Caracas declaration: Latin America’s vital role in the world anti-imperialist struggle

The following declaration was endorsed by the participants at the World Anti-imperialist Platform international conference in Caracas, Venezuela, on Saturday 4 March 2023.

From the city of Caracas, birthplace of the great liberator Simón Bolívar, the father of Latin-American unity and forerunner of the modern anti-imperialist movement in Nuestra America, we are gathered today to continue the line of political struggle that was laid down by the international conference of the World Anti-imperialist Platform in Belgrade, Serbia, last December. At that time, revolutionary and social organisations with a clear anti-imperialist, antifascist and anti-colonial orientation came together to denounce the aggression of the United States and of its Nato military front, whose belligerence on every continent threatens the peoples of the world.

It is clear for all to see that the global market economy is in deep crisis. This crisis of global capitalism is accelerating the decline of the USA, which rose to the top of the imperialist world after the powers of old Europe had been weakened by two world wars, claiming for itself the title of ‘saviour of the modern [capitalist] world’. Although the imperialists received a vital boost to their failing economies after the collapse of the USSR in 1991, their economic system is once again in crisis, and their hegemony is failing, as ever more countries break free of their economic and political control.

In their desperation to save their economic system and their international dominance, the USA is engaged in ruthless hybrid wars against any and every country that tries to break out of or remain free of its control. From waging relentless trade and sanctions wars whose aim is to crush the growth of emerging economies, to supporting separatist movements that aim to undermine sovereignty and destabilise territories, to creating and financing domestic opposition movements and manipulating the mass media, every avenue is pursued in order to try to effect so-called ‘regime change’ in any country that has friendly relations with the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation or some other nation that has chosen the path of sovereignty and independence.

It is in this light that we understand Nato’s provocation of a proxy war against Russia on the territory of Ukraine, which threatens at any moment to spill out into a wider regional conflict, and into a direct confrontation between the armed forces of Nato and the peoples of the world. For we should be in no doubt that Nato’s aggression is aimed not only at Russia but at any and every state or movement that tries to pursue a policy of independence or sovereign development.

Besides Russia, many other countries continue to be subjected to US threats and aggression. In east Asia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has lived for decades under the shadow of war, while provocations and aggressions against the People’s Republic of China are now escalating at an alarming rate. The people of the middle east have suffered an endless string of aggressive and barbaric wars in recent decades, notably in Iraq, Libya and Syria, besides the constant provocations against the Islamic Republic of Iran since its founding, and the almost daily massacres of the Palestinian people since 1948.

Meanwhile, the plundering of the African continent has been accompanied by the fomenting of endless ‘resource wars’ by the imperialists, whose massacres of the people of Congo in the pursuit of cheap coltan and denial of the existence of the Saharawi republic are just two of innumerable examples of the barbarous atrocities and persistent subversions of the will of the African people.

As in the middle east and Africa, so in Latin America and the Caribbean, the imperialists have striven to keep the people poor precisely because their lands are so rich. In this continent, considered by the USA to be its ‘back yard’, two centuries of US imperialist exploitation has resulted in some of the most glaring inequalities on the planet. The great resources of these lands have not been allowed to fund the development and prosperity of the peoples, but have been plundered to boost the profit margins of US corporate looters.

In order to maintain this flow of loot, the imperialists interfere everywhere to break the unity and integration of the peoples, doing everything they can to keep them divided and weak. To this end we have seen: military interventions, as in Panama, Chile and Grenada; an endless succession of coups d’état, as in Honduras, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, Guatemala and Brazil: inhuman regimes of suffocating economic sanctions, as imposed on Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua; and the usurpation of key territories, such as the Malvinas islands of Argentina, Venezuela’s Esequibo region, and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, from which the imperialists reinforce their military dominance over the region.

Everywhere we look in the world we are presented with proofs that the imperialists cannot be trusted. From the Minsk accords and the Iran nuclear deal to the one-China policy and the Korean war armistice, no treaty signed by the imperialists is worth the paper on which it is written.

Wherever they can, they engage in barely-concealed acts of sabotage to try to destroy whatever stands in their way, whether that be the bridge linking Crimea to mainland Russia, the pipelines bringing gas from Russia to Germany, Venezuela’s oil refineries and power grid, or Cuba’s pig farms.

It is painfully clear that the imperialists don’t care how many people are hurt in the relentless pursuit of their goals. How many millions of Russians and Chinese died to save the world from imperialist-serving fascism in WW2? How many millions will die as a result of the spiralling costs of fuel and food that are now tormenting every poor person on the planet? How many Ukrainians are presently being sacrificed on the Donbass front lines? How many Palestinians are daily done to death as the blockade and bombing of Gaza continues? How many Congolese have died to secure the free flow of cheap coltan for PlayStations and iPhones? All this, like the starving children of Iraq and Yemen, is considered to be a price ‘worth paying’ in defence of monopoly superprofits.

Today we are faced with a clear choice between the continuation of imperialist domination, as outlined in the Monroe doctrine, and the liberating current of anti-imperialist Bolivarianism, which was reborn with the coming to power of Hugo Chávez, anti-imperialist leader of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

In light of the economic, political, social and environmental crises that have been created by the imperialist exploitation of our planet, the peoples of the world now face many challenges. The World Anti-imperialist Platform supports every initiative that seeks genuinely to work for the unity of the progressive political forces in the world. Together, we have the power to stand up to the US-led imperialist bloc and to overturn the colonial system that brings instability, poverty and the violation of human rights to the masses via political oppression, economic looting and military coercion.

We invite all those social movements, parties and countries of Latin America and the Caribbean who fight for the wellbeing of their people to join us in our efforts to unite the peoples of the world, strengthening our collective ability to confront the US imperialist bloc and its Nato military front. Our unity is our path to guaranteeing the peace and prosperity of our peoples!

It was with this aim that we brought the World Anti-Imperialist Platform into being in October 2022, when the first signatures were put to the Paris Declaration.

In Latin America, we ask our comrades to raise awareness of the following:

That across the world, the poor and oppressed peoples and workers face the same enemy: the US-led imperialist bloc, whether represented by the European Union, Nato, the OAS, the Five Eyes, Aukus, the IMF, the World Bank, or some other front for US imperial interests.
That Russia and China are not aggressive imperialist powers but, on the contrary, are targeted by our enemies because they stand in the way of the USA’s complete global domination.
That if we want to understand why so many countries striving to develop independent economies and to break free of imperialist servitude are turning to Russia and China for help, we need only contrast the pandemic support that came to Latin America from China with the economic piracy and political blackmail which accompanied ruinous US corporate ‘help’.
That in order to secure for ourselves a decent future free from poverty and imperialist domination, we need maximum unity of all liberation and anti-imperialist forces – in each country, across each continent, and around the world.
That the war which has broken out in eastern Europe and the wars which are imminent in east Asia are not regional or isolated events, but two fronts in a global war being waged by the imperialists for their continued domination, and that the aggressive economic, political and military moves of US imperialism in Latin America are a part of this same struggle.
That for our people to be free, every US and Nato base, military installation, biolab and spy facility must be dismantled. Every imperialist soldier must be sent back to his home country. Let these ‘defenders of democracy’ look to their own houses!
That wherever Nato’s armies are reckless enough to start a war, they must be defeated on the battlefield and behind the lines. Workers must refuse to fight in the USA’s armies and proxy forces. We must refuse to move their men and machinery. We must boycott and disrupt every aspect of the aggressive and criminal war machine.
That we must refuse to write, print or broadcast the US and Nato’s war propaganda. We must expose the imperialists’ lies in our own media and show the people that they have a side in this war; that it is urgent and in the interests of all of suffering humanity that the imperialists should be defeated, and that we must fight together with all those who are prepared to work for this aim.
That the peoples of the world have every reason to welcome the development of a new financial architecture that enables them to escape the sanctions and blackmail of the imperialist financiers – and that this new architecture needs to guarantee the freedom and equality of nations, allowing each country to follow a sovereign and independent economic agenda without outside interference.
That Latin America and the Caribbean form a multinational territory whose future independence and prosperity lies in its integration and sovereign development. While the lines drawn by colonisers between our peoples serve no one but the imperialists, there is no doubt that working together, the peoples of this region have everything they need to solve their problems and provide every citizen with a dignified and prosperous life!
That the working masses everywhere must stand in solidarity with the people of Venezuela, who are on the front line of our common struggle, resisting the criminal blockade perpetrated by the US imperialists and their allies, who are doing everything in their power to prevent us from living a free and sovereign life in peace and prosperity.