Cheryl LaBash’s speech on a panel organized by the Cuban Embassy in the United States as a tribute to Fidel Castro’s life. LaBash is a co-chair of the National Network on Cuba. 

I am humbled and honored to be on this panel today. I do not have a deep personal story like we have heard in the past two years about working together with Cuba’s historic leader Fidel Castro whose life, work and example we remember here today. Really I have been the young woman in the back row, who though now no longer young and often no longer in the back row, still tries to absorb lessons from the Cuban revolution, to understand the world and act to change it.

My work in solidarity with Cuba was interrupted when I began a new job in the 1990s. Inspecting Detroit road construction required me to work overtime from April to November — sun up to sun down and weekends, too. But when I heard Fidel was coming to Riverside Church on September 8, 2000, I had to go.

People who know me will not be surprised. Instead of going to work that Friday morning, I got into my car and hit the highway for the 10 hour drive to New York City. Then driving around and around lower Manhattan hoping for a free parking spot, and onto the subway up to Harlem. The mass of people already trying to get in was overwhelming, but I was one of the lucky thousands who did get inside the church. My seat was high in the balcony — to hear Fidel speak to us.

When Fidel physically left us three years ago, even in the U.S. we were able to watch the caravan that returned his ashes to Santiago de Cuba. Live internet television broadcast from Cuba showed us the assemblies in Havana and Santiago. I will never forget hearing Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega asking where is Fidel? And the quiet, mourning crowd answered “here” beginning a chant that became a roar Yo soy Fidel.

I couldn’t imagine such technology that would let me see a live broadcast from Cuba when I traveled there for the first time in 1985. At that time Fidel’s speeches and interviews explained the external foreign debt was an unpayable burden for developing countries. Then it seemed a topic very removed from daily life in the U.S.

But today it has become very close — it is not only the IMF external debt, Debt extracts the life itself out of workers and families, student debt, credit card debt, mortgage debt, payday lenders — all unpayable. From Puerto Rico to Detroit, we have learned that our debt is very much like what Fidel taught.

More interesting to me in 1985 was Cuba’s health care system that demonstrated it was possible to reduce infant mortality with little resources but with maximum will. Detroit was headline news then. Scandalously, in Detroit, a city where nearly 90 percent of the people were Afro-descendent — babies died at a rate more than twice the US national statistics. In 1990, a stunning 23 per 1000 births and in 2017 still 15.5. Now maternal mortality for Black women is rising, too.

Is it a miracle that infant mortality in blockaded developing Cuba is 4 per 1000 live births? No it is Cuba’s will to prioritize human beings, in Cuba and everywhere through internationalism and an economic system that makes it possible to do it.

It was there in Riverside Church that Fidel explained how the Latin American medical school and scholarships for U.S. students came about. ELAM — the Spanish acronym for Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina — had been founded not even a year before Fidel spoke that night. He noted there was a “3rd world” inside the U.S. without doctors.

Twenty years have passed since ELAM was founded on Nov. 15, 1999. In those 20 years, 29,749 new doctors from 115 countries have graduated — including 182 from the United States. Of the 466 doctors graduating this past summer from 82 countries, 10 were from the U.S. [go to ifconews.org/medicalschool]

U.S. students at ELAM volunteered and went to serve in Haiti after the massive January 2010 earthquake. A US graduate raised her own funds and volunteered to fight the West Africa Ebola outbreak.

ELAM is only a part of Cuba’s internationalism that encompasses medical, literacy, sports, culture and much more. The Henry Reeve Emergency Medical Brigade mobilized to save lives five years after Riverside, when Hurricane Katrina drowned New Orleans. Blocked by the U.S. government, they went to the Hillsides of the Himalayas after Pakistan’s earthquake. The Yo si puedo literacy tool developed by Cubans in Haiti was also explained by Fidel at Riverside.

What Fidel means to me today.

An ideological campaign is being carried out against Cuba. It aims to cast doubt on Cuba’s ideals by trying to reflect capitalism’s crimes of exploitation, racism, human trafficking on Cuba. It is what Fidel called a Battle of Ideas.

This propaganda campaign zeroes in to discredit the very points mentioned in Fidel’s speech at Riverside Church — Cuba’s medical internationalism, that Cuba does not torture and disappear people, that Cuba actually practices equal rights for all regardless of gender, gender identity or skin color, and democracy for all to participate in elections and the direction of their country.

It is calculated and intentional, a weapon to justify the very real genocidal blockade. It is a propaganda campaign to create doubt, uncertainty and divide the millions of people who have come to know Cuba, its people, its socialism through going to Cuba to experience it for themselves.

This campaign regurgitates the same lies that permeated popular US culture about Cuba after the revolution, lies refuted by the solidarity movement especially in Black communities each time Cuban delegations and leaders came to the United Nations in New York.

Those lies cannot be reinserted into the minds of the people who have traveled to Cuba who have studied in Cuba, who have noted that Cuba has no foreign investments, bases or extractive concessions anywhere. Or the climate justice movement that knows Fidel spoke at Riverside about the danger of mass extinction due to climate change. But the lies can push Cuba lower on the list of concerns. It is why we in the U.S. must act in every sector and platform to #unblockCuba.

There are powerful tools in the battle of ideas, not only spoken or written, but deeds. Why else would the U.S. restrict visas for medical professionals to speak at conferences; for Cuban academics to participate at LASA?

The scholarships at the Latin American School of Medicine, the development of medicines to improve human life for example taking away the horror of limb amputation due to diabetic ulcers which is costly and profitable. Is there a working class family whose relative or friend who doesn’t have diabetes and fear amputation? The very cities where human services have been cut to push debt service to banks and tax dollars directed to feed the military and police, are looking to Cuba.

Cuban doctors came to Chicago to help improve maternal and infant outcomes. Detroit is investigating health collaboration. And this month New Orleans signed a memorandum of understanding with Cuba.

For me, and I would humbly suggest for us in the U.S., engaging in the battle of ideas is the important message for today.

But why Cuba? The example of Fidel, the Cuban revolution, and the generations who were raised to be like Che, are the powerful antidote to the dehumanizing, divisive, consumer culture driven by capitalism and its mass media.

It is a legacy of Fidel we can all build with for the better world that is possible and necessary.

Source: MinRex –  Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Cuba

https://www.facebook.com/sharon.black.1650332/videos/10157959984639703/

Leonard Peltier, member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians [of Lakota and Dakota descent — SLL], is incarcerated at the U.S. Penitentiary in Coleman, Florida, for his 1977 conviction in connection with a shootout with U.S. government forces, where two FBI agents and one young American Indian lost their lives. 

Peltier, who is considered a political prisoner of war by many, released this Thanksgiving statement through the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee:

The year of 2019 is coming to a close and with it comes the day most Americans set aside as a day for Thanksgiving. As I let my mind wander beyond the steel bars and concrete walls, I try to imagine what the people who live outside the prison gates are doing, and what they are thinking. Do they ever think of the Indigenous people who were forced from their homelands? Do they understand that with every step they take, no matter the direction, that they are walking on stolen land? Can they imagine, even for one minute, what it was like to watch the suffering of the women, the children and babies and yes, the sick and elderly, as they were made to keep pushing west in freezing temperatures, with little or no food? These were my people and this was our land. There was a time when we enjoyed freedom and were able to hunt buffalo and gather the foods and sacred medicines. We were able to fish and we enjoyed the clean clear water! My people were generous, we shared everything we had, including the knowledge of how to survive the long harsh winters or the hot humid summers. We were appreciative of the gifts from our Creator and remembered to give thanks on a daily basis. We had ceremonies and special dances that were a celebration of life.

With the coming of foreigners to our shores, life as we knew it would change drastically. Individual ownership was foreign to my people. Fences?? Unheard of, back then. We were a communal people and we took care of each other. Our grandparents weren’t isolated from us! They were the wisdom keepers and story tellers and were an important link in our families. The babies? They were and are our future! Look at the brilliant young people who put themselves at risk, fighting to keep our water and environment clean and safe for the generations yet to come. They are willing to confront the giant, multinational corporations by educating the general public of the devastation being caused. I smile with hope when I think of them. They are fearless and ready to speak the truth to all who are willing to listen. 

We also remember our brothers and sisters of Bolivia, who are rioting in support of the first Indigenous President, Evo Morales. His commitment to the people, the land, their resources and protection against corruption is commendable. We recognize and identify with that struggle so well.

So today, I thank all of the people who are willing to have an open mind, those who are willing to accept the responsibility of planning for seven generations ahead, those who remember the sacrifices made by our ancestors so we can continue to speak our own language, practice our own way of thankfulness in our own skin, and that we always acknowledge and respect the Indigenous lineage that we carry.

For those of you who are thankful that you have enough food to feed your family, please give to those who aren’t as fortunate. If you are warm and have a comfortable shelter to live in, please give to those who are cold and homeless; if you see someone hurting and in need of a kind word or two, be that person who steps forward and lends a hand. And especially, when you see injustice anywhere, please be brave enough to speak up to confront it.

I want to thank all who are kind enough to remember me and my family in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you for continuing to support and believe in me. There isn’t a minute in any day that passes without me hoping that this will be the day I will be granted freedom. I long for the day when I can smell clean fresh air, when I can feel a gentle breeze in my hair, witness the clouds as their movement hides the sun and when the moon shines the light on the path to the sacred Inipi. That would truly be a day I could call a day of Thanksgiving.

Thank you for listening to whomever is voicing my words. My Spirit is there with you.

Doksha,
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier

Source: NativeNewsOnline.net

Washington, D.C. — Six days after the fascist coup against Bolivian President Evo Morales, over 50 anti-imperialists gathered in front of the White House Nov. 16 to repudiate the racist ousting of the popular leader and the brutal military repression of Indigenous people and demonstrators. 

The demonstration was called by the ANSWER Coalition, Code Pink and others. Activists from the Socialist Unity Party / Partido de Socialismo Unido in Baltimore participated.

Later, a group of Chilean activists accompanied by Salvadoran supporters of FMLN-DC joined the rally. Speakers expressed solidarity with the people of Chile who are rising up against the repressive, U.S.-backed Piñera regime in the face of extreme police brutality. 

Many speakers had the chance to take the mic, including a number of independent journalists, representatives from the São Paulo Forum, Indigenous Bolivian immigrants, and activists who protected the Venezuelan Embassy in D.C. when it was mobbed by the U.S. Secret Service and members of the right-wing opposition to President Nicolás Maduro. Maduro is the current leader of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution and is popularly supported by the majority of the people, just like Evo Morales.

Indigenous Bolivians called for solidarity with Evo and the anti-coup demonstrators in Bolivia. Signs read “Repudio el masacre a los Indigenas” (“Repudiate the massacre of Indigenous people”) and “Fuera el govierno facista” (Fascist government out”). Many decried the lies being spread by corporate news outlets and asked that anti-imperialists everywhere help spread the real truth to the world. 

Attendees of the event were surprised when a mob of right-wing, pro-coup demonstrators arrived to counter the anti-imperialist rally. Supporters of the imperialist-controlled Organization of American States and the fascist military coup in Bolivia gathered not far from the anti-coup rally. They waved U.S. flags and held signs saying “USA, thank you for your support” and slandering Morales and Maduro. The right-wing chanted “We are Bolivia, you are not!” 

To deceive onlookers, one pro-coup demonstrator held a sign reading “No racism only love,” and several protestors waved the Wiphala flag that represents Indigenous peoples in Bolivia and other parts of Latin America. 

Ironically, these fascist coup supporters showed up to counter support for an Indigenous, anti-racist leader and the anti-coup demonstrations in Bolivia which have been led and largely constituted by Indigenous people. 

The many Indigenous Bolivians participating in the anti-coup demonstration expressed fear for their safety and that of others. Security was organized so that they could leave the area without being harmed. After all, the imperialist puppet “interim president” of Bolivia, Jeanine Añez, and the fascist military have been massacring and inflicting terror upon Indigenous Bolivians. 

It’s no coincidence that the counter-protestors proudly displayed support for the U.S. They represent the capitalist right-wing of Bolivia that profits from violently replacing a progressive, socialist leader and instituting a dictatorship that will work in tandem with the U.S. ruling class to maintain control of Bolivia’s lithium deposits.

Ruling-class counter-demonstrators may do their best to confuse the people, but when Indigenous Bolivians are afraid for their lives, it’s clear that the counter-protestors are on the side of Donald Trump, the imperialists and big business.

Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST

Union Station, Washington D.C.
50 Massachusetts Ave NE, Washington D.C. 20002

Save the Date, we’ll be holding a rally and engaging the local community on the issue of human rights in recognition of International Human Rights Day.

Points of Unity
1. We stand for the people to fight for the defense of human rights.
2. We stand for environmental justice and the protection of our planet
3. We stand for the prioritization of the environment and the people over the profit and greed

Tuesday, December 10, 2019 at 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM PST

Consulate General of El Salvador in Los Angeles
3450 Wilshire Blvd Suite 250, Los Angeles, California 90010

On December 10th, progressive organizations in Southern CA will host a march and rally in commemoration of International Human Rights Day to highlight the struggles of migrants, refugees, indigenous people, and displaced communities impacted by state violence and war. The U.S. currently spends
$717 billion on military defense and only $60 billion on education. We are coming together to build a movement to Resist US-led War & Militarism and we want to invite you to participate in this year’s activity.

Our Demands*
– End U.S. Militarism at home and abroad!
– Defund DHS (US Department of Homeland Security)!
– Divest from Boeing and other military contractors​​​​​​​!
– Stop military recruitment of students and youth!
– Redirect funds for housing, jobs, and education!

What: Human Rights Day March & Rally
When: December 10th, 2019 – Tuesday at 6:00PM starting at Consulate of El Salvador marching with a few stops. Total Distance is about 1 mile.

To get involved, please contact us as soon as possible and fill out this form https://tinyurl.com/D10-2019.

For more info: www.resistusledwarmovement.com
#HumanRightsDayLA #ResistUSledWar #BuildJustPeace

Co-sponsored by:
AIM SoCal – American Indian Movement SoCal
BAYAN USA-Southern CA
BORDER ANGELS
CISPES- Los Angeles Chapter – Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
Human Rights Alliance for Child Refugees & Families
Guatemaya LA Mujeres Resistiendo
International Migrants Alliance – IMA in Southern CA
Me Too Survivors’ March International
Occupy Ice L.A.
Party for Socialism and Liberation – PSL LA
PUSO SoCal – Philippine US Solidarity Organization
Struggle – La Lucha for Socialism
Unión del Barrio Los Angeles
We Are All America

Endorsed by:
CODEPINK: Women For Peace (Los Angeles)
Colectivo Guatemalteco
IDEPSCA
Gabriela Los Angeles
Long Beach Area Peace Network
Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition
Migrante USA-Los Angeles
National Lawyers Guild Los Angeles
@Progressive Asian Network for Action
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) – UCLA
Student Labor Advocacy Project of UCLA
Unión Centroamericana – UNICA de UCLA

_______________

Día de los Derechos Humanos Marcha y Rally (Titular principal)
Resistir el movimiento de guerra liderado por Estados Unidos (subtítulo)

10 de diciembre, 6 p.m.
Frente al Consulado de El Salvador
3250 Wilshire Blvd., Los Ángeles

Únase a nosotros para conmemorar el Día Internacional de los Derechos Humanos para levantar la lucha y la resistencia de los migrantes, refugiados, pueblos indígenas y comunidades desplazadas afectadas por la violencia y la guerra. Estados Unidos actualmente gasta $717 mil millones en defensa militar y solo $ 60 mil millones en educación.

Nuestras demandas
Desfinanciar el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS)!
¡Fin al militarismo estadounidense en el país y en el extranjero!
¡Alto al reclutamiento militar de estudiantes y jóvenes!
¡Desinvierta de Boeing y otros contratistas militares!
Redireccionar fondos para vivienda, trabajo y educación!

Para más información: www.resistusledwarmovement.com

Thursday, November 28, 2019 at 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST

Cole’s Hill
Plymouth, Massachusetts 02360

50th National Day of Mourning, Cole’s Hill, Plymouth, MA.
Official event organized by UAINE (United American Indians of New England) every year since 1970 on US “thanksgiving” day.
Donate: gf.me/u/vumxka

ORIENTATION FOR 50th NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING 11.28.19

WHAT IS NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING?
An annual tradition since 1970, Day of Mourning is a solemn, spiritual and highly political day. Many of us fast from sundown the day before through the afternoon of that day (and have a social after Day of Mourning so that participants in DOM can break their fasts). We are mourning our ancestors and the genocide of our peoples and the theft of our lands. NDOM is a day when we mourn, but we also feel our strength in action. Over the years, participants in Day of Mourning have buried Plymouth Rock a number of times, boarded the Mayflower replica, and placed ku klux klan sheets on the statue of William Bradford, etc.

WHEN AND WHERE IS DAY OF MOURNING?
Thursday, November 28, 2019 (U.S. “thanksgiving” day) at Cole’s Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts, 12 noon SHARP. Cole’s Hill is the hill above Plymouth Rock in the Plymouth historic waterfront area.

WILL THERE BE A MARCH?
Yes, there will be a march through the historic district of Plymouth. Plymouth agreed, as part of the settlement of 10/19/98, that UAINE may march on Day of Mourning without the need for a permit as long as we give the town advance notice.

PROGRAM: Although we very much welcome our non-Native supporters to stand with us, it is a day when only Indigenous people speak about our history and the struggles that are taking place throughout the Americas. Speakers will be by invitation only. This year’s NDOM is dedicated to Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls & Two Spirits, and to our thousands of relatives who are migrants and are being abused by ICE and other government agencies, including having their children stolen from them. We didn’t cross the border – The border crossed us! #NoJusticeOnStolenLand

Please note that NDOM is not a commercial event, so we ask that people do not sell merchandise or distribute leaflets at the outdoor program. If you have literature to distribute, you are welcome to place it on a literature table at the social hall following the speak-out and march. Also, we ask that you do not eat (unless you must do so for medical reasons) at the outdoor speak-out and march out of respect for the participants who are fasting. Finally, dress for the weather!

SOCIAL: There will be a pot-luck social held at a NEW social hall (to be announced) after the National Day of Mourning speak-out and march this year. Preference for first seatings will be given to Elders, young children and their caretaker, pregnant women, Disabled people, and people who have traveled a long distance to join National Day of Mourning. Please respect our culture and our wish to ensure that these guests will be the first to be able to sit and eat. With this understanding in mind, please bring non-alcoholic beverages, desserts, prepared fresh fruit & vegetables, and pre-cooked entrée items (turkeys, hams, stuffing, vegetables, casseroles, rice & beans, etc.) that can be easily re-warmed at the social hall prior to the social. Our amazing kitchen crew makes great food, with plenty of vegetarian and vegan dishes, too, but if you have special dietary needs, please bring something that will suit you so you will not be unhappy. Thank you.
Kitchen volunteers: Please contact us via info@uaine.org to offer your services.

TRANSPORTATION: Please check the facebook event page for 50th National Day of Mourning for updates on transportation, including buses and carpooling. We do not recommend MBTA service as it is limited on a holiday.

DONATIONS: Monetary donations are gratefully accepted to help defray the costs of the day and of UAINE’s many other efforts during the year: https://www.gofundme.com/f/uaine-20192020-fundraising-campaign

On Facebook

Havana — According to the conference final declaration, 1,332 activists and revolutionaries from 86 countries around the world attended the three-day Anti-Imperialist Solidarity Conference for Democracy and Against Neoliberalism in the Cuban capital from Nov. 1-3. 

Contingents represented more than 750 organizations united in remarkable and vigorous solidarity for socialist Cuba. 

The call for this gathering was announced following May Day 2018 by the president of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), Fernando Gonzalez Llort. Gonzalez is one of the Cuban 5 heroes who spent long years imprisoned in the U.S., which Jose Marti rightly termed “the belly of the beast.” 

Gonzalez and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodrigez Parrilla opened the conference, along with a video tribute to historic leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro, whose leadership was remembered throughout the weekend.

The event took on the character of a call to united action for international solidarity in what a delegate from Peru named a counteroffensive to imperialist aggression and intervention in the Global South. 

‘Dare to debunk myths’

Six work commission focused discussion and action proposals on topics ranging from people before free trade and transnationals; integration and common struggles; democracy, sovereignty and anti-imperialism; and decolonization, strategic communication and social struggle. 

Young people from all around the world spoke in the youth commission, organized by Cuba’s Union of Young Communists (UJC). 

The largest commission by far was solidarity with Cuba and other just causes. 

This Cuba solidarity commission became a conference inside a conference. It was held at the campus of the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), with two plenaries and cultural presentations from medical students. 

ELAM students in their white coats, national dress and with some holding their national flags, lined the walkway into the school in a joyous greeting. Participants discussed action proposals divided by geographical regions to be reported back the next day.

Uniting all attendees was the common need to combat incorrect and slanderous attacks on socialism being made online and in the bourgeois news media. 

In his keynote speech at the end of the conference, President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela declared, “It’s necessary to take paths of courage and dare to debunk myths, blackmail, and lies.” 

In the final action plan assembled by the conference, eight different proposed actions involved media strategies, such as creating an Anti-Imperialist Media Alliance to create media that is “collectively organized and coordinated, for the truth and based on peoples’ resistance.” 

The program pledged to support alternative news sources such as HispanTV, Russia Today, and Cubainformación, meant to be an alternative news source for solidarity with the Cuban struggle. Additionally, the conference resolved to carry out coordinated international media campaigns on the 17th of every month.

Cuban representatives and supporters vigorously denounced the U.S. blockade and demanded: #ManosFueraDeCuba (Hands Off Cuba)!

Internationalist unity

Resoundingly, the activists and representatives in the conference plenaries affirmed and reaffirmed their support for President Evo Morales and Bolivia. Speakers praised Evo for championing the fight against climate change in Latin America and the rights of Indigenous people and for implementing progressive reforms for the people of Bolivia. 

Speakers opposed the neoliberal undertakings of the International Monetary Fund in various countries, including Ecuador. Representatives from Chile called for solidarity in the popular struggle against the brutal Piñera regime and overturning the legacy of the Pinochet dictatorship. 

Again and again, representatives and speakers demanded freedom for falsely imprisoned former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Chants of “Lula Livre” rocked Havana’s Convention Center. Boxes containing more than 2 million Cuban signatures for his release were delivered to the Brazilian delegation. 

Among many issues raised, the conference called for the liberation of Palestine from Israeli apartheid, the fall of the fascist Duterte regime in the Philippines, an end to the trade war against China, and support for the people’s movement in Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

Indigenous activists from the Wet’suwet’en nation sang a protest chant in defense of Native land and the climate. Anti-imperialists from the United States raised the big banks’ racist austerity measures in Detroit and big business attacks on public housing tenants in the South Bronx. 

The conference celebrated the revolutionary advances made by Cuba in the fields of education and healthcare. Cuba founded the Latin American School of Medicine, which trains and sends doctors all over the world to countries where medical care is needed. Numerous current and former students of ELAM attended. 

Cuba’s historical defense of the liberation struggles on the African continent, including those in Angola, Namibia, Libya and Zimbabwe, was held in the highest esteem.

Venezuelan leader speaks

In the closing session, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez and Army General and First Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee Raul Castro Ruz were joined by Bolivarian Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro Moro. 

Greeted by thunderous chants and cheering, President Nicolás Maduro put into words the overwhelming spirit of unity that flowed through the conference. “The revolutionary force of a conscious people is unstoppable,” he proclaimed to an enthusiastic and emotional audience. 

After analyzing 30 years of the history of struggle and revolution in Latin America, Maduro stated that through building unity, the people of Latin America may stand together and form an unstoppable resistance to neoliberalism and imperialism. He emphasized that building unity and solidarity is crucial for opening up “roads to the truth” in the face of campaigns to divide left-wing, progressive and popular movements. 

Furthermore, Maduro stressed, “It is the people that must stand together and obligate that our rulers stand together and respect each other.” He concluded that the people of Latin America share a common destiny and that the road to victory must be charted by the people with courage. 

President Maduro described threats aimed at Bolivia’s President Evo Morales Ayma made by Luis Fernando Camacho, a fascist millionaire figure of the right-wing opposition. Morales was forced to renounce his title of democratically-elected leader of Bolivia under pressure from the OAS-backed fascist coup on Nov. 10, just a week after Maduro’s address in Havana. 

According to Maduro, Camacho gave Evo an ultimatum to either leave his office in 24 hours or get “knocked out.” Maduro compared this threat to a Nazi tactic. Nevertheless, he confidently declared, “[The Bolivian opposition] will not be knocking out Evo. They will not be able to knock out the people of Bolivia. This ultimatum is not against Evo, it’s against the people of Bolivia — the Native people. That is the truth.”

The Bolivian military may have turned on the people in favor of the fascist opposition, but the people of Bolivia have not wavered in their support for Evo. Marches of tens of thousands of people, led by Indigenous Bolivians, have crowded the streets of El Alto and La Paz. The military has brutally injured hundreds and killed more than two dozen protestors, mainly Indigenous people, but the people’s resistance has not let up. 

As Maduro projected: “The Native people, the miners, the peasants, the young people of the universities will be in the streets doing whatever it takes to support Evo Morales.” The people of Bolivia have yet to prove him wrong.

With emphasis on unity and the duty of the people to propel their leadership forward, Maduro concluded: “Let us have faith and optimism that a historic time has come for unity, and let us have the spiritual force to drive forward in these times in our history. Nobody will take that away from us. Brothers and sisters, ever onward to victory. We shall overcome.”