Baltic Platform
Dear organizers and participants of the conference!
On behalf of the Baltic Platform, allow me to warmly greet the freedom-loving people and the courageous President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.
We take part in the work of the conference with a feeling of ardent solidarity with your country, which is ready to give a decisive rebuff to the growing imperialist threat from the United States. Our comrades, like all people of good will, are outraged by Washington’s attempts to intimidate and subjugate the people of Venezuela.
It is clear that the political course pursued by the leadership and supported by the people of Venezuela has become an open challenge to U.S. imperialism. Their reaction has surprised no one. As many times before, the American administration has once again put forward its favorite slogan: “Does your country have oil? Then wait—we’re coming to establish democracy for you!” And no one should be deceived by the reasons with which Washington tries to cover up its aggression.
Back in 2020, the administration of then-U.S. President Donald Trump baselessly accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of drug trafficking. The Cuban newspaper Granma wrote on this matter: “…in a fit of imagination they invented a ‘Cartel of the Suns’ in the style of the worst narco-series.”
Nevertheless, the Trump administration moved from words with false accusations to actual military threats. On August 19, Reuters reported: “Within the next 36 hours, the United States will deploy three Aegis-guided missile warships off the coast of Venezuela as part of countering threats from Latin American drug cartels.” And in practice, the Americans have already used their military force in this region.
One of the sources cited by the agency stated that a total of about 4,000 sailors and marines would take part in the operation. Additional military forces in the region would include several P-8 reconnaissance aircraft, warships, and at least one attack submarine.
In response to Washington’s aggression, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced the decision to mobilize 4.5 million civilian militia members across the country to confront the threats of war from the United States. Venezuela declared its firm determination to fight for its sovereignty.
Speaking at a meeting with governors and mayors from his ruling coalition, the President of Venezuela announced plans to strengthen rural and urban militias, as well as to organize combat groups in factories and workplaces.
We have no doubt that the path of development already traveled by Venezuela under the leadership of Presidents Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro has made the country an impregnable fortress against any imperialist aggression. We firmly stand by your side and wish the people of Venezuela a decisive victory in this confrontation.
Today, together with you, we recall how in December 1998, after winning more than 56 percent of the vote in the presidential elections, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías became head of the Republic of Venezuela. This was the first time that a politician who did not belong to the traditional bourgeois parties—the ones that in 1958 signed the so-called Pacto de Punto Fijo, which secured their right to alternate in power in the country—came to power in Venezuela.
Venezuela is rightfully considered one of the potentially richest countries not only in Latin America, but in the world. In addition to its main wealth—a hardworking and talented people who love their homeland—the country possesses truly colossal natural resources. Relying mainly on this potential, and with the favorable international situation at the time, the country rose in the 1970s into the ranks of the twenty wealthiest nations of the world. By GDP indicators of that period, Venezuela surpassed such countries as Spain, Greece, and Israel.
However, the politicians who ruled the country during that period failed to direct the wealth, earned by the hands of the entire people, toward long-term structural economic development and the improvement of the population’s well-being. The bulk of this wealth flowed into the pockets of a narrow circle of the chosen few. And then, inevitably, what was bound to happen did happen. Favorable oil prices came to an end, and the one-sided economy collapsed into stagnation. The authorities could not cope with managing the country’s economy under the conditions of cheaper oil. It was the ordinary people who suffered most. Unemployment and poverty fell upon the majority of the population.
With the rise to presidential power of Comandante Hugo Chávez, Venezuela embarked on a path of profound political, economic, social, and constitutional transformations. Their objective necessity was dictated by all the circumstances of the chosen path of the country’s and society’s development.
It is remarkable that President Chávez and his circle had the opportunity to consult with Fidel Castro. Their strong friendship began in 1994, which later allowed Hugo Chávez to declare: “The Venezuelan people are moving toward the shores of happiness, where the Cuban people already are.”
With the election of Hugo Chávez as president, Venezuela carried out a profound social and political transformation. Over the past 25 years, this has become a continuous process of development in the interests of the majority of the people.
Under President Chávez’s leadership, Venezuela rewrote its constitution, adopting a form of democracy that allowed the people to participate more directly in decision-making. The transformations led to the eradication of illiteracy, the reduction of inequality, and the expansion of support for the poor. Social programs were implemented in such areas as healthcare, education, and housing. Poverty and malnutrition declined, while the people gained the opportunity to exercise the full potential of democracy—to recall elected officials or vote on issues of national importance.
President Chávez was able to prove that success in the fight against poverty depends not so much on the programs proposed by the IMF and the World Bank as on strengthening the country’s sovereignty and ensuring the social orientation of its economy. In other words, over the past 25 years, the revolutionary project initiated by President Chávez and continued by President Maduro has embodied the political will of centralized authority and the enthusiasm of popular communes in the interests of the majority of Venezuelan society.
An important factor in consolidating the changes taking place in the country has been the constitutional process. In Venezuela, it began in 1830 with the adoption of the first constitution. That constitution was built on principles common to all the first Latin American constitutions, which included norms alien to local national traditions.
Subsequently, the country’s constitution was amended many times until a fundamentally new period of Venezuela’s constitutional and legal development began. This started with the drafting and adoption of the new Constitution of 1999, which remains in force to this day.
This constitution gave the country a new name—the “Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” instead of the former “Republic of Venezuela.” It was drafted and proclaimed by the National Constituent Assembly on December 20, 1999, in the 189th year of independence and the 140th year of the establishment of the federation in the country. The constitution entered into force on the date of its official publication in the Gaceta Oficial on December 30, 1999.
The current Constitution of Venezuela is the most democratic of the more than two dozen constitutions that have been in effect during the period of the country’s independent statehood.
Today, Venezuela already lives under a constitution that declares its adherence to the teachings of Simón Bolívar, the Liberator. The country’s fundamental law proclaims as the inalienable rights of the nation its independence, freedom, sovereignty, the inviolability of territorial integrity, and national self-determination.
Under the 1999 Constitution, Venezuela is proclaimed a democratic and social state based on law and justice. Life and the freedom of citizens are recognized as supreme values. The most important principles on which state power must rely are justice, responsibility, and democracy, with full respect for human rights, ethical norms, and political pluralism.
The most important goals of the state are the protection and comprehensive development of the individual, respect for human dignity, the democratic exercise of the will of the people, and the building of a just and peace-oriented society.
In its foreign policy, Venezuela promotes the concept of the “socialism of the 21st century,” focusing on social justice, equality, and anti-capitalism. This course is rooted in the ideas of Simón Bolívar, aimed at the political and economic integration of Latin American countries. The implementation of these ideas led to the creation of organizations such as ALBA (the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America).
In addition, the country actively opposes the interference of Western states both in the internal affairs of Venezuela itself and in those of Latin America as a whole. This anti-imperialist orientation, along with the pursuit of a multipolar world as opposed to unipolarity and U.S. dominance, constitutes an important part of the ideological platform of the Venezuelan government.
The forthcoming adoption of a new constitution will further consolidate the achievements already made and create the conditions for the country’s continued confident development toward strengthening political sovereignty, economic prosperity, and the growth of the people’s well-being.
The Socialists of Latvia, like all progressive forces of the world, are firmly convinced that American imperialism will not succeed in intimidating or forcing the leadership of Venezuela to abandon the chosen path of building a socialist society based on popular communes.
Long live the great ideas and achievements of Comandante Hugo Chávez!
Long live the courageous fighter against American imperialism, President Nicolás Maduro!
Long live the freedom-loving people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela!
