'It is not true that the only option is to “bend so as not to break.” There is the path of active resistance and popular mobilization.' ______________________ Letter to Delcy Rodríguez Raul Torres, April 27, 2026
Latin American brothers and sisters, it is important to recognize that the current situation in Venezuela is extraordinarily sensitive. In the wake of the dramatic events of January 2026, the transitional government led by Delcy Rodríguez is operating under suffocating external pressure, attempting to strike a balance that, for many of us in the revolutionary camp, borders on capitulation. The line between tactical resistance and strategic submission has become, for many, painfully blurred. This letter, therefore, does not seek to lecture, but rather to express the anguish of a people who feel that their historic banners are beginning to be lowered. It is a letter written to prevent those who today hold the helm of the Bolivarian homeland from turning a blind eye. To Ms. Delcy Eloína Rodríguez Gómez, Acting President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. On behalf of the sons and daughters of the Latin American Revolution, from the aching soul of rebellious and solidarity-bound Cuba. Madam President: I write to you from the deepest sorrow that dwells in the chest of one who has seen their own kin brought to their knees. I write to you with the invisible ink of the tears of a continent that, for centuries, has stood tall so as not to kiss the whip of any master. Today, history looks at us with eyes of stone and fire, and asks us: where has our dignity gone? At what bend in the road did we lose the rebellious spirit bequeathed to us by the liberators? You grew up sheltered by the legend of Jorge Antonio Rodríguez, your father, a martyr who gave his life while tortured by the political police of the Punto Fijo regime, without ever betraying his comrades in the Socialist League. You, Delcy, are the daughter of that sacrifice. That is why it hurts so much to see you today, not as the “tigress” who fiercely defended sovereignty from the Foreign Ministry, but as the one who whispers, with a complacent smile, that she will establish “respectful relations” with the very empire that kidnapped your predecessor. We see you, President, and we hardly recognize the radiance of the Revolution anymore. We see you making deals with those who tore the Venezuelan economy to shreds through criminal sanctions; we see you opening the floodgates of oil to the very same transnational corporations that Chávez nationalized with a firm hand. You have said that this is a “new political moment,” but in the neighborhoods, in the communes, in the barracks where the flag of the Patria Grande still flies, that sounds like the sad justification of someone who confuses prudence with genuflection. Kneeling before the empire that blocks us is not a “new moment”; it is simply a surrender. Where is the legacy of the Eternal Commander, Hugo Chávez Frías? That man who, with his hurricane-like voice, awakened the sleeping peoples and returned Simón Bolívar’s philosophical sword to him. That soldier of 21st-Century Socialism who taught us that the only way to be free is by being absolutely sovereign. Chávez did not kneel before the oil sabotage, nor before the April coup, nor before the death threats. He preferred to be an uncomfortable giant rather than a profitable servant. Today, seeing how public affairs are managed, we ask ourselves with heavy hearts: are we administering defeat instead of organizing resistance? The Cuba of Martí, Fidel, and Che watches with clenched fists. We, who have resisted sixty-five years of a genocidal blockade without ever surrendering our dignity, feel a stab in the side seeing that, with the change of leadership in Caracas, the energy supply that partially sustained our island collapsed amid a complicit silence. You, who met with the CIA director while our children suffered endless blackouts, will surely understand our dismay. It hurts to see how the unconditional solidarity that Cuba offered Venezuela—doctors, educators, soldiers killed in defense of their homeland—is now repaid with appeasement toward those who are strangling our economy. Cuba does not deserve this indifference, sister. This is not how shared blood is honored. The spirit of the Liberator Simón Bolívar roams today through chained America. What do we do with his testament of anti-imperialist unity? Bolívar warned us that the United States “seems destined by Providence to plague America with misery in the name of freedom.” While you assert that “we have the right to have relations with the United States,” we respond with the pain of those who have seen that movie too many times: we have no right to beg. We have the right to trade, yes, but on equal footing, with mutual respect, not by handing over the management of our money or the keys to our resources. Or does the memory of the 32 Cuban soldiers killed during the attack that allowed for Maduro’s capture not still bleed? Those sons of Martí, who fell defending Bolívar’s land while Venezuelan commanders, supposedly, paralyzed the military response. That wound has not healed. Every day that you sit down to negotiate without demanding justice and full truth for those martyrs, the legacy of the Revolution dissolves like a sugar cube in the bitter sea of Realpolitik. This is not a letter against Venezuela. It is a letter in favor of the soul of Venezuela. Let us not be deceived by siren songs. The Venezuelan oligarchy, the same one that applauded the sanctions and coups, wants neither peace nor transition; it wants restoration. It wants to turn schools and hospitals back into businesses, and peasants into laborers. If Chavismo becomes the docile administrator of the imperial agenda, it will have betrayed not only Chávez, but that humble people who continue to believe, who continue to stand in the CLAP lines, who continue to dream of Bolivarian Socialism. I speak to the Delcy who was once a young revolutionary, to the daughter of the guerrilla fighter, to the woman who rose through the party with the red flag held high. React, President. *It is not true that the only option is to “bend so as not to break.” There is the path of active resistance and popular mobilization.* There is the path of technological sovereignty, of strategic alliance with the peoples of the Global South. There is, in short, the possibility of becoming once again what we were: the burning hope of humanity, the beacon of the oppressed peoples. (emphasis added) As the great Pablo Neruda wrote, also wounded by the betrayals of his time: “They may cut all the flowers, but they cannot stop spring.” Do not be, Delcy, the hand that wields the scissors against the flowers planted by Commander Chávez. Do not write your name on the page of those who, out of fear or ambition, switched to the side of the circumstantial victors. Know also that we, the Cuban and Latin American revolutionaries, felt great indignation when your compatriots called you “Mona” in an offensive and widespread manner, recently at a concert by a famous Venezuelan singer in the center of Madrid, who was the main instigator of such insults... We denounce this act, but we tell you clearly: that is the price you and the poor people will pay from now on if you do not stand firm with history.... The contempt and the scraps of the oligarchy that the eternal commander denounced so much... .... from this trench of dignity, we continue to believe in heroic Venezuela. But we need to see you rise to the level of that heroism. We demand, with revolutionary love, that you rectify your actions. That you honor the martyrs. That you reconnect with the Bolivarian ideology, with consistent anti-imperialism, and with the solidarity that unites us as peoples. Until Victory, Always. Homeland or Death. We shall overcome. Raúl Torres An Afro-Latin American son... Composer of the song "El regreso del Amigo" https://groups.io/g/cubanews/topic/119063666 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#41621): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/41621 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/119089489/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
