The extreme right destroys cultural heritage to erase and undermine the sovereignty and identity of Peoples

Published at: 14/08/2024 02:21 PM

The recent acts of violence, driven by the Venezuelan extreme right, not only seek to destabilize and implant terror in society, but also with the destruction of monuments, infrastructures and heritage assets, they attempt to erase the cultural identity of Venezuelans.

The violence of the extreme right to erase and undermine the sovereignty and identity of Peoples, through culture, is nothing new and the fact is that actions like these are part of the tactics already taught and implemented by imperialism as when it invaded Iraq in 2003.

Proof of this is that during the invasion of Iraq, significant damage was done to numerous historic sites and to the old quarters of cities, and numerous libraries and museums lost a large part of their collections, stolen or destroyed. In addition, the United States built military bases in the ruins of the ancient cities of Babylon and Ur, destroying areas of great archaeological value in the process, according to information on the National Geographic website.

Such was the magnitude of the losses of cultural property suffered by Iraq during the invasion, that today it is difficult to calculate them.

In Venezuela, although the extreme right has not been able to fully implement their plans, thanks to the measures articulated by the Bolivarian Revolution, these sectors insist on their attacks; they already tried to do so in 2017 when, as a result of their guarimbas, they caused the loss of more than 260 million bolivars with destruction to public property; and today, after recognizing the electoral results, they return with the letter of violence in the country.

As reported by the Cultural Heritage Institute (IPC), “the destruction of monuments, burning of infrastructures and other damage to symbols that constitute important references in the imaginary of our people, not only impacts their material damage, but also affects the community in general by exhibiting fascist, vandalism and destruction of heritage and therefore of our cultural identity , which we know are unfounded from other latitudes”.

Also, as highlighted by the IPC, the country's historical memory is our unique and inalienable collective and personal legacy, which the extreme right, with its actions of hate and violence, seeks to erase and make invisible.

This is why the recent attack on the country's six monuments, statues and other infrastructures, including the University City of Caracas and the Mayor's Office of La Vela de Coro, both of which are on UNESCO's World Heritage list, is no accident.

Without a doubt, the attack on Venezuela 's cultural property is an unacceptable action that all Venezuelans must repudiate, because it is an attack on our cultural identity and ancestral heritage, which imperialism and its lackeys also want to take away from us with its hatred and violence.

Mazo News Team