10th Anniversary of the Death of Hugo Chávez
March 5, 2013

Honour to the Memory of Hugo Chávez, Organizer of the Venezuelan People in Defence of Their Dignity and Sovereignty

March 5, 2023 marks 10 years since the untimely death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a great Venezuelan patriot and revolutionary. He mobilized his people to empower themselves and take up a human-centred nation-building project, to defend their rights, dignity and sovereignty against the exploitation of Venezuela’s human and natural resources by the wealthy elite and the U.S. imperialists, and to build relations of friendship and mutual benefit with all the fraternal peoples of the Americas and the world.

This nation-building project continues to serve the Venezuelan people in good stead despite many difficulties, especially the ongoing aggression by the U.S. imperialists and their appeasers like Canada, who arrogantly think that it is they and not the Venezuelan people who should determine their leadership, how to govern their own country and the direction of its economy.

In the 10 years since the death of Chávez, the Canadian government, regardless of which cartel party has been in power, has never been more servile to U.S. imperialism. It spearheaded the failed attempt to force regime change in Venezuela through what was known as the Lima Group and by championing an unelected reactionary opposition leader as the imaginary president of Venezuela and leader of an imaginary parallel “government.” Such hooligan behaviour underscores the need for Canadians to work out how to make Canada a zone for peace.

Canadians denounce the meeting of the Lima Group in Ottawa, February 4, 2019.

From the founding of the Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement 200 in 1982, to the El Caracazo uprising in 1989; from the civic-military rebellion in February 1992, to the two years in prison that followed, through to his election as President in December 1998, and successive re-elections up to the very latest on October 7, 2012, and his untimely death on March 5, 2013, the actions of President Commander Hugo Chávez are indelibly marked by the defence of the well-being of the Venezuelan people, their national sovereignty, the struggle for the independence of Venezuela and all of Latin America and the Caribbean from imperialist tutelage and plunder and for peace on the world scale as well as in his own region. It has been a relentless struggle against U.S. imperialism and its allies — a struggle which has to be waged over and over and over again.

As leader of the Bolivarian Revolution and the anti-imperialist movement for peace, the contribution of Hugo Chávez to the affirmation of the right to self-determination of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean has repercussions in all fields of life – political sovereignty, economic sovereignty, energy sovereignty and against imperialist domination and the imperialist interference and designs for war in the region. Within Venezuela, the eradication of illiteracy, homelessness, abject poverty and joblessness by empowering the people and creating the People’s Power and Bolivarian Republic, which Chávez called Socialism for the 21st century, are deeds which bring great honour, dignity and hope to the people of Venezuela.

The Bolivarian Revolution dedicates the country’s social wealth to affirming the people’s human rights through the Bolivarian Missions. Top left: The fight against illiteracy at Misión Robinson; top right: fifth anniversary of Misión Milagro. Founded with Cuba, it provides free eye surgeries for low-income citizens.

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the South American Defence Council and Petrocaribe are among the many nation-building projects which have benefitted the peoples of all of the Americas and Caribbean. All are achievements which only a personality in tune with the needs of history can accomplish. They testify to Chávez’ greatest desire to give the people of the region the tools to defend independence and peace, to end imperialist domination and the stranglehold of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the neo-liberal “Washington Consensus.”

The untimely death of President Hugo Chávez was a tremendous loss for the Venezuelan people and the peoples of every country whose anti-imperialist movement for peace is the crucial ingredient to open a path to progress. Since he passed away, the leadership of Venezuela has been in the able hands of President Nicolás Maduro who has faced the full force of the revanchism of the U.S. imperialists without flinching. We are certain that the Venezuelan people will continue to follow the path opened by President Hugo Chávez as they follow his counsel to fight, fight, fight against all their detractors and those who would plot to overturn the gains of their revolution.

On this occasion, CPC(M-L) salutes the life and work of Hugo Chávez that lives on in the Venezuelan people and their leadership today, and calls on everyone to stand with the Venezuelan people in their rejection of foreign interference and the affirmation of their sovereignty.

Long Live the Bolivarian Revolution!
Salute the Memory of President Hugo Chávez and His Many Achievements!

The 9th ALBA Summit in Caracas, Venezuela, April 19, 2010.

CELAC is founded in Caracas, Venezuela, December 2, 2011.