Venezuela reiterates the importance of keeping alive the history of struggle and resistance of our indigenous and Afro-descendant people

Published at: 12/10/2024 08:26 AM

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela commemorates the 532nd anniversary of the Day of Indigenous Resistance and highlights the value of the indigenous peoples of America who faced the most ferocious aggression known to mankind.

Through a statement published by Foreign Minister Iván Gil on his Telegram channel, the document states that “Venezuela reiterates the importance of keeping alive the history of struggle and resistance of our indigenous and Afro-descendant people, and valuing their current contributions to the strengthening of our society and for the transition to a new era that leaves behind discrimination, supremacy and impunity”.

Below is the full statement:

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, faithful to its anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist tradition, once again commemorates the Day of Indigenous Resistance, this October 12, highlighting the value of our original peoples, who, despite facing the fiercest aggression known to humanity, bequeathed us their example of firmness, perseverance and dignity.

Today, as the world faces new fascist and racist currents that seek to impose historical revisionism by minimizing the atrocities of the process of invasion, occupation, colonization and enslavement in American territory, the People and Government of Venezuela reiterate the importance of keeping alive the history of struggle and resistance of our indigenous and Afro-descendant people, and valuing their current contributions to the strengthening of our society and for the transition to a new era that leaves behind discrimination, supremacy and impunity.

The process of aggression against the peoples of Our America cannot be celebrated nor can it be described as a civilizing enterprise when it has been responsible for, as Liberator Simon Bolivar wrote, “barbarities that the present age has rejected as fabulous, because they seem to be superior to human perversity; and they would never be believed by modern critics without constant and repeated documents not testifying to these infamous truths”. It is the responsibility of all humanity to promote channels to make effective the recognition, justice and reparation of these crimes against humanity. The complicity and silence of the elites of Europe and the rest of the world in the face of the current genocide against the Palestinian people shows the need to defend memory.

The people of our America and the European people, for the most part, reject colonialism and despite this painful history, they also have numerous experiences of shared struggle in defense of human dignity, against absolutism and against fascism, which show that when the common cause is the struggle for humanity, there are no stronger ties than those of solidarity between peoples.

Caracas, October 12, 2024

Mazo News Team