On 21 September, a Palestinian delegation of 15 grassroots, civil society organizations visited the Venezuelan Ambassador to Palestine, Jonathan Velasco, pictured in the center (photo by the AIC, 2008).
A
Palestinian delegation representing 15 grassroots, civil society organizations
paid a visit yesterday (21 September) to the Venezuelan Ambassador to Palestine,
Jonathan Velasco, to express solidarity with the people of Venezuela in the
wake of mounting attacks by the American government on the government of
President Hugo Chavez and progressive governments and movements throughout
Latin America.
The seven
person delegation, led by Adnan Ramadan, Coordinator of the Occupied Palestine
and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative (OPGAI), a coalition of grassroots
organizations, and Sergio Yahni of
the Alternative Information Center, a member of OPGAI, brought with it a letter
of solidarity for President Chavez and the Venezuelan people.
“We have
come to express our deep solidarity and friendship with the Venezuelan people
and all the peoples of Latin America who are under attack from American
imperialism, as we are in Palestine
and throughout the Arab world,“ noted Ramadan in his opening remarks to
Ambassador Velasco.
“We know
how important solidarity is to our struggle for Palestinian freedom,” Yahni later
added, “and the question is how to create tools for solidarity between and
amongst southern states and peoples, instead of always looking for solidarity and
assistance from the northern countries.”
Ambassador
Velasco expressed great appreciation for the solidarity visit by the coalition
of Palestinian civil society groups, noting the importance of a free Palestine for Venezuela and all the peoples of
the world. Velasco stressed the significance of Palestinian resistance to Israel’s occupation as an essential means for
change, adding that Palestine
is one of the most important fronts against imperialism worldwide.
“What the
impoverished people of the world most need is their freedom,” Velasco
concluded, remarking on the revolutionary process occurring today in Venezuela and the revolutionary traditions in
general of Latin America as making a tangible
and positive contribution to this crucial goal.
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