TransAfrica Forum Delegation Visits Venezuela

Jan. 23, 2004 – A nine-day visit to Venezuela by a delegation of African Americans from the D.C.-based TransAfrica Forum was downplayed by the US major media, and pointedly dismissed by the two most prominent Republican-party blacks in the US administration.

According to Venezuela’s El Universal, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice criticized the administration of democratically elected Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frías for not allowing for “democratic reforms” and because of his continued friendly relationship with Cuba’s Fidel Castro. The day before, Secretary of State Colin Powell was quoted talking about chances for another referendum from Chávez opponents, which might be able to oust him, El Universal reported.

Although neither statement was a compliment, the UK’s Guardian reported that Chávez termed Rice’s accounts about the situation in his country the expressions of “a real illiterate,” and said that Powell’s remarks were at least more judicious.

Venezuela’s Chávez was overthrown during a temporary coup from April 12-14, 2002, which the US government at first loudly applauded. His opponents have held mass demonstrations, labor strikes and have been trying to hold a referendum to legally oust him from office for the past two years.

“My interest was piqued after the demonstrations began,” TransAfrica Forum President Bill Fletcher said.  “What struck me at the time was that I noticed a definite demographic difference among the Chávez supporters and his opponents.”

Many Chávez opponents have claimed that his Movimiento Quinta Republica (Fifth Republic Movement/MVR) political party is dividing the nation along class and racial lines – leading the majority of poor Venezuelans, who are 80 percent of the population and of African and/or Indian descent, to counter Chávez opponents, who are of European descent and own most of the nation’s businesses.

TransAfrica Forum is an activist, research, and educational organization that says it works for global justice, particularly on African and African Diaspora issues. The delegation traveled to the country alongside Bernardo Alvarez, the Washington, D.C-based ambassador of Venezuela.

According to the Associated Press and the government-run Radia Nacional de Venezuela (RNV), the delegation visited local black communities, attended the renaming of a public school as “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Bolivarian School” in the Afro-Venezuelan town of Naiguatá. (“Bolivarian” schools are part of the “Bolivarian Movement,” instituted by Chávez's MVR party:  they offer children three free meals and a new revolutionary educational curriculum.) The group also helped to celebrate the 150th anniversary of African emancipation from slavery in that country, and attended official and unofficial meetings with government representatives, including Chávez himself.

The RNV reported that Glover termed his presence in Venezuela an opportunity "to listen and learn, not only from government and opposition politicians, but to share with the people, those who are promoting the changes in this country.”