The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) would like to express our deepest sympathies and solidarity with the people of Venezuela as they mourn the passing of their president, Hugo Chávez Frías. Working families and people struggling for self-determination across the world have lost an ally and an inspiring leader.

In San Salvador, El Salvador, thousands gathered Tuesday night to mourn President Chávez’ death and stand in solidarity with their Venezuelan brothers and sisters. The leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) party released a statement of solidarity with the Venezuelan people. It stated, “We will assume with complete conviction the revolutionary duty of defending [Chávez’] legacies and imitating his thinking and commitment to the peoples of Latin America.”

Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes sent his condolences to the Venezuelan people in a letter that read, “Venezuela didn’t only lose a president, but also a patriot, a man of transformative thinking and action that governed for his people and changed the reality of inequality and exclusion that the Venezuelan people suffered before his government.” Funes announced plans to attend the funeral services in Venezuela.

Chávez, who served the Venezuelan people as their president since 1998, transformed the country with his commitment to serving the poor and more equitably distributing Venezuela’s oil wealth, previously concentrated in a few extremely rich hands. Under Chávez, Venezuela’s poverty rate was cut in half; the extreme poverty rate was cut by 70%. Illiteracy was eradicated, free healthcare provided for all and college enrollment rates skyrocketed with free tuition for many.

President Chávez’ social and economic policies as well as his defiance of US hegemony were game changers for Latin America, inspiring leaders throughout the continent and across the world. His emphasis on Latin American integration created new regional bodies that will continue to challenge US hegemony and build a stronger, more united Latin America for decades to come. Read more about Chávez’ legacy in Mark Weisbrot’s article here.

The US government consistently demonized Chávez and supported destabilization tactics to undermine his government, even backing a 2002 coup d’état that was thwarted by a popular uprising. Watch the documentary “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” about the coup here.

As the former president of Brazil, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, wrote in a New York Times op-ed yesterday, “If a public figure dies without leaving ideas, his legacy and his spirit come to an end as well. This was not the case for Mr. Chávez, a strong, dynamic and unforgettable figure whose ideas will be discussed for decades in universities, labor unions, political parties and anyplace where people are concerned with social justice, the alleviation of misery and the fairer distribution of power among the peoples of the world.”

¡La lucha sigue! – The struggle continues!

¡Qué viva Hugo Chávez! – Long live Hugo Chávez!