The following is the second edition of a regular column written by President Hugo Chávez Frías:
“The world turns…” says an old song from the sixties. And it really turns.
“Let the wind blow…” And it really does.
Barack Obama was inaugurated with great expectations from a world that says “enough” to the many aggressions of a declining Empire. He said to those “leaders who want to sow conflict” that “we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
Well, from here, where millions of human beings in the global South have suffered the U.S. Empire’s punches for a long time, I am sure can speak for the oppressed people when I say that it is precisely the government of the United States that should unclench its fist. Outstretched hands, full of brotherhood, would be offered from throughout the world. Among them, without a doubt, would be those of this revolutionary soldier and the millions of Venezuelans who, even though Obama may not know it, are building a deep democracy: Democratic Socialism!
Meanwhile, “let the wind blow” and let us say, as Saint Thomas did, “let me see and then I shall believe.” Or as our Uruguayan writer friend, Eduardo Galeano, said: “let us hope.”
Fidel already proposed this from his trench of ideas, the one life reserved for him to continue fighting the battles of the 21st century, following the strategic guidelines of Simón Bolívar when he said, in Angostura, “the printing press is the artillery of thought.” He wrote:
“Nevertheless, despite the tests he has overcome, Obama has not yet passed the main one. What will he do when the immense power in his hands proves absolutely useless for overcoming the system’s insoluble antagonistic contradictions?”
And Lula also said something a few days ago, from the wide plains of Maracaibo, where we are building a socialist development center with Brazilian support. He said: “Chávez, we need to speak with Obama before the machinery traps him.”
Meanwhile, in the whirlwind of world events, here in the homeland of Bolivar this political battle for a Constitutional amendment continues, becoming more intense each day. Let me repeat: here, the patriots; there, the colonialists.
In my ceaseless travels throughout the country, from Barcelona to Cabimas, where I swore in tens of thousands of committees for the Yes vote belong to the Socialist Missions Front, to the streets, paths and building of the heroic neighborhood of January 23rd, I have noted the growing enthusiasm of the Venezuelan people, a true frenzy, a flood of passion for the Homeland.
It is now necessary to redouble our political offensive on our fronts everywhere. Today, Sunday January 25th, the Fourth Phase of our campaign will begin: Deployment.
I call upon all of the people, on the allied parties, on socialist fronts, on socialist volunteers, on the committees for Yes, to use all of their initiative, creativity, joy, organization, machinery and mobilization hour after hour, day by day, house by house, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city, in an enormous, intelligent, passionate and reasoned political offensive.
We must crush the power misinformation campaign that the counterrevolution continues to launch against the people; a campaign based on constant lying and deception, with an endless number of fabricated stories, like that monument to the absurd and idiocy: that tale about “indefinite reelection.”
Every time I hear a pitiyankee say that the amendment is for “indefinite reelection,” I remember Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “…a tale. Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”
That is what “indefinite reelection” is, it signifies nothing. Simply put, reelection is either definite or it is not. Reelection means an obligatory, definite call for elections, the definition of a date for a popular vote and an exactly defined term period. The Constitution defines the term periods, from four to six years, for every popularly elected office…
There is thus no such thing that resembles what the pitiyankess call “indefinite reelection”!
To reelect is to elect once again. Whoever aims to remain in a popularly elected post must be subject to the will of the people. Can someone perpetually remain in power if voters do not elect him or her? Why can it not be up to the people to decide who governs? Why is the opposition afraid, as it is afraid of the devil, of answering these simple questions? Why are they afraid?
I know. They are afraid of the people, who rose as a collective Lazarus!
I propose, my fellow citizen, man or woman, youth of my Homeland, that between you and I, between all of us voting Yes on February 15th, that we achieve perpetual power for the Venezuelan people. Let us choose the Simón Bolívar National Project for life to fully achieve National Independence. Let us place this marvelous duo, which is only possible in the future Socialist Society, on an eternal throne: Equality and Freedom!
I, Chávez the solider, your friend, believe in you and I say, with our Founding Father Bolívar: “I have more faith in the people’s resolutions than in the advice of sages.”
With you, I say: Yes!
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, January 25, 2009
Translation by the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Press Office.
Victory
