Chavez: “Latin America Is Waking Up, and No One Can Stop It”
Caracas,
November 9, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com) – "Latin America is waking up and no
one can stop it" Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said in a brief statement to
the media as he arrived in Chile for the 17th Latin American Summit,
Friday. Chavez, who was received by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and
other Latin American leaders in Club Hipico, Santiago, added, that he was "very
happy to be in the land of Allende."
The principal theme of the summit, which concludes on Saturday, is
‘Social Cohesion' and the search for a more inclusive society in Latin America.
Chavez said
he supported the deliberations of the summit, which will approve two documents;
the Declaration of Santiago and a Plan of Action, which will propose joint
initiatives to deal with labour, health, education, taxes and corruption issues
in Latin American states.
Although,
he argued, "I don't much like the word ‘cohesion.' It is better to speak of
social transformation; it is a more dynamic term in comparison with the word
cohesion, which denotes statism."
Latin America is waking up, he declared, and nothing nor anyone can stop it. "There
is an awakening of millions of people, indigenous, women, campesinos, and this
is the most important thing because individually we do not make history, rather
it is the people that make history."
However, he warned, "The Latin American rightwing is lining up to attack the
Bolivarian revolution." They aim to undermine, "the series
of changes that we are carrying out…a process of changes that has resonance in
the region," he said, "using the power of the mass media to externally sell a
surreal image of what is happening in Venezuela."
"They are preoccupied with what is happening in Venezuela," the
Venezuelan president continued, "because what is happening is a revolution; a
moral, political, democratic and peaceful revolution."
The oligarchy and rightwing elites of the continent, Chavez said, "Fear
the Bolivarian revolution, this is why the attack us so much and satanize us."
These same elites that attack the Bolivarian revolution, Chavez
explained, "are those that failed when they had the destiny of Venezuela and
the region in their hands.
"The neoliberal rightwing failed in the 1990s to reduce poverty and
misery," and now "the cause of this failure is being defeated by the
revolution," he explained.
Chavez also
criticised "the obscene blockade of Cuba"
by the United States,
and demanded that they comply with international law and hand over terrorists
Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, wanted for the Cuban airline bombing in
1976, that killed 73 people
Venezuela, with the support of Cuba, has solicited the extradition of Posada
Carilles, a Venezuelan national, from the United States in order to charge
him over the Cuban airline bombing. However, so far the US has refused
to hand him over.
"I hope for
the fall of North American imperialism, because this imperialism obeys no one.
It only obeys its own obscene interests. This century, maybe in the first few
years of this 21st century, North American imperialism, which has
done so much damage to the Latin American people, will fall."
Chavez also
plans to attend the parallel Summit of the
Peoples at the University of Science and Art (USA) in Santiago, which opened this morning with a
series of debates on social, environmental, economic and cultural themes, with
an emphasis on the inequalities that afflict the continent.
Rector of the USA,
Carlos Margotta, who inaugurated the summit, said it "aims to consolidate a
platform of popular demands and strategic objectives for all the peoples and
their organizations throughout the continent."
Forums throughout the summit will address the social problems experienced
by millions of Latin Americans, and ways to end political exclusion and
discrimination in the region. It will also deliver a document elaborated over
three days of debate to the government leaders at the Latin American Summit.
The Summit
of the Peoples will close on Saturday with a massive event in the Velodrome
National Stadium, at which Chavez is expected to speak, along with Bolivian
President Evo Morales and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, as well as Carlos
Lage, the vice- President of Cuba.
