Speech by the President Comandante Daniel
at the XXIV ALBA-TCP Summit
of Heads of State and Government in Venezuela
December 14th 2024
Thank you, President, President of the People, ratified by the Venezuelan People, fulfilling the Mandate of Chávez, who in that Appearance told him, and told also the Venezuelan People: Here is Nicolas to continue the Battle!
And it really is admirable the energy, the effort, the dedication to the defense of the People that you carry out every day despite the sanctions, despite the attacks, despite all the defamation and slander, this People is a People that is loyal to Chávez, loyal to Bolívar, and knows that the Sword of Bolívar, which Chávez gave to you, you Nicolás are raising it up to defend and confront every threat, to confront every attempt at aggression.
Because the threats are every day, the conspiracies are every day, the attempts at aggression are every day, because you are for Peace and we are for Peace, but the Devil is the enemy of Peace and is for destruction; they are always thinking how to destroy this Process, a Process that has come to raise up Our America.
I remember the day, it was by then already late afternoon, six in the evening, when they came to tell me that Fidel wanted to introduce me to Chávez, and so we went to the Bolívar Square and there we embraced, we met. And then Fidel, Chávez and myself sat down and listened to the words of the Historian of Havana who introduced Chávez, and then there was Chávez's Voice, Chávez's Thought.
I was really amazed... Amazed, because it did not occur to sceptics that a military man would dare to go to Cuba and meet with Fidel. But I was even more amazed when I heard Chávez's Words, Chávez's Message. It was the Voice of Bolívar speaking through the Voice of Chávez. It was the Soul of Bolívar in the Soul of Chávez. For me it was something really very, very impressive.
After the event was over, Fidel took us in his car, we were with Chávez, Fidel on the other side, in the back seat, well, there we conversed and Chávez spoke with that enthusiasm of his, with that forcefulness that was so impressive.
In those days there was a meeting in El Salvador and I ventured to tell him, because I saw in him there a Revolutionary, and so I ventured to tell him about a Meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum in San Salvador. I was sure he was going to agree to go. And so it turned out. And as we were talking, how much joy I felt to find myself with a Military man who was a Revolutionary; of those Revolutionaries who here, in this Bolivarian Revolution, have multiplied in the Army, have multiplied in the Police, have multiplied throughout the People.
20 years of the creation of the ALBA... And when Chávez and Fidel after a while met there in Havana and decided to create ALBA, and they took the first step, I immediately thought of Christ. Because, I am a Revolutionary from getting to know the Life of Christ, among the poor, fighting for the poor, the way he was crucified, for me he became a Hero, and for me he became the Revolutionary par Excellence.
And then later I read the classics of Revolution, Lenin, Marx, but I became a Revolutionary because I became familiar with Christ, and Chávez so very much carried Christ in him, and when Chávez and Fidel met, it was as if, with our Peoples losing their life's blood, impoverished, without hope for anything better, it was as if Christ had told them: Rise up and walk! And let the Peoples of our Latin America and the Caribbean rise up and walk!
And the speed with which it was organized, and with which others, other Countries, other Nations were incorporated, the speed with which the ALBA Programs began to be carried out, was really unprecedented. And the way in which Wealth was distributed and shared, has no precedent in the history of human kind.
Today, 20 years on, we are more committed than ever to continue making our way, we have to continue making our way, we are integrating and incorporating new Initiatives such as those we have shared together today, and in the midst of a World where the Imperialists of the Earth continue to murder our Peoples, ALBA with the Flag of Fidel and Chávez, ALBA with the Soul of Fidel and Chávez, we say: We will not fail you, and We will continue giving Battle!