Introduction
Members of International Solidarity Working Group propose Miami DSA join the Hands Off Venezuela South Florida Coalition to demand No Coup, No War, No Sanctions, and say no to any related actions promoting regime change in Venezuela. The Coalition upholds the democratic principle of a nation’s right of self-determination, to which Venezuela is entitled. Its purpose is to win over as many people as possible in our country to oppose the US government’s current policies toward Venezuela. The Coalition aims to hold meetings and rallies to explain to the people of this country that the Venezuelan people are suffering due to US actions in an effort to coerce them into accepting a government of the US’s choosing.
The US has imposed a state of economic siege on that country and is threatening to use military force. If these threats continue, the forces behind them must pay as high a political price as possible. Should the US government succeed in placing a puppet regime in Venezuela, it would immediately strengthen other right wing forces in Latin America, and would amount to a massive loss of life among working people. It would also further enrich our enemies here, emboldening them to tighten the grip on the neck of the working class.
The Coalition recognizes the present government of Venezuela as legitimately elected. However, its purpose is not to use its activities or statements in order to provide a platform to promote the government of Venezuela. Some parties have left the Coalition because they claim that there is a need to give political support to the present government. We reject that strategy. The Coalition aims instead to focus on opposing the US government’s imperialist policy of dictating other countries’ policies. If Miami DSA joins the Coalition, it retains the right to not participate in any activities it disagrees with, does not have the resources to participate in, or conflicts with any of its own activities. The Coalition is made up of individual antiwar and social justice activists, as well as organizations such as Labor-Community Alliance/Our Revolution Dade, Movement for a Peoples Party, Progressive Alliance, Our Revolution Broward, South Florida Green Party, South Florida PDA, POWIR South Florida (People’s Opposition to War, Imperialism and Racism), the Bolivarian Circle, and hopefully YDSA FIU and Colombianos Progresistas.
We believe Miami DSA’s participation in the Hands Off Venezuela Coalition South Florida will help convince those concerned about advancing our struggle in Latin America that Miami DSA is an organization they can work with.
Miami DSA International Solidarity Working Group
Resolution
WHEREAS, the US government has recognized Venezuelan National Assembly Leader Juan Guiadó as the country’s head of state, has made threats to depose the ruling government by full military force, and continues to impose crippling sanctions on its already struggling economy,
WHEREAS, US sanctions have hit Venezuela’s working class and most vulnerable populations the hardest and a US military intervention would be catastrophic for those communities,
WHEREAS, the aim of the US is not to ‘restore democracy to Venezuela,’ but to secure a greater control of the country’s oil supply and profits,
WHEREAS, these actions follow a long and bloody history of US imperialism in Venezuela and across Latin America,
WHEREAS, Miami’s geographic and cultural proximity to Venezuela gives it a unique and strategic position in the United States with regard to US policies toward Venezuela and Latin America,
WHEREAS, the National Political Committee of DSA has called upon DSA chapters to mobilize around a campaign of solidarity with the Venezuelan people, aimed specifically at reversing the US government’s disastrous and counterproductive sanctions against Venezuela,
BE IT RESOLVED, that Miami DSA will join the Hands Off Venezuela Coalition South Florida to deepen its ties with political allies in the Miami area and work with them to organize actions in solidarity with the people of Venezuela,
BE IT RESOLVED, that we have a special obligation to oppose the US government’s stranglehold and continued threats against Venezuela, and that it must help build opposition and shift opinions on US imperial policy in the region,
BE IT RESOLVED, that we affirm the democratic principle of a nation’s right to self- determination and hold any attempt of the United States to meddle in the affairs of Latin America to be suspect.