Venezuela

NOVANEWS (VA),- Opposition leader Henrique Capriles has given falsified evidence to support his claims that there was fraud in Venezuela’s presidential elections on Sunday. At a press conference on Tuesday, the opposition candidate listed several examples that he claimed were evidence of “irregularities” in the electoral process and in the vote count, and presented a series of slides to national and international media. Several of the examples given by Capriles as evidence of fraud however, are clearly false, as can be seen by consulting the results on the National Electoral Council’s (CNE) website. As one example, Capriles listed three separate voting centers in which he claimed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had gotten much higher results than Hugo Chavez had gotten in the previou...

NOVANEWS Written by Lucha de Clases Statement of Lucha de Clases (Class Strugge), Marxist Tendency of the PSUV. What we have witnessed in recent days is a developing coup as correctly described by Comrade President Nicolas Maduro.These are not just peaceful protests of fellow Venezuelans who believe that there has been fraud, but an orchestrated plan to overthrow the Bolivarian government and smash the revolution. How can we fight it? PSUV offices in Anzoategui attackedThe private media, the U.S., the OAS and the Spanish government of the PP, the local oligarchy (capitalists, bankers and landowners), they are all involved in the plan. What we have witnessed is a concerted campaign of attacks on the symbols of the Bolivarian revolution and its achievements: CDI health centres, Simoncit...

NOVANEWS by jodymcintyre For Rabble magazine: Sol has a long journey to get to work every day, living in Junquitos, an hour’s bus drive into the mountains outside of Caracas.  On Sunday, the collectively-run café she works at was shut, but Sol was awake even earlier than usual.  At three am, she was helping to organise her local voting station and making sure people knew which table they were registered to vote at.  By eight am, she was driving around in a car, looking for disabled or elderly people who might need help walking to their voting station.  “Of course, we all need to vote,” Sol says, “they will not return.” My younger brother had noted that with all their rhetoric and brimming with confidence, it was hard to remember that the opposition party have never won a Pres...

NOVANEWS by jodymcintyre For the New Internationalist: Alberto Garcia lives in the Petare barrio, in the east of Caracas, but was born in Maracaibo, Zulia state.  Like thousands of others, he didn’t wait for election results to be announced before taking to Avenida Urdaneta, the road which runs through the centre of the capital up to Miraflores, the Presidential palace.  “Chavez is more dangerous now he has died than when he was alive,” Alberto tells me.  “He liberated us from the imperialist powers... here, we have democracy!” Fifteen year-old Jonayca is also in the crowds, too young to vote, surrounded by a group of friends from school.  “We are here for our future,” he says, “we want to defend our country.” When the results of the Venezuelan Presidential elections were announc...

NOVANEWS In recent years, no single individual played a greater role in the worldwide anti-imperialist struggle. Consequently, his passing is mourned by the entire progressive family of nations.  The following article is based on a speech delivered by a member of the Central Committee of the CPGB-ML to the memorial meeting, ‘Hugo Chávez and the Venezuelan Revolution’, organised by the party in London on 8 March, the day of Comrade Chávez’s funeral.  Speaking of Mao’s contributions, the Chinese Communist Party has summed up: “Without him the Chinese people would, at the very least, have spent much more time groping in the dark.” The same, also at the very least, can be said about the relationship between Hugo Chávez and the people of Venezuela. Hugo Chávez was a patriot and...

NOVANEWS   washingtonpost.com CARACAS, Venezuela —Calling himself the “Son of Chavez,” Nicolas Maduro, the interim president, won a slim victory after a brief but nasty presidential campaign in which he had pledged to complete the socialist transformation of this oil-rich nation that began under the man he served loyally for 20 years, President Hugo Chavez. With nearly all the votes counted, electoral authorities said late in the evening that Maduro had taken 50.6 percent of the vote to just under 50 percent for Henrique Capriles, a youthful challenger who had only days to mount a campaign against a powerful and well-worn electoral machine. The vote in this country of 29 million came less than six weeks after Chavez, 58, died at a Caracas military hospital after a long battle with ...

NOVANEWS Maduro's election victory sparks right-wing backlash By Gloria La Riva Nicolás Maduro Longtime socialist Nicolás Maduro was elected president of Venezuela on April 14, in a crucial election held five weeks after the death of revolutionary leader and president Hugo Chávez on March 5. Notwithstanding the close vote count—50.8 percent to 49 percent—Maduro’s presidency is a critical victory for the Bolivarian revolutionary process and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela’s ongoing struggle for socialism. On April 19, Maduro will be inaugurated in a historic day for all Latin America and a reaffirmation of the great Bolivarian Revolution begun by Chávez. Yet, as thousands of Venezuelans broke out in celebrations across the country after Maduro’s victory was announced, the defe...

NOVANEWS Things are chaotic here, as we recover from the surprise, disappointment, and a bit of hurt from the election results, but also go out in the street to express our support for those results, and to defend the national electoral system, one of the best and most secure voting systems in the world in a country which just loves to vote. We move quickly from sad last night to concerned and determined today, as the caceroles sound around the neighbourhoods and the opposition hangs outside the National Electoral Council (CNE) here in Merida, hundreds of them walking around with rocks and glass bottles in their hands, itching to have something to react to. Still, as the pan clanging sounds around my neighbourhood and people shout “out! Out!” [referring to the government], making it ...

NOVANEWS by jodymcintyre For Rabble magazine:   Disabled people have always positioned themselves at the forefront of the Bolivarian project in Venezuela, but their role is often understated.  I took a trip to the Metropolitan Council of Popular Power for People with Disabilities, an independent organisation campaigning for the rights people with disabilities, and spoke to Luis Roja.  It appeared that he was one of the leading figures of the Council, but he tells me that he is “just another one”, gesturing towards the many people who come and go as our conversation develops.  Luis spoke to me as a passionate supporter of the political process taking place in his country, but was adamant that more needs to be done.   “Por ahora [a ninety-second, televised speech made by Hu...

NOVANEWS by jodymcintyre For the New Internationalist:   Things are heating up in the centre of Caracas. The heat is sweltering and Venezuela’s presidential elections are fast approaching on 14 April. It is hard to find a quiet moment in between the seemingly endless ‘red points’ which hand out posters and information in support of Nicolás Maduro’s election campaign. However, Henrique Capriles too has his supporters, who are intent on speaking out against what they see as an undemocratic government. In Plaza Candelaria, 18-year-old Yelis, is working handing out Capriles’ leaflets, but she agrees to take a few minutes out to be interviewed. ‘This government isn’t democratic, because they use power and they use the people.  They want to make a revolution and they criticize capitalism, ...