The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) has met in for the 14th Congress of Transport, Communication and Fisheries Unions (TUI) that started Friday in Istanbul, Turkey. Union representatives from 30 countries backed and expressed their support for Venezuela.
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WFTU Secretary-General, Yorgos Mavrikos, presented the "Hands Off Venezuela" campaign to the trade union delegates, and urged them to make a call for solidarity with the Latin American country that faces neoliberal aggression by the United States, and some countries led by right-wing governments, allied to the U.S.
Over 80 representatives were part of this international gathering to "stop the imperial attack that spends millions of dollars in favor of anti-union policies throughout the world" said the president of the WFTU, Ali Riza.
According to Yorgos Mavrikos, "an international campaign supporting Venezuela will be organized." For the campaign, numerous organizations from around the world have participated in activities that have been carried out under the banner "Hands Off Venezuela!"
According to the international union organization, "Militant trade unionists have responded to the WFTU call for solidarity with Venezuela, within the framework of its international solidarity campaign. In many corners of the world, our class brothers and sisters said that 'peoples themselves have the right to decide on their own present and future'."
The WFTU Secretary-General defended democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro, and rejected the self-proclaimed "interim President" Juan Guaido. Venezuela "only has one president, that was elected, and it's Nicolas Maduro, while (Juan) Guaido is a puppet of imperialism."
"We know very well what (their) democracy and freedom means," he said, adding that "in the face of imperialist aggressions we need internationalist solidarity," as well as in Syria, Palestine or wherever the rights of peoples are violated.
The meeting will last until Saturday, it was the stage for the delegations to make public their work, but it was also the propitious space to intensify the organization's support for Venezuela and Cuba, nations that face "imperial" aggression.
Talking about the current state of the workers movement on a global scale, Mavrikos concedes that it is at a turning point, but he is hopeful that the struggles and demonstrations developed by workers around the world will bear fruit soon.