ANTI-IMPERIALISTS from around the world gathered in Caracas issued a rallying call in defence of the Bolivarian revolution and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as the three-day International People’s Assembly drew to a close yesterday. 

Delegates from 87 countries representing 181 social movements, including Brazil’s Landless People’s Movement (MST) on whose initiative the conference was established vowed to “defend the sovereignty and self-determination of Venezuela.”

The final statement agreed by the assembly denounced US aggression and its drive to “military confrontation and foreign intervention through a supposed concern for human rights and democracy.”

“The peoples of the world want peace, we do not want another war,” the statement read. 

Those gathered have called for an International Day of Struggle for Peace in Venezuela and a call for the cessation of the economic blockade with demonstrations to be held in front of US embassies in cities throughout the world.

The actions will be in “support of the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people, for peace and democracy in Venezuela and for a world without imperialism.”

A call was made made for the “boycott of companies involved in aggression against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.” 

Addressing the conference earlier in the week, Mr Maduro told those gathered: “You are all here in Caracas saying: ‘Here we are standing up, here we are in solidarity.’ Thank you for your love, thank you for your perseverance.”

He slammed the imperialist attacks on the people of Venezuela including a sanctions regime described by the United Nations as “crimes against humanity” and the illegitimate declaration of the unelected president of the defunct National Assembly Juan Guaido, who is currently in neighbouring Colombia with whom Mr Maduro cut ties with on Saturday. 

“The fight for Venezuela is not just for us. It is a battle for the right to independence, peace, world diversity, political, ideological and cultural diversity,” he said. 

He concluded his speech to cries of “Viva Venezuela” saying: “One cannot be free, one cannot be revolutionary, one cannot be independent without punishment. It is necessary to pay the price of bravery, of rebellion, and of courage. And we are paying that now. 

“They know that here, there is courage, rebellion, that we are confronting North American imperialism and that we are not scared of them. We will continue advancing in the construction of our own model of country.”