Popular Unity Party List 2 of Ecuador statement at SIRAL 27

THE STRUGGLE OF THE WORKING CLASS AND PEOPLES,

AND THE INTER-IMPERIALIST CONTENTION

Popular Unity as a political party of the revolutionary left of Ecuador, which participates in this 27th International Seminar, expresses its position regarding the struggle of the working class and peoples, and the inter-imperialist contention taking into account the current events of the world capitalist system and the statement made by the leader of the Bolshevik party and one of the leaders of the Russian revolution and builder of socialism from 1917.

"We are living in the epoch of imperialism and proletarian revolutions." Lenin

On the other hand, we are guided and supported by the Manifesto of the Communist Party of Marx and Engels who stated.

"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." "Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat."

With these statements we place imperialism, which is the highest stage of capitalism, as the main enemy of the working class and peoples, that the antagonistic contradictions between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat are in force; that at present there are inter-imperialist contentions that are seen mainly between the United States, China and Russia, that the working class and peoples confronting their class enemies are organizing, mobilizing and fighting against the capitalist system, defending their rights and victories and seeking alternatives for change. However, we note that there are political and ideological limitations; it is necessary to have a revolutionary party based in Marxism-Leninism and in constant development that can lead the working class and peoples of the world for social and national liberation, to seize power and advance in the building of the new society of the workers at the service of the workers themselves, socialism, the New Fatherland.

The imperialist powers are present and developing their contention, up to military confrontation; this is for the control of strategic areas, the plundering of the natural resources of the countries, for the desire to dominate regions and countries, for the dispute over markets. They are establishing military bases and economic groups for the contention and a new redivision of the world.

Imperialism imposes itself with the force of arms, with wars of conquest and plunder, with occupation troops and the formation of puppet groups in dependent countries.

Most recently, the inter-imperialist contention exists in the war that Russia is carrying out with Ukraine; in this confrontation the contention is between Russia and US imperialism that acts with NATO together with the government and the army of Ukraine. It is a localized war of contention over territory and natural resources in an area of strategic influence; the most affected are the workers of Ukraine and other countries. In the economic and commercial sphere, the disputes are in the trade war between the United States and China, which have reestablished tariff restrictions and free trade agreements, in areas and markets of influence mainly between the imperial powers such as the United States, China, Russia and the European Union.

The war of aggression and plunder is another expression of the inter-imperialist contention, the United States, waving the banners of freedom and democracy, has invaded Libya, Syria, Panama and is threatening North Korea.

France, another imperialist power, is intervening politically, economically and militarily in its former colonies in Africa.

Russia as an imperialist power has been actively involved in Syria and Libya in the contention over these territories with US imperialism.

China so far has not carried out military incursions, but it is the third military power and is arming itself continuously; it has been establishing commercial relations with several countries of the world and has political links with some governments and in Latin America with the so-called progressive governments.

The confrontation and contention between the imperialist powers in no way eliminates the nature of imperialism, because the concentration and accumulation of wealth is the product of the surplus value created by the working class of the imperialist countries, by the workers of the developed capitalist countries, by the workers and peoples of the dependent countries and also by the plundering of natural resources in agreements with the puppet governments of imperialism.

The cyclical economic crisis is another scenario of inter-imperialist disputes, but this crisis is placed on the shoulders of the workers and peoples by the bourgeoisie, imposing economic, political and labor measures that are decided by the IMF and World Bank and are carried out by the governments of the bourgeoisie. The present and the future of the working class and peoples who are fighting for their rights and aspirations, for their independence, have as main actors the workers, youth, women and other popular sectors. We see this clearly in the protests and mobilizations in France, the United States and some European countries, and in Latin America Chile, Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Ecuador. However, we must point out that in certain cases these processes are in the hands of the bourgeoisie and in others there is the presence of the petty bourgeoisie who are influenced by social democracy and revisionism. The proletariat continues to struggle, but it has limitations in its associations, in its political and ideological organization, and it cannot easily get out of imperialist domination of one or another power in contention, as well as confronting the domination and exploitation of the bourgeoisie to lead to the struggle for social and national liberation by maintaining and promoting its class independence.

For the battles of the working class and peoples for national independence and social liberation to achieve victory, it is indispensable, necessary for the leadership of these processes to be led by the working class and its revolutionary party in order to fulfill their historic mission: to overthrow the capitalist system and imperialist domination, to seize power and build the new system of the workers at the service of the workers themselves, socialism, the New Fatherland.

The contradictions, discrepancies or disputes between the imperialist powers do not at all eliminate, nor do they relegate to the background, the fundamental contradictions between labor and capital in the capitalist and imperialist countries or the contradictions between the oppressed peoples and their imperialist oppressors, between socialism and capitalism. These are the deepest and irreducible constants that can become more acute and lead to a new situation in the scenario of each country and at the international level.

In the current economic, social and political scenario, where the disputes of the imperialist powers and the struggle of the working class and the peoples exist, it is up to us to uphold, defend and affirm the revolutionary principles and theses that "there is no good imperialism." Neither China nor Russia, nor the United States and the imperialist countries of the European Union can be considered or treated as friends of the workers and peoples. They do not help the development and independent progress of the countries; their interests are focused on the extraction of surplus value created by the working class, in the plundering of natural resources, in having governments that are dependent on them. Therefore, we cannot state that there are good imperialisms, as some petty bourgeois social-democrats and revisionists try to claim, distorting the principle of the class struggle. They speak of relying on one or another imperialist power to confront U.S. imperialism, which they consider the most dangerous. It is another thing to have the wisdom to know how to take advantage of the contradictions that arise between the imperialist powers to advance in the process of accumulation of forces and provide alternatives in the struggle for social and national liberation.

It is up to the revolutionary parties to advance in the organization and struggle of the working class and peoples, not only for their economic demands but also to aim for the political struggle for the seizure of power and the building of the new society, socialism and the new Homeland, always guided by Marxist-Leninist principles. Here we quote the following: "The working class, which lives exclusively by the sale of its labor power and which is linked to the most advanced form of production in capitalist society, which is concentrated and subject to the discipline of the capitalist enterprises that exploit it, is the most interested in the struggle for liberation, it identifies the class enemies who exploit it, it is in a better position to assimilate its own ideology and is willing to adopt forms of organization and discipline needed in the struggle for social and national emancipation." Line of the PCMLE

The working class, therefore, is called upon to unite the other exploited social strata and classes, not only in the struggle for their economic demands, better wages, stability, collective bargaining, defense of social security, but it must raise its level of organization and political and ideological consciousness to advance in the political struggle and carry out its historic mission. Counting on the leadership of its revolutionary party guided by Marxism-Leninism, it must be ready to give battle using all forms of struggle to confront and defeat the bourgeoisie and imperialism, to seize power, and to build the new society, socialism, the New Fatherland, that guarantees security, work, education, health care, social security, housing, justice, freedom for the majority, and having free and sovereign countries where the exploitation and domination of the bourgeoisie and imperialism has been put to an end.

Long live the unity and struggle of the working class and peoples for their social and national liberation.

Long live the struggle for socialism and the New Fatherland.

September 1- 2023. L.F.A.A Gold.

National Union of Educators (UNE) of Ecuador statement at SIRAL 27

 THE STRUGGLES OF THE WORKING CLASS AND

THE PEOPLES AND THE ANTI-IMPERIALIST DISPUTES

The National Union of Educators celebrates 79 years of struggle in defense of public, secular, free, scientific and quality education in which it is necessary to ensure the labor, professional and social rights of the teachers.

The UNE has played a fundamental role in defending public education as a fundamental human right. We have strongly rejected the anti-people policies and measures, the attempt at the privatization of education and the demand for greater budgets for this important sector. We are promoting the pedagogical proposal for emancipation, the new school that is one of the decisive instruments for social transformation and the building of the New Homeland.

The struggle of teachers in defense of labor rights. The organization has worked tirelessly to ensure fair working conditions, because without them, there will be no educational transformation. Stability and security for teachers in the exercise of their profession. The UNE has led different measures, in fact, to demand respect for the labor rights of educators, job stability, timely payment of salaries and the implementation of teacher training and modernizing policies with mobilizations and the greatest expression of rebellion, hunger strikes. We have confronted authoritarian governments, tyrants and military dictatorships, who have used and abused public force and in 1973 they assassinated Rosita Paredes.

During the government of Rafael Correa in Ecuador, the National Union of Educators (UNE) played a crucial role in the resistance of the peoples and defense of the rights of educators. During that period, the government promoted a series of measures and policies that directly affected the educational community.

One of the main struggles of the UNE during the period of Correa was the resistance against the criminalization of the social struggle, against an individualist, meritocratic, hierarchical, standardized, authoritarian education, against the politics of subjection and fear that limited the autonomy of the teachers, a policy implemented by imperialism through its multilateral organizations. The UNE denounced the attempts of the Correa government to impose a unique and biased vision on education that affirms capitalism, that is, the reproduction of the conditions of exploitation, inequities, a dictatorial and populist regime.

We confronted a series of reforms that sought to control and direct educational content towards an official narrative. The UNE defended the need for a critical, pluralist education that respects diversity of thought.

The UNE also faced a series of direct attacks against the labor rights of educators, during the period of Correa there were repeated attempts to weaken the union by withdrawing the dues check-off, removing its legal existence, creating parallel organizations, dismissal of a score of union leaders none of which they were able to bend, so the government took over the headquarters of the organization. The UNE resisted these actions and fought for the dignity and rights of teachers to free organization. And we are still standing here.

It is important to note that the resistance of the UNE during the Correa was not easy. The Correa government exerted strong pressure on unions and UNE leaders through disqualification, the imposition of sanctions and political persecution. However, the UNE remained steadfast in its defense of the rights of educators and the quality of education. In 2015, as an expression of trade union and political unity, we joined the United Front of Workers together with the working class; we continued the defense of the rights of the peoples of Ecuador.

In October 2019 the UNE together with the workers’ movement, peasants, indigenous, students, unemployed, women, black, mestizo and montubio [the mestizo people of the countryside of coastal Ecuador] people, the neighborhoods, and social organizations were leading forces in the indigenous, popular uprising against the neoliberal policies of the Moreno government that tried to place the crisis left by the Correa forces on the shoulders of the popular sectors with the creation of new taxes, rising fuel prices, and consequently, the rise in fares, the old dream of the right, the privatization of strategic state enterprises , the reduction of public servants. The popular struggle won a victory with the repeal of Decree 883; this was a turning point in the struggle of the peoples of Latin America.

The teachers were the first social sector that confronted the government of the banker Guillermo Lasso, demanding the revaluation of teachers. We fought for equal pay; we got the Legislative Branch to ratify the reforms to the Organic Law of Intercultural Education. The government was determined not to comply, so the protest rose and the second hunger strike declared that ended with the resolution of the Constitutional Court in favor of the teachers. The deepening of the social struggle was seen in the forceful mobilization of "May Day" that foresaw the dissatisfaction of the rebellious people, who condemned the announcements of privatization, the anti-worker labor policy, the inability to solve the problems of the people.

The organized popular sectors paralyzed the [government’s] activities, due to the continuous deterioration of living conditions, the application of the neoliberal proposal, the insistence on the sale of public companies, the tax amnesty, the usurpation of the workers' voices before the IESS; again the right used its strategy of attacks with harsh repression. However, the force of unity cornered the government and we defeated it.

The vitality of the social struggle and the measures of the government, the low acceptance of the actions of the two functions of State, led to the dismissal of the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, for his inability to solve the problems of the country. In the midst of a wave of violence, an increase in crime, with the forced recruitment of minors for small-scale trafficking, hired assassinations and sexual exploitation, with 200,000 students who have not returned to school, the increase in many-sided poverty, the consequence of the application of neoliberal measures, the Executive declared a cross death [in which the president dissolved the National Assembly], a withdrawal of the bourgeoisie and called for early elections. In the runoff, two representatives of the right are participating who are responsible for the crisis of the country; the people were left without a candidate and the form of rebellion is the call to vote null. The UNE, consistent with its principles, played a leading role in the defense of nature together with the social organizations and activists; it was possible to stop oil exploitation in the ITT Ishpingo, Tambococha and Tiputini area and mining in the Chocó Andino sector. Both areas have been declared Biosphere Reserves due to their diversity of fauna and flora, and their conservation reduces global warming and the sweltering era.

We defeated big international extractivist capital and gave an example to Ecuador and the world that it is possible to defeat imperialism; we will remain vigilant so that the decision of the people is respected.

Our struggle continues, we continue to build the road to the dictatorship of the proletariat, because only the people can save the people.

Workers of the world, unite

Today is a unique moment in our reality and in the World; the face of imperialism is seen in every gesture and in every act in public education in Latin America, today more than ever teachers must unite and break the chains imposed by imperialism. In the face of educational neoliberalism we propose education for the emancipation of the peoples.

For this reason today from Quito, the Middle of the World or, we want to raise the voice of hope and encouragement, so that the social activists of the World know that we are continuing to stand in struggle, strongly grasping our ideals of freedom, patriotism and solidarity organized in all sectors and covered by our red flag.

We call on all teachers' unions in Latin America in their different areas to create political education websites with a focus on the social struggle and the teaching of education for emancipation, in order to fight using the computer media, as we have done in the streets of Latin America and the world.

Federation of Students of Ecuador (EuEFJ) statement at SIRAL 27

THE STRUGGLE OF UNIVERSITY YOUTH

"The fundamental clay of our work is youth, in it we place our hope and prepare it to take the banner from our hands." Che Guevara

In the region, young university students agree that struggle is the path to victories and with it we undertake actions against measures that threaten our historical demands and the human right to education that is a problem for groups in power that try to monopolize not only our wealth, but also our access to knowledge.

Education is liberating and breaks the chains that the bourgeoisie tries to impose in its different aspects, but with the same class character. Faced with this, the youth under the organization and struggle constantly rejects the violation of their rights throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and the world.

As examples of struggle, Peru is facing repression against students and the violation of university autonomy, which the youth has resisted through large and important mobilizations against Boluarte, an authoritarian and bloodthirsty government. In Mexico, there us a call for a student strike against the abuse of power by the authorities of the University of Guadalajara and their arbitrary measures.

In Colombia there is the struggle for the modification of Law 30, so that it establishes education as a fundamental right and no longer as a service. While in Panama young university students say no to mining contracts, no to the high cost of living and no to the bar exam, which is nothing more than a way that seeks to commodify one of the careers most in demand in their country and make it only for the elite. On the other hand, in the Dominican Republic there are mobilizations against the ARS and the AFP, the demand for the return to 100% face-to-face classes, in addition to the struggle for a larger budget for the University which remains a historical problem.

In Ecuador there have also been struggles. As a matter of principle, for us, the youth are rebellious and the events in the region are evidence of that. As FEUE our fundamental role is to channel this rebellion by implementing it with conviction and firmness in favor of the rights of the popular, social and historically-violated sectors of the country.

Faced with the 1st report of Reform to the LOES, we mobilized outside the National Assembly for a democratic, scientific and quality LOES. This resulted in the elimination of harmful elements for the IES and a 2nd report that included among better conditions our proposal for greater student participation in government, paid practices, more scholarships, control of Private Universities, blocking budget cuts, measures against harassment and abuse of power, etc. Faced with this, the government legislators together with the pro-Correa forces and the Social Christian party shelved the Law, turning their backs on Public Education and with this action UNES, now called RC5, of the pro-Correa forces shows once again their true class nature linked to the right and groups of economic power.

In Quito we led the largest mobilization of this year with more than 4,500 students in the streets demanding security; it should also be mentioned that, through organization and sit-ins, we pushed back the perverse intentions of violating free education in the UCE [Central University of Ecuador]. From AFU and HCU our comrades in Guaranda demanded the dismissal of harassing and abusive teachers with a forceful mobilization, obtaining results never before seen in their University. As a result of the struggle, the comrades of the UTC achieved the universal election of authorities and the application of 50% of student participation in government. In Guayaquil we undertook sit-ins against the precarious admission process and the struggle for free admission, while Esmeraldas united and mobilized for security.

In Los Ríos, our comrades have been victims of constant political persecution by the authorities for their rejection of poor academic conditions and their unwavering struggle for an increased budget and quality education at the service of the people. In Ibarra, as in other cities in the country, the constant debate in defense of Yasuní, nature and life, won a historic victory in the popular referendum, not only for the country, but for the world.

This FEUE of the people, with its characteristic of being supportive and combative, was one of the leaders of the debate and struggle, raising together with the Popular Front the slogan "DOWN WITH NARCO-GOVERNMENT" and "LASSO OUT NOW", through sit-ins, rallies and mobilizations outside the universities, governorates, streets and plazas of the country, condemning the ineffectiveness and servility of Lasso to the power groups, the opening to the international mafia, the rise in insecurity, etc. In this scenario, the worsening of the labor, economic, educational and political crisis in our country is seen with the increase in social chasms and the deepening of neoliberal measures, but the struggle is also evidence of the unstoppable struggle of the youth for change and transformation.

The debate and struggle has been permanent, even in the struggle as young university students to participate in government in the general elections. This FEUE of the people is part of the forces that are fighting for the social transformation of Ecuador.

Ecuador is on the verge of the second round of elections with two candidates representing the right-wing. On the one hand, the pro-Correa forces; whose action in government was characterized by the repression of youth. The most visible case was that of Marcelo Rivera, former president of the National FEUE, who in the struggle for the demands of the student movement was repressed and imprisoned.

The interventions in the Universities as in the case of the UTC that fought and resisted, the imposition of the LOES that until today is regressive in terms of rights and has turned the Universities into managements, not into a democratic space and development of science and knowledge at the service of the people. In addition they seek to make the public Higher Educational Institutions for the elite and meritocracy, and especially to favor Private Universities, which is seen in the increase in their enrollment rate and expansionism, while thousands of young people fail to access free public higher education. That is, they were already in government and do not represent a popular choice, much less a leftist one.

On the other hand, Daniel Noboa Azín in his government plan seeks to increase the number of contributions to the IESS and raise the retirement age, that is, to place the government debt on the shoulders of the workers, and the shrinking of the State, which means massive layoffs. In addition, the statements of concern of his presidential team, which proposes the privatization of Education and Health Care, therefore, seeks to deepen the neoliberal policy in the country and essentially benefit entrepreneurs through the so-called incentives that translate later into benefits, favors and forgiveness for millionaires.

The FEUE of the people does not see the elections as an end but as a means of contention for the social consciousness of the masses; therefore, the university youth and the people have no candidate in the second round; we firmly call for the Null Vote as a powerful ideological element and for a resounding rejection of those responsible for the current crisis in the country.

As rebellious youth, our struggle is in the classrooms and the streets to achieve a quality Public and Scientific Higher Education at the service of the people and not to give way to the violation of our rights and those of the peoples of Ecuador.

"Education is a weapon whose effectiveness depends on who has it in their hands and for whom it is aimed" - Joseph Stalin

"Let us be the nightmare of those who seek to take away our dreams" – Che Guevara

Nery Padilla President National FEUE

En Marcha: SIPRAL 27 Introduction and Final Resolution

En Marcha #2063, September 6-12, 2023

Central Organ of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador

27th International Seminar "Problems of the Revolution in Latin America"

On September 1 and 2, 2023, the 27th International Seminar "Problems of the Revolution in Latin America" was held virtually, with the participation of seventeen countries, under the theme "The struggles of the working class and peoples, and inter-imperialist disputes". They were two days in which leaders of various political, social and trade union organizations of the continent exposed, through their presentations, the current challenges to which the left movements, the communists, the workers and peoples are exposed, as well as the perspectives of the working masses in struggle.

The social struggle in Latin America and the whole world has gained strength, due to issues that are common such as the onslaught of neoliberalism, the anti-popular policy of the right-wing governments, military conflicts, the constant search of the imperialisms for control of markets and to expand their influence in new sectors. They have forced the youth and workers to mobilize for their rights and for freedom. These struggles, characterized by their persistence and intense levels of combat, have prevented the crystallization of various scenarios that are to the detriment of the peoples. On the other hand, the territories of Latin America are areas of dispute of the imperialist countries, which seek to expand their commercial borders, their ideological hegemony in the region and diminish the power that US imperialism and its allies still hold.

In the two days of work of the Seminar, organized by the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador and the Revolutionary Youth of Ecuador, there were around 1500 participants connected virtually, listening to the presentations and the criteria expressed about the convened theme. Presentations were made by various organizations from El Salvador, Argentina, Venezuela, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Mexico, the United States, Chile, and the host, Ecuador, which were presented in six discussion tables. Each organization contributed with the perspective of the popular movement and the workers, to keep their organizations cohesive and in permanent struggle, as well as to the discussion of those problems that affect the whole world due to the voracity of capitalism and imperialism.

Those attending the seminar agreed that only the organization of the workers and peoples, the women and youth, will let the struggle to be taken to other levels and to the seizure of power. Therefore, they insisted on the need to strengthen their organizations and the unity of the left to confront the offensive of the bourgeoisie in their countries.

The armed conflicts that have marked humanity in recent years are not alien to the participants of the Seminar, since the effects of the war are felt in several countries and it is the workers and youth who are the main ones affected. It is clear that the inter-imperialist war that has Ukraine as its scenario, is the maximum representation of the interests of the imperialist countries to expand their zones of influence. The Western countries have not spared in their financing and logistical support to sustain this war longer, in their eagerness to incorporate more allies. The workers and their organizations worldwide demand the departure of troops from Ukrainian territory so that their people can achieve peace.

The attendees of the 27th International Seminar ratified their solidarity with the peoples who remain in constant struggle for their freedom and for the right to a life in peace, such as Palestine, Western Sahara and those who, legitimately, confront the invaders of their territories.

The Struggles of the Working Class and Peoples, and Inter-Imperialist Disputes

These are not good times for capitalism, its inevitable internal contradictions are the source of the serious problems from which it suffers. More than a century ago it entered the stage that marked the beginning of its decline, and the struggle of the workers and peoples continues to tear down the walls of capitalist exploitation. Now, the world is witnessing a new wave of protests, expressing the discontent and rejection of the peoples of a system that only offers them uncertainty, oppression and exploitation.

Tens of thousands of workers on strike, massive protests of workers and youth in the streets, violent confrontation with the repressive forces, has characterized the political-social scenario of the main capitalist economies of Europe in the preceding months. This has been the response to the offensive of capital that places the crisis on the backs of the workers, and to the efforts of the big monopoly bourgeoisie to finance its war budgets with measures that cause the decrease in wages and the increase in unemployment.

Europe has become an epicentre of the struggle of the working masses, but it is present on all continents, in the countries with the greatest capitalist development such as the United States and China and in the countries with the least development, trapped by dependence on imperialism. The confrontation between the bourgeoisie and the working class, an expression of the contradiction between capital and labor, is gaining strength and is animating the actions of revolutionary organizations on the planet.

In the Americas, along with the struggle of the workers, poor and middle peasants, and youth and women, there is a component that, due to the characteristics of our countries, is of strategic importance: the indigenous peoples and nationalities. The mass struggle has stopped the anti-people plans of the neoliberal governments and those that present themselves as democratic and progressive; it has blocked the way to the conspiracies of the fascist right – as in Brazil – and has won, by electoral means, important political victories that, in several cases, have been betrayed by the inconsistency of those who benefited from those victories.

The sharpening of this contradiction, together with the exacerbation of those that occur among the imperialist states, configure a particular scenario in today's world, a context that confirms the thesis that capitalism-imperialism is a source of sharpening of the class struggle, of the struggle of the peoples against foreign domination, of the contention between monopolies and capitalist-imperialist states over spheres of influence and of the origin of conflagrations that can take the form of world wars.

The war that has Ukraine as its theater of operations is the most bitter expression of the contradictions between the monopolies and the imperialist powers, but it is not its only manifestation. Today's world is not conceivable without these confrontations, which at times reach levels like today, which even warn of the danger of a world war, and at other times appear relatively "relaxed", and which are present at all levels: in the field of trade, in technological-scientific development, in the financial field, in the arms race, in the cultural field, etc.

The agreements, treaties, joint actions, the composition and recomposition of economic, political and military blocs that are occurring among the largest economies on the planet, confirm that for decades we have lived in a multipolar world, in which US imperialism has played a hegemonic role (now in decline), which is not synonymous with being the only imperialism. That hegemony is now contested by Chinese imperialism and for this it has also made agreements, accords and investments that allow it to put into circulation its financial capital, no less exploitative and oppressive than that coming from any other imperialist country. No imperialist power, as well as no economic bloc commanded by imperialist monopolies, can be a source of independent and sovereign development for the dependent countries, as is now intended to be presented with regard to the plans that China and Russia have with the bloc known as BRICS, with which they intend to contest with US imperialism and its allies. We reiterate what has been said on other occasions: there are no good imperialisms, they are all part of the world imperialist system and they are all enemies of the workers and peoples.

Latin America and the Caribbean is the object of inter-imperialist contention, U.S., Chinese, Canadian, British, Russian, German, Japanese, etc. capitals circulate in the economy of our countries exploiting oil, mining, agricultural resources; in the financial system; in hydroelectric projects; in military equipment, etc. The massive presence of Chinese capital has gone hand in hand with the "progressive" governments that have fulfilled and are fulfilling the role of renegotiators of the external dependence of their countries.

In the struggle to win social and national emancipation, the revolutionary forces must present to the workers and peoples a strategic project oriented by a policy of class independence that means: having a program that aims to meet and resolve the material needs and rights of the workers and peoples, affect the interests of the owners of big local and foreign capital and, defend the sovereignty of our countries; to rally the motive forces of the revolution and isolate the enemies of the revolution; to fight imperialism in all its expressions. In this sense, for the revolutionary struggle to advance, the building and strengthening of powerful Marxist-Leninist parties is a necessity.

The attendees of the 27th International Seminar Problems of the Revolution in Latin America reiterate our repudiation of the imperialist war in Ukraine, we demand immediate peace, we demand the departure of Russian troops from that territory and that the US and NATO take their claws out of Ukraine; we ratify our solidarity with the people of that country and with the peoples who suffer from the imperialist confrontation.

We support the national liberation struggles of the peoples of Palestine and Western Sahara who are waging legitimate and just battles, above all against U.S., British and French imperialism, as well as against the apartheid regime of Israeli Zionism and the occupation by the Moroccan feudal monarchy of the Saharawi national territory, in open violation of the right to self-determination of the peoples. We express our solidarity with the workers, peasants, youth and peoples who on all continents are struggling against the effects of the domination of capital, for work, land, shelter, for freedom, for life. In these struggles lies the germ of the revolutionary torrents necessary to put an end to the world of capital.

Revolutionary Communist Party of Argentina (PCRA)

Revolutionary Communist Party – PCR – Brazil

Communist Party of Colombia (Marxist–Leninist)

Communist Party of Mexico (Marxist-Leninist)

Communist Party of Marxist-Leninist of Ecuador

Popular Unity – Ecuador

Socialist Regroupment for a New National Initiative (RASIN Party – People's Camp)

Communist Party of Labor – PCT – Dominican Republic

George Gruenthal, Toward Marxist-Leninist Unity – USA

Women's Movement for Social Liberation – MMLS of Peru

Union of Student Youth of Peru – UJE PERU

Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Venezuela

Communist Reconstruction of Uruguay

Salvadoran Trade Union Coordinator

Revolutionary Youth of Ecuador

Ecuadorian Association of Friendship with the Saharawi People

General Union of Workers of Ecuador – UGTE

National Union of Educators – UNE (Ecuador)

Women for Change – Ecuador

Quito September 2, 2023

PCR-U SIPRAL 27 annex: 30 years of struggle in defense of public companies and water resources

  30 YEARS OF STRUGGLE IN DEFENSE OF PUBLIC COMPANIES

AND WATER RESOURCES.

Our Latin American countries have been conquered for our resources and common goods, our peoples oppressed, exploited and plundered.

Our peoples then suffer the oppression exercised by the imperialist countries with their policy of plunder and struggle for the division of the world. This is a policy emanating from the dispossession of other nations that are connected internationally with international agencies such as the IMF, WB, WTO, ICSID [International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes]. Another link in this chain of oppression and exploitation is that exercised by monopoly companies, corporations that export capital to our countries favored for economic policies, under investment protection agreements, free trade agreements, etc. Part of this chain are the governments of our countries that accept and apply these prescriptions emanating from international agencies doing nothing more than fulfilling the sad role of lackeys of imperialism, of the financial oligarchies, of the local pro-imperialist bourgeoisie who benefit from these crumbs while the workers and people, victims of oppression and looting, are subjected to the most extreme poverty.

Our country of backward and dependent capitalism is facing a water crisis, which is the responsibility of all governments until today that is derived from the mismanagement of soils and water resources, beyond climate change. This has impacted agriculture with a great drought, and the metropolitan area, with more than half of the country's population, has had its water supply affected.

The struggle in defense of water begins with the defense of Public Companies. In 1992, the effort to advance in an accelerated manner on the path of privatization and surrender by the government of National Party was faced with popular street mobilizations that were later channeled into a popular initiative that by its content was an anti-imperialist struggle in defense of the national patrimony, centered around the workers’ (PIT-CNT) social organizations such as FUCVAM, FEUU, sectors of the political parties, opposed to the Law of Reform of State Enterprises, inflicting a defeat on the government and the promoters of the law ending with 70% support of non-privatization of public companies in general.

The progress in water privatization began with the privatization of drinking water and sanitation services. The government through the parliament made concessions in the Department of Maldonado east of the Maldonado stream on the provision of drinking water and sanitation; this fact goes unnoticed by the union, but not for the neighborhoods which mobilized without managing to modify the situation.

In 1995, the parliament introduced into the five-year budget law the power to grant concessions in the remaining 17 departments in the interior of the country. Thus, in 2000 it handed over concessions to the west of the Maldonado stream after a strong struggle with the neighborhood together with the union, then making concessions to Aguas de Barcelona, a subsidiary of the Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux, to the east of the Maldonado stream, and to the west the waters of Bilbao consortium made up of Kartera Uno, Iberdrola, and Aguas de Bilbao. These events create the conditions for a serious struggle with all the people in defense of the public company, the defense of a source of work and of water resources. On this basis we define our objectives:

• Declare surface water to be in the public domain

• Declare access to safe drinking water and sanitation a fundamental human right.

• Demand that the provision of drinking water and sanitation services be carried out putting social reasons before economic ones.

• That drinking water and sanitation service should be provided exclusively and directly by a state legal entity.

• Demand a water and sanitation policy based on the principle of sustainability of the resource.

• Demand the participation of users and civil society as a whole in the planning, management and control of water resources establish river basins as basic units for their management.

• Recuperate the concessions ceded by the Uruguayan state.

This struggle took place in the light of what was the water war in 2000 when the people of Cochabamba in Bolivia rose up, fanned by the regional situation of structural adjustments imposed by the international credit organizations (IMF, WB, IDB) under the guidelines of the Washington Consensus and the Brady Plan promoted by the United States.

In 2002, in view of the eminent progress of the concessions and the announcements of the government in office, a national commission (CNDAV) was formed, which from its beginning was made up of the trade union movement (PIT-CNT), the Federation of Students (FEUU), the Federation of Housing Cooperatives for Mutual Aid (FUCVAM), neighborhood social organizations, religious organizations, political organizations, to block the way through a popular initiative, a referendum, with the demands previously raised, thus ensuring in that process a path of difficult return if the reform was achieved.

Once the reform was achieved in 2004, together with our people, there was reflected in the constitution the preservation of water resources for future generations, access to drinking water and sanitation as a fundamental human right, and the non-privatization of OSE [State Sanitary Works]. However, since every struggle of the people did not end there, we understood that those who promoted this battle had just begun.

Many struggles had to take place, in principle due to the withdrawal of the concessions made by the government of the Colorado Party in 2000 to a private foreign company, later undone by the reform. However, the new, pseudo-progressive Frente Amplio [Broad Front] government, which just took office in 2004, promised to maintain the concession, ignoring the popular verdict. Then, as a result of the struggle and because the business was no longer profitable for them, they did not allow water concessions in the rest of the country, they withdrew.

In the 1990s, the governments promoted neoliberal policies, stimulating foreign investment, opening space for agribusiness, when the privatization policy was defeated which was established in the country. From here, monoculture forest plantations, soy monoculture, the establishment of three mega pulp-chip production plants (paper mills) Estora Enso, UPM I, UPM II, and in 2012 the intention to establish an open-pit mine in the center of the country, which provoked popular resistance, and the mobilizations were not long in coming.

Already in 1992 the forestry law, which prepared the establishment of the paper mills, was put into question; this subsequently divided the trade union movement where opportunism, which is the majority in the leadership of the trade union movement. It considered, together with the government of the pseudo-progressive FA [Frente Amplio] the social block of changes, following the government and its policy, supporting the establishment of pulp mills, of open-pit mines, the possibility of oil extraction by fracking, ignoring the environmental, economic and social consequences that this implied. On the one hand, the deepening of the foreign take-over of the land and the displacement of medium and small producers in the countryside, the establishment of forest monoculture on a permanent basis, soil degradation and the reduction of runoff to the water source, strongly impacting the water balance, the contamination of the fresh water sources, etc. As a consequence of this policy that is opposed to the interests of the workers and the people, it led us to the agricultural crisis, a product of three consecutive years of drought and deficiency in the management of soil and water. This year it hit hard the medium and small producers in the countryside who were already indebted, and the popular sectors in the family basket [of basic needs] due to the shortage of fruits and vegetables.

As a corollary of this policy, the FA government promotes a modification to the irrigation law that ultimately privatizes water sources. Broad sectors took up the struggle in the street and, before the promulgation of the law, a popular referendum began against the law, which we could not defeat as we did not get the necessary number of signatures, although we did still achieve more than half of the necessary number.

The modification of the irrigation law then promoted the concentration of land in a few hands and the hoarding of water for irrigation by private and foreign capital, meaning more contamination of fresh water reserves that could be used by the OSE to purify it for human consumption. Today in the metropolitan area, with more than 1,800,000 inhabitants, we lack access to drinking water.

Finally today this coalition government of the traditional right with the fascist ultra-right, in order to prevent a great drought in the supply of water to the population of the metropolitan area, proposes to incorporate into the current system a new water treatment plant to extract water from the Rio de la Plata to purify it. This project, carried out by private companies, is a good business for the private company Neptune. It is not only unconstitutional, as a private initiative that the management of OSE is conceding to a private company for 30 years; it is also an environmental setback for the place where it is intended to establish it, in Arazati, department of San José. Along with the ecological risks that this entails, there are the costs that benefit these private companies that are transferred into a tax, in short, to the people.

Carlos Sosa – Secretary of the Trade Union Front of the PCR-U and former leader of FFOSE (Federation of Officials of the State Sanitary Works)

Salvadoran Trade Union Coordinator statement at SIPRAL 27

SALVADORAN TRADE UNION COORDINATOR.

"THE STRUGGLES OF THE WORKING CLASS AND PEOPLES AND
THE INTER-IMPERIALIST DISPUTES"

A combative and supportive greeting on behalf of the Salvadoran Trade Union Coordinator. We especially greet the Revolutionary Youth of Ecuador and the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador for organizing this seminar. Likewise, to the different popular, trade union, political and revolutionary organizations that are participating and giving life to this important platform that allows us to express ourselves and discuss the problems of the revolution in our countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. The theme of this 27th SIPRAL allows us to take stock of two situations; on the one hand, the inter-imperialist disputes, and on the other, the struggle of the working class and peoples.

In this sense, it is necessary to be clear about the basis of our approaches to imperialism, since we cannot only speak in general of imperialism; that can be done by anyone who belongs or does not belong to our proletarian class. Just as one is not a Marxist who only recognizes the class struggle and denies the dictatorship of the proletariat, neither can one be a Marxist-Leninist who considers that there are "good" imperialists and "bad" ones, that one must wager on a "multipolar" world, or worse, that there is a "savage" capitalism but that it can be "humanized". Many of these deviations about imperialism have caused and continue to cause much damage to our movement, as they disorient the struggle of the working class from achieving the goal of the seizure of power. Instead of taking advantage of the inter-imperialist and inter-bourgeois disputes or contradictions that currently exist, we weaken ourselves in discourses that end up falling into opportunism, in continuing to reproduce theses such as those of the 20th Congress of the CPSU of 1956 about "peaceful competition", "peaceful coexistence" and "peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism", or even older theses such as those proposed by the Second International.

In this period of development of capitalism, imperialism, we find the big monopolies, the capitalist states and their associations in conflict and vying for control of territories or regions for the extraction of raw materials, energy sources, transportation routes, energy sources, markets, etc. In different parts of the world, especially in Asia and Africa, wars are being waged with tragic results for the peoples and the working class, wars that are promoted and financed by the imperialist powers in favor of their monopolies; billions of euros, dollars, rubles, yuan are being invested in the arms industry. Government budgets intended to meet popular needs are being channeled into banks and big business, rescue plans are being drawn up and state-owned enterprises are being privatized. Fascist "puppets" or "personalities" or fascist-tinged governments are being used to carry out imperialist plans and keep the people subjected. Coups d'état are promoted to impose governments in favor of one or another imperialist power, as is currently happening in some African countries; terrorism, dirty and low-intensity warfare are still used. In almost every corner of the world the impact and consequences of imperialist and bourgeois struggles are being felt, which tend to become more and more acute; the crisis of the system is deepening and each solution proposed within the framework of capitalism, in addition to perpetuating its existence, sinks it deeper into crisis. The imperialist alliances such as the BRICS led by China and Russia that recently had their 15th summit do not represent an alternative for the peoples but a way out so that the so-called emerging economies can compete with their hegemonic rivals and continue to reproduce the system.

One of the great tasks we have is to deepen this analysis of imperialism with Marxist-Leninist criteria; we must strengthen our positions whose foundation is the class struggle, clarify to the people and the working class the nature of the system and define the tasks. Marxism-Leninism, scientific socialism, makes it possible to understand the laws of the system, to scientifically pose the bases of exploitation and to define the historical project of the proletariat. And above all we must always bear in mind that "Imperialism is the eve of the socialist revolution of the proletariat." (V.I. Lenin).

ON THE NATIONAL REALITY IN EL SALVADOR

In El Salvador we are at a very difficult juncture due to the Bukele government, which has already completed more than three years in the executive branch. His government has meant a hard blow for the unions and social organizations; however, there are still organizations like ours that have been able to confront the attacks and attempts to want to drown out any voice that denounces the anti-labor, anti-union, anti-popular and anti-democratic measures of the current government.

It has been more than a year since the emergency regime was imposed, a measure that has served on the one hand to contain the rise of the gangs, but at the same time to contain and impose terror on the popular struggles. About twenty union leaders and unionized workers have been arrested so far by the regime; of them, one died behind bars, dozens of community leaders such as those of Santa Marta and Cabañas are imprisoned.

The indigenous populations of the west of the country have been severely hit; children of indigenous leaders are imprisoned as in the case of the sons of tata Santos Zetino, from San Antonio del Monte, or the children of other leaders from Nahuizalco and other areas of Sonsonate. Organized communities in Chalatenango or the Bajo Lempa Zone (San Vicente or Usulután) are being harassed by the army and police. Approximate 65,795 people have been arrested from last year until March 15, 2023, and more than a hundred have died.

This represents a panorama in which two percent of the adult population of El Salvador is held in prisons; that is, there are 1,200 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, mostly young people between the ages of 18 and 30. The government in its propaganda accuses all these detained people as being "gang members or terrorists" and anyone who criticizes the emergency regime or government measures can easily be arrested, accused of collaborating with gangs.

Last year, in the first months of the implementation of the emergency regime, the Minister of Labor, Rolando Castro made the call and even gave the order to the National Civil Police to proceed against all the people who took to the streets to demonstrate to commemorate May 1^st, accusing all the demonstrators of being collaborators with the gangs.

As organizations we see the actions undertaken by the government as a great danger since the Constitution of the Republic is being easily manipulated by the ruling party to favor its business group and the capitalist class of which it is its representative.

The blows that the ruling majority bloc of New Ideas has been giving out, from the Legislative Assembly to the Judicial Power, only suit the interests of the economic group that Bukele represents and some oligarchic sectors. The three branches of government are controlled by the ruling party, just as institutions such as the Office of the Procurator for the Defense of Human Rights (PDDH) are kneeling to the regime. This situation closes off the democratic openings in the country and puts in place an authoritarian, dictatorial and militarized government like those we had at the time of the military dictatorships from 1932 to 1979.

The working class has been hit hard since Bukele's coming to office. Since June 1, 2019, approximately 12,637 illegal and forced layoffs have been carried out in the executive branch in more than 45 government agencies. In about 25 municipalities governed by the ruling party, 3,838 layoffs were added and in the Legislative Assembly 2,550 workers were dismissed. In total, the number of layoffs in different state and municipal agencies (as of March 2023) amounts to 19,025 people. (According to data presented by the Permanent Table for Labor Justice – MPJL.) On the other hand, in the private sector, especially in the textile industry where mostly women work, 3,331 layoffs were reported as of January of this year, due to the closure or reduction of personnel in at least thirteen factories established in the different Free Zones of the country.

The State has been one of the main violators of labor rights and has focused its attack on the union organization, the imposition of Rolando Castro as Minister of Labor has caused many unions to become illegal since legal status is not granted to organizations that are not pro-government; also, there have been delays in providing authorization to the leading bodies for up to nine months; it has taken over large unions such as the historic STISSS. The Ministry of Labour continues to be useless in the face of the serious violations of labor rights that are committed on a daily basis, mainly in the private sector, thus benefiting the employers. In the same way, it has remained silent in the face of the criminalization of trade union activity.

A recent case is the dismissal of three general secretaries of trade unions who were negotiating a new collective agreement at the Ministry of Public Works. No significant increase in the minimum wage has been gained and the National Minimum Wage Council under the Ministry of Labour exists in name only.

On the issue of pensions, a reform was approved that is not paying off any historical debt, since the privatization of the pension system is continuing and the savings will continue to be in the hands of the Pension Fund Administrators-AFPs; in addition, the government has a free hand to dip into pension savings to solve its financial crises, without major restrictions. It is noteworthy that $233 million has been cut from pension funds by the government in order to finance the upcoming elections.

As for the living conditions of the population we can say that the cost of transportation, electricity, drinking water, telephone, internet have increased; the cost of basic necessities has gone through the roof, the price of gasoline and diesel, the price of gas, and agricultural inputs are very high and there is no price control by the competent institutions; before that the latest increase in the minimum wage is a mockery. The "bitcoin" was approved as a currency, which has only created fraud, speculation, waste of public funds and corruption. Faced with this situation, as organizations we keep up our banners of struggle, which are:

1. Stop excessive government borrowing (as of March 2022, the debt represented 80% of the Gross Domestic Product)

2. Restoration of democratic freedoms and constitutional order.

3. No presidential re-election.

4. Reduction of salary and unnecessary expenses to senior officials and deputies.

5. General increase in wages, elimination of VAT [Value Added Tax] and price controls on basic products and services.

6. Elimination of the AFPs and creation of an Independent Institute of Social Welfare.

7. Respect for freedom of association, collective bargaining, and job stability.

8. Non-criminalization of trade union organizations and activity.

9. Access for the people to free and quality health care, water and education, decent housing within reach of the working class, stable work and social security.

10. Defense of the natural wealth and the environment, stop the granting of environmental permits to producers such as the Dueñas, the Pomas, the Regalados and the transnationals. End the eviction of communities to develop luxury urban projects, hotel zones among others.

11. Freedom for all innocent people unjustly seized under the state of emergency.

    1. We categorically demand for working women a living wage, equal remuneration for work of equal value, equal and equitable labor benefits, working hours in accordance with the provisions of the law, the fulfillment of social rights. No employment discrimination and freedom to organize in unions, no sexual and labor harassment.

    2. Respect for the autonomy and independence of trade unions by the government and employers.

    3. Reclaiming the great popular and working-class struggles, promoting the union of organized and unorganized workers, the union of manual and intellectual workers and all sectors, youth, students, women can no longer continue to have isolated struggles.

    Only the organized and conscious power of the working class can carry out the great social, economic, cultural and political transformations to put an end to the exploitation and oppression imposed on us by the capitalist system.

    Long live the 27th international seminar
    "Problems of the revolution in Latin America"!

    Long live proletarian internationalism!

    "From dispersion to the unity of the working class"

General Union of Workers of Ecuador statement at SIPRAL 27

GENERAL UNION OF WORKERS OF ECUADOR

THE ECUADORIAN WORKING CLASS: ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL STRUGGLES THAT FORGE UNITY WITH THE PERSPECTIVE OF ACHIEVING POWER

The working class is one of the fundamental social classes of the capitalist system, whose role in the production of goods and services is essential, since its labor power, sold in exchange for a wage, makes possible the action and operation of the machinery, tools and, in general, the means of production for the transformation of nature, raw material into useful articles for the satisfaction of society's needs. This leading role of the working class in the machinery of capitalist production also gives it a historical responsibility; that of leading the revolutionary struggle of the other working classes and strata of society for their emancipation. This will free themselves from capitalist and imperialist domination in order to establish a just society under the workers' government, socialist society, and to build a new world free from all forms of exploitation and oppression, communism.

For several decades important battles have been fought that have confronted the just aspirations of the immense working majorities of the population with the interests of the ruling class, the capitalists, entrepreneurs, owners of the means of production and, therefore, owners of the economic and political power of the world. This trajectory has forged the spirit and character of the working class, which has understood that struggle is the only valid and effective way to achieve and defend its rights by confronting its bosses who, with violence, have tried unsuccessfully to appease the popular courage in this unequal struggle.

This path carved in victories and defeats of the struggles raised in all regions of the planet has confirmed the revolutionary task of the working class, which although it understands its just demands, knows that no one is going to grant them peacefully, that it must snatch them from the hands of its enemies with the strength of unity and the struggle of the impoverished majorities who have been subjected to centuries of exploitation; showing that the abundant injustice of this world dominated by capital will come to an end and the peoples will build a better world on its ashes.

WE LIVE IN THE EPOCH OF IMPERIALISM AND THE PROLETARIAN REVOLUTIONS

The capitalist system reached its highest stage of development at the end of the 19th century, imperialism. The economic powers consolidated their domination over vast territorial areas through the importation of capital, the expansion of their industries and the monopoly of markets; the poor peoples and nations succumbed to this system by handing over in a sustained manner their natural resources to the exploitation of these powers as part of the international division of labor.

However, this division of territories and markets among the superpowers, now converted into imperialist countries, has not been peaceful. Intense struggles have been unleashed among these nations to grab markets and the natural resources of poor nations; these contentions have even led to fateful world wars justified by the assassinations of emperors. or the mental deviations of leaders, in order to solve the deep crises produced by the excessive accumulation of wealth in a few hands and the conquest of new markets, transforming world geopolitics.

These bloody inter-imperialist contentions have claimed the lives of millions of human beings from the working class and the other working classes and strata, under the illusion of a false patriotism instilled to satisfy the capitalists' lust for power and accumulation. Even now, these disputes are evident in open wars such as those in Syria and Ukraine or in a hidden way such as the technological and arms race of the United States against China or the signing of free trade agreements. This excessive accumulation has caused greater impoverishment of the dependent nations, the chains of domination have implemented policies that cancel the labor and social rights; this has provoked an organized and firm response from the class of workers and youth, which throughout this period have gone from national paralysis to social revolutions. All this has provided great lessons for the development of the struggle, raising class consciousness and marking the perspective of the necessity of the seizure of political power for the material realization of its just aspirations and needs.

THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STRUGGLES OF THE WORKING CLASS IN ECUADOR TODAY

The last years have been marked by intense struggles against the anti-popular policies aligned with the demands of the International Monetary Fund, placing the burden of the economic crisis on the working majorities, increasing taxes, the cost of fuel, freezing wages, eliminating economic benefits, among others. After the era of Correa, whose discourse paraphrased in leftism confused a good part of the Ecuadorian population and the international community, hiding the nature of government at the service of the interests of large national capitals and new imperialist nations such as China; the people faced a blatant and arbitrary implementation of neoliberalism. This benefited and propped up industrial and banking capital that accumulated greater wealth even in the midst of the pandemic.

The great indigenous and popular uprisings of October 2019 and June 2022 marked a milestone that promoted a high level of consciousness of the working classes; they were actions of a general nature in which the majority of the population and the peoples rose victoriously. They reversed the economic measures that the governments of Lenin Moreno and Guillermo Lasso tried to apply with blood and fire, carrying out barbaric repressions that sacrificed the lives of brave social fighters, for whose deaths justice is still being demanded until now.

These episodes were transformed into political struggles; it showed the iron unity of the working class through the consolidation of the United Workers' Front as a place for cohesion of the largest trade union federations in the country; they opened the dialogue with the Indigenous and Peasant Movement, teachers, youth collectives and environmentalists for the consolidation of a National Leadership Collective that more later on would bring about an electoral political proposal that in 2021 reached the third place in the presidential elections, with the participation of the indigenous leader Yaku Pérez.

A similar phenomenon occurred in the last regional elections of 2023, when the political forces from the center to the left reached important spaces within the Decentralized Autonomous Governments and in which the workers' organizations and trade union federations played a leading role in defining the new local authorities in the electoral context.

This political process resulted in the formation of the class independence of the trade union organizations, which have assumed their historical responsibility, moving away from the immediate and demagogic political practices of the candidates of the right and social democracy, learning to differentiate the class interests that separate us from those who have the political and economic power that are responsible for and beneficiaries of the crisis and the problems that are overwhelming all the people, including the serious crime wave that puts us in danger and anxiety.

Thus, in the last electoral process of August 2023, the trade union organizations took sides head-on in favor of the only candidacy with popular representation that included in its government plan the aspirations and demands that have caused us to take to the streets in these years: to defend the IESS, eliminate the salary ceilings, collective bargaining, a new labor code that improves workers' rights, among others. At the national level and in several provinces we signed public political agreements with the presidential candidate of the Alianza Claro que se Puede [Alliance, We Surely Can], Yaku Pérez and their candidates for provincial Assembly representatives.

We are discussing this scenario head-on in each union, on the nature and origin of the problems of insecurity, drug trafficking, lack of employment, lack of social investment, as opposed to the good health enjoyed by the businesses of allies of the government. With the presence of the candidates of this political alliance, it was possible to reverse the demagogic offers of the other candidates who were trying to deceive the workers. This is a scenario in which the workers played a significant role that projects the struggle on the workers: the need to build one's own government in alliance with the other oppressed classes as the only way to resolve the serious situation.

Unfortunately, a reprehensible episode, the assassination of a presidential candidate, whose intellectual and material authors have not been clarified, abruptly disrupted the electoral scenario, causing the opportunity to go to the second round in these elections to evaporate. However, the lessons of this process are important; we have learned to recognize our enemies and understand that it is inevitable and necessary that we become the leaders of the political struggle, that we can and must be a government to guarantee the rights of our people and that there is a guiding light of transformation through the revolutionary struggle to definitively end the injustice, oppression, violence and corruption to which we have been subjected for decades.