Women’s International Democratic Federation Solidarity Resolution

The 69 organizations affiliated and associated with the WIDF/FDIM in the Américas and the Caribbean, conscious that peace is a supreme good and constitutes a legitimate desire by all people and that to preserve it is an essential element for the integration of Latin America and the Caribbean, forcefully denounce the violations of the human rights of women worldwide, in particular those of the Americas and the Caribbean, conscious that today the imperialist escalation has surpassed all limits, killing, invading, violating rights, loot, doing whatever they want. The North American government, in their greed for power and looting, resorts to whatever dirty, criminal and terroristic tactics, to get richer and expand their empire. 

As such, we CONDEMN:

• The rise in violence against and the criminalization of social movements, which generate a growing number of murders of leaders in different countries in the region. 
• Every form of discrimination and violence against women, the exclusion, the trafficking and the treatment of women and girls, the sexual exploitation, prostitution, pornogrophy and the pedophile rings on the internet that have a high cost in terms of the intergal health of the affected women. 
• We solicit greater support for the protection of women’s sexual and reproductive rights and the freedom to make decisions about her body. 
• The femicides that have increased in the last year in Latin America and the Caribbean, including México, Guatemala, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Brazil and Argentina, that constitute a serious violation of human rights under international treaties. Recognizing the complexity and magnitude of this phenomenon that adopts distinct faces: sexual abuse, sexual assault, incest, partner abuse, threats, insults, bullying and sexual coercion, exploitation and trafficking, slavery, psychological and economic violence, we demand exhaustive judicial action against the actors of these criminal acts of femicide.
• The discrimination in the labor force, where the salary disparity for women is noticeable and in some countries they receive up to 40 percent less in salary than that of a man in the same line of work. 
• The fundamentalist offensive on the rights of women in the Américas and the Caribbean. They are the most affected by this violation of human rights.
• The breakneck growth of trafficking rings and the treatment of people in Latin América that exploit and cost lives, particularly of our youth, women, girls and boys.

  We DEMAND: 

• The abolition of all obstacles to access resources and equality in employment conditions that will make women’s economic autonomy possible.
• The approval of policies, resources and codes that guarantee for women better societal representation and better access to the process of decision making. 
• We denounce imperialism for militarizing the planet and are very concerned about the imperialist aggression that clearly serves the interests of imperialism; we maintain our defense of a world of peace and without nuclear arms and demand the elimination of military bases throughout the world. 
• Respect for the peace process in Colombia, systematically violated by the governmental authorities, and demand that the assassinations of civilian and social justice leaders cease. 

We DEMAND:

• The immediate liberation of Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, as well as the freedom of all revolutionaries jailed in all the imperialist jails. 
• That continental actions must be prioritized to recover the human rights for women violated by neoliberal policies that maximize super exploitation in home, work and community spaces, putting at risk the life and the physical and mental health of women.
• The repeal of the Promesa law and its Fiscal Control Committee, the repeal of the Jones Act, and the decolonization and independence of Puerto Rico with reparations.

We REJECT: 

• Very strongly, the assault of the U.S. government and its international right-wing allies against our countries and in particular Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.
• The decisions of the OAS, for being an instrument of the United States against the people of the Américas and the Caribbean and manifest our support for the peace proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean.
• The report submitted by Michelle Bachelet, about her visit to Venezuela for being a perfect example of submission to imperialism, treachery to Latin American and Caribbean unity and for offending the people and women of Venezuela.

In this context from the Regional Office of FDIM for América and the Caribbean, coordinated by the FMC, we declare our support for the people of Venezuela and the legitimate government of Nicolás Maduro Moros, as well as our solidarity with the women’s movement in Venezuela, manifesting our overwhelming rejection of the imperialist intent to assassinate the president, their intention to organize a fascist coup against the Bolivarian government and the application of an economic blockade that aims to harm the Venezuelan people and intends to derail the Bolivarian Revolution through coercive and unilateral measures. Venezuela is not alone. We declare our plan to stand on the side of the Bolivarian Revolution: Towards Victory Always! ¡Hasta la Victoria Siempre!

In addition, we condemn the cruel blockade imposed on Cuba by the U.S. government that has persisted for more than five decades, worsening today with the total application of Title III of  the Helms Burton law, ignoring the history and lineage of their daughters and sons to never surrender to pressures from the Empire, to never give up or renounce any of its principles, but instead to redouble its heroic resistance to all kinds of aggressions and battle to preserve their chosen model of society, with their creative work and conscious effort. We reiterate our permanent and indestructible solidarity with both the people of Venezuela and the people of Cuba, children of the lineage of Bolívar and Martí, of Chávez and Fidel.

Imperialism knows that Cuba and Venezuela constitute an example for the people of the region, and so it is determined to destroy their revolutions. Because of this, we urge the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean to fulfill the commitment to foster friendly and cooperative relations with each other and with other nations, regardless of the differences between their political, economic and social systems or their levels of development; to practice tolerance and living in peace as good neighbors. We make a call to all feminine and feminist organizations, the progressive forces and the social movements of the Américas and the Caribbean, to strengthen unity and solidarity, to establish alliances, to understand that, only if we take on the struggle for class equality will we be victorious in the fight for gender equality and to be very clear that we have a common enemy: imperialism.

Federación Democrática Internacional de Mujeres
Oficina Regional
América y Caribe
Translation by SLL