TEHRAN – The officials and staff of the Venezuelan embassy in Tehran held a celebration in Tehran’s Goftogou (dialogue) Park on Sunday to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the Bolivarian Revolution and the Venezuela’s Day of National Dignity.

The ceremony was held in front of Simon Bolivar’s bronze statue which stands in the center of the Goftogou Park.
Simon Bolivar (1783-1830), also called the Liberator, was a political leader who, at the time when many parts of South America were ruled by Spain, fought against the Spanish army and won independence for Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador.
Representatives from the Iranian Foreign Ministry and a number of ambassadors and embassy staff and officials from the Cuban, Ecuadorian, Nicaraguan, Peruvian, Bolivian, and Colombian embassies in Tehran also attended the ceremony.
At the beginning of the ceremony, the attendees sang the Venezuela’s national anthem and the Venezuelan Ambassador to Iran, David Velasquez, laid a wreath at the Bolivar’s statue.
Afterwards, the ambassador made a short speech, paying tribute to the Liberator and recounting the history of the Bolivarian Revolution.
Velasquez talked about the achievements made during the presidency of Hugo Chavez and criticized the “imperialists” for taking hostile actions and stances against the Venezuelan popular revolution.
He also enumerated the principles of the Bolivarian Revolution which are promotion of popular democracy and economic independence, equitable distribution of revenues, and an end to political corruption.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Velasquez hailed Tehran-Caracas relationship as friendly and close and said Iran and Venezuela are in the same front against the Western imperialism.
The Bolivarian Revolution, which is named after Simon Bolivar, refers to a social and political movement in Venezuela led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Venezuela’s Day of National Dignity is also the anniversary of the civic-military rebellion carried out on February 4, 1992.