15th May 2006
The Revolution Comes To Parliament
Just met Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, in the Churchill Room (of all places) of the House of Commons. Chavez spoke passionately, personally and without notes about the ideas behind the Bolivarian revolution which has turned Latin America to a beacon of hope for the poor and downtrodden worldwide.
I was there as an honorary “Labour” Friend of Venezuela – some Tories who slunk in, presumably to enquire after their investments, were unceremoniously ejected – and Hywel Francis MP even took my picture with the man himself.
In Chavez, Morales and the Latine American Left we hear echoes of our own radical tradition of social justice and national liberation as two sides of the same coin of popular empowerment. In Chavez’s speech, there was that acute sense of history that comes from belonging to a nation, oppressed and dispossessed, and the high political price that national liberators – Bolivar, Sucre, Miranda – often paid in the cause of freedom. In the failed coup a few years ago, he almost did the same.
We should not forget those hundred of Welsh volunteers that died on Bolivar’s side in the Battle of Carabobo, just outside Caracas in 1821.
Thankfully, not a single drop of Welsh blood is needed now to liberate our nation from poverty, disadvantage and disease. All we need to give is our time, our creativity, our passion and our dreams.
Hasta la revolucion galesa.