Women of Venezuela, Nicaragua speak out at NYC meeting

Women leaders from Venezuela and Nicaragua held an open discussion, complete with Q&A, at a meeting of U.S. anti-imperialist activists at the Workers World Party office in midtown Manhattan in New York City on March 20. The women were in New York for meetings of women’s organizations at the United Nations.

From left, Nancy García, vice minister of Protection of Women’s Rights (Venezuela); Hazel Reyes, Minister Counsellor and Focal Point for the Commission on the Status of Women (Nicaragua); deputy to the Venezuelan National Assembly Asia Villegas; Mairead Skehan Gillis and Saher Al Khamash.

The hybrid in-person and Zoom meeting covered Venezuela’s and Nicaragua’s resistance to U.S. imperialist pressure under the new Trump administration as well as the gains made by women in both Latin American societies. The White House’s latest illegal deportations of migrants from Venezuela living in the U.S. made the meeting timely, as the Bolivarian government of that country has made clear its willingness to welcome migrants back and to defend the rights of all Venezuelans.

Since meetings with representatives of those two countries are rare due to U.S. repression of certain foreigners and general lack of democratic discussion here, the host organization, Workers World Party, rushed to get a video of the meeting on the web. The video can be accessed at WWP’s YouTube channel.

Deputy to the Venezuelan National Assembly Asia Villegas opened the discussion charging that “Trump’s second mandate is characterized by external aggression.” Part of that aggression are the unilateral coercive measures, also known as sanctions, that the U.S. has imposed on Venezuela. These have increased since the 2000s and have cost the Venezuelan people $650 billion.

Washington has imposed similar unilateral coercive measures worldwide, Villegas said, to promote opposition and if possible, provoke coups against governments that resist U.S. pressure to submit to its domination. She said the measures impact 30 countries and affect 28% of the world’s population. Since women are the chief caregivers of children in Venezuela, women are disproportionately affected by the coercive measures, which decrease access to food, energy and health care.

Villegas raised her voice as she condemned the Trump regime’s recent seizure of Venezuelan migrants under the pretext that they were gang members. The U.S. did this without presenting any proof or due process and then summarily deported the migrants to prisons in El Salvador.

It was U.S. economic warfare, Villegas said, that first drove Venezuelans to migrate, and then Washington lured them by promising them the right to remain in the U.S. and to work. Now the Trump regime has withdrawn Venezuelan migrants’ Temporary Protective Status. This was a typical imperialist double cross.

Villegas pointed out that Venezuela is a country of peoples originally from many different ethnic groups and nations, some who have themselves migrated from all over the world. They include the Indigenous people and descendents of the enslaved Africans who were brought to South America by force. Venezuela has built a pluricultural democracy.

“We are not criminals,” Villegas said, “and we are not enemies of the people of the United States.” She credited the communal organizations within Venezuela for beating back the many attacks from U.S. imperialism.

Villegas concluded, saying, “We express our solidarity with women and girls in countries under siege by imperialism, especially with the Palestinian people facing genocide from Israel in alliance with U.S. imperialism and with the Cuban people who have faced a blockade for the last 65 years.”

Nicaragua leadsin women’s representation

The Nicaraguan speaker was Hazel Reyes, Minister Counsellor and Focal Point for the Commission on the Status of Women. She told the audience that according to the World Economic Forum’s ranking in 2024, “Nicaragua occupies first place in gender equality in Latin America and sixth place in the world.”

She noted that few people in the U.S. or Britain would be aware of this accomplishment because of “the decades-long anti-Sandinista campaign the U.S. has waged since the 1979 victory of the Sandinista Revolution.” The U.S. has attempted to destroy the Nicaraguan Revolution throughout its existence.

Reyes discussed women’s gains in education under the Sandinista government, including that “52% of the students enrolled in higher education are women.” Also, the general implementation of a 50-50 policy guarantees women’s representation in governing groups, from local municipalities to the National Assembly.

In the Q&A period, Reyes described the gains by Indigenous peoples in Nicaragua and by the mostly Afro-descendant population on the Atlantic Coast. That the government has been able to build highways from the coast to the capital, Managua, and increase access to electricity everywhere, has improved life for the population.

Saher Al Khamash and Mairead Skehan Gillis, who had traveled to Nicaragua last summer for the celebrations of the revolution anniversary, co-chaired the meeting for the host organization, and Skehan Gillis translated to English for the guest speakers. Before the guest speakers arrived, representatives of the Bronx Anti-War Coalition and the Brooklyn-based Mutual Aid and Scientific Socialism (MASS) organizations discussed their groups’ activities.

To access the video of the meeting, click on WWP’s Youtube channel.