Coral Wynter

Officials of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) thanked members of the international observation team on March 16 for their work in limiting electoral fraud committed by the previous ruling right-wing Arena party in the presidential elections on March 15.
“From now begins a new chapter in the history of El Salvador. The victory of the FMLN [Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front] presidential team is based on the whole Salvadoran people”, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, newly elected vice-president for the FMLN, told a cheering crowd of thousands of red T-shirt-wearing party supporters at a huge rally on the night of the March 15 presidential elections.
Hundreds of thousands of workers and small farmers marched across Mexico, on January 30 in a huge mobilisation for economic and human rights.
At a rally of tens of thousands in Plaza Caracas on January 23, President Hugo Chavez called on Venezuelan workers to mobilise for the electoral battle for the “Yes” campaign for a vote in the February 15 referendum in favour of a constitutional amendment to abolish the two-term limit on elected positions in Venezuela.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on January 20 that the government would not permit violent protests by “the pitiyanquis [“little yankies”]”, according to the January 21 Ultimas Noticias.
Citizens across Cuba have thronged the streets of cities and towns to welcome the “Caravan of Liberty”, a convoy of trucks and buses retracing the path of Fidel Castro and the victorious fighters of the Rebel Army, after the declaration of the defeat of the Batista dictatorship on January 1, 1959.
“Say what they like, the new Sambil is not going ahead”, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on December 23.
The November 2008 Venezuela solidarity brigade organised by the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network (AVSN) spent its first days meeting community activists and hearing reports on the progress of the Bolivarian revolution.
At a mass rally of PSUV activists in the Poliedro Stadium on November 18, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for “Operation Round Up” to gather the maximum number of votes for candidates of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in the November 23 elections for state governors and municipal mayors.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has warned that the right-wing opposition in his country is planning destabilisation actions during the November 23 elections for state governors and mayors, according to the November 12 Ultimas Noticias.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez released a statement congratulating US president-elect Barack Obama, declaring that, “We are convinced that the time has come to establish new relations between our two countries and in our region, based on the principles of respect for sovereignty, equality and true co-operation”, according to a November 6 Ultimas Noticias article.
While the Venezuelan government of socialist President Hugo Chavez has made headlines for its battle with ExxonMobil, Venezuela is not the only country under attack by the world’s largest oil corporation for refusing to submit to its dictates.