“Alan gives voice to what peasants and workers think” - enthusiastic meeting in Táchira

Alan Woods' successful speaking tour to launch Reformism or Revolution. Marxism and Socialism of the 21st Century arrived in San Cristobal, capital of state, on Saturday, June 28. The first impression one gets from the plane of this agricultural state on the border with Colombia is that of an immense garden of green valleys and mountains, irrigated by the strong red of the Torbes river, known as the red river because of the colour of its waters. A fertile land, of lush vegetation, which could be a paradise of wealth and prosperity but which - under the rule of the Venezuelan and Colombian oligarchies - has become a nightmare for the masses: poverty, unemployment, cronyism, hit men (there is a growing presence of paramilitaries in this state and they are used to kill militants and social fighters). Weather problems and the poor state of the infrastructure - the result of decades of neglect, lack of investment and parasitism on the part of the ruling class - nearly prevented the meeting from going ahead. Half an hour before the meeting was supposed to start, the flight on which Alan was coming from Caracas had not even left Maiquetía airport. Air traffic to Táchira was cancelled due to intense and heavy rain. Finally, the meeting, planned for 4pm, could only start at 7pm. However, the interest in listening to Alan and the enthusiasm for the ideas he has been explaining are such that, despite all these difficulties, the 250 people who filled the 'Ali Primera' Auditorium in Pueblo Nuevo, decided to stay until his arrival.