Stop attack on Land Committee and its co-ordinator Juanita Romero

Dear friends,

The Land Committee of los Altos Mirandinos, Venezuela, urgently needs our support. Its co-ordinator Juanita Romero, two single mothers and a young person have been dismissed by new Mayor Alirio Mendoza Galúe. And shamefully, the Mayor is a member of the Socialist Party which supposedly represents the Bolivarian revolution.

It is not for a mayor to decide how grassroots organizations, which have been working for years with little recognition and even less funding, should be run. We cannot allow this attack on the autonomy and hard work of women and grassroots organizations like the land committees.

Please add your name and that your organization, country and email at the end of the letter below.

You can also fax Mayor Alirio Mendoza Galúe on:

+ 58 212 321.13.50; + 58 212 321.40.46; + 58 212 321.62.80.

Many thanks for your support and solidarity.

Nina López
Global Women’s Strike, international co-ordination

17th December 2008

We condemn the attack against the Land Committees of Los Altos Mirandinos and their co-ordinator Juanita Romero

We condemn the attack against the Network of Land Committees of Los Altos Mirandinos, Guaicaipuro, Miranda State, Venezuela (based at the Fundación Guaicas por su Tierra), by the new Mayor Alirio Mendoza Galúe: he has dismissed Juanita “La Madre” Romero, co-ordinator of the land committees’ Municipal Technical Office, and her team, and replaced her with a person who was not chosen by the people or by the land committees. The wage of our colleague Juanita Romero has been withheld and two single mothers and a young person have been sacked.

BACKGROUND

Venezuela’s elections on 23rd November 2008 produced the following results in Miranda State: 1) the election of mayors from the PSUV (the government’s socialist party) like Alirio Mendoza Galúe; and 2) the election of opposition governor Enrique Capriles Randosky who was involved in the 2002 coup against President Hugo Chávez Frías and the attack on the Cuban Embassy.

On coming to power, Randosky acted as expected and, with his bikers, attacked what the revolution had won. If it hadn’t been for the Land Committees of Los Altos Mirandinos and the community in general which immediately mobilized to defend the “missions” – health, education and other government funded community run programmes – these gains would have been lost.

But the Mayor’s attack on the land committees was even more shameful because he supposedly represents the party of the Bolivarian revolution. On 12th December, shortly after being sworn in, Mendoza, behind closed doors, tried to appoint Odalis Méndez as director of the land committees, ignoring the people who had built the land committees through years of hard work, little recognition and even less resources. The community found out and rallied outside the town hall until coordinator Juanita Romero was allowed to enter.

The Land Committee of el Encanto de la Montaña condemned Méndez: “she already has a bad track record”. They say that when she was director of FUSMI [social funding for Miranda state] in 2005, she did not meet the needs of the communities, and that “all this is happening just when a massive 2.500 land titles are about to be awarded . . . various illegalities by Guaicaipuro councillors have been discovered, and it is they who have been promoting Mrs. Odalis . . . There are 3.500 families asking for their right to ownership to be recognized but the councillors don’t want this to go ahead because there is land… they want to be able to sell so they can continue to profit without care for the desperation and worry of the many victims [of flooding and landslides] who live in high risk areas . . . ”

The Mayor ignored the structure of the land committees which are based on people who are committed to the process of change and work collectively. And he didn’t care that Juanita Romero and other members of the land committee were involved in his electoral campaign, and that without them he wouldn’t have won the election.

Juanita Romero’s track record is also known outside of Venezuela. In 2006, she and her partner Gastón Murat travelled to England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Spain in a tour organized by the Global Women’s Strike (GWS) to inform people about the achievements of the Bolivarian revolution: the “missions”, Article 88 of the constitution which recognizes work in the home as productive, and agricultural reform, amongst many others. In numerous public events and in meetings with MPs, Juanita Romero spoke of her organizational experience with the land committees and of people’s support for President Chávez as leader of this process. She gave a class in the archaeology department of the National University of Ireland, Galway, explaining how the land committees function – a class which is still remembered as one of the most popular. She is also known in Mexico where she participated with GWS in international women’s conferences. In January 2006, the Land Committee of Los Altos Mirandinos with the support of the previous mayor, put up 74 members of the GWS from nine countries. They have given evidence of the work of the land committees in the communities. This track record is known in many countries through the wide distribution of the films “Speaking of Power” and “Journey with a revolution” produced by the GWS, which feature Juanita Romero and Gastón Murat, their land committees and communities.

As international organizations which defend the Bolivarian revolution and people’s sovereignty, we condemn this betrayal of the revolution and of those who are making it, especially women. The majority of those who do the work of organizing and who are active in the land committees, the “missions” and the elections, and are then scabbed on, are women. Don’t mind that it is a woman who has lent herself to scabbing by accepting a post she is not entitled to. The fact remains that women, mostly unwaged or low-waged single mothers who have fought for the housing they are entitled to, will be most affected by this betrayal.

For decades political parties have used people to win posts for themselves without addressing people’s needs or demands. Sadly we must acknowledge what people in Venezuela are saying: that this is also happening there with some government candidates, as events in Miranda state have shown. To quote the Land Committee El Encanto de la Montaña: “. . . the people of Guaicaipuro are upset and worried . . . we want to tell the country . . . and warn that the Right has infiltrated community organisations so they can try to bring our president down from within.”

WE SUPPORT THE DEMANDS OF THE COMMUNITIES

Those of us outside Venezuela who know what the Land Committees of Los Altos Mirandinos and their coordinator Juanita Romero have achieved, support the communities demands for: 1) The clamour of the people to be listened to and their organizations respected; 2) Juanita Romero to be ratified for another year as co-ordinator of the Municipal Technical Office, as well as her team, so they can ensure that the communities they have committed to and which are in the final phase of regularization, are awarded their land titles; 3) Juanita Romero to be paid her wages immediately and the workers who have been dismissed to be reinstated; 4) The Council of Guaicaipuro to approve the ordinance already drafted and discussed by the Land Committees Network; 5) The investigation into municipal common land to be completed so rehousing plans for the communities in high-risk areas (there are 7.000 families who have been waiting for a long time for an official response) can be carried out

Long live the women committed to the revolution! No to the betrayal of the revolution!

SIGNED BY

Selma James & Nina López, Global Women’s Strike, international coordination, England

Andaiye, Global Women’s Strike, Guyana

Phoebe Jones, Global Women’s Strike, USA

Margaret Prescod, Women of Colour in the Global Women’s Strike, USA

Maggie Ronayne, Global Women’s Strike, Ireland

Sara Williams, Global Women’s Strike, Spain

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