Open Letter to the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez

It is with great satisfaction that we have heard that your government does not recognize Felipe Calderon as president; this while the presidents of the main imperialist nations line up to congratulate him on his supposed victory.  You are surely aware that the ultra-right wing PAN, the most faithful representative of the interests of the oligarchy and imperialism in Mexico, together with the Chambers of Commerce, launched a campaign of lies as part of their maneuvers to prevent AMLO from being elected president.  You yourself and the revolution you represent were also victims of these lies; they painted you as a bloodthirsty dictator, in much the same way as the counter-revolutionary escualidos do in Venezuela.

Through their lies, they want to make it seem that socialism is a system of repression and violence , where everything you have worked and sacrificed for is arbitrarily taken away, whether it is a small piece of land, or a modest home. When in reality, socialism is the most just and egalitarian system we can aspire to today.  Additionally, as you yourself pointed out, the right wing used lies and and your image to denigrate Obrador and our movement.  The same as in Venezuela, the capitalists are using their means of communication to bombard and denigrate, but also in the same way, the poorest people have turned their backs on this, not believing a single word of this.

In Mexico there is a great thirst for ideas, and the workers want to know what is happening in Venezuela.  In the tent of the Marxist Tendency Militante and Hands Off Venezuela (Mexico), we held informational meetings on the revolutionary processes taking place across Latin America, and presented films such as "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised".  People listened attentively and congregated around the television, watching the similarities between the 2002 coup in Venezuela and the ongoing fraud in Mexico.  Such was the impact that on two occasions, the ultra-reactionary Mexican daily La Cronica Hoy showed a picture of the encampment and that television, on the front page - insinuating that you were behind the struggle against the fraud (please see the articles here and here). It is worth mentioning that this newspaper has in the past launched repeated provocations against the Venezuelan embassy. But the effect was opposite to what La Cronica Hoy intended: people from all corners of the encampment came to our tent looking for the movie.

There may be many differences between yourself and Lopez Obrador, but there are thousands of similarities between the Mexican and Venezuelan peoples. The workers of Mexico will have to pass through a series of tests and lessons, but just as in Venezuela, it will become clear to them that it is not possible to have genuine democracy and a just society under capitalism; the need to fight for socialism will become clear.

Diplomacy during a revolution can be delicate, but it is based on the principle of solidarity with the masses of the rest of the world. Your government cannot recognize Felipe Calderon as president - it would be as if the government of the April 2002 coup-leader Carmona were recognized as president of Venezuela.  Calderon is nothing more than another puppy dog of imperialism, as you correctly characterized Vicente Fox.

If your government refuses to recognize Felipe Calderon and denounces the fraud, you will gain the ear of the exploited of Mexico. And just as the Bolsheviks did, could agitate for revolution in our country, making it clear that this is not a national, but an international struggle, that we must engage in a common struggle to make Bolivar's dream a reality.  This could help the Mexican Revolution advance more quickly, explaining the experience of the overturn of the 2002 coup and the necessity of struggling for socialism, which is the only way to achieve the unity of all Latin America.

The best way in which the Venezuelan Revolution can help the nascent Mexican revolutionary process is by expropriating the Venezuelan oligarchy and the imperialist interests based in Venezuelan territory, nationalizing the main industries and placing them under workers' control.  With a nationalized, planned economy, the quality of life of the masses in Venezuela would increase, and Venezuela would be an example to follow for all the peoples of Latin American and the world.

Imperialism and the capitalists in Mexico were afraid that if Lopez Obrador won, Mexico would become a "new Venezuela".  They thought that the fraud would stop the revolutionary advance, but they have only succeeded in accelerating it.  The situation in Mexico is explosive: the Mexican Carmona has to hide from the people he claims he will govern. It will be difficult for him to finish his term: our 13th of April will come soon enough.  Just as the Venezuelan people overthrew the coup through massive mobilizations, we will fight to overthrow this Mexican coup-monger.  By the time this happens, the ties between Venezuela and Mexico will be closer than ever, and we will be carrying out a revolution on the very doorstep of the most powerful imperialist country in history, winning the sympathy of the U.S. workers, who will support us.

If the Venezuelan and Mexican revolution advance toward socialism, there will be no power on earth capable of stopping the advance of the masses in one country after another, including the United States itself, and we will be able to build a Socialist Federation of the Americas, ending once and for all with the capitalist system which is the cause of all the misery and exploitation we suffer.

Long live the Venezuelan Revolution!
Long live the Mexican Revolution!
For a socialist federation of the Americas and the world!