A group of almost 400 hundred Venezuelan journalists issued a statement today denouncing what they consider is a "campaign" from the United States against Venezuela.

The journalists argue that negative and frequent media coverage of Venezuela in the U.S., as well as the frequent comments by high ranking officials at the State Department, CIA, and White House, amount to a "campaign" similar to those applied against countries which were later invaded by the U.S.

"As it was done in the past to Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Chile, Grenada, and Haiti, the government of the United States today targets the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela with all its media and propaganda power. In those brother nations, such campaigns served as the preamble for an armed invasion by the main global military power," the statement says.

The conservative U.S. Fox News network recently ran a news series titled "The Iron Fist of Hugo Chavez," in which the twice-elected leader is portrayed as an authoritarian dictator. Last January, the U.S. National Public Radio (NPR) featured a report from Venezuela in which a family described fears of buying a new car for fear of having it confiscated by the Venezuelan government.

The explosive 17% GDP growth experienced by the Venezuelan economy and news such as a vehicles sales growth of 47% last year, are often ignored by the media when reporting on Venezuela, including both the NPR and Fox News reports.

"The intervention by the George W. Bush administration, as witnessed during the 2002 coup d'état and the oil strike, lost all subtlety and pretense during the recent conflict between Venezuela and Colombia over the abduction of Rodrigo Granda in Caracas. The State Department called South American nations to pressure the Hugo Chavez administration, failing to garner a single echo in the region," the statement continues.

Relationships beteween the government of leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and the Unites States government, have deteriorated in 2005. The kidnapping and arrest of a Colombian guerilla leader in Venezuela sparked a brief, but tense stand-off between Venezuela and Colombia, with the US siding clearly with the latter. Chavez often cites evidence of of U.S. support for the 2002 coup d'etat against him and has complained of funds for groups that oppose him coming from the U.S. Congress-funded National Endowment for Democracy.

Recent U.S. military presence near Venezuela caused concern and was taken as an act of provocation by several Venezuelan officials.

A non-official translation of the journalists' statement is reproduced below:

Code of Ethics for Venezuelan Journalists

Article 40 – The journalist has the unavoidable duty of defending National Sovereignty and territorial integrity. Consequently, he/she must contribute to this patriotic task through trade union actions, opposing any practice or campaign that contradicts national interests, as well as peace and friendship among the people.

As it was done in the past to Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Chile, Grenada, and Haiti, the government of the United States today targets the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela with all its media and propaganda power. In those brother nations, such campaigns served as the preamble for an armed invasion by the main global military power.

The media campaign against Venezuela and its government worsened in 2005. In addition to the daily comments by high officials at the State Department, CIA, and White House, a campaign full of lies and distortions through major newspapers and news channels was initiated.

The intervention by the George W. Bush administration, as witnessed during the 2002 coup d'état and the oil strike, lost all subtlety and pretense during the recent conflict between Venezuela and Colombia over the abduction of Rodrigo Granda in Caracas. The State Department called South American nations to pressure the Hugo Chavez administration, failing to garner a single echo in the region.

In addition to this foreign campaign, several sectors within the national [Venezuelan] media have lost all scruples and joined this initiative. Under the hypocritical title of non-governmental organizations, several organisms, financed by the United States, have supported these dark objectives.

The end result is to overthrow President Hugo Chavez Frias' democratic government, one legitimated by eight electoral processes and a presidential recall referendum.

The Venezuelan journalists who undersign this petition, not only denounce the White House's campaign against our country, but also its sinister objective to end our process of transformation, regardless of national stability. Henceforth, we denounce this criminal aggression.

From Venezuela we alert the world of this interventionist plan based on lies, distortion, and manipulation. We call all journalists and the free and independent media to oppose this immoral and ostentatious campaign. Venezuela, in camparison to the United States, is a small country. But truth is greater than Bush and his interventionist and lying government.

Jesús Romero Anselmi, Desiree Santos A, Ilva Calderón Ángel, Juan Barreto, Helena Salcedo, Mabel Silva, William Lara, Vanessa Davies, Ernesto Villegas, Asalia Venegas, Francisco Solórzano, Cristina González, Roberto Malaver, Rafaela Cusati, Earle Herrera, William Castillo B., Freddy Fernández, José Roberto Duque, Vladimir Villegas, Eduardo Rothe, Thady Carabaño, Ivenny Marcano, Jacqueline Paredes, Alfredo Vitoria Pérez, Luis Leonardo Gómez, Sonia Vivas Torres, Ana Teresa Aranguren, Antonio Vega, Egilda Gómez, Arnoldo García, Santana Jerez Uzcátegui, Tatiana Arcos Murillo, Armando Carías, Luis Laya Guzmán, Marianela Vargas, Norah Gamboa, Carmen Cecilia Lara, Joanna Cadenas, Alice Peña, Geriz Garrido, Harry Rondón, Yelitza Medina, Mylene Cegarra Pérez, José Chirinos, Luis Hernández, Edinson Hurtado, Miguel Castillo, Juan Medina, Karelis Ríos, Edgar Ramírez, Esther Peña, Anarkali Volcán Núñez, Mina Pérez, Ramón Darío Rodríguez, Nadia Pérez, José Sabogal, Mailyn Talavera, Pedro Calzadilla Álvarez, Nayauri Jiménez, Ricardo Umaña, Susana Mancilla, César Quivera, Alejandra Fleitas, Perla Noguera, Glesxy Insú Dugarte, Francia Sarmiento, Ana Rosa Prieto, Indira Gamboa, Doriana Monasterios, Mónica Landaeta, Ivanova Rodríguez, José Oswaldo Pino, Teresa Maniglia, Francisco Pérez Santana, Doralys Martínez, Isabel Cordones, Patricia Vielma, Irama Pérez Blanco, Ángel Liendo Origen Marlon Acosta, Alexandra Sánchez, Emilce Chacón, Yasmirian Betancourt, Tomas Ramírez, Fernando Francisco Uquia, Ana Torrealba, Alberto Granado, Liz Dinicola, Daniel Guerra, Olga Aranguren, Yolanda Hernández, Richard Polo Castellanos, José Borges, Luis Alvis Castillo, Patricia Velásquez, Rosa María Gómez, Aminta Cardozo, Livia Suárez, Johansen Medina, Marvín Bolívar, Madeleine Camacho, Mario Antonio Socorro, Ninoska Perdomo, Maira de los Ríos, Magali Martínez, Isidro Amaurera Jilguera, Josefina Serrano, Victoria Mata, Alcides Castillo, Raima Rondón, Carlos Colina Yánez, Ricardo Durán, Orlando Ascanio, Pablo Bracho, Jimi López, Alexis González Mariche, José Luis Díaz Jiménez, Carlos Javier Rojas, Luis Rafael Martínez, Ciro Quintero, Solange Morales, Elsy Álvarez, Eduardo Maucó, León Olivier, Milagros Pérez, Ángel Bastidas, Octavio Beumont, Verónica Viloria, William García Insausti, Joaquín Ortuño, Yesica Herrera, Henry Baldayo, Liliana Pérez, Rubén Marcano, Alejandrina Gómez, Gloria Mejía, Jacqueline Durán Tuas, Belén Muñoz, Adalberto Rodríguez, Nicanor Gómez, Mario Muchacho, Giovanna Méndez, Orlando Conde, Kiramara Reyes, Felipe Araujo, Argenis Arraiz, William Romero, William Hernández, William Jiménez, Roy Daza, Carlos Espinoza, Evelio Silva, Sergio Fernández, Mirna Flores, Francisco Hernández Barcenas, Bárbara Mora, Lizzie López, Solangel Mendoza, Juan Monasterios Malave, Pavel Mudarra, María Fernánda Myerston, José Gregorio Nieves, Ingrid Calzadilla, Mariana Olivar, Pavel Rodríguez, Jorge Oropeza, Luis Felipe Rodríguez, Napoleón Pérez, Scalett Tortoledo, Vicenzo Villalobos, Aurora Salinas, Carmen Isabel Herrera, Tony Ortega Delgado, Nelida Arrechedera, Hindu Anderi, Yolanda Delgado, Chistine Nieves Suárez, Daniel Peralta, José Luis Noguera, Rosario Pacheco, Sulgey Colmenares, América Millán, Omar Pernía, Doménico Carucci, Daniela Carrillo, Lesbia Arvelo, María Eugenia Zambrano, Tania Vega, Klibis Marín, Nefetiti Blanco, Suelkis Contreras, Ana María Hernández, María Fernanda Vásquez, Fedora Lau, Amarilis Landaeta, Nathaly González, Carlos Julio Rojas, Verónika Talavera, Ingelore Murren, Hanny Figueroa, Romelia Matute, César Chirinos, Antonio Rodríguez, Jennifer Peña, Jorge Pérez Carreño, Jorge Luis López, Leonardo A. Padrón M., Armando Mentado Ochoa, Elsy Villarroel, David Berríos Juárez, Jenny Dorta, Rita Martínez, Floralba Calderón, Ybett González, Flor Berríos, Elimar Álvarez, Norelys Rivas, Rafael Zamora, Alirio Rumbos, María Virginia Vivas, Cecilia González, Carolina Curvelo, Rocío Mejía, Celina Sulbarán, Ricardo Cabrera, Gilberto Ruiz, Ramón A. Pereira Jerez, Ramiro Sánchez T., César Cañas, Rafael Castellano, Kamal Hazan, Alberto Martínez, María Alesandra Arias, Vanesa Araque García, Ángela Angulo, Marlene Espinoza, Aliria Quevedo, Ildelgar Gil, Kenia Kali Lugo, Amalia Fernández, Marlon Acosta Guerra, Andrea Salas, Rosa María González, Wiston Márquez, Carmen Rodríguez, Yesenia Méndez, Melián Herrera, Humberto Rosales, Betsi Ceballos, Verónica Morales, Ricardo Cardona, Eduardo Silvera, Emma Carolina Agurto, José Manuel Coa, Mayerlin Camacho Pérez, Siari Rodríguez, Diana Silva, Eleonora Pulido, Gabriela Vásquez, Adela Leal, Miguel Méndez, Joseline Jiménez, Rosa González, Norma C. Rojo, Gonzalo Medina, Meliaut Herrera, Cristina Rivero, Wilfredo Batista, Isabel Meléndez, Evelyn Guarenas, Orlando Rodríguez de Abreu, Carlos Villalba, Miryam Escalona, Harold Arcos, Lilybeth Michelangelli, Juan Carlos Pérez Escaño, Jessica Sosa, Adlemi Martín, Augusto Hernández, Luis Aguilera, Mireya Mata, Ramón Roquett, Pedro González Silva, Priscilla Méndez, Ezequiel Sánchez, Raiza Núñez, Angelynne Vergara, Douglas Bolívar, Raúl Cazal, Angélica Antías, Julio Pereira, Nínive Camacho, Susana Mancilla, Deiry Valera, Manuel Díaz, José Cuevas, Francis Zambrano, Leonardo Zurita, Aurelio Gil, Betty Colina, Ibelise Velázquez, Xavier De La Rosa, Erika Hernández, Nancy Mastronardi, Marcel Roo, Lilia Parra, Jorge Medina Lugo, Antonio Barrios, Carolina Rojas, José Vicente Scorza, Ernesto Vegas, Ylse Valera, Ingrid Calzadilla, Libonny Pérez, Rosángela Moreno, Anabel Caballero, Rocío Mejía, Wilfredo Rojas, Xiomara Borges, Doris Carvajal, Félix Gutiérrez, Carlos Vielma, Luis Medina, Alejandra Fleitas, Carmen Ostia, Hernán Mena Cifuentes, María Alejandra Chacón, Irving Guanipa, Eloi Yagüe, Alcides Maldonado, Freila Ramos, Morayvic Briceño, Agnedy Acevedo, Michel Caballero, Yulitza Patiño, Carlos Bermúdez, Kaori Flores, Raquel Chacón, Penélope de la Rosa, María Alejandra Chacón, María Alejandra Gutiérrez, Edgar Padrón, María Sonia Aquino, Ludovico Quiñones, Miriam Carolina Pérez, Lorena González, Milagros Simancas, Lisa Robles, Ingrid Navarro, Florángel Cazal, Marlitza Matheus, Enza García, Alfredo Palacios, José Manuel Blanco D., Jorge Rivas, Alexis Ramírez, Leonardo Ojeda, Amelia Bustillos Ponte, Jair Pernía, Daniel Escámez, Olys Guarate, María Isabel Cerón, Nely Gómez, Zuleima Centeno, Karina Quintero, Manuela Solé, Carlos Ibarra, Mauricio Rodríguez G., Lenelina Delgado, Angie Rangel, Zenndy Berríos, Tania González, Roselén Fernández, Beatriz Cárdenas, Andreina Fermín, Zulinel Rivero, Lorena Parada, Paola Becerra, Juan Diego Fresán, Wilfredo Pérez Bianco, Ana Gómez, Violeta Galárraga, Augusto Hernández, Mireya Mata, Luis Aguilera, Germán Villegas C., Ernesto J. Navarro.

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Current U.S. ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte has been nominated by President Bush to be chief advisor and the first National Intelligence Director,  with authority over 15 formerly independent intelligence agencies. So just who is he? For starters, John Negroponte is a multi-millionaire who has made a lot of money off of owning stock in companies that benefit directly from the war and occupation of Iraq. In Iraq, he has been linked to a proposal where U.S.-funded Central American-style death squads or the so called "Salvador option"  has been put forward as a way to quell the Iraqi insurgency against the U.S. occupation.

Negroponte has denied this, but his record indicates that his support for such a plan is not at all far-fetched. During his 41-year career with the State Department, or as some have called it "Death Squads Inc.", he and his cronies shepherded a murder machine from Vietnam to Iraq.  Negroponte worked as a political officer at the U.S. embassy in Vietnam from 1964-1968, a period during which there was increased involvement of the government in the war and thousands of executions of civilians and human rights abuses, including the massacres by the infamous "Tiger Force" of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division.

As ambassador to Honduras from 1981-1985, he was in charge of the Command Center set-up to stop and overthrow all the emerging national liberation movements taking place in Central America. Military budgets grew in Honduras alone from 4 million dollars to 77 million dollars and the CIA agents stationed there increased tenfold. Money was no object legality or illegality to fight the insurgencies.  He lied to Congress about the CIA-created "Battalion 316" Honduran death squad and covert operations that occurred. He supervised the building of the "El Aguacate" air base and other regional military training centers for the Central American Forces, the Contras, and the Salvadorean military. These bases were also secret detention and torture centers and were used to launch the covert war against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua and the mining of their harbors.

But we must remember that Negroponte did not act alone, he got his marching orders from Ronald Reagan and William Casey and all the U.S. embassies in the region worked together to put down these revolutionary movements.In El Salvador, one player stands out from the rest, the current ambassador to Venezuela, William Brownfield. He played a decisive role along with John Negroponte as a political officer in the embassy cover-up of U.S. involvement in the assassination Archbishop Oscar Romero.  He also worked to cover up the murder of the four American Maryknoll nuns and other nuns escaping the violence there.  Brownfield also played a key role in directing the death squads and El Salvadorean military, who butchered tens of thousands of trade unionists and members of the FMLN. The death squads did not just kill these people, but in a lot of cases they dismembered them and placed their heads on poles as a warning to the rest of the population.

In Venezuela, ambassador Brownfield has been brought in as a relief pitcher to former ambassador Robert Shapiro, himself no stranger to coups.  Shapiro helped in the staging of the April 2002 coup against President Chavez and the destabilization programs that followed. He was also involved in the CIA-backed murderous overthrow of Chilean President Salvador Allende in September of 1973, and death of thousands of people under a military dictatorship that lasted a decade.

In fact, William Brownfield, as ambassador to Chile on the anniversary of the overthrow of that government in 2003, stated publicly in a memorial service that "people who hate the United States must be controlled, arrested or eliminated."

Brownfield's game plan for Venezuela is to unite the opposition, the 400 U.S. corporations, and the fifth-columnists and create an atmosphere for the overthrow of the Bolivarian Revolution. He along with Negroponte will be at the forefront in trying to stop the flowering of the Latin American and World revolutions that we find ourselves in this epoch.

These are the types of people the U.S. government makes responsible for carrying out U.S. policy around the world - under both Republican and the Democratic administrations. The interests of the U.S. imperialists are defended, while the revolutionary aspirations of working people are drowned in blood. Our task is to build a new society in which death squads, the Brownfields, Negropontes and the capitalist system that creates and nurtures them are consigned to the dust bin of history.

Hands Off Venezuela!
Forward to Socialism!

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I have said it already, I am convinced that the way to build a new and better world is not capitalism. Capitalism leads us straight to hell
(Hugo Chavez)

“I am convinced that the path to a new, better and possible world is not capitalism, the path is socialism”. With this clear statement on his weekly TV programme “Alo Presidente,” Chavez reaffirmed his point of view that socialism is the only way forward to solve the problems of inequality, misery and poverty that millions face in Venezuela and the world today.

He added: “I have said it already, I am convinced that the way to build a new and better world is not capitalism. Capitalism leads us straight to hell.” The President had already made similar statements speaking at the World Social Forum in Brazil at the end of January.

Last Sunday’s Alo Presidente programme was broadcast from Cocorote in the mainly agricultural state of Yaracuy. Chavez made an appeal to open a discussion about the question of socialism within his own party, the Movement for the Fifth Republic (MVR), and within the Bolivarian revolutionary movement in general.

He explained how this conviction came after many years of struggle: “I am convinced, at this stage of my life – I am now 50 years old – after six years as a president, after nearly 30 years of political struggle, since 1977, when I had the idea of taking an oath from a small group of fellow countrymen, soldiers, to create the first nucleus – there were only about 5 of us then – of what later became the MBR-200 [Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement 200] ... after many readings, debates, discussions and many travels around the world, etc., I am convinced, and I think that this conviction will be for the rest of my life, that the path to a new, better and possible world, is not capitalism, the path is socialism, that is the path: socialism, socialism”.

The public cheered and applauded the speech. The reaction of the live audience to Chavez’s words shows the enormous potential that there is in the Venezuelan revolutionary movement for the ideas of socialist transformation. This is the result of the practical experience of the last 16 years of struggle. February 27th marked the 16th anniversary of the “Caracazo” uprising, which was to transform Venezuela’s political life. And in particular the last six years since Chavez was elected in December 1998 have had an impact.

Hugo Chavez’s political evolution has not proceeded in a straight line, as he explained himself on Friday 25th, at a Summit on Social Debt in Caracas. He honestly pointed out that he had toyed with the idea of a “Third Way” as a solution to capitalism: “a third way, capitalism with a human face, trying to give the monster a mask.” But he concluded: “this mask has fallen to the floor shattered by reality”.

When he came to power in 1998 Chavez did not start from a socialist standpoint. He was committed to solving the problems of inequality, poverty, and misery of millions of Venezuelans. But he initially thought that could be done within the limits of the capitalist system. His government actually has gone out of its way not to violate private property rights of big landowners, bankers and businessmen.

The contradiction from the very beginning was precisely that any attempt to seriously address these problems would clash head on with the interests of the oligarchy, a tight coalition of interests of landowners, bankers, capitalists and the state bureaucracy, completely subordinated to the wishes of US imperialism.

Since President Chavez was seriously committed to solving these problems, the oligarchy, en masse, went over to the side of armed insurrection against the democratically elected government. This shows the extremely parasitical nature of the Venezuelan oligarchy (a feature it shares with the ruling classes of all capitalist countries in the so-called Third World). They organised the military coup of April 2002, the oil industry sabotage and bosses’ lockout of December 2002, the bringing of Colombian paramilitaries to Caracas and the fascist provocation of la guarimba in February 2004, the presidential recall referendum in August 2004, and so on.

It has been this rich experience of the revolutionary movement, faced with the constant provocations of the ruling class, that has pushed Chavez and many in the Bolivarian revolutionary movement to draw the conclusion that “Within the framework of capitalism it is impossible to solve the challenges of fighting against poverty, misery, exploitation, inequality” (Venezuela’s elections: defeat for the opposition, advance for the Bolivarian movement), as Chavez himself explained during the October regional election campaign.

This dynamic of action and reaction of the Venezuelan revolution reminds us in a very powerful way of the first years of the Cuban revolution. In a process of attack and counter-attack, the leadership of the Cuban revolution, which did not start with the intention of overthrowing capitalism, was forced, in order to solve the most pressing needs of the masses, to overthrow capitalism.

This is one side of the question, but there is another side. Chavez is a man who devours books and has an enormous thirst for ideas. This is no accident. It reflects the pressing need to find a way out of the problems faced by the revolution. That is why Hugo Chavez has been reading Marxist literature, which has undoubtedly had an influence on him. He has publicly praised Alan Woods’ book Reason in Revolt on several occasions. He has particularly quoted the section that deals with the molecular process of the revolution, a section that is particularly relevant to the stage the Bolivarian Revolution is now passing through.

Even more relevant is Trotsky’s Permanent Revolution, which he bought from the comrades of El Militante at the meeting with the workers in Madrid, and which he has also recommended enthusiastically. The main thesis of this book is precisely the fact that none of the tasks of the national democratic revolution can be carried out by the bourgeoisie in backward capitalist countries, since they have arrived too late on the scene of history, and that these tasks can only be solved by the working class through the struggle for socialism.

The central idea of the theory of Permanent Revolution is that in colonial and ex-colonial countries the struggle for the bourgeois democratic tasks, if it is pursued to the end, must lead (in an uninterrupted or permanent manner) to the socialist revolution. But that is only half of the theory. The other main idea in the Permanent Revolution is that revolution cannot be limited within the borders of one country, but must spread internationally as the only guarantee of its victory. Chavez has also commented favourably upon this idea, stating publicly that Trotsky was right against Stalin on this question, and that the Bolivarian Revolution must spread to other countries in order to succeed.

At the Summit on Social Debt, he said that so far in six years of government, “we have not defined our model as socialist”. He added: “I am saying this in my personal capacity, to contribute to the debate, to open the discussion within the parties that support the revolution”. But his position is clear: “if it is not capitalism, then, what is it? I have no doubts, it is socialism”. On Alo Presidente he stressed the need for a debate on this question: “let’s discuss, we are not afraid of ideas”.

In previous occasions Chavez has made it clear that what is needed is to study the original ideas of socialism, which have been distorted by Stalinism. “Which socialism, of the many that there are? We could think that none of those that have existed, though they represent experience, achievements, advancement in many cases, we will have to invent it, this is why this debate is so important, we must invent 21st century socialism.”

At the end of his Alo Presidente programme he insisted that the kind of socialism he is thinking about is based on “revolutionary democracy”: “all of this, the urban land committees, the endogenous growth nucleus, the ‘Into the neighbourhood’ mission, the Housing Mission... all of these are tools for the building of socialism, we must move away from capitalism”.

Chavez has said on many occasions that the only way to end poverty is, “to give power to the poor”. That idea is basically correct, but like all the other ideas expressed by Chavez, it must be given a concrete content. Genuine socialism can only be based on the democracy of workers’ committees in the factories, workplaces and working class communities, soldiers’ committees and peasants’ committees. This was actually carried into practice by the Bolshevik Party under the leadership of Lenin and Trotsky in Russia in 1917, although it was later betrayed and distorted by Stalin.

Chavez’s latest statements about socialism come after the Zamoran decrees to speed up land reform were passed in January and the expropriation of Venepal, also in January. The land reform decrees have already been used to take over part of El Charcote ranch (owned by British multimillionaire Lord Vestey). Venepal is now jointly owned by the state and the workers and run on the basis of a structure in which the Workers’ Assembly is the supreme body. The workers at the Constructora Nacional de Valvulas (the CNV makes valves for the oil industry), also abandoned by its owners, have now re-launched their struggle and are also demanding nationalisation under workers’ control.

It is clear that the Bolivarian Revolution now stands at the turning point. If it is to go forward, it must now grasp the nettle, confront the oligarchy and carry out the expropriation of the land, the banks and the big enterprises that remain in private hands. In order to avoid the abomination of bureaucracy and totalitarianism, it must develop a democratic model – not the corrupt pseudo-democracy of the bourgeoisie but a new model of socialist democracy that means that power is firmly in the hands of the workers and peasants.

Some people say that the Bolivarian model must not take its ideas from other countries, especially Europe. If that means that the Bolivarian Revolution must not slavishly import foreign models, we agree. The Venezuelan revolution has its own character, personality and historical traditions and the masses have already demonstrated their colossal capacity for creativity and inventiveness.

But if it signifies a national limitedness and narrow mindedness, that is bad and has nothing in common with the true ideas of Bolivar. Let us not forget that Simon Bolivar based himself on a very European model – that of the French Revolution. In the same way the modern descendants of Bolivar will seek to learn from other revolutions. After all, we do not need to re-invent the wheel. Revolution did not end with Bolivar, and the revolutionary ideology was later perfected and placed on a scientific basis by Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky, and other revolutionary thinkers.

The modern Bolivarians will be as open to genuinely revolutionary ideas from other countries as was their founder. It is no accident that, along with Bolivar and the other heroes of the Latin American revolutionary tradition, Hugo Chavez quotes the works of the great Russian revolutionary, Leon Trotsky. The modern Bolivarians will repeat the experience of the Russian Revolution, but on a higher level, and filling it with a genuinely Venezuelan and Latin American content. In this way they will preserve the best of the old to produce something genuinely new and original.

Above all, it is necessary to commence the debate on ideas that President Chavez has called for. The Marxist tendency represented in Venezuela by the Revolutionary Marxist Current, and internationally by El Militante and Marxist.com will participate actively in this debate. This is the only way in which we can develop a layer of revolutionary cadres, integrated in the Bolivarian Movement, capable of providing the necessary guidance in the decisive battles against capitalism.

The opening of the debate about socialism represents a decisive turning point in the Venezuelan revolution and it has worldwide implications. For the first time in many years, the leader of a mass revolutionary movement is drawing the correct conclusions from his own experience. He has come to the conclusion that capitalism cannot solve the problems of the masses and that socialism is the only way forward. That should be warmly welcomed by all sincere revolutionaries. Now what is needed is to convert words into deeds!

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In a speech that further solidified President Chavez's embrace of socialism, Chavez said that he "has no doubts" that socialism is the only model that will allow societies to overcome poverty. According to Chavez, "Within the capitalist model it is impossible to overcome the drama of poverty, of misery, and of inequality."

Chavez gave this speech at the opening of an international conference on the "social debt," which began on Friday in Caracas, where analysts from around the world discussed the foreign debt, the Social Charter of the Americas, environmentalism, and Western domination. Chavez's speech at the conference represented a further endorsement of how his views had moved towards an embrace of socialism since his speech at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, a few weeks ago.

Chavez added that it was necessary to "invent the socialism of the 21st century," rather than applying the old model that had been tried before. "This is a debate that we've begun to have in Venezuela," said Chavez.

According to Chavez, it is not just the Third World debt that prevents their development, but also their lack of unified action. Also, it is not just neo-liberal capitalism that contributes to poverty, but its concept of sustainable development does not help either.

Instead, Chavez proposes "endogenous development" and the creation of an International Humanitarian Fund, 50% of which would come from Third World countries' foreign debt payments, which are estimated to be at $270 billion per year.

Chavez also reiterated the need for debtor countries to develop a unified strategy for dealing with the Third World debt.As part of this need Venezuela is promoting the creation of a Social Charter for the Organization of American States, which would complement the existing Democratic Charter. The Social Charter will be one of the main topics of discussion at the conference.

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