00:00And the Venezuelan people continue to resist despite all the hardships caused by the U.S. sanctions,
00:06the violation of the Venezuelan sovereignty and the kidnapping of their constitutional president
00:11and first lady. They not only face aggression with love and resilience, but they are also
00:17finding the time to send letters of support and encouragement to Nicolás and Celia.
00:22Our correspondent Paula Dragnik tells us more with the first and last chapter of her series
00:27The Signal of Victory.
00:57Here in Venezuela we are waiting for you to continue the work you have done for your people
01:03with love, wisdom and great unity.
01:06My friend, you must be of good cheer, for God's timing is perfect, and have great faith,
01:13for we are here praying that you will soon be with all your people.
01:16Why are all these people writing letters to Nicolás Maduro en Celia Flores?
01:27Why, if their memories live together with food shortages, lack of money, power outages and
01:35long news? Because those who are writing today know perfectly well why this all happened.
01:44It's difficult to get food, and to get even a little, we have to do what we are doing,
01:51stand in huge lights.
01:53The economic sanctions imposed by the United States on any country seeking self-determination
02:00are as real and varied as the effects they seek to impose on the population.
02:05Before going to work, I have stopped by different places to see what I can get.
02:09Later, on a midday, I stopped again by places to see what I can get.
02:14And after work, to stop again by places to see what I can get.
02:18It is an old formula.
02:23Even today in Chile, there are people who believe that President Salvador Allende was responsible
02:28for the shortages during the popular unity government,
02:32even though the CIA itself has declassified the plans to destabilize his government.
02:41It means punishing the people for their decision to recover their basic resources.
02:46It means a premeditated form of intervention in the internal affairs of a country,
02:52which is what we call imperialist insolence.
02:54The trick is in the corporate media, which makes people believe that the problems are
03:02caused by socialism.
03:05And in this way, they can create the conditions to privatize everything possible.
03:11It is not so easy to believe that.
03:15For example, there is really a blockade.
03:17There was an economic war here that brought us practically to the brink of misery and despair.
03:24So all of us, those who are politically aware and those who are not experiencing that.
03:30But when you are not politically aware, how do you think you can come up with an analysis
03:35that make you say, yes, it's true, there are coercitive measures here.
03:40The name only, okay, is resisted.
03:42It is not so difficult for them to say, sir, we have to end this dictatorship that is causing
03:48this hunger.
03:50And then, these are individuals who use that narrative to stimulate anger and indignation
03:55in the people.
03:56That's their formula.
03:57A formula that didn't have any effect on the Venezuelan people, because the Bolivarian
04:09revolution created political awareness among the poor, who were the majority in the country,
04:15had been forgotten for decades, and who, in these years of siege, understood what was happening
04:20and, of course, resisted.
04:24How did we endure the blockade?
04:26By eating banana peels and mangoes.
04:28By being creative.
04:30They thought they were going to hurt us, but they just made us more creative.
04:35That is why they write.
04:37Querido Presidente Nicolás.
04:39Dear Presidente Nicolás, we are standing firm, just as you talk.
04:42Donald Trump doesn't know our ideals and what we are capable of, and much less than what
04:52Bolivar and Chávez did.
04:57If you want to end poverty, give power to the poor, and they will take care of it.
05:04It is not about giving them handouts.
05:06It is not about giving them alms.
05:08No, it is about giving them power, so that they can free themselves and put an end to
05:16poverty and exclusion.
05:18And here we are, fulfilling that mandate, giving power to the poor, giving power to the people.
05:26Ese poder es el que sigue vivo.
05:28Power is still alive and has allowed to fight against a low-intensity war that has cost the
05:34Venezuelan economy more than $600 billion over the last decade.
05:40The oil sector alone lost $240 billion.
05:45And the idea was also spread that it was the fault of the government of Nicolás Maduro.
05:52But even in the White House, after the bombing of Venezuela, they now understand this clearly.
05:57When did you leave Venezuela?
06:00As a company, we left under the sanctions in 2019.
06:03So we had intended to stay, and then when the sanctions went into place, we were required
06:07to leave.
06:10The unknown OFAC, that office of the U.S.
06:13Treasury that tells the world who it can and cannot do business with, operates secretly,
06:19but the consequences of its impositions are criminal.
06:23Worse still is the criminal obedience of some great powers.
06:26The Bank of England, for example, sees the 31 tons of gold that form part of Venezuela's
06:34reserves.
06:36In a chilling interview with the Voice of America in 2018, the former U.S. ambassador to Caracas
06:42made statements that border on psychopathy.
06:44They are already suffering so much from a lack of medicines, a lack of food, a lack of security,
06:57a lack of public health, that at this moment, perhaps the best solution would be to accelerate
07:04the collapse, even if it leads to a period of greater suffering, or months, or perhaps years.
07:12But no, the people in arms that Ugochave spoke of carry more than just a rifle.
07:20Civilians, militiamen, and soldiers took to the land to plant crops.
07:25This will not fall, because everything they have done to us made us stronger.
07:31What they do is to make us stronger, so let them go on.
07:34We will continue fighting and resisting.
07:36Listen, we are strong.
07:37We are war horses, because we fight on any battlefield they throw us.
07:43So let them not to deceive themselves, because Chávez planted good seeds in good soil, and
07:48here we are.
07:49And it's literally so.
07:51The young people of the Robert Serra Brigade, with more than 3,000 members, began to plant
07:57rice.
07:58In the first years, they had harvested 40,000 kilos.
08:02And so, there have been hundreds and thousands of pockets of productive resistance, which
08:19over the last few years have enabled Venezuela to produce more than 90% of the food it consumes
08:24today.
08:25A resistance that added to different distribution mechanisms.
08:28In April 2019, the FAO representative visited some of these places.
08:34I am very impressed with the capacity and solidarity among you, among the people, specifically in
08:45organizing the daily delivery of food.
08:49That does not exist in other countries.
08:51And in one week here, I saw, after my visits and looking at the figures, that at least no
08:59child goes hungry in schools.
09:01In socialism, collaboration and mutual support are part of the successful formula for resistance.
09:08But the amazement of the then-FAO representative in Venezuela was not covered by mainstream media,
09:16which a couple of months earlier, in 2019, had closed ranks with the supposed humanitarian
09:22aid event on the border, which was nothing more than another attempt at invasion and destabilization.
09:30A war that was also being waged within Venezuela territory with sabotage to the power grid.
09:38Today, when they got off our power again, when they bombarded us again, we are going to
09:46prepare the best shawarma that our missionaries will cook.
09:50And so, just as they coordinated meals in each neighborhood, the entire country organized
09:59itself like a small, big family.
10:01The drought exacerbated the attacks on the power grid, which in turn affected water distribution.
10:07It is a natural response that we have to face.
10:10Nature is making us pay for the damage capitalism is doing to her.
10:16It is also a call to the entire community, to the entire country, to unplug most of their
10:21appliance if they are not at home, because that surely helps save energy.
10:27And it is not only the Venezuelan idiosyncrasy cheerful and resilient, but also the political
10:34formation, the clarity of a social project accompanied by a government that sought new trading partners
10:41who were not afraid of sanctions from the Yankee Empire.
10:46Beyond the temporary and occasional conflicts that we may have with the current administration,
10:54we fulfilled our contract with Chevron to the letter.
10:57We are serious people.
10:59We are dignified people.
11:01Venezuela knew how to build a new path, achieving an economic growth of over 6% in 2025.
11:10The country's entrepreneurs took the lead.
11:12How do I do to move my stuff?
11:14How do I make purchase without gasoline and avoid these long lines?
11:18So I asked myself, what was running around on electricity?
11:22Golf carts?
11:24Venezuela can tell thousands of stories that gave meaning to life in the communities.
11:32That strange dignity felt by those who don't bow down.
11:39Today, not only are the popular markets and urban supermarkets full, but so are the beaches,
11:45hotels, and shopping centers, and practically the entire revitalized industry is proudly national.
11:54Meanwhile, 5,336 communes are organizing themselves into people's power units.
12:01The last consultation was held in November 2025, a few days before the imperial attack.
12:07We came to support the full exercise of the people's power for the consolidation of a communal state.
12:17We chose our own projects.
12:19We decided which project should be implemented.
12:22Well, we are living in a true and participatory democracy.
12:31The militia members vote.
12:33The oldest, the youngest, everyone votes because this is how a popular government is run.
12:39And no, they are not going to give it up even though their president is being held hostage today.
12:45That is why they are writing their letters.
12:48a competent, and just YHVU and H&M, effort but it's like making many different roads is run.
13:07When you have Jews and Jews, that allows you to put the tourism Freddie to Canada,
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