VENEZUELA: We are responsible
pescao | 15.10.2004 03:06 | Venezuela | London
Assumption of Responsibility for the acts that took place in Caracas Venezuela on October 12 (english translation.)
We, the militants of multiple popular movements...defenders and activists of all the struggles for life taken on by the Venezuelan people...we, participants of the Bolivarian revolutionary process...defenders of ideals of freedom, justice, equality and continental liberation...we, who have been present in all forms of the struggle in defense of the government led by comandante Hugo Chavez, considering it a government loyal to the hopes for radical transformation that have been building in the Venezuelan people for years...definitely, we, who struggle absolutely in accord with the dreams of liberty of our people and all the peoples of the world...we completely assume, in all its dimensions—intellectual, organizational and executive—responsibility for the acts that occurred yesterday, October 12, 2004, that culminated in the toppling of the statue of Christopher Columbus (which until yesterday was situated in “Paseo Colon” of Plaza Venezuela) and was later dragged by hand to the doors of the Teresa Carreno Theater, and hung for a brief moment from a nearby tree until it was decided to bring it back to the ground because of the danger it presented to by-standers, until finally it was seized by the Policia Libertador during a cruel, irresponsible and repressive action that culminated in the arrests of five people in the vicinity of the theater.
This act began at about 12:00 noon, with the participation of hundreds of people, in what was named “the popular trial against Columbus,” which obviously extended to all forms, old and new, of COLONialism. This trial, after reading two public documents, concluded with a plebiscite where it was decided, by the consensus of all, to condemn, symbolically, our friend Columbus, this time petrified beneath the form of a bronze statue, to touch the ground again, only this time it would not be the marvelous land that he encountered over 500 years ago, but instead the hard ground and cement upon which we stood, the men and women who were happy to see him fall in such a noisy and humiliating manner.
For very diverse reasons, groups and persons situated in different ideological and political camps have been saying that this was the work of vandals, and with unusual judicial efficiency have opened proceedings against three companeros that were present at the action. We respond by saying that the accusations of vandalism, come from where they may, are rejected by us in an absolute manner, and we say innocently that we feel absolutely proud of what we have done, already that in the end is destroyed—in the only manner that such icons deserve—one of the strongest and most representative symbols of what has been the exercise of genocide, exploitation, dehumanization, deculturalization, and true vandalism of all the imperialisms that have plagued this planet with misery, and in this particular case, the process of conquest and extermination of more than 70 million human beings, the original inhabitants of the continent of Abya Yala, and the death of more than 30 million inhabitants originating from Africa and brought here as slaves, from the day in which the “national hero” of Spain put his boot upon these lands.
Just as we assume complete responsibility for this totally legitimate act, so we also assume all legal reprecussions that might result from this case. A thousand times more important than our liberty as individuals is this opportunity to assist in the decolonization, once and for all, of our consciousness of our own history, our identity as people and as cultures, and our responsibility to create in the future truly free and soverign new worlds. We consider this fair and direct action of the people a pedagological and concrete example towards that end. How much indignation it gives us, that the day of October 12 has been declared a day of Indigenous Resistence by this government, and yet our children continue to learn from their school books that this day was nothing more than the marvelous “discovery” of the “american” lands, and furthermore that we continue to venerate with statues and “discovery days,” with the help of the corporate media, the hugest criminals in history!
For this same reason we consider it necessary and absolutely legitimate that we discharge against so much humilation and historical impunity our centuries of rage as people, with irreverent and rebellious actions that do not need the authorization of anyone except our own consciousness. Finally, no people in the world need to ask permission from anyone to be free and throw off their oppressors. Possibly the only people from whom we would need to ask permission are the indigenous communities and the communities of African descent from which a majority of us emerge—and probably the people such as those in Iraq, Palestine, Chechenia, Colombia, Bolivia, Chiapas, and all other people that today continue to suffer the same imperial beast—only that today it is from new technologies of military monstrosity that have been invented in recent times, by the only direct descendent of Colombus: the global empire of capital.
For these reasons, with the signatures below, we assume completely and proudly all of the legal responsibilities that the Venezuelan States shall apply against us, as well as the the dreams that have been erupting from our skin.
DOWN WITH THE SYMBOLS OF HUMILIATION
DEATH TO ALL FORMS OF COLONIALISM
LONG LIVE THE PEOPLE OF PACHAMERIKA, AND MAY THE INFINITE BEAUTY OF PACHAMAMA BLOSSOM WITH HER FLOWERS
WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE RELASE OF ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS ARRESTED ON OCTOBER 12, 2004.
Name/Number/Organization
--------------------------------------
Marcelo Andrade Arreaza C.I. 16.274.922 Calle y Media, PNA, ANMCLA
Ives Roland Denis C.I. 5.217.913 PNA-M13
Fresia Ipinza C.I. 4.128.683 AIPO y ABA
Leonardo Domínguez C.I. 6.354.935 ANMCLA, Radio Alí Primera
Marco López C.I. 4.535.877 Frente por la dignidad y contra la
Ana Judith Figueroa C.I. 3.969.703 corrupción
Maria Castellanos C.I. 1.820.400 ABA
Fransole Nouveau C. C.I. 6.311.426 CS
Yamileth C. Romeros C.I. 14.020.906 PNA Mov. 13 A
Ninoska Litchnka A. C.I. 10.863.192 CS
Arnaldo Pino C.I. 7.884.744 CS
Gabriele Muzio C.I. 4.248.947 CS
Adriana Rivas C.I. 11.900.171 el23.net y MBP
Juan Carlos C.I. 11.689.327 CS
Dafne Rancel C.I. 7.927.106 CS
Manis Denis C.I. 18.269.268 Mov. Independiente
Lewis Allen C.I. 14.221.303 Radio Comunitaria Ali primera
Ingrid Chacon C.I. 8.346.353 Independiente
Jeannette Pino C.I. 5.886.201 Movimiento Popular
José Douglas Olivar C.I. 15.079.919 C.S.
Ricardo Alexander Velásquez C.I. 7.661.571 J.P.B
Vanesa Ángel C.I. 16.814.473 C.S.
Jorge S. Quintero C. C.I. 12.783.335 C.S.
Daniel Figueredo C.I. 13.083.767 C.S.
Romar Rivas C.I. 16.814.618 C.S.
Jackson Bolívar C.I. 14.363.920 C.S.
Marlene Pérez C.I. 7.895.324 C.S.
Pedro G. Suárez C.I. 3.887.378 C.S.
Emir Fernández C.I. 14.454.449 C.S.
Enrique Matamoros C.I. 3.978.902 C.S.
Yair Ortiz C.I. 18.145.434 C.S.
Carlos Feo C.I. 12.140.133 C.S.
José Enrique Salazar C.I. 17.115.628 C.S.
José Israel C.I. 10.783.089 C.S.
Félix Coronil C.I. 15.200.743 C.S.
Zalpié Reina C.I. 18.304.627 C.S.
Larlos Araque C.I. 16.877.905 C.S.
Ricardo Chacon C.I. 13.747.051 C.S.
Carmen Requena C.I. 11.551.377 C.S.
Leonardo Dominare C.I. 6.354.935 C.S.
Ali Verenzuela C.I. 14.165.368 C.S.
Ramón Escalona Infante C.I. 8.679.562 C.S.
Roció Cordobés C.I. 6.276.006 C.S.
Natalia Rodríguez Adán C.I. 8.683.001 C.S.
Hilario Hernández C.I. 648.024 C.S.
Mia draginc C.I. 16.814.648 C.S.
Rafael Pacheco C.I. 16.929.543 C.S.
Nil Corrales C.I. 6.280.814 C.S.
José Valdiera C.I. 20.814.718 C.S.
Fredily Sánchez C.I. 3.039.873 C.S.
Julieta Miraball C.I. 993.851 C.S.
Jesús Coronado C.I. 5.132.444 C.S.
Asiris Carballo C.I. 15.836.918 C.S.
Vlamy Solórzano C.I. 12.112.236 C.S.
Felipe Pérez C.I. 4.447.052 C.S.
Lilian Rojas C.I. 2.931.767 C.S.
Alexander C.I. 23.158.895 C.S.
Orlando Rauseo C.I. 5.519.722 C.S.
Gustavo Martínez C.I. 3.233.971 C.S.
Roland Denis C.I. 5.217.913 C.S.
Francisco López C.I. 12.372.240 C.S.
Delmariz J. Rodríguez C.I. 8.357.876 ABA
Hernarno Gines C.I. 1.713.799 C.S.
Aura Gutiérrez C.I. 3.229.160 C.S.
D. Perlino Núñez M. C.I. 3.236.305 C.S.
Abelardo Arias C.I. 13.614.631 C.S.
Ángel Yugo C.I. 10.327.407 C.S.
Luis Villa Fais C.I. 4.118.859 C.S.
Enrique Matamoros C.I. 3.978.902 C.S.
Yaira Pereira C.I. 5.526.582 C.S.
Jorge Díaz C.I. 12.668.974 C.S.
Carmen Requena C.I. 11.551.377 C.S.
Luis Hernández C.I. 12.918.571 C.S.
Jenry Roberts C.I. 9.419.430 C.S.
Luis F. Damiáni C.I. 2.940.803 C.S.
Gabriel Salazar C.I. 6.347.393 C.S.
Juan García C.I. 649.571 C.S.
Roger Fuentes C.I. 11.411.234 C.S.
Claudia Poblete C.I. 13.648.903 C.S.
Liliana Caibett C.I. 6.339.884 C.S.
Guillermo Chivaras C.I. 6.355.363 C.S.
José Alviares C.I. 15.079.919 C.S.
Cesar Saturno C.I. 6.097.721 C.S.
Alexis Mota C.I. 7.309.176 C.S.
This act began at about 12:00 noon, with the participation of hundreds of people, in what was named “the popular trial against Columbus,” which obviously extended to all forms, old and new, of COLONialism. This trial, after reading two public documents, concluded with a plebiscite where it was decided, by the consensus of all, to condemn, symbolically, our friend Columbus, this time petrified beneath the form of a bronze statue, to touch the ground again, only this time it would not be the marvelous land that he encountered over 500 years ago, but instead the hard ground and cement upon which we stood, the men and women who were happy to see him fall in such a noisy and humiliating manner.
For very diverse reasons, groups and persons situated in different ideological and political camps have been saying that this was the work of vandals, and with unusual judicial efficiency have opened proceedings against three companeros that were present at the action. We respond by saying that the accusations of vandalism, come from where they may, are rejected by us in an absolute manner, and we say innocently that we feel absolutely proud of what we have done, already that in the end is destroyed—in the only manner that such icons deserve—one of the strongest and most representative symbols of what has been the exercise of genocide, exploitation, dehumanization, deculturalization, and true vandalism of all the imperialisms that have plagued this planet with misery, and in this particular case, the process of conquest and extermination of more than 70 million human beings, the original inhabitants of the continent of Abya Yala, and the death of more than 30 million inhabitants originating from Africa and brought here as slaves, from the day in which the “national hero” of Spain put his boot upon these lands.
Just as we assume complete responsibility for this totally legitimate act, so we also assume all legal reprecussions that might result from this case. A thousand times more important than our liberty as individuals is this opportunity to assist in the decolonization, once and for all, of our consciousness of our own history, our identity as people and as cultures, and our responsibility to create in the future truly free and soverign new worlds. We consider this fair and direct action of the people a pedagological and concrete example towards that end. How much indignation it gives us, that the day of October 12 has been declared a day of Indigenous Resistence by this government, and yet our children continue to learn from their school books that this day was nothing more than the marvelous “discovery” of the “american” lands, and furthermore that we continue to venerate with statues and “discovery days,” with the help of the corporate media, the hugest criminals in history!
For this same reason we consider it necessary and absolutely legitimate that we discharge against so much humilation and historical impunity our centuries of rage as people, with irreverent and rebellious actions that do not need the authorization of anyone except our own consciousness. Finally, no people in the world need to ask permission from anyone to be free and throw off their oppressors. Possibly the only people from whom we would need to ask permission are the indigenous communities and the communities of African descent from which a majority of us emerge—and probably the people such as those in Iraq, Palestine, Chechenia, Colombia, Bolivia, Chiapas, and all other people that today continue to suffer the same imperial beast—only that today it is from new technologies of military monstrosity that have been invented in recent times, by the only direct descendent of Colombus: the global empire of capital.
For these reasons, with the signatures below, we assume completely and proudly all of the legal responsibilities that the Venezuelan States shall apply against us, as well as the the dreams that have been erupting from our skin.
DOWN WITH THE SYMBOLS OF HUMILIATION
DEATH TO ALL FORMS OF COLONIALISM
LONG LIVE THE PEOPLE OF PACHAMERIKA, AND MAY THE INFINITE BEAUTY OF PACHAMAMA BLOSSOM WITH HER FLOWERS
WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE RELASE OF ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS ARRESTED ON OCTOBER 12, 2004.
Name/Number/Organization
--------------------------------------
Marcelo Andrade Arreaza C.I. 16.274.922 Calle y Media, PNA, ANMCLA
Ives Roland Denis C.I. 5.217.913 PNA-M13
Fresia Ipinza C.I. 4.128.683 AIPO y ABA
Leonardo Domínguez C.I. 6.354.935 ANMCLA, Radio Alí Primera
Marco López C.I. 4.535.877 Frente por la dignidad y contra la
Ana Judith Figueroa C.I. 3.969.703 corrupción
Maria Castellanos C.I. 1.820.400 ABA
Fransole Nouveau C. C.I. 6.311.426 CS
Yamileth C. Romeros C.I. 14.020.906 PNA Mov. 13 A
Ninoska Litchnka A. C.I. 10.863.192 CS
Arnaldo Pino C.I. 7.884.744 CS
Gabriele Muzio C.I. 4.248.947 CS
Adriana Rivas C.I. 11.900.171 el23.net y MBP
Juan Carlos C.I. 11.689.327 CS
Dafne Rancel C.I. 7.927.106 CS
Manis Denis C.I. 18.269.268 Mov. Independiente
Lewis Allen C.I. 14.221.303 Radio Comunitaria Ali primera
Ingrid Chacon C.I. 8.346.353 Independiente
Jeannette Pino C.I. 5.886.201 Movimiento Popular
José Douglas Olivar C.I. 15.079.919 C.S.
Ricardo Alexander Velásquez C.I. 7.661.571 J.P.B
Vanesa Ángel C.I. 16.814.473 C.S.
Jorge S. Quintero C. C.I. 12.783.335 C.S.
Daniel Figueredo C.I. 13.083.767 C.S.
Romar Rivas C.I. 16.814.618 C.S.
Jackson Bolívar C.I. 14.363.920 C.S.
Marlene Pérez C.I. 7.895.324 C.S.
Pedro G. Suárez C.I. 3.887.378 C.S.
Emir Fernández C.I. 14.454.449 C.S.
Enrique Matamoros C.I. 3.978.902 C.S.
Yair Ortiz C.I. 18.145.434 C.S.
Carlos Feo C.I. 12.140.133 C.S.
José Enrique Salazar C.I. 17.115.628 C.S.
José Israel C.I. 10.783.089 C.S.
Félix Coronil C.I. 15.200.743 C.S.
Zalpié Reina C.I. 18.304.627 C.S.
Larlos Araque C.I. 16.877.905 C.S.
Ricardo Chacon C.I. 13.747.051 C.S.
Carmen Requena C.I. 11.551.377 C.S.
Leonardo Dominare C.I. 6.354.935 C.S.
Ali Verenzuela C.I. 14.165.368 C.S.
Ramón Escalona Infante C.I. 8.679.562 C.S.
Roció Cordobés C.I. 6.276.006 C.S.
Natalia Rodríguez Adán C.I. 8.683.001 C.S.
Hilario Hernández C.I. 648.024 C.S.
Mia draginc C.I. 16.814.648 C.S.
Rafael Pacheco C.I. 16.929.543 C.S.
Nil Corrales C.I. 6.280.814 C.S.
José Valdiera C.I. 20.814.718 C.S.
Fredily Sánchez C.I. 3.039.873 C.S.
Julieta Miraball C.I. 993.851 C.S.
Jesús Coronado C.I. 5.132.444 C.S.
Asiris Carballo C.I. 15.836.918 C.S.
Vlamy Solórzano C.I. 12.112.236 C.S.
Felipe Pérez C.I. 4.447.052 C.S.
Lilian Rojas C.I. 2.931.767 C.S.
Alexander C.I. 23.158.895 C.S.
Orlando Rauseo C.I. 5.519.722 C.S.
Gustavo Martínez C.I. 3.233.971 C.S.
Roland Denis C.I. 5.217.913 C.S.
Francisco López C.I. 12.372.240 C.S.
Delmariz J. Rodríguez C.I. 8.357.876 ABA
Hernarno Gines C.I. 1.713.799 C.S.
Aura Gutiérrez C.I. 3.229.160 C.S.
D. Perlino Núñez M. C.I. 3.236.305 C.S.
Abelardo Arias C.I. 13.614.631 C.S.
Ángel Yugo C.I. 10.327.407 C.S.
Luis Villa Fais C.I. 4.118.859 C.S.
Enrique Matamoros C.I. 3.978.902 C.S.
Yaira Pereira C.I. 5.526.582 C.S.
Jorge Díaz C.I. 12.668.974 C.S.
Carmen Requena C.I. 11.551.377 C.S.
Luis Hernández C.I. 12.918.571 C.S.
Jenry Roberts C.I. 9.419.430 C.S.
Luis F. Damiáni C.I. 2.940.803 C.S.
Gabriel Salazar C.I. 6.347.393 C.S.
Juan García C.I. 649.571 C.S.
Roger Fuentes C.I. 11.411.234 C.S.
Claudia Poblete C.I. 13.648.903 C.S.
Liliana Caibett C.I. 6.339.884 C.S.
Guillermo Chivaras C.I. 6.355.363 C.S.
José Alviares C.I. 15.079.919 C.S.
Cesar Saturno C.I. 6.097.721 C.S.
Alexis Mota C.I. 7.309.176 C.S.
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