International Declaration Latin American and Caribbean Forum in Solidarity with the Western Sahara Caracas, February 25, 2021

We, the undersigned organizations, intellectuals, artists, politicians, movements in the
struggle, and individuals, publicly make the following declaration:

1. We recognize and accompany the just struggle of the Saharawi people for their decolonization, self-determination, and Independence, led by their organization and only legitimate representative, the POLISARIO Front. Over six decades have passed since the
   U.N. established a resolution for total decolonization around the world. The Saharawi people continues to be Africa’s last colony, invaded 130 years ago by Spain, and illegally occupied by Morocco since 45 year ago, after the illegal Madrid Accords. The Saharawi have continued
   to patiently bet on peace, witnessing reiterated violations to international law and how international agreements to guarantee their self-determination, are systematically blocked.
2. The Saharawi people, after an intense struggle against Morocco and Mauritania, proclaimed its independence in 1976, constituting the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). After
   making peace with Mauritania, a part of its territory continues to be illegally occupied by Morocco. The SADR is a founding member of the African Union and maintains diplomatic
   relations with tens of States around the world. We demand that Morocco seizes its illegal and illegitimate occupation and that the international community guarantees the Saharawi people’s right to their self-determination and complete sovereignty.
3. We declare that the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has not reached its objectives in the task of securing peace and a ceasefire, while it also has not materialized in 29 years, the Settlement Plan as a path for the carrying out of
   the Self-Determination Referendum.
4. We demand the end to the constant human rights and collective rights violations of this people; the dismantling of the Wall of Shame, built by Morocco, which throughout 2,720 km, crosses
   this territory and is sown with anti-personnel and anti-tank mines which every year take the toll of fatal victims, among them women and children which survive mutilation. In the Occupied
   Territories, human rights are systematically violated; inhabitants peacefully protesting for their independence are jailed, beaten and forcibly disappeared.
5. We denounce the plunder of the Western Sahara’s natural resources, despite U.N. resolutions
   forbidding it, by the Kingdom of Morocco and Moroccan, Spanish, and French corporations,
   among others. We demand that companies operating in the zone, and the European Union,
   respect international law and the economic rights of the Saharawi people over their resources.
6. Furthermore, we demand that the U.N. carries out the necessary political initiatives in route to
7. achieving a definitive and just solution, in defense of the legitimate right of the Saharawi
8. people to their self-determination, through a free referendum, as the final step in the unfinished
9. decolonization process.
10. The breaking of the un unilateral ceasefire by the Moroccan monarchy on November 13, 2020,
11. unleashed once again the war in the Western Sahara, intensified over decades by the
12. stagnation of the peace process, after the ceasefire of 1991 between the POLISARIO Front
13. and Morocco, which should have materialized in a Self-Determination Referendum for the
14. Saharawi people. The inaction of the U.N., in particular due to the French veto at the heart of
15. the Security Council, bears the main responsibility for, in the end, sowing the path towards
16. the restart of the war.
17. We deny and condemn the statements by United States former President Donald Trump,
18. where he unilaterally recognized an illegal sovereignty of the Kingdom of Morocco over the
19. Western Sahara, as a tradeoff for guaranteeing the “normalization” of the bilateral relations
20. between the Moroccan dynasty and Israel. No multilateral body in the world recognizes
21. Morocco’s pretended and false sovereignty.
22. We denounce and condemn the increase in repression and persecution, due to the violation
23. of the ceasefire, unleashed by the occupation forces of the Kingdom of Morocco against the
24. Saharawi people in the Occupied Territories and we call on the international community to
25. mobilize in demand for the respect of human rights and international humanitarian law.
26. We demand that the media treat the conflict in the Western Sahara with the importance and
27. relevance it deserves. The Saharawi cause is a legitimate struggle that is silenced and made
28. invisible by the great media networks. The 45 years in which the Saharawi people have lived
29. in extreme conditions in Refugee Camps, in the Algerian hamada, is not discussed; the antipersonnel landmines, the occupation, the plunder of their natural resources and the
30. systematic violation of their human rights is not discussed. In face of the restart of the armed
31. conflict, the Kingdom of Morocco denies its existence and the international media keep a
32. complicit and criminal silence. In face of the media villainy, we encourage and urge alternative
33. media and people in solidarity to disseminate and denounce the situation in the Western
34. Sahara through social media, websites, blogs, and community and independent radio
35. stations, and specially to spread and make the situation of the Saharawi people and their
36. legitimate aspirations, known.
37. We demand the immediate liberation of the Saharawi political prisoners in the Moroccan jails
38. and dungeons, condemned through illegal trials without due process.
39. We denounce the brutal repression to which recently the Occupied Territory’s human rights
40. activist, Sultanda Sid Brahim Ahmed Labeid, has been subjected to, who had stones hurled
41. at her face; together with her family she is the victim of harassment by the security agents of
42. the Kingdom of Morocco. We condemn the Moroccan occupying forces because of the wave
43. of repression unleashed in the occupied zones of the Western Sahara.
44. The friendship and solidarity with the Western Sahara associations, foundations, committees,
45. and organizations of Latin America and the Caribbean commit our voice and action to continue
46. to accompany the brave and unbending Saharawi people and to promote the exercise of its
47. right to self-determination and independence. Solidarity among the peoples of the world,
48. among Frantz Fanon’s wretched of the earth, will overcome because their weapons are
49. tenderness, truth and hope! To put an end to the war in the Western Sahara, the international
50. community must put an end to the illegal occupation of the Western Sahara by Morocco and
51. guarantee the immediate carrying out of the self-determination referendum for the Saharawi
52. people.
53. Long live the Saharawi Araba Democratic Republic!
54. Long live the POLISARIO Front!
55. Long live the Free Sahara!
56. We invite intellectuals, artists, politicians, movements in
57. struggle and individuals to subscribe the current document at
58. the following e-mail address: saharalibrevzla@gmail.com