MIDWESTERN MARX
  • Home
  • Online Articles
    • Articles >
      • All
      • News
      • Politics
      • Theory
      • Book Reviews
      • Chinese Philosophy Dialogues
    • American Socialism Travels
    • Youth League
  • Dr. Riggins' Book Series
    • Eurocommunism and the State
    • Debunking Russiagate
    • The Weather Makers
    • Essays on Bertrand Russell and Marxism
    • The Truth Behind Polls
    • Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century
    • Lenin's Materialism & Empirio-Criticism
    • Mao's Life
    • Lenin's State and Rev
    • Lenin's LWC Series
    • Anti-Dühring Series
  • Store
    • Books
    • Merchandise
  • YouTube
  • Journal of American Socialist Studies (JASS)
  • Contact
    • Article Submissions
    • The Marks of Capital
  • Online Library
  • Staff

3/13/2023

Hugo Chávez didn’t die, he multiplied! By: Peoples Dispatch

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Ten years since his passing, the legacy of Commander Hugo Chávez lives on in the people of Venezuela and the world
Picture
On March 5, thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets of Caracas to pay homage to Commander Hugo Chávez on the tenth anniversary of his death. Photo: Zoe Alexandra
March 5 marked ten years since the passing of Commander Hugo Chávez, former president of Venezuela and the father of the Bolivarian Revolution. Chávez was Venezuela’s president from February 2, 1999, until his death on March 5, 2013.

Chávez inaugurated a new period in Venezuela’s history. Through his comprehensive and inclusive social and economic policies, he brought back dignity and pride to the Venezuelan people and transformed the social reality of the country. He forged important projects for Latin American unity and integration such as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). He died at the age of 58, following a two-year battle with cancer.
​

On the tenth anniversary of his death, thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets of the capital Caracas to pay homage to Chávez and ratify their commitment to defend his anti-imperialist and socialist legacy. Workers, students, members of political organizations, social movements and trade unions gathered at different points in Caracas and marched together to the Cuartel de la Montaña, where the mausoleum with Chávez’s remains is located. They chanted slogans such as “Chávez didn’t die, he multiplied!”, “I am Chávez,” and “Chávez is alive.”
Picture
​“I am Chávez” t-shirt. Photo: Zoe Alexandra
María Elena Blanco, member of the political team of the Urban Planning Organization of Macarao parish, told Peoples Dispatch, “Urban Planning Organizations of Caracas feel proud of the legacy of our President Hugo Chávez, continued by Nicolás Maduro. We are thankful to the Bolivarian Revolution. As a result of a natural disaster, our Commander Chávez ordered us to build our own house wherever there was a vacant lot and we did so. Today is the tenth anniversary of the regrettable loss of our Commander, but for us he will always be alive. For us Chávez was a father and a mother. We will always remember him.”
​

Likewise, Yaritza Mota, a teacher in 23 de Enero parish, told Peoples Dispatch, “A day like today, for us Venezuelans, for us teachers, is an unforgettable day because for us Chávez is still alive, he is still present.” She continued, “We cannot forget that Venezuela was declared free of illiteracy thanks to the wonderful management of our unforgettable and eternal Commander Hugo Chávez Frías. We cannot forget that we increased the enrollment in elementary school, middle school, high school, even at the university level thanks to Chávez and his policies, which are now continued by President Nicolás Maduro. In Venezuela, everyone studies. In Venezuela, education is free and of good quality.”
Picture
​“I am a young Chavista”. Photo: Zoe Alexandra
Leaders from across Latin America such as former Cuban President Raúl Castro, Bolivian President Luis Arce, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves, former Bolivian President Evo Morales, and Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa traveled to Caracas to join the events organized in Chávez’s honor.
​

At the Cuartel de la Montaña, along with Venezuelan political leaders, high-level government officials and military authorities, international leaders also placed flowers on Chávez’s tomb.

International Meeting on the Importance of Chávez’s Bolivarian Revolution

As part of the activities to honor the revolutionary leader, hundreds of leaders of trade unions and people’s movements as well as intellectuals from across the world gathered in Caracas to take part in the International Meeting on the Importance of Bolivarian Thought of Commander Hugo Chávez in the 21st Century. The event took place between March 3 and 5. During the seminar, activists and intellectuals reflected on the anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist legacy of Chávez and ratified its validity in the 21st century.
​

Cuba solidarity activist and co-executive director of the Peoples Forum, Manolo de los Santos, stated, “If we want to celebrate Chavez’s legacy and say that we are Chavistas, we must raise a permanent campaign against imperialism. The planet faces its greatest dilemma. Either the planet survives or imperialism survives.”
Picture
Meanwhile, Evo Morales highlighted, “Fidel and Chávez broke that fear of speaking against imperialism, capitalism. For me, the empire is defeated, it has been defeated by the peoples of Latin America in the Cold War.” 

“Chavista thought is the trench in the fight against capitalism that tries to subdue us to plunder our natural resources,” Morales said.

At the closing ceremony of the tributes dedicated to Chávez, held at the Teresa Carreño theater in Caracas, Commander Raúl Castro applauded the revolutionary spirit of the Venezuelan people, who have been resisting the US attacks, staying loyal to Chávez’s legacy. “We have witnessed the aggressions and the economic war to overthrow the Bolivarian process, but we have proudly witnessed that the Venezuelan people know how to defend their conquests and have not deceived Chávez.”

Likewise, President Maduro also stressed, “We have applied the Hugo Chávez formula on everything in these ten years, it has been the formula of connecting, mobilizing, activating the strength of the people at all junctures.” 

“Always with the people, never without the people, go with the joy, hope, criticism,” said Maduro.

The Bolivarian Revolution

Chávez, when he was first sworn in as the President of Venezuela, pledged to democratically reform the 1961 Constitution and lay the foundations for a new inclusive and social constitution. On the day he was inaugurated, he began the revolutionary process and called for a referendum for the creation of a National Constituent Assembly to write a new Constitution, based on the principles of the Liberator Simón Bolívar: socialism, nationalization and a state-led economy.

The plebiscite for the drafting of a new Constitution was approved by 87% of the vote. On December 15, 1999, the constitutional draft that established a new social and people-centric model of the state was approved with 71% of the votes. It also renamed the country as the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
Picture
​Musicians participate in the march to the 4F Mausoleum where Chávez’s remains were laid to rest. The development of national arts and culture has been put front and center in the Bolivarian Revolution. Photo: Zoe Alexandra
Chávez’s rule marked the end of the Fourth Republic, a time marked by social inequality, neoliberal economic policies and abuse of power, and the beginning of the Bolivarian Revolution, a process of political, economic, social and cultural transformation of Venezuela based on the pillars of democracy, independence, peace, social justice and sovereignty.

Chávez introduced several policies based on the population’s access to food and housing, free health and education, promotion of employment opportunities and the extension of social security. During his administration, the rate of hunger, poverty and extreme poverty reduced by more than 50% in Venezuela. Higher education and university education became the right of all Venezuelans. Through his social housing program called the Great Housing Mission of Venezuela (GMVV), so far over 4 million homes have been delivered to low-income people at a low cost or free of charge, depending on their income.

These social programs have been sustained by the current government of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), led by President Maduro, despite the brutal economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies against the country.
​

The Venezuelan people have been defending Chávez’s Bolivarian Revolution, braving the impacts of cruel commercial, economic and financial sanctions imposed by the US.

Author

Peoples Dispatch 


his article was republished from Peoples Dispatch.

Archives

March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020

Share

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

Details

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020

    Categories

    All
    Aesthetics
    Afghanistan
    Althusser
    American Civil War
    American Socialism
    American Socialism Travels
    Anti Imperialism
    Anti-Imperialism
    Art
    August Willich
    Berlin Wall
    Bolivia
    Book Review
    Brazil
    Capitalism
    Censorship
    Chile
    China
    Chinese Philosophy Dialogue
    Christianity
    CIA
    Class
    Climate Change
    COINTELPRO
    Communism
    Confucius
    Cuba
    Debunking Russiagate
    Democracy
    Democrats
    DPRK
    Eco Socialism
    Ecuador
    Egypt
    Elections
    Engels
    Eurocommunism
    Feminism
    Frederick Douglass
    Germany
    Ghandi
    Global Capitalism
    Gramsci
    History
    Hunger
    Immigration
    Imperialism
    Incarceration
    Interview
    Joe Biden
    Labor
    Labour
    Lenin
    Liberalism
    Lincoln
    Linke
    Literature
    Lula Da Silva
    Malcolm X
    Mao
    Marx
    Marxism
    May Day
    Media
    Medicare For All
    Mencius
    Militarism
    MKULTRA
    Mozi
    National Affairs
    Nelson Mandela
    Neoliberalism
    New Left
    News
    Nina Turner
    Novel
    Palestine
    Pandemic
    Paris Commune
    Pentagon
    Peru Libre
    Phillip-bonosky
    Philosophy
    Political-economy
    Politics
    Pol Pot
    Proletarian
    Putin
    Race
    Religion
    Russia
    Settlercolonialism
    Slavery
    Slavoj-zizek
    Social-democracy
    Socialism
    South-africa
    Soviet-union
    Summer-2020-protests
    Syria
    Theory
    The-weather-makers
    Trump
    Venezuela
    War-on-drugs
    Whatistobedone...now...likenow-now
    Wilfrid-sellers
    Worker-cooperatives
    Xunzi

All ORIGINAL Midwestern Marx content is under Creative Commons
(CC BY-ND 4.0) which means you can republish our work only if it is attributed properly (link the original publication to the republication) and not modified. 
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Online Articles
    • Articles >
      • All
      • News
      • Politics
      • Theory
      • Book Reviews
      • Chinese Philosophy Dialogues
    • American Socialism Travels
    • Youth League
  • Dr. Riggins' Book Series
    • Eurocommunism and the State
    • Debunking Russiagate
    • The Weather Makers
    • Essays on Bertrand Russell and Marxism
    • The Truth Behind Polls
    • Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century
    • Lenin's Materialism & Empirio-Criticism
    • Mao's Life
    • Lenin's State and Rev
    • Lenin's LWC Series
    • Anti-Dühring Series
  • Store
    • Books
    • Merchandise
  • YouTube
  • Journal of American Socialist Studies (JASS)
  • Contact
    • Article Submissions
    • The Marks of Capital
  • Online Library
  • Staff