On Tuesday 14 October organisations and individuals from across Australia met to reaffirm our solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution and Venezuela’s right to self-determination. This comes as US military aggression against Venezuela escalates, with the Australian government refusing to condemn this escalation. Australia has historically towed the US line in promoting regime-change initiatives in Venezuela. In this context Caracas has announced it is closing its embassy in Australia.

Imperialist aggression against the Bolivarian Revolution has been ongoing for over two decades. It has included numerous coup and invasion attempts as well as economic, diplomatic and military attacks with the aim of overthrowing the socialist government. Today Venezuela faces:

• False-flag US strikes on multiple fishing boats that have killed 27 people in waters off the coast of Venezuela in recent months, breaching international law;
  
• Some 1,042 unilateral coercive measures imposed by the US and its allies;
  
• Over US$20 billion frozen in 29 international banks and three multilateral institutions;
  
• US military buildup in the Caribbean including close to 10,000 military personnel, warships, a nuclear powered attack submarine, F-35 fighter jets stationed on Puerto Rico flying near Venezuelan airspace and military helicopters stationed just outside of Venezuelan territory;
  
• A US$50 million bounty on the head of democratically-elected President Nicolas Maduro and fictional narratives of his involvement in drug trafficking;
  
• A propaganda and psychological warfare campaign against Venezuela across Western media with lies and unsubstantiated claims that distort the truth about Venezuela.

Venezuela has held 33 elections in 26 years and has one of the most active records of democratic participation worldwide – via elections as well as by direct participation through communal processes and grassroots organisations. However, Australian state officials and mainstream media have peddled unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud and promoted regime change with calls to ‘return to democracy in Venezuela’.

We demand that the Australian government immediately seeks to repair diplomatic relations with Venezuela, denounces the US military aggression against Venezuela and affirms Venezuela’s right to sovereignty and self-determination.

No war in the Caribbean! No to imperialist intervention in Latin America! Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution!

Signed by:

Red Spark
Communist Party of Australia (CPA)
Australia Solidarity with Latin America

Sign the Statement of Solidarity here: https://forms.gle/PApsZJm57ckLucXT6