Venezuela

Posted by: John Phoenix VT Condemns the ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINIANS by USA/Israel $ 280 BILLION US TAXPAYER DOLLARS INVESTED since 1948 in US/Israeli Ethnic Cleansing and Occupation Operation; $ 150B direct "aid" and $ 130B in "Offense" contractsSource: Embassy of Israel, Washington, D.C. and US Department of State. There aren’t many countries that have been fighting off US aggression for as long as Venezuela. The world’s most belligerent thalassocracy is dead set on destroying the Bolivarian Republic’s much-cherished sovereignty and taking it hostage in order to exploit its massive reserves of natural resources. In line with this, the United States has been trying to weaken Venezuela through subversion and exploitation of its internal divisions. During the f...

by Vijay Prashad Photograph Source: Wilfredor – CC0 On July 28, the 70th birthday of Hugo Chávez (1954-2013), Nicolás Maduro Moros won the Venezuelan presidential election, the fifth since the Bolivarian Constitution was ratified in 1999. In January 2025, Maduro will start his third six-year term as president. He took over the reins of the Bolivarian Revolution after the death of Chávez from pelvic cancer in 2013. Since the death of Chávez, Maduro has faced several challenges: to build his own legitimacy as president in the place of a charismatic man who came to define the Bolivarian Revolution; to tackle the collapse of oil prices in mid-2014, which negatively impacted Venezuela’s state revenues (over 90 percent of which was from oil exports); and to manage a response...

Chris Gilbert tells the story of El Maizal's communards as they think about how to reactivate the commune's economy. Chris Gilbert Angel Prado and other communards debate the new "alternative communal economy." The world has long had the dream of a thing of which it only needs to become conscious for it to possess in reality. —Karl Marx to Arnold Ruge, 1843 Probably the most famous saying of José Carlos Mariátegui, often seen as the founder of Latin American Marxism, is that, on our continent, socialism should be “not a copy or imitation but rather a heroic creation.”1 Hugo Chávez liked to quote this phrase, using it in relation to the communal project that he was promoting in Venezuela, which he said was also a heroic creation. At least on one occasion, the late...

Steve Ellner draws a portrait of a key opposition leader and her surrogate. Steve Ellner María Corina Machado and presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia (AP/Ariana Cubillos) With all the hype over María Corina Machado being the only real hope for Venezuela to overcome 25 years of autocratic rule, the mainstream media loses sight of several key factors surrounding the nation’s presidential elections slated for July 28. First, the U.S. has played a central role in favor of Machado’s candidacy and, once it was clear that the government of Nicolas Maduro would not allow her to run, Washington backed the notion that she had the right to choose who would represent the so-called united democratic opposition at the polls.  Second, it was never clear on what basis Mac...

Solidarity activist Roger Harris examines the background and high stakes ahead of Venezuela's July 28 presidential election. Roger D. Harris Venezuela will hold presidential elections on July 28. (AFP) The future of Venezuela’s 25-year-old socialist movement will be decided in the upcoming July 28 election. Venezuelans will go to the polls knowing that a vote for incumbent President Nicolás Maduro means no relief from US unilateral coercive measures. These so-called “sanctions” have been central to Washington’s regime-change campaign explicitly designed to asphyxiate the Venezuelan economy and turn the people against their government; what Venezuelanalysis calls “a war without bombs.” Venezuela, with some 930 unilateral coercive measures imposed...

Historian and political analyst Steve Ellner lays down the political stakes and US meddling ahead of Venezuela's electoral race. Steve Ellner The upcoming elections are unlikely to ease political tensions, as Ellner explains. (Prensa Presidencial) It is no secret that the Washington establishment is as enamored with Venezuela’s presidential candidate María Corina Machado as she is with the United States. In one example, the day after the Biden administration partially lifted sanctions against Venezuela last October 17, Antony Blinken warned that the measure would be revoked if by November 30 President Maduro did not lift a government ruling prohibiting Machado from running for president. The threat was averted by an eleventh-hour announcement that Machado could appeal the pro...

As Venezuela prepares to head to the polls in July, the US has already started drumming up suspicion and doubt around the electoral process. Walter Smolarek, Zoe Alexandra Nicolás Maduro received by thousands in the city of Maturín. (Photo: X / Nicolás Maduro) Twenty-five years after Hugo Chávez took office and began the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, US officials have still not tired of dreaming up new plots to overthrow the country’s government. Five years ago, following the last presidential election, they attempted to install Juan Guaidó—a politician most Venezuelans had never even heard of—as the country’s head of state. And now, with the date for the next presidential election officially set for July 28, the Biden administration is gearing up for the bigg...

Solidarity activist Roger Harris breaks down the US' regime-change efforts against Venezuela ahead of the upcoming elections. Roger D. Harris Venezuela will hold presidential elections on July 28. (Archive) For all the hullabaloo about “free and fair elections” in Venezuela by the US government, its sycophantic corporate press deliberately ignores the elephant in the room – namely, the so-called sanctions designed to make life so miserable that the people will acquiesce to Washington’s plan for regime change. As Foreign Policy puts it, “Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro values his political survival above his country’s economic well-being.” Translated from Washington-speak, the US government is blackmailing the Venezuelan electorate with, in the words...

Posted by: John Phoenix The 'paper of record' is sparing no effort to delegitimize the upcoming Venezuela vote and carry water for US-backed politicians. The New York Times is rolling out its dishonest coverage. (FAIR) Venezuelans will head to the polls on July 28 to choose their president for the 2025–30 term. Incumbent President Nicolás Maduro faces nine challengers as he runs for a third term. Over the past 25 years of US-sponsored coups and economic sanctions, Western corporate media have always proven a reliable source of regime-change propaganda to back Washington’s policies (FAIR.org, 12/17/18, 1/25/19, 8/15/19, 4/15/20, 5/11/20, 1/11/23). Coverage builds to a frenzy around elections, whether driven by a (misguided) hope that US surroga...