all that has been bravely achieved under the most difficult conditions Venezuela has faced in its history since the establishment of its independence.
Congratulations: the struggle continues, and a better world is possible.
William Camacaro
William Camacaro is a Venezuelan-American National Co-Coordinator in the Alliance for Global Justice. He was a co-founder of the Bolivarian Circle of New York “Alberto Lovera” and Senior Analyst for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA). He holds a Master’s Degree of Fine Arts and a Master’s Degree in Latin American Literature from City University of New York. William has published in the Monthly Review, Counterpunch, COHA, the Afro-America Magazine, Ecology, Orinoco Tribune and other venues. He has organized delegations to Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela. He has been a long-time activist for social justice in the United States, such as organizing protests against police brutality in NYC, for the independence of Puerto Rico, and for the freedom of political prisoners. William has also been a leader in defense of progressive governments and social movements in Latin America.
