10 IMCWP: Resolution in Solidarity with Latin America and the Caribbean Peoples

10th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties



Sao Paulo, Brazil , 21 to 23.11.2008

Resolution in Solidarity with Latin America and the Caribbean Peoples
The 10th Communist and Workers’ Parties Meeting, being held for the first time in Latin America, welcomes and congratulates all Communist and Workers’ Parties and all democratic, progressive, popular and anti-imperialist regional forces united and strengthened in popular struggle and in the gains made during the last decade. These advances have made this part of the world one of the outstanding centers of anti-imperialist resistance, setting the scene for the development of alternatives to imperialist hegemony and for further victories in the fight for democracy, national sovereignty and social progress.

In a situation where finance capital continues to wage a big neo-liberal, imperialist offensive around the world, where capitalism's economic and financial crisis intensifies, US hegemony faces a mounting challenge from wider sections of the people, with Latin America and the Caribbean occupying a political conjuncture of rising levels of popular struggle.

In this region, outstanding political victories have been achieved through popular and social resistance, which takes place in different ways and uses a range of different means to fight imperialist domination and the neo-liberal offensive. Many of these experiences have resulted in an upsurge of democratic, progressive, popular and anti-imperialist forces and national governments, among which are Communist and Workers Parties that claim the transition to socialism as their goal.

The peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean are protesting against an unequal and exclusive system. Indeed, this region is one of the most unequal on Earth. More than 200 million poor people do not have the basic resources with which to survive, while new centers of conspicuous and luxurious consumption develop alongside them. In this region, as in the whole world, unequal development takes place, which is polluting the planet and destroying its non-renewable energy resources.

The harsh consequences of the anti-people policies pursued by imperialist governments to meet the interests of monopoly capital, together with the deep crisis engulfing many nations, are the strongest factors, which compel a decisive response from the peoples.

The very existence of socialist Cuba and its successful repudiation of imperialist provocations and aggression have been of fundamental importance to the development of other peoples' resistance. Its example kept hope alive and highlighted the real fighting alternative - Socialism - to capitalist barbarity.

The forces that constitute these processes have different strategic goals, different strengths and different particularities arising from their social, national and historical backgrounds. But they also plan for the achievement of shared goals such as the strengthening of national sovereignty, social and economic development, democratization of the state, the creation of new democratic constitutions, the encouragement of popular participation and the adoption of politics which promote the well-being of the majority, especially of the workers.

Social movements, especially of workers and peasants, are also playing an important role in promoting the struggle for progressive transformations. The organization and mobilization of workers, young people, students, peasants, Indians and women, among others, is being broadened and strengthened, as they take the lead opposing and resisting the plunder of resources, privatization, corruption, environmental degradation and other serious problems of our time.

Under these circumstances, there is a higher-level search for a new regional integration which is independent and unique, developing complementary mechanisms from Mercosur and Unasur (the Union of South American Nations) – alliances that try to bolster an independent geopolitical and economic pole in Latin America – to ALBA (the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the Caribbean) – which is characterized by its clear anti-imperialist content. Also noteworthy are other initiatives which help promote Latin American and Caribbean integration, such as the Mercosur Parliament, the Bank of the South, the South American Defense Council – in direct opposition to the reactivation of the US Fourth Fleet – the Energy Council of South America and Petrocaribe, the Telesur network, among other instruments. As a whole, those are movements and organizations, which, to a greater or lesser extent, objectively offer resistance to the neo-liberal model and hegemony. As such they may contribute to the resistance to US imperialism and its plans such as resuscitation of the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas), the defeat of which represented a great achievement in the current stage of progressive and anti-imperialist evolution in Latin America.

These processes are objectively contradictory and are not free from impediments and even temporary setbacks. The rise of national governments within the context of liberal democracy does not mean the automatic achievement of political power, which is a task of revolutionary proportions, especially considering the strong reaction of US imperialism allied to an endogenous right-wing which seeks to promote neo-liberal policies, coups, secessions, unbalanced free trade agreements and the militarization of the region.

As regards the affirmation of individual, national and regional courses of action, we state that the greater the breadth and depth of the action – in a democratic and popular sense – the closer it will approximate to the goal of leading to a new society.

The Communist Parties study the important experiences of the anti-imperialist struggles of the Latin American people, taking into account the actual concrete political and historical conditions. The communists don’t resort to imitation, but they learn from the positive and negative experiences of revolutionary struggles and creatively apply those lessons to the specific conditions of each country.

The Communist and Workers parties are essential to the struggle for socialism. We totally support our fraternal parties of Latin America in their commitment to the democratic, popular and anti-imperialist revolution and in their efforts to rally all revolutionary forces, respecting the sovereignty and independence of each process.

The socialism that will take shape in the new century will gather the most positive lessons from past experiences, and in particular those which can be generalized, bearing in mind their limits and shortcomings. It will be bolstered by the advanced thinking which accompanies the trajectory of each people in the class struggle, and which assumes material force in the unity of a political and social majority convinced of the superiority of socialism over capitalism, where the proletariat and its allies plays the leading role.

The 10th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ parties expresses its resolute support for and solidarity with the fair and noble causes for which the peoples in the region fight, and extends its internationalist solidarity to all the anti-imperialist forces, particularly to the communist parties and other revolutionary forces, for a Latin America and a Caribbean free from every form of external domination, for a region that will be politically unified and economically and socially integrated to fully benefit its peoples, for true national and social emancipation. With that objective, the Parties gathered in our meeting emphatically condemn destabilizing actions orchestrated and executed by North American imperialism and its allies with the support of national oligarchies in each country in order to curb the advance of progressive and revolutionary movements in the region and prevent the fulfillment of the will of the peoples.

At this moment when humanity finds itself in one of the most difficult periods of its history, characterized by deep inequalities and injustices, wars and conflicts, in a situation aggravated by the present financial and economic crisis of capitalism which is systemic and global, and by the energy, environmental and food crises, we declare our revolutionary optimism and our hope that the new developing Latin American and Caribbean outlook affirms socialism as the most advanced solution for the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean and for all humanity.

Sao Paulo, November 23rd, 2008