Alan Woods invited by president Chavez to a caravan with the revolutionary people in Nueva Esparta

Alan Woods was the guest on Vanessa Davies' programme 'Contragolpe' ('Fightback') on Venezolana de Televisión, Venezuela's main state-owned TV channel. 'Contragolpe' is one of the programmes with the highest ratings of Venezuelan TV (watched particularly by the supporters of the revolution). Vanessa Davies is one of the most respected journalists in the country, and received one of the highest votes in the elections for the national leadership of the PSUV. The first part of the interview centered on the news of the day: the rescue of Ingrid Betancourt and other FARC hostages on the part of the Colombian government and the subsequent media campaign organized by the Colombian oligarchy and imperialism internationally. They are capitalizing on it politically and using it to present as democratic the extreme right-wing government of Alvaro Uribe. Alan started by explaining: 'The first thing that I want to make clear is that, as a Marxist, my sympathies are always with the oppressed and the exploited and against the oligarchies wherever they are from. I am particularly against the Colombian oligarchy which uses particularly brutal and repressive methods against the people. I have my criticisms and differences with the FARC, but I cannot share the kind of ‘condemnation of terrorism' expressed by the US government. The biggest terrorist in the world is none other than George W. Bush.'