5th International Seminar: Problems of the Revolution in Latin America

The discussion regarding the Seizure of Power and the Forms of Struggle has brought together – in Quito, Ecuador – various revolutionary organizations of Latin America and Europe in the 5th International Seminar, Problems of the Revolution in Latin America. The discussion was frank, open and fraternal.

We reject all the assertions of the imperialist powers and the bourgeoisie regarding the consolidation of capitalism as a system, and the acceptance of its political hegemony as an inevitable necessity for the development of the dependent countries and the welfare of the peoples. Reality shows that an aggravation of the world crisis of the capitalist system is under way that is striking our countries harshly. At the same time, the violence, repression and militarization of the State are increasing. The only definitive and valid response to overcome it is in the revolution of social and national liberation.

The workers and the peoples, in all regions, are growing stronger in battles confronting the counter-revolutionary offensive of imperialism and monopoly capital on a world scale. In Latin America we have the recent experience of struggles of the workers, peasants, indigenous peoples and students, of popular uprisings led by thousands of men and women of our peoples, the experience of insurgency and popular rebellions as in Argentina and Bolivia, which have even overthrown reactionary governments as in Ecuador. In Colombia the insurgent action of the guerrilla movements is continuing to develop, accompanied by a reactivation of the movement of the masses. We find ourselves in a period of revival of the struggle of the workers and the peoples that, evidently, expresses itself in a different way in each region and country.

This reality propels the revolutionaries to the discussion and taking up of measures and actions of struggle that allow them to direct the discontent and the fight of the workers and the peoples toward the seizure of Power.

The revolutionary parties define the character of the revolution in accordance with their analysis of the type of socio-economic formation of each country. In accordance with this, they define the tactic of the revolutionary and social struggle at a concrete moment and they link it with the strategy, with the central objective of the revolution which is the seizure of power. They also formulate the characteristic which the revolutionary armed struggle takes on in each country. The existence of general laws of society and of the revolution unifies our battle and they determine the existence of necessary and common elements to be taken into account for the triumph of the processes of social transformation.

Our struggle places at the centre the seizure of power because, without this, it is impossible to carry forward the social, political and economic transformations necessary to put an end to capitalism, to imperialist oppression and to build socialist society.

Our organizations and parties should arrange our forces to develop simultaneously the economic and the political struggle, at a time that the ideological confrontation for the new world is rising.

All the forms of struggle that serve to undermine the foundation of the ruling state, to develop the consciousness of the workers and the peoples and to accumulate forces for the revolution should contribute to this goal; such as the struggle for wages, factory strikes, land seizures, territorial control, street fighting, participation in elections, armed action.

The utilization of various forms of struggle is determined by objective and subjective factors, they should correspond to the concrete moment that each country is passing through as well as to the degree of development of the revolutionary forces and of the political consciousness of the masses.

We revolutionaries have an obligation to study the historic experience of the struggle of the masses and to synthesize it; to innovate, master and participate in the various forms of struggle and to develop the ability to combine them correctly in view of the specific conditions and of the needs of the movement.

We are convinced that only the revolutionary armed struggle leads to power, so that the various forms of struggle should aim at the sharpening of class confrontation, toward the final battles which would mean the violent overthrow of the domination of imperialism and the capitalists and the local ruling classes.

‘Violence is the midwife of history.’ To the violence of imperialism and the ruling classes who seek to maintain their system there is opposed revolutionary violence. Historic experience has shown us that there is no certain road for the triumph of the revolution other than the armed action of the masses.

The masses of workers of the cities and the countryside, the peoples, are the protagonists of the revolution. Power must be seized and exercised by those masses led by the vanguard party.

We, the organizations which have signed below, commit ourselves to this line and assume the responsibility to work for it, to fulfill honourably the commitment that we have made to the working class of each of our countries and to the working class and peoples on an international scale.

From this International Seminar we recognize and salute the heroic struggle that the peoples of the world are developing, and in particular we are in solidarity with the battles that the peoples of Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru and of the Philippines and Nepal in Asia, Burkina Faso in Africa, are waging; we raise our banners to salute the heroic struggle of the Palestinian people to achieve their national liberation against Zionist-imperialist domination. We oppose the blockade imposed by Yankee imperialism against Cuba as well as the genocidal embargo and frequent bombardments against Iraq. We affirm the principle of sovereignty and the right to self-determination of the peoples.

Our struggle continues and we will return to meet again at the 6th International Seminar, to advance the development of the social revolution.

5th International Seminar, Problems of the Revolution in Latin America Quito, July 2001

Resolutions of the 5th International Seminar: Problems of the Revolution in Latin America

The International Seminar ‘Problems of the Revolution in Latin America’ stands in solidarity with the Cuban people, who are heroically defending their revolution and its achievements, and are forging ahead with its development by their exemplary effort. It condemns the criminal imperialist blockade, against which Cuba is fighting, resisting and rising up victoriously, defending its national independence.

Solidarity with the fraternal people of Cuba is an obligation for the workers, peoples, patriots and revolutionaries of Latin America and the world and our militant efforts should be devoted to that purpose.

The political parties and organizations participating in the 5th International Seminar express our militant solidarity with the heroic Palestinian people and our full support to the national demands of the right to return and the creation of an independent State with its capital in Jerusalem.

We condemn the brutal aggression that the Zionist occupier, with the support of United States imperialism, is committing against the Palestinian people. We reaffirm our commitment to extend solidarity with Palestine in the conviction that the revolutionary and popular struggle that is developing in the framework of the second Intifada is succeeding in destroying the Zionist plan of total domination of the Palestinian territories and the new regional order pushed forward by the imperialists of the United States and Europe. The new Palestinian uprising has become a symbol of resistance to the humiliation the Arab people feel and suffer from, caused by the imperialist political, economic and military intervention.

The popular uprising in the Occupied Territories shows that the revolutionary struggle is the only road to confront the designs of imperialism in Middle East and Latin America.

The 5th International Seminar, Problems of the Revolution in Latin America, denounces and opposes the attempt of the North American government to impose on our countries the so-called Free Trade Association of the Americas (FTAA). This plan of the imperialists is nothing other than another attempt to secure its domination, crushing our national sovereignty, increasing our dependency and trampling on the rights of our peoples.

Just as Plan Colombia is a plan for the military and political domination of the region, the FTAA is a means in the economic arena to increase the super-exploitation of our workers and to loot our resources.

The supposed ‘freedom’ and ‘equality’ between the US and our countries is a big lie under which impositions are concealed which, in the economic arena, the imperialists carry out against our national economies while taking all types of protectionist measures for their capital.

As long as imperialism exists there cannot be ‘Free Association’ with the US. We are confronting the sell-out governments which are trying to force our peoples to kneel before the Yankees.

We denounce the brutal and criminal repression against the anti-imperialist movement which, in Europe and most recently in Italy, has dealt blows to thousands of demonstrators, with people being victimized, murdered, wounded and arrested.

We condemn energetically the repressive actions, the work of the reactionary government of Berlusconi, an ally of the imperialism of the United States of America; we demand the imprisonment of those responsible for these criminal acts.

1. That on February 17, 1999 there were cowardly assassinated in the city of Quito, Comrades Jaime Hurtado González, Pablo Tapia Farinango, the principal National Representative and alternate respectively, and Wellington Borja, Legislative Assistant; all members of the Democratic Popular Movement.

2. That this crime, by the form in which it was conceived, planned and executed; by the nature of the accused, all of them State functionaries, police in active service and undercover agents; as well as by the revolutionary militancy of the ones who were assassinated, constitutes an evident State crime, in which the repressive forces of Ecuador, the bourgeoisie and Yankee Imperialism through the CIA were involved.

3. That this crime was carried out in the course of an upsurge of the struggle of the peoples of Ecuador against the neo-liberal and corrupt government of Mahuad, which caused the political persecution of the leaders and members of the Democratic Popular Movement, not only in order to destroy it, but also to discourage the fight of the exploited and oppressed of this country.

4. That this crime still remains unpunished, precisely due to the lack of interest of the Ecuadorian State and their various organs in solving it; more so, by the obstacles that they have placed in the way of its investigation.

1. To condemn once again this detestable crime and to continue to denounce it before the national and international community.

2. To demand that the Ecuadorian State cease their indifferent attitude and instead adopt immediate and urgent measures for the punishment of the violators of human rights in this and all cases and allow sanctioning of those responsible.

3. To demand of the Ecuadorian government, full support for the Special Commission of Investigation, an agency created by the Ecuadorian government itself, at the demand of national and international public opinion to contribute to the solving of the case.

The revolutionary parties and organizations present at the 5th Seminar ‘Problems of the Revolution in Latin America’:

1. Show their repudiation of the brutal military aggression of the United States and Great Britain against the people and nation of Iraq. The frequent bombardments have been carried out against the lives of the civilian population: children, women, the elderly and workers who are victims of that aggression and testimony to the genocide carried out by the imperialist countries, with the United States at their head during the Gulf War, and which has left hundreds of thousands of victims and has razed the country.

2. Condemn the trade embargo which deprives the people of Iraq of the technical and material resources that they need for the reconstruction of their country for which we demand its immediate lifting. This war of the imperialist monopolies and countries is aimed at forcing the country and people of Iraq to kneel down, to submit to the policy of ‘razed ground,’ it principally affects millions of human beings of the civilian population. In this attempt the imperialist policies have failed.

3. Denounce the bombardments and the embargo against Iraq as a crime against humanity and assume the responsibility to make clear to the workers and peoples of their respective countries the genocidal character of these actions.

4. We take up among our tasks the cause of the workers and people of Iraq. We are in solidarity with and fighters for the cessation of the bombardments and the embargo, we will work for those demands by all means.

1. That the Plan Colombia, today expanded into the Andean regional initiative by the government of Bush and the US Congress, has become part of the Yankee strategy for the recolonization of Latin America. That its development shows the reactionary and warlike features of imperialism against national sovereignty, independence and self-determination of the peoples.

2. That the imperialist objective is to assure its hegemony in the region and to crush the struggles of the peoples who are facing super-exploitation, hunger and misery, caused by the application of such policies as neo-liberalism.

3. That the Andean initiative is a plan for war which threatens open military invasion, mainly in Colombia, and deepens the interference in the other countries of the area such as Ecuador, Brazil and Panama.

To condemn and oppose this new aggression against the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, whether called the Andean initiative or Plan Colombia.

To make a reality of proletarian internationalism and solidarity of the peoples, strengthening and supporting all the struggles of our peoples against imperialism and their lackey bourgeoisies in Latin America and the world.

1. - That the jails of Turkey are filled with thousands of political prisoners, revolutionaries and workers who are fighting for freedom and against tyranny,

2. - That the Turkish government is brutally torturing the political prisoners, including the brutality of massacring them by burning them in their cells.

3. - That revolutionary prisoners are carrying out hunger strikes against their conditions of isolation, at a cost of more than 30 fighters killed in this battle.

4. - That the popular and workers press is repressed, censuring and closing democratic journals such as Yeni Evrensel (Universal News), which is today prevented from circulating in the country, and Gunluk Evrensel (Universal Daily), whose first number appeared on July 25, exactly on the 39th anniversary of the ‘abolition of censorship in Turkey’ and was immediately declared illegal under false charges.

1. - To denounce the massacre of political prisoners in Turkey, the inhuman conditions of isolation and imprisonment and the permanent use of torture by the Turkish regime.

2. - To declare our solidarity with the revolutionary and popular fighters of Turkey, especially with those who are facing jails and repression.

3. – To declare our solidarity with the workers and popular press of Turkey, victims together with all the people of a repressive and famine-causing state maintained by NATO and imperialism.

4. - To demand that the Government of Turkey respect freedoms and fundamental human rights, and to demand an international rebuff to the reactionary government.

The Fifth International Seminar denounces before world public opinion the repressive actions carried out by various governments against the peoples and in particular against the revolutionary and popular leaders who are openly opposed to the imperialist policies which mean an increase in poverty, unemployment, lack of health care.

The threats, persecution, deprivation of liberty, torture, disappearances, assassinations and other violations of human rights, constitute a practice that seeks to legitimize all the anti-popular policies and measures of those governments.

We express our solidarity with the political prisoners of the various countries, arrested for carrying forward the struggle in defence of the interests of the workers and the peoples and for a better future, particularly with the political prisoners of Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Chile, Turkey, Palestine and the Philippines. We demand unconditional freedom for all political prisoners.

The Argentine People are suffering the consequences of a more than 10-year-old policy of hunger and national betrayal. After having carried out to the letter all the measures of the international financial agencies, the country has begun to default on its payments, it has been cut off from foreign credits, the recession has already lasted more than three and a half years, there are 4.5 million unemployed and 15 million below the poverty line.

During the most ferocious social, economic and political crisis that Argentina has experienced, the government has placed the burden of the new economic adjustment measures on the backs of the people. De la Rua and Caballo, in order to be able to pay the illegitimate and fraudulent foreign debt, are calling for lower wages and pensions, which were frozen years ago, and are mostly wretched.

Instead of harming the interests of the landlords, large monopolies, privatized enterprises that bring great profits to their central offices, instead of making the corrupt looters of enterprises and large money-laundering banks pay, the government places the crisis on the workers and people.

We express our solidarity with the Argentinean people who are fighting in a sustained manner in the streets to confront these policies. We oppose the assassination of the workers in struggle by the gendarmes and police.

We demand the immediate freedom for Raúl Castells, Emilio Ali and the protestors of Salta and an end to the repression against the popular fighters.

Marino Baez

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Marino Baez, member of the Central Committee and Secretary of International Relations of the Communist Party of Labour (PCT) of the Dominican Republic.

Marino Baez had taken part in the 5th Seminar on Problems of the Revolution in Latin America, and afterwards, as part of his internationalist duty, he travelled to Colombia to take part in a regional meeting of the Colombian Federation of Educators. During his travels, the bus he was on was stopped on a highway by the reactionary Colombian paramilitaries, one peasant on the bus was killed instantly and Marino and three more peasants were kidnapped and later killed.

We offer our condolences to the PCT and the family of Comrade Marino.

Revolutionary Democracy

Declaration of the 5th International Seminar: Problems of the Revolution in Latin America

Resolutions of the 5th International Seminar: Problems of the Revolution in Latin America

Marino Baez