Hugo Chavez is dead, he is no more! The cruel hand of death has finally snatched him away from us. He battled for two years to see if he could complete what he had started, but the dark laws that govern the workings of human systems have destroyed his life. Medicine and series of operations have proved powerless to accomplish what was passionately hoped for, what millions of human hearts demanded.

Why has the death of a single individual elicited such massive outpouring of grief? Because, millions saw that a new world was possible! What the Venezuelan working class and poor never smelled, indeed never dreamt of for 200 years of their existence, they saw and touched within 14 years of Chavez leadership. So, it is possible to have a Government that directs its policy to ameliorate the huge burden on the poor. Working class and the poor for the first time of their life felt they have direct say in who govern them – and how they were governed. The question then is; should we mourn the death of this man or should we celebrate his exemplary life? If we merely consider what this 58-year-old Chavez had achieved within 14 years, things that had been impossible for the bourgeoisies in Venezuela to achieve in 200 years, then we celebrate his life, and mourn his death.

We mourn because the consciousness of the workers and poor of the whole world cannot grasp this fact of his death; for the enemy within and without are still very strong, the way is long, and the great work is unfinished. The lies, slander and campaign of calumnies by the imperialist and the internal oligarchy continue unabated. “The poor and working class will be made to suffer what they have done to us” the Venezuelan oligarchy keeps threatening.

On the day of his death, millions of people changed their profile pictures on Facebook to Chavez’s picture; this is a huge inspiration and gigantic hope for the future. It means although, one Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías was born on the July 28th, 1954 by March 5, 2013 millions of Chavez had already littered the world to carry on with the struggle. This is a major discomfort for the Oligarchy and the imperialist. The objective condition that led to the emergence of a Chavez has not subsided, rather is getting more and more mature. The maximum a Chavez was able to reach was revolutionary democratic stage of the movement, a petty-bourgeois destination, but as the objective condition ripen more and more, among millions of new inspired fighters will arise a Lenin, a working class leader who will eventually complete the revolution already started. The only safeguard we have to eliminate the growing danger to the current revolutionary achievement in Venezuela is to expropriate the expropriators by nationalizing the commanding height of the economy and put the wealth of the people hundred percent in the hands of the people. May the pain we feel, that stabs our hearts each time we think that Chavez is no more, be for each of us an admonition, a warning, an appeal: Your responsibility is increased. While we mourn, we must continue to organize!

In grief, sorrow, and affliction we bind our ranks and hearts together; we unite more closely for new struggles.

Comrades, brothers, Chavez is no longer with us.

Farewell, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías!

Farewell, Leader!