President Chavez pledged to provide an office and resources in Venezuela to initiate a "network of networks" of social organizations and institutions around the world working to build alternative models of development in the face in globalization.

Chavez made the announcement at last night’s event which took place in downtown Caracas was free of charge and attended by the approximately 350 intellectuals and artists, Venezuelan government cabinet members, and over two thousand spectators.

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, awarded the Nobel peace prize for his work in raising the issue of human rights violations in Latin America, read the final conclusions of the forum entitled "The Caracas Declaration."

The declaration outlines the need to build a front of global resistance against the project of domination that today is imposed by the current government of the United States of America and global organizations like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"Let’s get to work intensely," Chavez said, "Let’s put the ideas concluded at this forum to work, let’s make it a reality," Chavez said.

The office for the network of networks is be started in 2005 in Venezuela that will connect the five continents of the world, America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania, and will include the widest possible participation. "Let’s take this network everywhere we go, in the valleys, the mountains, the barrios, the workplace, the study halls, the military barracks and extend this network across the planet Earth," Chavez said.

Chavez noted the need to study the original principles of socialism as well as its errors. The President of the one of the world’s largest exporters of oil referred to the importance of early 20th Century Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky’s ideas embodied in "The Permanent Revolution" and how it explains that there are no national solutions to global problems, referring to the need for a global effort to deal with today’s challenges.

Chavez warmly greeted the families of "the Cuban Five," referring to five Cuban men imprisoned in the United States accused of espionage for their role in participating in anti-terrorism monitoring of extreme right-wing groups in Miami. The five are currently serving life sentences in the U.S. and families are touring the country as part of an international campaign to free their relatives (www.freethefive.org).

Chavez saluted a number of intellectuals and artists from around the world.

President Chavez also announced the inauguration today of the Bolivarian Peoples Congress which coincides with Chavez`s electoral victory date of December 6, 1998, when he won the presidency of Venezuela. "This was the day that opened this path, thanks to the consciousness of the people," Chavez said.

The forum closed with a concert by Venezuelan musicians Pacheco y Su Grupo, Lilia Vera, Cecilia Todd as well as Chilean musician Isabel Parra. Cuban musician Pablo Milanes, one of the founders of revolutionary "Nueva Trova" music was the last to perform to an audience that sang together with the Cuban music legend who said "I am a musician and I am proud to say, a revolutionary."

Robin Nieto