Caracas, April 14 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Left-wing movements from around the world that are members of the Sao Paulo Forum met on Monday in Caracas, where they ratified their support to President Nicolas Maduro in face of the U.S. decree declaring the South American country a threat to its national security.
“We consider that this decree flagrantly violates the elemental principles of international law,” said Monica Valente, the executive secretary of the Sao Paulo Forum. Valente said the Forum's participants demanded that the U.S. government repeal the degree and that the Obama administration “begin a new era of relations with Venezuela based on mutual respect.”
Those present at the forum's meeting in Caracas praised the “courageous speech by President Nicolas Maduro at the seventh Summit of the Americas,” which took place over the weekend in Panama City with the historic participation of Cuba. The forum's head also said that the members of the forum agreed that all the left-wing parties comprised in the Sao Paulo Forum would accompany the people of Venezuela in its struggle against foreign interference, particularly that of the United States.
The President of the Venezuelan National Assembly Diosdado Cabello delivered a speech during the meeting, saying that “we garner further strength when we see worldwide movements supporting our cause.” Cabello also highlighted the social and military united movement that paved the way for former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's return to power on April 13, 2002, after defeating the coup that had unsuccessfully attempted to oust him.
"What would have happened here (in Venezuela) if the coup had been victorious? What would have happened in Latin America? What would have happened to the leftist movements and political parties in Latin America?” he asked. “On April 13, 2002 Chavez returned with the conclusive decision to deepen the revolution and they have not been able to defeat us nor will they. As long as the people are in the street supporting this revolution, we are obligated to continue forward.”
Days after President Obama announced the decree against Venezuela, which included further sanctions against more government officials falsely accused of violating human rights, the Sao Paulo Forum had already joined the global solidarity with Venezuela. “We declare that there is indeed a threat to the national security, and to the sovereignty of Latin America and the Caribbean and to all peoples of the world, it is the imperialist aggression carried out by the U.S. in their desperate quest to keep their declining hegemony, and the control of strategic resources of the planet.”
