On Wednesday April 3rd, over 80 people crammed into a classroom at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) to hear about the revolutionary legacy of Hugo Chávez and the prospects for the revolution moving forward. The outpouring of grief from millions — not just from Venezuelans but from workers all over the world — has demonstrated what Chávez and his ideas meant to the oppressed sectors around the planet.

80 people turned out for a discussion on the life and legacy of Hugo Chavez at the University of Toronto on Tuesday evening, eager to hear perspectives about where the Venezuelan revolution goes from here.  The gains of the revolution, and its inspiration for working-class struggle around the world, have been very evident in the week since the Venezuelan president died.

Over 70 people crammed into the Yellow Griffin Pub in Toronto’s west end to celebrate the life of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.  The fact that so many people came out on a few hours’ notice demonstrates the effect that Chávez and the Bolivarian revolution have on the lives of people around the world. The evening, organized very quickly by Hands Off Venezuela and the Toronto Bolivarian Circle “Louis Riel”, was quite sombre when everyone first arrived.  However, the sprits in the room rapidly improved as one after another, folks spoke up to talk about what Chávez and the revolution meant to them.

The Hands Off Venezuela campaign has received this letter, written by Denis Lemelin, the president of the 54,000-strong Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).  Comrade Lemelin addresses himself to Jim Karygiannis, the Liberal member of Parliament, who has launched a campaign of lies and distortions about the Venezuelan revolution.  We urge readers to continue the letter-writing campaign, and to continue to spread the genuine achievements and state of affairs in Venezuela.

Hands Off Venezuela's campaign, aimed at Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis' remarks about the Venezuelan revolution, has been a great success so far! Dozens of letters have come in, calling upon Karygiannis to withdraw his lies and attacks against the Venezuelan government.  And, the letters continue to arrive!  The letter campaign has been taken up in earnest on social media, and has now forced Karygiannis to issue a reply.  We encourage people to continue to write in, and force individuals like Karygiannis to witness the large reserve of support that the Venezuelan revolution has internationally.

Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis has recently launched a vile campaign of lies and slander against the Venezuelan government.  On his website, Karygiannis calls for the "return of true Democracy" [sic] to Venezuela.  We are re-publishing the following appeal from the Hands Off Venezuela campaign and encourage everyone to write in, to counter the deliberate campaign of misinformation.

This coming Sunday marks the presidential election in Venezuela, a critical juncture for the revolutionary movement in Venezuela and across the Americas. A victory for the right-wing candidate, Henrique Capriles, would mean a victory for the oligarchy and their imperialist allies, and threatening all of the gains made by the revolution.  Today, we are publishing a couple of interviews with Fightback's Camilo Cahis. Camilo is also a spokesperson with the Hands Off Venezuela campaign in Canada and been doing a series of interviews with Media Mornings, a radio show on Coop Radio 100.5 FM in Vancouver.

On Monday May 21, there was a foiled attempt against the life of comrade Abraham Rivas. Rivas is general secretary of the National Union of Workers of Helados EFE (SINATRASOHE) as well as general secretary of the recently created National Federation of Workers in Food, Beverages, and Other Companies (FENACTRALBECA), which organizes workers in 21 different companies belonging to Grupo POLAR. He is also a revolutionary Bolivarian activist and a supporter of the Marxist tendency, Lucha de Clases. We send this appeal to all socialists, revolutionaries, and trade unionists to bring these perpetrators to justice.

The past few months have seen the return of right-wing attacks on the Venezuelan government and Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. Also implicated in these attacks has been Alan Woods, the founder of the international Hands Off Venezuela campaign and editor of the popular Marxist website In Defence of Marxism . We were fortunate to have Alan speak at Casa Romero in Toronto’s west-end via video-link, where he answered the lies of the world’s corporate press, as well as why they have attacked him and the HOV campaign personally.

This past weekend, the Canadian Hands Off Venezuela campaign and its sister organizations, the Société Bolivarienne du Québec, the Toronto Bolivarian Circle "Louis Riel," and the Vancouver Bolivarian Society organized a series of events and meetings in solidarity with the upcoming Venezuelan elections on 26th September.  The meetings were part of an international day of action in over 20 countries, organized by the international Hands Off Venezuela campaign.