N° 57. 22 November 2017

On Tuesday November 21st, University Students in Caracas, Venezuela marched to celebrate their right to receive free public education as guaranteed by the Venezuelan state.

The students arrived at the Miraflores Palace, where they held a meeting with President Nicolás Maduro, who an-nounced the creation of a new Experimental University for Caracas, as well as the increase of the student scholarships by 50,000.

Yonaiker García, a student at the University of Health Sci-ences and an organiser of the march declared he was proud to have this right, one that young people in many countries do not enjoy: "It is wonderful to have this possibil-ity of studying and to prepare ourselves as the professionals that Venezuela requires,” said this young man who is trained as a Community Integral Physician (MIC). He stressed that in his faculty, one of the more than 30 created by the Bolivarian Government, not only teach the subjects of a career as medicine, they also "teach you that you have to have a lot of perseverance and a sense of humanity."

In this atmosphere of joy, the youth commemorated the 60th anniversary of the general strike that took place on November 21st, 1957, conducted by the student movement against the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Ji-ménez and that, months later, on January 23, 1958, led to its overthrow.

Weekly Newsletter of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

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Venezuelan students march in support of the Bolivarian Government

Made by the Institute of Strategic Research on Africa and its Diaspora,

“African, American and Caribbean Knowledge Centre”

www.saberesafricanos.net

Workers celebrate the Centennial of the Bolshevik Revo-lution with a march supporting President Nicolas Maduro

Tens of thousands of workers held a large march in Ca-racas on the occasion of celebrating the centenary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, when the Rus-sian people rose up against oppression and successfully formed the first government of the soviets, workers' councils, peasants and soldiers, who would take into

their hands the desti-nies of their homeland and changed the history of mankind.

The best tribute that we Venezuelans can make to the so-cialist revolution is to celebrate these 100 years by having a Worker President in the leadership of the country, as is Nicolás Maduro, said one of the workers attending the march.

For his part, Maduro said that Venezuela is promoting the union to establish a block of socialist forces in Latin America and the Caribbean: "A libertarian socialism, independent, a socialism that vindicates the dignity of peoples as a value, that's why we say we are Bolivarian, independent social-ists,];a socialism which seeks the union of the peoples of the South, a socialism that seeks the union of Latin America and the Caribbean to transform us into a great block of forces that seeks the balance of the world ".

We will not let them close the beautiful door that has always been open to life.

Alí Primera

After having held the elections for governors on October 15, the National Constituent Assembly approved the holding of municipal elections, which will be held on December 10 throughout the coun-try.

In this election, 333 mayors will be elected, for which more than 7 thousand candidates from a score of political parties registered. In this election, 19,740,846 citizens are called to vote.

The electoral campaign will begin on November 23 and end on December 7. The National Electoral Council informed that the pre-electoral audits have already begun, in order to guarantee the transparency of the electoral process, which is considered interna-tionally as one of the best electoral systems in the world. The au-dits, as usual, are validated by all the political parties participating in the elections and transmitted live through the CNE channel.

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Venezuela celebrará elecciones municipales en diciembre del 2017

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ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION

During the government of Hugo Chávez, Venezuela managed to certify its oil reserves, becoming the

first global reservoir of oil, with more than 350 billion barrels tested.

From Lenin to Chávez

By Carlos Feo

This past November 7 was celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Great October Social-ist Revolution, the first time that the common people, workers, peasants and soldiers, took their destiny into their own hands and, under the leadership of Lenin, founded a socialist soci-ety, based on the Soviets, which were Workers' Councils that took the decisions and leadership.

On that occasion, these ten days shook the world, and also transformed it, as from the newly formed Soviet Union would be erected a political and social model to build a new socie-ty more just and equal.

It was the Soviet Union that played the leading role in the defeat of European fascism, with the victory over the Nazi army. It also had a lead-ing role in the struggle for the liberation of the African peoples, who in the 50s, 60s and 70s, achieved their independence from the Europe-an colonizers, finding precisely in the Soviet Union, a solidary hand that offered to accom-pany them in the development of new nations.

Likewise in Our America, the influence exerted by the Soviet Union was vital in the rise of the different revolutionary movements that from the deepest part of the continent pleaded for a fairer world. And also from our America emerged revolutions, as in the triumphant case of Cuba, in 1959, and Nicaragua, in 1979.

But the socialist legacy lasted even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and it was precise-ly from Venezuela, with the arrival of Hugo Chávez to power, that socialism took new life and also began to sprout its first seeds with the triumph of revolutionary and progressive gov-ernments in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uru-guay or Ecuador. The imperialist aggression temporarily restrained that progressive ad-vance, but from Venezuela, we continue resist-ing the imperialist onslaught impelled by the government of the United States, and the Boli-varian revolution stands erect, celebrating to-day those 100 years of the Great Socialist Rev-olution, with the Best tribute there can be: the presence of a worker president leading the country: Nicolas Maduro Moros.

Venezuelan government begins the process to certify gas reserves

César Triana, vice-president of Petroleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa), said that Venezuela will begin the process of certifying its gas re-serves, which will allow it to move to fourth place worldwide in this energy source, according to a press release from PDVSA, on Thurs-day.

Moreover, Triana said that PDVSA is working on the project to export gas to neighboring countries, includ-ing: Aruba, Colom-bia and Trinidad and Tobago, through the construction of gas pipelines and floating liquefied natural gas (Floating LNG).

Finally, he explained that the company plans to export at least 1,600 million cubic feet per day to countries such as El Salvador, Panama, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Aruba, Cura-çao and Trinidad and Tobago in the medium and long term.

It should be noted that in 2015, Venezuela registered 201,349 billion cubic feet of proven reserves of natural gas, between associated and non-associated resources.

Upon the completion of the conference titled "International Decade of Afro-Descendants: struggles and challenges of the Afro-Venezuelan and Afro-Ecuadorian peoples", the Institute for

Strategic Research on Africa and its Diaspora launched its aca-demic activities for the period 2017-2018.

In the event that was framed in the celebration of the Decade of the Afro-descent and of the Afro-Ecuadorian Day, the magisterial classes presented by the Chargé d'Affaires of the Republic of Ec-uador, Elizabeth Méndez, Profes-sor Gerónimo Sánchez, and com-panion Norma Romero, Presi-dent of the National Commission

In this same sentence, Lushaba affirmed that mental coloniza-tion was what allowed the perpetual subjection of our popu-lations and the looting of our natural resources. Professor Grosfoguel commented that these decolonial initiatives were necessary to dismantle these systems of oppression. He further highlighted the need to unite the peoples of the south with Africa, especially considering what has been done in the continent.

Professors Lushaba and Grosfoguel also shared with the graduate students a b ou t th e A f r i c a n Knowledge and Anti-Imperialist Struggle of Our America that began its 2017-2018 period that day.

The African, American and Caribbean Knowledge Center received a visit from a South African Profes-sor from the University of Cape Town, Lwazi Lusha-ba and a Puerto Rican Professor, Ramón Grosfoguel, from the University of Berkeley, who are in the country to participate in the second edition of the School of Decolonial Thought, which is organized by the Venezuelan Research Network in Social Sciences and Humanities.

The meeting was conducive to share experiences and establish relations in order to consolidate the work for the decolonization of knowledge and everyday life. The director of the Knowledge Center, Professor Reinaldo Bolivar, mentioned that in addition to the holocausts that our native peoples suffered as a re-sult of genocide and slavery, which were both propi-tiated by European colonization, the greatest holo-caust was that which they had caused in our minds.

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The African, American and Caribbean Knowledge Centre began its activities for the period 2017-2018 with a full house

Decolonial Gathering for the African, American and Caribbean Knowledge Centre

for the Development of Afro-D e s c e n d a n t C o m m u n i t i e s (CONADECAFRO).

Finally, the Director of the Institute, Professor Reinaldo Bolívar, wel-comed the new graduate students and exhorted them to acquire knowledge; not only to collect titles, but for research that will activate, military and action and for the bat-tle of ideas. He said, “I invite you to investigate the holocausts against the peoples of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Venezuela strengthens relations with Africa

On 3 November, the Bolivarian Government, through the Deputy Minister for Africa, Reinaldo Bolívar, hosted a work-ing meeting with the Heads of Mission and representatives of thirteen African nations that have a diplomatic presence in Brazil. It was an initiative that sought to further deepen ties with the sisterly nations of the continent.

The meeting was held at the Venezuelan Embassy in Brasilia, and was attended by Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabonese Republic, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mozam-bique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Senegal and Cameroon.

During the day, the Dean of African Ambassadors in Brazil and Ambassador of Zimbabwe, Thomas Sukutai, ratified a message of support to the Venezuelan people and the Boli-varian Government on behalf of the 26 countries with repre-

sentation in the Latin American country. The mes-sage was centred on the siege of factors of the inter-national right.

The working day forms part of an agenda of period-ic meetings that are held to monitor cooperation programs, articulation in multilateral instances and the review of the status of bilateral agreements.