Malaysian socialists: Solidarity with the people of Venezuela against threat of military aggression

By the Socialist Party of Malaysia

July 28, 2010 – The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) is deeply concerned with the possibility of military aggression towards the people of Venezuela by the Colombian government, which could be supported by the United States of America and its seven military bases recently installed in Colombia.

This matter has arisen from the recent events when the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was accused on July 22, 2010, at the Extraordinary Session of the Organization of American States in Washington by the Colombian government of promoting, supporting and maintaining a relationship with armed organisations from Colombia, such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN). The accusations were only based on images which have never been substantiated or subjected to verification.

The current moves by right-wing Colombian government is clearly an attempt backed by the US to justify a pre-emptive attack on Venezuela and its people. There has been a pattern of false allegations against Hugo Chavez’s government as part of a US-backed campaign to dismantle the revolutionary process taking place in Venezuela.

Since the election of President Hugo Chavez in 1998 and the beginning of Bolivarian revolutionary process, Venezuela has posed a great challenge to the US imperialist domination in Latin America, as well as capitalist establishment in the region. The revolutionary process with popular democratic participation in Venezuela, which carries the banner of “Socialism in the 21st Century”, has been an inspiration of people around the world to seek alternatives to the neoliberal capitalist world order.

Considering the historical involvement of the United States in internal matters of other countries and regions, such as in Iran and the Korean peninsula, the PSM is fearful that the US may exploit the current Venezuela-Colombia crisis as an entry point to carry out military aggression against Venezuela, as it has done many times elsewhere in the past. An attack on Venezuela has the aim to crush the revolutionary process taking place in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, and to re-enact US imperial doctrine in the region. We are very aware of the potential impact that these negative actions could have on the Venezuelan people and on the international community.

As these apprehensions are very real, the PSM would like to express its continuous support to the democratic and peaceful revolutionary process in Venezuela and we would like to extend our solidarity to the government’s revolutionary process and to the people of Venezuela.

The PSM calls upon:

• the Colombian government to stop its malicious allegations and threats against Venezuela and engage with Venezuela to resolve the crisis with peaceful diplomatic means in order to rebuild its relations with the rest of the region;

• the US government to shut down all its military bases and installations in Latin America as well as other parts of the world;

• the Malaysian government to fully support the Venezuelan government’s insistence on its right to sovereignty and condemn any US-backed military action against the people of Venezuela;

• all people and organisations that support social justice and genuine democracy to support any solidarity action to defend the revolution in Venezuela.