Lisbon Meeting 10-12 November 2006: Motion of solidarity with Latin America and Cuba

For a long time, the peoples of Latin America have been the victims of the permanent policies of plunder and domination by US imperialism.

The Bush Administration continues attacking the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean; it organizes and finances putschist and terrorist attacks against the governments of Venezuela and of Bolivia and directly interferes in electoral processes, openly supporting their puppets and trying by all means to avoid the election of progressive governments.

In such conditions, the struggle of the latin-american peoples has grown in all of its expressions: of the urban workers, of the landless peasants, of native peoples, of women, of the youth, of the democratic intellectuals, which organize in social movements, mass and popular organisations, liberation movements, political parties and left-wing electoral coalitions. Thanks to the struggles of the Latin American peoples and the action of progressive governments, the FTAA, a project of a neo-colonialist nature has failed, the recipes of the �Washington Consensus� and the neo-liberal policies that are responsible for the loss of sovereignty and for the deterioration in the living standards of the masses of the people have been repudiated.

The Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela is part of that struggle. The Venezuelan government, headed by President Hugo Chavez, is consolidating itself and advancing, indicating the prospect of a more profoundly anti-imperialist struggle and of achieving socialism.

Also part of that struggle is the ongoing democratic-popular process in Bolivia, under the leadership of Evo Morales, a clear example that the peoples of Latin America have decided to put an end to centuries of exploitation and exclusion.

The election of democratic governments in various Latin American countries, like �Frente Amplia� in Uruguay, and the recent re-election of Lula in Brazil and the election of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua are also part of the development of progressive forces in the continent. The Latin American left has made the struggle to assert its political and economic sovereignty a priority, with the development of social programs that benefit the vast majorities and the launching of projects of integration, among which ALBA is prominent. Socialist Cuba is a prominent part of this scenario of advances in the anti-imperialist struggle in the region.

In the Athens Meeting of 2005, the Parties gathered there adopted a resolution condemning the US government�s 45-year long blockade against the heroic people of Cuba. We also demanded freedom for the five anti-terrorist Cuban prisoners who are unjustly detained in maximum security US jails.

However, in the twelve months that have elapsed, the Bush Administration has intensified that criminal policy. Just a few hours ago, a UN Resolution condemning the blockade against Cuba was adopted almost unanimously.

In June of this year, in a new escalation of aggressions, the US Administration published the second report on the Bush Plan, which had been adopted in 2004. The new Plan mentions the existence of a secret chapter, the sole content of which may relate to political, terrorist and military acts of destabilization. This is unprecedented and the disclosure of a Plan to overthrow a foreign government deserves the unanimous condemnation of the international community.

For over four decades, the Cuban people have suffered the consequences of all kinds of criminal acts, that counted upon the support of the US Government, as was shown by the protection given by well-known terrorist Luis Posadas Carriles, the intellectual author, 30 years ago, of the blowing up of a Cubana de Aviación airplane that cost the lives of 73 innocent people.

Due to the impunity with which the groups of the Cuban-american Mafia based in Miami have acted, five Cuban patriots, exposing themselves to great risks, were warning their country of the plans for new terrorist attacks, and for this reason they were unjustly arrested and sentenced.

In August of this year, under the political pressure of the US government, the plenary session of the Atlanta court of appeal annulled the decision that had been taken by a court of three judges who, the previous year, had declared the trial held in Miami illegal. This is one more demonstration that the liberation of the five fighters against terrorism will only be possible with international solidarity, in particular from the US people.

Despite this policy of aggression and economic siege, the Cuban Revolution continues developing its system of integral respect for human rights, of broad participatory popular democracy and giving solidarity and internationalist support to other nations. Some 30 thousand-health workers are rendering their internationalist service in 71 countries, the Operation Miracle has guaranteed that over 400 thousand patients may have had eye surgery. At present, there are 24 thousand foreign students training to become health professionals, 20 thousand of which as medical doctors.

For all this, the Communist and Workers� Parties here gathered, besides expressing our solidarity with the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean in general, once again express our repudiation of the US Blockade against Cuba; we demand that publicity be given to the secret report that seeks the violent overthrowing of the Cuban Revolution and demand the immediate liberation of the Five Heroes, pledging, at the same time, to carry out new actions of political solidarity in our countries, with this sister country and people.

Lisbon, Portugal, November 12, 2006