Venezuela Archives - Page 4 of 82

The Dream of a Thing: Refounding the Economy of a Venezuelan Commune

26Jul

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Venezuela

The Dream of a Thing: Refounding the Economy of a Venezuelan Commune

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...

María Corina Machado: What the Mainstream Media Isn’t Saying About Her

25Jul

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Venezuela

María Corina Machado: What the Mainstream Media Isn’t Saying About Her

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...

Venezuelans to Vote on Continuing the Bolivarian Revolution

25Jul

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Venezuela

Venezuelans to Vote on Continuing the Bolivarian Revolution

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...

25Jul

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

USA, Venezuela

US Sanctions Are Killing Venezuelans

US sanctions against Venezuela have led to severe episodes of food insecurity, which have taken years of grassroots efforts to overcome. Andreína Chávez Alava Sanctions are political, not legal instruments. Their goal is to cause pain and suffering in order to force populations to overthrow their own governments and surrender their sovereignty. After Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez’s death on March 5, 2013, Washington began an economic siege to impede the continuation of the Bolivarian Process and the newly elected Nicolás Maduro government. The first war-like measure was Executive Order 13692, signed by President Barack Obama on March 8, 2015, which declared Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”. ...

Venezuela’s Presidential Elections: Maduro Plays Hardball but There Are Drawbacks

25Jul

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Venezuela

Venezuela’s Presidential Elections: Maduro Plays Hardball but There Are Drawbacks

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...

Venezuela’s Election in the Crosshairs of New US Regime Change Scheme

25Jul

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Venezuela

Venezuela’s Election in the Crosshairs of New US Regime Change Scheme

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...

The Biggest Obstacle to Free and Fair Elections in Venezuela Is the US

25Jul

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Venezuela

The Biggest Obstacle to Free and Fair Elections in Venezuela Is the US

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...

NYT Ramps Up Venezuela Propaganda Ahead of Elections

25Jul

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Venezuela

NYT Ramps Up Venezuela Propaganda Ahead of Elections

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...

Why the US Is Reimposing Sanctions on Venezuela

25Jul

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Venezuela

Why the US Is Reimposing Sanctions on Venezuela

Roger Harris argues that the purpose of US sanctions against Venezuela is to turn the country and its defiant socialist project into a cautionary tale. Roger D. Harris Washington has threatened to reimpose oil sanctions against Venezuela. (Photo: Carlos Becerra/Bloomberg) US sanctions on Venezuela’s gold sales and its threat to do the same with oil. The oil sanctions especially, if reinstated, would precipitate higher gas prices and further debilitate the Venezuelan economy, forcing more people to leave the country out of economic necessity. The Venezuelan government, for its part, has not been contrite. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez protested “the wrong step of intensifying economic aggression against Venezuela.” She warned that if Washington takes the thre...

25Jul

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Puerto Rico, Venezuela

Redefining US-Latin American Relations

Medea Benjamin and Steve Ellner propose that the US be a "Good Neighbor" with Cuba and Venezuela. Medea Benjamin, Steve Ellner The Monroe Doctrine, still alive, is harmful to the people of Latin America. (Archive) An all-encompassing expression of goodwill in the form of a New Good Neighbor Policy will meet resistance from vested economic and military interests, as well as those persuaded by racist arguments. The Trump administration dusted off the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine that subjugates the nations of the region to U.S. interests. The Biden administration, instead of reversing course, followed suit, with disastrous results for the region and a migration crisis that threatens Biden’s re-election. It has left most of Trump’s sanctions against Venezuela and Cub...