Speaking to thousands of supporters gathered outside the Miraflores Palace, who were celebrating the second anniversary of the defeat of the coup, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez placed the blame for the coup at the doorsteps of the Whitehouse in Washington saying, "It was the elite that governs the USA that attempted to impose its will on the Venezuelan People at gunpoint." [...]

April 13, 2004 -- Speaking to thousands of supporters gathered outside the Miraflores Palace, who were celebrating the second anniversary of the defeat of the coup, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez placed the blame for the coup at the doorsteps of the Whitehouse in Washington saying, "It was the elite that governs the USA that attempted to impose its will on the Venezuelan People at gunpoint."

His speech covered many topics and was carried on national television, President Chavez accused the United States of imperialist aggression in Iraq, and President Bush of orchestrating the coup. Repeating the well-known facts that U.S. ships were in Venezuelan waters and US Navy planes landed in Maiquetia, thus violating Venezuelan sovereignty he said, "We will not allow any interference in Venezuela from the hands of the U.S. government."

The President said it would be he and not President Bush who will remain in office the longest and that April 13, 2002 was a real demonstration of courage and popular consciousness on the part of the people: "We must study the causes that brought about April 11th and April 13th and as a confrontation between those that think themselves owners of the world and its inhabitants and us."

We here in the United States who are in solidarity with the Venezuelan revolution and don't have the same interests of the ruling elites that run our government and military must realize that there is also a unconventional War going on against Venezuela. There is a "fifth column" of organizations supported by the US, working against the revolutionary process in Venezuela. For example the Carter Center, which recently sided with the electoral panel of the Venezuelan Supreme Court demanding that the 870,00 fraudulent signatures be considered valid for a recall election while the Court's constitutional panel has ruled against accepting them. There is also the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which has been funding the so-called opposition but are nothing but terrorist thugs. And of course there is the Catholic Church, the oligarchy-controlled Venezuelan media, and Human Rights Watch, whose main interest is not human rights but defending the military, political and economic interests of the United States.

The US has been using threats and force not just to intimidate but also to demoralize and subjugate. Threats like the one made by U.S. Ambassador Charles Shapiro after the last coup, who said that it was fine to assassinate a President in order to change that government's policy. Then there is the outright support in funds, training, and gunrunning to terrorist groups like "F-4 Commandos" and "Comandos de la Libertad", who are fighting the popularly elected government, and have worked out a plan to invade Venezuela by using the government of Colombia.We must prevent and defeat this imperialist intervention. Join Us!

No to US intervention in Venezuela!

Forward to Socialism!

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Find out more at:

• Socialist Appeal: http://www.socialistappeal.org
• In Defence of Marxism: http://www.marxist.com
• Corriente Marxista Revolucionaria: http://venezuela.elmilitante.org
• Hands Off Venezuela: http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org

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Those that abandon a class approach to the question of War will find themselves like a tightrope walker without a stick, unbalanced and certain to fall to earth with a bang!