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Venezuelan People and Government Honor Memory of Muhammad Ali

Venezuela remembers Muhammad Ali not only as an athlete, but as a champion for the rights of Black people and all peoples of the Global South. 

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Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Ministry of Popular Power for Foreign Relations

Communique

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela expresses its condolences to the Afro-American people of the United States, to the international athletic community, and to the family of Muhammad Ali for the sad passing of this glorious athlete and symbol of struggles for peace, civil rights, and religious diversity worldwide. 

History will remember Muhammad Ali not as only as the greatest and most elegant boxer of all time, but as a man who since his youth rebelled against the system of racial discrimination prevailing in his country, using his athletic triumphs to denounce before the world the inequality and violation of the rights of the Afro-American community. 

The world will remember his famous speech before a court that sought to force him to take part in the genocide against the Vietnamese people:  “No, I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue white slave masters’ domination of the darker people the world over…”

Mohammad Ali holds a gigantic place in the hearts of sports-lovers and all those committed to peaceful coexistence among peoples, cultures, and religions.

Honor and Glory!!!

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Translated and edited by Venezuelanalysis.com.