Trade unionists from more than 30 countries met in Caracas for the Third Union Encounter of Our Americas also expressed their support for Venezuela and willingness to mobilise to stop any possible aggression.
“In the face of any attempt by Colombia or any other country, to obstruct the revolution [in Venezuela], the working class will come out bravely to defend the process and the country”, said Marcela Maspero, a national coordinator of National Union of Workers (UNT) in Venezuela.
Victor Mendibil, from Unionists of Latin America and the Caribbean and the Argentine Workers Central (CTA) said : “Once again, the Colombian government is attacking the progressive government of Venezuela.”
Alfonso Velasquez of the Unified Colombian Workers Central (CUT) also supported Venezuela against Colombian government threats.
Workers from the Venezuelan state-owned oil company, PDVSA, also mobilised in support of the government’s decision to break ties with Colombia, saying that the US would not receive a drop of oil if it dared attack Venezuela.
This was echoed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on July 25 in front of tens of thousands of United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) members: “Let the United States know, that if any aggression is waged against us, we will cut off all oil supply to them. Not a single drop of oil for the United States!”
The US is desperate to get rid of the Venezuelan government because it represents a revolutionary alternative to the crisis-ridden capitalist system.
The Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution has once again raised the banner of socialism. During the Cold War, the undemocratic Stalinist regimes of the Soviet Union and its allies allowed the US could falsely claim the mantle of defender of democracy.
Today, against Venezuela’s example of democracy the US pushes for war and coups like that in Honduras.
Chavez has made clear that the Bolivarian revolution is a peaceful revolution, but it is not unarmed. Alongside a military that is undergoing a revolutionary transformation, the Venezuelan government has begun arming the masses through creating worker and peasant militias.
Chavez has also constantly warned imperialism and the Venezuelan opposition that the Chavez of today is not the same as the Chavez of 2002, who was briefly overthrown in a coup, but pardoned many of the coup plotters once he was returned to power on the back of a civic-military uprising.