Gloria La Riva, Socialist candidate for President in 2020, will be in Pensacola on today during her national campaign tour. She will speak Armstrong Park, 300 West Lakeview Avenue in the North Hill neighborhood of Pensacola at 5:30 p.m.
Press Release: La Riva is the candidate of the Party for Socialism and Liberation nationally, Peace and Freedom Party in California and Liberty Union Party in Vermont. In 2016, she received more votes than any socialist candidate since 1976.
La Riva is on the ballot in 15 states in 2020: Arkansas, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and Washington state. She is an official write-in candidate in Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Texas, W. Virginia, and more to come.
La Riva is no ordinary politician. She is a labor, community and anti-war activist who has marched in solidarity with the Black Lives Movement from Minneapolis to Rochester to Ferguson to Albuquerque to the Bay Area which she calls home, and has herself been the victim of police brutality. La Riva has been a key organizer for countless marches and rallies against war, racism, and in defense of immigrant rights. She has been arrested defending women’s rights and joined the national marches for LGBTQ equality. La Riva is the First Vice-President of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, CWA Local 39521.
“People here and worldwide are facing unprecedented crises: economic collapse; COVID-19, environmental disaster, systemic racism and militarism,†stated La Riva in a recent speech. “Tens of thousands of deaths by COVID-19 were preventable, but Trump lied to the people, refused to act, mocked public health experts and predicted COVID’s imminent disappearance six months ago.
“My campaign call for an immediate national plan to address the COVID crisis including massive, free testing, PPE and hazard pay for all workers; an income for every person who cannot work; and health care as a right for all, regardless of immigration status. We demand a halt of evictions and the cancellation of rents and mortgage payments for tenants, homeowners, small landlords and small businesses until the crisis is over.
“Black, Latino, Indigenous and other people of color experience racism and police brutality, with police killings averaging a shocking three per day. While the U.S. has 4% of the world’s population it imprisons 22% of those incarcerated globally. We call for the freedom of Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier, wrongly imprisoned for more than 44 years, and Mumia Abu-Jamal, unjustly imprisoned since December 1981. We call for the mass reduction of the prison population, with economic and social support so those freed can have a real opportunity on the outside.
“I stand for a foreign policy based on friendship and peace, not war. Bring U.S. forces home from 800 foreign bases. End sanctions/blockades against Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and other countries. Ban nuclear weapons.
“The only solution to the multiple crises is an end to capitalism and its replacement by a socialist system, one that is dedicated not to the maximization of profits but instead to providing for the needs of all people in a long-term sustainable way.â€