Grand Rapids activist returns from Venezuela solidarity mission

Grand Rapids, Michigan – Community members gathered at the Gerald R Ford International Airport on Friday evening, December 12, to welcome home Jessica Plichta, an activist returning from a solidarity trip to Venezuela.

In recent months, U.S. President Donald Trump has been bombing fishing boats, threatening Venezuela with a naval encirclement in the Caribbean using major warships, and has heightened brutality against Venezuelan immigrants. The Trump administration seeks to overthrow the popular government of Venezuela for access to the country’s oil and other resources.

In response, the Simón Bolivar Institute for Peace and Solidarity Among Peoples convened the International Peoples’ Assembly for Sovereignty and Peace in Caracas, Venezuela from December 9 through 11, an international gathering of people opposed to the United States’ warmongering.

Hundreds of organizers from across the U.S. were invited to the Peoples’ Assembly, but due to Trump’s pressure on airlines to cancel flights for Venezuela, only a fraction of those invited were able to arrive in Caracas. Alongside several others from across the U.S., Plichta represented the Freedom Road Socialist Organization at the People’s Assembly.

U.S. delegates to the assembly participated in large panels, hearing from and talking directly with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, alongside other high-ranking representatives of Venezuela’s popular democratic system. They visited communes, met with activists and people’s politicians from around the world, and explored the city of Caracas.

Upon her return to Grand Rapids, Plichta was welcomed with cheers by her fellow community organizers and activists. They embraced, and chanted “¡Viva Venezuela, viva Maduro!”

“There’s a lot of hardships for people here, and we need to work towards making sure that the people have the power, that the ruling class can no longer oppress the national liberation struggles or the working class,” said Plichta, when asked what it meant to return from Venezuela to the U.S. “We’re going to work to flip it upside down and have socialism in the U.S. It’ll be a long road but we’re working towards that goal.”

The Grand Rapids Opponents of War (GROW) have been organizing protests and educational events to spread awareness in the city about Trump’s war threats against Venezuela. With Plichta, a founding member of GROW, back from Venezuela, efforts to organize the people of Grand Rapids against the war will become stronger than ever.

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