On Monday, the People’s Power Minister for Foreign Relations, Jorge Arreaza, and colleagues from social movements in Latin America celebrated the 66th anniversary of the birth of Commander Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, with a telematic discussion on the historical legacy of the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution.
The talk entitled “Chávez lives: 66 years after his birth”, had the participation of Manuel Bertoldi, Argentine teacher and representative of ALBA Movimientos; Joao Pedro Stedile, leader of the Movement of the Landless of Brazil; Claudia de la Cruz, educator and pioneer of the Popular Education Project and the People’s Forum in New York; and it was moderated by the Brazilian journalist Michele de Melo.
In addition to the special intervention of the former president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff and other politicians and intellectuals.
Chávez’s legacy
“Chávez was Bolivarian, indigenist, Christian, allendist, revolutionary, subversive, community man, he was the essence of our peoples”, said the Venezuelan foreign minister.
At the same time, he stressed that Commander Chávez had the ability to understand the circumstances of our history, to go back to the times of Bolívar, Guaicaipuro, Miranda and deduce that he was redeemable to feed the common project of a people.
“He was like a time traveler, I remember once that Chávez brought down the schemes and paradigms that we could have of the future. He said that when he went to a well-functioning commune, it was like contemplating the future; He would immerse himself in the popular roots of the organization when he noticed that the communal parliament, the instances of the communal council were serving, or when he saw that the decisions were collective, then he immediately said: You have to make the communes! and We must go to indigenous collective property!”, he expressed.
He also explained that when he made the proposal for Socialism of the 21st Century at the World Social Forum in 2005, he was referring precisely to how to take the best of the past and present of all our societies, and build towards the future.
For his part, Joao Pedro Stedile described him as a statesman not only for Venezuela, but also for the continent; “He wasn’t just thinking about his land, he was a visionary, just as he was talking about political integration, he was talking about integration in infrastructure.”
“His love for study, for reading, dor understanding, linked to the protection of the people, is the legacy of Hugo Chávez for our young people”, he assured.
Claudia de la Cruz, from the United States, stressed that unity, continental integration, as well as promoting the thought of the Great Homeland that Bolívar devised, to continue giving the anti-capitalist, anti-patriarchal battle, is part of the legacy of Chávez.
“Chávez was always with the people of the United States, with the working class, with the youth, with the blacks, with the indigenous people. There is a very deep, subversive revolutionary courage in Hugo Chávez. It is the same courage as the Venezuelan people.”