Venezuela

To register your support for this statement email info@venezuelasolidarity.org, More information can be found at the Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network www.venezuelasolidarity.org Dear friends, You will no doubt be seeing media headlines “Venezuelan troops take TV equipment” and worse, circulating the world, many referring to “international criticism of [President Hugo Chavez’s] decision not to renew RCTV’s license and to replace Venezuela's most-watched channel with a state-backed network that will promote the values of his (sic) self-styled socialist revolution".

On Tuesday, during parliamentary question time, Australian Treasurer Peter Costello attacked signatories to the invitation to Hugo Chavez to visit Australia. Costello criticised signatories for inviting a leader who has "called the US president a genocidal killer and who went to the UN General Assembly and called the President of the United States the devil". The day after he went it again saying "We are entitled to know where this motley, ragtag left-wing crew would take this country if they ever got their hands on the levers of power and brought the Bolivarian dictators' ideas for inspiration to Australia." Now is the time to sign our invitation and welcome the man Costello hates! Sign on to the invitation go to the website of the Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network To find out why Resistance support Chavez click on read more below to read the article from the latest Resistance broadsheet

“The announcement by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that his government will take measures to reverse the policies of privatisation implemented before Chavez was elected in Venezuela sends a message that we do not have to simply accept privatisation and other free market policies that favour the rich over the poor”, said Fred Fuentes, national coordinator of the socialist youth organisation Resistance. “The massive victory in the December 3 presidential elections for Chavez show the strong resolve of the Venezuelan people to construct a socialist alternative, and this has significant implications for the poor and exploited all over the world.”

Open letter to Hugo Chavez, initiated by Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network To: The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frias Dear President Chávez, We, the undersigned citizens of Australia, would like to extend a warm invitation for you to visit our country. We have watched developments in Venezuela with great interest. We have been impressed by the great effort that your government has taken to improve the living standards of the majority of Venezuelans. We have also noted with keen attention the moves that your government has begun to make to create a society based on popular participation in all spheres of society—from the workplace up to the national government.