SERTUC celebrates international conference
The theme of the conference was Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela.

The most pressing problems facing these three Latin American countries were reviewed at the Latin American forum.

London (OPEV) – On Saturday 14th June, SERTUC’s International Conference took place in London. The Southern and Eastern Region Trade Union Conference held a Latin American seminar with special guest speakers from Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela who updated the audience on the political realities of their countries.

At the conference were John Crabtree, professor at the University of Oxford specialising in Latin America; Gladys Ayllon, European representative of the International Friendship Organisation of Cuba; and Nestor Lopez, First Secretary of the Venezuelan Embassy.  They debated the importance of changes made in their respective countries and the resistance offered by the imperialist forces and sectors of the right-leaning oligarchy.

Professor Crabtree explained how historically the indigenous population of Bolivia has been excluded and discriminated against. He also explained the legal and political foundations of the indigenous resistance that led to the political party MAS winning the presidency of the Republic headed by Evo Morales. Delving deeper into the repercussions and the behind the scenes attempts of secession that have been hatched in that country through a referendum held in Santa Cruz,  he explained that the intention was to deprive the indigenous population of the income from the important gas resources belonging to Bolivia.

Gladys Ayllon explained how the Cuban Revolution has progressed despite the criminal blockade imposed on the island for the past few decades. She emphasized particularly the progress achieved in health and education, fields in which the island’s government has managed to create maximum access for the whole of the population.  She referred to the dignity of the Cuban nation in facing up to the Special Period.  Faced with questions over recent press claims that a salaries policy will be established on the island, which rewards efficiency and productivity and how this could affect the concept of equality on the island, the Cuban representative insisted that such a policy will not undermine the principle of equality on which the Cuban revolution is based. “This sort of policy tends to act as an incentive for production in some sectors that have been lagging behind in their development. As a result of the revolution in education, for example, farmers have left the land and agricultural production has fallen. With the implementation of this law, the agricultural field will be benefited,” indicated Ayllon.

For his part, the representative of the Venezuelan Embassy in the United Kingdom, Professor Nestor Lopez abided by a prior request from the organisers and spoke about some of the priorities of the Venezuelan government policies.

In this regard, he indicated how the national government has successfully confronted the problem of shortages in certain food items. He indicated that Venezuela has been affected by the food shortage that is sweeping across some countries in the south and threatening countries in the north. “In the rich north, the shortage has been avoided by an increase in the price of food products. In the south, particularly in Africa, the situation is on the brink of tragedy,” he said.

President Chavez announced a long time ago that situations like this would occur, particularly when he referred to one of the elements that is threatening the security of having food in many countries: the production of biofuels. He explained how the impressive increase in purchase power that the Venezuelan worker has experienced in the nine years of revolution has pushed up the consumption of some food products.  The evidence shows that during the nineties Venezuelans consumed less milk, less meat and less chicken than in the present decade.

He went on to explain the food security strategy in Venezuela, in particular the creation of PEDEVAL, a PDVSA affiliated company concerned with the management of foodstuff supplies.

 In addition to discussing personal security issues, largely inherited from the Fourth Republic, and to a certain extent connected with some international matters, Lopez also tackled the Venezuelan government’s present priority:   the imperialist threat in the international arena.

The diplomat updated the audience on the different scenarios where the revolution has managed effectively to contain the attempts to single out the Bolivarian Republic from international affairs. The most recent   was the failure of a proposal to include in the declaration of the US-EC Summit a paragraph that tries to isolate Venezuela diplomatically. In this sense, “they were left out in the cold; Venezuela is a country that has reached a respectable place in the international community.  This case proves this point, just as the significant success of Venezuela within the Organization of American States, where the empire has kept on loosing by a knock out in recent years,” he indicated.

More examples of triumphs in the international arena are displayed by the multiple acknowledgements that Venezuela receives from specialized organisations from the United Nations for the advances the Latin American nation has achieved towards the fulfilment of its millennium goals. The FAO authorities in Venezuela have praised plans and solutions that the revolutionary government of Venezuela has in place regarding access to food by the formerly excluded majority. Even the British government has recognised the advances made by Venezuela in its struggle against drug trafficking, advances that place the country amongst the leaders in this struggle. This same acknowledgement has been made by the United Nations.

Finally, Professor Lopez provided concrete examples of how the media does not give a balanced view of Venezuela and asked the audience to write to the editors of papers and magazines requesting for unbiased information.

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