FAREWELL, Chávez

With the untimely death of President Hugo Chávez on 5 March 2013, the world has lost a great working-class visionary. No other leader has come close to delivering for his country’s working people the gains Chavez delivered in fourteen short years in office.

The improvement in health, poverty reduction, education, rights for workers and the first development bank for women are a few examples of his achievements. His decision to use the oil wealth of Venezuela to benefit the majority of the poor and powerless, not only in Venezuela but in the entire region, is something that has no precedent.

Hugo Chávez’s vision for a Bolivarian Revolution has inspired many people the world over. In Latin and South America we see a turn to the left in almost every country as the poor and oppressed throw off the yoke of neo-liberalism to elect leaders who have broken away from the imperialist control from the North. As a result of this vision, a new South -South alliance of nations is being realized.

Chávez will be dearly missed for years, not only because of his great charisma but because of his determination to stand on the side of the working masses in the region. He has laid a good foundation for the revolution to survive the onslaught that has already started from the Western governments who hated the success of his policies. The attempts to cast doubts over the last Venezuelan election and to support the party of the rich will no doubt intensify. But Chávez has anointed Nicolas Maduro, who steps into the role of leader as a true statesman and is set to increase the advantage at the polls that Chávez established over the 12 elections he contested.

We at Caribbean Labour Solidarity join in the outpouring of grief shown by the millions who marched past his coffin in Caracas - a reminder of how much Chávez is loved by his people. Even as they grieve, they prepare for the times ahead when they will have to defend and extend the revolution. CLS will work with the progressive forces in the Caribbean and the rest of the world to defend the gains made by the Venezuelan revolution.

Long Live Chávez!
Long Live the Revolution!
Luke Daniels,
President of Caribbean Labour Solidarity
London, March 2013