Indigenous Venezuelans March for Anti-Colonialist Resistance Day
Indigenous youth in today’s Saturday mobilization in Caracas. Photo: X/ @gazareportes
October 12, 2024 Hour: 2:03 pm
On October 12, a significant date for indigenous peoples and social movements in Latin America, communities across Venezuela took to the streets to protest against Spanish colonialism and celebrate their cultural roots.
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This day marks the anniversary of the invasion, looting, and forced colonization initiated by the Spanish Crown against native populations.
Demonstrators rallied to raise awareness of the historical injustices faced by indigenous communities and to demand recognition and rights in the ongoing struggle against colonial legacies.
Minister Clara Vidal, the head of the Venezuelan Ministry for Indigenous Peoples, emphasized that the people of Venezuela are in the streets to tell the world that “in the streets of Caracas, there are the people who faced the Spaniards 532 years ago and who will continue to stand to defend the homeland from new imperial threats, because here are the sons and daughters of Apacuana and Guaicaipuro, ready to maintain the independence of the nation.”
This Saturday, the Francisco Solano de Chacaíto avenue was the scene of a gathering of indigenous peoples and communities in Venezuela, organized by the revolutionary force to commemorate 532 years of Indigenous Resistance.
The event was attended by representatives of 19 indigenous peoples from the south of the country, including the Jivi, Waraos and Kariñas. The mobilization will end at the Indigenous Resistance Monument in Plaza Venezuela.
Indigenous representatives of Venezuela present in Caracas expressed their support for President Nicolás Maduro and paid tribute to the late President Hugo Chávez, who made them visible and represented them in the Bolivarian Constitution. They reaffirmed their struggle to defend the sovereignty and freedom of the homeland.
“We continue to fight, defending our sovereignty, our freedom, and, of course, for the future of the homeland, and we once again thank the supreme commander Hugo Chávez Frías, who made us visible and represented us in the Bolivarian Constitution,” said one of them.
