Hands off Venezuela and Cuba!

Marce Cameron, Sydney

The Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network (AVSN) and the Australia-Cuba Friendship Society have joined forces to call for a rally outside the US consulate in Sydney on May 20 as part of an international day of action in solidarity with the people of Venezuela and Cuba.

Speakers at the rally will include John Sutton, national secretary of the construction division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, and NSW Greens MP Sylvia Hale.

In the US, activists are planning a national convergence in Washington for a march on the White House, and while protest actions are also being planned in Brazil, Britain, Germany, Mexico and Russia.

Venezuela's Bolivarian revolution and socialist Cuba form an axis of hope, defiance and solidarity. Tens of thousands of Cuban health-care professionals and teachers are working in Third World countries from Venezuela to East Timor, while Venezuela delivers cheap oil to its Caribbean neighbours and to poor communities in the US. Together, the two popular revolutions head a growing rebellion against US domination throughout Latin America.

According to the April 22 Jerusalem Post, Venezuela’s socialist President Hugo Chavez told supporters in the capital Caracas that “if the US empire were to invade Cuba, Venezuelan blood would run in the defence of Cuba and its people”.

In an attempt to intimidate Venezuela and Cuba in the lead-up to the Venezuelan presidential election on December 3, US warships are currently engaged in naval war games in the Caribbean Sea.

The Sydney rally and march will demand “US hands off Venezuela!”, “End the US blockade of Cuba!” and “No Australian support for US aggression!”. The rally will also demand freedom for the five Cuban men jailed in the US for gathering information on the activities of right-wing terrorist organisations opposed to the Cuban Revolution.

Similar solidarity actions are also being planned in other cities. For more information visit .