7 December 2015 - 12:44 AM
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Analysis
The Causes and Consequences of Venezuelan Election Results 0+
On Dec. 6 Venezuela held its 20th election in 17 years and one of its most difficult yet. With the opposition upping the ante in terms of media attacks and sabotage and two-and-a-half years of economic difficulties, and since the passing of revolutionary leader Hugo Chavez, not to mention a recent right-wing victory in Argentina, the left and right around the world turned anxious eyes to Venezuela.

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Ultimately, the Bolivarian revolution (the “Perfect Alliance” of the governing PSUV and other supportive parties and organizations) lost at the polls with the opposition winning at least 99 seats, with 19 still to be decided. Eighty-seven is necessary for a simple majority. But what does this electoral loss mean, politically, and given the current context in Venezuela, what will the consequences of it be, going forward?

Key Factors Leading to These Election Results

1) As usual, this year the disinformation by the opposition media has been intense. The opposition's main campaigning was through local and international media and social media, with very little street campaigning.

2) Many of those who do generally vote for the opposition do so because they want to vote against the government (and everything demonic and evil the private media has made it represent: "Castro-communism," where even droughts are the national government's fault) or for ambiguous "change" after 16 years of Chavismo, without being particularly concerned or aware of what that change is. Many of these people are of course upper-class people who resent the empowerment of the poor, but their ranks have been swollen by those frustrated by the last two years of serious difficulties.

3) Other key factors bringing people to the opposition include encouragement by the right-wing victory in Argentina, with a Trump-like figure due to swear-in as president on Dec. 10, and younger generations in Venezuela who now don't remember what it was like in Venezuela before Chavez was elected in 1998 (18-year-old voters would have been 3-years-old at the time).

4) But, while the opposition has attracted some of the less politically aware social sectors to its anti-Chavismo discourse, the government has also lost some ground from conscientious and solid revolutionaries, partly due to its lack of a solid response to the "economic war." Although it’s easier said than done to combat a rentier state, capitalist system, historical corruption, and opposition and big business economic sabotage, Maduro has only announced things like national commissions to deal with the situation. While people spend up to seven hours a week lining up for food, and while many of them understand that the government isn't directly responsible for the situation, the lack of a serious response and significant measures hasn't helped support for the government.

5) Further, while the government clearly sides with the poor, for multiple reasons, including more right-wing attacks, it has becoming increasingly distanced from the organizing grassroots. "The government would have more of a sense of urgency (in solving problems) if it was closer to the people in the street," Rachael Boothroyd Rojas, community activist and Venezuelanalysis journalist told teleSUR. That distance is relative to other times in the Bolivarian revolution, not to other governments around the world, who don't come close. However, with the way the government communicates with the people — the way it gets information out and involves people in serious decision making — there has been a step back. This aspect of the Bolivarian Revolution is perhaps the most important, so the significance of it and its impact on people shouldn't be underestimated.

Key Likely Consequences

The consequences are serious, but do not necessarily mark the end. Despite its financial resources and support from international powers and elites, the opposition has not been strategic or intelligent and won't be strategic with this new power. Under Chavez and the revolution they lost privileges and a lot of their initial measures will be about getting revenge: probably things like kicking out the Cuban doctors, making fun of the poor classes that have “lost,” continuing to not collect garbage, and enjoying the praise from the international media. They won't fix the economic problems, that's not their aim, and after all, they (the business elites and wealthy people with access to dollars) benefit from the crazy exchange rates and huge profits gained from hoarding.

Further, with this, and the right-wing win in Argentina, the talk of the left loosing Latin America will strengthen, with the media as usual broadcasting how they wish things were rather than any sort of complex analysis. Nevertheless, two such losses will no doubt cause some regional demotivation among progressives and have a significant impact on Latin American integration bodies.

For PSUV politicians, there will hopefully be some reflection, and the government will now be in the difficult position of having to compromise with the opposition — with Maduro and his ministers still in power, but unable to allocate extra income (beyond the budget for 2016, passed Dec. 1) or modify laws or approve bilateral and multilateral treaties. After the referendum loss in 2007, Chavez moderated his discourse and policies for a while, and Maduro may be forced to do so even more. It’s hard to know if in these circumstances Maduro will turn to the grassroots for more support, or will distrust them even more after loosing some of their support, and if he will see the outcome as a need for reflection, or purely the consequence of opposition sabotage.

For grassroots Chavistas, the majority of whom who have never been involved in the revolution for the sake of financial resources, they will continue organizing, promoting their progressive projects, their community organizations, but under more difficult circumstances. For the first time, they may not feel like the proud, governing majority in the country. On the other hand, an opposition with power is more the reason for strengthening organization. Having lost the luxury of taking victories for granted, the grassroots will likely become even more serious. With an emboldened opposition, they and their projects may also face verbal and physical attacks.

For the wavering voters, in the long term, having the opposition in power could be a bit of a reminder and reality check as they see that things get worse for the majority of people.

That the opposition has won its second out of 20 elections under Chavismo proves that all the U.S, European, opposition, and private media hype about how undemocratic Venezuela's electoral system is false. Of course, their reaction will be to claim that it was their "international pressure" that kept things in check.

Overall though, this loss, while it is a big step back for the progressive cause, it isn't the end of the line. The global struggle for a world that puts people and planet first, for a democratically controlled economy and so on, is a long term one with many ups and downs, defeats and victories.

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
"http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/The-Causes-and-Consequences-of-Venezuelan-Election-Results-20151207-0002.html". If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english

Defeat Maduro
December 7th, 12:48

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Chavistas in Venezuela suffered a sensitive defeat in the parliamentary elections the opposition conceded first time in 15 years.

In Venezuela, the opposition bloc of democratic unity (BDE) wins last Sunday, December 6, the elections to the National Assembly (parliament). This is indicated by the first results of the voting, released by the National Electoral Council (NIS), reports Reuters. According to preliminary data, BDE gets 99 seats in parliament, and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, led by President Nicolas Maduro, - 46 seats. In some areas of Venezuela voices still counted.
Political opponents Chavistas (followers of the late President Hugo Chavez) for the first time in 15 years get a majority in the highest legislative body of the South American country, where they will meet 167 deputies, reports Tass.
In his address to the nation Maduro has already conceded defeat ruling party.
The voters' lists were made ​​around 19.4 million people, the turnout was 74.25 percent. During the voting process was monitored by both local and foreign observers, including from the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Selak). Present and the Russian delegation of observers. Information on any major violations were reported.
New parliament will begin its work in January 2016 for a period of five years.

Http://lenta.ru/news/2015/12/07/maduro/ - zinc

PS. In general, confirmed fears 2x YoY http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/991 628.html on the subject that if the presidential election is still a shadow of Chavez late play for Maduro, in the future rely on the name of the Big Hugo had not Maduro out. Radical reforms http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/129 9883.html ultimately failed, and the economic situation both in objective and subjective reasons, continued to deteriorate - an increase in crime and the lack of large-scale success in the fight against poverty predpopredelili Falling popularity Chavistas. Plus, do not forget about the system pressure from the United States to change the regime finally uncomfortable at his side. And if Chavez because of their organizational and leadership talents succeeded in spite of all to keep the situation under control remains popular among the people to pursue an active foreign policy, Maduro course is only a pale shadow of his great predecessor.

It is worth noting that this is the second victory of the pro-American forces in South America recently. Recently, "pro-American opposition candidate" won the presidential elections in Argentina, and now dealt a blow to the Chavistas, who continue to lose their monopoly on power. The main problem Chavistas is that to give the opposition a majority in parliament could be in trouble with the loyalty of the army, which is fraught with repetition of coup attempts to overthrow the regime Chavistas, who also can get support from abroad and rely on legal opposition Venezuela. On the other hand, while maintaining control over the army and controlling government, Chavistas are long enough to support the regime of dual power, as is now the responsibility for economic policy lies on the opposition won a majority in parliament to carry out calculations in 1-2 years early elections, which will be to appeal to the fact that the opposition can not significantly affect the dismal economic performance.

For the Russian Federation, this situation is unpleasant fact that in case of defeat Chavistas and the coming to power of openly pro-American forces that threaten to cover a copper basin numerous projects and contracts a time of great Hugo. Americans persist in attempts to "restore order" in their own backyard, trying to stop the effects of the "left turn" in Latin America the second half of zero. The main problem of the Latin American left is the absence of the user such as the informal leader of the Castro or Chavez, who not only openly stated the need to confront US imperialism, but also act as a voice of the socialist changes on the continent. The local leaders of the left have a good (such as Bolivian President Evo Morales), but there are indisputable continental level opinion leaders like Castro and Chavez at the moment unfortunately not.


http://youtu.be/MramNCiqLXA
A fairly detailed analysis of the reasons for the defeat Maduro and potential problems for the Russian Federation in this regard.

http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/2510887.html

Google Translator

Maduro: Here nothing stopped and nothing will stop, everything depends on me go ahead

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Dayana Nunes

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From Miraflores Palace, President of the Republic, Nicolas Maduro addressed the nation on Sunday after the results of the 2015 parliamentary elections issued by the National Electoral Council (CNE).

"We came with our morals, our ethics to recognize and accept the adverse results and tell Venezuela has won the Constitution and democracy. I called our people to make history, it is the revolution itself facing adversity of losing a battle, "he said.

In this regard he added, "I want to tell our people that is heroic we have achieved 42 percent in these elections after what has been done to have our people with economic warfare, and you brothers and sisters, our vote loyalty, commitment to each of you, in all Venezuela, you have written a full page of love and loyalty. "

The Head of State also recognized the work of the political machinery of the revolution from every region and every space to create political awareness in relation to the macabre strategies right through the economic war, "so we need to continue, raising awareness because here has won the economic war, circustancialmente for now (...) nothing stopped here and nothing will stop, everything depends on me will continue, missions, major missions. "

New stage of the Bolivarian Revolution

"There must come a new phase of the Bolivarian Revolution, we must rethink many aspects of the policy of the Revolution, called to recognize these results alone (...). I feel comfortable with my conscience because we have done all that needs to be done to protect the people and have been loyal and be loyal to the legacy of Commander Chavez, "said the National Chief.

The President also called on people not to lose heart and return the spirits, "us not daunted us any adversity, here is our moral and morale of millions."

http://www.rnv.gob.ve/maduro-aqui-nada-se-detuvo-ni-nada-se-detendra-todo-lo-que-dependa-de-mi-seguira-adelante/

Venezuela decided
After a long day, the people elected deputies to the National Assembly in a climate of tranquility and with the participation of national and international observers

Author: International Drafting | internacionales@granma.cu
December 7, 2015 1:12:14
During the day a lot of voters were reported before exercising the voting was observed.
During the day a lot of voters were reported before exercising the voting was observed. Photo: Kaloian
CARACAS-More than 19 million eligible voters 496,296 by the National Electoral Council (CNE) went to the polls on December 6 in Venezuela to exercise their right to choose 167 deputies to the National Assembly (AN) for the period five years from 5 January 2016.

Parliamentary elections in Venezuela were made under one of the safest in the world electoral systems, especially in Latin America, said the president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Ecuador and current president of the Council of Electoral Experts of Latin America (CEELA), Nicanor Moscoso.

Interviewed by Telesur, Moscoso supported the statements of US President Jimmy Carter, who qualify the electoral system in this country as one of the most transparent and secure world.
Moscoso reiterated that during his stay in the country "has been able to confirm that ( Venezuela) elections are the best and safest in Latin America. "

CEELA president added that in this vote, the institution accompanied the main polling stations, where they found tranquility and great turnout. So he referred to more than 20 audits carried out by the CNE, with the participation of delegates, technicians, representatives of universities and political parties, among others, ensuring the reliability of the electoral arbitration.

Next to CEELA were also delegations from the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) and former presidents Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain, and Martin Torrijos of Panama.

In general, 3900 was attended by national observers and 130 international observers, invited by both the CNE and by all political parties.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister of Venezuela, Vladimir Padrino López said the election day on Sunday went smoothly, no major incidents around the country.

On the elections in the municipalities in the border states of Tachira, Zulia, Apure and Amazonas where the Executive decreed state of emergency since last August, he added that developed normally.

Godfather said that popular sovereignty was expressed freely and without any disadvantages in border areas, reported the Venezuelan news agency AVN.

On 19 August, the President of the Republic, Nicolas Maduro ordered the closure of the border with Colombia in Tachira state. Later, the measure was extended to other municipalities in the same entity and Zulia, Apure and Amazonas state Atures municipality to ensure peace and security in those border towns.

Since early with a call to vote and to recognize the results in peace, Maduro said: "As always said our commander, from all scenarios, the Bolivarian Revolution will respect the election results emanating from the popular will, either way, of strict and impeccable manner. "

Days ago, the Venezuelan president called on all parties to sign an agreement recognizing the results, however, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), which includes the main opposition parties Venezuelans refused.

Despite this, the Venezuelan Defense Minister noted that "isolated incidents, incidents of electoral and criminal nature were presented. There have been cases, eg where the voters break the ballot. That disturbs the audit process at the end. "

Incidentally, according to the television station Venezolana de Television in several polling stations in Maracay, Cagua and Turmero in Aragua state, opposition leaflets circulated in summoning civil disobedience.

In this context, the president of the CNE, Tibisay Lucena, said that was revoked the credentials of electoral support that the CNE gave the presidents of Bolivia, Jorge Quiroga; of Colombia, Andrés Pastrana and Uruguay, Luis Alberto Lacalle, all invited by the MUD.

The three participated in a press conference in which they rejected the Venezuelan electoral system and referred to an alleged "intimidation campaign" waged by the Government against the people.

The national observer member of the Non Governmental Organization Social Project, Carleslia Ascanio, rejected the interference of the presidents invited by the MUD.

"Here is a town that has sovereignty against foreign interference. You're standing here domestic observers and we have seen that there has been a transparent and honest process, "he stated in a broadcast by Venezolana de Television.

During the elections, the CNE decided to extend until 7:00 pm the closing of the polls, due to the large presence of voters in queues to vote.

The CNE rector of Venezuela, Socorro Hernandez, said the massive turnout at the parliamentary consultation.
Likewise, the Honduran former Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas, one of the international observers to monitor the elections, stressed the commitment to peace and the sovereign and popular response with the people who came to the polls.

Rhodes highlighted the climate of tranquility that passed the contest, which contrasts with the information described as deceitful and evil spread by international media corporations to try to spread the matrix view that the process would have a peaceful welcome.
In the same vein , Chilean Senator Alejandro Navarro, told AVN, said that the high popular participation is a reflection of the profound democratic will of the Venezuelan people and their confidence in the CNE. Navarro was invited by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) to witness the development of the election. VOICES FROM VENEZUELA


The Executive Vice President of Venezuela, Jorge Arreaza, in exercising their right to vote, said the Venezuelan electoral system as well as being simple and safe for the voter, has been recognized worldwide as one of the best systems, "all the fixings They have international certificate. "

Chancellor of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez reiterated that Venezuelans voted one of the most transparent and secure voting systems in the world. He also thanked the support of the electoral mission of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), which has helped the country to see the truth, "breaking the schemes of the international campaign."

Meanwhile, the head of government of the Capital District, Juan Carlos Dugarte said in his statement to Venezolana de Television: "We follow the direction of democracy, but above all, follow the path of peace that drew us to the commander (Hugo ) Chavez. "

Recalling that this process is the number 20 in 17 years, Diosdado Cabello, president of the National Assembly, said that "Venezuela is the country world champion in elections" and recalled that next year the elections of governors will be added.

During its presence in the South American and country invited by the CNE, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said that democracy is the people's participation in voting.

Similarly, the president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya stressed that Venezuela "is a country of change", where fighting between the reactionary right and the emerging world have left.
Although the opposition did not sign any of the agreements set by the CNE and the Electoral Mission of UNASUR, the mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, Chavez reiterated that other forces respect the people's decision, which invited the Venezuelans to have an election in peace.

http://www.granma.cu/mundo/2015-12-07/venezuela-decidio-07-12-2015-01-12-14

Google Translator

Fidel recognizes courageous speech Nicolas Maduro
Posted on Friday, December 11, 2015 7:30 a.m. | Written by Cuban Radio

http://www.radiocubana.icrt.cu/images/1449839807fidel-castro.jpg

The leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro acknowledged as brilliant and courageous speech by the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, on 6 December, only the verdict of the parliamentary elections in this South American country are met.

That assessment appears in a message sent to the Bolivarian leader, and today publishes the full text of the Portal of the Cuban Radio .

President Fidel message Nicolas Maduro

Dear Nicholas:

I join the unanimous opinion of those who have congratulated you on your brilliant and courageous speech on the night of December 6, hardly the verdict of the polls met.

In world history, the highest level of political glory he could achieve a revolutionary fighter corresponded to the illustrious Venezuelan and American Liberator Simon Bolivar, whose name no longer belongs only to that sister nation, but to all the peoples of Latin America .

Another Venezuelan officer pure lineage, Hugo Chavez, understood, admired and fought for his ideas until the last minute of his life. Since childhood, while attending primary school in the country where the poor heirs of Bolivar also had to work to help support the family, he developed the spirit in which the Liberator of America was forged.

The millions of children and young people now attend the largest and most modern chain of public schools in the world are those of Venezuela. The same is true of its network of health care facilities and health care of a brave people, but impoverished by centuries of looting by Spanish colonialism and later by the big transnationals extracted from her womb, for over a hundred years, the best of the immense flow of oil with which nature endowed this country.

The history should also make it clear that workers exist and are what make it possible to enjoy the most nutritious food, medicine, education, security, housing and solidarity in the world. They can also, if they wish, ask the oligarchy: you know all that?

Cuban revolutionaries "a few miles from the United States, who always dreamed of seizing Cuba to make it a hybrid casino brothel, as a way of life for the children of José Martí" will never give up full independence and full respect dignity. I'm sure just peace for all peoples of the Earth and the right to convert into common property natural resources of the planet, as well as science and technology created by man for the benefit of all its inhabitants, you can preserve Life on Earth. If humanity continues its journey along the paths of exploitation and plunder continues its resources by the multinationals and the imperialist banks, representatives of States met in Paris, will draw the appropriate conclusions.

Security does not exist today and for anyone. There are nine states with nuclear weapons, one of them, the United States launched two bombs that killed hundreds of thousands of people in just three days, and caused physical and psychological damage to millions of defenseless people.

The PRC and Russia know much better than the United States the world's problems, because they had to endure the terrible wars imposed on them the blind selfishness of fascism. I have no doubt that by its historical tradition and its own revolutionary experience will make every effort to avoid war and to contribute to the peaceful development of Venezuela, Latin America, Asia and Africa.

Fraternally,

Fidel Castro Ruz December 10, 2015

http://www.radiocubana.icrt.cu/index.php/destacados/149-destacados/11234-reconoce-fidel-valiente-discurso-de-nicolas-maduro

Google Translator

Venezuelan Communist Party leaders analyze election disasterPrintEmail to a Friend
by: Eric A. Gordon
December 21 2015

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CARACAS, Venezuela - In the wake of the disastrous National Assembly election of December 6th in this South American nation of 30 million people, our delegation from the North American-based Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle met with leaders of the Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) for an assessment of the results. Alberto Lovera was a Communist militant murdered by government forces 50 years ago in 1965, a revered name in Venezuelan working-class history, whose name has been adopted by a national movement of community groups.

Speaking with us were Oswaldo Ramos, national secretary of the party's ideological commission, Pedro Eusse, national secretary for the Venezuelan National Workers' Front, and Carlos Lazo, philosophy professor, director of the Instituto Bolívar-Marx, and former United Nations diplomat.

Our chat took place on Dec. 10 at Canta Claro ("sing out clear"), the name given to the utilitarian PCV headquarters in a scruffy, working-class neighborhood of Caracas, the national capital. The name derives from the slogan "Vota Gallo Rojo" (Vote the red rooster), the pictorial symbol of a red fighting cock that became the symbol of the PCV in the 1940s, a time when a certain percentage of the voting population was illiterate and responded to powerful, identifiable icons on the ballot. The loud, unmistakable voice of the rooster was meant to say to Venezuelan voters, "Time to wake up!"

Despite their best attempts at maintaining a degree of anticipatory optimism, the PCV did quietly recognize the potential for an adverse result in this decisive election. Much has been said about the economic war against the population waged by the private sector in order to deflate popular support of the Bolivarian Revolution instituted by former President Hugo Chávez. But an honest, sober analysis not only of the election itself but of the entire Bolivarian process, reveals dangerous fault lines that also contributed to the electoral defeat.

The government, led by Chávez' party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), now headed by his successor, President Nicolás Maduro, can be criticized for its strategic mistakes in office, unacceptable levels of corruption that still plague this and many other Latin American countries, and mismanagement. Opportunism, sectarianism, elitism and authoritarianism were familiar problems the left tried to point out. The bottom line is that a society where 70-90 percent of production and distribution of basic goods and services still remained in private hands could hardly be said to be on an open road to socialism.

The Bolivarian Revolution is certainly one of the most notable 20th and 21st century attempts at national liberation - even extending to continental liberation in its aspirations - but it cannot be consolidated under monopoly capital control, especially in an economy where one product, oil, reigns supreme. As is well known, the price of oil, which previously was able to fund the broad social betterment projects of the Bolivarian government, has fallen drastically, to less than half of its former value. To a degree which still invites rigorous study and exposure, this price drop may well have been manipulated by the U.S. (now essentially energy self-sufficient because of fracking) and by U.S. support of the Saudi economy, which continues inefficiently to glut the world market with oil pumped out at these low global prices.

The PSUV itself operated almost entirely as an electoral bloc comprising numerous political parties, including the PCV. As a coalition of Bolivarian forces, its politics ranged from communist and socialist on the left to ranchers, peasants, civil servants, military, reformists and petty bourgeois in the center and even center-right, which had little real motivation for moving toward socialism. Thus, in a climate of low oil prices and declining consumer satisfaction, a chasm grew between the government and the people which could not be bridged in the last months of the National Assembly campaign.

Class conflict sharpens

Inevitably, then, we now see, with the opposition supermajority soon to take office on January 5th, a heightening of class confrontation. The executive, for now held by President Maduro, reflects left-wing interests, and Maduro has promised major shakeups among his ministers and a focused campaign of rectification, criticism and self-criticism. The legislative branch reflects the right wing, broad concession to U.S. demands for austerity and the cessation of Bolivarian advances.

Bolivarian advances have been real, and many of them may be long-lasting. Different models of production have evolved, as well as new forms of social organization such as communes in the large housing projects. Workers have gained a new role, and there are new numbers in the organized labor movement, with rights guaranteed by the new Bolivarian law. Popular participation in the construction of the new vision for society has surged: Statistics on eradication of extreme poverty, the literacy campaign, the many new sites of university education for unprivileged sectors, the tremendous leaps forward in health care, and the million-plus new apartments for the previously homeless or poorly housed, are all subjects of unprecedented national pride. The country has achieved a level of economic and political sovereignty never imagined until now, and has served as a model and organizing force for the underdeveloped world.

Under these new circumstances, the PCV does not speak of hopelessness. To the contrary, they feel, once Venezuelans see for themselves that the change they voted for has not produced they results they expected, the cachet of Bolivarianism may well rise again. It is also true that the opposition, now the legislative majority, is itself divided factionally, and may not all agree either on their leadership nor on the measures to be taken.

Questioning whether it's entirely wise to subordinate the trade union movement to the government, the party envisions a National Front of the Working Class to carry the Bolivarian spirit forward. The party has an organizational presence in 23 out of 24 states in the country, and enjoys a respectable reputation, being, in fact, Venezuela's oldest continually operating political party, founded in 1931. More than 114,000 voters in the Dec. 6th election cast their ballots for the PCV list, and the new National Assembly has two PCV members in the PSUV coalition.

In addition, those principled revolutionaries who became disillusioned by the reformism of the PSUV, may be drawn to the PCV and its fighting cock tradition.

Venezuela is a highly desirable fruit for imperialists to get their hands on - all that oil, and the prospect of destroying the Bolivarian Revolution. They are perfectly capable of bringing the country to civil war if their demands are not soon realized. The dramatic class confrontation could lead in any direction, and the PCV is preparing for all possibilities.

http://peoplesworld.org/venezuelan-communist-party-leaders-analyze-election-disaster/

Venezuela proposes to ensure that economic potentials serve the peoples


Caracas, 22 Dic. AVN.- Venezuela proposed Monday to the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) to ensure that the economic and financial potential of the nations that make up the regional bloc are at the service of the people and not transnational companies.

Speaking at the 49th Summit of Heads of State of Mercosur, held in Asuncion, Paraguay, Foreign Minister of Venezuela Delcy Rodriguez called on countries included in the Common Market of the South to think about which economic model they want to build within the Southern region.

She also raised the need to strengthen and complement economies with the use of currencies of each country as well as boosting regional bodies such as the Bank of the South.

She also deemed it necessary to start coordinating macroeconomic policies and social programs of the region.

"It's about empowering the people. The political power in the hands of the people, who directly exercise that power (...) The complementarity of our economic, commercial, financial potentials at the service of our people, not transnational companies. Two models are present here," she explained.

She said the debacle of oil prices, among other aspects of the national and international economy, should not be used as an excuse for resorting to neoliberal models that have hurt people.

"We know what the outcome of neoliberalism was in our region: poverty and more poverty. They submitted the people to precarious social and economic conditions," said Rodriguez, who reiterated that Venezuela will continue to ensure basic human rights, as it has indeed in the last 17 years.

"Let's talk about human rights, real and true human rights of our people. We are ready to enter into talks. We are here with sincerity and frankness willing to do it," added the Foreign Minister.

On behalf of President Nicolas Maduro, she expressed his solidarity and support to the president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, who is accused of having committed alleged tax irregularities.

"I convey President Nicolas Maduro's affection to you and all your colleagues here," she said at the Mercosur meeting.

The 49th Summit of Heads of State of the Mercosur countries began Monday morning in Asuncion, Paraguay.

The host president of the event, Horacio Cartes, welcomed his counterparts from Brazil, Dilma Rousseff; Uruguay's Tabare Vazquez; Argentina's Mauricio Macri; Bolivia's Evo Morales (acceding country) and Chile's Michelle Bachelet, as an associate country of the block. Venezuela is represented by foreign minister Delcy Rodriguez.

Amid the turbulence in international markets, the collapse of oil prices and the downward trend of growth in the region this year, the economic issue focuses the agenda of the summit.

The meetings on the eve of this summit started last December 17 with the participation of social organizations, who discussed advances and challenges of public policies related to economic, social, cultural and environmental rights.

Mercosur was created in March 1991 when Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay joined to form a block of regional integration to foster a common economic space.

In 2012, Venezuela became a full member with the proposal to build a social Mercosur, with a development approach comprising the inclusion of peoples.

http://www.avn.info.ve/sites/default/files/imagecache/nodo-cuerpo/fotografia/201512/cwwpn7bwsaatmp31450729578.jpg

http://www.avn.info.ve/sites/default/files/imagecache/nodo-cuerpo/fotografia/201512/cwwuja6weaaeyoc1450729578.jpg

http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/venezuela-proposes-ensure-economic-potentials-serve-peoples

Nicolas Maduro Saves Mustache as He Delivers the Millionth Home

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1451509315886/sites/telesur/img/news/2015/12/30/vivienda_avn_1_crop1451509274301.jpg_1718483346.jpg
The Housing Program completed its goal of giving 1 million homes to Venezuelans. | Photo: AVN

Published 30 December 2015

Venezuela's "Great Housing Mission" has created one million homes since the housing mission was launched by former President Hugo Chavez in 2011.
In a major milestone for Venezuela’s social housing mission, President Nicolas Maduro delivered the program’s one millionth home to a Venezuelan family on Wednesday saving his mustache from being shaved off.

Last month, Maduro said he would shave his iconic mustache if the government failed to meet its goal of one million homes before 2016.

Maduro promised in his television broadcast on Tuesday that “rain or shine,” the government would meet its goal of providing one million homes by the end of the year.

The “Great Housing Mission” aims to tackle housing shortages in the South American country by providing safe and dignified homes to low-income people at a low cost or free of charge, depending on the new owners’ means.

The one million homes have been created since the housing mission was launched by former President Hugo Chavez in 2011.

The housing mission, one of the Venezuelan government's most popular social initiatives, expanded an emergency shelter program implemented in 2010 to help those who lost their homes in devastating floods. The program has prioritized providing low-cost housing to poor families.

In 2011, Chavez said that the mission would be used to address the “social debt” left behind by former governments that failed to provide quality housing to all Venezuelans.

Maduro has promised to continue to expand the mission with the goal of providing affordable housing to 40 percent of Venezuelan by the end of the decade.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuelan-Housing-Program-Hands-Over-Millionth-Free-Home-20151230-0011.html

Videos at link.

Chavez may be gone. His revolution isn’t
Mar
2016
Saturday 5th
posted by Morning Star in Features
https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-e3c1-Chavez-may-be-gone-His-revolution-isnt#.VuoO-uTmpaQ
Venezuela’s ambassador to Britain Rocio del Valle Maneiro Gonzalez talks to Morning Star editor Ben Chacko about the legacy of Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013

HUGO CHAVEZ, who died three years ago today, is surely one of the outstanding statesmen of the century so far.

Not only did his Bolivarian revolution inspire the “pink tide” that swept the whole of Latin America, his influence and his message spread far beyond that continent.

But what is his legacy today? Venezuela’s ambassador to Britain Rocio del Valle Maneiro Gonzalez says to understand that we need to grasp what Chavez’s rise to power in 1998 meant.

“Before Chavez we were stuck with a two-party system, Democratic Action and the Social Christians [Copei], and the political class has failed Venezuela,” Maneiro says.

“When Chavez came to power 60 to 70 per cent of the population was in poverty, and of that 15 per cent were in extreme poverty — those people who have nothing, who eat food fit for dogs.

“That’s why Chavez’s message came across so strong: it was the first time people started to hear about social debt.”

What’s that?

“He said the people who had ruled our country were in debt to the Venezuelan people. They had money from all over the world, because we are an oil exporter, but there was such misery, so many were illiterate.

“That is why the Venezuelan revolution has won 19 out of 20 elections. Because of a message of social justice, of equality — and because of the facts, the ways the country has changed in education, in health, in housing.”

And is current President Nicolas Maduro continuing that mission? “Maduro’s first priority is the social missions. The number of houses, the number of students, it’s like this” — she makes a soaring gesture with her hand.

“It’s hard to describe. But when I was ambassador to China I was visiting home to see one of my sons and the building he lived in had a concierge. He was about 70 years old and he said to me: ‘Ambassador, I learned to read!’”

But literacy and housing drives cost money. And reinvesting Venezuela’s oil wealth in its people was Chavez’s solution.

“To take the money from the oil and sow it in social plans, so that it would grow,” Maneiro explains. “And in one area, one of these missions, we required help from outside.

“That was health. And Cuba, where they have an excellent health system, they came to help us. They sent thousands of doctors, and they created a mission called Inside the Neighbourhood where the Cuban doctors set up practices in the barrios.

“I remember Operation Miracle. Three million people across Latin America had problems with their eyes — not just cataracts, all sorts — and they operated. A Cuban programme helped by Venezuelan finances.”

Cuba was not Venezuela’s only ally. For nine years Maneiro was ambassador to China.

“I had the privilege of being in China just at the moment when you could see the power shifting internationally,” she smiles. “I went in 2004 and stayed until 2013.

“And the relationship with Venezuela was very special. It matched perfectly with Chavez’s international policy.”

Most people over here, I note, see that policy as primarily about challenging the power of the United States.

“I wouldn’t define it like that. Chavez was in the first place an integrationist, his policy was for regional integration of Latin America. Over 17 years you can see the fruits of that — we have Alba, Celac, Unasur, all vehicles for the continent’s integration.

“Of course Chavez wanted independence from the United States, always. He was a Venezuelan leader, if a very special and charismatic one.

“We have a historical memory. If you read about Simon Bolivar, look what regional unity meant to him. And that involved challenging the US. ‘The United States has been out here through God’s will to sow misery and pain in Latin America in the name of freedom.’ Bolivar said that in the 1820s!

“Chavez took this as a basis. The first thing was regional integration, and then globally he thought: We do not need one superpower. We have to go for multilateralism.”

So he welcomed China’s growing power?

“Of course. To balance power globally. He wanted a strong Europe, a strong China, a strong Latin America. Given those, why not a strong United States?

“A multitude of powers. When I was in China what was happening there fitted that vision perfectly.”

So Chavez backed China’s rise. Was China equally supportive of his revolution?

“Yes. Very supportive. They created a system of bilateral co-operation, with a high-level joint committee working out shared priorities.

“When I arrived in China in 2004 our trade volume was $700 million. When I left in 2013 it was $23 billion. It was very dynamic.”

The growing trade ended longstanding US monopolies on many manufactured goods available in the Venezuelan market. “Critics said: ‘You are exchanging one dependence for another.’ But Chavez replied: ‘If you want to be independent, you need to diversify your dependencies first!’”

As ambassador, Maneiro worked closely with Chavez and came to know him well.

“He was a workaholic,” she recalls. “He would phone me at one, two in the morning, and say: ‘Did I wake you?’ But then we would talk for hours.

“Chavez was absolutely, completely Venezuelan. We are very musical and he was like that. He didn’t have a good ear. I was always telling him: ‘Don’t sing!’

“But he loved to sing and he tried to do it well. He sang some songs from the plains, because he was from that region, but out of tune.”

Chavez’s love of music found national expression in El Sistema, the system of youth orchestras that were the brainchild of Jose Antonio Abreu as an escape from poverty for young people. On coming to power, Chavez embraced the system and invested in it; now countries as far away as Germany are imitating the model. Indeed, Venezuela under Chavez experienced a cultural renaissance, from music to cinema.

“I think this is one of the most beautiful contributions of Venezuela to the world,” she says.

Was his private persona different from his public image?

“Everybody’s is different. But he was almost the same person.

“I suppose when he was very angry, he never raised his voice. If he didn’t like something it got lower and lower — you had to lean in.

“When he saw a problem, immediately it was like a dissection. ‘OK, what is this problem? Let me see. This is this, that is that, this is that ... right, OK, the solution is this’.”

Venezuela has a had a rocky ride since Chavez’s death, but is the enthusiasm for this revolution still there?

“We are facing problems, and the whole world knows that.

“We had an election and for the first time, we didn’t win. It’s a challenge but the enthusiasm is still there.

“Our people, they have memories, they know. They know what their lives were like before and what they are like now.

“The people Chavez gave hope to, and told them: ‘Listen, you are a person, this is your constitution, you can vote and you have rights.’

“These people, they are the revolution. Chavez planted the seed and it is up to us, the revolutionary government, to make it grow. If we fail, history will ask: Why?”

It’s a message that might apply to today’s Labour Party. But Ambassador Maneiro smilingly declines to be drawn on British politics. What’s clear is that while Chavez is sorely missed, the revolution he began is far from over.

http://houstoncommunistparty.com/chavez-may-be-gone-his-revolution-isnt/

Venezuela to create 400 thousand new jobs in 2016

http://www.avn.info.ve/sites/default/files/imagecache/nodo-imagen-principal-centro/fotografia/201604/textel_71457660182.jpg

Caracas, 05 Abr. AVN.- Venezuela's Vice President for Planning and Knowledge, Ricardo Menendez said Monday that public and private sectors are expected to generate 406,000 new jobs throughout 2016.

In a press conference held at the seat of the planning ministry in Caracas, he said that of that amount, 241,000 jobs will come from the Venezuelan economy, while 164,290 will be "additional jobs that will emerge from the Bolivarian Economic Agenda."

He stressed that over the next few years it is estimated to create a combined total of 1.9 million jobs to meet the goal of 2.3 million proposed in the Plan of the Nation.

He said that in the first three years of development of this government program, approximately 540,000 jobs were created, which exceeds the figure estimated by the national executive.

"The original goal was to reach about 400,000 jobs in the first three years and however, we have managed to reach 540,000 jobs," he added.

Menendez noted that the unemployment rate closed in January this year at 8.1%, while in February it fell to 7.3%. He added that "the second lowest value of the series of the last 20 years" occurred during these two months.

He recalled that the employment and unemployment rates are seasonal values and have to be compared, for example, "every February with February of the previous year."

Thus, he noted that formal employment rated 60.2% in February, while the informal employment, which refers to companies whose payroll does not exceed five employees, approached 40%.

"When we talk about informality it does not necessarily mean that (people) are exempt from social protection nor they are figures of the informal economy. Of that 40% that we call it 'informal', it is about 18% that properly belongs to economy peddlers-type or properly conceived as informal," Menendez said.

The planning minister indicated that there are about 2.5 million public employees and an average of 5.5 million work in private companies in Venezuela.

Since 1999, more than 4,5 million new jobs were generated in the country, as part of the employment protection policies promoted by the Bolivarian Government.

"Since the beginning of the Bolivarian Revolution we have managed to halve the values of unemployment that existed in our country," he said.

http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/venezuela-create-400-thousand-new-jobs-2016

Venezuela's Political Killings: A Sign of the Repression to Come?

By RYAN MALLETT-OUTTRIM – VENEZUELANALYSIS.COM , April 4th 2016

A mayor gunned down in a drive by shooting just meters from his own doorstep. A legislator shot by paramilitaries in plain sight outside a bodega. A solidarity activist butchered in a home invasion. Two police run over by militants in a stolen bus. These are just the latest in a wave of killings in Venezuela. The motives behind most of these killings remain unclear, though it's hard to not be disturbed by what appears to be a growing wave of political violence gripping the country. In response, Venezuela's right-wing, the mass media and even most human rights groups are all following a well worn script that seeks to downplay these killings, or at least deflect attention away from the context behind the violence. For example, Human Rights Watch's latest report on Venezuela is basically just a call for Venezuela's supreme court to be stacked with supporters of the right-wing political coalition, the MUD. Another of their recent reports focused on claims imprisoned that right-wing political figure Leopoldo Lopez didn't receive a fair trial. Their third most recent report (at the time of writing) was another complaint about the Maduro administration's human rights record, including false claims that “security forces violently cracked down on largely peaceful protests” in 2014. As I saw myself at the time, those suppressed “largely peaceful protests” included gangs of armed right-wing militants throwing Molotovs at hospitals, sniping at civilians from rooftops and setting up barricades to hold neighbourhoods hostage. Then and now, Venezuela is increasingly becoming a dangerous place for leftists.

Indeed, all the recent victims were either leftists, or police seeking to contain violent right-wing demonstrations. The latest victim was Marco Tulio Carrillo, the socialist mayor of a municipality in Trujillo state. Other victims include Haitian-Venezuelan solidarity activist Fritz Saint Louis, Tupamaro legislator Cesar Vera, and two police officers in Tachira state.

These killings take on a new dimension when contextualised: the right-wing MUD is preparing to oust Maduro, and wrestle control of all branches of the state from the left.

If they achieve this, the worst case scenario would be a return to the repression of the 20th Century, when leftists were all too often the targets of neoliberal regimes. Today's right-wing has repeatedly shown it not only has no interest in disavowing violence, but is willing to turn on the Venezuelan people for their own political gain. From the 2002 coup to the violence of 2014, there has always been a sector of the right-wing that has never been afraid to use terror against ordinary Venezuelans. If it takes complete power, perhaps the MUD will learn to speak out against violence such as the recent killings, or perhaps not. After all, much of the MUD is generally slow to condemn violence against leftists, if they do so at all. So if they take complete power, will the right reign in their excesses, or rule with terror?

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/11915

APRIL 19TH - Global Day of Action in SOLIDARITY WITH VENEZUELA
Saturday, April 9, 2016

http://www.wpc-in.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/945247_1550509325246107_6260303834226398453_n.jpg?itok=zquAxAnb

Statements
The democratic and left organizations, social movements and personalities, in the world, express our strong support and firm solidarity for the VENEZUELAN PEOPLE, the Government of the Constitutional President Nicolas Maduro Moros, the Communist Party of Venezuela, and the Committee of International Solidarity (COSI), member organization of the Executive Committee of the World Peace Council (WPC), victims of a new abominable and interventionist escalation by US imperialism which is the prelude to a declaration of war.

The "Executive Order", renewed on March 3rd 2016 by President Barack Hussein Obama of the US, extends and expands the possible actions of the biggest aggressor State against sovereignty and self-determination of people and the political and social process in Venezuela, in which a "national emergency" against an alleged "unusual and extraordinary threat to national security and foreign policy of the US" is declared.

This action represents an act of provocation and interference that violates international law, Human Rights and the peace of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the entire Latin American and Caribbean region.

We denounce that such actions are aimed at destabilizing popular developments, especially in Venezuela, and the process of changes affecting the entire Latin America and the Caribbean region, in a attempt to reconstruct the imperialist hegemony and geostrategic control of the US.

In a new international escalation of the Venezuelan bourgeoisie, dependent on the interests of imperialism and in concert with its allies of the international extreme right, three days after the action of Obama, one spanish and 26 latin american former presidents requested the application of a perverse mechanism of the Organization of American States (OAS), to punish our nation where there wasn’t a breaking of the constitutional order.

While our people yearn to build a sovereign and independent way of development, social justice and peace, the imperialism promotes coups, bloody military occupations and violates Human Rights.

In 2015, together with the peoples of the region, Venezuela appointed Latin America and the Caribbean a Zone of Peace, rejecting the use of nuclear weapons and demanding the withdrawal of US military bases.

Currently, 74 US military bases are surrounding Latin America and the Caribbean, and its weapons of mass destruction aimed at the processes of sovereignty and self determination of our peoples.

Thirteen of these bases encircle Venezuela. Billions of dollars from drug and US capital are diverted to found organizations such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which promote
and organize the neofascist groups destabilizing the democratic and popular governments, like the constitutional government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Even the Libertador Simon Bolivar warned, on 5 August, 1829, when he stated in a letter to the Minister Charge d'Affaires of Her Britannic Majesty in the United States, Patrick Campbell: "The United States seems destined by Providence to plague America with misery in the name of Freedom".

While the Obama administration and its NATO allies favor deregulation of employment, layoffs and worsening of fundamental rights, bringing their citizens closer to the edge of misery and death, Venezuela, in response to the crisis of the world capitalist system, has achieved the claim of political, social and economic rights of workers, the working class and popular majorities historically excluded.

Based on these recitals, the democratic and left organizations, social movements and personalities agree:

- Express our full and active solidarity with the Venezuelan People, the Government of the Constitutional President Nicolas Maduro Moros, the Communist Party of Venezuela, and the Committee of Solidarity International (COSI), member organization of the Executive Committee of the World Peace Council (WPC), victims of a new and more dangerous aggression by the government of the United States.
- Demanding the repeal of the new, infamous and interventionist decree signed by President Barack Hussein Obama against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
- To join, as we did last year, the call and declare April 19th as "GLOBAL DAT OF ACTION IN SOLIDARITY WITH VENEZUELA".
- Convene all social movements and organizations that bring together and represent the working class and working people, to demonstrate on the 1st of May their militant solidarity with Venezuela.
- Promoting in all parliaments in the world motions and actions aimed at a forceful rejection of interventionist actions against Venezuela and its legitimate right to self-determination and sovereignty.
- To denounce and reject the concerted terrorist action by a group of one spanish and 26 latin American former extreme right presidents, who demanded of the Organization of American States (OAS) the application of the impermissible Inter-American Charter against the will of the people of Venezuela.

http://www.wpc-in.org/?q=node/157

"We're Going To Do It, Fuck It" Maduro literally says about seizing factories and radicalizing the Revolution.


http://youtu.be/47KcF1C6dxI

Hot damn! Perhaps too little too late but sometimes upping the ante is the only viable option.

Hot damn! Perhaps too little too late but sometimes upping the ante is the only viable option.

Some times it's good to hear the words of a real working class leader. It is about damned time. "Fuck it! Let's do it!" I heard one uppity dipshit commentator say something like "Maduro is over his head, he's only a bus driver." I like listening to bus drivers some times...

190,000 Dead Venezuelans 'Support' Recall Referendum on Maduro
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By TELESUR ENGLISH

The head of the commission supervising the process leading up to a potential referendum to recall Venezulean President Nicolas Maduro, initiated by the right-wing opposition, said Monday that nearly 190,000 of the signatures submitted belong to the deceased.

“They said they delivered 1.85 million of signatures. However, almost 190,000 of them were deceased people," said Jorge Rodriguez, who was appointed by Maduro and also heads the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

Rodriguez alleged the Venezuelan opposition submitted fake signatures in pursuit of “a coup d'etat against President Nicolas Maduro.”

Constitutional jurist Maria Alejandra Diaz said in an interview with teleSUR that it will now be “very difficult” if not “impossible” for the opposition to hold a recall referendum this year.

The process leading up to a referendum will take at least 170 days, in her estimation, which means the third week of January 2017 is the earliest one could be held.

Any registered voter, including the head of state, can file a complaint over irregularities uncovered during this process, she added, meaning a referendum could be pushed back even further.

PUBLISHED ON MAY 17TH 2016 AT 1.21PM

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11976

The Chicago Boys strike again?

Caracas, May 19, 2016 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Seven individuals were arrested for allegedly attacking Venezuelan police during a violent opposition march in Caracas on Wednesday that left five officers injured.

The march was part of nationwide mobilizations convoked by the right-wing opposition coalition, the MUD, protesting alleged stalling by the National Electoral Council (CNE). The CNE is in the process of validating the 1.85 million signatures collected by the coalition for a recall referendum against President Nicolas Maduro.

The MUD called for supporters to march to the CNE headquarters in the heavily pro-government city center despite being refused a permit by the El Libertador municipality over concerns of violence.

Unarmed police beaten by demonstrators

Bolivarian National Police (PNB) personnel were dispatched to prevent demonstrators from marching along the principal Avenida Libertador where they were attacked by a group of men wielding sticks and rocks.

“A group of people came to attack us. One of the citizens became violent and hit me. The shield protected me the first time, but the second time I fell,” recounts 22 year-old PNB officer Dubraska Alvarez, who suffered post-trauma capsulitis in her right elbow and multiple traumatisms.

In a video that has circulated widely on social media, another officer can be seen falling to the ground after receiving a blow from a stick-wielding demonstrator and subsequently being beaten while prostrate by five men with sticks.

Another police functionary, Genessis Llovera Mambie, suffered the dislocation of her right shoulder while officer Erick Escalante came away with post-trauma bursitis in his left shoulder and a knee lesion.

Despite international media reports of police repression against protesters, PNB personnel were prohibited from carrying armaments and were only permitted to use tear gas if authorized by superiors.

“Our only order was to prevent people from entering Avenida Libertador, and we didn’t even have any sort of arms…it was inevitable [that people entered] because we only had shields to protect ourselves physically,” added Alvarez, who declined to show her face to the camera for fear of reprisals.

Seven men suspected of perpetrating the attacks were arrested in the heart of the wealthy eastern Caracas municipality of Chacao on Wednesday afternoon and were subsequently transported to the July 26th Penitentiary in Guarico state where they will await charges.

According to authorities, one of the suspects, Jheremy Bastardo Lugo, is a repeat offender who was reportedly arrested during the 2014 anti-government protests that saw opposition supporters erect violent barricades across the country, leading to the death of 43 people, the majority of whom were state security personnel and passerby.

Student residences vandalized

In addition to the violent incident on Avenida Libertador, protesters are reported to have vandalized a government-constructed student residence in Plaza Venezuela, breaking windows and allegedly attempting to set the building on fire.

“With sticks, stones, and gasoline, they were going to burn down the residence and the guards. I was attacked by hooded men armed with stones and bottles,” said student resident Angel Rodriguez.

“For having a different political ideology, they broke the windows, my comrades were attacked,” another student told teleSUR.

El Libertador Mayor Jorge Rodriguez denounced the day’s violent episodes and vowed to press charges against those responsible.

“This is the reason why we didn’t give them a permit to march to the city center,” he stated, pointing to the broken windows of the student residence.

Capriles blames “infiltrators”

Former opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles publicly blamed the violence on “infiltrators”, calling the incidents a “set up” by the government.

“We know the plan, but we are not going to stop protesting. We are not afraid, we will [protest] in the face of the infiltrators, because it is our duty to fulfill the Constitution,” he stated.

However, Wednesday’s protest was not the only instance in which the Miranda state governor has condoned violent demonstrations.

Last week, the former presidential candidate was also involved in his own confrontation with police, as he and his supporters attempted to physically break a police line in Miranda state.

Following his narrow defeat in the 2013 elections, Capriles also refused to honor the internationally-recognized result, urging his supporters “vent their rage” in street protests that left seven people dead and saw numerous government health clinics and food markets burned.

In the lead up to Wednesday's protests, Capriles issued a public statement to members of the Venezuelan armed forces, urging them to reject a state of exception expanded by President Maduro on Friday and oppose alleged attempts by the government to block the recall process.

“Prepare the tanks and war planes…the hour of truth is coming to decide whether you are with the constitution or with Maduro,” he declared on Tuesday.

Earlier this week, a special commission responsible for supervising the referendum process announced that 190,000 signatures collected by the opposition as part of the initial recall request belonged to deceased individuals.

The statement has been sharply denounced by opposition leaders who accuse the CNE of intentionally dragging out the process in order to prevent the recall referendum from being held this year.

Unless the referendum is held in 2016, a successful recall vote will not trigger new presidential elections, with the sitting vice-president instead taking over as president for the remainder of the term.

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11982

Venezuela – A Last Warning

By JORGE MARTIN – IN DEFENSE OF MARXISM , May 20th 2016

The assault against the Bolivarian revolution has intensified in the recent days and weeks. Editorials and front pages in US and Spanish newspapers are screaming about hunger in Venezuela and demanding the removal of the “dictatorial regime”. Ongoing scarcity problems have led to instances of looting. The right-wing opposition is attempting to trigger a presidential recall referendum, but is also threatening violent action and appealing to foreign powers, including in some case for military intervention. What is really happening in Venezuela and how can these threats be faced?

On Friday May 13th, Venezuelan president Maduro extended the “Economic Emergency Decree” which had given him special powers in January, and further decreed a 60-day State of Emergency which includes sweeping powers to deal with foreign military threats and to deal with problems of food production and distribution.

As was to be expected, the world’s capitalist media joined in a chorus of denunciation, screaming about a “dictatorship”, while one of the main right-wing opposition leaders, Capriles Radonski made a public appeal to disobey the decree. The threats, however, are very real. It is worth giving a few examples. A month ago,an editorial in the Washington Post openly called for “political intervention” by Venezuela’s neighbours. At the weekend, former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, at a “Concordia Summit” in Miami, made an open call for the Venezuelan Armed Forces to carry out a coup or, failing that, for foreign military intervention against “the tyranny”.

The Venezuelan right-wing opposition has made repeated appeals for the Organisation of American States to use its “Democratic Charter” to intervene against president Maduro. They feel emboldened by the successful removal of Dilma Rousseff in Brazil and want to go down the same road as soon as possible, by any means necessary, legal or illegal. Influential Venezuelan right-wing journalist and blogger Francisco Toro (editor of the Caracas Chronicles) has just written an article openly discussing the pros and cons of a coup, which he says would be within the constitution and “The Opposite of a Crime”.

Today, the Venezuelan government reported violation of the country’s airspace by US military aircraft.

In an attempt to capitalise on the severe economic problems the country is facing, the reactionary opposition has been busy trying to create a situation of chaos and violence which would justify a coup or foreign intervention to expedite the removal of president Nicolás Maduro. There have been incidents of violence in Zulia and Tachira. There are constant, mostly false, rumours of looting and rioting.

A very serious crisis

I have been involved in the defence of the Bolivarian revolution for more than 13 years now, visited the country often and written about it on a regular basis. None of what I have just described is really new. Since the very beginning, when Chavez was elected in 1998, and particularly since the enabling laws in December 2001, the Venezuelan oligarchy and imperialism have been engaged in a constant campaign of harassment, violence, destabilisation, coups, lies and slanders, diplomatic pressure, economic sabotage, you name it, they have done it.

This time, however, something is different. On all the previous occasions, the revolutionary will of the Bolivarian masses of workers, peasants and the poor, has defeated the counter-revolutionary attempts to put an end to the revolution. This was the case even against the coup in April 2002 and then the lockout and sabotage of the oil industry in December of the same year, before the revolution was able to grant any real improvements in living standards. Those came mainly after the government was able to get full control of the state-owned oil company in 2003.

For ten years, the revolution was able to grant widespread reforms and massively improve the living standards of the masses. This was accompanied by a process of political radicalisation in which the late president Chávez and the revolutionary masses pushed each other forward. Socialism was declared as the aim of the Bolivarian revolution, there were wide ranging experiences of workers’ control, factories were occupied and expropriated, companies were re-nationalised. Millions became active at all levels in an attempt to take their future into their own hands. The motor force of the revolution and its main source of strength which allowed it to thwart all the attempts of the oligarchy and imperialism were the revolutionary masses, active, politically aware and engaged at all levels.

Of course, this period was helped by high oil prices (which reached a peak of over $140 a barrel in 2008). The government could use a massive amount of money from oil revenues to fund social programs which benefited millions (in education, healthcare, food, housing, pensions, etc). The question of taking over the means of production was not immediately posed.

Capitalism cannot be regulated

Measures were taken which limited the normal functioning of the free market capitalist economy in order to defend the revolution against the sabotage of the ruling class. These included foreign exchange controls (to prevent the flight of capital) and price controls on basic food products (to defend the purchasing power of the poor).

Soon, the capitalists found a way around this. Foreign exchange controls became a swindle and resulted in a massive transfer of hard currency from oil revenues directly into the pockets of unscrupulous capitalists. How did that happen? The government instituted a subsidised foreign exchange rate which was to be used to import basic products (food and medical supplies) as well as parts for industry.

Instead, private capitalists applied for preferential dollars which they then syphoned into the black market (which developed as an inevitable side effect of currency controls) or to offshore bank accounts. Thus we witnessed the incredible situation where imports in volume decreased, while imports in value (in dollars) massively increased. Marxist economist Manuel Sutherland has worked out the figures for imports of pharmaceutical products:


http://venezuelanalysis.com/files/images/pharma-imports-in-millions_credit-www_dot_rebelion_dot_org.png
The red column represents pharmaceutical imports in millions of Kg, the blue column represents their value in millions of US$. Source: http://www.rebelion.org

In 2003, Venezuela was importing pharmaceutical products at 1.96 US$ per Kg. By 2014 the price had reached 86.80 US$ per Kg. Imports had collapsed by 87% in volume, but increased nearly 6-fold in price! Similar figures can be produced for almost every sector of the economy in which private capitalists were receiving subsidised dollars to import goods.

A similar situation developed with price controls. The private sector, which still has almost monopoly control of food processing and distribution of many basic items, refused to produce anything covered by price controls. Thus, in order to bypass regulated prices for rice, for instance, they started producing flavoured or coloured varieties, which were not regulated.

This blocking of production on the part of the private capitalists forced the whole weight of producing and distributing basic food products onto the state. The state imported food from the world market, paid at world market prices with oil dollars, then sold it at heavily subsidised prices in state-run supermarket chains (PDVAL, MERCAL, Bicentenario).

For a period, while oil prices were high, this situation worked, more or less. Once oil prices went into freefall and the economy entered into a deep recession, the whole edifice came down like a house of cards. In 2014 Venezuelan oil was still 88 US$ a barrel. In 2015 it halved to $44. In January 2016 it had reached its lowest level for over 10 years, at $24.


http://venezuelanalysis.com/files/images/money-supply_credit-www_dot_tradingeconomics_com.png
Venezuelan money supply. Credit: www.tradingeconomics.com

In order to continue to pay for the social programs (including subsidised food products), the state started to print massive amounts of money which was not backed up by anything. Between 1999 and 2015, the M2 measure of money supply increased by over 15,000%!

Inevitably, the combination of massive flight of capital, the associated development of a huge dollar black market, the massive expansion of the money supply at a time of economic recession (2014 -3.9; 2015 -5.7%) inevitably caused hyperinflation. In 2014 the annual inflation rate reached a record 68%, but in 2015 it was even higher at 180% according to the Venezuelan Central Bank. It has to be pointed out that inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages was even higher than the average.

The black market exchange rate for the dollar jumped from 187 Bolivars per $ in January 2015 to over 1,000 Bolivars per dollar now (having reached a peak of 1,200 in February this year). This is the exchange rate at which most prices of products are now calculated.

Another effect of this massive economic dislocation is the rapid depletion of foreign reserves:


http://venezuelanalysis.com/files/images/foreign-exchange-reserves_credit-www_tradingeconomics_dot_com.png
Foreign exchange reserves. Credit: www.tradingeconomics.com

From US$24bn at the beginning of 2015, they have collapsed down to US$12.7bn now, according to the official figures of the Venezuelan Central Bank.

This dire situation has led to a sharp decrease in government imports of food and other basic products. Overall imports went down by 18.7% in 2015. This has created permanent scarcity of basic products in the state-owned supermarket chains selling them at regulated prices. In turn this has created a huge black market for these products. The root cause of the black market is scarcity, which is then aggravated by the existence of the black market itself. The massive difference created between the regulated prices (ever more scarce) and the black market, then acts as a huge magnet for products towards the latter. This is a comparison of the prices of some basic products as sold by bachaqueros (black marketeers) in the working class and poor neighborhood of Petare in Caracas in March:


http://venezuelanalysis.com/files/images/graphic-venezuela-food_credit-www_dot_telesurtv_dot_net.jpg
Credit: teleSUR

The government has decreed increases in the minimum wage, several times, over the last two years, from around 10,000 Bs in November 2015 to 15,000 now (to which we have to add 18,000 Bs of the cesta ticket (food supplement). Still, if you have to purchase most of your weekly basket of products in the black market, this is not enough. Since state imports of food have sharply gone down, scarcity of regulated products has increased and people are forced to get a bigger share of their shopping basket on the free and black market.

Scarcity has led to massive corruption at all levels, diverting products from the official state-run supply chain onto the black market. From the family that queues for hours and then re-sells some of what they’ve bought, to the state supermarket manager who diverts whole lorries full of products (in connivance with the national guard officers guarding the establishment), to criminal gangs who hire people to queue for hours and buy whatever subsidised products are available (threatening and paying off supermarket workers, national guards, supermarket managers, etc), to the nationwide director of the Bicentenario state supermarket chain who diverts ship-loads of products.

To this we have to add a thousand and one different ways in which the private sector breaks the price regulation regime. Maize flour is permanently scarce, butareperas are always well stocked. Chickens are almost impossible to purchase at regulated prices, but roast chicken joints never lack them. Wheat flour can’t be bought at the official price, and bakeries use lack of flour as an argument not to produce the normal loaf of bread (the price of which is regulated), but then they are mysteriously able to produce any other variety of bread, cakes and biscuits, which we have to assume are made with flour. What’s behind this mystery? The fact that private wholesale producers do supply these establishments, but of course not at regulated prices.

Any attempt to clamp down on this situation by using repressive measures against black marketeers, though necessary, is bound to fail. The root cause is not thebachaqueros big or small, but the actual inability of the government to fund the supply of the necessary amount of products to cover the whole demand combined with the unwillingness of the private sector to produce and sell products at the regulated prices fixed by the government.

One of the main reasons for this unsustainable economic dislocation is therefore, the “natural” rebellion of the capitalist producers against any attempt to regulate the normal workings of the “free market”. This is the real meaning of the “economic war” that the Bolivarian government has denounced for many years. Yes, there is, undoubtedly, an element of deliberate economic sabotage aimed at hitting the working masses in order to undermine their support for the revolution. But at the same time it is easy to understand that from the point of view of the capitalists, if they can get a profit margin of 100%, 1000% or even higher in the black market, they will not sell, nor produce regulated products on which they can make only a very modest gain or sometimes a loss.

What has failed in Venezuela is not “socialism” as the capitalist media likes to highlight in their propaganda campaign. It is precisely the opposite. What has clearly failed is the attempt to introduce regulations in order to make capitalism work, even if only partially, in the interest of working people. The conclusion is clear: capitalism cannot be regulated. The attempt has led to economic dislocation on a massive scale.

The government’s response: appeals to the private sector

The majority of Venezuelans are aware, to one degree or another, of the despicable role played by private companies, like Grupo Polar, in creating this situation of hoarding, racketeering, black market, speculation, etc. In my last visit to Venezuela I witnessed the following argument at a supermarket queue: “- Mujer A: “aquí tienen su patria bonita” - Mujer B: “a ver si creen que es el gobierno que produce la Harina PAN”” [Woman A, scornfully: “here’s your beautiful fatherland” (meaning: this is what chavismo has given you, queues) Woman B, sharply: “do you think it is the government that produces Harina PAN” (in fact it is Grupo Polar which has a monopoly control over the production of maize flour).] The problem is not that people do not realise that the private sector is sabotaging the economy. The problem is that they cannot see the government as being able or willing to take the necessary measures to solve this situation.

To the problems of food scarcity and crime we have to add the severe drought affecting Venezuela as a by-product of El Niño which has meant problems in energy generation at the El Guiri hydroelectric dam. This has led to regular power outages in recent months. In April, the government decreed a 2-day working week in public institutions as a measure to reduce electricity consumption.

Even on this question we have to factor in a deliberate campaign of sabotage of the country’s power grid. There have been, for a number of years now, regular bomb attacks against power generating plants, power stations and substations in different parts of the country. They usually coincide with election campaigns and moments of heightened political tension and they have the aim of provoking power outages in order to spread a feeling of collapse, chaos, instability…

What has been the government’s response to these extreme problems? Since at least 2014 there was an open recognition of the failure of the previous model of regulation of capitalism and the use of oil revenues to fund social programs. You could say that the turning point was the exit of the former finance minister Giordani from the government in July 2014. Since then, the dominant line in the economic policy of the government has been one of making even more concessions to the capitalists in the hope of winning back their trust so that they can collaborate with the government in order to turn the situation around. This has been expressed in a whole series of concrete measures which have been taken: the partial liberalisation of foreign exchange, partial lifting of the subsidy on the price of fuel, the establishment of Special Economic Zones in order to attract foreign direct investment, as well as the repatriation of capital held abroad by Venezuelan capitalists, the opening up of the Arco Minero (111,000 Sq Km of land) for mining exploitation, etc.

None of this has worked. The government holds regular talks with businessmen where concessions to their interests are agreed and appeals are made for them to invest. At the following round of talks, businesses demand even more concessions, but the economy remains in a state of deep crisis.

To be fair, the government’s concessions to the private sector are from time to time accompanied by threats of expropriation. These threats are never followed by actions. Thus on Friday, May 13, when president Maduro extended the Economic Emergency and decreed emergency powers for 60 days, he specifically warned that “any factory that a capitalist paralyses, we will take it over and hand it to the communal power”. Less than 48 hours later, in an interview with Reuters, the vice-president in charge of the whole economic area of the government, Perez Abad, reassured international capital by “ruling out the take over of plants which are paralysed for lack of raw materials”. In the same interview he stressed Venezuela’s intention to continue to pay its foreign debt obligations, religiously, in full and on time. He added that this would mean a further reduction in imports for 2016.

In fact, although Maduro’s warning was highlighted by the international media, in Venezuela people did not take much notice. He has made the same threat of expropriation, specifically aimed at Grupo Polar, on so many times, that it is like the man who cried wolf. Whenever workers in the recent period have taken over factories which had been paralyzed by the bosses, they have been met with either an endless string of bureaucratic obstacles or direct repression on the part of the Bolivarian police. In most of the cases, even though laws introduced by Chavez are on the side of the workers and allow for expropriations and workers’ control, in reality the majority of labour inspectors are in the pockets of the bosses. Instead of expediting expropriation, they keep giving the owners extensions in order to pay wages and restart production, which results in the demoralisation of the workers in struggle.

Perez Abad is a chief representative of this policy of concessions to the capitalist class. He himself is a businessman and former president of one of the country’s employers’ federations. He became minister in charge of economic affairs of the government in February when he replaced Luis Salas, who was seen by the capitalists as a “radical”. Just before Maduro decreed an extension of economic emergency powers, Perez Abad had already announced a further increase in the prices of regulated products, after discussions with the capitalist affected.

More recently, in an attempt to deal with the question of scarcity, the government attempted to promote the formation of Local Provisioning and Production Committees. The idea is that the organised communities themselves will deal directly with the distribution of subsidised food products to the families. This is a step in the right direction, which could strengthen the role of rank and file organisations. However, the measure has only had a partial impact, so far. Also, it only deals with the question of final distribution, but not with the more important question of production and processing, which is where the crux of the problem lies.

Impact on consciousness

I said before that something is different this time. What has changed from previous attempts of the counter-revolution to defeat the Bolivarian movement? The constant stress and strain of having to queue for hours to get basic products, the uncertainty created by scarcity and hyperinflation, the fact that this situation has been going on for over a year now and instead of getting better is getting worse, the realisation that while the masses are suffering there are those who call themselves “Bolivarian” in positions of power who are benefitting massively from corruption, the weariness brought on by having to battle against the bureaucracy within your own movement, etc., all of this has had an impact on the consciousness of an important layer of the masses who previously supported the revolution. This is the key reason for the defeat in the December 6 National Assembly elections which were won by the right-wing opposition for the first time in 18 years. At that time, the Bolivarian revolution lost about 2 million votes, allowing the opposition to win an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly.

That defeat created a situation of institutional deadlock. The right-wing dominated National Assembly has attempted to pass some reactionary laws (a scandalous Amnesty Law, the privatisation of housing), but these have been blocked either by the president or by the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, initiatives taken by the President are ruled out of order by the Assembly.

Currently, the opposition is attempting to trigger a presidential recall referendum (a democratic guarantee introduced by the Bolivarian revolution under Hugo Chávez). They need to get a certain number of signatures to trigger the process, and then, in an Electoral Council-supervised process, get 20% of the electoral census to sign for it (3.9 million). Then a referendum would be called in which the opposition would have to get more votes than Maduro received when he was elected in order to force his removal. If he is removed within this year, 2016, then the right-wing president of the National Assembly takes over until new presidential elections are held. But Maduro will attempt by all means to delay any recall referendum until 2017, because if he is removed at that time, the vice-president takes over for the remainder of his term (until 2019). This also shows how the leadership of the Bolivarian movement seems to view the struggle from a purely legal-institutional point of view.

The oligarchy also feel emboldened by the electoral defeats in Argentina, Bolivia and the removal of Dilma in Brazil. Their side “is winning” and now they want to “overthrow the regime” in Venezuela. They cannot wait to go through the whole process of a recall referendum, and even less until the end of Maduro’s term.

The situation has reached its limits from the point of view of the patience of the masses. A week ago a comrade from Catia, a revolutionary stronghold in Caracas, described the situation thus: “Up until a few weeks ago you had to queue for 4, 6, 8 hours, but you could do your shopping for two or three weeks. Now there’s nothing. On Monday, me and my mum queued and could only get rice and pasta. The rest you have to get it in the black market at bachaquero prices. Wages are not enough to get by. The national guard is now outside the local supermarket with assault rifles manning the queues and they pushed it back a few hundred meters to dissuade people from looting.” There have already been small scale incidents of looting in Aragua and Guarenas.

In these conditions, there is the danger that any appeals made to the masses to mobilise against the threat of counter-revolution could fall on deaf ears. The masses have shown over and over again their willingness to struggle and push the revolution forward. But they are not at all convinced that their leaders know where to go, nor how to get there.

A military coup?

The combination of an institutional stalemate, a deep economic crisis, and a situation of violence in the streets which the opposition wishes to create, could also push a section of the army to intervene “in order to restore law and order”. Over the last few weeks there have been constant rumours of a coup in the making. On Tuesday, May 17, reactionary opposition leader Capriles, called on the army to rebel against the president “in order to uphold the constitution”. Capriles, of course, is no stranger to coups, having played a role in the short-lived reactionary coup of April 2002. The top command of the army has repeatedly stated publicly its loyalty to Bolivarianism. But everything has its limits.

This is a very dangerous juncture for the Bolivarian revolution. A military intervention, whatever form it would take, would be the prelude for a “transition” towards the oligarchy retaking control of state power. A section of the Bolivarian leaders, some of the corrupt, bureaucratic and reformist elements at the top, are already preparing to jump ship and would be quite ready to participate in some sort of transitional government of “national unity”, as long as they are guaranteed some sort of immunity.

At the same time as a layer of the masses is tired and worn out, there is also a layer of the advanced activists who are very angry and have been radicalised as a result of the election defeat in December. There was a movement from the bottom demanding the radicalisation of the revolution.

If the Bolivarian leadership were to take firm and decisive action to address the problem of scarcity, this would rekindle a wave of revolutionary enthusiasm. Such measures would be: a monopoly of foreign trade; expropriation of the food production and distribution chain under the democratic control of the workers, communities and small peasant producers; a default on the foreign debt; expropriation of the banks and big businesses; a national democratic plan of production to satisfy the needs of the majority. This program, if implemented, would immediately provoke an even bigger clash with the Venezuelan oligarchy and its imperialist masters, but at least it would have the benefit of solidifying and extending support for it amongst the masses which would see their problems finally addressed in a serious way.

Let us be under no illusion. If the right wing were to achieve its aims of regaining full control of state power (by whatever means), Venezuela would not go back to “normal” capitalist democracy. No. The program of the ruling class in a country riddled by a massive economic and social crisis would be one of war on the working people. They would go on the offensive against all the social gains of the revolution. But they would also be faced with fierce resistance on the part of the masses and therefore they would attempt to crush the movement by force. Under those conditions a new Caracazo uprising would be on the cards.

Toby Valderrama and Antonio Aponte put it very sharply in a recent article: “The government must understand that economic war, foreign invasion, attacks by foreign spokespersons, be they [OAS secretary general] Almagro, be they [former Colombian president] Uribe, they all have the same name: capitalism! And they can only be fought with one weapon: socialism. It is not possible to fight them with capitalism, because that does not convince anyone and you cannot achieve victory. These are times of decisiveness, either you are revolutionary or you are capitalist, the ability of social-democracy of making fiery speeches and then acting as a firefighter to put them down is coming to an end.”

This is correct. As we have explained, the attempt to regulate capitalism has failed. There are only two ways out: either to go back to “normal” capitalism (that is, to make the workers pay the price for the crisis), or to go forward to socialism (that is to make the capitalists pay).

It it not too late. The hour is one of extreme danger. This can only be overcome by extreme measures and firmness. Enough with vacillations. Carry out the revolution to the end!

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/11985

bolding added

1st rate analysis

30 May 2016 - 10:10 AM

Venezuela: Pro-Govt Supporters Being Killed in Record Numbers
Venezuelan authorities are conducting an internal investigation into the assassination of retired Army Major General Felix Velasquez, which is the latest case in a surge of killings targeting pro-government public officials and activists.

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1464616719804/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/05/30/venezuelaviolence6.jpg_916636689.jpg
A man holds a poster of Henrique Capriles in protest of Maduro

In recent months, Western mainstream media outlets have remained silent regarding the violence waged against government supporters, left-wing activists and public servants, which many believe is an attempt to undermine the future of the Chavista movement in the country.

High Profile Assassinations

May 2016: Retired Venezuelan Army Major General Felix Velasquez was shot dead while driving his car in Caracas. Venezuelan police are investigating the crime to clarify the true motives of the assassination. So far, two suspects have been detained. According to Interior Minister Gustavo Gonzalez Lopez, the two suspects are policemen from the opposition-held Caracas borough of Chacao.

March 2016: Marco Tulio Carrillo was “shot repeatedly” outside his home in Trujillo. Carrillo was the mayor of the La Ceiba municipality, and a member of President Nicolas Maduro's United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Two suspects have been arrested to due their involvement with the murder.

March 2016: Socialist legislator Cesar Vera was shot in Tachira state. Vera was a member of the Great Patriotic Pole, a political coalition of parties aligned with the PSUV. A member of a Colombian paramilitary group was arrested in connection to the murder.

March 2016: Two Venezuelan police personnel were killed after a protest in a Tachira university turned deadly.

March 2016: Haitian-Venezuelan political leader and solidarity activist Fritz Saint Louis, 54, was shot dead in his home by masked gunman on Saturday evening.

January 2016: The well-respected journalist and prominent Chavista Ricardo Duran was murdered outside his home in Caracas. One suspect was arrested in connection to his murder.

March 2015: Local council member Dimas Gomez Chirinos, 47, was shot dead alongside his 20-year-old son, Eli David Gomez in the western state of Falcon, Venezuela. Gomez was also a member of the ruling PSUV. Three suspects were arrested in connection to the brutal killing.

May 2014: Rafael Celestino Albino Arteaga, 44, Vargas state chief of the Venezuelan Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN), was shot dead by an unidentified male assailant in a shopping mall in the western city of Maracay.

April 2014: Major Otaiza, a friend and ally of the late president Hugo Chavez, was shot dead outside the capital, Caracas. Otaiza was named direction of national intelligence early in Hugo Chavez's presidency. Following his death, Venezuelan Police arrested seven people in connection with the murder of the former public official.

February 2014: The high-profile killing of Robert Serra (27), a legislator of the PSUV, and the National Assembly's (AN) youngest parliamentarian, was found dead in his Caracas home. In December 2013, Otaiza was elected as a local counselor for the PSUV in the Libertadores area. An investigation revealed that Serra’s assassination was planned by paramilitary leader in Colombia, Padilla Mendoza.

February - June 2014: Violent opposition protests, known as the Guarimbas, formed part of the widespread violence, which left 43 dead, over 870 injured and about 2,500 arrested. However, around half of the deaths were deemed to have been directly caused by opposition violence.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/Venezuela-Pro-Govt-Supporters-Being-Killed-in-Record-Numbers-20160530-0006.html

Solidarity with the working class and popular strata of Venezuela
Message of the International Relations Section of the CC of KKE to the Communist Party of Venezuela.

http://inter.kke.gr/export/sites/inter/.content/images/news/oldphotoskke1422611518.jpg_1568055930.jpg

In a message to the Communist Party of Venezuela (3/6/2016), the International Relations Section of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece mentions the following:

“To the Communist Party of Venezuela.

Central Committee, Caracas, Venezuela.

Dear comrades,

We express our internationalist solidarity with the working class and the popular strata of your country, who are facing the consequences of the capitalist economic crisis as well as the increasing aggressiveness of imperialism and the reactionary forces.
The KKE denounces every attempted interference in the domestic issues of Venezuela, such as the one which is manifesting itself within the framework of the Organisation of American States, as well as the military provocations by the US and their allies, the open targeting by the US, NATO and the EU, alliances in which our country participates and fulfils a negative role for the people.

The parties of capital which in Greece and in other countries seek to take advantage of Venezuela's problems are exposed. They are trying to cancel out from the peoples' memory that during the decades of the '60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, their sister parties were in government and condemned the working class, the popular strata of your country to extreme poverty, the natural resources became a source of immense profits for capital and the interventions of the US were a characteristic element of the developments.

This is the reality which provoked people's rage and led to the governmental change of 1998 with the election of Chavez, cultivating to the people hopes for a change in the situation.

The developments in Venezuela vindicate the positions of the communists who argue that what is responsible for the crisis that Venezuela is experiencing is the capitalist mode of production.

In this case, in the case of Venezuela, there has been confirmation of the rule which is applicable to all countries and stresses that as long as power and the economy are in the hands of the monopolies, any social achievements of the people are not secured.

Capitalism cannot be dealt with by various minor improvements and reforms, but by the organization and intensification of the struggle for the protection of the working class and people’s interests, in confrontation with the bourgeois class and its power, with a total revolutionary overthrow in all sectors of society.

The KKE expresses its support for the struggle of the PCV (Partido Comunista de Venezuela), for the strengthening of the class struggle so that the people will not pay the cost of the crisis, for the strengthening of the labour movement in the fight for the defense and expansion of the peoples' rights, for socialism.”

03.06.2016

http://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/Solidarity-with-the-working-class-and-popular-strata-of-Venezuela/

Over 400 Arrested in Cumana Lootings, Authorities Finger Opposition
By LUCAS KOERNER

Caracas, June 16, 2016 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan authorities arrested over 400 during widespread looting in the eastern coastal city of Cumana on Tuesday.

Police and National Guard personnel were mobilized throughout the city amid civil unrest that saw lootings in as many as 100 private businesses, including restaurants, liquor stores, bakeries, and supermarkets, according to the local chamber of commerce.

State security personnel affiliated with the Maduro government’s anti-crime operation, OLP, were deployed to Cumana this Thursday, leading to the arrest of three in the early hours of the morning.

Educational activities were suspended for the remainder of the week and a 72-hour ban on motorcycles was declared.

Local media have reported a total of two dead, although the circumstances remain unclear.

The governor of Sucre state, Luis Acuña, has indicated that the deaths “were not related to the lootings”, attributing them to gang violence.

Acuña claimed that the riots were instigated by right-wing groups in order to delegitimize the Maduro government’s local food distribution committees, known as CLAPs.

“No one should have any doubt that what happened in Sucre was planned and is an attack against the CLAPs,” he stated.

The claim was echoed by senior government spokespersons, including Venezuelan Socialist Party (PSUV) Vice-President Diosdado Cabello, who accused right-wing political parties of organizing the lootings.

While anti-government agitators have been active in food queues across the country, Venezuela’s rising unrest reflects the country’s deepening economic crisis triggered by the collapse of global crude prices, the source 96 percent of Venezuela’s export earnings.

Amid shrinking international reserves, the government has been forced to cut imports, leading to acute scarcities in essential goods, including bread, cornflour, as well as crucial medicines.

During the early months of this year, Venezuelans relied on large Christmas bonuses to cushion themselves from spiraling inflation, but since April, their purchasing power has crumbled, spawning mounting unrest.

While the Maduro government has tried to alleviate the impact of the crisis with the CLAPs and other state distribution networks, the measures have fallen short in covering the Venezuelan population’s total demand.

Tuesday’s disturbances in Cumana coincided with fresh looting in Los Troncales de Boyaca, in Anzoategui state, leading to the arrest of 8 people.

Anzoategui Governor Nelson Moreno, for his part, accused National Assembly President Ramos Allup of provoking the incident, pledging that he would take the opposition leader to court for “creating hate in the population”.

Also on Tuesday, a 17 year-old youth was killed during an altercation with police in Merida state that saw protesters hurl rocks at the mayor’s office and attempt to burn down the local PSUV headquarters over a food distribution dispute.

Jean Paul Omaña, 17, was shot in the head and died hours later.

The public prosecutor’s office announced that it has assigned two attorneys to investigate the case.

In recent weeks, scores of state security personnel have been indicted for their alleged role in protest deaths with two police officers arrested just last week alone.

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/12036

Looting in Venezuela were magnified in social networks

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1466182186732/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/06/17/ck7jemyxeaahvpe.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Belie that 400 shops were looted. |Photo: arepadigital.com
Published June 17, 2016 (20 hours 36 minutes ago)

The city continues guarded by military troops, but the atmosphere remains calm.

The special envoy of Telesur to Sucre state (northeastern Venezuela), Adriana Sivori, said Friday that the situation in the state remains controlled despite the information circulating through social networks and some media, before the vandalism perpetrated this week by violent groups.

In Cumana, capital of Sucre, on Tuesday several looting that had white in food stores, clothing and liquor outlets were registered, which alerted the country to the large flow of rumors that circulated through platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

Sivori said that during a tour of the area was found that indeed there was a series of group to shops rounds, but that this was not 400 local as reflected in social networks.

He also denied that a truck had been looted chickens and there was an atmosphere of "chaos" in the east of this South American country.

"If there was looting. TV channels overdo it. Yes there are problems in Venezuela, we have seen people complain about not getting the food, but they do not agree with this type of vandalism," reported from one of the affected markets .

http://twitter.com/SivoriteleSUR/status/743850085784621056/photo/1

He reported that the city of Cumana continues guarded by military troops and the Venezuelan government managed to meet entrepreneurs who lost their goods after looting.

Similarly, he said that in the early hours was arrested, Jose Luis Ramirez Marcano (49), alias Baron, accused of being allegedly responsible for directing and organizing the wave of vandalism.

Finally, he recalled that the population in Cumana supports dialogue between the State and the Venezuelan opposition.

In context


Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Thursday that the direct perpetrators of violent looting in Cumana, Sucre state, are linked to right-wing parties Popular Will (VP) and Primero Justicia (PJ).
He also explained that those responsible for looting are imprisoned and will be sent to jail Guárico (central Mexico), where they could serve a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
The violence in Cumana, Sucre state, were recorded last Tuesday affecting shops in the locality.
The state governor, Luis Acuña explained that the attacks respond to a pattern of violence that has claimed activated in the country to promote chaos and destabilization of the nation.

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Saqueos-en-Venezuela-fueron-magnificados-en-redes-sociales-20160617-0027.html

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Venezuelan Fourth Republic Found Guilty of State Terror

By JEANETTE CHARLES

Caracas, June 26th 2016 (Venezuelanalysis.com) - Chief Prosecutor of Venezuela’s Public Ministry Luisa Ortega announced Sunday that body's Truth and Justice Commission had registered a total of 11,043 cases of political disappearances, torture and assassination between 1958 and 1998, during Venezuela’s Fourth Republic. Ortega released the information on former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense Jose Rangel Vicente’s program Jose Vicente Hoy.

Ortega confirmed that the cases were found as a result of the commission's research into declassified files. The Truth and Justice Commission was created in February 2013 following the 2012 approval of the Law to Sanction Crimes, Disappearances, Torture and Other Human Rights Violations for Political Reasons during the Period of 1958-1998.

Additionally, she explained that the archives were sourced from militarily tribunals and other state institutions and are cases where the state had not previously carried out any investigation.

"All the investigations that they started back then were closed because they declared that the inquiry had ended because there was nothing to investigate and that there were no crimes [committed]”, explained Ortega.

“The state’s political approach was sustained, systematic and planned, all of it was a plan to attack political dissidence,” she emphasized.

Furthermore, Ortega noted the differences between the state's conduct during the Fourth Republic and today, and emphasized its unwillingness to pursue these cases in the past.

For example, Ortega detailed the work between January and May 2016 that the Public Ministry has taken on regarding human rights. She confirmed that the body had charged 229 government officials with various crimes, while 15 have been processed for human rights violations.

Ortega also expressed that prior to the Bolivarian Revolution in 1998, the Public Ministry was confronted with an avalanche of impunity regarding disappearances, which she referred to as “an abysmal difference”.

“Today, regarding human rights violations, we are going to investigate. This is the difference today, and it doesn't matter who committed the violation, they will be sanctioned,” Ortega affirmed.

In addition, Ortega said that the Public Ministry had processed 684 out of 714 cases of corruption. Three hundred and twenty four were charged confessing to their crimes, 64 were found guilty on trial and 400 are on probation. Ortega also highlighted that the government looked closely into Cencoex (National Center of Foreign Commerce) where 25 people have been detained, 199 individuals accused and 208 charged after they confessed.

Moreover, Ortega informed that the government has also taken up the task of investigating international cases, such as those linked to the Panama Papers. For the first time Venezuela and Panama's public ministries are working together to investigate joint cases.

“We have carried out a lot of technical investigation that have grouped together elements [for us] that compromise a lot of people that are being summoned now and one of them is on probation," she said mentioning 23 cases of seized real estate property due to corruption charges.

The Public Ministry has also requested probation for two individuals tied to the money laundering Andorra corruption case, Mervis Villalobos and Javier Alvarado. Billions of dollars were laundered from Venezuela to Spanish, Swiss and Andorran banks.

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/12054

Venezuela in Crisis: Too Much US intervention, Too Little Socialism
by W. T. WHITNEY

Lisa Sullivan was worried: her neighbor was “up and waiting in line since 2 am, searching, unsuccessfully, to buy food for her large family.” The U. S. native living in Venezuela for decades is concerned too about Venezuela’s worsening economic and political crisis.

Most Venezuelans have experienced major social gains courtesy of the Bolivarian Revolution, which according to its leader Hugo Chávez, president from 1999 until 2013, was a socialist revolution. Oil exports fueled these gains and currently low oil prices are shaking the foundations of Venezuela’s social democracy.

Now as before U. S. intervention is on full display. The U. S. Senate in April passed a bill renewing economic sanctions against Venezuelan leaders originally imposed in 2014. The House of Representatives followed suit on July 6. President Obama will be signing the bill. In an executive order he declared Venezuela to be a threat to U. S. national security.

The State Department on July 7 alerted U.S. travelers to “violent crime” in Venezuela and warned that “political rallies and demonstrations can occur with little notice.” Venezuela’s government denounced the “illegitimate sanctions” as “imperial pretensions.”

The U.S. government backed an unsuccessful coup against the Chávez government in 2002 and since has distributed tens of millions of dollars to opposition groups. After three years, it still withholds recognition of Nicolas Maduro as Venezuela’s president. These actions speak of a U. S. goal of regime change.

A document attributed to Admiral Kurt Tidd of the U.S. Southern Command and circulated in early 2016 testifies to a military component of U. S. plans. Citing the “the defeat in the [parliamentary] elections and internal decomposition of the populist regime,” the text refers to “the successful impact of our policies [against Venezuela] launched under phase one of this operation.”

A divided rightwing opposition did score a decisive electoral victory in December 2015 as it gained a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. Maduro’s election by a narrow margin in 2013 advertised his vulnerability. He will likely be facing a recall vote in the coming months.

Solidly opposed to the Bolivarian government, Venezuela’s business class holds court over the economy, which has been devastated through inflation that mounted over three years and is now at astronomical levels. Shortages of essential items are causing major distress.

Businesses and merchants depend on imported goods and materials. After 15 years of the Bolivarian revolution, Venezuela still has to import 70 percent of its food. The government facilitates imports by selling dollars to importers at low exchange rates. Many of them profit by selling imported products at inflated prices through the black-market.

Meanwhile goods people need for survival don’t arrive at stores serving poor people, especially markets selling government – subsidized food and household supplies. Importers and wholesalers are accused of hoarding for the sake of profitable sales later on.

Nevertheless, the “majority of Venezuelans” support neither the opposition nor the Maduro government, according to Lisa Sullivan. But, she says, “This doesn’t mean that [they] are not fans of chavismo.” She has seen “a whole generation of my neighbors and friends gain access to dignified housing, free education, stable jobs with honorable wages, and free health care.”

Analysts attribute the government’s defeat in the 2015 parliamentary elections to Bolivarian voters withholding their votes, not to their having backed the opposition. They objected to governmental corruption, divisions within Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela, and disregard by officials of problems at the grassroots.

Journalist Tamara Pearson suggests that despite “food shortages, inflation, and queues … millions of people” have “defied right-wing and general expectations, and even perhaps the expectations of the Maduro government, and have become stronger and better organized.”

Whether or not Venezuela’s military remains loyal to the socialist government will help determine its fate. President Chávez, a former army officer, counted on allegiance from the military. As reported by analyst Milton D’León, Chávez instituted “a dizzying increase in arms spending, the creation of military schools and universities, greater presence in political decisions, higher salaries for officials, and privileges of all kinds.”

Maduro’s 30-member cabinet includes 10 active or retired military leaders. His government has created a “socialist military economic zone” that hosts businesses whose activities contribute to the military’s economic development. D’León warns of danger for “working people [from] the growing role of the military … whether it is supporting Maduro, or spilling over to support a ‘transition’ by striking a deal with the right-wing [and] imperialism.”

Marxist analyst Edgar Meléndez sees a constricted future for the Bolivarian government mainly because its socialist project stagnated. He points out that the socialist state accounts for 96.6 U.S. dollars out of every $100 gained through exports. Yet these resources eventually “drain” to the private sector. Thus “private accumulation is prioritized over resources the state produces. This is opposite to the interests of working people.”

He condemns “mono-production of petroleum accounting for 94 percent of Venezuela’s 2014 exports.” That and “a parasitic bourgeoisie” are “two of the most noxious characteristics of the Venezuelan economic model … This situation, within the framework of capitalism itself, is a brake on the development of productive forces in our country.”

Lisa Sullivan is a witness to one striking failure of Venezuela’s version of socialism. Her neighbors are now growing food, she reports. That would be in response to the nation’s over-reliance on imported foods, never remedied by Bolivarian leaders. In terms of socialist development, food sovereignty typifies wealth produced for all through work. The government apparently lacked the vision or capacity to move beyond the short-term, capitalist way of doing things. It remains stuck in generating wealth almost exclusively through the extraction of oil.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07/14/venezuela-in-crisis-too-much-us-intervention-too-little-socialism/

Leaked Clinton Emails Reveal Continued Efforts to Sabotage Venezuela
worker | July 27, 2016 | 9:07
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez listens to US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton during the Summit of the Americas in 2009
Leaked Clinton Emails Reveal Continued Efforts to Sabotage Venezuela

© AFP 2016/ Presidencia
http://sputniknews.com/us/20160727/1043685783/clinton-emails-venezuela-sabotage.html

Despite her public appeals for friendship, a series of leaked emails show that during her time as Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, has continued to promote subversion against the Latin American country behind closed doors.

The emails, leaked by WikiLeaks, show that during her tenure as US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton asked the then-assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Arturo Valenzuela, how “to rein in Chavez.” Valenzuela alluded to reaching out to other regional partners to help undermine Chavez:

“We need to carefully consider the consequences of publicly confronting him but ought to look at opportunities for others in the region to help.”

​The leaked emails confirm a continuing trend of US covert intervention toward Venezuela and perceived leftist governments throughout Latin America generally, such as Cuba and Ecuador. WikiLeaks also exposed a 2006 US embassy strategy toward the then democratically elected President Chavez, saying that “creative US outreach to Chavez’s regional partners will drive a wedge between him and them.”

http://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/images/102484/53/1024845302.jpg
© Flickr/ Steve Rhodes
Wikileaks Publishes Around 20,000 US Democratic National Committee Emails

Why exactly Clinton and the US government more generally take such an approach toward Venezuela is the subject of such speculation.However Dr Francisco Dominguez of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign told Sputnik that:

“After the election of Chavez in Venezuela and the election of the Brazilian workers party in 2002, the region, especially Venezuela, started distancing itself from the United States, setting up its own bodies, largely regionally integrated, and because of this the United States is losing influence. Venezuela has been a main proponent of this, which is why the United States has been attacking the country so much.”

While Clinton has expressed friendship toward Venezuela in public, this trove of leaked emails suggests a different intention toward the Latin American nation, something which Dr Dominguez expresses reservations about:

“Because the US has to take into account the regional feelings of the people, it pretends that it likes or favors good relations, but it will never stop destabilizing Latin America, or Venezuela.”

​Clinton also expressed concern at a United Nations decision to condemn the military coup in Honduras in 2009, which Clinton supported. In 2009, democratically elected Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was toppled by the military backed by opposition parties. Despite the fact that the US’ traditional allies — like the EU — condemned the coup, Clinton has confessed that at the time, she wanted to see a new government replace the leftist Zelaya administration, and, “restore order.”

​The Venezuelan government was among regional actors that condemned the coup and subsequent crackdown on leftist activity. At the time, Clinton pejoratively asked why the UN was so concerned with Honduras, and not Venezuela: “Ok — but have they ever condemned Venezuela for denying press freedom?” she wrote to an official.

One of the leaked emails also recommends not spending any USAID funds on well-known leftist states like Venezuela, Cuba, or Nicaragua because such funds could “undermine real democratic development.”

It also says that “any funds channeled to unreliable states” alluding to Venezuela, “must be accompanied by “human behavioural changes.”

​The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the US government-run organization behind Voice of America and various pro-American international radio stations has also been revealed as asking Clinton to provide more funding in order to “combat the public diplomacy efforts of America’s enemies.” The chairman of the board, Walter Isaacson, explicitly identifies these states as “Iran, Venezuela, Russia, and China.”

Subsequently, the BBG’s annual budget has been increased to around US$750 million, and has called for ramping up of activities in the aforementioned countries. Clinton responded to this in an emailing by saying: “Let the fun begin.”

​Dr Dominguez believes that the United States’ ultimate objective is to see the overthrow of the Venezuelan government, currently led by former Chavez aid Nicolas Maduro, who enjoys popular support.

“The American government has hit the private sector in particular food distribution, holding back food which forces people to que up. By forcing them to que up people become discontent, the result is that people become very unhappy, particularly the poor. The idea, I think, is to undermine the base of support that the Chavez-Maduro government enjoys, and if they’re able to undermine them, they think they will create the conditions to overthrow the government which is what they did in Chile in 1973,” Dr Dominguez told Sputnik.

​Since the early 1970s, the United States government has pursued various subversive policies in Latin America, aimed at undermining the democratically elected, and usually leftist, governments of the region.

This began in 1973 with the military coup against Chilean Prime Minister Salvador Alande and the imposition of General Augusto Pinochet. In 2001 and 2002, the US government ramped up funding for the Venezuelan opposition groups in an effort to create a viable opposition to President Hugo Chavez.

Such policies continue to the present day, and if Hilary Clinton becomes President, they are likely to remain unabated.

http://houstoncommunistparty.com/leaked-clinton-emails-reveal-continued-efforts-to-sabotage-venezuela/

Venezuelan Opposition Leader Greeted By Enraged Mob at Airport

By RYAN MALLETT-OUTTRIM

Puebla, Mexico, September 9, 2016 (venezuelanalysis.com) – One of Venezuela’s most prolific opposition figures was trapped in an airport late Wednesday by masses of furious protesters, according to reports Thursday.

In footage circulated online, former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles could be clearly seen stranded inside the Santiago Marino International Airport on Venezuela’s Margarita Island. Outside, doors were blocked by crowds of protesters.


http://youtu.be/obahDpNeITo

“Get out, Capriles, get out!” they shouted.

Taking to social media, Capriles claimed the protesters were armed, and blamed President Nicolas Maduro.

“Maduro sent armed groups to the airport in Margarita, besieging passengers, children, and everyone,” he stated.

“I hold him responsible for what happens,” Capriles added.

In the footage circulated online, no weapons could be seen.

According to local media, the protests blocked Capriles from leaving the airport for four hours. AP has reported the stand off between the beleaguered politician and frustrated locals ended sometime after midnight, in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Currently governor of Miranda state, Capriles ran against Maduro in a tight presidential race in 2013. He lost a previous presidential election by a landslide in 2012 to Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez. Today, Capriles is one of the opposition’s most well known faces.

Yet Capriles’ embarrassing welcome to Margarita came less than a week after social media users said Maduro faced similar protests. During a visit to the island, opposition activists say Maduro was chased through the streets by angry locals bashing pots and pans. Footage of the incident quickly went viral, though throughout the grainy video it’s difficult to clearly identify the president.

Opposition groups say dozens of their supporters were later detained in connection with the incident. At the time, Capriles praised the protesters, describing them as acting “without fear”.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/12447

Other video at link.

Chavista Mobilization Peacefully Answers Opposition Offensive
Posted by UNITED WORLD REVOLUTIONARY FRONT IN DEFENSE OF LIFE AND HUMANITY on SEPTEMBER 2, 2016
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro reports arrests, including 92 Colombian paramilitaries camped 500 meters from Miraflores Presidential Palace
Author: Dilbert Reyes Rodríguez | | informacion@granma.cu

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CARACAS.—With an impressive mobilization in the streets of this capital city, the revolutionary people of Venezuela confirmed their support to the Bolivarian government and rejection of violence, frustrating a coup offensive announced for September 1 by the opposition leadership.
“Peace has triumphed once again. They threatened to assault Caracas and the people of Caracas came out onto the streets by the thousands,” President Nicolás Maduro said, as he addressed the Chavista crowd that filled Bolívar Avenue and other principal streets.
The President reported that the coup attempt was turning out to be a fiasco, as several plans for violence by paramilitaries around the country were dismantled, while recognizing the sensibility and adherence to constitutional law shown by those participating in the opposition march of 30,000 held in the capital.
“We have been capturing mercenaries in the northern zone of Caracas, among them an encampment of 92 Colombian paramilitaries deployed 500 meters from Miraflores, and important right wing leaders with plans to place bombs, with weapons, with millions of real and counterfeit dollars, prepared to attack their own people,” he detailed.
“There are still ambushes to unmask. We are looking for several criminals they paid to commit crimes against the people, and those who paid,” Maduro added, indicating that the documentary evidence was published in state communications media.
He congratulated the Bolivarian National Armed Forces for guaranteeing the peace on the date – with firm, timely action – and explained that over the coming days, the military and intelligence mobilization will continue, to prevent any violent provocation.
Maduro likewise expressed his gratitude for the solidarity and demonstrations of support received from several peoples and governments around the world, and insisted that the victory achieved this September 1 obliges the people to remain vigilant, since it will provoke “vengeful desperation” among right wing opposition leaders.
He denounced the National Assembly President himself and several bourgeois leaders who were aware of the violent plans, and called for the naming of a special commission to investigate these links, while announcing the possible promulgation of a decree to waive parliamentary immunity for those holding office, to prevent its use for the planning and perpetration of crimes.
“I will file charges against Ramos Allup, in national and international courts, for his constant expressions of fascism, intolerance, discrimination, and violence,” Maduro said.
He emphasized that the response of the Venezuelan people to defend the peace will continue for several days, with a broad cultural and recreational program which will maintain the revolutionary occupation of the streets, while announcing a new political and productive offensive to reverse the most pressing effects of the oligarchy’s economic war by the end of the year

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2016/09/02/chavista-mobilization-peacefully-answers-opposition-offensive/

Venezuelans commemorate Day of Indigenous Resistance with anti-imperialist march

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1476260383466/sites/telesur/img/multimedia/2016/10/12/marchavenezuela.jpg_1718483347.jpg
Venezuela recalls the Day of Indigenous Resistance. | Photo: VTV
Published October 12, 2016 (4 hours 1 minute ago)

The revolutionary people of Venezuela manifest their rejection of the imperialist pretensions against the Bolivarian nation.
The revolutionary people of Venezuela will this Wednesday to the streets to express their rejection of the imperialist pretensions against the South American nation and also express, on the Day of Indigenous Resistance, support for social programs undertaken by the Bolivarian Revolution to benefit native peoples.

The rally will start in the Paseo de los Heroes at 09h00 local time to reach the Plaza of Indigenous Resistance, located nearby Plaza Venezuela.

Venezuelan Vice President Aristobulo Isturiz stressed that the march is an alert imperialism that the people are ready to defend their homeland.

In his radio program Dando y Dando transmitted by RNV station, the leader said that this October 12, social movements will meet in Caracas in support of the Bolivarian government and social progress in nearly 20 years of Bolivarian Revolution.

Isturiz said that sectors of the right walk looking violence in the country, but have failed and continue to fail.

'imperialism resumed the war against the price of oil and therefore Venezuela goes on the defensive, fighting for a fair value of hydrocarbon, hence the importance trip to Turkey, for the International Congress of Energy '.

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Despacho Presidencia @DPresidencia
#ElDato Conoce la ruta del pueblo revolucionario que marchará en defensa de nuestra Independencia y Soberanía #DíaDeLaResistenciaIndígena
18:31 - 11 oct 2016
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Minister of Popular Power for Indigenous Peoples, Aloha Nuñez, said Wednesday it will be commemorating the Day of Indigenous Resistance with a march in support for President Nicolas Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution against imperialism.
He explained that the indigenous movements were organized to march from three specific points of Caracas Sucre, El Paraiso and Plaza Venezuela avenue to reach the Indian monument on Paseo Los Proceres.

The minister stressed in relation to the 2017 National Budget, indigenous peoples gathered in the La Serrania the municipality Píritu, Anzoátegui state, to discuss the proposals on this subject.

On the progress of the Guaicaipuro Mission, Nunez said that is deepening in working with communities in extreme vulnerability.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the self-styled Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) announced Wednesday activate the Plan 1,356, which involves making a series of citizens' assemblies in each of the centers set up to collect 20 percent of the signatures on its claims to make a presidential recall referendum.

In context

In Venezuela, on October 12 was declared the Day of Indigenous Resistance by the national government since 2002, in vindication of the struggles of indigenous peoples against the violence of the Spanish colonizers.

The name "Day of Indigenous Resistance" came to replace in Venezuela to that called "Day of the Race" name given to commemorate the landfall for the sailor Rodrigo de Triana in 1492, after having sailed more than two months under the command of Christopher Columbus, to which subsequently denominate America.

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Venezolanos-marchan-este-miercoles-contra-el-imperialismo-20161012-0002.html

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Venezuela Dispatches Medical Team to Haiti Days After Hurricane Matthew
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By JEANETTE CHARLES
TAGS

Cuba-Venezuela relations
Haiti-Venezuela
humanitarian aid
international solidarity
Latin American cooperation
Phoenix, Arizona, October 11, 2016 (venezuelanalysis.com) - In the wake of Hurricane Matthew's devastation in Haiti, the Venezuelan government continues to extend material solidarity with the island nation.

This week, Venezuela sent 50 health professionals to Haiti. According to Reuters, the death toll in the country has reached more than 1,000 as Hurricane Matthew has also accelerated the spread of cholera in the country.

Vice-President for Social Development and Revolutionizing the Missions Jorge Arreaza confirmed Monday that the Simón Bolívar Humanitarian Task Force was dispatched to Haiti and will work in the country for approximately 8 days. The team includes 40 epidemiologists and 10 general medical practitioners. The humanitarian task force departed from Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía the same day.

"We reached Haiti with our solidarity; two boats and two planes have left and we will continue to extend our solidarity and humanitarian aid with the people of Haiti in all ways," expressed President Nicolás Maduro on Sunday. Maduro has called on a total of 200 doctors to travel to the country to offer medical assistance.

The doctors are recent graduates of the Salvador Allende Latin American School of Medicine located in Caracas, Venezuela. The school is the result of cooperation between Cuba and Venezuela.

Venezuelan media outlet Noticias 24 reported the words of one doctor, "we are committed to the homeland, to representing Venezuela, helping as medical specialists and applying our knowledge."

Another doctor of Haitian nationality explained that the delegation presented him with the opportunity to serve his people. "There are three things that complement a medical professional: practical knowledge, theory and humanism," he stated.

Arreaza relayed that the Venezuelan government has already sent 700 tons of humanitarian aid to Haiti and will continue to ship materials.

"Integral community doctors, integral general doctors are heading to Haiti, to disaster zones, to provide healthcare and support for this beloved people," affirmed Arreaza.

Along with the medical team, the Venezuelan government transported 20 tons of additional materials including medicine. The shipment primarily included: antibiotics, saline solution and analgesics among other supplies.

The Bolivarian government has also sent materials to Cuba to rebuild homes and roads in recent days.

Venezuela and Haiti share a long history of solidarity and cooperation. Former President Hugo Chávez emphasized the Venezuelan people's historical debt to the island nation for South American independence. Haitian independence leaders donated their armed forces, printing press, ships and weapons to the Venezuelan people to liberate South America from Spanish colonialism.

Likewise, after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti which resulted in massive devastation, the Venezuelan people extended solidarity through humanitarian aid, doctors and other trauma specialists. The US military takeover of the Haitian airport stalled the entry of many international teams, including Venezuela's. The Bolivarian government also offered work and student visas for Haitians after the earthquake.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/12718

Pretty good for a nation that supposedly cannot feed itself, cannot provide basics and is on the verge of revolt against it's repressive commie dictator.....somethin' ain't right here.

Venezuela Opposition Cries Foul After Recall Suspended, Calls for Coup Against Maduro

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1477096644143/sites/telesur/img/news/2016/10/21/reuters_capriles_ramos_allup.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles (L) during an anti-government rally with Henry Ramos Allup, Sept. 26, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 21 October 2016

The ominous calls came as courts temporarily froze the referendum process to investigate thousands of fraudulent signatures submitted in the first phase.
Leader's from Venezuela’s opposition appeared to call for a coup against President Nicolas Maduro, after the country's Supreme Court ruled that the presidential recall referendum would be temporarily suspended due to fraud committed in the first phase of the process.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said Friday that President Maduro is “in disobedience of the constitution” and called on both the National Assembly and Armed Forces to “make a decision” and have people “respect the constitution.”

The former Venezuelan presidential candidate also said Maduro had vacated his position as president, prompting fears that a coup might be looming.

“Maduro did not only leave the country, he left his position,” Capriles said during Friday's press conference.


“Maduro declared himself in disobedience, he does not respect the Constitution, and today he left the country, and will leave everything.”

Maduro left Venezuela for various OPEC and non-OPEC countries Thursday to help establish a stable price for oil, which has negatively affected the South American country's economy.

Capriles, head of Justice First and one of the leaders of the opposition MUD coalition, also called on the nation’s armed forces to intervene.

“Hopefully the armed forces will have people respect the constitution,” he said.

The MUD leader also demanded the government repeal the decision to suspend the signature collection process for the recall referendum and called on opposition members to “take the streets of Venezuela.” Toward the end of his speech, Capriles denied he wanted a coup to oust Maduro and said he does not want to incite violence.

“We don’t want a coup in the country,” said Capriles, “A coup has (already) happened to the people and we have to restore constitutional order.“

Henry Ramos Allup, the president of the National Assembly, also spoke during the press conference and said the National Assembly he leads supports all the decisions and the message promoted by Capriles.



Ramos Allup also called on the Venezuelan Armed Forces “to analyze the abuses to the constitution” allegedly carried out by the government. He also said they were offering a constitutional way out for Maduro through the recall referendum in order to prevent “a violent way out” in the future.

The legislator said a delegation from the assembly will travel to the Organization of American States, or OAS, to demand the OAS apply the so-called Democratic Charter against his country, something the opposition has been requesting for months.

“Venezuelans have always been stronger than its leaders,” he said, before he cast doubt on Maduro's nationality, suggesting he may actually be Colombian—a common allegation that has no basis.

The National Electoral Council, or CNE, said the decision to postpone the recall referendum process came after the MUD committed the criminal offense of presenting more than 600,000, about 30 percent, of signatures deemed irregular. Among the invalid signatures were almost 11,000 from deceased Venezuelans.

The Supreme Court also declared invalid all acts of the National Assembly after it swore in three legislators who had previously been suspended over irregularities when they were elected.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Opposition-Cries-Foul-Calls-For-Coup-Against-Maduro-20161021-0020.html

Video at link.

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Venezuela Street Passes 2017 Budget, Bypassing Right-Wing

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Mauduro Address the crowd in the budget announcement | Photo: Prensa Presidencial

Published 14 October 2016

President Nicolas Maduro presented a budget heavy on social investment to the Supreme Court by decree after it was debated by the people.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced his proposal for the country's federal budget for 2017 on Friday afternoon, indicating that a staggering 73.6 percent would be dedicated toward social investment.

In front of a large crowd of supporters in Caracas, Maduro said 83 percent of the budget will come from tax revenues and 11.9 percent will be financed from special contributions for socialist enterprises.

Maduro said that only 17 percent of the budget would come from oil. Government planning calculated the figure with a barrel of oil priced at US$30.

Maduro presented the budget directly to the Supreme Court for approval. The decision bypasses interference from the country's aggressive right-wing opposition in Venezuela's National Assembly.

The Supreme Court had previously declared invalid all acts of the National Assembly after the organization swore-in three legislators whose proclamations had been suspended over irregularities​ when they were elected.

The Court ruled the politicians couldn’t be sworn in but the legislative power of the National Assembly bypassed the decision. Thus, the Assembly's actions were ruled unconstitutional and its activities were nulled by the judicial branch.

Given the legal situation, the Supreme Court ruled that the government could present the budget directly to the Court. The decree was ruled constitutional, meaning the National Assembly is unable to negate the budget because of its contempt for Supreme Court decisions.

Over the last couple of days, officials from Maduro's PSUV party have held street assemblies with thousands of Venezuelans to discuss and debate the 2017 budget.

“In a democracy like ours, the budget is debated by the people,” Maduro said on Wednesday

The final text was later presented to the president before it was signed and approved by the Supreme Court. Maduro previously stated that the Economic Emergency Decree allows him to push forward the budget without approval from the National Assembly.

Despite widespread economic problems facing the country, Maduro also noted that he has "been loyal to a dream, a people and a country, and I will remain loyal to the last breath."

The president also made reference to national liberator Simon Bolivar, saying that "Bolivar awakens every one hundred years when the people awaken."

Around 30 percent of the country's budget was dedicated to social spending before socialist president Hugo Chavez came to power in 1998.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Street-Passes-2017-Budget-Bypassing-Right-Wing-20161014-0020.html

Video at link.

Venezuela’s Opposition Calls Protests Against Recall Postponement, Appeals to Military
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By RYAN MALLETT-OUTTRIM

Puebla, Mexico, October 21, 2016 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela’s political opposition vowed Friday to stage renewed protests against the administration of President Nicolas Maduro, after the country’s electoral authority heeded a court order postponing the next phase of preparations for a presidential recall referendum.

On Thursday, state-level courts in Aragua, Bolivar, Carabobo, and Monagas issued injunctions halting the opposition's collection of signatures from 20 percent of voters in each state, scheduled for October 26, 27, and 28. The court orders come in response to revelations of widespread fraud in the opposition's prior collection of signatures from 1 percent of voters in each state as a condition to begin the recall process earlier this year.

In addition to 307,747 signatures lacking essential identifying information, 53,658 signatures presented irregularities, including 10,995 deceased persons, 9,333 nonexistent persons, 3,003 minors, and 1,335 felons. State courts have warned that the 1 percent of signatures collected in their states could be invalid due to the fraudulent signatures, preventing the opposition from going ahead with the next stage on a national level.

In a press conference Friday night, leaders of the main opposition coalition, the MUD, said snap protests will take place nationwide on Saturday, ahead of a larger demonstration Wednesday.

“Next Wednesday, we will take Venezuela from end to end, to every corner of the country,” said Miranda state governor and former MUD presidential candidate Henrique Capriles. The Miranda state governor also reiterated calls made earlier this year for the nation's armed forces to intervene and "enforce the constitution", though he failed to provide further details of what such military action might entail.

Small protests were already taking place in Caracas before the announcement, after other MUD leaders condemned Thursday’s referendum suspension.

Hardliners within the MUD have called for civil disobedience in response to the announcement.

"We will fight the struggle for change in the streets together with every sector of the country in national unity. #MaduroYouHaveLittleTimeLeft," stated far-right party Popular Will via its official Twitter account.

In 2014, Popular Will leader Leopoldo Lopez led months of violent anti-government protests, demanding the ouster of President Maduro. Over 40 people were killed, the majority of whom government supporters, state security forces, and innocent bystanders.

Meanwhile, top government officials have hit back at the opposition by accusing the MUD of failing to follow procedure.

“Justice has ordered them to fix (their recall petition),” said socialist legislator Diosdado Cabello.

Other socialist legislators have called for calm, and political dialogue.

“Dialogue should be the mechanism through which political, economic and social issues of concern to Venezuelan society should be resolved,” said legislator Jorge Rodriguez.

Similar comments have been issued by Maduro, who departed for an international trip within hours of the announcement of the suspension of the referendum drive.

"I call for calm, dialogue, peace, respect for justice and the law," Maduro said from Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, Venezuela's Supreme Court has upheld the regional court decisions, prompting the CNE to likewise suspend next week’s collection drive on Thursday. The move could mean the MUD will have to restart the entire process in the four states where fraud allegations surface. Such an outcome would be a major setback for the MUD, which has been aiming to organise the referendum before the end of the year. This goal has long been dismissed as unrealistic by the CNE, which announced last month that the plebiscite could be held no sooner than April.

The ultimate timing of the referendum is critical for the opposition.

If Maduro loses a vote before January 10, snap elections will be held, and the socialists would face the prospect of losing the office of president for the first time in 14 years. The last time the right-wing took power was during a short lived, US backed coup in 2002.

However, if the referendum takes place after January 10, Maduro will simply be replaced by his vice-president until regular elections are held in 2018.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/12736

Venezuelan opposition-led legislature votes to begin political trial against President Maduro

https://www.rt.com/news/364086-venezuela-lawmakers-political-trial-maduro/

Published time: 25 Oct, 2016 18:23Edited time: 25 Oct, 2016 18:54

https://img.rt.com/files/2016.10/original/580fa6e9c46188707e8b4627.jpg
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. © Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP

The opposition-led National Assembly has voted to begin proceedings to impeach President Nicolas Maduro for “constitutional violations.” Proceedings are unlikely to be effective, but the decision will further raise tension in the politically deadlocked country.
“If Maduro doesn’t understand that he has to respect the constitution, we have all the right to ask him to step down,” Henrique Capriles, the leading opposition figure said on the eve of Tuesday’s vote.

Having adopted a 10-point resolution that agreed on Maduro’s culpability last week, the National Assembly called for the President – in power since 2013 – to face deputies in a week’s time. Maduro is almost certain to ignore the summons.

Elected last year, Congress has been deprived of its powers by a decision of the Supreme Court, which has consistently backed the incumbent over allegations of vote-buying.

“Legally, the National Assembly does not exist,” said vice-president Aristobulo Isturiz on Tuesday.

The latest crisis comes after the electoral commission blocked a proposed referendum to recall Maduro before the end of his term, slated for 2019, accusing organizers of forged signatures.

In turn, the opposition called the move a “coup d’etat” from the government, and said it was planning nationwide street protests akin to those that helped bring down Communist rule in Poland in the 1980s.

The government then imposed legal restrictions on eight leading opposition figures. The move has been criticized by twelve American states, from longtime Maduro detractors US and Mexico, to erstwhile ‘Bolivarian Revolution’ sympathizers among the left-wing governments of Uruguay and Chile.

http://houstoncommunistparty.com/venezuelan-opposition-led-legislature-votes-to-begin-political-trial-against-president-maduro/

Venezuela's assembly to open trial against President Maduro
Source: Xinhua 2016-10-26 07:12:23

CARACAS, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's national assembly (AN), which is controlled by the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), declared Tuesday it would begin a political trial against President Nicolas Maduro, but Maduro said this is a "parliamentary coup", calling for dialogue.

At the conclusion of a two-day parliamentary session, the MUD majority said that Maduro had caused the political, economic and social crisis engulfing the country and said it would begin a "political and criminal trial" for him defying the constitution.

The MUD is accusing Maduro of defying the constitution after a process to begin a recall referendum against him was suspended by electoral authorities on Oct. 20.

In a statement, the AN announced the beginning of procedures against Maduro and summoned him to appear before the assembly on Nov. 1.

During the debate, MUD legislator Juan Miguel Matheus said that "structures of corruption" in the government had left the country in a crisis. Others accused the government of wasting millions of U.S. dollars on trips abroad while having ruined the country's economy.

However, unlike Brazil, where former President Dilma Rousseff was impeached by Congress, this trial is unlikely to have a real impact since the presidency and the Supreme Court have refused to recognize the AN's authority.

In response to the news, Maduro, who returned from a trip abroad on Tuesday, said that "we will not allow a parliamentary coup in Venezuela."

In a public speech to a crowd of supporters in Caracas, the president said that moves against him were "a lash" from U.S. President Barack Obama, who "wants to hurt Venezuela before leaving office."

Adding that the Constitution empowers the president to defend democracy, Maduro nevertheless made a call for dialogue.

"I call on all the sectors who want dialogue to not let themselves be swayed by hate. On Sunday, we will dialogue with all the powers of the state in the name of the Venezuelan people," he added.

He invited the presidents of the National Electoral Council, of the Supreme Court and of the National Assembly, MUD lawmaker Henry Ramos Allup, to meet with him.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-10/26/c_135780677.htm

Media Deliberately Omits Critical Info to Demonize Venezuela

By LUCHO GRANADOS CEJA - TELESUR ENGLISH , October 25th 2016

The announcement from Venezuela's electoral authority that it would not proceed with a recall referendum has unleashed yet another wave of critical articles and opinion pieces throughout the English-speaking media, labelling the socialist government in Venezuela as “authoritarian” or even a “dictatorship.”

It is a tired tune that people who follow political developments in the South American country have heard consistently throughout the 18-year process known as the Bolivarian Revolution.

Despite the fact that the Venezuelan government's democratic credentials have been affirmed repeatedly—including by groups who cannot be considered to be partial to the government, such as the Carter Center—private media outlets insist on labeling the Maduro administration “undemocratic."

Media outlets are fully aware that if they were to be honest in their reporting about Venezuela, the narrative that the country is not a democracy would collapse under the weight of its own insincerity.

Thus private outlets have consistently and deliberately omitted critical information about recent developments in Venezuela.

Many outlets, such as ABC News, have completely failed to mention that the opposition-controlled National Assembly is currently in noncompliance with a ruling from the country's Supreme Court, therefore its actions have no legal standing.

The right-wing leadership insisted on swearing-in three lawmakers despite the fact that their elections are in dispute over several serious fraud allegations. In a de-facto acknowledgment of the court's authority and ruling, the leadership of the Venezuelan parliament first respected the order and withdrew the three lawmakers, only to turn around and re-seat them later.

Those that do mention the assembly's contempt of court, such as Al Jazeera, are quick to point out that the Supreme Court has overturned a few bills the parliament has passed.

What they fail to mention is that some of the bills passed by the right wing are so flagrantly in violation of the constitution that one would be hard-pressed to find a legal scholar who would argue in favor of their legality.

As an example, in its mission to oust President Nicolas Maduro, the right-wing leadership of the assembly tried to retroactively shorten Maduro's term. One need not be a constitutional expert to see how that would run contrary to the will of the Venezuelan people who elected him to serve a six-year term in 2013.

In March, the assembly approved a highly controversial bill aimed at granting amnesty to a wide range of crimes committed by supporters of the opposition, including violent protests in 2014, known as guarimbas, that left dozens dead. Relatives of victims of right-wing political violence denounced their efforts to pass such legislation that would essentially absolve the perpetrators of violence. The bill never became law due to its unconstitutionality.

Outlets also fail to mention that despite their name, Venezuela's opposition is deeply divided, with different factions pursuing radically different strategies. In reality, the only thing that unites the so-called Democratic Unity Roundtable is their opposition to the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

It is this disunity that led to their delay in initiating the recall referendum, making it all but impossible that a recall vote would occur this year.

The opposition is no position to plead ignorance, they attempted a recall once before in 2004 against former President Hugo Chavez. That is to say, they were fully aware that the process takes approximately eight months.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/files/images/infografia-irregularidadesmudfirma-950x950_eng.jpg_180432731.jpg

Yet the opposition insisted the recall happen in a rushed manner, and as a result, they submitted a high number of fraudulent signatures—the very same that have now led to the suspension of the entire process. Had the opposition faithfully followed the requirements of the recall process, the government would have been powerless to stop the recall vote from taking place.

This a fact that always goes unmentioned by the private media when they report on the recall referendum.

Disinformation and manipulation are the modus operandi of the Venezuelan opposition and their media lackeys, both domestic and international.

Recent events in the country mirror the lead-up to the 2002 military coup against Chavez. Before staging the short-lived coup attempt, media outlets demonized the Venezuelan government, utilizing the very same language now being used against Maduro.

In 2002, the right-wing opposition tried to delegitimize the Chavez government, staging protests calling for his ouster, and asking for international bodies to intervene.

The role of the media in setting the conditions for the coup attempt to take place was instrumental, so much so that one of the coup supporters even went on television to thank the private media for their role in the coup. In fact, it was that very same manipulation by the media that led Chavez to create more publicly owned media outlets, such as teleSUR.

The resolution issued by the opposition-controlled National Assembly has parallels to another dark episode in the political history of Latin America, the 1973 coup in Chile against democratically-elected President Salvador Allende.

Only months before the violent military coup on September 11, 1973, the Chilean parliament approved a resolution accusing the Allende government of acting unlawfully and calling for the armed forces to act to restore the constitution.

Like Venezuela today, international outlets jumped on this resolution, offering it up as proof that Allende was the head of a totalitarian regime. That media manipulation helped lay the groundwork for the coup.

The opposition coalition appears to be following that script, calling for a major protest Wednesday, dubbed "The Takeover of Venezuela"—something that government supporters view as an effort at destabilization and a precursor to the kind of violent protests seen in 2014 or even another coup attempt.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/12741

Venezuelans march to defend achievements of the Revolution

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1477641244362/sites/telesur/img/multimedia/2016/10/28/trabajadores1.jpg_1718483347.jpg
Venezuelan workers support the legacy of Hugo Chavez in the Bolivarian Revolution. | Photo: Agencies

Published October 28, 2016

While the opposition calls strike, workers, students and representatives of revolutionary forces in the country express support to President Maduro.

While the opposition calls strike 12 hours for this October 28 and continues in his attacks on the institutions in the country, the revolutionary people of Venezuela continues on the streets Friday in defense of President Nicolas Maduro and social achievements conquered during the last 17 years.

The Executive Vice President of Venezuela, Aristobulo Isturiz, invited the whole population to be on the streets, go to their places of work and studies and perform daily activities, in order to counter the call for national strike called by the self-styled Democratic Unity Roundtable.

Isturiz stressed that this Friday is not a day of unemployment. "We is a day to get up early all, because they (opposition) are waiting to take pictures with the empty streets to say that Venezuela was paralyzed Venezuela mobilized to defend the revolution and then march to celebrate with the President and give accounts that have defeated the coup arrest of the Venezuelan right, we will not be quiet, "said the also member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV)

Thursday, as part of efforts to combat the economic war that threatens the purchasing power of the people, the president Nicolas Maduro announced a 40 percent increase in the minimum wage of workers, the fourth increase this year. The legal minimum income fell 90 thousand 812 bolivars.

Maduro said that this increase was also homologated pensions and boards of public and military workers, and will impact on the payment of year-end profits

Venezuelan parliamentary coup against

The PSUV convened perform various activities to support the socialist process, repudiate interference and destabilization by opposition sectors, national and international.

Saturday, mobilization of forces will occur PSUV in all parishes of the Capital District to explain to people not attending marches, what it is and how to defeat the coup on the street.

On Tuesday November 1, the date on which the opposition says President Maduro prosecute, the revolutionary forces will be mobilized from the Carabobo Square to the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, November 3, the day that Parliament aims to bring the letter of dismissal the head of state, the revolutionary people will focus on the Miraflores Palace and the main avenues of the capital.

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Venezolanos-salen-este-viernes-a-las-calles-a-defender-logros-de-la-Revolucion-20161028-0004.html

Google Translator

Venezuela seizes 4 million toys to distribute to the poor
Officials accuse toy company of hoarding toys and price gouging in run up to Christmas

http://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.2901288.1481372860!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_620_330/image.jpg
A member of Venezuelan armed forces walking among boxes of toys during an operation at a toy store in Caracas. Regulators confiscated almost 4 million toys for redistribution, accusing the toy importer Kreisel of hoarding and price gouging. Photograph: AVN/EPA

Venezuela price regulators on Friday seized almost 4 million toys from warehouses around greater Caracas and said they’d distribute them to low income children ahead of Christmas.
William Contreras, the country’s price czar, accused toy importer Distribuidora Kreisel of hoarding and price gouging and asked that the company’s directors be detained and prohibited from leaving the country.
Flanked by national guardsmen, he said the company had received preferential exchange rates for goods it imported as early as 2009 and then raised prices by as much as 50,000 percent.

“These products will be put to use by the Clap,” he said, referring to the government’s community-based network that distributes food to low income residents. “Venezuela’s boys and girls will have their baby Jesus guaranteed, and these companies will learn that they can’t play with the rights of the Venezuelans.”
Triple-digit inflation and a collapsing currency have made many non-essential items out of reach for most Venezuelans, where a monthly minimum wage buys only around $20 on the black market. Government authorities have in the past several years ordered price cuts ahead of the Christmas holiday, and price regulators ordered clothing stores in downtown Caracas to cut prices by 30 percent earlier this week.
In 2013, President Nicolas Maduro accused retailers across the South American nation of price gouging and deployed the military to slash prices at electronics and home appliance stores. The event became coined the “Dakazo,” after the socialist leader ordered an electronics chain called Daka to slash its merchandise prices to “fair” levels and liquidate their inventory on live television.
Since then, Venezuela’s government has cracked down on prices across the entire economy - everything from eggs to children shoes - levying sanctions or confiscating the merchandise of business owners who don’t comply.
Calls placed to Distribuidora Kreisel after normal business hours on Friday evening went answered.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/offbeat/venezuela-seizes-4-million-toys-to-distribute-to-the-poor-1.2901289

Dear President Maduro,

That's great for the kids, now how about them means of production? Cause the other side ain't playin' and you shouldn't be either.

Solidarity,
blindpig

Dear President Maduro,

That's great for the kids, now how about them means of production? Cause the other side ain't playin' and you shouldn't be either.

Solidarity,
blindpig

Don't know if you see any of his tweets, but he seems to be headed left, hard. But the private property bugaboo seems still a hard knot to cleave. That is, after all, the final cut for the booj.

Don't know if you see any of his tweets, but he seems to be headed left, hard. But the private property bugaboo seems still a hard knot to cleave. That is, after all, the final cut for the booj.

There may be constraints of which I'm not taking account but Johnny U always said the best defense is a good offense. It would certainly trigger outside interference, the question is would that be more serious than the slow strangulation being inflicted now. Very tough situation and I don't see Maduro getting offers for life insurance.

CELAC Voices Solidarity with Venezuela in Face of US Interventionism

By JEANETTE CHARLES

Los Angeles, January 25, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and social movements reiterated their solidarity with Venezuela this week calling for the repeal of former US President Barack Obama’s executive order branding the South American nation an "unusual and extraordinary threat” . The V Presidential CELAC Summit began Tuesday in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Member states' foreign ministers stressed the 33-nation bloc’s firm rejection of the decree – which was renewed for a second time on January 13 – in a declaration to be signed by all heads of state at the close of the summit.

Speaking at the meeting, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez addressed ongoing challenges with the US, urging Washington to normalize relations with her country.

“Our countries should establish relationships based on cooperation and respect, following Venezuela’s diplomatic leadership," she stated.

Rodriguez also defended the achievements of her country's Bolivarian Revolution, denouncing those who "put out fables against Venezuela".

"We will debate publicly the Venezuelan economic and social development model," the top diplomat asserted.

Social movements also gathered in the Dominican Republic to participate in CELAC grassroots driven activities. They likewise placed calls for an end to US destabilization efforts against the democratically elected Bolivarian government.

Additionally, movements voiced their support for the Sandinista government in Nicaragua and Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front in El Salvador. Movements advocated for the withdrawal of NATO’s presence in Latin America, denounced paramilitarism in Colombia and called for an end to the United Nation’s military occupation of Haiti.

The CELAC also confirmed its support for the Vatican-facilitated talks between the Venezuelan government and right-wing opposition. The CELAC pressed both parties to respect all the dialogue’s mutually established agreements.

The summit continues Wednesday with leaders discussing regional cooperation and the impacts of US foreign policy under the Trump administration. Topics on the agenda include: the US blockade against Cuba, nuclear disarmament, the return of Guantánamo to Cuba, Las Malvinas conflict, indigenous languages, sustainable health systems, regional integration, economic, social and cultural policy, migration and development, technical cooperation, and setting the regional body's agenda for 2020-2030.

The CELAC was created under former President Hugo Chávez as a means to promote regional integration without the direct interference of the United States and Canada.

Chávez founded the regional bloc based on principles of unity, cooperation, and solidarity between member states that hail back to the 19th century independence movements and Simón Bolívar’s call for Latin American and Caribbean integration.

The only nation from Latin America and the Caribbean that does not have full member status is Puerto Rico given its US colonial status. However, member-states have previously expressed their full support for Puerto Rican sovereignty and acknowledged the island nation’s significance to the region.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/12905

The Context Of Trump’s Vile Aggression Against Venezuela
The announcement of sanctions against Venezuela's vice president conveniently left out some revealing, and self-incriminating, details.
By teleSUR | February 15, 2017

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A protester holds up an anti-U.S. poster of Uncle Sam during a pro-government rally at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela. (AP/Ariana Cubillos)

(ANALYSIS) — On Monday, the U.S. launched its latest diplomatic attack on Venezuela by officially putting Vice President Tareck El Aissami on a sanctions list reserved for “drug kingpins” without offering any evidence or issuing any criminal charges.

Venezuela was quick to respond, with the Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez calling the move “lamentable and highly dangerous,” adding that her government “will not tolerate any aggression on our soil against our ability to be free.”

For his part, El Aissami — who has vigorously and categorically denied the accusation — said the “miserable and vile aggression” was simply “an acknowledgment of (his) status as an anti-imperialist revolutionary.”

As Venezuela contemplates its official response to the move, it’s important to review the background to this latest sanction.

The Venezuelan investigative organization MisionVerdad unpacked some key contextual details the Department of Treasury conveniently left out in their announcement of the sanctions.



1. El Aissami Led Venezuela’s Successful War on Drugs

While the U.S. Department of the Treasury officially designated El Aissami a “drug kingpin” they conveniently left out that under his tenure as head of Venezuela’s Department of the Interior, El Aissami led Venezuela’s own war on drugs, arresting 102 major drug traffickers, confiscating over 50 tons of illegal drugs bound for the U.S. and facilitating the extradition to the U.S. of 21 suspected drug traffickers.

In perhaps the strangest detail, the Department of the Treasury accused El Aissami of having links to Colombian drug lord Daniel Barrera Barrera, the same man who El Aissami arrested and extradited to Colombia in 2012 to face drug trafficking charges.



2. Drug Seizures Increased After Venezuela Kicked out the DEA

Indeed, Venezuela’s own “war on drugs” became much more successful after they kicked the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency out of the country in 2005 on suspicion that the agency was more involved in spying on the Bolivarian revolution than taking on drug traffickers— a suspicion later confirmed in a 2014 investigation by The Intercept which showed “the DEA is actually one of the biggest spy operations there is.”

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Tareck El Aissami inspects seized cocaine in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, Sunday June 26, 2011. El Aissami said authorities seized more than 5.5 tons of cocaine in eastern Venezuela. Venezuela is a transshipment point for Colombian cocaine destined for the United States, Europe and the Caribbean. (AP/Ariana Cubillos)

In the seven years after then-President Hugo Chavez ended cooperation with the DEA and put El Aissami in charge of counter-narcotics, drug seizures more than doubled relative to the final six years of anti-drug operations in cooperation with the DEA.

Indeed the DEA itself praised the Chavez government’s efforts in a report saying that under his leadership, Venezuela “made progress in its overall counternarcotics program. Seizures were high in all categories, thanks in large part to the implementation of several new programs.”

MisionVerdad points to the fact that while El Aissami was added to the sanctions list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control in the name of the “War on Drugs,” that same list left off governments with long-standing proven connections to the drug trade, such as Paraguay, Peru, and Colombia, concluding that the OFAC is “clearly a geopolitical instrument.”



3. Trump, Tillerson, and China

While totally overlooked by U.S. media, on the very day that the U.S. placed El Aissami on the sanctions list, Venezuela signed 22 economic development and cooperation agreements with China, another sworn enemy of U.S. president Donald Trump.

While the timing may be simple coincidence, the growing economic ties between oil-rich Venezuela and the second-largest owner of U.S. foreign debt no doubt raised alarm bells among the U.S. foreign policy establishment.

Most notable among that establishment is the newly installed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who as head of ExxonMobil took it “very personally” when his company lost billions in 2007 when then-president Chavez nationalized that company’s oil Venezuelan holdings, a move which was ruled legal in 2014 by the World Bank’s international arbitration court.

Since his appointment was approved in January, Tillerson has spoken openly about regime change in Venezuela.



4. Triangulating Regime Change

Just hours before the treasury department announced the sanctions, the White House released portions of a conversation between U.S. President Trump and Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in which the former said he was “concerned” about the situation in Venezuela.

This public declaration came just one week after Senator Ben Cardin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a resolution condemning Venezuela, calling for new elections, and supporting the virulently anti-Bolivarian president of the Organization of American States Luis Almagro’s attempts to expel Venezuela from the OAS.

The analysis by MisionVerdad points out that these two moves come just one month after Venezuela’s right-wing MUD coalition cut off talks with the Maduro government, and instead announced an international tour by several of its key leaders to meet with legislators in Peru, Colombia and the U.S.



5. Continuing a Long (Nefarious) Tradition

In responding to the announcement, former U.S. President Barack Obama’s top national security adviser on Latin America, Mark Feierstein, told The Guardian that the sanctions move “was an overdue step to ratchet up pressure on the Venezuelan regime.”

Feierstein said that the move had been planned under the Obama administration yet put on hold during Vatican-sponsored talks between the Maduro government and the right-wing MUD opposition, which broke down last month after MUD representatives unilaterally walked away from the negotiations.

MisionVerdad pointed out that Feierstein’s likely role in crafting the sanctions are particularly troubling given his long history of supporting regime change in Latin American.

According to Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, as a USAID project director in Nicaragua in the 1980’s Feierstein helped facilitate U.S. campaigns against the democratically-elected Sandinista government.

While he was USAID director in Paraguay, The Nation reported that Feierstein increased funding to the institutions controlled by the right-wing factions which eventually led the parliamentary coup against leftist President Lugo in 2012.

Indeed, in the conclusion of their analysis MisionVerdad suggested that the sanctions mark “the end of any speculation” that the anti-interventionist rhetoric spouted by Trump during his campaign might have signaled a break with the longstanding bipartisan U.S. policy of regime change.

http://www.mintpressnews.com/the-context-of-trumps-vile-aggression-against-venezuela/224944/

A message from President Maduro to President Trump.


http://youtu.be/eQkxriXKMlw

Venezuela’s Maduro Vows to Expand Food Distribution Program to 6 Million Families

By RYAN MALLETT-OUTTRIM


Poverty
Puebla, Mexico, March 2 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced Wednesday plans to expand his government’s flagship anti-scarcity program to cover 6 million families.

“I want us to take a firm step, and to think big,” Maduro told state media.

The program, the Local Provision and Production Committees (CLAPs) currently cover 5,734,705 households across the country, according to government figures. Maduro said his government aims to reach the goal of 6 million by March 12. That date will mark the one year anniversary of the founding of the CLAPs.

The announcement was made while Maduro was attending the inauguration of a new CLAP packaging centre in Sucre state. Maduro said the new facility will produce over 80,000 packages of basic food goods every month. He continued by stating he hoped to see more social movements and communal councils aid the government in distribution.

“I want the month of March to be the month of the productive revolution for all the CLAPs registered across the country,” he said.

He added that more variety of products will be included in CLAP bags in the future. According to the president, the government recently secured a deal with domestic fisheries to provide 150 tonnes of canned sardines a day for CLAP networks.

What are the CLAPs?

The CLAP program is an arrangement between the government and grassroots groups aimed at distributing subsidised food and other basic household goods to low income Venezuelan households.

“The CLAPs are an advance in terms of state’s organisational capacity to have food arrive more effectively house-by-house in each communal council,” the National Communal Network’s Atenea Jimenez said earlier this year.

While Venezuela’s commune movement largely supports the CLAPs, the opposition has long claimed the program discriminates against households that don’t support the government. According to the government, the CLAPs have reduced hunger and food scarcity across the country.

Venezuela’s scarcity problem

For years, Venezuelan consumers have been hit with scarcity of goods ranging from coffee to rice, and medicine to replacement parts for vehicles. Although many of these products can be found in private markets, they are often sold at a price that is prohibitive for ordinary Venezuelans and which flouts government price control regulations.

While the country’s opposition blames the scarcity on government policies such as the controlled currency exchange system, Maduro has blamed sabotage by politically motivated private businesses.

Last week, a survey conducted by a group of Venezuelan universities concluded over 30 percent of the population are living off two or less meals a day. The ENCOVI survey authors also claimed the national poverty rate has increased from 73 percent to nearly 82 percent over the past year. Maduro is yet to respond to the claims, though in previous years the government has dismissed the ENCOVI survey as unreliable, and based on anecdotal evidence.

“These [results] contrast with the scientifically proven figures of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) that show that 95 percent of Venezuelans eat three or more times a day,” state media outlet AVN reported in 2016.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/12954

**********************************

US Lawmakers Pass Resolution Demanding Trump Act on Venezuela

By RYAN MALLETT-OUTTRIM


Puebla, Mexico, March 2 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – US Senators unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday urging President Donald Trump to take further action against Venezuelan officials.

The bill also expressed support for a controversial move by Organisation of American States (OAS) head Luis Almagro to invoke the Democratic Charter. If invoked, Venezuela would be suspended from the OAS. When Almagro first announced the move in 2016, he also demanded President Nicolas Maduro be “immediately” removed from office, prompting many Latin American leaders to accuse the OAS head of overreach.

Despite the controversy, the Senate bill called on Trump to “provide full support for OAS efforts in favour of constitutional and democratic solutions to the political impasse and to instruct federal agencies to hold officials of the Venezuelan government accountable for violations of US law and abuses of internationally recognised human rights.”

The bill will now head to the House of Representatives.

One of the main supporters of the bill, Senator Marco Rubio, thanked both Republicans and Democrats for supporting the move.

“I thank my Senate colleagues for supporting this bipartisan resolution calling for the government of Venezuela to respect the constitutional and democratic processes and release all political prisoners,” Rubio said in a statement.

The bill was co-sponsored by prominent Democrats including Senators Bob Menendez and Bill Nelson, along with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential running mate Tim Kaine.

Venezuela has already been hit by numerous US sanctions. One of former president Barack Obama’s last acts in office was the renewal of an executive order in January, declaring Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to national security.

The executive order wasn’t set to expire until March, though White House officials said Obama went ahead with renewal early to ensure a “a smooth transition” for the Trump administration.

Since then, the Trump administration has slapped Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami with sanctions, including a travel ban and an asset freeze targeting one of his alleged close confidants, the entrepreneur Samark Lopez. Both Aissami and Lopez have been accused of involvement in international drug trafficking. Aissami has denied the allegations, stating in February that he was the victim of anti-Venezuela hardliners in Washington “ “whose fundamental interest is to prevent Venezuela and the United States from restoring their political and diplomatic relations on the basis of mutual recognition and respect”.

“These interest groups not only lack any evidence to demonstrate the extremely serious accusations against me, but they also have built a false-positive case in order to criminalise –through me– the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a country that is decidedly waging a war on transnational drug trafficking business,” he said.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/12953

Venezuela Finds US Army Uniforms in Paramilitary Camp at Border

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1490223420908/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/03/22/u.s.-army-uniform-shutterstock-800x430.jpg_1718483346.jpg
The emblem on a U.S. Army uniform | Photo: Reuters

Published 22 March 2017 (16 hours 58 minutes ago)

Tachira — where the paramilitary camp was discovered — was also the region where the government found a large cache of Venezuelan currency in December
Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Armed Forces, FANB, dismantled a right-wing paramilitary camp near the Colombian border Tuesday, discovering U.S. army uniforms, among others.

The FANB also discovered stolen Venezuelan military uniforms as well as combat attire belonging to the Colombian military forces.

“We are advancing an investigation,” Tachira Governor Jose Gregorio Vielma Mora said at a press conference, according to HispanTV. “We found accounting books with a list of victims of extortion on the site.”

Right-wing Colombian paramilitaries are responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Colombians since the 1950s. Usually targeted are campesinos, Indigenous people, Afro-Colombians, human rights activists and those sympathetic to Colombia’s leftist guerrilla movements and Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution.


Tachira — where the paramilitary camp was discovered — was also the region where the FANB found in December a large cache of bolivars, the country’s currency, which was being extracted and hoarded in an effort to sabotage the economy and make huge profits.

The FANB’s paramilitary camp discovery substantiates claims that the U.S. Army is training right-wing paramilitaries to spread terror in the region. It also reaffirms suspicions that U.S.-backed forces are using FANB uniforms for false flag attacks.

On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro denounced U.S. plans to work with right-wing politicians in the region to destabilize Venezuela. The socialist leader also condemned attempts by the Organization of American States to suspend the country’s membership.

“The U.S. State Department has activated all its ambassadors in the world, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, pressing all governments to support a political, diplomatic and global intervention in Venezuela,” Maduro said during a Cabinet meeting, adding that Washington is trying to make Venezuela a “kind of colony” ruled from outside by wealthy U.S. elites, HispanTV reported.

OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro has been calling for the suspension of Venezuela from the multinational organization over alleged “human rights violations,” asking the body to invoke the Democratic Charter against the South American country. Almagro, a longtime foe of the Bolivarian Revolution, openly works with the country’s right-wing opposition to demand regime change, hosting a press conference with known opposition leaders just this past Monday.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Finds-US-Army-Uniforms-in-Paramilitary-Camp-at-Border-20170322-0026.html

Venezuelan Opposition Attacks Black-Led, Pro-Revolution Bakery

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La Minka bakery up and running and getting bread to the people. | Photo: Efecto Cocuyo

Published 23 March 2017

“I'm not a racist, but those Blacks with their bare feet and dirty hands, I'm not eating it (the bread),” one opposition protester said.
Right-wing Venezuelan opposition supporters attacked workers at La Minka bakery in Caracas Tuesday, shoving them while shouting racial slurs, independent media outlet Efecto Cocuyo reported.

“I'm not a racist, but those Blacks with their bare feet and dirty hands, I'm not eating it (the bread),” one opposition protester said, according to Venezuela Analysis.

The assailants, who have suspected ties to opposition parties First Justice and Popular Will, were protesting the bakery’s new owners. La Minka, formerly named Mansion Bakery, is now run by a predominantly-Black workers’ collective supportive of the Bolivarian Revolution.

The workers, with help from the socialist government, took over the bakery last week after its previous owners were sanctioned for breaking food production laws. They not only violated health codes — they also intentionally hoarded products and raised prices by more than 400 percent for personal gain.

Now, La Minka is serving low-cost, government-subsidized products that are accessible to Caracas’ working class community. For Venezuela’s right-wing opposition, however, La Minka’s new products are not good enough for them.


“I always bought bread here early. It was tasty. Now they tell me that I can not buy them like that here anymore. I must look for it somewhere else,” a local opposition protester who did not give her name told Efecto Cocuyo after the scuffle.

Despite the attack, La Minka workers are continuing to serve their community. The grassroots-run bakery is producing more than 5,600 baguettes daily, distributing low-cost bread to about 11 food collectives in the area.

“We're not taking anything from anybody, we're just doing justice,” Caracas government official Carolina Cestari, told reporters at a press conference Wednesday.

The bakery is named after La Minka collective, a grassroots community organization that works alongside the Bolivarian Revolution to provide resources for Venezuela’s underserved communities. “Minka” is a Quechua term that represents “communal work for the greater good.”

Bread is a basic consumer good according to the Venezuelan government. In accordance with the country’s laws, bread must be sold at government-stipulated fair prices intended to guarantee consumer access for the majority of people.

Last week, the Venezuelan government took over two bakeries for failing to comply with these price controls.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuelan-Opposition-Attacks-Black-Led-Pro-Revolution-Bakery-20170323-0024.html

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Venezuela Warns Factories Leading 'Bread War' of Expropriation

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A woman leaves from a bakery with fresh bread in Caracas, Venezuela, September 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 13 March 2017

Maduro also announced that in addition to shop inspections, the government has opened 100 centers to sell bread in Caracas.
In his weekly address to the nation Sunday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro warned that bread factories that were not producing, speculating, and "hiding bread from the people" would be expropriated and turned over to neighborhood organizations.

The Bolivarian leader said these producers, who are creating bread shortages that hurt the people, will be punished. "You will pay, I promise you. Those leading the bread war will pay. And don't say later that it's political prosecution," adding that factories were going to be inspected.

Maduro said producers holding back production or selling their goods on the black market would be jailed and their factories turned over to the Local Committees for Supply and Production, communal organizations created in 2016 to distribute staple foods in local areas at subsidized prices.


"The factories will be occupied by the government and will be turned over to the CLAP so they can start producing," Maduro said, adding that the full extent of the law will be applied to these speculators.

Part of the right-wing plot to destabilize the revolutionary government has been the withholding of production or the selling of the goods on the black market, where producers can sell at exorbitant prices killing two birds with one stone: turning a handsome profit and at the same time, causing desperation and misery for the people who end up having to wait in huge lines to try to meet their basic needs.

Although bread producers insist they don't have enough wheat from the government to produce more bread, the government accuses the business owners — who have never been fans of the Bolivarian process — of mounting a political and economic sabotage in the country.

Maduro also announced that in addition to the inspections, the government has opened 100 centers to sell bread in Caracas in a trial program that will extend to other cities.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Warns-Factories-Leading-Bread-War-of-Expropriation-20170313-0019.html

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Blaming Socialism, US Media Distorts Venezuela’s Food Crisis

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1487908149221/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/02/23/venezuela_supermarket.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Supermarket shoppers in Caracas. | Photo: Reuters

Published 23 February 2017

The facts are clear — Venezuela does have a food crisis, but mainstream U.S. media always blames the socialist government.
Disgruntled customers, empty store shelves, long supermarket lines. These are the images that mainstream U.S. media typically feature in their coverage of Venezuela’s ongoing food crisis.

These images are usually accompanied by sarcastic headlines like Forbes’ “Venezuela Discovers the Perfect Weight Loss Diet” and the Cato Institute’s “Hunger Is in Retreat, But Not in Socialist Venezuela.”

U.S. media outlets publish stories blaming Venezuela’s food crisis on the socialist government almost daily. Today isn’t any different.

A new study released by researchers from three Venezuelan universities reported that nearly 75 percent of the population lost an average of 19 pounds in 2016 for lack of food. The report, titled, “2016 Living Conditions Survey,” added that about 32.5 percent of Venezuelans eat only once or twice a day, compared to 11.3 percent last year.

Moreover, 93.3 percent told the researchers that their income was not enough to cover their food needs.


The facts are clear — Venezuela does have a food crisis. Mainstream U.S. media, however, blames the socialist government that has radically improved the country’s standard of living instead of right-wing U.S.-backed opposition forces intentionally sabotaging the economy.

Since the early 2000s, supermarket owners affiliated with Venezuela’s opposition have been purposefully hoarding food products so they can resell them at higher prices and make large profits. Food importing companies owned by the country’s wealthy right-wing elite are also manipulating import figures to raise prices.


In 2013, former Venezuelan Central Bank chief Edmee Betancourt reported that the country lost between US$15 and $20 billion dollars the previous year through such fraudulent import deals.

It doesn’t stop there.

Last year, over 750 opposition-controlled offshore companies linked to the Panama Papers scandal were accused of purposely redirecting Venezuelan imports of raw food materials from the government to the private sector. Many of these companies sell their products to private companies in Colombia, which resell them to Venezuelans living close to Colombia.

“Selling contraband is a serious problem. People here are taking large quantities of products meant for Venezuelans and selling them in Colombia,” Valencia resident Francisco Luzon told Al Jazeera in a 2014 interview.

Reuters admitted in 2014 that Venezuelan opposition members living in border states are shipping low-cost foodstuffs provided by the Venezuelan government into Colombia for profit.

Overall, Venezuela’s millionaire opposition are profiting handsomely from the country’s food crisis while blaming it on the socialist government that’s trying to eliminate it.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Blaming-Socialism-US-Media-Distorts-Venezuelas-Food-Crisis-20170223-0053.html

Venezuela Demands OAS Suspend ‘Interventionist’ Meeting

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Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez slammed the OAS and what she calls an attempt to topple the government of Nicolas Maduro

The South American nation has slammed the OAS for what it calls illegal actions and attempts to destabilize Venezuela’s socialist government.
The Venezuelan government urged the Organization of American States Monday to suspend a meeting scheduled for Tuesday to debate the economic and political situation in Venezuela, arguing that it violates the organization’s norms since it was planned without the consent of the South American country.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said that at the request of Luis Almagro, head of the OAS, the meeting intends to validate an intervention in the country’s internal political affairs and attack the government of President Nicolas Maduro through the application of the organization’s “Democratic Charter” against Venezuela.

The organization hasn’t confirmed if it would vote on Almagro’s demand.

Rodriguez argues that Almagro, with the support of the United States, “has formed a minority faction and has fostered a damaging international environment over the course of democratic life in Venezuela, seeking to undermine its sovereignty and independence.”

During a meeting at the OAS headquarters in Washington Monday, the Venezuelan foreign minister accused Almagro of acting to advance two objectives: destroying the country’s Bolivarian Revolution that has been praised for social advances and substituting the government of Nicolas Maduro.

“Almagro is a liar, dishonest, evildoer and mercenary,” said Rodriguez, adding that, “Almagro is not acting alone, he is a conduit for the orders that are dictated to him by Washington.”

She accused the OAS of serving U.S. interests since its beginning, pointing out how the organization kept quite in the face of almost 50 coups across Latin America and the Caribbean.

“The OAS never condemned the coup attempt against Chavez,” said Rodriguez. “The OAS supported the invasion to Guatemala and the failed invasion to Cuba.”

Almagro’s call for a meeting on Venezuela was supported by 18 countries: Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia and Uruguay.

“Destabilizing Venezuela will have effects beyond our borders,” Rodriguez said.

If a third of the 34 members countries that are part of the OAS vote to apply the “Democratic Charter,” it would suspend Venezuela and authorize an international intervention.

“If this illegal, unilateral, deviant and biased action continues in favor of violent extremists in Venezuela, we will proceed with severity and firmness through diplomatic means, the instruments of international law and in accordance with the Venezuelan constitutional order,” said Rodriguez.

The foreign minister attended a meeting at the OAS in 2016 after members of the Venezuelan opposition asked the organization to apply the charter against their own country.

Supporters of President Nicolas Maduro are set to hit the streets on Tuesday in “anti-imperialist” marches against OAS and foreign intervention in the South American country.

Meanwhile, mediators in Venezuela’s dialogue process between the government and opposition — former presidents of Spain, the Dominican Republic and Panama Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Leonel Fernandez and Martin Torrijos — also issued a statement Monday reiterating their support for the negotiations aimed at smoothing flared political tensions between Maduro’s administration and its opponents.

The letter noted that since the OAS has mentioned the dialogue in its recent statements on the situation in the country, the former presidents facilitating the UNASUR-sponsored process felt obliged to comment on the talks and their potential.

“We think that dialogue is possible and more necessary than ever in Venezuela,” they wrote. “A dialogue based on the values of democracy, human rights and peace and managed with the only tools at our disposal: words, good faith and diplomacy.”

http://www.venezuelasolidarity.org/2017/03/27/venezuela-demands-oas-suspend-interventionist-meeting/

Venezuela Maintains High Human Development: UN

By TELESUR ENGLISH

In spite of an ongoing economic crisis — created by a slump in global oil prices — Venezuela has maintained a high level of human development, according to the U.N., better even than many of its regional neighbors.
The U.N. Development Program released its 2016 Human Development report this week, ranking Venezuela 71st out of the 188 countries examined.

The Human Development Index is a scientific indicator with takes into account life expectancy, literacy and the general quality of life in each country.

Despite an ongoing food and medicine shortages — largely due to illegal hoarding by corporations owned by the right-wing opposition — Venezuela maintained a higher ranking than Brazil, Peru, and Colombia.

In the report, each of the 188 countries is given a measurement between zero and one. The closer to one, the higher the level of human development.

Venezuela was measured at 0.767 — better than Brazil's 0.754, Peru's 0.740 and Colombia's 0.727 — only slightly lower than its 2013 rating of 0.771, and significantly higher than its ranking of 0.677 in 2000, just as President Hugo Chavez came to power and initiated his Bolivarian Revolution.

In South America, only Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay had higher rankings than Venezuela.

Overall, the U.N. report noted that despite the general progress recorded in the Human Development Index during the last 25 years, extreme poverty and exclusion persist in Latin America, mainly due to unequal distribution of income.

The report also addresses the role of women, who continue to be poorer in general terms, partly because of unpaid work that undermines their professional and personal development. It also identified a deepening of inequalities against the indigenous population, who on average receive fewer years of education.

The report highlights the need to target universal policies to reduce human development deficits among the excluded. It directly recommends promoting inclusive growth, with an emphasis on women and mobilizing resources to meet human development priorities.

"Investments focused on human development priorities can provide low-cost but high-quality services and infrastructure for disadvantaged and marginalized groups," the report said.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13003

OAS Fails to Reach Consensus on Venezuela Suspension in Latest Extraordinary Session

By JEANETTE CHARLES

Los Angeles, March 28th 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) - The Organization of American States (OAS) extraordinary session came to a close late Tuesday afternoon after hours of debate as member states failed to reach a consensus over Venezuela’s suspension.

Despite OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro’s insistent attempts to push for Venezuela’s expulsion, member-states expressed mixed opinions regarding the application of the regional body’s Democratic Charter against the South American country, and the session ended without a vote.

Tuesday’s meeting commenced with Venezuelan Deputy Foreign Minister Samuel Moncada calling for clarification regarding the validity of the extraordinary session, which Venezuela previously argued represented a violation of the organization's non-interventionist founding principles.

Bolivia and Nicaragua echoed Venezuela’s condemnation, also requesting to suspend the meeting citing similar concerns over the precedent such a discussion would set for the regional body. Nonetheless, the OAS permanent council approved the discussion, with 20 out of the organization's 35 member-states voting in favor.

Mexico, Canada, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, United States, and Paraguay actively expressed their support to slap Venezuela with the Democratic Charter throughout the session.

Alternating between English and Spanish, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Michael Fitzpatrick advocated for “swift actions”.

“We need to act with urgency and clarity of purpose for indeed, as the saying goes, the whole world is watching," he said.

“This is an important for the day for the OAS, which is fulfilling its responsibility to safeguard democracy,” he continued.

The US delegate also urged “the Venezuelan government to comply with its constitution and constitutional functions, hold elections as soon as possible and release all political prisoners, including Leopoldo López.”

However, several nations came to Venezuela’s defense expressing solidarity, and emphasizing the need to push forward with dialogue between the government and the opposition in the South American nation. Notably, Caribbean nations such as Dominica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Barbados all challenged the call for Venezuela’s suspension.

“Dominica stands in solidarity with the Bolivarian government and people of Venezuela. The resolution needs to be through a dialogue between all parties that respects the sovereignty of Venezuela,” expressed the Caribbean nation’s permanent representative Dennis Moses.

The Dominican Republic’s official delegation referenced the country’s own complicated history with the OAS stating, “What guarantee do we have that if we impose external solutions on Venezuela that we will not have to apologize again in the future?”

Last year, Dominican President Danilo Medina called on the OAS to "pay off its historical debt" for its support of Washington's 1965 invasion of his nation.

Venezuela’s Moncada also called attention to the hypocrisy of specific OAS member states by citing the inconsistency of political postures and ongoing conflicts in other member states.

As Moncada continued to expose OAS members states’ contradictions, Mexico’s permanent representative to the OAS, Luis Alfonso de Alba Góngora, threatened to abandon the session unless OAS Permanent Council Chair Patrick Andrews of Belize request Moncada “correct” his tone.

While none of the pro-suspension coalition walked out before the meeting was called to order, tensions escalated throughout the remainder of the session.

“What happened yesterday with Marco Rubio threatening member states if they did not agree to suspend Venezuela is serious,” stated Moncada, referring to the Florida Republican senator's threats to cut aid to Haiti, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic if they did not vote in favor of the Democratic Charter.

The Venezuelan diplomat also took the opportunity to repudiate a recent US-led statement by 14 countries in the hemisphere demanding snap elections in the South American country.

“We sincerely believe that Venezuela needs a group [from the OAS mediating elections in our country] as much as Mexico needs that wall,” he said, referencing President Donald Trump’s plans to expand and heighten militarization along the Mexico-U.S. border.

Additionally, Moncada stressed the alleged US role in orchestrating the consistent right-wing attacks against Venezuela.

“This [campaign against Venezuela] is all tied to the US and the State Department. We ask that if the US wants to help they should revoke Obama’s decree and deport all of the criminals here in this country [the United States] that work against our people. That would be a first goodwill step. We reject forcibly what has happened here today and we will fight any attempt to intervene in the affairs of Venezuela," stated the diplomat.

Moncada closed his speech to a roomful of applause despite being interrupted by Canada’s permanent representative to the OAS, Jennifer May Loten, who denounced allegations that the US rallied support against Venezuela.

In recent weeks, Almagro has repeatedly called to suspend Venezuela from the regional body, blaming the Bolivarian government for frozen talks with the opposition.

However, international mediators have continued to express their support and hope for dialogue among all Venezuelan parties.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13009

Venezuela Fake News Debunked: Assembly Not Annulled, No Coup
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Venezuela's Supreme Court in Caracas. | Photo: Reuters

Published 30 March 2017

The Supreme Court ruled that the National Assembly was in contempt of the constitution in January 2016.

As the usual suspects attack the Bolivarian government in Venezuela for a ruling today by the Supreme Court of Justice, claiming that there has been a "coup" and that the country has fallen into a dictatorship, the Venezuelan government has denounced this attempt at destabilizing the government.

Following an appeal filed by the Venezuelan Corporation of Petroleum to Article 33 of the Organic Law of Hydrocarbons on the creation of joint ventures, the court ruled that since the National Assembly continues to be in contempt of the constitution, the top court will "ensure the rule of law" and will exercise parliamentary powers where necessary.

"As long as the disrespect and invalidity of the proceedings of the National Assembly persists, this Constitutional Chamber will ensure that the parliamentary powers are exercised directly by this Chamber or by the body it has in place to ensure the rule of law," said the ruling.

The U.S. issued a condemnation saying that the "Venezuelan Supreme Court's March 29 decision ... usurp(ed) the power of the democratically-elected National Assembly." Opposition leader Julio Borges, who was elected president of the parliament by his fellow opposition legislators in spite of the ruling, described this as a "coup" and called for the court to be disavowed.

Opposition ally and OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro called the ruling a "self-coup," while Peru withdrew its ambassador to the country. On Twitter, the phrase "coup d'etat" was trending although on the streets of Venezuela everything was calm, with no interruption in governance.

While the reactions have been plentiful, the ruling from the top court was not actually anything new, nor does it actually imply a dissolution of the country's national assembly and its powers.

Here is what is really going on.

National Assembly Has Been in Contempt of the Constitution Since 2016

On Jan. 5, 2016, the Supreme Court declared the National Assembly in contempt of the constitution for swearing-in three opposition lawmakers whose elections were temporarily suspended for voting irregularities in the state of Amazonas. Given that it has been operating with non-verified legislators, the court has said all of the assembly's actions are illegal.

Amazonas Candidates Tried to Buy Votes

There are recordings in which the then-secretary of the government of Amazonas, Victoria Franchi, offered sums of money to groups of people to vote for the opposition candidates. Therefore, the court suspended the election results from the state. However, the National Assembly flaunted this ruling and swore them in as deputies.

National Assembly Could Restore Its Status Easily but Has Refused

According to constitutional lawyer Enrique Tineo Suquet, the National Assembly could easily resolve its legal status by requesting the body's elected president call for a session to remove the three lawmakers and hold new elections for the positions. Tineo Suquet said that despite this, the assembly has decided to remain in contempt.

It's All in the Constitution: National Assembly Not Annulled

Article 336.9 of the country's constitution gives powers to the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court to resolve any situation that may arise among the state powers. According to Venezuela's constitution, the functions of the constitutional branch of the Supreme Court include acting "to resolve constitutional controversies arising between any of the organs of Public Power."

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Fake-News-Debunked-Assembly-Not-Annulled-No-Coup---20170330-0026.html

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Venezuela Supreme Court Says National Assembly Still in Contempt

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The National Assembly of Venezuela has been in contempt for more than three months. | Photo: EFE

Published 30 March 2017 (22 hours 27 minutes ago)

The National Assembly could easily reconstitute itself by removing the three lawmakers who were installed despite their elections being overturned.
The Supreme Court of Venezuela issued a ruling Wednesday in a case over a proposed "mixed" enterprise where it reaffirmed that the country's National Assembly is still in contempt of the constitution.

The top court added that while the legislature continues to act outside of the law, the court "ensures the rule of law" and will exercise parliamentary powers where necessary.

"As long as the disrespect and invalidity of the proceedings of the National Assembly persists, this Constitutional Chamber will ensure that the parliamentary powers are exercised directly by this Chamber or by the body it has in place to ensure the rule of law," says the ruling.

The statement came in a ruling following an appeal filed by the Venezuelan Corporation of Petroleum to Article 33 of the Organic Law of Hydrocarbons, on the creation of joint ventures.


The article stipulates that all joint ventures require prior approval from the National Assembly, the Supreme Court transferred that authority to President Nicolas Maduro "to ensure the rule of law."

On Jan. 5, 2016, the court declared the National Assembly in contempt for swearing in three opposition lawmakers whose elections were suspended temporarily for voting irregularities in the Amazon region. Given that it has been operating with non-verified people acting as legislators, the court has said all of the Assembly's actions are illegal.

According to constitutional lawyer Enrique Tineo Suquet, the National Assembly could easily resolve its legal status by requesting the body's originally elected president, Henry Ramos Allup, call for a session to remove the three lawmakers. Tineo Suquet says that despite this, the assembly has decided to remain in contempt.

"What the National Assembly can't do should be done by the Court to prevent the state from being diluted," said Tineo Suquet.

Peru recalled its ambassador from Caracas in protest, while the OAS head Luis Almagro called the ruling a "self-coup," in his continued attempt to undermine the South American nation.

Article 336.9 of the country's constitution gives powers to the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court to resolve any situation that may arise among the state powers.

According to Venezuela's Constitution, the functions of the constitutional branch of the Supreme Court include acting "to resolve constitutional controversies arising between any of the organs of Public Power."

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Supreme-Court-Says-National-Assembly-Still-in-Contempt-20170330-0013.html

Imperialist Coup Plotters Rail Against a Coup - What Is Really Happening in Venezuela?

By JORGE MARTIN - IN DEFENCE OF MARXISM, March 31st 2017

“There’s been a coup in Venezuela! Maduro has carried out a power-grab!” Just a few days before the 15th anniversary of the short lived coup against the democratically elected president Chavez (11-13 April, 2002), those who carried out that coup (the Venezuelan oligarchy, their masters in Washington and its lapdogs in Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Santiago de Chile and Lima, cheered on by the media wolf pack in Madrid and the US) are now shouting and screaming like hyenas against an alleged “self coup” by president Maduro.

What are the facts? The immediate cause of this hypocritical outcry is the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) on March 29 which said that since the National Assembly is in contempt of court, the TSJ will henceforth take over its powers for itself or another power it determines. Immediately, the president of the National Assembly, Julio Borges, declared this as a “coup d’Etat” and Organisation of American States general secretary Luis Almagro described it as a “self coup” and called for the urgent convening of the OAS Permanent Council in order to activate its Democratic Charter against Venezuela. The Peruvian government decided to withdraw its ambassador from Venezuela.

What are the roots of this ruling? Since the victory of the right wing opposition in the National Assembly elections in December 2015, there has been a sharp conflict between the different powers of the state. Already at the end of December 2015, the TSJ ruled that there had been irregularities in the election of deputies in the Amazonas state and declared the election null and void and ordered it to be re-run. Proof was presented that opposition politicians had been involved in vote-buying. This affected four deputies, two from the opposition, one from the PSUV and another one elected in the indigenous list (also a supporter of the opposition). However, these three opposition deputies were key as they would have given the opposition a two thirds majority and therefore much wider powers. The National Assembly refuse to obey the order of the TSJ and swore in the three opposition deputies for Amazonas in January 2016. Again the TSJ declared the act as null and void and in contravention of its earlier ruling. In August 2016, the TSJ declared that the National Assembly Presiding Council and the opposition deputies were in contempt of court for having broken two of its rulings.

In a further escalation of the institutional conflict, in October 2016, the National Assembly voted to initiate proceedings for a “political trial” of president Maduro and also proceedings to declare that Maduro had “abandoned his office”. Amongst the reasons given for these actions was the allegation that Maduro is not a Venezuelan citizen and therefore unable to be president (!!). Finally in January 2017, the National Assembly declared that president Maduro had indeed “abandoned his office”. How can he be accused of “abandoning his office” and of “carrying out a power grabbing coup” at the same time is anybody’s guess. The National Assembly furthermore called on the Organisation of American States to invoke its Democratic Charter against Venezuela, in effect calling on foreign powers to violate Venezuelan sovereignty, something which reveals clearly the character of the Venezuelan oligarchy. The attempt to use the Democratic Charter was defeated at the OAS, despite direct threats from Washington against a number of member countries.

Finally, the government enquired from the TSJ whether it needed to send its decision to create joint venture companies in the oil sector to be ratified by the National Assembly. The TSJ replied with its ruling on March 29, that, since the National Assembly was in contempt of court and had not taken any actions to rectify that, the government did not have to send its decisions to it and that the TSJ was taking over National Assembly legislative powers to exercise them directly or through any other organ of power it would determine. That ruling had been preceded by one a day earlier in which the TSJ ruled that since the National Assembly was in contempt of court, its members could not enjoy parliamentary immunity.

If the opposition National Assembly wanted to actually use its powers, it would be easy to abide by the TSJ ruling on the three Amazonas deputies and then start legislating. However, the opposition is not really interested in that, but rather wants to create an incident as big as possible, to justify the removal of Maduro from the presidency.

We must oppose the hypocritical campaign of those who actually did carry out a coup in Venezuela in 2002, who now want to remove Maduro from power and to invoke foreign intervention against Venezuela. If they were to achieve their aims, we know clearly what would be the consequences: all of the gains of the Bolivarian revolution would be destroyed, the social missions abolished, nationalised companies and landed estates returned to their former owners, the labour law would be abolished allowing for mass layoffs in state and private enterprises, old age pensions massively cut, health care and education slashed and a regime of assault on basic democratic rights instituted. If anyone doubts this, you just need to see the initial measures taken by right wing governments as they have come to power in Argentina and Brazil. In Venezuela it would be ten times worse.

However, this is not just a question of who is right and who is wrong from a legal or procedural point of view. Like all fundamental issues in society, this is going to be resolved on the basis of who holds real power, in terms of the armed forces and/or mass mobilisation of the people in the streets which can break that state power. At the moment it does not seem that the reactionary opposition holds either. They have made constant appeals to the Army to come out “in defence of the Constitution” (read: to remove Maduro) which have so far fallen on deaf ears. Their most recent attempts to bring people into the streets in September and October 2016 completely floundered for the lack of a clear and decisive strategy. Some of the opposition leaders called for a march on the Miraflores presidential palace, but when the day came they backed off, provoking anger and demoralisation from their own followers.

Concessions to capitalists undermine the revolution

Beyond the legal and institutional questions, we have to ask ourselves what is Maduro’s government doing with its power? What is its strategy? A few days ago, Nicolás Maduro made a number of statements at the Expo Venezuela Potencia 2017 trade fair, which leave no doubt as to the fact that his strategy is one of making ever growing concessions to the capitalists, national and international. He rejected what he called was a “dirty campaign which says that we have a Communist model and we reject private enterprise”. On the contrary, he said, “90% of the economy is in the hands of private companies” (In fact what he meant to say was that 90% of all companies are in private hands, though they represent a smaller percentage of the economy.) He then proceeded to announce further concessions to the capitalists, national and foreign, by giving them loans from state owned banks, both in Bolivars and in dollars, and by further liberalising the foreign exchange controls so as to allow private companies easier access to dollars (which come from the profits of the oil industry).

These statements and actions have provoked widespread anger and unease amongst the ranks of the Bolivarian movement. They are a continuation and a deepening of the policy which the Maduro government has been following since it was elected: to respond to the attacks of the opposition in the political and institutional arena, while making ever more concessions to the capitalists in the economic field.

That is a policy which leads directly to disaster. The Venezuelan economy is in a deep crisis, with hyperinflation, serious scarcity of basic food products and medicines and a paralysis of production. This crisis is the result, in the last instance, of the rebellion of the productive forces - which continue to operate under the framework of a capitalist market - against the attempts of the government to regulate them, through price controls and foreign exchange controls. This has been aggravated and multiplied by the collapse in the price of oil in the world market. Faced with severely limited hard currency reserves and oil revenue, the government has resorted to prioritising the payment of foreign debt over imports, which have been severely cut, further aggravating scarcity. At the same time in order to pay for the state budget, where there is a running deficit amounting to 15-20% of GDP it has resorted to a policy of printing money which in turn has led to hyperinflation. What has failed in Venezuela is not socialism, which never existed, but rather, the attempt to regulate the capitalist economy through state intervention and make it work in the benefit of the majority.

There are only two ways out of this economic crisis: one is to lift all regulations and allow the capitalist market to work “normally”, which would mean that the workers will be made to pay the full price for the crisis. That is the direction the government of Maduro has been progressively taking. The other is to expropriate the capitalists and run the economy on the basis of a democratic plan of production which can satisfy the needs of the population, while at the same time making an internationalist appeal to the workers and peasants of the region to come to the aid of the revolution and defeat the attempts of their own ruling classes to smash it. That would mean to make the capitalists pay for the crisis.

The continuation of the current policy of the government will only aggravate the crisis from the point of view of the working people, thus further eroding support for it amongst the Bolivarian masses. The government has the idea that this year will see oil prices climb up to a level around 70 to 80 dollars a barrel and that this would give it the necessary margin to invest in social programs again, and thereby recovering popular support. After that it would be able to call for elections under better conditions. This is a pipe dream. Oil prices climbed slightly after the OPEC-Russia deal to cut production, but this has been cut across because as oil prices were rising, fracking became profitable again in the US, thus increasing global production and sending the prices down again.

How to fight the offensive of imperialism and the oligarchy

If we are to be frank, the policy of the government represents a betrayal of the legacy of president Chavez. In his last statements before his death, the Golpe de Timón (Turn the Rudder) and the Plan de la Patria Socialista (Socialist Country Plan), Chavez stressed two key ideas: a) we are still in a capitalist economy and we must move towards socialism, and b) we must destroy the bourgeois state and replace it with a “communal state” (that is, one based on the Socialist Communes). With all its limitations, these were correct ideas.

The current leadership of the Bolivarian movement and the Maduro government have moved in the opposite direction: in the economic field they have been making more and more concessions to the capitalists, while in the political field they have stifled all avenues of popular participation, workers’ control, rank and file power.

Regardless of their intentions, we must say it clearly: these policies will lead directly to the defeat of the Bolivarian revolution and the taking of power by the bourgeois opposition. This would be a disaster. In order to avert it we must return to the struggle for socialism and against the bourgeois state.

Faced with the onslaught of imperialism and the Venezuelan capitalists, what would be the most effective way to fight them? First of all, Venezuela should break diplomatic relations with Washington which is leading and coordinating this campaign. Second it should expropriate the property of all multinational companies from any country involved in this gross interference in Venezuelan national sovereignty. Thirdly, it should expropriate the properties of the Venezuelan oligarchy which has been constantly plotting against the will of the people for the last 15 years. Fourthly, anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist committees of workers, soldiers and peasants should be formed in every company, factory, barracks and in the countryside. These committees should be armed and exercise workers’ control against the sabotage of the oligarchy. Finally, the Bolivarian revolution should make an appeal to the workers and peasants of Latin America and the working class of the world to come to its aid and block the attempts of reactionary governments to intervene against it.

That is the only policy which can guarantee the defence of the revolution.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13015

Bolding added

In theory and in heart I totally agree, the national booj should have been emasculated when Chavez was alive. Well, hindsight is golden, but more importantly neither the good folks at DoC and certainly not I have detailed information as to conditions on the ground, most importantly, how reliable is the army.

Venezuela Denounces “Serious Altercation of Constitutional Order” at OAS

By BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA , April 3rd 2017

Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry issued an official statement this Monday evening, after at least fifteen countries pushed ahead with an extraordinary session at the Organization of American States to discuss Venezuela’s institutional standoff between the Supreme Court and the National Assembly. The session took place in spite of the fact that Bolivia, which recently assumed the Presidency of the Permanent Council, moved to cancel the meeting on Monday morning due to concerns that it had not been called in accordance with OAS norms. The extraordinary session began at 2pm without the presence of Bolivia, nor the Permanent Council’s Vice-President, Haiti. Several other member-states were also absent.

Full statement:

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela responsibly denounces before the international community an unprecedented act aimed at the destruction of the Organization of American States, through which a group of governments in league with the Secretary General, have carried out a take-over of the Presidency of the Permanent Council to impose on the organization and the rest of its member-states their own illicit agenda, which subverts its norms and seriously transgresses the principles and aims consecrated in its Founding Charter.

Insolently, a group of governments have opted to take matters into their own hands, and usurp the functions of the Presidency of the Permanent Council through legal sophistry, which is patently false at first glance, in their obsession to impose their illegal and deeply unfair plan to use Venezuela to organize the imposition of a new fascist hegemony once again, aimed at dominating the continent.

We categorically denounce these actions as a flagrant aggression against the institutions of the organization and a dark regression to an interventionist past at the OAS. This sacred, sovereign, free and independent homeland, will never bow before the imperial powers and its lackeys*.

Caracas, April 3, 2017

*Here the Foreign Ministry uses the word “sepoys,” referring to Indian soldiers serving under the British colonial administration.

Translated by Rachael Boothroyd-Rojas for Venezuelanalysis.com.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13027

Venezuela Right-Wing Opposition Plans Violent Attacks: Lawmaker

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Protesters clash with police forces in Caracas on April 4, who tried to march towards the National Assembly to support the removal of TSE judges. | Photo: EFE

Published 6 April 2017

Lawmaker Diosdado Cabello presented evidence of a coup attempt planned by the opposition with terrorist acts and looting.
Venezuelan socialist lawmaker and former head of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, said Wednesday that the country's right-wing opposition has been harboring a coup plot and attempting to foment violence to justify foreign military intervention amid a tense political standoff between the government of President Nicolas Maduro and its opponents.

During his program "Con el Mazo Dando" broadcast on state television, Cabello presented audio recording that provided evidence of a coordinated opposition destabilization plan that included violence in the streets and military attacks in Caracas, with the aim of creating a political scenario that would favor military intervention by the United States and the ultimate removal of the Maduro government.

"They implore the intervention of foreign military forces ... those opposition supporters who don't have the balls to carry out a coup as they want, those opposition supporters who don't have the courage to stand as it should be and they send someone else to shed blood for them and after skate over the blood of others and celebrate that they toppled Maduro," said Cabello, vice president of Maduro's United Socialist Party of Venezuela or PSUV.

The evidence Cabello presented included a conversation between security agents that mentions opposition figures including Julio Borges, president of the National Assembly; Roberto Enriquez and Oswaldo Alvarez Paz from the Copei party; Eduardo Vetancourt, former agent of the DISIP, an old intelligence organization in Venezuela; Colonel Zomacal Hernandez and U.S. Senator Marcos Rubio.


One of the agents also mentions he has 32 kilos of explosives for the violent attacks that would be used for the opposition march called for Thursday.

"We are not going to surrender and they will never step on Miraflores again, because anyone who betrays his homeland and is imploring an invasion of foreign forces must be treated as an enemy in his homeland, as a traitor to his homeland," said Cabello.

Cabello said the Venezuelan opposition "is looking for a fact that triggers an action that allows an invasion of Venezuela."

In 2014 violent protests called "guarimbas," or violent street blockades, carries out by the opposition were responsible for the death of 43 peoples and more than 800 wounded.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Right-Wing-Opposition-Plans-Violent-Attacks-Lawmaker-20170406-0005.html

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Thousands of Venezuelans March Against Imperialism, OAS Interference

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1491353588989/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/04/04/venezuela_march_crop1491353575195.jpg_1718483346.jpg
As far as the eyes can see, Chavistas covered the pitch at the entrance to the opposition-dominated National Assembly building. | Photo: Reagan Des Vignes / teleSUR

Published 4 April 2017

Meanwhile, the opposition coalition rallied its supporters in a bid to further solicit the application of the OAS' so-called "Democratic Charter."
Young people seemed to dominate the numbers at an anti-imperialist march, early Tuesday in Caracas, Venezuela. This, as thousands pounded the streets, expressing a sense of fatigue at constant right-wing attacks on the country's sovereignty.

The march was a direct counter against opposition marches, as Venezuela's MUD coalition rallied its supporters in a bid to further solicit the application of the Organization of American States' so-called "Democratic Charter," which could see the country suspended from the regional bloc.

From a podium just outside the opposition-led National Assembly building, PSUV Vice President Diosdado Cabello gave a powerful speech that garnered huge rounds of applause heard for blocks around. The top socialist leader slammed moves by opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly to remove Supreme Court judges.

This comes after the court's decision, last week, to assume temporary authority to approve mixed enterprises — a function that court acknowledged falls under the jurisdiction of the National Assembly, which the court says is currently in contempt for allowing unauthorized people to serve as lawmakers. The court, one day later, rescinded the decision following criticisms from both opposition and government ranks.

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Venezuelan youth groups were more present than usual at the anti-imperialist march | Photo: Reagan Des Vignes / teleSUR

"We are here, fighting like everyone else," said Mayin Sequera, a member of the youth group, Juventud Rebelde (Youth Rebellion). "We are fighting to uphold the Bolivarian Revolution. We are here to tell the world that we are an independent people. We are a democracy, and we have autonomy over our own affairs."

On Monday, the OAS held a controversial, extraordinary meeting where a partial group of member states adopted a resolution which listed three points of action against Venezuela following the Supreme Court decision and subsequent reversal. The resolution said the events "constitute an alteration of the constitutional order of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela," and threatened "further diplomatic initiatives to foster the restoration of the democratic institutional system."

http://www.telesurtv.net/export/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/04/04/img_8458_new.jpg_231334169.jpg
Marchers did not mince words in response to OAS secretary-general, Luis Almagro: "Almagro, put that letter up your ass." | Photo: Reagan Des Vignes /teleSUR

At the OAS Monday meeting on the resolution, Venezuela's representative and other countries stormed out of a session of the 35-nation bloc, calling it an institutional "coup d'etat" after Bolivia was summarily removed as council president so the states who proposed the motion could continue with the meeting.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro reacted to the meeting, saying that the OAS "has surpassed itself in its aggression against Venezuela," and that it "is truly a court of inquisition with all the abuses and vulgarities."

The move by the OAS is unlikely to help resolve the country's problems, nor the tensions between the main political factions.

For many Venezuelans, especially those in the streets, the response is resounding: "Leave Venezuela in peace!"

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Huge-Anti-imperialist-March-Blasts-OAS-Interference-20170404-0031.html

Four More Killed in Opposition-Led Violence, Death Count Stands at Six

By RACHAEL BOOTHROYD ROJAS

Caracas, April 12, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Four more citizens have been killed in opposition-led street violence in Venezuela, bringing the death count to a total of six since the protests began nine days ago.

The victims are: Bryan Principal, 13, Miguel Ángel Colmenares, 36, Oliver Villa Camargo, 29, and Antonio Gruseny Canelon, 32.

Principal, Colmenarez, and Canelon were all killed in the western state of Lara, one of the focal points of the violence, while Camargo was shot dead in central Caracas.

According to reports, Principal was killed by opposition protestors who opened fire on the Ali Primera government housing project in Barquisimeto during a black-out on Tuesday night. He later died from his injuries in the hospital.

In statements released following the minor’s death, residents at Ali Primera explained that the housing project had been at the centre of an ongoing confrontation between pro-government supporters and opposition protesters throughout the day.

Earlier on, opposition supporters had allegedly tried to forcibly enter the government apartment block in a bid to release prisoners being held by the national guard inside. At around 7pm, residents from the two adjacent private apartment buildings tried to close the street with burning tires. Shots were fired from one of the private complexes when ocupants from Ali Primera tried to remove the roadblocks. Principal was hit by two bullets while attempting to leave the scene with his mother, according to witnesses.

Ali Primera residents have since condemned the violence and criticized Lara opposition governor Henri Falcon for failing to send the local police to quell the unrest. They also accused local mayor Alfredo Ramos of collaborating with violent opposition protestors by providing them with trash from local government waste-disposal trucks to block the roads.

“Mr President. We want total JUSTICE for these acts, and we do not want what happened in our apartment block to go unpunished,” reads the residents’ statement.

In another incident also in Barquisimeto, Miguel Ángel Colmenares was shot in unclear circumstances by unidentified assailants on motorbikes near a local meeting centre for the leftist Great Patriotic Pole political alliance. His family say he was an opposition supporter but was not involved in any of the protests.

The Public Prosecutor's office has dispatched two district attorneys to investigate the cases.

Meanwhile, opposition protestor Antonio Gruseny Canelon, 32, died from gunshot wounds in the early hours of April 13. The opposition demonstrator was reportedly shot during a protest in Cabudare, Lara, on April 11 and was promptly taken to the hospital. To date, no one has been charged with Canelon shooting, although opposition leaders, including the leader of far-right party Vente Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado, and Miranda Governor Henrique Capriles Radonski, promptly took to Twitter, blaming the government for his death.

“Another young person killed! Another family in mourning because of the blind ambition of the Madurista narco-corrupt leadership! All solidarity to our people in Lara,” tweeted Capriles.

In Caracas, a fourth person was also shot dead in the afternoon of April 13, allegedly by opposition protestors. Venezuelan news agencies report that Oliver Villa Camargo was driving through central Caracas with a friend when he attempted to cross a roadblock set up by opposition activists in El Paraiso.

According to a report by Venezuela’s El Universal, “when they passed the roadblock they were approached by two subjects traveling on a motorcycle and without a word they shot at the men, impacting in Villa Camargo’s face”.

Camargo was able to flee the scene, but died minutes later on Caracas’ principal Francisco Fajardo freeway.

Bystander Jairo Ortiz, 19, and protestor Daniel Queliz, 20, were killed earlier on in the week. A district attorney has been designated to investigate Queliz's death, while a policeman has been indicted for killing Ortiz.

The violent protests began nine days ago as an off-shoot of demonstrations called by the Venezuelan opposition to protest against an alleged violation of the constitution by the Supreme Court.

Nonetheless, their demands have since morphed to include immediate presidential elections, which are not due to be held until 2018. Other opposition activists have said they will remain in the streets until the national government falls, sharing the hashtag #ElectionsNoLibertyYes on Twitter.

Similar protests led by opposition demonstrators known as the ‘guarimbas’ also erupted in 2014, leading to the deaths of 43 people. The victims were mostly state security personnel and passersby.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13052

“Mr President. We want total JUSTICE for these acts, and we do not want what happened in our apartment block to go unpunished,” reads the residents’ statement.

These US backed murderers have to be crushed, eliminated, wiped-out. There is no use trying to play to any western audience - fuck 'em! Bring out the army and make these gringo hirelings rot in prison.

These US backed murderers have to be crushed, eliminated, wiped-out. There is no use trying to play to any western audience - fuck 'em! Bring out the army and make these gringo hirelings rot in prison.

Question is, how 'reliable' is the army? Theory and history tell us that doing 'socialism' halfway, a quarter way or whatever always ends in tears for the working class. Leaving aside whatever predilections the leadership might have, local conditions, which might be influenced by disparate things may make full scale expropriation of the means of production very difficult to near impossible. It's a fair guess that many if not most generals are still of ruling class origin, could be tricky. These situations are untenable, the bourgeoisie are a fifth column within the state even when defanged by expropriation, without that they are terminal cancer. I think only a full scale mobilization of the masses, capable of cowing the military rank and file is going to save the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. Probably should have been done while Chavez was alive, hindsight golden as always. Beat this threat back and expropriate, let the scum rise to Miami.

of course, if this is legit it might make a difference....

Russia, China and Iran announced sending troops and weapons to the military exercises of Venezuela to prevent intrusion (+ video)
Source: resumenlatinoamericano.org/

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PZ4iPSNVXJU/WOzC4GYIiLI/AAAAAAAASRw/2HDVhsprxso_TJB6B1fIh1_xvhpuir16ACLcB/s320/Apoyo.jpg
Vladimir Padrino Lopez

The representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense said the o mospondia would provide strong military support and equipment in military exercises for overall defense of Venezuela, under threat from NATO in neighboring Colombia.

Likewise, Venezuelan Defense Minister assured that the country is completely ready to confront any attack, armed or not, to protect its interests and its national security.

" We are ready to face any attack in the area of armed or non-armed struggle, to safeguard the interests safeguarded by the Constitution and have sufficient legitimacy and legal basis to build our country's integrated defense model", said Vladimir Padrino Lopez , Venezuelan Defense Minister.


Defense Minister expressed his confidence that this institution recently created (Council for the Defense of the Nation) has the foundations and the legal tools to guarantee the sovereignty of Venezuela and expressed his gratitude to the allied countries, which show friendship by participating in this type of exercises, and these countries are also victims of the same enemy.

He stressed that this executive body increasingly using national resources and makes national power to put in service of the armed struggle. "

Ciberusia

Recall that Venezuela counts until this moment more than 1.000.000 citizens Tsavistas who have voluntarily enrolled in the register for national defense, which corresponds to the National Bolivarian Politofylaki ( Milicia Nacional Bolivariana ), which is incorporated in the design to compete with the army, any foreign attack scenario in the country.

The Padrino Lopez also expressed regret for the fact that the right criticized the National Bolivarian Armed Forces ( FANB) for participation in the "Great Commission Dominant Supply" ( Gran Mision Abastecimiento Soberano ) "or one that calls into question the concept political-military union, "he said.



Related posts:
Murdered Lieutenant Felix Velasquez, former commander of Bolivarianis Politifylakis
O Madouri complains that prepare NATO intervention in Venezuela
Preparations for military intervention in Venezuela


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PZ4iPSNVXJU/WOzC4GYIiLI/AAAAAAAASRw/2HDVhsprxso_TJB6B1fIh1_xvhpuir16ACLcB/s320/Apoyo.jpg
"Venezuela counts until this moment more than 1.000.000 citizens Tsavistas who have voluntarily enrolled in the register for national defense, which corresponds to the National Bolivarian Politofylaki ( Milicia Nacional Bolivariana )".
Posted by Vangelis Gonatas at 8:11 pm

http://prensa-rebelde.blogspot.gr/2017/04/video.html

Google Translator

Couldn't get the video to 'take', do check it out at link.

Couldn't get the video to 'take', do check it out at link.

Saw the video. Very heartening. Maduro may be on the right track (for his particular kind of revolution). Lets hope Russia and China can actually help.

Saw the video. Very heartening. Maduro may be on the right track (for his particular kind of revolution). Lets hope Russia and China can actually help.

Russia Warns Against US Interference in Venezuela, Calls for Dialogue

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (L) and Russian leader, Vladimir Putin (R). | Photo: Reuters


Published 13 April 2017

A Russian foreign ministry spokesperson slammed a statement by the U.S. Southern Command, saying these would further worsen the crisis in Venezuela.
Russia’s foreign ministry voiced its concern over violence by right-wing protests in Venezuela while rebuking recent threats by the U.S. Southern Command, saying these would only stoke violence and ultimately act against U.S. interests.

“Seriously alarmed, we are monitoring the situation in our friend Venezuela, where violent clashes between opposition demonstrators and the police continue, even despite the arrival of Easter,” Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told media Wednesday.

The top Russian official also expressed sympathy “for the victims of the spiral of violence that feeds on street riots,” while also alluding to the tragic history of U.S. interference in the region.

“We should highlight the risks of the increase of the destructive scene that we had previously outlined and recall the sad events in the ’70s in Chile,” Zakharova said in a reference to the U.S.-backed coup against Chilean president Salvador Allende following months of violent protests and economic sabotage.

Zakharova slammed a statement by the U.S. Southern Command which threatened a regional response to the instability in the country.

“Such statements only add more instability and worsen the situation in the South American country and we see it as a stimulus to the radicals to create an atmosphere of instability, as well as to increase violent confrontation,” she said.

“The way we see it, it should not benefit at all the interest of the United States and in general, those of the international community, including the regional countries,” she stated.

According to Zakharova, the solution to the country’s problems lie in “resuming the national negotiations in the interest of resolving the serious socio-economic problems” in Venezuela, while at the same time “maintaining exchange and supporting the Venezuelan legitimate authorities.”

Since the beginning of April, opposition leaders have been leading anti-government demonstrations calling for the ouster of the country’s Supreme Court judges as well as President Nicolas Maduro. According to reports, five people have been killed in the ensuing violence, including a 13-year-old boy who was killed Wednesday when opposition protesters entered a social housing complex.

http://houstoncommunistparty.com/russia-warns-against-us-interference-in-venezuela-calls-for-dialogue/

Given Russian behavior in Syria their 'help' could turn out to be a double edged sword.

Some people will do anything for their 'partners'.

CP of Venezuela, NO TO THE ILLEGALIZATION OF PCV! [En, Es]
Thursday, 13 April 2017 11:28 Communist Party of Venezuela E-mail Print PDF
NO TO THE ILLEGALIZATION OF PCV! [En, Es]



Comrades

COMMUNIST AND WORKERS PARTIES OF THE WORLD


Dear comrades,

Receive classist and revolutionary greetings from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV), as we call on your attention to offer you an explanation on the threat of illegalization that currently weighs on our Party for the fourth time during our 86 years of struggles.

For more than a year, both publicly and in private meetings, PCV has stated repeatedly that it will not submit itself to the stipulations set forth by the Rules for the Renewal of Enrollment Lists of Members of Organizations for National Political Purposes. These new Rules, issued on March 4th, 2016, by the National Elections Council (CNE for its Spanish initials), contain some terms and conditions which had never been applied before, which are unacceptable to the dignity and safety of a revolutionary organization and its members, and which overstep the current legal framework.

According to the new procedures established by these Rules, it is now mandatory that the membership of all parties must register directly with CNE, distorting the legally and historically established relationship between the electoral authorities and the political parties, and between these and their respective members. This not only goes against the Statutes and organic principles of PCV as a party of cadres, but also creates a situation potentially dangerous to the internal life of our organization, since if tens, hundreds or thousands of people who are not really members of our Party, get registered as such by CNE, then these may claim the right to participate in internal decisions and debates, including the election of our leadership and candidates.

Also, the Rules provide for open and public access, through the CNE website, to the personal data of those who register as members of each party, which violates the right of citizens to maintain privacy about their political choices, and weakens the principle of secret vote. This, in turn, puts at risk the personal security and employment stability of Communists and other left-leaning militants, since neo-fascists and public and private employers will be able to access this information and use it to identify and attack revolutionaries. Moreover, the new Rules issued in 2016, compared to the old ones of 2011, not only reduced from six months to 14 hours the period for registration of enrollment lists, but also established equal procedures and requirements for the parties that did not take part in the previous two elections and those, like ours, that did participate.

After the publication of these Rules, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of PCV sent on June 10th, 2016, a letter to CNE explaining our objections and proposing amendments, but the electoral authorities never replied, thus disregarding their constitutional duty to provide «a timely and adequate response» to any proper request by the citizenry (Article 51 of the National Constitution); this also demonstrates the lack of political will that has prevailed within CNE to seek a solution to this situation.

For more than fourteen months, there have been several bilateral meetings and exchanges with senior Government officials, as well as broader meetings between representatives of the different parties that make up the «Simón Bolívar» Great Patriotic Pole and drive the Bolivarian process, including leaders of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). In all of those opportunities, PCV has expressed our objections to the Rules issued by CNE, objections which were shared by the majority of the parties therein. However, while some national leaders of PSUV have expressed their «concern» about this matter, others have publicly stated that the «renewal» process is legal and should be carried out by CNE as established; therefore, the official position of the party in Government still remains unclear.

Earlier this year, it became evident that CNE was getting ready to enforce the process of «renewal» under these opprobrious Rules, shielding itself behind the Law on Political Parties, Public Meetings and Demonstrations, which dates back to 1965 when it was enacted during the most repressive moment of the «Puntofijista» regime as part of its efforts to police and control leftist parties. This Law, despite an amendment in 2010, still maintains its repressive contents and nature, and thus clashes with the principles and postulates of the National Constitution of 1999, especially with regards to the promotion of people's participation, activism and control over public administration.

Therefore, on February 16th, 2017, PCV filed at the Constitutional Court of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ for its Spanish initials) an appeal for the annulment of Article 25 of the Law on Political Parties, which establishes the requirement of «renewal» of political parties, on the grounds that such a requirement is unconstitutional. At the same time, our Party also requested precautionary measures to suspend the process of «renewal», which nevertheless was started by CNE on March 4th.

Almost two months have elapsed since PCV filed the appeal in the TSJ, and more than a month since CNE started the process of «renewal», and still the Constitutional Court has not made any decision neither on our request of precautionary measures nor on the merits of our appeal. This is a violation of the constitutional principle that establishes the right «to obtain promptly the relevant decision» from the courts (Article 26 of the National Constitution).

According to the schedule announced by CNE for the «renewal» process, PCV is due on May 20th and 21st; PCV will not participate and will not recognize as its members any people who may register as such during those days. Between July 9th and 19th, the final report on the results of the process will be announced; CNE has already asserted that any party that is not «renewed» by then will be «canceled» (such is the wording in the Law), and therefore will lose its legal status and entity, with all the implications that this entails.

This would outlaw the main, oldest and most persistent instrument for the struggle of the Venezuelan working class and people against imperialist domination and capitalist exploitation. Such a threat takes place in the midst of a severe crisis of the extractionist and dependent capitalist model of our country; an increase in the interventionist policies of imperialism against the moral reference that the Bolivarian process still represents; and a sharpening of class contradictions and of the struggle for power between the pro-imperialist right-wing bloc and the forces that support the Government, and even within each of these blocs.

In this context, the Central Committee of PCV proposes to the Communist, Workers and Revolutionary Parties of the World that they consider the possibility of participating in the campaign «No to the illegalization of PCV!», thus expressing the opinion of the international Communist and anti-imperialist movement in support of PCV and for the protection of the rights and constitutional guarantees of our Party. We suggest that this opportunity be used also for the denunciation of imperialist interference against the sovereignty and self-determination of the Venezuelan people.

We ask that the public statements that your Parties may issue on this matter, be delivered to the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in your country, and also that you send them to our e-mails: internacional.pcvenezuela@gmail.com, dnopcv@gmail.com and directortribunapopular@gmail.com. And, if possible, also to the Twitter accounts: @DPresidencia, @NicolasMaduro, @TSJ_Venezuela, @Tibisay_Lucena, @taniadamelio and @PCV_Venezuela.

Thanks in advance for the support and internationalist solidarity you may offer us.



With Communist greetings, on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV):

Oscar Figuera G.

General Secretary

Carolus Wimmer

Secretary for International Relations

http://www.solidnet.org/venezuela-communist-party-of-venezuela/cp-of-venezuela-no-to-the-illegalization-of-pcv-en-es

Fascist entryism and a hit list

Support for Chavismo Climbs in Venezuela

By RACHAEL BOOTHROYD-ROJAS

Caracas, April 13, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Support for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and the allied leftist coalition, the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP), has risen to 35% – up from 27% in January – according to a new poll.

Carried out by independent think tank Hinterlaces, the survey shows that the ruling Chavista parties – which share the same voting ticket – continue to be Venezuela’s most popular electoral option despite an ongoing economic crisis.

Additionally, the poll puts support for the entirety of Venezuela’s opposition parties six points below at 29%, which includes 7% for Democratic Action, 7% for the Popular Will party, 6% for the Justice First party, and 6% for the opposition MUD coalition as a whole.

Nonetheless, a significant 36% of Venezuelans interviewed did not sympathize with any national party.

In its conclusions based on the poll, Hinterlaces asserts that the PSUV “continues to be the main political, social, and cultural force in the country,” while Democratic Action and the Popular Will party have managed to “consolidate themselves as the principal parties of the opposition, displacing Justice First” (PJ).

However, support for the Popular Will party appears to have dropped from 8.6% in January, while backing for Democratic Action has risen by 1%.

The pollster attributed the rise of the two opposition parties in the MUD to the “fall” of PJ leader Henrique Capriles Radonski, due to “his repeated setbacks as promoter of the failed strategies carried forward by the opposition from 2013, and for the growing unpopularity of his administration as governor of Miranda state”.

1580 people were interviewed as part of the poll, which has a 2.5% margin of error.

The survey results come on the back of another poll carried out by centre-right independent think tank Datanalisis in March, which put President Nicolas Maduro’s popularity ratings at 24.1%, according a report by Torino Capital. The figure represents an increase of 6% since November 2016, and places Maduro above other regional leaders such as Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto (21%), de-facto Brazilian President Michel Temer (10%), and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet (23%).

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13053

President Maduro Calls to Defend Peace and Democracy
Caracas, Apr 17 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro assured Monday that Venezuela is living a time of revolution and loyalty, and called for the maintenance of peace and democracy in the nation, in a tribute to the Bolivarian National Militias.

In his speech Monday at Casa de Miraflores (government house) to celebrate the 7th anniversary of the Bolivarian National Militias, the Venezuelan President said the brief dictatorship led by Pedro Carmona on April 12, 2012, in the aftermath of the coup against the government of then president Hugo Chavez will be remembered as 'the last of treason to the homeland.'

'The times in which the empire (USA) decides what should be done in Venezuela, and what should not be done, must remain behind,' Maduro added.

Maduro called all Venezuelans 'to take the full power of the Republic of Venezuela, the insurrection of all the miltary and popular forces the country has, don't even doubt it, not for a second.'

Maduro also lashed out at the Organization of American States (OAS) for meddling in Venezuela's internal affairs in complicity with the national rightwing, and said, that the Venezuelan people cannot be underestimated, because 'it is a people with conscience, with values,' that will never again accept any kind of neoliberal models.

Finally, the President announced the plan for the expansion of the Bolivarian National Militia had been approved, to increase its operational disposition in integral defense of the country.

http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=11812&SEO=president-maduro-calls-to-defend-peace-and-democracy

Revolutionary people and opposition march this April 19 in Venezuela

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1492628498592/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/04/19/marcha_chavista.jpg_1718483347.jpg
The Venezuelan deputy Diosdado Cabello rejected the intentions of the right to promote foreign intervention against the country. | Photo: teleSUR
Published 19 April 2017

The Chavista people filled the streets of Caracas in commemoration of the historic date reminiscent of the pro-independence struggle of Venezuela, while the opposition took some points from the capital in rejection of President Maduro.
Venezuelan revolutionary and patriot people filled the streets of the capital of Caracas this Wednesday in defense of sovereignty and independence as a commemoration of April 19, a date that recalls the libertarian gesture of the nation.

Likewise, the Chavistas marchistas concentrated in the popular avenue Bolivar also to reject the coup d'etat that drives right sectors with support of foreign factors.

"Here we are all concentrated for the peace of Venezuela, we do not want war and the opposition knows that the people only want peace, not the war that has only brought in countries like Syria the death of innocent people," he said. Manuel Quintana, 48 years old, from Los Teques.

To the Chavista concentration, arrived the president Nicolás Maduro, that has recently denounced a plan of the United States to destabilize its management.

In the middle of the day that recalls the 207 years of the first step towards independence of the country, the Venezuelan opposition also took to the streets as in previous days and there are already some outbreaks of violence in the capital.

The opposition of this country in the last demonstrations has provoked several vandal acts that have caused millionaire losses to the Venezuelan state.

The Venezuelan deputy Diosdado Cabello repudiated on Wednesday the intentions of the right to promote foreign intervention against the country.

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Pueblo-revolucionario-y-oposicion-marchan-este-19-de-Abril-en-Venezuela-20170419-0044.html

Google Translator

Communist Party of Greece: Criticism of certain contemporary opportunist views on the state

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LY05R37eaps/WPiExpoVqCI/AAAAAAAACmc/VzHkWdbTk3AB_qOV_DG5ws8tH_NnDdUqQCPcB/s320/VLADIMIR%2BLENIN%2B-%2BKKE%2BLOGO.jpg

POSITION OF THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SECTION OF THE CC OF THE KKE AT THE 11th ANNUAL CONFERENCE "V.I.LENIN, THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION AND THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD".

Source: inter.kke.gr.
The importance and timeliness of Lenin's work on the state.
100 years ago, a few months before the Great October Socialist Revolution and in particularly difficult and complex political conditions, V.I. Lenin wrote a fundamentally important work, "The State and Revolution", which, of course, was published for the first time after the October Revolution in 1918.
In this work, Lenin highlighted the essence and analyzed the class nature of the state: “The state is a product and a manifestation of the irreconcilability of class antagonisms. The state arises where, when and insofar as class antagonisms objectively cannot be reconciled. And, conversely, the existence of the state proves that the class antagonisms are irreconcilable.”[1]

Lenin in this work also establishes the need and timeliness of the socialist revolution and workers' state.
It was based on the views of K. Marx and F. Engels regarding the issue of the state, which were formulated in several works, such as the "Communist Manifesto", "the 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte", "the Civil War in France", the "Critique of the Gotha Programme", Engels' letter to Bebel on 18-18 of March 1875, Engels' introduction to the third editions of the Marx' "Civil war in France" etc in relation to the dictatorship of the proletariat. The conclusions Marx and Engels drew from the study and generalization of the experience and lessons of the revolutions was that the working class can acquire political power and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat only through socialist revolution, which destroys the bourgeois state apparatus and creates a new state apparatus. So, we can characteristically refer to the fact that Marx in his work "Critique of the Gotha Programme" stressed that: "Between capitalist and communist society there lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. Corresponding to this is also a political transition period in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat."[2]
Lenin highlighted the fundamental importance of this issue for those that understand the existence and determining role of the class struggle in social progress, noting that "particular attention should be paid to Marx's extremely profound remark that the destruction of the bureaucratic-military state machine is "the precondition for every real people's revolution""[3] and stressing that "Only he is a Marxist who extends the recognition of the class struggle to the recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat."[4]
In addition, Lenin sought to describe the characteristics of the communist social-political formation, basic aspects of the socialist state, while severely criticizing right opportunist and anarchist views in relation to the state.
Of course, this specific work of Lenin, and this is true for the rest of the entire titanic collection of his works, cannot be detached from his other works, such as, for example, "The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky", and always must be approached in a dialectical relationship with the historical developments. In any case, however, the Leninist approach to the state is an enormous legacy for the international communist movement, which must be utilized in a suitable way in order to repel social-democratic and opportunist views about the state, which have penetrated and continue to penetrate the international communist movement. Consequently, the goal of this intervention is not to present the Leninist positions or appropriate quotations from Lenin, but to provide a response based on the Marxist-Leninist understanding of the state to contemporary opportunist views. This is even more relevant today, when many views that Lenin fought against in his era are re-emerging in old and new forms.

The "neutral" non-class understanding of the state.
The forces of European opportunism constitute the basic tool for the further watering down of the communist characteristics of the communist and workers' parties. These are forces that are vehicles for bourgeois ideology inside the labour movement. In Europe, they have established their own ideological-political and organizational centre; the Party of the European Left (PEL), which some CPs that in the past were deeply influenced by eurocommunism have joined, such as the CPs of France and Spain. SYRIZA participates in it from Greece. This is a party that is contains forces influenced by the eurocommunist current that split from the KKE in 1968, and also forces that split from the KKE in 1991, under the influence of Gorbachev's "New Thinking". This party later merged with forces that came from social-democratic PASOK.
This party argues that:"The state, however, is not a fortress but a network, relationship and strategic arena for political struggle. It does not change from one day to the next, but on the contrary its necessary transformation presupposes constant and continuous battles, the involvement of the people, continuous democratization."[5]
As is apparent from the above, the bourgeois state is not considered by them to constitute by its very nature an organ for the domination of the bourgeois class, but a collection of institutions that can be transformed in a pro-people direction. On the basis of this view, it is argued that the character of the institutions of the bourgeois state, the bourgeois state as a whole, can be suitable shaped as long as "leftwing governments" hold sway.
This is clearly a misleading view, because in practice it detaches the state from its economic base, from the dominant economic relations. It creates illusions amongst the workers that the role of the bourgeois state and its institutions (e.g. parliament, government, army, police) depends on which political force ("left" or "right") is dominant in them.
Similarly dangerous views are being cultivated today in a number of Latin American countries, through the concept of "progressivism", through the various "progressive" and "left" governments, which after their electoral victories attempt to sow illusions among the people that the system can change via bourgeois elections and referenda.
In reality, however, there is no class "neutrality" on the part of the bourgeois state and its institutions. The state, as Marxism-Leninism has demonstrated, has a clear class content, which cannot be used via electoral processes and bourgeois governmental solutions in favour of the working class and social change.

On the view concerning the "Deep State".
The emergence of SYRIZA as a governing party in Greece led to the celebrations of many opportunist forces all over the world. Indeed, its cooperation with the nationalist ANEL party in government was interpreted by some as an attempt to control the deep state of Greece via this political governmental alliance.[6] Similarly, some presented the statements of made by A. Tsipras even before the elections, when he directly stated that Greece "belongs to the West" and that Greece's withdrawal from NATO was not on the agenda, as being a smart move.[7]
What is the aim of this view that separates the functions of the bourgeois state from each other like “salami slices”? Of course, inside the state apparatus of the bourgeois state, there are structures with different functions and tasks. However this does not support the view that separates the state into «hard" and "soft" sections. So, for example, the municipalities, the local services are an integral part of bourgeois administration, as local government is also tasked with implementing the reactionary, anti-people legal framework that is approved by each bourgeois government and parliamentary majority. The communists in our country are active in local government, seek to win the majority in the municipalities and today have achieved this in 5 of the country's municipalities, which include the 3rd largest city in Greece, Patras. However they do not foster illusions amongst the workers about the character of this section of the bourgeois state. They seek as an opposition or as majority in the administration of the municipalities to utilize their position to develop the class struggle and not to "cleanse" capitalism which is what SYRIZA and other opportunist forces argue for.
These opportunist forces find the separation of the bourgeois state into sections convenient. First of all, because this can conceal that the entire state apparatus, regardless of the different functions of its sections, is in the service of the bourgeois class. Secondly, because in this way they sow the illusion amongst the workers that gradually, beginning from the "periphery" of the bourgeois state and marching to the "centre", to its "depths", they can "cleanse" it, transform it into a state that will be pro-people.
Opportunist forces foster similarly utopian views even about the inter-state capitalist unions, such as the imperialist EU. Indeed, they propagandize that via referenda or the emergence of left, social-democratic governments, allegedly a "democratic structure for the continent" can be created with "respect for the democratic, sovereign rights of the peoples»[8]. In reality, these claims deliberately bypass the class character of this inter-state union, which arises from the class character of the bourgeois states that constitute it, and which from its birth, as the "European Community for Coal and Steel" in 1952, had been created for the interests of capital.

The expansion of democracy in the bourgeois state as a "step" to socialism.
Lenin came into sharp conflict with those, like Bernstein, who argued that the reform of capitalism and the gradual reformist transformation of society are possible.
Later, the views of Eurocommunism gained a lot of ground, views which argued that communists can transform the state in a pro-people direction via the parliamentary road and the expansion of democracy.
The KKE, which fought and continues today to fight against these views, has estimated that the similar assessments made by the CPSU did a great deal of damage to the international communist movement. These views came to hold sway in the international communist movement mainly after the 20th Congress of the CPSU and spoke of a “parliamentary transition”[9]. Consequently, we consider views that developed on this basis and argue for the violation of basic principles of socialist revolution and construction to be problematic, e.g. the talk about "a variety of forms of transition to socialism" or the so-called "non-capitalist development path."
The KKE has drawn conclusions and has rejected the "stages to socialism", which tormented and continue today to torment the communist movement, as due to these "stages" they on the one hand negate the role of the CP as a force to overthrow capitalism in the name of the "current" tasks in the framework of the system (e.g. the aim of restoring bourgeois democracy in the conditions of dictatorship) and on the other hand they sow illusions about the "parliamentary transition" to socialism.
The KKE studies its history, draws valuable conclusions from the heroic struggles of the communists in the past decades. The CC of the KKE noted amongst other things in its recent statement on the 50th anniversary of the Junta in Greece:"The KKE and the labour-people's movement seek and struggle to be able to function in the best possible conditions, which will facilitate their struggle and more generally expand their interventions against capital and its power. They struggle for freedoms and rights, in order to remove obstacles to their activity, in order to restrict-as far as possible-state repression.”[10] Nevertheless our party, studying its history, assesses that:"The dictatorship provided new experience that demonstrates the baseless character of the assessment that held sway in the International Communist Movement and the KKE, that the path of struggle for an advanced bourgeois democracy is fertile terrain for the concentration of forces and for approaching the revolutionary process, that the struggle for democracy is dialectically connected to the struggle for socialism. This assessment impeded the party from highlighting the military dictatorship as a form of the dictatorship of capital, impeded the orientation of the people's struggle as a whole against the enemy-the dictatorship of the bourgeois class and its imperialist alliances, like NATO."[11]
Today, similar mistaken views are being fostered within the ranks of the communist movement. These are views that either talk of "stages" on the road to socialism or of communists "penetrating" power, with the aim in both cases of expanding democracy, as a first stage to socialism.
In practice, such views postpone the struggle to overthrow of capitalist exploitation to the distant future, trap and restrict the labour movement inside the framework of only struggling for better conditions for the sale of labour power, negating the orientation of the struggle to radicalize the labour movement, to regroup it, to concentrate social forces, which have an interest in confronting the monopolies and can struggle for the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of the new socialist-communist society.


The nationalization of capitalist businesses as a step to change the nature of the state.
Similar confusion exists regarding issues related to the economy. For many years, the international communist movement, which was and to a great extent continues to be trapped in the rationale of stages to socialism, saw the reinforcement of the state sector of the bourgeois state as a step to socialism.
Indeed, today some misunderstand the Leninist position that "state-monopoly capitalism is a complete material preparation for socialism, the threshold of socialism, a rung on the ladder of history between which and the rung called socialism there are no intermediate rungs,"[12] in order to justify the active support and participation of communists in bourgeois management with an expanded state sector of the economy. But in this way they mistakenly understand state-monopoly capitalism as being the existence of a strong state sector in the economy and not as imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism, as described by Lenin.
Life has demonstrated that capitalism, in line with its needs, can aim for a large section of a country's economy to be state-managed. So, for example, in the 1970s and 1980s the largest part of the Greek economy was in the hands of the state, however this did not at all change the character of the bourgeois state. Nor, of course, does it mean that a policy of gradually nationalizing private businesses, which usually means capitalists simply passing on their debts to the state, can lead to a change of its character. As long as power is in the hands of the bourgeois class, the state (with a stronger or weaker state sector) will be bourgeois, and the ruling class will act as the "collective capitalist" of state ownership.


The name of the state as a reflection on how its nature is viewed.
Lenin described the basic aspects of the workers' state. We cannot close our eyes to Lenin's analysis and just orient ourselves to the adjectives that accompany the name of a state. Today, for example, the "People's Republic of Lugansk" and the "People's Republic of Donetsk" have emerged. What is the character of these self-proclaimed "People's Republics"? And as an aside to this discussion, we could bear in mind the existence, for example, of the so-called "People's Republic of Congo", where small children work in the mines in terrible conditions so that the foreign monopolies can acquire valuable minerals like cobalt and copper.
We assess that we cannot judge a state and our stance towards it exclusively on the basis of how it defines itself and its proclamations. A basic criterion must be which class owns the means production and holds power in the specific state, what kinds of relations of production are predominant in the specific country. And this is because the state for Marxist-Leninists is a "repressive machine", which in our era objectively, in the 21st century, in the era of the passage from capitalism to socialism, ushered in by the October Revolution, will either be in the hands of the bourgeois class or the working class. There is no middle way!
We must not forget that as always, and today is no exception, the bourgeois classes seek to conceal their goals, to conceal the class character of their state. So, for example, a classic method that the bourgeois class uses to camouflage the state is the projection of its "national" character, presenting its state as a "weapon" to defend the entire nation. Today the bourgeois do not hesitate to also utilize other propaganda "weapons" in order to subordinate the labour movement "under their banners». The communists, the labour movement as a whole, must demonstrate a high level of vigilance when bourgeois politicians, who contributed to capitalist restoration in the former USSR, today utilize the anti-fascist "card".
Today, when the bourgeois class is also reinforcing fascist forces, some of which even seek to play a role in government, such as, for example, in Ukraine, the appeals for new "anti-fascist fronts" and for alliances even with bourgeois political forces, and even bourgeois states that appear with an anti-fascist mantle, are intensifying. However, as the KKE assessed in the Declaration of the CC of the KKE on the 70 years since the end of the 2nd World Imperialist War and the great anti-fascist victory of the peoples:"The reactionary bourgeois state is neither willing nor able to tackle Nazism root and branch; neither can the so called “antifascist fronts”, an alliance of the labour-people’s movement in cooperation with bourgeois political forces. Only the people’s alliance, the development of the class struggle with the aim of overthrowing the monopolies’ power, the capitalist system can deal with Nazism."[13]
In addition, the KKE assesses that today the goal of workers' power must not be pushed aside by another governmental goal on the terrain of capitalism, in the name of the deterioration of the situation of the working class and popular strata, due to the deep and prolonged economic crisis, imperialist war, open terror against the CP and the labour movement by Nazi-fascist organizations, provocations, the intensification of state violence.[14]


Socialist construction and the state under socialism.
For decades, social-democrats and opportunists have been carrying out, amongst other things, a systematic effort to negate every scientific approach to socialism and its state. We read, for example, in the material of the opportunist centre of Europe, the PEL, that it defends the "perspective of a democratic socialism». And this "socialist perspective" is defined by the PEL as "a society of justice founded on the pooling of wealth and the means of production, and on the sovereignty of democratic choice, in harmony with the planet’s limited resources."Similar confusion and anti-Marxist approaches of the socialist society have multiplied in recent years with the various "socialisms" of Latin America. From the "Socialism of the 21st Century" of Chavez to the "socialism of buen vivir" in Ecuador, where the US dollar is used as the national currency.
They aim for us to ignore the fact that at the base of every socio-economic formation is a specific mode of production, which is the dialectical unity of the forces of production and the relations of production. The relations of production as whole in every phase of the process of reproduction-production, distribution, exchange, consumption- constitute the economic base of society. Approaching this issue scientifically, Lenin underscored that:"In the social production of their life, men enter into definite relations that are indispensable and independent of their will, relations of production which correspond to a definite stage of development of their material productive forces. The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which rises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness."[15]
J.V. Stalin noted: "There are two types of production: the capitalist, including the state-capitalist, type, where there are two classes, where production is carried on for the profit of the capitalist; and there is the other type, the socialist type of production, where there is no exploitation, where the means of production belong to the working class, and where the enterprises are run not for the profit of an alien class, but for the expansion of industry in the interests of the workers as a whole."[16]
This is why the KKE rejects various interpretations of socialism, which have nothing to do with the Marxist-Leninist view, and as it has often stressed in relation to the views of the PEL, or the various "socialisms" of Latin America, that what we have in essence is the promotion of opportunist positions about the "humanization" of capitalism, “ the utopia about the democratization of the bourgeois state, while the "mixed" capitalist economy is being presented as being a new model of socialism. “The logic of national specificities constituted the instrument of “eurocommunism” in order to deny the scientific laws of socialist revolution and construction and today the problem manifests itself with the same or similar arguments.(...) in order to substantiate the substitution of the revolutionary path with parliamentarianism, the relegation of socialism into governmental changes which will manage bourgeois society, as, for example, the Sao Paolo Forum and other forces do. The construction of socialism is a unified process, which begins with the conquest of power by the working class in order to form the new mode of production, which will prevail with the complete abolition of capitalist relations, the capital-wage labour relations. The socialization of the means of production and central planning are laws of socialist construction, necessary conditions for the satisfaction of the people’s needs."[17]
The KKE, studying the experience of socialist construction assessed the 1965 economic reforms in the USSR as being mistaken. These were reforms that gave priority to "market reforms" and brought back the role of profit to the socialist economy. As a result vested interests emerged in the enterprises, which were not always in harmony with the interests of society. The mistaken reforms in the economy were combined with similar mistaken directions in the political superstructure (e.g. the All-people's state) and in the strategy of the international communist movement (e.g. policy of "peaceful coexistence”).Of course, our party disagrees with the assessments of CPs, which were pulled into the damaging current of "Maoism" and which considered that from one moment to the next, immediately after the 20th Congress, the workers' state ceased to exist or indeed that it was allegedly transformed into "social-imperialism" and in this way they participated in the anti-soviet propaganda. In contrast, our party, which defends the contribution of the USSR as the international communist and workers' movement did, considers that socialism was constructed in the USSR. However, it also considers that the 20th Congress of the CPSU was a turning point, because a number of opportunist positions were adopted on issues related to the economy, the strategy of the communist movement and international relations.
Today, we evaluate that 30 years after the counterrevolution in the USSR, Central and Eastern Europe, the capitalization of China has advanced. Capitalist relations of production hold sway there. At the same time we observe the continuing reinforcement of capitalist relations in countries that sought socialist construction, such as Vietnam and Cuba.[18]
Some comrades from other CPs argue that the developments in these countries are reminiscent of the NEP in Lenin's era. In other texts[19], we have highlighted the differences between the NEP and the changes taking place in these countries and the results of which our party is concerned about, based in its long study of the experience of the USSR. And this is because the socialization of the concentrated means of production, central planning in the distribution of labour power and the means of production, the eradication of the exploitation of man by man for the majority of workers are basic and necessary conditions, not only for the beginning of socialist construction, but also for its continuation.
In addition, as Lenin had noted that:"the dictatorship of the proletariat is not only the use of force against the exploiters, and not even mainly the use of force. The economic foundation of this use of revolutionary force, the guarantee of its effectiveness and success is the fact that the proletariat represents and creates a higher type of social organization of labour compared with capitalism. This is what is important, this is the source of the strength and the guarantee that the final triumph of communism is inevitable."[20] It is clear that this "higher type of social organization" can have nothing to do with nepotism. As was noted in the Report of the CC of the KKE to the 20th Congress of the party "North Korea has proceeded to reinforcing the so-called "free economic zones", the "market». The Workers' Party of Korea has for some years relinquished Marxism-Leninism and promotes the idealist "Juche" theory, speaks of "Kimilsungism-Kimjongunism", violating every concept of socialist democracy, workers'-people's control, in a regime of nepotism."[21]


Instead of an epilogue: We must close the "loopholes" of the 2nd International.
The KKE carried out a deep study of the causes that led to the overthrow of socialism in the USSR, following the path of many years of inner-party study and discussion and devoting its 18th Congress (in 2009) in order to provide comprehensive answers on this issue, drawing valuable conclusions for the future. On the basis of this effort, grounded in Marxism-Leninism, our party enriched its programmatic understanding of socialism, something that is reflected in the new Programme adopted at the 19th Congress (2013).

The Programme of the KKE notes amongst other things:"The socialist power is the revolutionary power of the working class, the dictatorship of the proletariat. The working class power will replace all the bourgeois institutions, which will be smashed by the revolutionary activity, with new institutions that will be created by the people."[22]
In addition, the Programme of the KKE describes in detail:
The material basis of the necessity of socialism in Greece
The duties of the KKE for the socialist revolution
Its duties more specifically on the revolutionary situation
The leading role of the Party in the revolution
Socialism as the first, lowest phase of communism
The issue of the satisfaction of the social needs
Fundamental principles of the formation of the socialist power
The 20th Congress of the KKE, which was held this year, on the 30th of March-2nd April 2017, posed the task of the comprehensive ideological-political-organizational steeling of the party and its youth as a party for the revolutionary overthrow.
100 years ago, at the end of his work "State of Revolution", V. I. Lenin noted that the 2nd International had spiraled into opportunism, that the experience of the Commune was forgotten and distorted and he added that:" Far from inculcating in the workers’ minds the idea that the time is nearing when they must act to smash the old state machine, replace it by a new one, and in this way make their political rule the foundation for the socialist reorganization of society, they have actually preached to the masses the very opposite and have depicted the “conquest of power” in a way that has left thousands of loopholes for opportunism."[23]
Today, 100 years after the Great October Revolution and a year before the 100th anniversary of the founding of our party, the KKE seeks with its positions and activity to bar the "doors and windows" to opportunism. This is a precondition for the realization of the ideals of a society without the exploitation of man by man.

[1] “State and Revolution”, V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, V. 25
[2] “Critique of the Gotha Programme”, K. Marx
[3] “State and Revolution”, V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, V.25
[4] “State and Revolution”, V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, V.25
[5]From SYRIZA's governmental programme.
[6] The Real News Network, Interview (28/1/2015) with Leo Panitch, Professor of Political Science at York University, Toronto, Canada. http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=13071&updaterx=2015-01-28+01%3A16%3A04
[7] Article of Paul Mason (1/9/2015), former BBC journalist and former economics editor for Channel 4 News.http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/paul-mason-what-unites-the-new-movements-of-the-left-1.2335322
[8] 5th Congress of the PEL. Political Document: "Refound Europe, create new progressive convergence"
[9] 18th Congress of the KKE, Resolution on Socialism. February 2009
[10] “Statement of the CC of the KKE on the Military Coup of the 21st of April 1967. “Rizospastis”, 5 March 2017.
[11] Ibid
[12] “The impending catastrophe and how to combat it”, V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, V.25
[13] Declaration of the CC of the KKE on the 70 years since the end of the 2nd World Imperialist War and the great anti-fascist victory of the peoples. April 2015
[14] ibid
[15] “Karl Marx”, V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, V.21
[16]J.V. Stalin, Works, V. 7
[17] Speech of the KKE at the 16th International Meeting of the Communist and Workers’ Parties in Ecuador.
[18] Theses of the CC of the KKE for the 20th Congress.
[19] “The international Role of China”, Komep 6/2010
[20] “A great beginning”, V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, V. 29
[21]Report of the CC of the KKE to the 20th Congress of the party, March 2017.
[22] Programme of the KKE, 2013
[23] «State and Revolution”, V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, V. 25.

https://communismgr.blogspot.gr/2017/04/communist-party-of-greece-criticism-of.html

Chavistas Flood Caracas in Mega Anti-Imperialist March

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1492638025990/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/04/19/img_0468_new.jpg_1718483346.jpg
A sea of red on the streets of Caracas. | Photo: Reagan Des Vignes/Telesur

Published 19 April 2017 (16 hours 11 minutes ago)

Tens of thousands demanded that their nation's sovereignty be respected.

It was a deeply emotional day for Venezuela's Chavistas, who emerged from their homes in the tens of thousands, celebrating the country's independence and, at the same time, denouncing continued attempts by the right-wing opposition and by hostile international entities encouraging imperialist intervention.

There were symbolic cries by those who attended — cries of peace, humility and those of an overwhelming desire to survive interventionist attacks.

President Nicolas Maduro called it “an incredible day of victory" — according to state media, VTV — as he addressed the beaming faces, teary eyes and attentive stares. He said that “peace has triumphed again over the right-wing attempts to sow terrorism in the country.”

"When the Bolivarian people are in the street, there is peace," he added, "Today they tried to take power again and we have defeated them again the coup plotters, the corrupt right-wing and the interventionists."

This is the sixth time this month alone that Chavistas have shown their support for the Maduro government against the MUD coalition's protest actions, which re-energized itself after the April 1 Supreme Court decision to rescind on assuming temporary control of the national assembly's powers.

http://www.telesurtv.net/export/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/04/19/img_0216_new.jpg_1413348364.jpg
A group of supporters hold individual elements of a sign that, when translated, reads, "A people of peace." | Photo: Reagan Des Vignes/Telesur

Maduro also described Primero Justicia party member, and national assembly head Julio Borges as a hypocrite, a coward, and a clown. Borges has taken a lead in the organization of sustained opposition marches, all of which have turned violent.

The president's ire over the recent violence has been strongly echoed by Chavistas across Venezuela, many of whom carried signs with anti-imperialist, freedom and peace symbols.

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Chavistas hold signs expressing unity, love and anti-terrorism. | Photo: Reagan Des Vignes/Telesur

http://www.telesurtv.net/export/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/04/19/img_0518_new.jpg_1412424843.jpg
Chavistas get emotional during the singing of the national anthem, just before President Nicolas Maduro takes the stage. | Photo: Reagan Des Vignes/Telesur

Caracas resident Argeny Valencinio was all smiles at the march. He said Venezuela has come a long way in the battle for peace and prosperity. He laments, however, that there is still a long way to go before it can be won.

“There is a lot that we could accomplish, if only we could put our differences aside and work as a unit. However, I am proud to be here, defending my people! My patria."

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Two teenagers huddle together to write a note to hand to the president's partner, Cilia Flores, as she passes through the crowd. | Photo: Reagan Des Vignes/Telesur

PSUV President, Diosdado Cabello, also spoke to the tens of thousand, saying that Venezuela's right-wing opposition has declared itself subordinate to the demands of the United States, which he said has openly called for international intervention.

"We warn all those traitors, who go abroad to ask for the invasion of Venezuela. They will be treated as enemies of this country. Today the people went out into the streets, to send a message of peace, but very firmly to tell imperialism and its lackeys that they are ready to fight. We are in the street ready to defeat them.”

More marches are planned in the coming weeks as the MUD opposition coalition continues to demand that Supreme Court judges be ousted and that an elections timeline be announced.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Chavistas-Flood-Caracas-in-Mega-Anti-Imperialist-March-20170419-0039.html

Video at link

PS: Compare and contrast: the opposition demo...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C931ASOXgAEDm3o.jpg

Defending Socialism, Venezuela Workers Resist Right-Wing Strike

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1492822593516/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/04/21/venezuela_workers.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Venezuelan workers protest in solidarity with President Nicolas Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution. | Photo: VTV

Published 21 April 2017

“If they continue with their guarimbas, we will take over their factories,” said Jesus Diaz, spokesperson for the Pio Tamayo Commune in Lara.
Several private companies in Venezuela connected to the country’s right-wing opposition are asking workers not to come in for their shifts next week.

Claiming to defend their workers’ safety amid ongoing protests, the companies are backing opposition calls for a national strike against President Nicolas Maduro.

But for workers supportive of Maduro and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) the strike is merely a trap intended to sabotage Venezuela’s economy.

“These actions planned against our revolutionary people are a desperate attempt by the empire to overturn our Bolivarian Revolution,” Jesus Diaz, a member of the Popular Movement of Lara, told Resumen Latinoamericano.

The Popular Movement of Lara is a coalition of communes and workers’ organizations in the northwestern state.

“We are organized and we will defend our revolution as always.”


Diaz, who also serves as a spokesperson for the Pio Tamayo Commune in Venezuela’s western state, assured Resumen Latinoamericano that workers in the region will continue work as usual. The Popular Movement of Lara’s boycott of the right-wing strike is supported by dozens of other communes and workers’ councils across the country.

Workers supportive of the Bolivarian Revolution have also vowed to take over and manage factories abandoned by right-wing bosses.

One of the opposition-aligned institutions supporting the opposition strike is the Catholic University of Andres Bello, one of Venezuela’s largest private universities.

On Friday, the institution announced that all classes and campus activities will be suspended due to the “situation of uncertainty and insecurity” affecting the country. The Catholic University of Andres Bello won’t reopen until April 25, when a session of university officials will be held to “reassess the issue," El Universal reports.

Other opposition-aligned institutions backing the right-wing strike include privately-run supermarkets and transportation companies.

“If they continue with their guarimbas, we will take over their factories,” Diaz told Resumen Latinoamericano.

Guarimbas are street blockades organized by right-wing protesters who use Molotov cocktails, burning tires and rocks to attack police and civilians.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Defending-Socialism-Venezuela-Workers-Resist-Right-Wing-Strike-20170421-0027.html

video at link

"Just do it."

*****************************

Movistar Spams Venezuela Mobile Phones With Opposition Texts

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"I denounce (Movistar) and have asked for an investigation," Maduro said. "They joined the call for a coup against the country." | Photo:

Published 21 April 2017

"Every two hours the company Movistar sends millions of messages to (subscribers) via telephone and internet," Maduro said of the Spanish company.
Spanish-owned mobile phone operator Movistar faces an investigation by Venezuela's socialist government after it was found to be sending mass text messages to subscribers in support of mobilization efforts by right-wing forces in the country, according to President Nicolas Maduro.

Venezuela faces increasingly violent mobilizations by anti-government protesters, who have looted private businesses, attacked pediatric hospitals and public housing projects, and disrupted life in a country already struggling with Washington-backed efforts toward “regime change.”

"Every two hours the company Movistar sends millions of messages to (subscribers) via telephone and internet" in support of the so-called “mother of all marches” launched by the right-wing opposition, Maduro said in a televised broadcast.

“Your kids are playing (mobile) video games and ‘march, April 19, lets go against Maduro,' appears,” he said.

“Movistar de Venezuela joined the coup forces and that's not its job, they should know this,” Maduro said, adding that more than US$100 million has been invested in efforts to mobilize citizens to answer calls by opposition forces to challenge his government.

"I denounce (Movistar) and have asked for an investigation," Maduro said. "They joined the call for a coup against the country," he added, noting the unprecedented nature of the Spanish telecom company's spam attack on Venezuelans.

Adding that the Bolivarian government had recently created a cyberwar unit to deal with online espionage and hacking threats, Maduro noted how “"Venezuela has been subjected to a tremendous cyberwar by the media and by the internet."

The company has not responded to media requests for comment.

The country's authorities have accused the U.S. government, through its State Department, of backing attempts to overthrow the government and undo the gains of the Bolivarian Revolution ahead of Venezuela's 2018 presidential elections.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Movistar-Spams-Venezuela-Mobile-Phones-With-Opposition-Texts-20170421-0021.html

I recall people gushing around 2010 that tech was going to greatly facilitate revolution but it ain't working out like that, so far.

**************************
Venezuela Freezes GM Assets After Managers Ask Government to Kick Workers Out of Factory

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Freezes-GM-Assets-After-Managers-Ask-Government-to-Kick-Workers-Out-of-Factory-20170421-0014.html
The plant has been embroiled in labor unrest in recent years, with workers long complaining of unfair treatment and a disinterest from management in restarting production. | Photo: Reuters/teleSUR

Published 21 April 2017

Union leaders blasted the company for failing to assemble vehicles, instead using the facilities as a front for the purpose of reselling spare parts.
Venezuelan officials denied on Thursday that the government expropriated a General Motors factory this week after complaints from the Detroit-based company over the “illegal judicial seizure of its assets.”

GM's claims that the government acted unlawfully echoed through English-language mass media this week, accompanied by calls for U.S. President Donald Trump to up the economic pressure on the socialist state.

While stopping short of outright expropriation and nationalization, the government has temporarily frozen the assets of the U.S. multinational due to its failure to honor agreements both with its employees and with local business partners. The plant has been embroiled in labor unrest in recent years, with workers long complaining of unfair treatment and a disinterest from management in restarting production.

Additionally, the legal basis for the asset freeze comes from the auto manufacturer's refusal to pay US$665 million in damages to a former GM car dealership in a lawsuit from the year 2000.

Following the order to freeze GM assets until it fulfills its obligations under Venezuelan law, the company announced that all operations in the country would be halted, essentially putting the company's 2,678 workers out of work.

Workers from the Union of Socialist Winners and the Workers' Union of GMV held a meeting with government officials to discuss the move and to ensure that production continues at the facility. The meeting was followed by tweets from Venezuelan Minister of the Economy Ramon Lobo stating, "We didn't expropriate!"

On Thursday, Enrique Tahan, the head of GM's corporate and government relations in the country, told The New York Times that the plant has been plagued by an “aggressive takeover” by workers. When factory managers asked the government to retake the facility from the workers, authorities instead placed the plant under national control.

Tahan complained that managers are now barred from the premises, yet union workers are freely allowed access to the plant.

GM spokesperson Dayna Hart also admitted to the New York Times that the plant had been unproductive for a prolonged period of time, an illegal move in a country where wealthy employers are often accused of intentionally reducing production.

Last November, union leaders blasted company management for failing to use the factory to assemble vehicles, instead using the facilities as a front – or “briefcase company” only existing on paper – for the purpose of reselling spare parts. Worker representatives called for the takeover of the plant by workers, appealing to authorities – including the Bolivarian National Armed Forces – to accompany them until the production of vehicles for the Venezuelan people was restarted.

U.S.-based media outlets have used the dispute as another way to increase pressure on the Venezuelan government, raising alarm bells about the "risks" of doing business in the country and implying that all foreigners doing business in the country face the threat of expropriation.


“It fits a broader pattern, in the sense that the government's response to surges in opposition activity tends to be the deepening of the revolution,” Phil Gunson of International Crisis Group told The Washington Post. Gunson's nongovernmental organization is directly funded by the U.S. government, Open Society Foundations, Carnegie Corporation and Rockefeller Brothers Fund, among others.

“There are those at the top, including Maduro himself, who appear genuinely to believe that this is a revolution and the ultimate goal is the replacement of the capitalist economy with one that is entirely state-run,” the Washington-sponsored analyst continued.

Nevertheless, the country's socialist authorities have in the past pledged to take over foreign-owned facilities that fail to operate in the face of sabotage efforts against the Venezuelan economy.

“A stopped company (is) a company recovered for the working class and the revolution, I won't hesitate with respect to that, I will not accept any kind of conspiracy,” Maduro said during a nationwide address last October. “People here have a need to work and produce and we will not allow a Yankee model of destabilization to install itself here in Venezuela,” he added.

The GM dispute comes amid large, violent opposition protests and unprecedented “regime change” efforts by Washington. Deadly protests declared by right-wing opposition leaders dubbed “coup plotters” by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro continue to rock the country, claiming multiple lives and exacerbating the country's economic crisis.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Freezes-GM-Assets-After-Managers-Ask-Government-to-Kick-Workers-Out-of-Factory-20170421-0014.html

"Just do it."

Right! Expropriate! Nationalize! Arrest all right-wing dissenters and throw them into prison! Clamp down hard and give the workers and the people a victory!

Right! Expropriate! Nationalize! Arrest all right-wing dissenters and throw them into prison! Clamp down hard and give the workers and the people a victory!

I think that's the only possible path to survival for the Bolivarian Revolution. And depending on the army's disposition it could fail, but anything short guarantees the victory of reaction and imperialism.

Chronicle of a Death Foretold: Venezuela Opposition Leader Says More Protest 'Victims' Imminent
Published 22 April 2017 (18 hours 6 minutes ago)

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"This is a tribute of silence to the fallen ... even the potential and eventual victims that will surely be in the next days," said Henry Ramos Allup.
One of Venezuela's top opposition leaders made an ominous statement Saturday, saying that more deaths would be likely in the coming days as right-wing protests continue.

"This is a tribute of silence to the fallen, the wounded, persecuted, the dead, the victims, even the potential and eventual victims that will surely be in the next days," said Henry Ramos Allup, speaking to a media scrum as part of a 'silent' protest from opposition groups.

Ramos Allup, who was head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly until January, is also the leader of the one of the largest opposition parties, Democratic Action.

Both government and opposition supporters took to the streets in the tens of thousands on Wednesday, but peaceful marches broke out into skirmishes with police when some opposition protesters attempted to break police areas and head to areas of the city where pro-government demonstrators were gathered.

In the days since, there has been scattered violence throughout the country, with several dead including at least one police officer, along with dozens injured.


Since the beginning of April, turbulent opposition protests have claimed the lives of 22 people and led to considerable looting and vandalism of government buildings and local shops.

On Thursday night, the 'Hugo Chavez' children's hospital was attacked by opposition protestors, prompting an evacuation of dozens of children and their mothers. In the El Valle area of Caracas, numerous roadblocks were set up by protesters and upwards of nine were electrocuted when they attempted to break into a bakery with an electrified gate.

While some say the looters are evidence of the country's food crisis, workers from the community run CLAP food program that cooperated with the bakery said the victims of the attempted looting were called in by "criminal gangs."

Despite calls for calm, some right-wing leaders have continued to call supporters to the streets to demand Maduro's ouster, amid an ongoing political impasse between the opposition-controlled legislature and the Chavista Executive, as well as an economic crisis that began when the plummet in petroleum prices dramatically decreased government coffers in the oil-dependent nation.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Chronicle-of-a-Death-Foretold-Venezuela-Opposition-Leader-Suggests-More-Protests-Victims-Imminent-20170422-0014.html?utm_content=buffercc975&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

'We got lumpen to burn'

Chavista Trade Unionist Kidnapped and Murdered in Venezuela

By TELESUR ENGLISH

Venezuelan trade union leader Esmin Ramirez was killed Sunday in the southeastern state of Bolivar after being kidnapped in an act that people close to him claim was politically motivated.

Ramirez, who was a member of the Movement 21 labor syndicate in the state-run iron ore producer Ferrominera and part of the PSUV political party in Cachamay, was killed in El Rinconcito sector in Guayana City, a city along the bank of the Orinoco River in Bolivar state.

The leader was killed by several gunshots to the head. He had been previously kidnapped on Saturday night in San Felix. His body was retrieved by officials Sunday.

Ferrominera expressed condolences in a statement on social media, saying the company hoped that authorities would investigate and clarify the details surrounding the Ramirez' death.

Ramirez had denounced previous attacks against other members of his organization in the past and was an active participant in marches in support of President Nicolas Maduro, who has in recent weeks faced a wave of violent anti-government protests demanding his ouster.

The union leader was preparing for a massive march for International Worker's Day on May 1.

Meanwhile, another grassroots leader, Jacqueline Ortega, was murdered in the greater Caracas area in Santa Lucia del Tuy on Saturday. Ortega was also a member of the PSUV as well as a leader in her community's Local Production and Supply Committee, known as CLAP, a government-created alternative food distribution program.

Ortega was reportedly shot dead in her home by four masked assailants.

Edited by Venezuelanalysis.com.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13073

enezuelan trade union leader Esmin Ramirez was killed Sunday in the southeastern state of Bolivar after being kidnapped in an act that people close to him claim was politically motivated.


Meanwhile, another grassroots leader, Jacqueline Ortega, was murdered in the greater Caracas area in Santa Lucia del Tuy on Saturday....Ortega was reportedly shot dead in her home by four masked assailants.

Fuck. This is US imperialism at work. Only one way to end it.

Demonstrators take part in a rally to honour victims of violence during a protest against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, VenezuelaAs Protests Rage in Venezuela, US Media Silent on Pro-Government Movements © REUTERS/ Carlos Garcia Rawlins

https://cdn5.img.sputniknews.com/images/105288/86/1052888641.jpg
03:39 26.04.2017(updated 08:20 26.04.2017) Get short URL2867135

As clashes between the Maduro government in Venezuela and the opposition are getting more and more fierce, the US media is openly calling for an economic war against the Bolivarian Revolution government, blaming it for casualties on both sides of the conflict.

A demonstrator stands near fire during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela April 24, 2017
© REUTERS/ CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS
Death Toll Amid Venezuela Opposition Protests Rises to 25
Speaking to Radio Sputnik's Brian Becker, author, journalist and lecturer Arnold August noted that the US media has a very clear stance: that Maduro and his Bolivarian Revolution government are responsible for everything bad that is happening in the country. Those who do not blame Maduro directly nonetheless report on the issue in such a way as to create the impression that Maduro is responsible, August said.

​For example, an April 24 opinion piece by the Washington Times is entitled "Venezuela's coming civil war: Maduro is arming his thugs to crush the democratic hopes of his desperate people."

Reuters took a more subtle approach, reporting casualties among civilians without naming who fired the shots, on April 25.

"A 42-year-old man who worked for local government in the Andean state of Merida died from a gunshot in the neck at a rally in favor of president Nicolas Maduro's government, the state ombudsman and prosecutor's office said," the report reads.

"Another 54-year-old man was shot dead in the chest during a protest in the western agricultural state of Barinas, the state prosecutor's office added without specifying the circumstances," it continues.

Major media, such as the Miami Herald and CNN, reported in the last few days that the US will have to consider imposing "serious sanctions" on Venezuela, should Maduro fail to host "free and fair" elections, allowing opposition leaders to campaign, August recalled. The US media also purposefully omits reports of demonstrations by the Chavistas — the supporters of the acting government.

The Green Left news website, on the other hand, reported "tens of thousands" of pro-government activists. Deutsche Welle carefully refrained from separating the sides, giving an overall estimate of 6 million people protesting on April 19. August claimed there were 3 million pro-government protesters across the whole country. All agree that these demonstrations have been the largest in the history of the nation.

Opposition activists clash with National Guard members during a protest in San Cristobal, state of Tachira, Venezuela on October 26, 2016.
© AFP 2017/ GEORGE CASTELLANOS
Opposition Member Detained in Venezuela on Suspicion of Killing Woman at Rally
August mentioned an opinion piece written for CNN by Jose Miguel Vivanco and Tamara Taraciuk Broner, "high-ranking members" of Human Rights Watch, August explained. Human Rights Watch is heavily financed by George Soros, who is known to be a big proponent of regime change around the world.
Vivanco and Taraciuk's piece promotes the narrative that all of the deaths and violence in the country are "rightfully" blamed on Maduro, and that international pressure is needed to restore "human rights and democracy in Venezuela."

"This is one big lie, if I may be quite frank," August commented.

The US may be up to more than just harsh words in the media, August noted. On April 24, the Maduro government seized a General Motors factory in Venezuela, forcing the company to flee the country, leaving 2,700 people without jobs.

Officially, GM did not pay its taxes and refused to conform to "basic economic and financial rules," August explains.

But he speculates that GM could have been involved in a darker scheme, similar to what happened in Chile in the 1973 coup d'état against Salvador Allende government.

"Main enterprises in Venezuela — General Motors, but there are others as well — were specifically organizing to hoard goods, to keep it away from the people, in order to create problems, to create a situation where people are starving, etc.," August told Becker, adding that US companies also cut flights to Venezuela in an attempt to harm its income from tourism.

"It is undeniable that there are internal problems and weaknesses in the economy under the Bolivarian Revolution, but the main feature of the problem at this time is what has been induced and still being induced by the US and its allies," he said.

https://sputniknews.com/latam/201704261053001976-venezuela-protests-usa-media/

Ya know what ya don't see in the photo? Black faces.

Venezuelan Far Right Hackers Release Public Workers’ Details, Urges Followers to “Seek Them Out”

By RACHAEL BOOTHROYD ROJAS

Caracas, April 27th 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) - A group of far right hackers known as the HDP (Sons of Bitches) leaked the personal details of thousands of Venezuelan public workers Wednesday evening, amidst a spate of deadly attacks against Chavistas.

Released through the Twitter accounts PingüinoHDP and YoSoyJustin, the leaks included the names, surnames, identity numbers and time in service for employees at the Vice-Presidency of the Republic, the Bolivarian National Police Force, the special investigative police body the CICPC, the SEBIN intelligence services, the state telecomms commission CONATEL, the Foreign Relations Ministry, and the Ministry of Communications, MINCI.

YoSoyJustin released the information via links in seven different tweets and urged his 14,800 followers to “go and look for them”.

“When you are suspicious in your university of students and classmates with weird behavior, look for them in the lists,” the hacker said in one tweet.

Cuando usted sospeche en su universidad de alumnos y compañeros con comportamiento raro búsquelo en las listas pic.twitter.com/nWnda1at9D

— JUSTIN (@YoSoyJustin) April 27, 2017
“If you have neighbors who are POLICE INFORMERS, they might be in the SEBIN’s lists, search for them there,” he said in another.

Si tiene unos vecinos SAPOS quizás están en nomina del SEBIN debe revisar a ver si allí aparecen pic.twitter.com/gRas477Cpl

— JUSTIN (@YoSoyJustin) April 27, 2017
In other tweets, YoSoyJustin also published photos identifying the children of high ranking members of the Bolivarian armed forces.

A state worker from MINCI who was included in the leak confirmed to Venezuelanalysis that the details released by the hackers were accurate. The worker cannot be named due to safety concerns.

The documents have since been removed from their original host, though it is feared that the data could already be widely disseminated among violent anti-government groups.

The leak could have compromised the safety of government workers at a time when attacks against Chavistas are increasing.

It comes just days after two local government workers were shot dead and several others injured by opposition sniper fire in Merida. A grassroots leader belonging to the United Socialist Party of Venezuela was also shot dead at her home last weekend, while a pro-government trade union leader was kidnapped and killed the same day.

At least nine people have died at the hands of anti-government protesters since the beginning April, when opposition leaders called their followers onto the streets to protest a “rupture” in the country’s constitutional order. Five opposition protesters have also been killed by security personnel.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13082

Venezuela’s Maduro Calls for New Constitution

15 hours ago May 2, 2017

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro signed an order calling the constitutional assembly.

After having signed the order on Monday, Maduro pointed out that it must be implemented immediately. He also cited the articles 347, 348 and 349 of the Venezuelan constitution, which, from his point of view, provide the president with powers to call the assembly.

“I created a broad presidential commission with opened doors for a big sovereign and constructive dialogue with whole Venezuela,” Maduro said.

The opposition immediately rejected the idea because the body drafting the new charter would not be the result of a popular election but rather be composed of workers and farmers.

Maduro’s announcement, to thousands of supporters in Caracas marking May Day, came as security forces sprayed tear gas and water cannon at anti-government demonstrators elsewhere in the capital.

The opposition slammed the tactic as a “coup d’etat” and urged protesters to “block the streets” from Tuesday. It said it was organizing a “mega protest” for Wednesday.

“People, into the streets! You must disobey such lunacy!” opposition leader Henrique Capriles said on Twitter.

http://english.almanar.com.lb/253031

do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it

Booj to the wall!

The opposition immediately rejected the idea because the body drafting the new charter would ... be composed of workers and farmers.

OH MY GOD! NOT WORKERS AND FARMERS!

Round up the "opposition" and throw them into camps! Put them to work on government farms - if they won't work, to the wall!

US Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Venezuela in Oil Expropriation Case


The judges argued that ruling in favor of oil companies could harm foreign relations and lead other countries to retaliate against U.S. interests.

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled Monday against a U.S. oil drilling company that claimed Venezuela unlawfully seized
11 drilling rigs in 2010.


The justices ruled 8-0 in favor of Venezuela, to throw out a 2015 decision by the lower U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that allowed one of the claims made by an Oklahoma-based company against the government of the South American nation.

The justices ruled that lower courts had set the bar too low in allowing the lawsuit, brought by Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Company, to move forward.

Justice Stephen Breyer said companies must make a stronger argument in cases where they allege property was actually taken in violation of international law.

The judge said siding with U.S. oil companies could harm foreign relations and lead to retaliations.

Breyer also said that if cases against foreign governments are allowed too easily to proceed in U.S. courts it could “create friction with other nations and reciprocal actions against this country.”

Foreign countries are generally protected from lawsuits in the U.S., but a federal law makes an exception in cases where private property is seized.

Justice Neil Gorsuch didn't participate in the case, which was argued before he took his seat on the court.


The case began after former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez issued a decree seizing control of the oil rigs by the company. The government argues it didn't violate international law because they were owned by a Venezuelan subsidiary.

The company refused to operate after saying the state-owned oil company had fallen behind on payments for more than US$100 million.

Later, a federal court ruled that the company could move ahead with a lawsuit by citing the seizure harmed U.S. shareholders.

Venezuela nationalized its oil industry in the 1970s, but the sector was effectively largely re-privatized in the 1990s through a slew of operative service agreements with private companies.

Under the banner of anti-imperialism and 21st Century Socialism championed by late President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela sought to reverse the privatization process and put the country’s oil industry back into public hands to serve the well-being of the Venezuelan people, not the corporate interest of multinational oil giants.

The government launched a process in 2007 to retake majority stakes in most oil projects.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/US-Supreme-Court-Rules-in-Favor-of-Venezuela-in-Oil-Expropriation-Case-20170501-0012.html

The Visible Hand of the Market: Economic War on Venezuela

FOREWORD
THE ECONOMIC WARFARE AND THE
VISIBLE HAND OF THE MARKET
By Luis Britto Garcia
1
Clausewitz stated that war is the continuation of politics by
other means. We can add that politics is the continuation of the
economy by other means. Every war begins as an economic confict
and ends up with fnancial consequences.
2
Tere is no need to read the whole World History, recalling a
few events sufce – Two World Wars were fought to prevent that
the most developed industrial power in Europe may dominate the
world through alliances ensuring the human and natural resources
of Asia and Africa. Te Cold War was a half-century long economic
confrontation that ended up breaking the Soviet economy. Ever
since 1959, another confict has unfolded against Cuba: Te
Blockade. Another one shattered the distribution of goods in Chile
and was used as a pretext for an endless neoliberal dictatorship. A
blockade precipitated the electoral defeat of the Sandinistas. It is not
by chance that the main wars of the last decades have been fought in
countries with energy resources or strategic access to such resources.
3
I wonder what was then the lockout called by Fedecámaras
(Private Business Chamber) and the sabotage perpetrated by
the “meritocracy” of Pdvsa, which meant for Venezuela a loss
12
amounting over and above 15 billion dollars and sharp decline in
the gross domestic product (GDP)? Was it a coincidence, I wonder,
the plunge of fossil fuel prices, caused by the simultaneous entry
into the market of Iraq’s oil handled by the US, the food of cheap
oil from Saudi allies to the United States and the leap taken by the
latter to become the world’s top producer of hydrocarbons thanks
to disproportionate investments in both highly pollutant shale oil
production and conventional oil as well? Or is it an ofensive to
break the non-aligned countries participating in the OPEC, to buy
out their oil companies for peanuts and then repay themselves with
the world monopoly of hydrocarbons?
4
Te art of war, according to SunTzu, is based on deception. Te
Devil’s best strategy is to pretend he does not exist. Te best way to
win a war is to pretend that there is none. Private media companies,
most of them spokespersons in the payroll of corporations, have
undertaken a campaign to hide the war we all endure. In order to
expose their alibis, we use the data compiled by Pasqualina Curcio
Curcio in her overwhelming work: Te Visible Hand of the Market.
5
Big corporations and their spokespersons lie when they afrm
that socialist measures hinder production. Pasqualina Curcio
demonstrates that the total GDP has increased 43% from 1999
thru 2015, and that the agricultural GDP increased by 27% from
1999 thru 2014. She also notes that even though the total GDP
for year 2015 - when shortage levels amounted to 30% – was 34%
higher than in 2004, a year with shortage levels of barely 7%, the
13
agricultural component of the GDP in 2014 was inexplicably 14%
higher than 2004.
6
Corporations and their tabloid mentality media deceive when
they claim that rights granted to workers have led to lockouts and
massive lay-of. However, the unemployment rate shrunk 62.5%
between 1999 and 2015, recording 6%, its lowest level ever.
7
Corporations and their sycophants lie when they afrm that
imports have declined. Yet, the truth is that imports grew 129%
from 1999 to 2014; in fact, imports in 2014 were 91% higher than
in 2004, when they amounted to 16 billion dollars, while in 2014,
they amounted to 31 billion dollars.
8
Corporation and their media cheat as they argue that
government’s delay in granting them preferential dollars hinders
the import of food staples. Te reality is that in 2014 import of
food staples soared to US $ 7.7 billion, that is 259% higher than
in 2004, when it recorded US$ 2.1 billion. In 2004, 608 million
dollars were spent in imported drugs; in 2014 such imports hiked
to 2.4 billion dollars, that is, 309%.
9
Corporations and their tabloid mentality media insist that
the reason for shortage is that the government fails to allocate the
coveted preferential dollars. Pasqualina Curcio demonstrates that
since the exchange controls were implemented in 2003, the private
14
sector has received US$ 338.341 billion for the importation of
goods and services (Central Bank of Venezuela, several years). She
also points out that in 2004, when there was no shortage; they were
allocated US$ 15.750 billion, whereas in 2013, when commodities
were scarce, the allocation of dollars doubled to US$ 30.859 billion.
Te allocation of foreign exchange. In 2007 and 2008 hit US$ 40
billion, respectively.
10
Terefore, there is neither decline in production nor lockout
of companies or unemployment or failure to allocate preferential
dollars. Te problem is much simpler: Te big importers and
producers of basic goods constitute an oligopoly that creates a jam
of hoarders and middlemen gridlocking the access of consumers
and users to goods subsidized by the state. A foreign invasion or
an armed confict becomes unnecessary – An army of unpunished
speculators gradually destroy the socialist project. It is the enemy
vanguard that we need to attack and neutralize if we want to survive.
11
SunTzu also said: “If you know the enemy and know yourself,
you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know
yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also
sufer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you
will succumb in every battle.” Hence, let us know the enemy, let
us know ourselves, and we shall always win.
15

I trust that this pamphlet will help the reader to understand
the fundamental economic question,
that of the economic essence of imperialism,
for unless this is studied, it will be impossible
to understand and appraise modern war and modern politics.

V. I. Lenin
Imperialism, the high stage of capitalism

http://www.15yultimo.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/THE-VISIBLE-HAND-OF-THE-MARKET.-ECONOMIC-WARFARE-IN-VENEZUELA.-PASQUALINA-CURCIO-C.pdf

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-5geBxXYAAlXDl.jpg

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Police Officer Dies After Being Shot in Venezuelan Protests

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1493923223598/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/05/04/vzla_reuters_jpg_1718483347_crop.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Opposition protesters have occupied Venezuelan streets for over a month. | Photo: Reuters

Published 4 May 2017 (19 hours 25 minutes ago)

Opposition protests have frequently spilled over into violence, which has commonly been manipulated to blame the government.
A Venezuelan police officer died Thursday after being shot in ongoing protests against President Nicolas Maduro’s government in the country’s north. The incident adds to the ongoing violence stemming from the protests, some of which has been distorted on social media.

The 38-year-old police officer was shot during an opposition demonstration on Wednesday in the town of La Pradera, in the state of Carabobo around 100 miles west of the capital of Caracas. The officer died from his wounds on Thursday in the hospital, the country’s attorney general's office reported.

The death adds to at least three dozen people who have died since large anti-government opposition protests intent on seeing Maduro’s removal began about a month ago, continually shutting down large sections of Caracas.

Thousands of protesters were seen clashing with government security forces in the Caracas on Wednesday and there were reports of looting in La Pradera as well as Carabobo’s capital city Valencia. The latest waves of protests came in response to Maduro’s recent announcement to call a national constituent assembly with the aim of easing political tensions and supporting dialogue with the opposition.


Though opposition protests have been largely peaceful, smaller groups have sparked violence. And while many opposition supporters blame the violence on the government and state forces, footage of protests has commonly been manipulated on social media.

Secretary-General of the Organization of American States Luis Almagro — already known for his Twitter obsession with Venezuela — on Thursday tweeted a shocking photo of a young opposition protester on fire. Almagro claimed that it was an example of how “Nicolas Maduro and his government once more are demonstrating their anti-democratic character, curtailing the liberty of its own people.”

However, the incident in eastern Caracas, captured by AFP reporters, occurred because a group of opposition protesters, clad with facemasks, had kicked and then exploded the gas tank of a destroyed motorcycle belonging to the Venezuelan National Guard that was on fire in the street, engulfing the demonstrator in flames.

Meanwhile, Almagro met with right-wing leader of the MUD opposition coalition, National Assembly chief Julio Borges, to discuss what they see as unconstitutional actions by the government and the nullity of the government’s notice to formally leave the OAS.

Almagro has led continued OAS attacks on Maduro’s government, pushing Caracas to announce last week that it will formally leave the organization.

The OAS head earlier tweeted that he demands to visit opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez, who has been in jail since 2015 for inciting violence in the "guarimbas" protests that led to the deaths of 43 people.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Police-Officer-Dies-After-Being-Shot-in-Venezuelan-Protests--20170504-0015.html?utm_content=buffer10382&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Take Action Today to Support Venezuela's Democracy
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By ALLIANCE FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE, May 5th 2017
TAGS

international
international solidarity
Democrat and Republican senators have introduced a bill to further disrupt Venezuela’s political system with the goal of imposing regime change. We support Pope Frances’ call for dialogue between “the government and all the components of the Venezuelan society so that every further form of violence is avoided, human rights are respected and negotiated solutions are sought to the humanitarian, social, political and economic crises, which are exhausting the people.” Please write a letter to your two senators telling them to keep their hands off Venezuela!

You can automatically send a letter by clicking here.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced a destabilization bill in the Senate in the guise of a humanitarian response to the economic and political crisis Venezuela is confronting. The purpose of the bill is neither to help solve Venezuela’s economic crisis, nor to help bring violent elements in the opposition to the table to discuss peaceful solutions to Venezuela’s problems.

Its purpose is to further destabilize Venezuela’s economy and democracy in order to remove elected President Nicolas Maduro and to crush Hugo Chavez’ Bolivarian movement which brought hope of a better life to millions around the world. If senators were serious about responding to a humanitarian crisis they would concentrate their attention on Haiti, which is still suffering neglect after the deadly earthquake of 2009. Or concentrate on Honduras which suffered a military coup in 2009 followed by a faux election in which the democratic opposition was not allowed to campaign under a state of emergency. Honduras’ 2013 election was marred by widespread cheating and the victor of that “election” is this year running for reelection without even changing the constitutional ban on reelection.

Instead, senators are focused on Venezuela where the government lost 80% of revenue in recent years due to low oil prices. Moreover, former US President Jimmy Carter himself said that Venezuela has the best electoral system of any country he has monitored.

We have to call our senators on their gross hypocrisy. Regardless of whether we agree on all the steps the Venezuelan government has taken to confront the two crises, we can agree that the US government does not have the best interests of Venezuelans at heart. We can agree that no act of the US government to intervene in Venezuela’s internal affairs will improve the lives of Venezuelans. We defend the national sovereignty of all countries and oppose US intervention in the sovereign affairs of our neighboring countries and demand US Hands Off Venezuela!

Click here to send a letter to your senators.

Background: What is in Senate bill S-1018?

Regime change in Venezuela has been official US government policy throughout the regimes of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and now Donald Trump. The US has used its arsenal of regime change tools short of directly sending in military troops. The US has attempted to demonize first President Hugo Chavez and now his successor Nicolas Maduro. The US has implemented economic warfare to “make the economy scream” - as Henry Kissinger said when the US worked toward regime change in Chile. The US has spent tens of millions of dollars to fund the Venezuelan opposition, including the factions of it that seek the violent overthrow of the democratically-elected government.

Some of the highlights of bill S-1018 are:

*The bill claims there are 108 political prisoners, naming a number of opposition leaders including some found responsible for deaths during the violent demonstrations following the 2013 presidential election won by President Maduro.

*While US-dominated financial institutions block international loans to Venezuela, the bill reverses the reality and "Calls on Venezuelan President Maduro to permit humanitarian assistance, immediately release all political prisoners, and seek assistance from international financial institutions."

*The bill authorizes $10 million for the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide "humanitarian assistance" which is code for funding the opposition, including the violent opposition.

* It backs OAS General Secretary Almagro’s campaign to invoke the OAS Democratic Charter against Venezuela as a means to directly intervene to allegedly "restore democracy." Almagro’s campaign has failed to pass the OAS General Assembly and has resulted in Venezuela’s announcement to withdraw its membership from the OAS.

* The bill "Authorizes $500,000 to support future OAS election observation missions and $9.5 million for democratic civil society organizations working to defend human rights." In effect, this means funding opposition parties in an OAS-controlled future Venezuela national election when in fact Venezuela’s electoral process is more tamper-proof than that of the US, therefore needing no international monitoring.

* Calls for a report on the "involvement of Venezuelan government officials in corruption and the illicit drug trade," and calls for US sanctions which could be used as a tool to exclude Chavista leaders from international meetings and from running in future elections.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13106

Yes, by all means, call your Senator...I think I'll give Lindsay Graham a call....

Who Is Behind the State Department's Coup Plot in Venezuela?
By: Misión Verdad

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1493308648139/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/04/27/vz_eagle.jpg_1718483346.jpg
These actions led by the United States lead toward one final aim: intervention by financial and preventive military means. | Photo: teleSUR

Published 27 April 2017

Creating a distorted image of the humanitarian crisis is the starting point. Painting a picture of a country on the verge of collapse is the alibi.
The coup plot against Venezuela has already been written and presented. On March 2, 2017, during the first round of OAS talks, Shannon K. O'Neil (Latin America director of the Council on Foreign Relations, CFR) presented the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee with a portfolio of actions and measures to be taken by the United States if it wanted to remove Chavismo from political power in Venezuela.

Origin and Key Players of CFR

The Council on Foreign Relations, or CFR, is a think tank founded in 1921 with money from the Rockefeller Foundation. It is aimed at creating a group of experts to shape U.S. foreign policy and its leadership positions, including the president and the State Department, which does not act for its own reasons but rather according to the interests of these lobbyists.

Since it was created, the council, which is made up of 4,500 members, has placed a number of senior officials in positions to implement CFR strategy. These include Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell, responsible for the war in Vietnam, Yugoslavia and Iraq respectively, and in the case of Powell, a major player in the April 2002 coup.

Moreover, an honorary member and ex-vice president of the think tank was David Rockefeller, the former owner of Standard Oil Company who has great interests and influence in Venezuela. His penetration in the country's national political life reached such a point that he was one of the sponsors of the Punto Fijo pact that gave rise to the Fourth Republic.

Corporations That Finance the CFR and Use It as a Political Platform

Corporations born from the dissolution of Standard Oil also finance the CFR, namely Chevron and Exxon Mobil. The former was involved in financing the sanctions against Venezuela and the latter wants to create conflict between Guyana and Venezuela in order to take advantage of the large oil reserves in Essequibo.

Among CFR's financiers is Citibank, which last year blocked the accounts of the Central Bank of Venezuela and the Bank of Venezuela, affecting the country’s ability to import essential goods. The financial corporation JP Morgan is responsible for using financial aggression as an excuse to declare Venezuela in default of payments in November 2016, using manipulative maneuvers to affect Venezuela’s financial credibility.

Both banks aimed to hurt Venezuela’s ability to attract investment and loans that would stabilize its economy. The most aggressive players of the financial and economic coup against Venezuela are part of CFR. These same players are now responsible for designing the agenda of the political coup — in the same way that Colin Powell, a CFR member, devised and armed the 2002 coup against Chavez when he was George W. Bush’s secretary of state. Now, just like then, the MUD (today called Democratic Coordinator) only responds to a political line designed by these large, factual powers — the real power that governs the United States.


Presentation to the United States Senate

For this reason, O'Neil is no more than a delegate of the royal leaders of this private organization. He is in charge of presenting to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the U.S. Senate the actions that must be taken to change the political course of Venezuela, using unconventional war tactics, as outlined by the interests of the great economic powers represented by CFR.

The audience begins by reporting, without solid and reliable figures, that the Venezuelan population currently lives on par or worse conditions than the citizens of Bangladesh, Republic of Congo and Mozambique, countries brought to extreme misery by private and irregular wars which sought to plunder their natural resources.

Creating a (media-distorted) image of the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela is the starting point for the rest of the plan. Painting a picture of a country on the verge of collapse is the alibi.

During the presentation, O'Neil said that the PDVSA is on the brink of default, omitting that the state oil company has continued to pay its external debt payments in honor of its international commitments. Before proposing these options to the U.S. government, the CFR delegate says that Venezuela is strategic for U.S. interests in the hemisphere, and that a hypothetical collapse in oil production would hurt the U.S. (because it would increase prices), while also affirming — without any proof — that the incursions of the Zetas and Sinaloa drug cartels in Venezuela poses a threat to the region.


The Coup Plot

Th CFR proposes three major political actions for the U.S. to execute a coup in Venezuela in the immediate future. Options that, because of the political and financial weight embodied in CFR, are already in full operation (and running for months). Indeed the CFR have directed the anti-Chavista leadership to strictly follow this coup manual.

1. CFR proposes to continue sanctions on "human rights violators, narco-traffickers and corrupt officials" to increase pressure on the Venezuelan government. Anti-Chavez leaders, following that script, have backed these actions and the false positive in question, since there is no evidence linking Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami to international drug trafficking. Even leaders like Freddy Guevara have gone to Washington directly to "demand" that the sanctions be extended, under the support of the anti-Venezuelan lobby led by Marco Rubio.

2. The United States must take a tougher stance within the OAS to implement the Democratic Charter against Venezuela, co-opting countries in the Caribbean and Central America to support this initiative, which in recent OAS (illegal) sessions have resisted supporting. Marco Rubio's threat against Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and El Salvador was not an isolated action, but a coordinated maneuver led by the State Department to increase pressure against Venezuela's international alliances.

The CFR also proposes that the Treasury Department convinces China to withdraw its support for Venezuela to increase political and economic pressure on the country and the government. The MUD has been a stellar actor in this part of the script, using Luis Almagro to demand the Democratic Charter be applied against Venezuela. The latest statement from the U.S. State Department on the march convened by the MUD on April 19, aims not only to harden its stance toward Venezuela to increase pressure from the OAS (trying to bring together the largest number of allies with this critique), but legitimizes, with premeditation, violent and lamentable acts that could occur in the march. Clinging to false narratives such as the use of "collectives" to suppress demonstrations and "tortures" carried out by Venezuelan state security forces, the State Department proposes calling April 19 a turning point to escalate the siege against Venezuela and expand sanctions against the country, making them more aggressive and direct.

3. The CFR states that the United States should work together with Colombia, Brazil, Guyana and Caribbean countries to prepare for a possible "refugee increase," channeling resources to various NGOs and U.N. organizations from the United States Department of Agriculture State. But beyond this warning of an intervention in Venezuela, there is a real political operation in place: the NGO funded by the same Department of State, Human Rights Watch (HRW), published today, April 18, 2017, a report on how the "humanitarian crisis" has spread to Brazil. Based on specific testimonies and by magnifying immigration data, HRW took the opportunity to call on the governments of the region (with special emphasis on Brazil) to put pressure on the Venezuelan government, as required by the strategy proposed by CFR. Luis Florido, leader of Popular Voluntad, is currently touring Brazil and Colombia to try to reactivate the diplomatic siege against Venezuela from border countries.

The U.S. think tank also requires that these countries under the leadership of the United States and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) organize a financial guardianship plan for Venezuela, that hides Russian and Chinese investments in strategic areas of the country. In recent days, Julio Borges has used his role in parliament and as a political spokesperson to continue the message that propagates the false narrative of the "humanitarian crisis" in Venezuela. It is the same strategy outlined by the CFR, arguing that the United States should increase its level of involvement in the internal affairs of Venezuela from the State Department, now headed by Rex Tillerson, linked to oil company Exxon Mobil (he was its general manager since 2007 until he took over this public position), a CFR financier.


Where the Opposition Leaders Come into Play

These ongoing actions, while unveiling the geopolitical urgency in the coup strategy against Venezuela (affiliated with the latest statements by U.S. Southern Command Chief Admiral Kurt Tidd on the need to displace China and Russia as allies of Latin America), also reflects how they have delegated the generation of violence, programmed chaos and diplomatic procedures (in the best of cases and exclusive use of Luis Florido) to their intermediaries in Venezuela, specifically, the leaders of the radical parties of anti-Chavism. These actions led by the United States (and corporations that manage its foreign policy) lead toward one final aim: intervention by financial and preventive military means.

How to Justify Intervention

The evidence presented by President Nicolas Maduro links leaders of Primero Justicia with financing vandalism against public institutions (the case of the TSJ in Chacao). What, beyond this specific case, reveals the very probable promotion of para-criminal, irregular and mercenary (allied and politically directed) factors to escalate and encourage violence in order to legitimize the position of the State Department.

The badly named MUD is a private embassy that works on the basis of the great economic interests of these factual powers, which are vital for its strategy to advance. Whether these strategies can keep pace with this global moment will depend on what their supporters can do on the ground. Given the resources of financial and political warfare applied by these powers (financial blockade, international diplomatic siege, programmed attack on PDVSA payments, etc.) and State Department maneuvers, are on their account, generating all the conditions of Pressure, siege and financing needed by its operators in Venezuela for the much-announced breakpoint that does not finish arriving.

And that it is necessary that it arrives for those who financed and designed this agenda.

Despite the tactics of the financial and political war (financial blockade, international diplomatic siege, programmed attack on PDVSA payments, etc.) and the maneuvers of the State Department, made on its behalf, to generate all the conditions of pressure, siege and investment needed by their Venezuelan operatives, the highly anticipated breaking point in Venezuela has still not arrived.

But for those who financed and designed the agenda against Venezuela, it is important this point come as soon as possible.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Who-Is-Behind-the-State-Departments-Coup-Plot-in-Venezuela-20170427-0010.html

Four videos at link.

Opposition rejects invitation from Venezuelan government to dialogue

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The convocation to a Constituent Assembly made by presidential decree is established in Articles 347 and 348 of the Constitution. | Photo: Reuters
Published 7 May 2017 (16 hours 13 minutes ago)

The self-appointed Bureau of Democratic Unity (MUD) rejected a new invitation to the dialogue that the Executive called on the Constituent Assembly. They announced a new day of mobilizations for this week.

The leaders of the right in Venezuela called for a new march on Monday to the headquarters of the Ministry for Education, to deliver a document expressing their decision not to participate in the dialogue to which they were invited by the Government on the Constituent Assembly.

The opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, announced Sunday in the name of the Venezuelan opposition bloc that they will not attend the meeting convened by the Presidential Commission for the National Constituent Assembly (ANC), which will be held this Monday, May 8.

"The 'Unit' is not going to attend this meeting. We are going to mobilize the Ministry of Education. We are going to go to the office of Mr. Elias Jaua, accompanied by the people, to remind him of the Constitution ... Do not become part of a fraudulent process. We Venezuelans have a Constitution, and to change it, here are the mechanisms provided, "said Capriles.

Capriles ruled out a future participation of the MUD in this constitutional mechanism, and that will keep the agenda of street activities "indefinitely," he said during a press conference.

President Maduro called a Constituent Assembly on May 3 to seek a democratic exit to the scene of violent actions that has promoted opposition in the streets. These outbreaks have left 35 people dead and more than 700 Venezuelans injured since April.

The Presidential Commission for the ANC started this week meetings with different sectors of the country - women, students, businessmen, workers, communes - to expose the scope of the decree calling for a Constituent, and answer doubts and observations.

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Oposicion-rechaza-invitacion-del-Gobierno-venezolano-a-dialogar-20170507-0031.html

Google Translator

Break them. Jail the ringleaders. Expropriate!

US National Security Advisor: Quick, Peaceful Solution Needed in Venezuela

By RACHAEL BOOTHROYD-ROJAS

Caracas, May 8, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – United States National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster released an official statement Saturday expressing the need for a “quick and peaceful solution” to Venezuela’s “ongoing crisis”.

The press release was made public after McMaster met with Venezuelan opposition leader and current National Assembly President Julio Borges at the White House earlier that day.

It reads: “They [Borges and McMaster] discussed the ongoing crisis in Venezuela and the need for the government to adhere to the Venezuelan Constitution, release political prisoners, respect the National Assembly, and hold free and democratic elections."

The statement has sparked alarm in Venezuela and amongst international movements in solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution. They have likened Saturday’s meeting to a series of similar encounters that took place between US officials and opposition figures just before a short-lived coup against former President Hugo Chavez Frias in 2002.

The meeting comes as Washington hardens its stance vis-a-vis the Maduro government. Last week, a bipartisan group of US senators presented a bill to Congress asking for sanctions on more Venezuelan officials in a bid to further isolate Caracas in the region.

Violent protests have rocked the South American country since the beginning of April when a stand-off between the leftist national government and the opposition-controlled National Assembly came to a head. So far, 42 people have lost their lives in the unrest, which has seen armed opposition protesters block roads, gun down government supporters, set fire to public institutions, and clash with security forces. At least 15 people have been killed by protesters, while a further five have died at the hands of authorities.

Despite the deadly unrest, opposition leaders have said that they will boycott a constituent assembly called by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as a way out of the impasse and have continued to call for their supporters to take to the streets.

The situation was brought to the attention of the United Nations this past Saturday, after Washington's ambassador to the UN, Nikki Hayley, took aim at the Venezuelan government, accusing it of a “crackdown” on dissent in an official statement.

Anonymous sources have told Venezuelanalysis that the US is quietly pushing to table Venezuela as a discussion point at the UN Security Council but the move has so far been met with resistance from other nations.

The move to turn up the pressure on Venezuela comes as the United States escalates its military involvement in the region.

Over the weekend, the head of the Brazilian the armed forces, Theofilo de Oliveira, revealed that the US will also lead multinational military drilling exercises between Brazil, Colombia and Peru later this year as part of a 2015 NATO project.

A temporary military base will also be set up in the Brazilian town of Tabatinga on the Amazonian frontier between the three countries as part of the programme, confirmed the armed forces chief.

The military exercises have been described as “unprecedented” in the region.

PUBLISHED ON MAY 9TH 2017 AT 12.54AM

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13112

Venezuela Govt Accuses US of Bankrolling Right-Wing Violence

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Opposition supporters build a barricade while clashing with riot security forces during a rally against President Maduro in Caracas. | Photo: Reuters

Published 11 May 2017 (4 hours 20 minutes ago)

"U.S. financing and logistical support for violent groups in Venezuela have facilitated an armed insurgence," Caracas said.
The Venezuelan government accused Washington Thursday of financially propping up violent opposition groups in the South American country, slamming U.S. officials for promoting an "unprecedented and systematic attempt" to intervene in Caracas' affairs.

"U.S. financing and logistical support for violent groups in Venezuela have facilitated an armed insurgence," the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that the situation will be dealt with in accordance with the rule of law.

"The U.S. system of power relies on frequent and repeated statements, unilateral extraterritorial sanctions, economic financing of organizations in Venezuela for terrorist purposes, financial blockade, threats of military intervention, among others, to mask an open process of intervention marked by a rude meddling and violating International Law," the damning statement continued.

The Foreign Ministry's accusations against Washington highlighted recent comments made by U.S. official Francisco Palmieri, acting assistant secretary for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, as an example of how Washington operatives tirelessly promote foreign intervention.

Earlier this week, Palmieri criticized President Nicolas Maduro's call for all political parties and social organizations to participate in a Constituent Assembly, which the Venezuelan government says will promote a peaceful solution to political crisis in the country. The U.S. State Department official attacked the plan as an "authoritarian exercise" dressed up as an assembly.


"President Maduro is violating Venezuela’s own constitution and is not allowing the opposition to have their voices heard, nor allowing them to organize in a way that expresses the views of the Venezuelan people," Palmieri said Tuesday during the Council of the Americas Conference in Washington. Article 347 of Venezuela's Bolivarian Constitution, which allows for the convening of a national constituent assembly with the purpose of “transforming the state."

Palmieri also defended the Organization of American States, saying it has acted "in defense of democracy and human rights in the region." The Venezuelan and other governments in the region have criticized the OAS for doing Washington's bidding and attempting to seek a foreign intervention in Venezuela in the name of tackling political crisis while at the same time turning a blind eye to severe human right violations in other nations.

Venezuela's Foreign Ministry, headed by Delcy Rodriguez, said that the Constituent Assembly is a democratic process where the people will be able to take a stand against violence that at times has errupted in the streets over the past six weeks of opposition protests by casting a "universal, direct and secret vote in defense of peace, democracy and Venezuelan sovereignty."

The Foreign Ministry also argued in response to Palmieri's praise for the OAS that the "vandalism and extreme violence" seen in Venezuela in recent weeks has been a consequence of the "hostile and interventionist decisions" taken by the OAS to attempt to sanction Caracas and act, according to Venezuela and other allied governments in the region, against its own constitutional rules.

The statement also reiterated that the government has called on the opposition to continue a stalled dialogue process to resolve the political and economic crisis, with the guidance of the Vatican and the Union of South American Nations.

Finally, the government said that it regrets that U.S. authorities continue to "follow the already failed path of the Bush and Obama era in disregarding the call of the Venezuelan government to seek diplomatic relations of respect and equality."

It also reported that so far in 2017, Caracas has recorded at least 105 hostile statements and actions from the U.S. against Venezuela.

"This is the method that the empire has already tried in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, but in Venezuela it's a defeat already announced," the statement said.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Govt-Accuses-US-of-Bankrolling-Right-Wing-Violence-20170511-0007.html

‘Snipers’ Take to the Streets of Venezuela as Death Toll Surges Past 2014 Record

By RYAN MALLETT-OUTTRIM

Puebla, Mexico, May 11, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Two more Venezuelans died Wednesday amid ongoing unrest, with officials in Caracas calling for an official investigation into the role of right-wing snipers in the violence.

Late Wednesday the public prosecutor’s office confirmed the death of Miguel Castillo, 27, during an opposition protest in Miranda state. The prosecutor is investigating the case, while a separate commission has also been established by the ombudsperson's office to look into the death.

According to interior minister Nestor Reverol, Castillo was killed by a gunshot at close range, though it’s unclear whether the shot was fired by security forces or protesters. He emphasised that the autopsy is yet to be completed, but said there were signs Castillo was shot at close range.

“All the necessary investigations are being done to clarify the case,” Reverol said.

Opposition politicians quickly blamed government forces for the killing. One legislator from the main opposition coalition, the MUD, Jose Manuel Olivares, said Reverol will “be remembered as a killer”.

“Today the minister again ordered that Venezuelans be killed,” he said during a press conference.

The legislator continued by claiming there was evidence Castillo was killed with a marble used as a bullet, before arguing this proved security forces were responsible.

“The young Castillo had entry and exit wounds in the left arm, [with the projectile] lodging in his chest,” he said, according to El Nacional.

Marbles and ball bearings are often used by anti-government protesters as improvised ammunition, while state security forces usually use standard crowd control ammunition, such as rubber buckshot. Nonetheless, the opposition has accused security forces of secretly using marbles instead of crowd control ammunition.

At least five protester deaths have been attributed to the actions of security forces over the past two months, according to data compiled by Venezuelanalysis. However, some deaths initially blamed on police and the National Guard have later been attributed to protesters, who often carry firearms and improvised weapons.

Another Death in Merida

The day before Castillo’s death, three people were injured in the Andean city of Merida by a suspected sniper. The injured included a police officer, student and a motorbike taxi worker, Anderson Dugarte. On Wednesday, Dugarte died of his wounds, while the two other injured remain in critical conditions.

Referred to locally as mototaxistas, motorbike taxi workers are often stereotyped as government supporters, though Dugarte’s political affiliation is unknown.

Nonetheless, Merida’s socialist state governor Alexis Ramirez blamed the opposition for Dugarte’s death, labelling the sniper a “terrorist”.

“This is part of the fascist plan of the right-wing terrorists, directed by [National Assembly head and MUD legislator] Julio Borges – you are responsible!” Ramirez said.

The sniper incident prompted Ombudsman Tarek William Saab to call for an official investigation into allegations opposition protests have been infiltrated by snipers. On April 24th, two local government workers were also murdered by sharp-shooters in Merida.

Taking to social media, Saab accused far right groups of the “systematic use of gunmen and snipers” to create chaos on the streets.

Saab urged the public prosecutor’s office and the country's forensic police, the CICPC, to head the investigation.

Overall, 15 deaths related to political unrest since early April have been attributed to the actions of anti-government groups. The latest two casualties bring the total death toll to 44, making the current wave of unrest deadlier than the violence of 2014.

Forty-three people died during the protests of 2014, when the opposition sought to force President Nicolas Maduro from office with a campaign of street violence and attacks on infrastructure. Until now, the 2014 unrest was Venezuela’s worst wave of violence in more than two decades. With the latest deaths, the current violence is now the deadliest chapter of political unrest in Venezuela since the 1989 Caracazo, when potentially thousands of Venezuelans died at the hands of state security personnel during a week of protests and riots against a neoliberal structural adjustment plan.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13117

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same as they were doing in 2002


http://youtu.be/Id--ZFtjR5c

DEFEAT THE COUP AGAINST THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC
PV STAFF FEATURES, INTERNATIONAL, TOPICS MAY 12, 2017
An open letter to the people, from the Communist Party of Venezuela

To our compatriot Nicolas Maduro, President of the Republic; to the working class and working people of the city and countryside; to the patriotic officers, classes, and soldiers of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces; to the national leadership and militancy of the political parties and popular organisations of the Great Patriotic Pole, including the United Socialist Party.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela finds itself threatened yet again by acts of political violence from sectors of the extreme right as part of the execution of a destabilising plan elaborated by North American imperialism.

This plan has as its objective the imposition through force and blackmail of a government which would work to maintain US hegemony throughout the continent, taking apart the processes of national liberation which begun across Latin America at the start of this century, and turning back progressive advances which have allowed the working class and the people in general to establish rights and social advances which were historically denied them by governments which responded absolutely to the interests of the bourgeoisie, which in itself acted as a subordinate to North American imperialism.

On this occasion the aggressive escalation against our people by those actors of the oligarchy and extreme right is much greater.

Apart from the anti-popular violent acts resulting in the creation of shortages and the high cost of living, terrorist acts have been seen in various cities across the country in recent weeks.

These acts have been accompanied by a national and international propaganda war which looks to sew confusion and instigate confrontation between nations, creating a state of chaos and violence which only favours a bloody resolution of the political crisis, be it through a coup or a direct intervention by North American imperialism and the international institutions at its beck and call.

The Venezuelan extreme right, following instructions from US imperialism and with its direct financing, does not control itself in its crimes of violence and provocation.

With such objectives in mind, the pro-US right are pressuring military officers with diverse forces of blackmail and manipulation.

We call on the patriotic soldiers and officers to not cede to these unpatriotic terrorists and to take up the cause of the defence of our national sovereignty and our independence and the security of our people without hesitation and with complete commitment.

For us, the Venezuelan communists, it is clear that what is happening is the sharpening of the class struggle in its political form — the heightening of the struggle for power. The forces which represent the interests of European and North American great monopoly capital are attempting to take over control of Venezuela and all Latin America by defeating and vanquishing the social and political sectors which offer resistance to such objectives.

In light of the dangerous terrorist escalation, which is putting our national sovereignty, independence, and the gains of the working people at risk, we call for a unified, forceful, and coherent response. It is necessary to mobilise without delay the widest possible anti-imperialist alliance to defeat the anti-democratic terrorist plans.

We urgently need the central government, the parties of the Great Patriotic Pole, the forces of the popular and working-class movement, and the patriotic command of the armed forces to work together.

It is necessary to develop a popular and patriotic plan to defeat the pro-imperialist and terrorist extreme right. To not do so would be to act with irresponsibility and, in reality, to hand oneself over without a fight.

The true revolutionaries do not hand ourselves over, we fight united until we succeed.

The Venezuelan working class needs that the sectors of the petit-bourgeoisie which currently hold hegemonic power in the national executive, the other powers of state and parties of government, immediately abandon all sectarian and selfish conduct which has only weakened the Bolivarian process and effectively works in favour of the enemies’ plans.

The Communist Party of Venezuela has insisted for many years for the need for a collective and unified national leadership of this Bolivarian process of changes, but the petit-bourgeoisie groupings which have exercised hegemonic control over the government have not paid attention to these calls and proposals.

Hence, in the current context we insist on unity of action of all the political and social forces willing to defend the nation against the imperialist enemy and their puppets.

However also, in the context of a wavering and inconsequent petit-bourgeoisie in power, we call upon the most conscientious and combative sectors of the popular and workers’ movements, the peasantry, the middle strata, the revolutionary intellectuals and the patriotic officers to forge a block of forces which will lead the wide patriotic and anti-imperialist alliance so as to halt the seditious plans of the pro-US right and also so as to displace the reformist-appeasement sectors which, from positions of government, tend to favour the sectors of the big bourgeoisie and form pacts with social democratic elements of the right wing.

Only an ample, popular unity, led by the organised and conscientious working class can guarantee the defence of the Bolivarian nation and the deepening of the revolutionary changes towards the real construction of socialism on scientific and committed foundations.

Peace is won by defeating fascism.

http://peoplesvoice.ca/2017/05/12/defeat-the-coup-against-the-bolivarian-republic/

Real Revolution in the Barrios of Venezuela

Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MAY 11, 2017

The only ones who have both the number and fury to set fire to this country are working, organizing, discussing the call to a Constituent Assembly.
Closing streets, paralyzing the subway system, burning urban transport units, attacking public institutions, even some private ones, the looting of shops, schools and hospitals, terrorizing popular neighborhoods with hired gangs, mercenary style.
In eastern areas of Caracas, a minority sector goes to the opposition demonstrations where all of this takes place and daily life is a chaos in the middle of battles where this privileged little world rebelled against the poor. Wearing all sort of gas masks, journalists, photographers, camera people with helmets and bullet-proof vests, opposition leaders, members of the national assembly, mayors and governors of the counterrevolution stand there giving orders, Molotov cocktails keep coming and going, sometimes they collide with tear gas canisters in the air, youths wearing balaclavas and with shields that look like they are from the crusaders, using gloves to throw tear gas canisters back, barricades, cut down trees, fires, a constant battle against Bolivarian police and the national guards who are forbidden from using firearms and violence.
The cameras try to capture a picture showing that the country is at war.
This same scenario is repeated in specific places in different states of the country.
But despite this theatrical set, something is not working for the terrorist agenda of the opposition. Thousands of neighborhoods, hills and low income areas throughout the entire country continue about their daily lives attentive to what happens in that upper-middle class, Hollywood type world and their declassed playing at absolute war that has already taken some 40 lives and wounded hundreds of other in the entire country. Here the murdered and wounded are not extras. They are real.
In the neighborhood of 23 de Enero, west of Caracas, about 200,000 inhabitants wake up everyday in the middle of that fascinating entanglement of popular sectors. There are no incendiary bombs or tear gas bombs here. Children go to school, kindergartens, youngsters in blue flannels and beige (school uniforms) take the streets to get to their high schools. Subway cars travel at full capacity as far as violence from the other side of the city allows them to get to. Small and medium size businesses start to open their doors. Queues begin to form in the hundreds of popular medical practices where people get free basic health care attention. A group of women from the communal councils fix on the walls handwritten posters announcing the nightly meeting to organize the community food delivery, which also posts the amount to be paid and an account number to deposit the payment.
Motorcycle riders go to work. Fruit and vegetable trucks offer their fresh merchandise through their speakers. Empanadas, arepas and juices, garages, hairdressers and local mom-and-pop stores, taxi cooperatives and trucks filled with workers, teachers, civil servants, students and others lead their way to the differents demonstrations of today, mothers with their children, or simply workers of all kind. Most are commenting on the drama of the day: in the east where the rich live, they are playing with shit.


http://youtu.be/GTtb211C67Q

The neighborhood is active

The same situation repeats in other working class communities nearby: La Pastora, Catia, Lídice. And beyond downtown in San Agustín, Mamera, Petare, El Cementerio and in the other hundred and something boroughs and densely populated municipalities. About 6 million people in Caracas alone. This is what is not giving working in the opposition plans and their focused terrorist escalation. Millions of inhabitants of these neighborhoods are not singing along with their tune.
The same happens throughout the country. Instead of this in various sectors, people go out onto the streets to protect and defend their places as in this story of what happened in a neighborhood in the state of Barinas:
“Here they will not come to loot, no way, here they will not come to make the disasters they did to the bakeries and hardware stores and pharmacies of La Cardenera.”
The woman from Barinas, with a machete in hand, led a few hundred neighbors who were armed with sticks, tubes, machetes, bats, went out to confront the opposition ‘guarimberos’ (rioters) who had wiped out most of the neighborhood business in the past few weeks. The alarms had been going at night all around the neighborhood through pot-banging, text messages and calls of “here come the guarimberos.” Now they came for all the equipment of the public sports court, built by the Revolution to the Francisco de Miranda neighborhood and inaugurated by Chavez himself. Things get tense. The ‘guarimberos’, mostly upper-middle-class kids mixed with some from poorer areas and some thugs came in groups of 30 to lock streets and to loot and to set fire to the neighborhood’s sports court, begin to retreat. It is not easy for them because the people are in the streets, ready to fight to defend this sport facility that Chavez gave them. “You better get the fuck out, you’ll ’cause no trouble here,” “out, out, out, out.” Machetes, bats, sticks, pipes, spikes, move menacingly as my people scream at them – what a beatiful scene. The guarimberos retreat: “We are going to look for reinforcements to the Corozitos, no joke, we are gonna burn all this shit, you damn chavistas.” “Come, you squalid jerks, terrorists, here we wait, out, out, out, out with you.”
“That night no one slept. But they never came back,” says the old lady.
The only ones who have both the number and fury, balls and ovaries to set fire to this country are working, organizing, discussing the call to a Constituent Assembly. And defending in the street when necessary. A show of strength that goes unnoticed by the minds of those who want a great civilian confrontation, a war: to stay calm, not to come to interfere even knowing that the counterrevolution that is in the streets on the other side of the city but could not withstand the irruption of these neighborhoods at their most violent. This is a titanic display of strength.
While the country’s wealthy opposition sectors are running their “I Want Freedom” drama, those with the true power are active. The barrio is active.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2017/05/11/real-revolution-in-the-barrios-of-venezuela/

The more important story that Americans never hear. Is it any wonder that our people are so bewildered, that our task is so seemingly difficult?

Imagine the Freudians could have a field day with those shit bombs.

Why Are There No Riots in the Barrios of Venezuela?
By: Gustavo Borges

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1494525648653/sites/telesur/img/opinion/2017/05/11/barrio_en_la_calle.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Commuters in Caracas' popular neighborhoods. | Photo: Mision Verdad

Published 11 May 2017

The only ones who have both the number and fury to set fire to this country are working, organizing, discussing the call to a Constituent Assembly.

Closing streets, paralyzing the subway system, burning urban transport units, attacking public institutions, even some private ones, the looting of shops, schools and hospitals, terrorizing popular neighborhoods with hired gangs, mercenary style.

In eastern areas of Caracas, a minority sector goes to the opposition demonstrations where all of this takes place and daily life is a chaos in the middle of battles where this privileged little world rebelled against the poor. Wearing all sort of gas masks, journalists, photographers, camera people with helmets and bullet-proof vests, opposition leaders, members of the national assembly, mayors and governors of the counterrevolution stand there giving orders, Molotov cocktails keep coming and going, sometimes they collide with tear gas canisters in the air, youths wearing balaclavas and with shields that look like they are from the crusaders, using gloves to throw tear gas canisters back, barricades, cut down trees, fires, a constant battle against Bolivarian police and the national guards who are forbidden from using firearms and violence.

The cameras try to capture a picture showing that the country is at war.

This same scenario is repeated in specific places in different states of the country. But despite this theatrical set, something is not working for the terrorist agenda of the opposition. Thousands of neighborhoods, hills and low income areas throughout the entire country continue about their daily lives attentive to what happens in that upper-middle class, Hollywood type world and their declassed playing at absolute war that has already taken some 40 lives and wounded hundreds of other in the entire country. Here the murdered and wounded are not extras. They are real.

In the neighborhood of 23 de Enero, west of Caracas, about 200,000 inhabitants wake up everyday in the middle of that fascinating entanglement of popular sectors. There are no incendiary bombs or tear gas bombs here. Children go to school, kindergartens, youngsters in blue flannels and beige (school uniforms) take the streets to get to their high schools. Subway cars travel at full capacity as far as violence from the other side of the city allows them to get to. Small and medium size businesses start to open their doors. Queues begin to form in the hundreds of popular medical practices where people get free basic health care attention. A group of women from the communal councils fix on the walls handwritten posters announcing the nightly meeting to organize the community food delivery, which also posts the amount to be paid and an account number to deposit the payment.

Motorcycle riders go to work. Fruit and vegetable trucks offer their fresh merchandise through their speakers. Empanadas, arepas and juices, garages, hairdressers and local mom-and-pop stores, taxi cooperatives and trucks filled with workers, teachers, civil servants, students and others lead their way to the differents demonstrations of today, mothers with their children, or simply workers of all kind. Most are commenting on the drama of the day: in the east where the rich live, they are playing with shit.

The neighborhood is active

The same situation repeats in other working class communities nearby: La Pastora, Catia, Lídice. And beyond downtown in San Agustín, Mamera, Petare, El Cementerio and in the other hundred and something boroughs and densely populated municipalities. About 6 million people in Caracas alone. This is what is not working in the opposition plans and their focused terrorist escalation. Millions of inhabitants of these neighborhoods are not singing along with their tune.

The same happens throughout the country. Instead of this in various sectors, people go out onto the streets to protect and defend their places as in this story of what happened in a neighborhood in the state of Barinas: "Here they will not come to loot, no way, here they will not come to make the disasters they did to the bakeries and hardware stores and pharmacies of La Cardenera." The woman from Barinas, with a machete in hand, led a few hundred neighbors who were armed with sticks, tubes, machetes, bats, went out to confront the opposition 'guarimberos' (rioters) who had wiped out most of the neighborhood business in the past few weeks. The alarms had been going at night all around the neighborhood through pot-banging, text messages and calls of "here come the guarimberos." Now they came for all the equipment of the public sports court, built by the Revolution to the Francisco de Miranda neighborhood and inaugurated by Chavez himself. Things get tense. The 'guarimberos', mostly upper-middle-class kids mixed with some from poorer areas and some thugs came in groups of 30 to lock streets and to loot and to set fire to the neighborhood's sports court, begin to retreat. It is not easy for them because the people are in the streets, ready to fight to defend this sport facility that Chavez gave them. "You better get the fuck out, you'll 'cause no trouble here," "out, out, out, out." Machetes, bats, sticks, pipes, spikes, move menacingly as my people scream at them - what a beatiful scene. The guarimberos retreat: "We are going to look for reinforcements to the Corozitos, no joke, we are gonna burn all this shit, you damn chavistas." "Come, you squalid jerks, terrorists, here we wait, out, out, out, out with you."

"That night no one slept. But they never came back," says the old lady.

The only ones who have both the number and fury, balls and ovaries to set fire to this country are working, organizing, discussing the call to a Constituent Assembly. And defending in the street when necessary. A show of strength that goes unnoticed by the minds of those who want a great civilian confrontation, a war: to stay calm, not to come to interfere even knowing that the counterrevolution that is in the streets on the other side of the city but could not withstand the irruption of these neighborhoods at ther most violent. This is a titanic display of strength.

While the country's wealthy opposition sectors are running their "I Want Freedom" drama, those with the true power are active. The barrio is active.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Why-Are-There-No-Riots-in-the-Barrios-of-Venezuela-20170511-0014.html?utm_content=bufferea31b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Venezuela Communists Back Maduro Against ‘Pro-US Right’

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1494714417210/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/05/13/pcv_2.png_1718483346.png
The Communist Party of Venezuela marches in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution. | Photo: Communist Party of Venezuela

Published 13 May 2017

Opposition protests in Venezuela, according to the country's Communist Party, support "North American imperialism."
The Communist Party of Venezuela, PCV, on Friday expressed full support for President Nicolas Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution against right-wing opposition protests.

The protests, according to the PCV, form part of “a destabilising plan elaborated by North American imperialism.”

“This plan has as its objective the imposition through force and blackmail of a government which would work to maintain US hegemony throughout the continent,” the PCV said in a statement.

“Hence, in the current context we insist on unity of action of all the political and social forces willing to defend the nation against the imperialist enemy and their puppets.”

Founded in 1931, the PCV is the oldest continuously-existing leftist party in Venezuela. For decades, the Marxist-Leninist grouping fought against right-wing and neoliberal administrations that privatized the country’s vast oil resources.


Once former President Hugo Chavez rose to political prominence, however, the PCV began backing his democratic socialist movement. In fact, the party supported his 1998 presidential campaign and has since worked in coalition with the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, PSUV.

In 2011, the PCV joined the Great Patriotic Pole, an electoral alliance of leftist political parties dedicated to protecting and advancing the Bolivarian Revolution.

Today, the PCV is calling on all Venezuelans — especially workers — to preserve that alliance.

“We call on the patriotic soldiers and officers to not cede to these unpatriotic terrorists and to take up the cause of the defence of our national sovereignty,” the PCV added in its statement.

“True revolutionaries do not hand themselves over. They fight united until they succeed.”

Since early April, Venezuela’s U.S.-backed right-wing opposition has led almost daily protests, claiming that the incumbent government is “corrupt” and “violates human rights.” The opposition has worked hand-in-hand with U.S. lawmakers and regional right-wing politicians who have expressed support for regime change in Venezuela.

Over three dozen people have died amid protests.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Communists-Back-Maduro-Against-Pro-US-Right--20170513-0011.html

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Marx Ideas 'Deeply Rooted' in Venezuela Revolution: Ambassador

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1490053755630/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/03/20/marx_ideas_xdeeply_rootedx_in_venezuelaxs_bolivarian_revolution.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Man sits by a graffiti denouncing U.S. imperialism in Caracas. | Photo: Reuters

Published 20 March 2017

The Venezuelan envoy to the U.K. commemorated the legacy of Karl Marx by stressing her government’s commitment to his ideas.
The radical ideas of Karl Marx are deeply rooted in Latin American revolutionary ideas and especially in Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution and the policies of the governments of the late President Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan Ambassador to the U.K. Rocio Maneiro said in a speech Sunday commemorating the legacy of the communist founder.

“Marxism has been present in the revolutionary ideas of Latin America throughout the 20th century when Communist parties emerged all over the region and were forced to go underground by the repressive governments of the time,” Maneiro told the crowd at the Marx Memorial Library in London.

“In Venezuela especially, Marxist ideas were rooted deep in the soil of our revolutionary tradition, which goes back to the struggles against slavery and oppression, and the War for Independence which in Venezuela became a civil war.”

Maneiro went on to explain how the socialist government in Venezuela has, over the past 16 years, instituted social programs that were inspired by Marxist ideas, “giving priority to the inclusion of poor people in health, education, and housing systems.”


The government in Caracas has also been involved in promoting those ideas in other parts of the continent and supporting political parties and movements that share Marx’s ideas.

“In the last decade we have played a key role and we have also been deeply involved in the formation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, the Union of South American Nations, UNASUR, and the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of America, ALBA,” the Venezuelan envoy said.

She went on to say that the efforts by late leader Chavez and his government are at risk because capitalism is trying to crack down on the socialist surge in Latin America. Maneiro recalled that in a speech in 2006 the late president “warned us that there was not much time left to implement the socialism envisaged by Karl Marx.”

“Socialism or death, but real death — of the entire human species and of life on planet earth, because capitalism is destroying the planet, capitalism is destroying life on earth, capitalism is destroying the ecological equilibrium of the planet; the destructive development of the capitalist model is putting an end to life on earth. I believe it’s now or never,” Chavez had said using the words of Marx himself.

The government of Maduro, she added, is now facing ruthless attacks by the right-wing opposition in control of the National Assembly, while struggling with successive hostile administrations in Washington that see Venezuela as an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the U.S. national security and foreign policy,” the ambassador added.

Meanwhile, “the economic war organized by the right-wing opposition has dramatically intensified, affecting the distribution of food and medicines, while the international media has begun to promote the possibility of a humanitarian intervention in Venezuela,” she warned.

However, the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela is far from giving up and will not bow to “this multi-pronged aggression,” Maneiro said, as her government continues to be inspired by the call made by Karl Marx in the 19th century: “The workers of the world have nothing to lose but their chains, workers of the world unite.”

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Marx-Ideas-Deeply-Rooted-in-Venezuela-Revolution-Ambassador-20170320-0028.html

Videos at links

The truth about Venezuela: a revolt of the well-off, not a 'terror campaign'
Mark Weisbrot

John Kerry’s rhetoric is divorced from the reality on the ground, where life goes on – even at the barricades

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/3/20/1395325522429/21986704-08de-4302-a915-9be06523a3bd-2060x1236.jpeg?w=620&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&
A Venezuelan protester poses for a portrait at Altamira square in Caracas. Photograph: Jorge Silva / Reuters

Thursday 20 March 2014 10.35 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 31 January 2017 11.27 EST

Images forge reality, granting a power to television and video and even still photographs that can burrow deep into people’s consciousness without them even knowing it. I thought that I, too, was immune to the repetitious portrayals of Venezuela as a failed state in the throes of a popular rebellion. But I wasn’t prepared for what I saw in Caracas this month: how little of daily life appeared to be affected by the protests, the normality that prevailed in the vast majority of the city. I, too, had been taken in by media imagery.

Major media outlets have already reported that Venezuela’s poor have not joined the right-wing opposition protests, but that is an understatement: it’s not just the poor who are abstaining – in Caracas, it’s almost everyone outside of a few rich areas like Altamira, where small groups of protesters engage in nightly battles with security forces, throwing rocks and firebombs and running from tear gas.

Walking from the working-class neighborhood of Sabana Grande to the city center, there was no sign that Venezuela is in the grip of a “crisis” that requires intervention from the Organization of American States (OAS), no matter what John Kerry tells you. The metro also ran very well, although I couldn’t get off at Alta Mira station, where the rebels had set up their base of operations until their eviction this week.

I got my first glimpse of the barricades in Los Palos Grandes, an upper-income area where the protesters do have popular support, and neighbors will yell at anyone trying to remove the barricades – which is a risky thing to attempt (at least four people have apparently been shot dead for doing so). But even here at the barricades, life was pretty much normal, save for some snarled traffic. On the weekend, the Parque del Este was full of families and runners sweating in the 90-degree heat – before Chávez, you had to pay to get in, and the residents here, I was told, were disappointed when the less well-to-do were allowed to enter for free. The restaurants are still crowded at night.

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/3/19/1395262165473/8592ccc4-da01-4570-b0de-b913096e32f4-2060x1236.jpeg?w=620&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&
Members of the Bolivarian National Guard guard the streets of Altamira, in the Chacao municipality of Caracas. Photograph: Miguel Gutierrez / EPA

Travel provides little more than a reality check, of course, and I visited Caracas mainly to gather data on the economy. But I came away skeptical of the narrative, reported daily in the media, that increasing shortages of basic foods and consumer goods are a serious motivation for the protests. The people who are most inconvenienced by those shortages are, of course, the poor and working classes. But the residents of Los Palos Grandes and Altamira, where I saw real protests happening – they have servants to stand in line for what they need, and they have the income and storage space to accumulate some inventory.

These people are not hurting – they’re doing very well. Their income has grown at a healthy pace since the Chávez government got control of the oil industry a decade ago. They even get an expensive handout from the government: anyone with a credit card (which excludes the poor and millions of working people) is entitled to $3,000 per year at a subsidized exchange rate. They can then sell the dollars for 6 times what they paid in what amounts to a multi-billion dollar annual subsidy for the privileged – yet it is they who are supplying the base and the troops of the rebellion.

The class nature of this fight has always been stark and inescapable, now more than ever. Walking past the crowd that showed up for the March 5 ceremonies to mark the anniversary of Chávez’s death, it was a sea of working-class Venezuelans, tens of thousands of them. There were no expensive clothing or $300 shoes. What a contrast to the disgruntled masses of Los Palos Grandes, with $40,000 Grand Cherokee Jeeps bearing the slogan of the moment: SOS VENEZUELA.

When it comes to Venezuela, John Kerry knows which side of the class war he is on. Last week, just as I was leaving town, the US Secretary of State doubled down in his fusillade of rhetoric against the government, accusing President Nicolás Maduro of waging a “terror campaign against his own people”. Kerry also threatened to invoke the Inter-American Democratic Charter of the OAS against Venezuela, as well as implementing sanctions.

Brandishing the Democratic Charter against Venezuela is a bit like threatening Vladimir Putin with a UN-sponsored vote on secession in Crimea. Perhaps Kerry didn’t notice, but just a few days before his threats, the OAS took a resolution that Washington brought against Venezuela and turned it inside-out, declaring the regional body’s “solidarity” with the Maduro government. Twenty-nine countries approved it, with only the right-wing governments of Panama and Canada siding with the US against it.

Article 21 of the OAS’s Democratic Charter applies to the “unconstitutional interruption of the democratic order of a member state” (like the 2009 military coup in Honduras that Washington helped to legitimize, or the 2002 military coup in Venezuela, aided even more by the US government). Given its recent vote, the OAS would be more likely to invoke the Democratic Charter against the US government for its drone killings of US citizens without trial, than it would be to do so against Venezuela.

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/3/20/1395325320397/dac7a31a-da87-44a8-9e89-3e90ac34d56d-2060x1236.jpeg?w=620&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&
Demonstrators hold cardboard posters showing images of those killed during anti-government protests inside Plaza Altamira in Caracas. Photograph: Marco Antonio Bello / Demotix / Corbis

Kerry’s “terror campaign” rhetoric is equally divorced from reality, and predictably provoked an equivalent response from Venezuela’s foreign minister, who called Kerry a “murderer”. Here’s the truth about those charges from Kerry: since the protests in Venezuela began, it appears that more people have died at the hands of protesters than security forces. According to deaths reported by CEPR in the last month, in addition to those killed for trying to remove protesters’ barricades, about seven have apparently been killed by protesters’ obstructions – including a motorcyclist beheaded by a wire stretched across the road – and five National Guard officers have been killed.

As for violence from law enforcement, at least three people appear to have been killed by the National Guard or other security forces – including two protesters and a pro-government activist. Some people blame the government for an additional three killings by armed civilians; in a country with an average of more than 65 homicides per day, it is entirely possible these people acted on their own.

A full 21 members of the security forces are under arrest for alleged abuses, including some of the killings. This is no “terror campaign”.

At the same time, it is difficult to find any serious denunciation of opposition violence from major opposition leaders. Polling data finds the protests to be deeply unpopular in Venezuela, although they do much better abroad when they are promoted as “peaceful protests” by people like Kerry. The data also suggest that a majority of Venezuelans see these disturbances for what they are: an attempt to remove the elected government from power.

The domestic politics of Kerry’s posturing are pretty simple. On the one hand, you have the right-wing Florida Cuban-American lobby and their neo-conservative allies screaming for overthrow. To the left of the far right there is, well, nothing. This White House cares very little about Latin America, and there are no electoral consequences for making most of the governments in the hemisphere more disgusted with Washington.

Perhaps Kerry thinks the Venezuelan economy is going to collapse and that will bring some of the non-rich Venezuelans into the streets against the government. But the economic situation is actually stabilizing – monthly inflation fell in February, and the black-market dollar has fallen sharply on the news that the government is introducing a new, market-based exchange rate. Venezuela’s sovereign bonds returned 11.5% from 11 February (the day before the protests began) to 13 March, the highest returns in the Bloomberg dollar emerging market bond index. Shortages will most likely ease in the coming weeks and months.

Of course, that is exactly the opposition’s main problem: the next election is a year-and-a-half away, and by that time, it’s likely that the economic shortages and inflation that have so increased over the past 15 months will have abated. The opposition will then probably lose the parliamentary elections, as they have lost every election over the past 15 years. But their current insurrectionary strategy isn’t helping their own cause: it seems to have divided the opposition and united the Chavistas.

The only place where the opposition seems to be garnering broad support is Washington.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/20/venezuela-revolt-truth-not-terror-campaign?CMP=share_btn_tw

Is the Guardian off it's meds? An actual, factual account of Venezuela? Gotta be a mistake, I don't see no worm turning....

In Detail: The Deaths So Far
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By VENEZUELANALYSIS, May 8th 2017(Updated May 16)

(This article is much more readable at link, I just wanted the data in case link went south. bp)

opposition violence 2017
Since April 4, 2017, violent anti-government protests have rocked Venezuela. Characterised by deadly clashes between state security forces and opposition demonstrators, vandalism and destruction of public institutions, and the assassination of Chavista supporters, the unrest has left 49 people dead to date. Hundreds more have been injured.

Despite the heavy press coverage, there is significant confusion over how these deaths occurred and at the hands of whom. In a bid for clarity, Venezuelanalysis provides readers with an in-depth and a complete account of the deaths so far below.

This table will be updated on a daily basis in accordance with the results of ongoing investigations as well as new incidents.

Readers will note that a number of deaths have still not been accounted for given that substantive criminal allegations have yet to surface regarding the circumstances and alleged party responsible for the killings.

Total death count: 49
Date last updated: May 16



Deaths caused by authorities Direct victims of opposition political violence Indirect victims opposition political violence Deaths still unaccounted for Accidental deaths Deaths attributed to pro-gov’t civilians
6
(Gruseny Antonio Canelon, Daniel Queliz, Jairo Ortiz, Christian Ocha, Albert Rodriguez, Diego Hernandez) 12
(Bryan Principal, Oliver Villa Camargo, Neumar Jose Sanclemente, Ramon Martinez, Almelina Carrillo, Paola Ramirez, Jesus Leonardo Sulbaran, Luis Alberto Marquez, Efrain Sierra, Rexol Navas, Gerardo Barrera, Anderson Dugarte) 5
(Ricarda Gonzalez, Ana Rodriguez, Unidentified individual, Angel Enrique Moreira Gonzalez, Carlos Enrique Hernández) 17
(Miguel Ángel Colmenares, Carlos Moreno, Kevin León, Francisco González, Mervins Guitian Díaz, Orlando Johan Jhosep Medina, Renzo Rodriguez Roda, Juan Pablo Pernalete Lovera, Eyker Daniel Rojas Gil, Armando Cañizales, Gerardo Barrera, Juan Lopez, César Armando Guzman Jiménez, Hecder Lugo, Miguel Castillo, Luis José Alviarez Chacón, Yeison Mora) 8
(Jairo Ramírez, William Marrero, Robert Centeno, Jonathan Meneses, Elio Pacheco, Kenyer Aranguren, Stivenson Zamora, Yorgeiber Rafael Barrena Bolivar) 0


Name of Victim Political affiliation Alleged party responsible Circumstances Location and date Status of litigation
Jairo Ortiz, 19 None National Bolivarian Police Force (PNB) Bystander in protest. Carrizal, Miranda/April 6 Officer arrested and charged.
Daniel Alejandro Queliz Araca, 20 Opposition protester Carabobo State Police Queliz was reportedly shot in the neck by police during a protest in front of the Los Parques apartment complex. Valencia, Carabobo /April 10 Two police officers arrested on April 12 and indicted.
Ricarda de Lourdes Gonzalez, 87 None Indirectly anti-government protesters The opposition initially claimed that she had died due to tear gas used by authorities. Her family (daughter) later revealed that she had suffered a CVA and they had been unable to get her to a hospital in time due to opposition roadblocks. Bello Monte, Caracas/April 10 None to date.
Miguel Ángel Colmenares, 36 Opposition, but neighbors and family members claim he was not involved in the protests. Unclear National Ombudsman initially reported Colmenares died of gunshot wounds following a robbery by unidentified subjects in vicinity of opposition protests, though the MP has confirmed that he died of wounds inflicted by explosive devices. Barquisimeto, Lara/ April 12 Public Prosecution (MP) has dispatched state attorneys to investigate. The body has yet to identify those responsible.
Brayan Principal, 14 None, from Chavista family Armed protesters from the private Hacienda Yucatán residential community. Armed protesters opened fire on the adjacent Ali Primera government public housing (GMVV) complex after residents from the latter attempted to remove burning roadblocks.Principal was a resident of Alí Primera and was shot twice in the company of his mother when trying to relocate from the scene of confrontation. Barquisimeto, Lara/ April 12 No arrests at this time. MP has designated state prosecutors.
Gruseny Antonio Canelón, 32 Opposition protester Bolivarian National Guard Died of organ failure after being shot during protest. Cabudare, Lara/ April 11 Arrest warrant issued for 15 GNB officers.
Oliver Villa Camargo, 29 None Opposition protesters Crossed a barricade in el Paraiso, Caracas, while driving with a friend. Two assailants on a motorcycle shot him in the face. He kept driving but died minutes later. El Paraíso, Caracas/ April 13 None as of yet.
Carlos Moreno, 17 None Unclear, though opposition has blamed pro-government “collectives”. Moreno was heading to a soccer game at the time of death. He was not involved in protests, according to his brother, although he was close to opposition protests when he was shot - allegedly by men on motorbikes. Media reports suggest Moreno was caught in some kind of confrontation between pro and anti-government protesters. Witnesses blamed pro-government civilians for the death. Moreno died shortly after he was admitted to hospital. Caracas/April 19. MP confirms an investigation is taking place.
Paola Ramirez, 23 Opposition, but not involved in protests Iván Alexis Pernía Dávila (31) has confessed to the murder. The Minister of Justice, Nestor Reverol, stated that Davila is a supporter of hard rightwing parte Vente Venezuela. The party has denied the link. Video shows Ramirez crossing the road as a group of men on motorbikes drive past. She then falls to the ground. It is presumed that Davila was attempting to shoot at the motorbikers.

San Cristobal, Tachira/April 19 Davila has been charged with premeditated murder and illegally carrying a firearm.
Neomar Jose Sanclemente Sergeant with Bolivarian National Guard Opposition protesters Came under gunfire during an opposition protest. One other GNB officer was also injured. Los Castores, San Antonio de los Altos, municipality of Los Salias, Miranda state/April 19 Investigation ongoing.
Ramón Martínez, 29 Unknown Opposition protesters Shop-owner trying to defend store during looting/vandalism in El Valle. San Andres, El Valle, Caracas/April 20 MP dispatched district attorney.
Kevin León, 30 Unknown. Possibly a bystander, possibly protester. Unknown Unclear: died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to press and Public Prosecution. San Andres, El Valle, Caracas/April 20 MP dispatched district attorney.
8 people electrocuted Names: Jairo Ramírez (45), William Marrero, (33), Robert Centeno (29), Jonathan Meneses (27), Elio Pacheco (20), Kenyer Aranguren (20), Stivenson Zamora (29), Yorgeiber Rafael Barrena Bolivar (15) Presumably opposition Accidental The victims received an electric shock – possibly from a security mechanism – as they attempted to loot a bakery. San Andres, El Valle, Caracas/April 20 MP dispatched district attorney.


Francisco González, 34 Unknown, presumably opposition Unknown Gonzalez died from gunshot wounds in El Valle during looting on April 20. El Valle, Caracas/April 20 MP is investigating his death.
Albert Alejandro Rodriguez Aponte, 16 Presumably opposition State security forces The Public Prosecution has confirmed that Rodriguez was asphyxiated by tear gas used to control unrest in El Valle. San Andres, El Valle, Caracas/April 20 Under investigation by the MP. The body has yet to identify the individual responsible.
Mervins Guitian Díaz, 26 Unknown. Believed to be bystander Unknown Unclear: Opposition Mayor Carlos Oscariz reports that Diaz was shot in the vicinity of a protest. MP confirms he died after being shot in abdomen. 5 de Julio, Petare, Miranda/April 21

MP dispatched district attorney to investigate.
Almelina Carrillo, 47 Unknown Presumably opposition sympathiser Was struck in the head by a frozen bottle close to the April 19 Chavista march, thrown presumably by an opposition sympathiser from a building above. She was hospitalized in critical condition but died on April 23. She was a nurse on her way to work when she encountered the march and was struck. Caracas/April 19, later died on April 23. Jesus Juan Albi Zambito (42) was arrested on May 2 in connection with the murder. He will be indicted in the coming hours.
Jesus Leonardo Sulbaran, 42 Merida state gov’t worker, Chavista Opposition sniper(s) Shot in the neck during pro-government rally by alleged sniper(s) firing from nearby apartment. Merida/April 24 National and state attorneys dispatched to investigate.
Luis Alberto Marquez, 52 Merida state gov’t worker, Chavista Opposition sniper(s) Shot in the head during pro-government rally by alleged sniper(s) firing from nearby apartment. Merida/April 24, died 1.30am April 25 MP has yet to issue a public statement regarding the status of his individual case.
Orlando Johan Jhosep Medina, 23 Opposition protester. Mother is local Chavista leader and employee of Municipal Council. Unclear Shot in the head by shotgun round during violent anti-government demonstration near town hall in Tocuyo in early hours of April 24. Tocuyo, Lara/ April 24 State district attorney commissioned to investigate.
Renzo Rodriguez Roda, 54 Unknown, presumed opposition supporter Unclear Shot in the chest near the Bolivar municipality’s town hall in Barinas state. He was in the vicinity of an opposition demonstration at the time. Public Prosecution suggests that a lone subject “fired several shots” nearby, and Rodriguez was shot in the chest. Bolivar, Barinas/April 24 National and state attorneys dispatched to investigate.
Christian Humberto Ochoa Soriano, 22 Opposition protester Carabobo State Police Shot while protesting in Miguel Pena, Carabobo. Died later in hospital. Carabobo, Valencia/April 24, died April 25 Police officer Gerson Alberto Quintero, 36, to be indicted for homicide by MP.
Juan Pablo Pernalete Lovera, 20 Opposition protester Unknown. Injured while protesting in Altamira. Admitted to hospital without vital signs. Public Prosecution confirmed that victim died from haematoma in left hand side of chest. Opposition blamed tear gas used by state security forces for his death, but initially autopsy results released by public prosecution show that Pernalete was shot in the chest at point blank range, most probably by a bolt pistol used for killing cattle. Altamira, Caracas/April 27 MP is investigating.
Efraín Sierra, 34 Passerby, Chavista Opposition protesters Tachira Governor José Gregorio Vielma Mora told press that Sierra was killed after opposition protesters attempted to steal his motorbike at a roadblock. Tachira/April 26 MP has yet to release an official statement on this case.
Eyker Daniel Rojas Gil, 20 Bystander near to protest. Unknown Rojas was injured during a protest in Barquisimeto and admitted to hospital without vital signs. The press reports that he was shot. His family say that he was not involved in the protests. The opposition has blamed the Bolivarian National Guard for his death. Barquisimeto, Lara/April 26 The MP is investigating the death.
Ana Victoria Colmenarez de Hernandez, 43 Bystander, unkown Indirectly opposition protesters Passenger on a bus that flipped over while attempting avoid a barricade, presumably set up by anti-government demonstrators as part of the opposition-organized "National Barricade".
Naguanagua, Carabobo/ May 2

None as of yet.
Unidentified Bystander, unkown Indirectly opposition protesters Passenger on a bus that flipped over while attempting avoid a barricade, presumably set up by anti-government demonstrators as part of the opposition-organized "National Barricade". Individual has yet to be identified. Naguanagua, Carabobo/ May 2 None as of yet.
Angel Enrique Moreira Gonzalez, 28 Bystander, unkown Indirectly opposition protesters
The olympic swimmer was killed when another vehicle collided with his motorcycle on the Prados del Este highway and subsequently fled the scene. Venezuelan Interior Minister Nestor Reverol has indicated that the other vehicle was going the wrong direction on the highway due to a barricade near the Santa Fe exit, leading to the fatal accident.

La Trinidad, Caracas/ May 2 None as of yet.
Eduardo Jonathan Quintero, 21 Looter, presumably opposition Store owner He was allegedly shot and killed by the shop owner who opened fire on Quintero and other looters. Valencia, Carabobo/ May 2
Authorities are actively looking for the shop owner, who has been identified as Xen Ye Chon (41).

Armando Cañizales, 18 Protester Unclear, though opposition has blamed the GNB. However, a autopsy found he was killed by a ball bearing not a tear gas grenade.
Killed by an inury to the neck during clashes between the GNB and armed protesters. According to the autopsy, the injury was caused by a ball bearing likely fired from an unconventional weapon. Six more ball bearings were discovered at the scene of the protest near to where the GNB was positioned. A nitrate ion test reveals the projectiles contained gunpowder, suggesting that they were presumably fired towards the GNB by demonstrators.

Las Mercedes, Caracas/ May 3
MP has dispatched a district attorney to investigate.

Gerardo Barrera, 38 Carabobo state police Unclear, though possibly protesters. Injured during protest on May 3. Died in hospital morning of May 4. San Joaquin, Carabobo/ May 4
State prosecutor has arrested a man in connection with the murder.

Juan Lopez, 28 Chavista Unclear, presumably a political assassination. The Jose Antonio Anzoategui student federation leader was shot at the end of a student assembly by an unidentified subject who fled on motorbike. He had been publicly supporting the Venezuelan President's call for a Constituent Assembly. The attacker was present in the assembly and opened fire from the crowd before fleeing. Anzoategui/ May 4
State prosecutor is investigating.

César Armando Guzman Jiménez, 22 Unknown Unknown Guzman was injured in the same incident as Lopez (above), alongside two other students. Local press reports say that Guzman was sat on steps nearby to the student assembly and was hit by a stray bullet. He was admitted to hospital but died three days later. Anzoategui/ May 4
None to date

Rexol Alexander Acevedo Navas, 32 Chavista. Navas was a widely respected workers' leader at worker controlled factory Industrias Diana. Alleged opposition protesters. Family members report that Navas was driving to visit family members on May 2nd when he came across an opposition roadblock. Protesters ordered Navas to hand over his vehicle. He was shot dead when he put up resistance. His body was found on May 3rd on a nearby freeway alongside his burnt vehicle. Valencia/May 2 None to date
Hecder Lugo, 22 Opposition protester Unknown. Opposition has blamed National Guard. Lugo died on May 5th from a gunshot wound to the head after being injured at an opposition protest the previous day. San Diego, Carabobo/May 4th
The Public Prosecution is investigating.

Miguel Castillo, 27 Opposition protester Unclear. Opposition has blamed security forces. Died May 10, after being shot in the chest by a marble. According to preliminary reports, the marble was fired from a gun at close range. The opposition has claimed security forces are using marbles instead of crowd crontrol ammunition, though there's no reliable evidence to support this claim. Opposition protesters themselves, however, do use improvised weapons regularly. Las Mercedes, Baruta municipality, Miranda state/May 10
The Public Prosectution is investigating, while a commission into the death has also been established by the ombudsperson.

Anderson Dugarte, 31 Mototaxi driver Unidentified sniper, may have been targeting police and government supporters. Government has blamed the opposition. Died May 10 of a gunshot sustained on May 8. Authorities say Dugarte was one of three people who came under sniper fire. Merida City, Merida State/May 8
Investigation ongoing

Carlos Enrique Hernández, 30

Mototaxi driver Indirectly opposition protesters Died May 12 after motorbike collided with debris left from opposition barricade and hit lamppost. Cabudare, Lara/May 12
None to date

Luis José Alviarez Chacón, 18

Alleged opposition protester Unclear, opposition has blamed GNB. Died May 15 after being shot in the chest during an unofficial anti-government protest Palmira/ Tachira/May 15 MP investigations underway with help of CICPC.
Diego Hernandez, 33

Opposition protester Police officer from Tachira regional police force Died May 15 after being shot during anti-government demonstration. Tachira/May 15 Officer Luis Oviedo detained May 16 & to be indicted.
Yeison Mora, 17

Unknow, poddibly opposition demonstrator, possibly bystander Unknown Died May 15 after being shot in head near to a demonstration. MP statements says that he died after "a group of people arrived who fired several shots, wounding the victim in the cranium” Barinas/May 15 MP investigations underway
Diego Arrellano, 31

Opposition protester Unclear, opposition has blamed GNB. Shot in the neck during a protest in San Antonio de Los Altos at approximately 11:30am. Subsequently died in the emergency room. Miranda/May 16 MP has dispatched state district attorney.
Creative Commons license icon This work is licensed under a Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives Creative Commons license

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13081

USA Sends 5.5 million dollars to Venezuela to finance "democracy"

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1495065034584/sites/telesur/img/multimedia/2017/05/17/departamento_de_estados_financia_venezuela_oposicixn.jpg_1718483347.jpg
Between 2013 and 2014, more than US $ 14 million came from the United States. For organizations adverse to the Bolivarian Government. | Photo: Reuters
Published 17 May 2017 (16 hours 9 minutes ago)

The US fiscal report of 2017 reveals that the United States continues to fund organizations in Venezuela, has been denounced by the Bolivarian Government as an interventionist act.

The United States' fiscal activities reveal that this nation allocated $ 5.5 million in 2017 to organizations in Venezuela to defend "democratic practices, institutions and values ​​that support human rights," an action that has been denounced by Venezuela as a form Of financing destabilizing groups against the Government of Nicolás Maduro.

The figure comes from the budget justification report of Congress, Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs. ( Page 96 ).

According to socialist leader and minister for the Communes and Social Protection of Venezuela, Aristóbulo Istúriz, funding is evident in last month's violent opposition protests using shock equipment such as antique masks, bullet-proof vests and others Objects with which they face security officials.

In the US fiscal report of 2017, they assert that the resources seek to involve "groups in the democratic process" in Venezuela.


The data: In opposition protests in Venezuela in the last month have killed 42 people and 900 have been injured. The demonstrations called "peaceful" have resulted in vandalism denounced by the Bolivarian Government as a way to generate victims and justify a foreign intervention.

Background

Between 2013 and 2014, more than US $ 14 million came from the United States. To finance organizations linked to the opposition, just when the violent demonstrations of the right that claimed the lives of 43 Venezuelans recaptured and left 800 wounded.

But this funding has antecedents to the government of President Maduro.

In 2009, based on declassified documents from the State Department, US attorney Eva Golinger estimated $ 6.4 million in contributions from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to political groups opposed to Bolivarian Revolution.

On the other hand, among the documents leaked by WikiLeaks, a report by the political advisor of the US Embassy highlighted. In Caracas, Robert Downes, denominated "Five strategic points of the equipment in the country for the programmatic support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)."

The strategic points covered the period 2004-2006 and included "strengthening democratic institutions", penetrating the political base of Chavismo, dividing this political force, protecting vital US businesses. And to isolate internationally the then President Hugo Chávez.

Reaction from Venezuela

The Bolivarian Government insists on denouncing the American interventionist activity in its internal affairs.

Venezuela's Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez recently denounced President Donald Trump as "backing the head of bloody and unconstitutional actions in 2014 against the peace and stability of Venezuela."

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/EE.UU.-envia-55-mdd-a-Venezuela-para-financiar-democracia-20170517-0061.html

********************

Venezuelan Minister: US Finances opposition protests

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1494881039339/sites/telesur/img/multimedia/2017/05/15/img_95291492013745.jpg_1718483347.jpg
"We see how they kill their own people to blame the government. They do not want elections," Istúriz said. | Photo: AVN

Published May 15, 2017

Socialist leader Aristóbulo Istúriz said that US imperialism and the great financial centers are seeking to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The minister for the Communes and Social Protection, Aristóbulo Istúriz, said that the street activities carried out by the Venezuelan opposition "are financed by US imperialism and the great financial centers that seek to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro."

He alleged that part of the funding is evidenced in the equipment to groups of shock with old masks, bullet-proof vests and other objects to face the security officials.

"We see how they kill their own people to blame the government. They do not want elections, they put up elections and when the calendar came out they backed down," Istúriz emphasized in a debate on the Constituent Assembly in the south-central zone of Anzoátegui state .

He accused the Venezuelan right to mortgage the company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and the nation's gold. He put as an example the president of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, and his "surrender actions".

Istúriz said that the opposition does not agree with an electoral exit because it is committed to violence as a method to reach power.

"They put aside the elections and then the recall referendum. They did not fulfill themselves, as the initiative that took Henrique Capriles (opposition leader), conspired to make the recall referendum not take place," said Istúriz.

>> "The Constituent Assembly is the only way out of Venezuela"

He clarified that it is impracticable to hold general elections in 2017, as required by the opposition, because that mechanism is not contemplated in the Constitution. "There are presidential elections here when the period expires."

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Ex-vpdte.-venezolano-EE.UU.-financia-protestas-opositoras-20170515-0034.html

Imperialism in the raw. Real time, in action. This is repeated on a regular basis and with predictable outcome.

Imperialism in the raw. Real time, in action. This is repeated on a regular basis and with predictable outcome.

An ongoing project, but don't think a foregone conclusion...

THE DIRTY HAND OF THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY (NED) IN VENEZUELA

admin Apr 30, 2014

Postcards from the Revolution

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

By Eva Golinger

Anti-government protests in Venezuela that seek regime change have been led by several individuals and organizations with close ties to the US government. Leopoldo Lopez and Maria Corina Machado- two of the public leaders behind the violent protests that started in February – have long histories as collaborators, grantees and agents of Washington. The National Endowment for Democracy “NED” and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have channeled multi-million dollar funding to Lopez’s political parties Primero Justicia and Voluntad Popular, and Machado’s NGO Sumate and her electoral campaigns.

These Washington agencies have also filtered more than $14 million to opposition groups in Venezuela between 2013 and 2014, including funding for their political campaigns in 2013 and for the current anti-government protests in 2014. This continues the pattern of financing from the US government to anti-Chavez groups in Venezuela since 2001, when millions of dollars were given to organizations from so-called “civil society” to execute a coup d’etat against President Chavez in April 2002. After their failure days later, USAID opened an Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) in Caracas to, together with the NED, inject more than $100 million in efforts to undermine the Chavez government and reinforce the opposition during the following 8 years.

At the beginning of 2011, after being publically exposed for its grave violations of Venezuelan law and sovereignty, the OTI closed its doors inVenezuela and USAID operations were transferred to its offices in the US. The flow of money to anti-government groups didn’t stop, despite the enactment by Venezuela’s National Assembly of the Law of Political Sovereignty and NationalSelf-Determination at the end of 2010, which outright prohibits foreign funding of political groups in the country. US agencies and the Venezuelan groups that receive their money continue to violate the law with impunity. In the Obama Administration’s Foreign Operations Budgets, between $5-6 million have been included to fund opposition groups in Venezuela through USAID since 2012.

The NED, a “foundation” created by Congress in 1983 to essentially do the CIA’s work overtly, has been one of the principal financiers of destabilization in Venezuela throughout the Chavez administration and now against President Maduro. According to NED’s 2013 annual report, the agency channeled more than $2.3 million to Venezuelan opposition groups and projects. Within that figure, $1,787,300 went directly to anti-government groups within Venezuela, while another $590,000 was distributed to regional organizations that work with and fund the Venezuelan opposition. More than $300,000 was directed towards efforts to develop a new generation of youth leaders to oppose Maduro’s government politically.

One of the groups funded by NED to specifically work with youth is FORMA (http://www.forma.org.ve), an organization led by Cesar Briceño and tied to Venezuelan banker Oscar Garcia Mendoza. Garcia Mendoza runs the Banco Venezolano de Credito, a Venezuelan bank that has served as the filter for the flow of dollars from NED and USAID to opposition groups in Venezuela, including Sumate, CEDICE, Sin Mordaza, Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones and FORMA, amongst others.

Another significant part of NED funds in Venezuela from 2013-2014 was given to groups and initiatives that work in media and run the campaign to discredit the government of President Maduro. Some of the more active media organizations outwardly opposed to Maduro and receiving NED funds include Espacio Publico, Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS), Sin Mordaza and GALI. Throughout the past year, an unprecedented media war has been waged against the Venezuelan government and President Maduro directly, which has intensified during the past few months of protests.

In direct violation of Venezuelan law, NED also funded the opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Table (MUD), via the US International Republican Institute (IRI), with $100,000 to “share lessons learned with [anti-government groups] in Nicaragua, Argentina and Bolivia…and allow for the adaption of the Venezuelan experience in these countries”. Regarding this initiative, the NED 2013 annual report specifically states its aim: “To develop the ability of political and civil society actors from Nicaragua, Argentina and Bolivia to work on national, issue-based agendas for their respective countries using lessons learned and best practices from successful Venezuelan counterparts. The Institute will facilitate an exchange of experiences between the Venezuelan Democratic Unity Roundtable and counterparts in Bolivia, Nicaragua and Argentina. IRI will bring these actors together through a series of tailored activities that will allow for the adaptation of the Venezuelan experience in these countries.”

IRI has helped to build right-wing opposition parties Primero Justicia and Voluntad Popular, and has worked with the anti-government coaltion in Venezuela since before the 2002 coup d’etat against Chavez. In fact, IRI’s president at that time, George Folsom, outwardly applauded the coup and celebrated IRI’s role in a pressrelease claiming, “The Institute has served as a bridge between the nation’s political parties and all civil society groups to help Venezuelans forge a new democratic future…”

Detailed in a report published by the Spanish institute FRIDE in 2010, international agencies that fund the Venezuelan opposition violate currency control laws in order to get their dollars to the recipients. Also confirmed in the FRIDE report was the fact that the majority of international agencies, with the exception of the European Commission, are bringing in foreign money and changing it on the black market, in clear violation of Venezuelan law. In some cases, as the FRIDE analysis reports, the agencies open bank accounts abroad for the Venezuelan groups or they bring them the money in hard cash. The US Embassy in Caracas could also use the diplomatic pouch to bring large quantities of unaccounted dollars and euros into the country that are later handed over illegally to anti-government groups in Venezuela.

What is clear is that the US government continues to feed efforts to destabilize Venezuela in clear violation of law. Stronger legal measures and enforcement may be necessary to ensure the sovereignty and defense of Venezuela’s democracy.

(aquí en español)



[Eva Golinger, winner of the International Award for Journalism in Mexico (2009), named “La Novia de Venezuela” by President Hugo Chávez, is an Attorney and Writer from New York, living in Caracas, Venezuela since 2005 and author of the best-selling books, “The Chávez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela” (2006 Olive Branch Press), “Bush vs. Chávez: Washington’s War on Venezuela” (2007, Monthly Review Press), “The Empire’s Web: Encyclopedia of Interventionism and Subversion”, “La Mirada del Imperio sobre el 4F: Los Documentos Desclasificados de Washington sobre la rebelión militar del 4 de febrero de 1992” and “La Agresión Permanente: USAID, NED y CIA”.]

http://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2014/04/30/the-dirty-hand-of-the-national-endowment-for-democracy-ned-in-venezuela/?utm_source=ReviveOldPost&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost

An ongoing project, but don't think a foregone conclusion...

The conclusions will be foregone until the US is forcibly stopped. And it isn't just the US, it is NATO, EU, OAS, and sometimes even Russia. It reminds me of that paint company logo, where paint is covering the globe. The dominance is near complete. I guess I am a little blue this morning, I am working on a stronger Red...

The conclusions will be foregone until the US is forcibly stopped. And it isn't just the US, it is NATO, EU, OAS, and sometimes even Russia. It reminds me of that paint company logo, where paint is covering the globe. The dominance is near complete. I guess I am a little blue this morning, I am working on a stronger Red...

These are tough times, Lavrov's latest kowtow in the face of US war crimes in Syria another case in point. Yet I'm starting to think that Maduro might survive, and the key has got to be arming the populace and getting them a semblance of training. Sure hope that's what's going on now, ain't the sort of thing you advertise. And not the sort of thing you can hide very well either, which might have something to do with the bastards turning up the heat.

All power to the Soviets!

Maternity Hospital Attacked in Venezuela, Death Toll Rises to 53

By LUCAS KOERNER

Caracas, May 18, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – A maternity hospital was attacked in Venezuela's Miranda state Wednesday as the death count in ongoing violent anti-government protests ascends to 53.

Three newborns and one pregnant woman in labor were evacuated from the Carrizal Maternity Hospital after the facility was besieged for two consecutive days by opposition demonstrators.

According to hospital’s director, Doctor Natalia Martinho, smoke was entering the hospital from the barricades of burning rubble erected just 50 meters from the building by protesters, endangering the health of patients on the fourth floor.

The barricades reportedly prevented doctors, specialists, and all but two of the hospital’s twelve nurses from arriving for their shifts, leaving Martinho on duty for 36 hours alongside two residents.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has confirmed that a 27-year-old pregnant woman from Aragua currently in labor was evacuated along with three newborns “who could not receive their treatment for 36 hours due to the terrorist groups of the opposition”.

The attack comes as violent opposition protests demanding early presidential elections enter their seventh week.

Over the past couple days, two more people have been reported dead in the unrest, which has seen opposition supporters clash with authorities, attack public institutions and state security personnel, and blockade roads nationwide.

On Wednesday, Manuel Castellanos was shot and killed in the vicinity of an opposition protest in Tachira state. The 46-year-old was reportedly making a purchase when he was shot in the neck and subsequently rushed to the hospital without vital signs.

Following an investigation, the Public Prosecutor’s office ordered the arrest of three National Guard sergeants to be charged with the murder. The arrests follow the indictment of two National Bolivarian Police officers and a state police functionary for the killing of protesters Luis Jose Alviarez Chacon (18) and Diego Hernandez (33) also in Tachira.

Located along the southwestern border with Colombia, Tachira has long been a hotspot of violent clashes between anti-government protesters and authorities.

On Tuesday night, two multimedia centers were ransacked in the Tachira municipality of Cardenas, including one containing highly expensive specialized equipment serving visually impaired people.

The following evening, an army barracks in La Grita, Tachira, was besieged for six hours by masked militants wielding Molotov bombs.

Six alleged paramilitaries have also been arrested by authorities elsewhere in the state in a separate incident.

Venezuela’s Defense Ministry has ordered the deployment of 2000 National Guard personnel to the border state in order to reestablish law and order.

Elsewhere in Lara state, the local newspaper Ciudad Barquisimeto reported the kidnapping and murder of local socialist activist Pedro Josue Carrillo, whose body appeared on Thursday. According to alleged eyewitnesses, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) member and community organizer was kidnapped Tuesday by masked men in a blue Meru truck who were overheard saying, “pick him up, this one is a Chavista.”

“[Carrillo’s] remains were found in Quibor with burn marks and signs of torture, common practices of Colombian paramilitarism,” said local PSUV leader Juan Campos.

Venezuela’s Public Prosecution has yet to issue a statement confirming the death.

The violent unrest continued into Thursday when a protester was fatally injured during a demonstration in Zulia state.

According to a communiqué by Venezuela’s Public Prosecution, Paul Moreno (25) was run over by a truck while at a street protest in Maracaibo. He was subsequently rushed to the hospital where he died shortly thereafter of a brain injury.

The fourth Zulia state prosecutor, Israel Vargas, has been commissioned to investigate the killing.

Meanwhile, new details have emerged surrounding the deaths of Diego Arellano and Yeison Mora.

On Wednesday, Justice Minister Nestor Reverol revealed that according to autopsy results, Arellano – a 31-year-old student protester in San Antonio – was killed by an 11.03-milimeter metallic sphere fired from close range, indicating that the killer was “among the demonstrators”.

Twelve similar metal spheres and a makeshift pipe bomb were likewise discovered at the crime scene near to where the National Guard was positioned, suggesting that they were being fired by the demonstrators.

Reverol also noted that the steel ball bearings are similar to those that caused the deaths of Miguel Castillo and Armando Cañizales earlier this month. Despite the forensic evidence implicating protesters in the killings, the opposition has continued to blame the deaths on state security forces.

In Barinas, uncle of 17-year-old Yeison Mora has accused opposition protesters of causing the death of his nephew. The family member, Alexis Mendoza, indicated that Mora was on his way to the hardware store with his brother when he crossed paths with the demonstration and was shot in the head.

According to preliminary autopsy results announced by Barinas Governor Zenaida Gallardo, the impact to the youth’s right infraorbital nerve “was not caused by a firearm but by a marble”, which was presumably fired from a makeshift weapon used by protesters.

In response to the findings, Mendoza condemned the opposition for allegedly using his nephew’s death as “propaganda” to fuel further anti-government protests.

“We, the family, are refuting all that the opposition is doing with the death of my nephew, making propaganda with the death of Yeison, and we are going to clarify that effectively, it’s almost proven that it was a protester who shot him,” he told Venezuelan National Radio.

According to data compiled by Venezuelanalysis, 12 people have been killed directly by opposition supporters since April 4, while 8 deaths have occurred at the hands of authorities. A further five deaths have resulted from accidents caused by anti-government barricades, while eight people were electrocuted during an attempted looting. Twenty deaths have still yet to be accounted for.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13135

Venezuela. Here's how the US prepare the invasion through ColombiaVenezuela. Here's how the US prepare the invasion through Colombia

http://www.lantidiplomatico.it/resizer/resiz/public/colombia-4.jpg/700x350c50.jpg

of Geraldina Colotti * - Manifesto

Evidence of coup in Venezuela: not what, for the mainstream media, apparently trying Maduro with the proposed Constituent Assembly, but the real one, orchestrated by the right. The attack is strong in Tachira state and that of Carabobo. Patients and hospital workers, maternal and children were kept under siege for hours, many public facilities were destroyed by the fury of "guarimberos" which, at the border with Colombia, are framed by paramilitaries and duly foraggiati from their old godfather, Alvaro Uribe .


His party Democratic Center, the day before yesterday had the support of 60 senators to the complaint lodged against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that would bring him to trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for "international crimes" such as murder, torture and genocide . Crimes that Uribe knows, to have practiced for decades in his country.

During the session of the Senate, also it took part the Minister of Foreign Affairs Maria Angela Holguin to reiterate that the Colombian ambassador will not return to Caracas, and to ask the Unasur (body responsible for dialogue between Maduro and opposition along with papa Bergoglio) to "take a position on Venezuela. " The position of Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, spokesman of the Venezuelan right and little dog from the dashboard of the US. For Almagro, which set a new body meeting on 31 May, Maduro and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, are guilty of "crimes against humanity."

For soldiers have died under fire from "guarimberos" for workers killed by strained traps the street, for political femicides, targeted assassinations and attacks on basic rights of people who can not get to work, school or in hospitals , not even a word. Whether a failed state like Mexico or an inveterate warmonger like Uribe to give lessons in democracy and human rights, should give pause.

The UN, however, has not passed the US attempt to impeach Venezuela, which rose from just "examination" on human rights. "The US wants to destabilize Venezuela by funding the opposition," said the ambassador in Caracas at the UN, Rafael Ramirez. The fiscal budget of the United States reveals that to "defend democratic practices, institutions and values ​​that support human rights" groups and NGO opposition (and journalists) received $ 5.5 million in 2017.

Figures that are on page 96 of the report on the budget degl Congress, Department of State, Foreign Operations and associated programs of the United States. essential funding to purchase and distribute weapons and equipment of the expensive "guarimberos". To equip a "peaceful protester" serves a figure equal to more than 20 workers wages.

The report indicates that the US will mobilize resources "groups in the democratic process" in Venezuela. Where for "democracy" means, of course, the Mexican and Colombian model and that of the International Monetary Fund. In the last month of events - starting in a peaceful way and turn into armed attacks, in the form of "color revolutions" - 42 people died and 900 were injured. As the alternative media as well as Reuters have documented, the goal is to cause death, chaos and destruction to accuse Maduro government of being a "dictatorship". Many dollars are spent on foreign travel of the deputies of the right, who shout from the rooftops that their country is "humanitarian crisis", but spend in luxury and fake news the money they receive.

Much money is also used to violent campaigns against diplomats abroad and against those who dissent from the dominant story. Even the poster is routinely attacked with personal insults and threats. Between 2013 and 2014 they entered in Venezuela more than 14 million dollars from the US to finance subversive organizations, NGOs 'humanitarian' and Western journalists. In 2014, in more than three months of "guarimbas" 43 people have died and over 800 were injured. Neither the victims nor their relatives, however, have been heard by Western humanitarian organizations.

Already in 2009, according to declassified documents from the State Department, the US lawyer Eva Golinger calculated that the funding of Nacionale Endowment for Democracy (Ned) to subversive groups in Venezuela amounted to $ 6.4 million. The Wikileaks documents have revealed a report by the embassy's political counselor at the US Caraca, Robert Downes, called "Five strategic areas of programmatic support team of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)".

strategic points related to the period 2004-2006 related to "strengthen democratic institutions": through infiltration of the base of Chavismo to split this political force, protect the vital interests of the United States and internationally isolate the then President Chavez. A renewed respect now by Trump.

The last opposition call to demonstrate - and Planton - Monday night targeted warehouses and means for the supply of food and fuel distribution. Only quick reflexes of the tanker driver, assaulted by molotov of guarimberos prevented the explosion would end in tragedy.

The Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, Nestor Reverol provided a budget of recent protests. In the municipality Chacao (Miranda state, ruled by the opposition - one of the wealthier neighborhoods in which they develop the violence -) four individuals were arrested, one of them a minor: they were extorting passersby to one of the roadblocks with nails barricades, debris and wire to passers-fall.

In Carabobo state, in the center of the country (another outbreak of violence) two local policemen were attacked by snipers during vandalism and have been seriously injured by a gunshot in the head and legs. In the island Margarita (Nueva Esparta state), 300 protesters have resulted in a violent protest, led by the deputy opposition Yanet Fermín. They tried to set fire to a truck of the Guardia Nacional Bolivariana (Gnb), designed to transport and supply.
Among those arrested, several minors.

A few days ago, some organizations from civil society and community media had shown how the right contrattino underage youngsters by offering them much money. In Tachira state, in an attack on a police station, a protester died in still unclear circumstances. He also killed a militant of the PSUV, in charge of the supply and manufacture Committees (Clap), killed by a blow to the head.

In Merida, the extremists have taken the life of a sixty craftsmen, and for that two people were arrested. Reverol addressed "infinite gratitude" to the Bolivarian Police, who daily deals with "the terrorist actions of the right."

And the general Godfather Lopez, Minister of Defense and Chief of the Armed Forces, reiterated the loyalty of the military to President Maduro and the Bolivarian Constitution, renewing the commitment of garantista ' "civic-military union" in force in Venezuela.

Meanwhile, Maduro has extended the economic state of emergency for another two months. A constitutional provision that, in extraordinary circumstances, allows the president to predict measures "of social, economic, political and legal compliance."

But the main emergency is the coup. Godfather Lopez has activated an emergency plan and sent a large contingent of troops at the border. The fulcrum of subversion is now in Tachira.

Last night, at a press conference after meeting with Colombian President Manuel Santos at the White House, Trump said he will work with Colombia and other countries in the region to bring "stability and democracy" in Venezuela, because "the crisis political and economic Venezuela is a disgrace to humanity "not seen" for decades ".

Maduro instead had a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss oil issues. Moscow - did then know the Russian Foreign Ministry - is "willing to participate in the standardization of internal processes of Venezuela and to provide the required cooperation."

http://www.lantidiplomatico.it/dettnews-venezuela_il_comitato_vittime_delle_guarimbas_sostiene_la_costituente_contro_la_violenza_terrorista_dellopposizione/5871_20179/

Google Translator

Venezuela: The Covert War Against the People and Their Armed Forces

Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MAY 16, 2017

By Rubén Castillo, Misión Verdad
Edited, Translated by Alexandra Valiente, Internationalist 360°

To talk about guarimbas in Venezuela is to go back to what happened between February 27 and March 4, 2004 (yes, my friend, guarimbas have been around for 13 years). At that time the plan was to delegitimize the government of Commandante Hugo Chavez to justify a foreign military intervention, based on the thesis of ungovernability and violation of human rights by state security agencies. This insurrectional strategic operation left 50 dead and 193 wounded.
What is currently underway does not differ in objective or methodology, but the strategies have mutated into a more specialized, violent, organized, synchronized, focused expression.
This causes us to question whether government agencies should continue to identify these agents as guarimbas or as Coordinated Military Operations, carried out by irregular forces disguised as civil groups. The former designation only permits them to expand their range of operations in the escalations of violence and anarchy throughout the country, especially in strategic points of the capital of the Republic.
Analyzing the current context, we perceive the uncertainty that these operations generate, since in this new phase their pace is not as dizzying as in 2004 and 2014.
We must be clear that this new phase of destabilization implemented by the enemy proves there is a high degree of internal organization revealed at the moment of execution. This was evident a few days ago in the localities of San Martín and El Valle , where “hooded guarimberos of a building” and “armed people of the neighborhood” were synchronized to besiege security forces whose mission was both to protect the inhabitants of the area and avoid damage and looting of public and private property. It is worrying to see such high levels of organization combined with specialized training and a well-studied plan, so completely distinct from the spontaneous manifestations witnessed in 2004.
At that time, the ultra-right-wing declared enemy of the Bolivarian Revolution and Internet propeller of this method of irregular warfare, Robert Alonso, defined it as follows:
“The guarimba is a totally anarchic act and everyone does what comes in earnest depending on the degree of frustration and guaranty he possesses.”
We ask:
How is it that a “totally anarchic, spontaneous and sovereign act” shows such a high degree of synchronization, targeting and selectivity at the moment of execution by individual actors, where the majority does not have any military training?
We are faced with an enemy army highly prepared in the application of irregular force, which at the moment has a single mission: the precise and incisive attack on our security forces, where military and police officers are wounded.
Such was the case of Sergeant Neomar Barrios, killed in Miranda state on April 19 and the director of Policaracas wounded in San Martín on April 25, to name a few.
On 26 April, in the Sucre urbanization of Barquisimeto, the communication apparatus of the internal enemy (private media and social networks) developed the same matrix of opinion (propaganda) of recent days: repression by the security agencies towards the ” inhabitants “who were exercising their” free right “to protest.
There are no spontaneous acts by’ guarimbas’
They conceal, in a treacherous way, that the fire started on the roof of one of the towers of this residential complex sought to isolate the five officials of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB), driving them into a bottleneck, where they would be injured or killed.
Tactics such as these show the level of preparation and combat intelligence that must be had, with the minimum use of resources and firepower, to attack an enemy that thwarts their interests. In military slang it is known as “nullification of an enemy force through the knowledge of the terrain“, a tactic that allows one to take a strategic position giving advantage in hand-to-hand combat, something that a common civilian population, without prior military preparation, would be unable to apply, much less when protests are described as “spontaneous and unplanned.”
Balances like the two military of the FANB, ten GNB, 24 officials of the National Police and 21 police of the Táchira in San Cristóbal, or like the two GNB wounded in Caracas, or that La Carlota, a military base , has been attacked twice in less than a month, do not comply with the stereotyped profile of the guarimba.
This new phase of siege seeks to launch direct, coordinated attacks against the security forces in different parts of the country to physically and psychologically wear them down , to disquiet and demoralize them in the exercise of their duties, until they neutralize them through the progressive and relentless use of force.
Under the protection of a maxim known by the population: “Our security apparatus has strictly prohibited the use of lethal force in demonstrations,” translates into advantage for the enemy who understands that his physical integrity will never be compromised. This allows the enemy, disguised as “civil groups exercising their right to protest”, to attack in an effective and efficient way, beyond the tactics allowed for demonstrations, established in the Constitution and international agreements signed by the Republic.
The Government has no way of justifying a frontal attack against these insurgent groups without being condemned by the international community.
The laws imposed by the powerful serve, as always, to control power at their convenience and when they need it. Reduced in their options in the field of combat, the state falls into a kind of dictatorial coercion, all to play under the rules that the global enemy imposes through the establishment itself.
Another feature that dismantles the matrix that such military operations are simple spontaneous acts of civil society lies in the previous tests, made to measure the state’s responsiveness, is the media impact of destabilizing actions. On 10 April in Las Mercedes, where the GNB seized a large load of Molotov bombs, a PNB official was wounded and the attack on a smaller private health center in a manner similar to what was practiced in El Valle days later. There was a pattern in the location and execution times, always leaving a day in between (a day in El Valle, rest, San Martin, rest, Merida, rest, Barquisimeto …), which shows that “spontaneity” is just a deceptive smokescreen.
It is notorious the way tactics are deployed against the security agencies, as happened in the Valley and San Martin, attacking in perfect flank formation in concerted waves.
The most worrying thing is the dangerous territorial progress towards Miraflores. They are currently 11 blocks from the palace. Taking into account that an assault rifle has an effective range of 2.5 kilometers, it is relevant to consider that a more sophisticated military weapon can easily surpass that distance. We can not rule out that they are preparing a rush against the Palace of Miraflores.
Ungovernability is your true interest
We can not rule out that they are preparing a rush against the Palace of Miraflores, the symbolic value it has for Venezuelans is such that a failed or successful attack would be a trigger of extremely dangerous reactionary response.
Let’s not forget that in 2016 the enemy was only a few hundred meters away from that structure , positioned in improvised paramilitary camps, with the clear objective of a direct attack against the Presidential Palace, or a plan of assassination. The type of weaponry and ammunition intended for snipers was found on the site. The guarimbas can be the perfect curtain for these armed groups to gradually gain the ground they need to reach Miraflores without raising suspicions to their original plan.
The libretto designed by the interested parties indicates that, in view of the free and sovereign decision to withdraw from the Organization of American States (OAS), and the masterly move to convene a National Constituent Assembly, the plan of opposing actors (internal and external ) could enter a new and even more aggressive and systematic phase, as it did in Kiev between November 2013 and February 2014.
The so-called Euromaidan was triggered by the Ukrainian government’s refusal to sign an economic partnership agreement with the European Union, which was a mere excuse for the powers that be to propitiate a coup that was already underway with the implementation of the color revolution. The enemy would take advantage of this opportunity to exploit this display of sovereignty, dignity and self-determination shown by the government of Nicolás Maduro and attack from all possible sides (international community, internal enemies, etc.).
It is therefore no accident that the recent terrorist acts in Cabudare, Lara State, where a pvvsa gandola loaded with fuel was hijacked and after several hours of retention ended up being burned, or, for example, vandalism and looting. They tried to perpetrate (and still insist on carrying out, only organized people have not allowed them) in Naguanagua, Carabobo state, where they also caught a gandola full of food, are the direct responses of these groups, showing that their agenda is not peace, dialogue or national reconciliation as they preach, but on the contrary: they know that their agenda is to propitiate a failed state, a lawless state that allows an eventual “reconstruction of the country” in the hands of transnational and corporate powers. Ungovernability is their real interest. Of that that does not leave the slightest doubt.
The facts are clear: they know the strategic importance that Venezuela has in the global geopolitical arena, at a time when international tensions preclude an imminent global conflagration, controlling our resources is imperative.
Venezuela served as a logistical contingent in the First and Second World War, and before this imminent armed conflict, the panorama is no different. It is crucial that we, as a people, monitor and dismantle these Coordinated Military Operations in a timely manner, in addition to continuing to rely on our security apparatus, the Political High Command and fellow President Nicolás Maduro, who has been trying to defeat the violence and continue to bet on Peace, giving us the most revolutionary tool to defeat the enemy, out of combat through the constituent power, that original power that only resides in the hands of the people.
The covert operations under the illusion of peaceful protests seeks to shatter the civic-military union that exists between the revolutionary people and its armed forces.
We are determined to be a sovereign people and as such, we must be prepared for the extremely complicated and violent time ahead.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/venezuela-the-covert-war-against-the-people-and-their-armed-forces/

Majority Killed in Venezuela Opposition Protests Not Protesters

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1495497772917/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/05/22/cacilleria_31495481920-680x453.jpg_1718483346.jpg
Ernesto Villegas reviews deaths during violent right-wing protests at a press conference in Caracas on May 22, 2017. | Photo: AVN

Published 22 May 2017 (13 hours 11 minutes ago)

Countering the narrative spread by the opposition and the international media, Villegas insisted that the state was not responsible for most of the deaths.
The majority of the people killed in violent opposition protests in Venezuela that have sought to oust President Nicolas Maduro over the past two months were not demonstrating, found a Public Ministry's report presented by the Bolivarian government Monday.

The report — monitoring the 51 days of opposition protests, was presented by Communication Minister Ernesto Villegas, Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez and the head of the Human Rights National Council, Larry Devoe at a press conference, citing a death toll nearing 60 victims.

Countering the narrative spread by the opposition and the international media, Villegas insisted that the state was not responsible for the great majority of the victims, taking into account that every life was important and that the government's priority is to ensure no more people die in the protests.

The report listed 15 people who were killed while protesting, including eight who died after being electrocuted in a community-run bakery while people were looting the El Valle district in Caracas.


Six people were killed by barricades erected at violent opposition protests, while a total of 13 people died outside of the areas of protests, including a child shot by criminals whose mother testified in a video presented at the press conference, where she also blamed opposition leaders for trying to use her son's death for political ends.

In total, seven Chavistas have been killed, four of which are believed to have been targeted assassinations, while four police officers have been killed, according to the report.

Family members of another seven victims have declared that their loved ones were not demonstrating when they were killed in an effort to clarify contradictory reports, while another four victims were killed by unconventional weapons such as metal objects not used by police forces.

Nevertheless, the minister did not deny the existence of deaths during demonstrations; he emphasized that investigations were ongoing, and no impunity will be tolerated. However, the great majority of police officers have fulfilled their duty in an “admirable” way, he added, considering the conditions, including opposition protesters throwing their excrement in dangerous glass bottles at them constantly.

He urged the extreme right-wing sectors of the opposition to end their violence, “Political factions that have given up on politics must stop calling for violence that attempts to violently impose their agenda on the country, which is outside of the constitution,” he told reporters.

He recalled that Maduro has prohibited the use of plastic bullets by all security forces, to avoid “a potentially even greater tragedy. If any police officer is caught using any type of weapon, he or she will be prosecuted," he warned.

The situation is dangerously reminiscent of the 2002 failed coup against late President Hugo Chavez when opposition sectors deliberately tried to blame several murders on the government, he warned.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Majority-Killed-in-Venezuela-Opposition-Protests-Not-Protesters-20170522-0032.html

What Marxism Teaches Us About Protests in Venezuela

Since early April, right-wing opposition protests in Venezuela have claimed over 50 lives.

These are the demands that mainstream media will have you believe are behind ongoing anti-government opposition protests in Venezuela, which have since claimed over 50 lives.

Borrowing plot lines from “David and Goliath,” the alphabet soup of corporate news outlets perpetuate the same ill-conceived dichotomy. On one side are powerless, peace-loving democrats protesting for political freedom. On the other side is a powerful, violent authoritarian government fighting against those demands.

This narrative, indisputably dominant in mainstream media, is intentionally designed to engender support for regime change in Venezuela. Outlets like CBS, CNN, NBC, ABC, Fox News and The New York Times, for example, are owned by wealthy global elites who are top investors within the military-industrial complex and profit handsomely from endless war.

Publications like the Miami Herald exemplify mainstream media’s drive for war by publishing pieces suggesting “What Trump should do about Venezuela’s drift toward a full-blown dictatorship.” This falls entirely in line with their wealthy corporate backers, who salivate over the idea of recolonizing and privatizing Venezuela’s vast oil resources.

Their rallying cries for U.S. action against Venezuela resemble those made against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya before their respective invasions in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2011. Anyone who has closely followed these invasions, however, can attest to the central role inaccurate mainstream media reports have played in facilitating their disastrous outcomes.


Let’s not forget that in 2003, for example, establishment news propagated a disastrous lie: the claim that the Iraqi government was then in possession of “weapons of mass destruction.”

But as the U.S.-led Iraq Survey Group was forced to admit in 2003, there was zero evidence that the Iraqi government had produced or stockpiled any weapons of mass destruction since 1991. That was the year United Nations sanctions were imposed against the administration of former President Saddam Hussein.

The results of this lie, as history has shown, were catastrophic. Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians and combatants died, thousands more were violated and injured and entire cities were left in ruin.

Moreover, the same media outlets that served as cheerleaders for this illegal invasion, justified with unsubstantiated claims, are the same ones that beat the drums of war against Yugoslavia in 1999, Afghanistan in 2001 and Libya in 2011. And in present times, they’re beating the drums of war against Venezuela.

That’s why those who truly want to understand what’s going on in Venezuela can’t rely on publications that have the economic interests of their wealthy corporate backers at heart. Those seeking the truth about protests in Venezuela must ground their investigation in the interests of the working class masses who would be most affected by any attack or invasion against the socialist country.

Marxism, a method of studying and responding to world events, is best suited for this since it is fundamentally based on advancing the best interests of workers, the majority, and not wealthy elites, the minority. And as will later be shown, it demonstrates that the worker-led government is truly promoting freedom, democracy and stability, not the Wall Street-backed opposition.

Here’s what Marxism, the revolutionary science of the working class, teaches us about protests in Venezuela.

We need a new method of analysis

http://www.telesurtv.net/export/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/05/22/mao_2.jpg_1085591094.jpg
“In studying a problem, we must shun subjectivity, one-sidedness and superficiality … this may be called seeing the part but not the whole, seeing the trees but not the forest.” - Mao Tse-tung | Photo: Wikimedia Commons

One of the biggest problems inherent in mainstream media coverage of protests in Venezuela is their method of analyzing them.

If you take a close look at most articles or videos produced by establishment publications, you’ll notice an underlying trend. They discuss present-day turmoil in Venezuela without providing adequate historical context.

Not only do they intentionally leave out the incessant economic and political attacks waged against the Bolivarian Revolution since taking power in 1999, which have hampered the government’s ability to advance peace and stability. They also fail to mention what the country was like before 1999 when late President Hugo Chavez took office and began radically improving conditions for Venezuela’s working-class majority.

Since the early 2000s, for example, supermarket owners affiliated with Venezuela’s opposition have hoarded food products so they can resell them at higher prices and make large profits. Food importing companies owned by the country’s wealthy right-wing elite are also manipulating import figures in order to raise prices on goods.

In 2013, former Venezuelan Central Bank chief Edmee Betancourt reported that the country lost between US$15 and US$20 billion dollars the previous year because of hoarding and price manipulation. Right-wing sabotage of Venezuela’s socialist economy, which has been waged on numerous fronts since 1999, serves to bolster political attacks against the government. This tactic of destabilization, expounded upon by U.S. political scientist Gene Sharp, has been used against governments opposed to Wall Street from time immemorial.

Mainstream media also fail to mention that prior to the 1999 Bolivarian Revolution, Venezuela had much higher rates of inflation, unemployment and poverty.

http://www.telesurtv.net/export/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/05/22/before_and_after.jpg_887049762.jpg

This method, which presents facts and figures about disarray in Venezuela without providing historical context, is known as empiricism.

Empiricism, a method of natural and social sciences, posits that all knowledge about the world derives from sensory experience. This means that the five senses — sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch — shed insight on reality that can be tested, revised and verified by all.

Thus, one is able to make judgments about Venezuela based on what they see people doing, hear people saying and even smell, taste or touch in the country. Moreover, one can create quantitative measurements for these qualitative judgments, establishing universally-accepted figures like gross domestic product, Gini coefficients and even levels of happiness.

Marxism does not outright reject empiricism — at times, it even borrows from it. What Marxism maintains, however, is that this liberal method of analysis is severely deficient in its ability to grasp the complexities of a particular phenomenon in its entirety.

That’s because it analyzes phenomena, such as unrest in Venezuela, as static, disconnected moments of time instead of understanding them as interconnected moments that form a constantly changing and evolving process. It separates the “relevant” present from the “irrelevant” past, decontextualizing phenomena in their entirety.

This is the equivalent of criticizing a teacher for not having her students pass year-end exams, not taking into account that for most of the year she was overloaded with students and worked with a meager budget.

Marxism, then, does not reject that there are rising inflation and shortages in Venezuela. What it does reject is presenting these figures without proper context and limiting the investigation to narrow appearances, allowing reality to be distorted.

Marxism proposes expanding the scope of analysis beyond present-day facts, investigating the root economic causes of phenomena like inflation and putting forth practical solutions for their resolution.

Thus, empirical analyses made by corporate news outlets about protests in Venezuela prove to be ideologically bankrupt. They intentionally present facts about turmoil in Venezuela in a way that incriminates the government and exonerates the opposition.

Not all protests are revolutionary. Not all governments are reactionary.

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“The state is an organ of class rule, an organ for the oppression of one class by another.” - Vladimir Lenin | Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Another problem plaguing mainstream media coverage of protests in Venezuela is their false characterization of protesters and the government.

As mentioned earlier, corporate news outlets paint protesters as powerless, peace-loving democrats while portraying government officials as powerful, violent authoritarians.

When covering anti-government demonstrations, they often show images of opposition protesters holding seemingly progressive signs with slogans like “No More Dictatorship” and “Justice for Political Prisoners.” They have also shown them handing flowers to police officers, crying and pleading with them to “stop the violence.”

Conversely, when presenting police officers and the Bolivarian National Guard on television, they only show them firing water cannons and pushing off protesters with their shields. Moreover, they almost never show images of the thousands of leftist, pro-government supporters who peacefully march in support of the Bolivarian Revolution almost daily.

This superficial portrayal of turmoil in Venezuela by mainstream media misleads viewers into believing that the right-wing protesters are revolutionary and that the left-wing government is reactionary. Consequently, these viewers falsely associate the former with movements like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter and the latter with regimes like apartheid South Africa.

Marxism, however, contends that this dichotomy is a perverse inversion of reality.

It maintains that the Bolivarian government is, in fact, revolutionary and that the opposition is reactionary. This conclusion is grounded in the Marxist theory of the state, elaborated by Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin.

The Marxist theory of the state argues that governments are instruments of domination by one economic class over another.

In capitalist societies, like the U.S., where the rich represent the ruling class, wealthy elites use the state to rule over the poor. This is exemplified by the way in which corporations are able to use police to suppress workers and oppressed communities protesting for better standards of living.


In socialist societies, like Venezuela, where the poor represent the ruling class, workers and oppressed people use the state to rule over wealthy elites. In March, for example, President Nicolas Maduro ordered the seizure of bakeries owned by right-wing elites who were intentionally hoarding flour, later handing over control of the businesses to workers’ collectives.

Marxism also denies the claim that all states are of a bourgeois character, an argument many anarchists hold fast to. Rather, the state is a reflection of the economic class that wields power over it.

And while Marxists assert that governments will cease to exist under advanced stages of communism, they maintain that they are necessary in the early stages of the transition from capitalism to socialism. This is referred to as the withering away of the state.

In line with this understanding of the state, Marxists argue that not all anti-government protests are revolutionary, which many liberals and anarchists fail to realize.

Immediately after 1917, for example, when the Bolsheviks carried out Russia’s socialist revolution, the U.S. and the U.K. began supporting groups like the White Army and the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine. The first was composed of far-right nationalists and the second was made up of ultra-left anarchists — both groups, though ideologically opposed, fought tooth and nail to try to overthrow the Bolshevik government in an unholy alliance.

Following the rise of socialist revolutions across Eastern Europe throughout the 20th Century, the U.S. and U.K. began supporting “pro-democracy” protests in countries like the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. Backed by wealthy multinational elites, these “pro-democracy” protesters claimed the Soviet Union-backed government was committing “human rights abuses” and that it was mismanaging the economy, just like the Venezuelan opposition alleges.

Toward the turn of the 20th Century, these Western-backed “democrats” began leading color revolutions, which led to the dismantling of socialist governments and the implementation of neoliberal austerity. Today, the countries run by the leaders of color revolutions — like Georgia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Slovakia — have some of the highest rates of unemployment, crime, prostitution and food insecurity.

Marxism, which takes economics, and not aesthetics, as its basis of analysis, demonstrates that not all protests are revolutionary and that not all governments are reactionary.

Capitalism is at a dead end. So is the opposition.


“They talk about the failure of socialism. But where is the success of capitalism in Africa, Asia and Latin America?” - Fidel Castro | Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Venezuela’s right-wing opposition leaders frequently claim that the Bolivarian Revolution’s socialist economic model is to blame for most of the country’s problems.

Uncritically regurgitating economic views spoon-fed to them by Wall Street think tanks, they claim that free-market capitalism will solve all of Venezuela’s troubles.

“Socialism creates bureaucracy,” they claim, suggesting that private companies should take over the country’s healthcare, education, food and housing systems. Opposition leaders like Leopoldo Lopez, who has questionable connections to multinational oil giants like ExxonMobil, have even proposed privatizing the state-run Petroleum of Venezuela company, one of the country’s main sources of wealth.

RELATED:
Venezuela's Opposition Openly Calls for Economic War

They have also suggested eliminating important government institutions like the ministries of Indigenous Peoples, Women and Gender Affairs in a bid to “restore economic stability.”

While it remains undeniable that Venezuela is undergoing serious economic problems, the opposition falsely attributes the root cause of these problems to socialism. They fail to take into account that attempts to fortify a stable command economy have been sabotaged since 1999. They consistently run their mouths about the “failures of socialism” while simultaneously attacking it to ensure it doesn’t succeed.

Their rhetoric is comparable to blaming an architect for not building a house fast enough without taking into account that the construction site has been looted and vandalized on a daily basis since its inception. The Bolivarian Revolution, however, has accomplished tremendous social advancements, despite not having one day of respite from right-wing economic sabotage throughout its 18-year tenure.

Still, the opposition, mainstream media and Wall Street claim that Venezuela will be better off if it adopts capitalism as its economic system.

But if one wants to know what Venezuela would become if the opposition was successful in removing the Bolivarian government and imposing capitalism, they only have to take a look at the neoliberal disasters that are Brazil and Argentina.


Since Argentine President Mauricio Macri took office in 2015, he has reversed all of the progressive gains made by leftist former President Cristina Fernandez. The right-wing leader, an outspoken critic of the Venezuelan government, has implemented austerity programs across numerous sectors of the country's economy.

Gas and electricity prices are rising. Jobs are being cut. Government institutions are downsizing while private companies linked to the ruling administration are getting tax cuts. All of these policies have resulted in growing poverty, instability and unrest in Argentina.

The same holds true for Brazil.

Since de facto Brazilian President Michel Temer took office in 2016, he also reversed all of the social gains made by former progressive President Dilma Rousseff. Consequently, millions of Brazilians have been plunged into poverty, police repression against Afro-Indigenous groups has intensified and labor rights in the countryside have essentially ended, effectively allowing practices that are considered by the country’s penal code as being equal to slavery.

Temer, another staunch critic of the Bolivarian Revolution, also faces growing opposition from Brazilians who are suffering under neoliberal austerity.

Even if the Venezuelan opposition was successful in taking state power, like Macri and Temer, the country’s problems would be far from being solved. This is because their beloved capitalism, a system entirely driven by profits, is inherently unstable — and as Karl Marx put it himself, capitalism is self-cannibalistic.

Marx posited that capitalism creates constant crises within society because of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. Profit is defined as financial gain accumulated from the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent in buying, operating or producing something.

As workers around the world make less money because of neoliberal austerity, they are unable to purchase the same products they produce as consumers. This creates a situation where private companies are unable to sell their products because no one has enough money to buy them, hindering the companies from making profits.

This situation is being played out on a global scale, facilitating the deterioration of markets and paving the way for a looming international financial crisis. And as capitalism continues to reach a decline that it can not overcome, as it reaches a dead end, its credibility becomes more questionable as time progresses.

The Venezuelan opposition, like capitalism, have nothing to offer the South American country. Both have reached a dead end.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/What-Marxism-Teaches-Us-About-Protests-in-Venezuela-20170522-0004.html

Videos at link

Pretty good, coming from Telesur, which can be iffy, but somehow weak , can't put my finger on it.

Pretty good, coming from Telesur, which can be iffy, but somehow weak , can't put my finger on it.

Maybe they finally get it that total, complete opposition to capitalism is the only proven method for success? Any kind of conciliation with the bourgeoisie is a win for the latter.

Venezuela Seizes Explosive Weapons from Armed Right-Wing Groups

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Opposition protesters use home-made mortars while clashing with Venezuelan security forces. | Photo: Reuters

Published 25 May 2017 (2 hours 18 minutes ago)

The government seized Molotov cocktails and other explosive materials from armed right-wing groups causing violent protests, detaining many leaders.
The Venezuelan government announced Wednesday that it had dismantled armed opposition groups, detaining a number of right-wing leaders and seizing various explosive materials.

"During the last 48 hours, we have managed to dismantle new armed terrorist cells that have been unleashing violence, trying to eradicate the rights to life, peace, free transit and the daily development of society," announced Venezuela's Interior and Justice Minister General Nestor Reverol on the state-run VTV channel.

The minister announced that two members of the jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez's Popular Will or VP party, David Sosa Escalante and Maria Andreina Montilla, had been arrested on charges of organizing violent vandalism. The party’s spokesperson, Jorge Machado Jimenez, had already been arrested Monday on allegations of organizing and funding violent groups in the capital.

"Dismantled terrorist gangs that supported violent acts in San Antonio de los Altos and Santa Barbara del Zulia."

Another couple of suspects, Victor Lizandro and Marelys Hernandez Bello, were also detained for instigating violence in the state of Miranda, especially in the city of San Antonio de los Altos.

Other detainees, who were in charge of organizing opposition clashes in the northwestern state of Zulia, included Hector Gonzalez Machado, a member of the A New Time or UNT party, and Ergio Paz and Daniel Albornoz, members of the rightist party Justice First, led by National Assembly chief Julio Borges.

"In all of these events, a large amount of unconventional explosive material, Molotov bombs, used for terrorist actions, and other elements of criminal interest were seized," Reverol stated.

"The public prosecutor's office with its inaction has not ensured the correct application of justice, generating anxiety in the population."

"There is no doubt that the Venezuelan extreme right is persisting in its quest for a coup d'etat, orchestrated by armed paramilitary groups associated with criminal gangs, completely outside the Constitution, to the point of besieging military installations with the implicit risk of causing deaths," he added.

The Venezuelan government also accused prosecutors of generating a "climate of impunity," with Reverol stating that the "inaction" of the Public Prosecutor's office "has not guaranteed the correct application of justice."

Earlier this week, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro warned of a Nazi-fascist current within the opposition, saying the racist faction, rooted in “hatred and contempt,” involved leaders from the Democratic Unity Table, known by its Spanish acronym MUD, including the right-wing president of the National Assembly, Julio Borges.

As the Constituent Assembly process moves forward, the right-wing MUD opposition remains opposed, calling instead for violent protests, laying bare that their only demand is the ouster of Maduro’s government.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Seizes-Explosive-Weapons-from-Armed-Right-Wing-Groups-20170525-0010.html?utm_content=bufferbf391&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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Venezuela Arrests Financier of Violent Opposition Protests

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The situation is reminiscent of the 2002 failed coup against late President Hugo Chavez when opposition sectors tried to blame several murders on the government. | Photo: AVN

Published 22 May 2017

Violent opposition protests in the country have taken the life of almost 60 people since they started moe than 51 days ago.
The spokesperson of far-right party Voluntad Popular was arrested Monday on allegations of organizing and funding violent groups in the capital, reported Venezuela's Vice President Tareck El Aissami.

Jorge Machado Jimenez was accused of leading the hot spots, in charge of recruiting people and organizing actions, said El Aissami. Jimenez is also suspected of being responsible for money laundering in order to fund the actions in Caracas.

Earlier Monday morning, the police arrested 16 people in Los Altos Mirandinos at a site that authorities identified as an “armed cell” that was “besieging the communities living in the area.”

In another site that is suspected of providing logistical support, three people were arrested, while material estimated at about US$250,000, including detonators and chemicals for arson, a shotgun, and 20,000 notes of different currencies, were seized.

Two other suspects were arrested and accused of setting fire to 53 buses belonging to the TransBolivar company in the state of Bolivar.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Arrests-Financier-of-Violent-Opposition-Protests-20170522-0035.html

Damn straight, these fuckers are playing for keeps, ain't no time to be shy.

The Plans to Destroy the Bolivarian Revolution Were Drafted in Washington
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MAY 25, 2017

The U.S. doctrine of non-conventional war is based on manipulating citizens to encourage confrontations with authorities, to achieve the strategic objectives of a foreign power without having troops on the ground.

Sergio Alejandro Gómez | internet@granma.cu

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Protests in Venezuela have become more violent and better organized as projected in non-conventional warfare strategy.Photo: AVN

BREAKING the law, creating a parallel government, organizing alternative economic institutions, harassing public officials, destroying property, hoarding of goods, marching, obstructing social events, boycotting elections, disrupting schools, using false identities, seeking arrests, launching hunger strikes, and overwhelming the state administrative systems – are only a few of the 198 methods to overthrow governments proposed by CIA coup expert Gene Sharp, more than 40 years ago.
Finding just one of these techniques that has not been used against Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution is difficult.
These last several years, President Nicolás Maduro’s administration has faced particularly intense attacks and the implementation of so-called Non-Conventional War, based on psychological manipulation, social protest, coups, and irregular armed struggle.
Unlike traditional conflicts, non-conventional wars are based on promoting confrontations between authorities and the population, to undermine the government’s ability to function, leading to its demise without the use of a foreign military intervention.
Perhaps the clearest example of this kind of warfare is the operation carried out by U.S. and Western powers against the government of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. Bands of opponents, armed and advised from abroad, carried out the dirty work on the ground, while NATO provided air support, and the transnational corporate media manipulated the facts presented to the public.

VENEZUELA, A CASE STUDY

As soon as the possibility of an independent leader like Hugo Chávez winning the Presidency came onto the horizon – in the country with the world’s greatest proven oil reserves – a strategy to overthrow him was activated.
Given the fact that the corrupt 4th Republic was entirely discredited, the first steps were taken to organize a new opposition and recruit younger leaders. It was the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that channeled funds to create political parties and train many of the leaders of the current Democratic Unity Coalition (MUD).

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The same day that three million people marched in Caracas to show support for Nicolás Maduro, few attended opposition protests that dominated headlines. Photo: teleSUR

U.S. Special Forces manuals, like Training Circular 18-01, define seven different stages of non-conventional war. The first few are devoted to “psychological preparation,” to unify the population in opposition to the government, and “initial contact” by special services agents on the ground. Subsequent stages include the extension of anti-government actions, moving toward a “transition,” during which the national government’s control of the country is challenged.
Despite the defeat of the 2002 coup attempt – by a massive mobilization of the Venezuelan people – the idea of taking the streets was never abandoned. Chávez was confronted by protests and sabotage, of different proportions, until his very last days.
When the Bolivarian leader died in March of 2013, and his successor Nicolás Maduro took the reins, the right wing and their foreign advisers activated the most aggressive tactics of their non-conventional war strategy, in hopes of dealing the revolution a final blow.

MORE THAN STREET BARRICADES

The mounting violence of protests taking place recently in Venezuela is reminiscent of the street barricades and fighting (guarimbas) which occurred in February of 2014, leaving 43 dead and more than 800 injured.
At that time, extremists, who emerged in protests allegedly composed of students, went so far as to string cables across streets to decapitate motor cycle riders, and caused millions of dollars in damage to public property, with the objective of sowing panic and paralyzing the country.
But this last wave of violence appears to be better organized and more extensive. Some of the scenes reported are totally senseless, defying all logic.
The attack by armed opposition gangs on the Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías Maternal-Infant Hospital, with 54 children inside, would qualify as a war crime before any international court.
It is not difficult to identify the organized groups in marches – holding shields, wearing gas masks, and waving blunt objects. If the protests are supposed to be peaceful, why do these youth come prepared for a fight?
A video recently released by Venezuelan authorities shows a dozen youth wearing hoods and making Molotov cocktails, during a march in the comfortable East Caracas neighborhood of Altamira.
After the arrest of Nixon Leal, a violent subject linked to several MUD leaders,
Vice President Tareck El Aissami presented evidence about how the armed bands are organized to carry out open confrontations with the government in Caracas and other important cities, clearly following the steps outlined in non-conventional war strategy.
Threats to authorities are not only physical, but are also meant to humiliate, as seen in the recent practice of using human excrement to fabricate homemade
bombs called “Puputovs”.

THE SYMBOLIC WAR & FAKE NEWS

One aspect of non-conventional war, which is key to its success, is the symbolic dimension, especially in the construction of realities via the mass media, even more so in hyper-connected societies where many use social networks to find out what is happening just a few meters away from their own homes.
Sometimes with greater intensity than in the streets, Venezuelan cyberspace functions as a battle field, in which it is difficult to differentiate accurate information and what authorities have identified as fake news, or “false positives.”
Making its way across the planet this month was an image of two Venezuelan youth, naked and tied to a tree in the state of Táchira, showing signs of a physical attack. Several international media, including Latin American ones, reported the act as the responsibility of Chavista “bands.” It was in fact linked to common criminal activity and residents of the area had decided to serve justice themselves.
The selectivity of the international corporate press, in terms of choosing what to report, is also used as a weapon. The same day that three million people marched in Caracas to show support for Nicolás Maduro, what dominated headlines on mainstream websites and newspapers were the much less attended opposition protests.
Also among non-conventional war tactics, is the creation of symbols with which any group could identify. The image of a woman dressed in a Venezuelan flag, standing in front of a Bolivarian National Guard armored vehicle, was publicized relentlessly, and went on to become the demonstrators’ icon.
Likewise, the number of photographers surrounding a young violin player, during an opposition protest, makes it hard to believe that this was a spontaneous act,
and not a carefully staged one.
THE SOLUTION

The Venezuelan right, traditionally divided given its personal rifts, with various individuals competing for power, is, on the contrary, united in following the non-conventional script written in Washington. Violence is the only common ground.
Repeated calls for street demonstrations, despite the fact that more than 40 lives have already been lost in this round of guarimbas, along with the opposition’s refusal to participate in the Constituent Assembly, make clear, once again, that the only solution the opposition offers is an end to the revolution, by any means and regardless of consequences.
The continuity of the social project begun by Hugo Chávez – which has forever changed the reality of this country to benefit the poor – is not all that is at stake.
The success of the opposition strategy would become a nefarious reference point for the use of non-conventional warfare, one that would be added to the list of coups, military interventions, and secret operations which bear the trademark signs of Washington at work in Latin America.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2017/05/25/the-plans-to-destroy-the-bolivarian-revolution-were-drafted-in-washington/

Venezuelan Opposition Mob Beats Retired National Guard to Death

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Opposition demonstrators throw stones at Venezuelan police during a violent right-wing protest in Caracas. | Photo: Reuters

Published 27 May 2017

The crowd struck the victim with sharp objects in different parts of his body, leaving him for dead on the street.
Danny Jose Subero, a retired lieutenant of the Bolivarian National Guard was beaten to death Saturday in the Venezuelan state of Lara by opposition forces during the funeral of Manuel Sosa, a student who died from a gunshot wound during an anti-government protest in Valle Hondo.

According to witnesses, Subero was nearby taking selfies when a group of people accused him of being an infiltrator, proceeding to strike him with sharp objects in different parts of his body, leaving him for dead on the street. He was taken to Barquisimeto Hospital by police but arrived with no vital signs. Doctors reported that he had shots in different parts of his body, according to La Prensa.

His motorcycle, along with other belongings, were set ablaze on another street and completely destroyed.

During Manuel Sosa's funeral, in Valle Hondo, several people grabbed a suspected GNB infiltrator and beat him to death.

Venezuela's Ombudsman Tarek William Saab condemned the murder, which he described as a lynching. On Twitter, he explained that the official was "savagely beaten by a murderous mob in the urbanization Valle Hondo, who tortured him in the meantime and then shot 2 bullets." He also described the incident as a hate crime, calling the crowd "criminal lynchers."

The Public Prosecutor's Office commissioned a state prosecutor to investigate the death of the 34-year-old Subero.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuelan-Opposition-Mob-Beats-Retired-National-Guard-to-Death-20170527-0026.html


http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/appian/civil_wars/1*.html

Patricians leading mobs of armed slaves and hired lumpen against the popular faction...and so they will until we draw their fangs.

Three Dead in Venezuela as Violent Protests Enter 9th Week
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By LUCAS KOERNER

Caracas, May 29, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Three people were killed in Venezuela over the weekend as anti-government demonstrations continued for a third straight month.

On Friday, Manuel Sosa (33) was reportedly shot in the neck during clashes between protesters and National Guard personnel in the Lara municipality of Cabudare. Sosa’s mother has blamed the death on state security forces.

Venezuela’s Public Prosecution (MP) has dispatched a state district attorney to investigate the homicide.

The episode gave rise to fresh violence on Saturday. During Sosa’s funeral in Cabudare, a retired National Guard lieutenant was brutally beaten and shot dead by a group of other attendees who allegedly accused him of being an “infiltrator”.

According to the MP, Lt. Danny José Subero (34) was present at the event with his motorcycle “when he was approached by a group of people who beat him with blunt objects in different parts of his body and shot him various times”. His motorcycle and his other belongings were subsequently burnt “in their entirety”. The MP has commissioned a state prosecutor to investigate the case.

The killing sparked condemnation from National Ombudsman Tarek William Saab, who called the murder a “hate crime” and urged “exemplary punishment against the criminal lynchers”.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro confirmed Sunday those responsible for the murder had been identified and would soon be brought to justice. He also took the opportunity to hit out at Organization of American States (OAS) General Secretary Luis Almagro, who has yet to issue a statement on the homicide.

“Where is the voice of the OAS when crimes like this are committed?” the president asked.

On Saturday, Almagro published a tweet denouncing the “murder of Manuel Sosa at the hands of the regime,” notwithstanding the ongoing MP investigation into the case.

Venezuela’s right-wing opposition has condemned the murder of Subero despite repeating the unsubstantiated accusation that the retired lieutenant was a Chavista “infiltrator”.

“I condemn the murderous violence of the regime and I condemn the lynching of an infiltrator in Lara. Pain cannot turn us into what we are fighting,” declared National Assembly Vice-President Freddy Guevara via his official Twitter account.

The incident is the third instance of Afro-Venezuelan men being taken for “infiltrators” and attacked by mobs of anti-government protesters in recent weeks. On May 18, Carlos Ramirez was beaten and set on fire by demonstrators shouting “he has to die because he’s Chavista”. Orlando Jose Figueras was likewise burned alive by opposition supporters two days later and is currently in a coma.

The weekend’s violence continued in the eastern state of Anzoategui, where Cesar David Pereira (20) was shot during a protest on Saturday. The opposition Popular Will party activist was reportedly wounded by a marble in Lechería and subsequently died in the hospital on Sunday morning.

National Ombudsman Saab took to Twitter to condemn the “despicable crime” and report that he had spoken with forensic police and regional National Guard authorities to guarantee an “objective and impartial investigation”.

The top human rights official additionally expressed concern over the “systematic use of homemade weapons whose munitions of marbles, ball bearings, and nails have been indiscriminately used in violent acts”.

The MP, for its part, has ordered state district attorney Luis Gonzalo Galindo to open investigations into the death.

The latest deaths coincided with fresh attacks on public property and government personnel over the weekend.

In Guarico state, two PDVSA gas company workers suffered first and second degree burns after coming under attack from opposition supporters wielding Molotov bombs. PDVSA Gas Vice-Presidnet Cesar Triana has called on the MP to investigate the incident in which a National Guard lieutenant was also injured.


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The government workers were reportedly involved in transporting food to the nearby town at the time of the attack. (@CesarTriana_)

On Friday, protesters set fire to various vehicles as part of anti-government barricades, including a public bus providing free transportion service for senior citizens between Caracas and Guarenas.


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A government-run bus providing free service for senior citizens was torched in the eastern Caracas neighborhood of Altamira. (@estebansanbo)

Sixty-eight people have been left dead and over a thousand injured since opposition protests began on April 4.

Despite the announcement last week that regional elections will be held on December 10, the opposition has vowed to remain in the streets until all of their demands are met, including holding snap presidential elections not due until 2018.

PUBLISHED ON MAY 29TH 2017 AT 3.20PM

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13158

GREEN HELMETS AND VIOLENT ANTI-BLACK RACISTS: MEET THE LATEST “REVOLUTIONARIES” DESTABILIZING VENEZUELA
MAY 29, 2017 MADDCOLDSONOFKUFA 3 COMMENTS
by Jonathan Azaziah

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Just as it seemed it not could get any worse for Venezuela short of an outright NATO invasion, the Zio-Imperialists destabilizing this great and resistant nation made sure that things got… Well… WORSE THAN WORSE. Enter the group of mercenaries called the Green Helmets. Yes, if your mind immediately went to Syria and you began visualizing the Al-Qaeda-linked, US-UK-Soros-funded White Helmets, who act like “civil defense” workers when the cameras are on but chop off heads when the flashing lights go bye-bye, then you absolutely wouldn’t be incorrect. Because the Green Helmets, while claiming to be “apolitical”–just like the White Helmets who spew the same smokescreen but who back NATO no-fly zones and who colluded with terrorist gangs in subjugating Aleppo and cutting off water to Damascus–are laying the groundwork for even greater US-EU intervention in Venezuelan affairs through the dissemination of humanitarian propaganda.

While the Zionist-owned mega mass media channels want you to believe that all the violence in Venezuela is the product of “government repression” from a “brutal regime” run by a “dictator”, a recent piece in Reuters entitled “Injured Venezuela protesters face another woe: finding medicine”, while filled with plenty of lies distortions itself, actually discloses that “most of the injured” only ***appear*** to be “opposition protesters” and do in fact include “Maduro supporters, security forces and bystanders”. Sift through the mud that is the mainstream press and gems of truth can be found. This is devastating evidence that it is not in fact the Bolivarian Republic’s Armed Forces doing the killing but a shadowy third party using sniper tactics and other subversion to turn Venezuelans on each other and burn the legacy of Chavismo to the ground–just like Syria, Libya and so many others.

Information on the Green Helmets’ funding is scarce but the aforementioned Reuters piece nonchalantly (and inadvertently, most likely) reveals that they are receiving donations from Miami and Madrid. Univision–a foe of Bolivarianism from WAY BACK and one of the most visible tentacles of the American ZOG’s foreign policy in Latin America–confirms this, and openly calls the Green Helmets the “White Helmets of Venezuela”. Anyone who knows anything about Venezuela and El Comandante Hugo Chavez’s glorious revolution are well-aware that these expat communities have long-served as auxiliaries for the American and Spanish regimes’ destabilization agenda. And make no mistake, with Miami and Madrid blatantly in the mix, support from the CIA, the NED, the Mossad and George Soros are right around the corner.

Though the Green Helmets came into being during the reign of Baruch Uncle O’Toma, their role has been amplified immensely under the Trump regime. With Tillerson, a rabid anti-Bolivarian fanatic who nearly started a war between Venezuela and Guyana in 2015, running the US State Department, expect the prominence of the Green Helmets to only increase, especially considering the worldwide, Zionist-driven acclaim received by the Al-Qaeda-linked White Helmets in Syria. This is reflected by the obscene amount of Zionist media coverage that they’ve been getting over the last several weeks alone. It hasn’t just been the spotlights in Reuters and Univision either. The “Christian” Science Monitor, BBC, Buzzfeed, Bloomberg, and most disturbing of all, Al-Jazeera, the voice of counterrevolution, terrorism and neo-colonialism, have all put out puff-piece-hasbara on these regime-changers despicably masquerading as medical workers.

Another group of “democracy advocates” terrorizing Venezuela as of late are anti-Black racists who are going around and lighting Venezuelans with black and brown skin on fire as well as lynching them due to thinking they’re Chavistas. The demented and hateful reasoning behind the actions of these colonialist-descended savages? Because Black and Brown Venezuelans–historically associated with poverty and misery after centuries of Spaniard colonialism–have been uplifted by the Bolivarian Revolution, that must mean that they all have to be “militants” for Maduro. This is obviously racist beyond description and that they would actually use this to justify BURNING PEOPLE ALIVE and, in an ode to the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan in pre-civil rights America, LYNCHING, shows you how unapologetic they are about their hate. This has taken place on major streets in the barrios of Caracas right in broad daylight, Mérida, Miranda and elsewhere.

And there has not even been one condemnation of it from the likes of the criminal Lopez, the Zionist Jew Randonski, and the capitalist charlatan Borges, i.e. the leaders of the Venezuelan opposition bankrolled by ‘Israel’ and the NED. Which obviously means they don’t have the slightest issue with it, nor do their backers. Indeed, America, the land built on slavery, genocide and which armed a gang of Libyan rebels called the Brigade for Purging Slaves and Black Skin, is supporting murderous anti-Black racists in Venezuela in hopes of toppling the pro-Black, pro-Indigenous, Anti-Imperialist, Anti-Zionist government in Caracas. And when it’s put exactly like that, it actually isn’t the least bit surprising, now is it?

In conclusion, a most disgusting, most infuriating conclusion at that, what we have before us is the colonialist-financed Green Helmets and the Venezuelan version of the KKK. Expect the Western “left”–ANY MINUTE NOW–to describe these destabilizers as “good revolutionaries” whose real goals are “workers’ councils” and “organic food co-ops” and “LGBTQ rights”. And they will continue spinning these sorts of yarns happily as Caracas keeps deteriorating and Chavismo as a governing body is pushed closer and closer to the brink. It’s Damascus deja vu. It’s Tripoli deja vu. It’s Kiev deja vu. May the vigilance of the Chavistas be increased a trillion fold. The Empire wants Bolivarianism on a chopping block for opposing it going on two decades now and the Green Helmets are the latest phase in making this Zio-Imperialist dream a reality. How much more proof do you need that Maduro, Tareck El Aissami and the rest of Chavez’s comrades are the good guys, and those who are opposing them are some of the most loathsome scum to ever walk the landscapes of God’s Green Earth? How much more?!

http://mouqawamahmusic.net/green-helmets-and-violent-anti-black-racists-meet-the-latest-revolutionaries-destabilizing-venezuela/

'The Venezuelan Opposition Does Not Want Democracy or Elections': Jorge Martin
By: Jorge Martin Interviewed by Ricardo Vaz

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1496328582111/sites/telesur/img/opinion/2017/06/01/vz_opposition_against_democracy.jpg_1718483346.jpg
A demonstrator looks on as motorcycles belonging to riot security forces are set on fire during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, May 31, 2017. | Photo: Reuters

Published 1 June 2017

What is clear is that the opposition leaders want the overthrow of this government and they think they have a chance now.
The Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela is facing its most challenging times. The right-wing opposition, backed by the United States, is engaged in a full-blown “regime change” campaign, with violent protests occurring daily for over 2 months and resulting in over 50 casualties. The chavista supporters of the government have also taken to the streets in defence of the Bolivarian Revolution, and President Maduro surprised everyone by calling for a Constituent Assembly. To better understand the situation and where it might lead to, we have interviewed Jorge Martín, the secretary of the “Hands Off Venezuela” solidarity campaign.

In this first part we look at how western media are distorting the reality and presenting a one-sided picture, the role of international solidarity, the lack of progress made by the opposition and where they might go from here.

Source: Investig'action

You were in Venezuela in recent weeks. How does the reality that you witnessed contrast with one being presented by the western media?

There are a number of different points. The first one is that is that the media is presenting this idea that in Venezuela we have groups of peaceful opposition demonstrators fighting for democracy, and government repression that has killed over 50 people. This is all wrong. There are big opposition demonstrations, they have been going on now for nearly two months and have attracted quite a lot of people. But in most cases they have also degenerated into violent clashes in which the opposition demonstrators, or groups in the vanguard of the opposition demonstrations, have used firearms, home-made explosives/weapons/rocket launchers and all sorts of stuff against the police, but also against educational institutions, state buildings, housing projects of the Misión Vivienda, public transportation, they have even set up burning barricades outside maternity hospitals. On top of this there has been gunfire coming from opposition rioters also against civilians and against chavistas in general.

So it is hardly a picture of peaceful pro-democracy protesters…

Yes, it is not correct to say that these are peaceful opposition demonstrators, it is not correct to say that what they want is democracy or that what they want is elections. In fact, their own leaders have admitted that what they want is “regime change”. For example, Maria Corina Machado wrote an article in El Comercio, in Peru, where she said “the first step is the overthrow of the government. Then we can talk about having elections in a different institutional context”, something along these lines.

Another thing I will say is that these protests are not taking place across the whole of the territory, not even the whole of the capital city. They are very concentrated in a number of states and municipalities, most of them ruled by opposition governors or mayors, particularly in Táchira, Mérida, Barinas, Carabobo, Lara, and also in eastern Caracas. So if you are in Caracas, you can go about your daily life without ever encountering an opposition demonstration, or violence, which is concentrated in Altamira, in Chacao, to the east of the city, where the middle and upper class areas are.


This means the protests have not spread beyond the opposition’s bastions of influence?

This is something very telling you see in Caracas, namely that the opposition has not achieved one of its main aims, which was to bring the people from the barrios, the working class and poor areas in the hills around Caracas, into the protests. And this undercuts the idea that these protests are motivated by hunger and scarcity. There are problems of scarcity of basic products, people’s diets have suffered in recent years, but the people that are most affected by this are the ones that remain firmly on the side of the Bolivarian Revolution. The people in the middle and upper middle class areas, that are not so affected by these economic hardships, are the main subjects of these anti-government demonstrations.

And the last thing that contrasts with the picture that the media is giving is that there have been large pro-Bolivarian, chavista demonstrations. On the 19th of April there was a very big one, on May Day there was a huge one that I was able to attend. This was a demonstration that started in four meeting points in different parts of the capital, and people marched to Bolívar Avenue. Bolívar Avenue is quite long, and it was full of people for 4 or 5 hours, with waves of people coming in and out, so there must have been hundreds of thousands of people there. They were not all from Caracas, there were groups of workers coming from other parts of the country to participate in the May Day demonstration. But this was certainly a very big show of support for the Bolivarian Revolution. These major demonstrations have been supplemented by almost daily, smaller demonstrations. Demonstrations of women, peasants, youth, etc, in defence of the Bolivarian Revolution and against this right-wing attempt to overthrow it. And this is never shown by the mass media, not even referred to. So they are giving, as usual, an extremely one-sided picture of what is happening in Venezuela.

Given this one-sidedness of the media and the whitewashing of the actions of the opposition, what is the role of international solidarity and in particular what is “Hands Off Venezuela” trying to do?

“Hands Off Venezuela”, from the very beginning, one of its aims was to break through the fog of media lies, distortions, half-truths and manipulations in relation to Venezuela. Just to give you an example, the other day there was an article headline (1) on the BBC World News website that said

“Two more protesters killed in Venezuela. The deaths bring the number of anti-government protesters killed in the last seven weeks to 42.”

And this is obviously not true. There have been people killed by government repression, but amongst these 42, over 50 now, these are not the majority. The majority of people have been killed as a direct result of political violence by the opposition, for example by gunfire coming from opposition lines, or as an indirect result of that (2). So our task is to try to spread truthful information to labour movement activists, left-wing activists, student activists and so on, in order to counter the lies of the media. We should also try to hold the media accountable as much as we can. But the spreading of truthful information and a counter point of view is very important so that people can then make up their minds as to what is really going on in Venezuela. And this is one of the key tasks of the solidarity movement right now.

Going back to one of your points, you have mentioned that the opposition protests have not managed to spread to the barrios and in two months they have hardly made any progress. What do you think their strategy is at this point?

It is a bit difficult to say, because there are many different factors involved. But I would say that we have reached a point already where the opposition supporters are getting tired and frustrated by the lack of progress. As you say, they have been demonstrating for nearly 60 days and they have not achieved any of their aims. Above all, they have not achieved any substantial support for their protests in the working class and poor areas, but so far they have also not managed to break the state. There has been no movement inside the army, even though the opposition leaders constantly appeal to the the army to come out and overthrow the government. Other than some statements by the State Prosecutor, that the opposition are trying to claim is on their side, there have not been any major breaches in terms of the state institutions. They have not pushed the government out, or into making substantial concessions that they could present as a victory.

So they are basically trapped, they are in a cul-de-sac, and what I see now is a section of the opposition demonstrators, and some of the leaders, going for a radicalisation of the protests, in terms of becoming more violent, using terrorist methods. In the last few days for instance, they attacked a National Guard barracks in Táchira and set it on fire. There was also a very high level of insurrectionary right-wing violence in San Antonio de los Altos in recent days, with basically everyone locked in their homes, and protesters taking control over the city for a number of days, with the support of the local opposition mayor. And similar situations have happened at points in Táchira, in parts of Mérida, in Barinas, in Barquisimeto. That is the kind of strategy that they are following.

But I also think that if they do not manage to step up the mobilisation or achieve any of their aims, this will also push a section of them towards the negotiating table with the government. And this will create a big split within the opposition. You have to remember that the leaders of the opposition are already very discredited among their own ranks because of their actions in October/November last year, when they basically called for big demonstrations, promising that the government was going to be overthrown, and then immediately switched towards the negotiating table, at which they did not achieve anything.

The polls, for instance from Hinterlaces, constantly show that the people do not trust the opposition leadership…

Yes. And also the opposition protests are becoming more and more unpopular, because of the level of violence they use, because of incidents like the one a few days ago when protesters identified someone as an “infiltrator” and set him on fire. The protests become inconvenient to people’s daily lives, going to work, going to study and so on, and therefore there is now a strong current of people who do not necessarily support the government but who nevertheless reject the violence of the opposition demonstrators. So this is also working against them.


This is also playing, in a certain sense, in favour of the emergence of a third camp figure, and in the last few months now there has been a lot of talk about Lorenzo Mendoza becoming such a figure. He is the owner of Grupo Polar (3), and although he participated in some of the opposition demonstrations in October, he has been mostly silent recently. There was an Hinterlaces poll that said that he would be the preferred candidate in an opposition primary election, above any of the current political leaders. There are people playing with this idea, that the government is an economic disaster, so putting a businessman in charge might be the solution. And some people might fall for that. There are another two unknown factors. One of them is Henry Falcón, governor of Lara state, a former chavista who moved to the opposition, and Manuel Rosales, who was the opposition presidential candidate in 2006. A few years ago he fled the country due to an arrest warrant for corruption charges. He later returned, was detained briefly and has now been released, and I think there is a possibility that some of these people might try to reach a compromise of some sort with the government.

On the other hand, the situation could also descend into a civil war. If the violent opposition elements radicalise their terrorist activities there can be also a violent response from the chavista side. In some areas of the country it has already happened that, even if only for a few days, there was a complete breakdown of law and order.

So what do you think is motivating the opposition leaders to go all-in with their violent plans?

What is clear is that the opposition leaders want the overthrow of this government and they think they have a chance now. They also have international support, with Trump coming out clearly on their side, and Colombian president Santos is now playing a key role. While in the past he pretended to be friendly towards the Venezuelan government, particularly during the peace negotiations with the FARC, he has now broken ranks and come out publicly against Venezuela, even conducting a series of provocative moves, like sending armoured cars to the border. One of the ideas of the opposition is precisely the opening of a “humanitarian corridor” in the border with Colombia, that could also come into play. So the opposition leaders think that they have a chance of coming to power and they do not want elections, it is not correct to say that, they want to overthrow the government and then create new framework in which there might be elections or not.

Notes

(1) Due to complaints or to having its dishonest reporting exposed, the BBC actually changed the title and headline. For an older version see here, and for a snapshot of the original, see here.

(2) Venezuelanalysis has been producing a detailed account of all the casualties. They compare the different origins of the many deaths, and also contrast the initial blame assigned by the opposition and the media to what is later found out after further investigation.

(3) Polar is Venezuela’s biggest food and beverage corporation. It sells a wide range of products and holds a monopoly in staples like cornflour.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/The-Venezuelan-Opposition-Does-Not-Want-Democracy-or-Elections-Jorge-Martin-20170601-0011.html?utm_content=buffer9e0f7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

The enemies of the people, our class enemies, are utterly untrustworthy, they have no honor. We may, for diplomatic purpose, have to pretend we think otherwise, but it is fatal to actually do so.

Cuba Condemns 'Cynical' Misrepresentation of Venezuela by Media

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President of Cuba, Raul Castro, also addressed the Assembly Thursday and voiced support for Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution. | Photo: Reuters

Published 2 June 2017 (5 hours 47 minutes ago)

In a statement of support for Venezuela, the Cuban National Assembly called out "oligarchic sectors in conspiracy with foreign interests."
Deputies in the National Assembly of People's Power of the Republic of Cuba issued an official declaration of support for the government and people of Venezuela on Thursday, and called out the “oligarchic and transnational” media for misrepresenting and distorting the reality of the ongoing situation in the Bolivarian republic.

“The oligarchic and transnational media spread messages and images that cynically misrepresent reality, obscure the important achievements of Chavismo, and avoid referring to the barbarism of the coup attempt – as was the case of the youth the opposition hordes set on fire,” the statement of support read, referencing a recent incident captured on video in which a man was set on fire for being a “suspected Chavista.”

Although the opposition protests have frequently turned violent and have resulted in over 70 deaths, coverage by opposition sources and world media has usually ignored the violence, or attempted to blame all the deaths on "repression" at the hands of government security forces in spite of the fact that most of the deaths were not protesters.

The statement which was presented by Yoerkys Sánchez Cuéllar, president of the parliamentary group Solidarity with Venezuela, argues that the ongoing protests in conjunction with misinformation campaigns and international pressures from the Organization of American States (OAS), are efforts “in the service of empire” for the benefit of “oligarchic sectors” who wish to open up the wealth of natural resources in Venezuela to transnational corporations.

“The oligarchic sectors, in conspiracy with foreign interests, have tried to spread chaos through terrorist methods throughout the country. In the name of false values of democracy and human rights, they have destabilized the country,” the deputies said in the official statement.


The OAS and their “frantic and interventionist Secretary General,” Luis Almagro, were called out in the statement for their role in leading attempts to remove Maduro. The OAS was singled out for having demonstrated hypocrisy in the face of repressive and undemocratic situations elsewhere in the region. The deputies argue that the OAS's silence "reflects the double standard that prevails" in the organization.

The statement calls on regional and world leaders to respect Venezuela's sovereignty and right to self-determination.

“We call on legislators and parliaments of the world to maintain solidarity with Venezuela... with the confidence that the Bolivarian Revolution and people are guided with the wisdom, capacity and historical reason to overcome their difficulties and determine their own path,” the deputies said before the National Assembly.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Cuba-Condemns-Misrepresentation-of-Venezuela-by-Media-20170602-0003.html?utm_content=buffer1b644&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

The statement which was presented by Yoerkys Sánchez Cuéllar, president of the parliamentary group Solidarity with Venezuela, argues that the ongoing protests in conjunction with misinformation campaigns and international pressures from the Organization of American States (OAS), are efforts “in the service of empire” for the benefit of “oligarchic sectors” who wish to open up the wealth of natural resources in Venezuela to transnational corporations.

“The oligarchic sectors, in conspiracy with foreign interests, have tried to spread chaos through terrorist methods throughout the country. In the name of false values of democracy and human rights, they have destabilized the country,” the deputies said in the official statement.

It is amazing how the only public statements of truth comes from anti-US sources. That should tell everyone something important.

Venezuela Opposition Leaders Call for More Anti-Govt Protests

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Lopez holds the flag just before he was imprisoned in 2014. | Photo: Reuters

Published 5 June 2017

In their continued rejection of the Constituent Assembly process, opposition leaders lay bare that their sole objective is to oust Maduro’s government.
As Venezeula solidifies the details of the national Constituent Assembly that will be charged with rewriting the 1999 Constitution, high-profile opposition leaders have continued to fire back against President Nicolas Maduro, rejecting the process and calling for a "full rebellion" against the government.

Jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez released a video on his Twitter account Sunday calling for more anti-government protests. The statement came after he held a meeting with former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, a mediator in the stalled Unasur-backed dialogue process aimed at smoothing tensions between the government and opposition — a process that Lopez' Popular Will party boycotted.

Lopez praised the right-wing demonstrations, which have often spilled over into violence, saying the “rebellion, resistance and the protests are legitimate” against a government that is “despotic” and “tyrannical.” He also expressed "admiration" for the protesters, characterizing them as "peaceful" despite a rising death toll from incidents linked to violent acts during protests.

"There is a critical struggle, we are in a historic moment and I am sure that we will be victorious," Lopez said from Ramo Verde prison, where he met with Zapatero, in the video posted by his wife Lilian Tintori, who runs his Twitter account.

"I assumed the risk of sending this first video because I want you to know directly my position on the street (protests)."

Lopez has been in prison since 2015 for inciting violence in the deadly "guarimbas" protests, or violent street blockades, that led to the deaths of 43 people. He was sentenced to 13 years for his involvement in planning and promoting the violent blockades which injured hundreds and caused billions of dollars in damages to public buildings and infrastructure.

Lopez and his wife Tintori have been outspoken opponents of Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution launched by late President Hugo Chavez. Since her husband's imprisonment, Tintori has embarked on an international campaign to smear the government of Maduro, including meeting with figures such as U.S. President Donald Trump.

RELATED:
Venezuela Seizes Explosives from Armed Right-Wing Groups

Lopez has become one of the most iconic faces of the Venezuelan opposition, selling himself as a political prisoner despite his long and sordid history in Venezuelan politics.

Last week, a judge involved in Lopez’s case was murdered in Caracas’ El Paraiso district.

Meanwhile, head of the right-wing opposition-controlled National Assembly, Julio Borges, echoed Lopez’s called for an escalation of protests, citing the opposition's continued rejection of the Constituent Assembly, called by Maduro to promote dialogue. Insistent calls for protests, rather than backing the Constituent Assembly process, has been seen as laying bare the fact that the opposition's only proposal and objective is ousting Maduro’s government.

“The call is that we continue in absolute rebellion (against) the Constituent Assembly ... because the country unanimously rejects the communist Constituent Assembly," he stated Sunday during a press conference of the right-wing opposition coalition, Democratic Unity Table, known by its Spanish acronym MUD.

Borges said street marches will continue and that they will not allow the Constituent Assembly process to move forward.

Venezuela's top electoral official announced Sunday that the vote to elect 545 repersentatives to the national Constituent Assembly will likely take place on July 30.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Opposition-Leaders-Call-for-More-Anti-Govt-Protests-20170605-0011.html

US Begins Military Exercises off Venezuelan Coast
Published 7 June 2017

In April, Kurt Tidd, US Southern Command chief submitted a report to the senate warning that Venezuela could be a "destabilizing" element for the region.
The United States Southern Command began military exercises Tuesday with 18 other nations and about 2,500 soldiers on the island of Barbados, 670 miles from Venezuela's coast.

The military organization reported that the so-called "Tradewinds 2017" is a "multinational exercise of security and response to maritime disasters in the Caribbean," with the participation of Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana , Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, as well as military personnel from the US, Canada, France, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

According to the Commander of the U.S. Southern Command Kurt W. Tidd these military maneuvers ensure the security of the region. However, the military force has been accused of intervening and threatening governments in the region, such as Venezuela.

In April, Tidd submitted a report to the U.S. Senate warning that Venezuela could be a "destabilizing" element for the region. The official's statements have been denounced by the Venezuelan government amid other actions by the U.S. to put pressure on the South American country, including OAS attempts to apply the Democratic Charter against Venezuela, led by Secretary General Luis Almagro.


In addition, the Barack Obama administration decree declaring Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the national security of the United States," was renewed by the out-going president in January.

The Venezuelan government has repeatedly stated that the decree only seeks to justify foreign intervention.

The military maneuvers are composed of two phases. Tradewinds Phase I that is being conducted in Barbados from June 6-12; and Phase II to be held in Trinidad and Tobago, which is about 373 off the Venezuelan coast, from June 13-17.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/US-Begins-Military-Exercises-off-Venezuelan-Coast-20170607-0041.html

US Begins Military Exercises off Venezuelan Coast
Published 7 June 2017

In April, Kurt Tidd, US Southern Command chief submitted a report to the senate warning that Venezuela could be a "destabilizing" element for the region.
The United States Southern Command began military exercises Tuesday with 18 other nations and about 2,500 soldiers on the island of Barbados, 670 miles from Venezuela's coast.

The military organization reported that the so-called "Tradewinds 2017" is a "multinational exercise of security and response to maritime disasters in the Caribbean," with the participation of Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana , Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, as well as military personnel from the US, Canada, France, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

According to the Commander of the U.S. Southern Command Kurt W. Tidd these military maneuvers ensure the security of the region. However, the military force has been accused of intervening and threatening governments in the region, such as Venezuela.

In April, Tidd submitted a report to the U.S. Senate warning that Venezuela could be a "destabilizing" element for the region. The official's statements have been denounced by the Venezuelan government amid other actions by the U.S. to put pressure on the South American country, including OAS attempts to apply the Democratic Charter against Venezuela, led by Secretary General Luis Almagro.


In addition, the Barack Obama administration decree declaring Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the national security of the United States," was renewed by the out-going president in January.

The Venezuelan government has repeatedly stated that the decree only seeks to justify foreign intervention.

The military maneuvers are composed of two phases. Tradewinds Phase I that is being conducted in Barbados from June 6-12; and Phase II to be held in Trinidad and Tobago, which is about 373 off the Venezuelan coast, from June 13-17.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/US-Begins-Military-Exercises-off-Venezuelan-Coast-20170607-0041.html

Imperialist bastards. How come President Dumpster doesn't negate this Obama initiative? He loves to ax every other Obama directive, why not this one? I guess some imperialism is more imperial than others...

Imperialist bastards. How come President Dumpster doesn't negate this Obama initiative? He loves to ax every other Obama directive, why not this one? I guess some imperialism is more imperial than others...

It is oversimplification but in a word, 'Rex'.

He ain't there for his diplomatic resume. I think the 'extractive industries' are Trump's main pillar of support among the ruling class. Probably the most powerful sector after finance, which he is courting mightily. If he throws them enough goodies maybe they'll get off his ass.

mention the devil....

Route of Coup Against Venezuela Begins at ExxonMobil
By: William Serafino

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Exxon logo. | Photo: EFE

Published 8 June 2017 (3 hours 45 minutes ago)

Venezuelan journalist William Serafino links the attacks against the Maduro government to ExxonMobil oil interests.

Zamora Plan

It's April 18. The political climate is defined by a highly confrontational and warmongering tone of the Venezuelan opposition the day before a national sit-in (plantón) where, once again, violent acts were to be expected: destruction and confrontation with law enforcement.

President Nicolas Maduro delivers a speech in the evening from Miraflores Presidential Palace. Along with Minister of Defense, General in Chief Vladimir Padrino Lopez, Vice President Tareck El Aissami and National Assembly member Diosdado Cabello announce the Zamora Plan to guarantee order and security in the country.

The decision was prompted after a U.S. State Department statement was released the same evening. The text openly supported the violence generated by clashes affiliated to the opposition agenda during the "plantón," trying to intimidate key players of Venezuelan military and judicial institutions to allow these events so that they would avoid being the subject of incoming sanctions.

Among other important elements, the text pin pointed — without any evidence — the security apparatus, specifically the scientific police and the intelligence agency, of using torture and the state security forces to endorse the incursion of "collectives to repress the demonstrators."


The anti-Chavista "planton" on April 19 left four people dead in different states of the country, including a sergeant of the National Guard in San Antonio de Los Altos, Miranda state.

Who is the head of the U.S. Department of State?

The current U.S. secretary of state — the foreign policy chief — is Rex Tillerson, a former general manager at ExxonMobil. Tillerson was the top manager of the company when former President Hugo Chavez made the decision to nationalize the Orinoco Oil Belt where the U.S. corporation had major projects.

Under Tillerson's command, the U.S. company decided not to renegotiate its oil projects like the one belonging to Cerro Negro in Monagas with state-owned PDVSA, according to the new directives after nationalization. ExxonMobil sued PDVSA at the ICSID — the World Bank court to resolve investment disputes — seeking compensation in the amount of US$20 billion back in 2007.

After nearly a decade-long legal battle, reviews and appeals to various verdicts, on March 10, 2017, the ICSID decided that the lawsuit of ExxonMobil contained irregularities and freed PDVSA of paying any damages. The northern oil company suffered perhaps the biggest legal defeat of its history with this ruling in favor of the Venezuelan state.

Exxon Brand Politicians

ExxonMobil — as well as any other large international company from the United States — contracts politicians to exert influence within the structure of U.S. government according to their interests. So-called lobbying is legal in that country, and companies seeking to modify or pass laws for their benefit (tax exemption, removal of regulations, federal government subsidies, etc.) pay large sums of money to politicians (a large quantity of Republicans in the case of ExxonMobil) and lobby firms.

According to Open Secrets, in the 2016 cycle, the oil company invested financial resources to endorse more than a dozen politicians for these purposes. These included Donald Trump (current U.S. president, who appointed Rex Tillerson as secretary of state) with US$25,461, Marco Rubio with US$17,701 and Ed Royce with US$7,500.

Senator Marco Rubio from Florida and California Representative Ed Royce have not only introduced sanctions against Venezuela a key point in their legislative agenda, they have also met — on several occasions — with Venezuelan opposition leaders — such as Luis Florido, Lilian Tintori, Freddy Guevara, among others — to show them political support and diplomatic endorsement to the overthrowing agenda they lead on the ground.

Law S.3117: Financial support to Venezuelan opposition

According to Open Secrets, in 2016 ExxonMobil was one of the companies that paid (the website does not specify the amount) to lobby for the law S.3117 (Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs of the Law of Allocations of 2017), which establishes the funds and political objectives of the operations of the Department of State in key countries for the United States.

Money leaked to agencies such as the NED or USAID are based on that law. On May 3, 2017, under the leadership of Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan (another politician financed by ExxonMobil in 2016 with US$14,025), the law was sanctioned.

According to the official page of the Congress of the USA, the sponsor of this bill was South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who had the duty of lobbying for its execution according to the guidelines of its financiers.


The Senate report on the law highlights the importance of the U.S. State Department funding Venezuelan opposition groups (under the umbrella of "civil society" NGOs) with US$5,500,000 and other additional funds to bring political and economic reforms in Venezuela. At the same time, it stresses the importance that "regional organizations play in promoting reforms in Venezuela, in particular, the Organization of American States," in addition to increasing the support of the Energy Security Initiative in the Caribbean to influence Negatively in the political and oil alliances of our country with the Caribbean.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson commented on April 19: "We are closely watching what happens in that country and working with others, especially through the OAS, to communicate our concerns to them," surely referring to Uruguayan Luis Almagro as liaison and key operator of the American strategy for pressure within the organization.

The Caribbean bloc has played a key role in preventing U.S. allies from that organization definitively consolidate the international isolation of Venezuela.

But the attack on Venezuela reveals a geopolitical key: The U.S. urgently need to overthrow Petrocaribe not only to break the Venezuela's international alliances but to transform the Caribbean into a powerful port to import liquefied U.S. gas (ExxonMobil is one of the leading exporters), leading to the continent's energy and geopolitical domination. The coup against Venezuela is a maneuver to ensure the continent as an area of exclusive influence on the penetration of Russian and Chinese capital and investment.

Graham, during Juan Manuel Santos' official visit to the White House in May, publicly offered war weapons to Colombia both to dissuade Venezuela and to prepare the neighboring country for an eventual "humanitarian emergency" or armed conflict.

Interest in Venezuelan Oil

As discussed previously, ExxonMobil's oil reserves have suffered large reductions as a result of sanctions against Russia and the aging of strategic wells in the Middle East, a reality that affects its market capitalization and its dominance over the oil market.

This urgency leads ExxonMobil to seek extralegal procedures to conquer the huge reserves of oil and gas located in the Essequibo using the Guyanese government, an area claimed by Venezuela as part of its territorial sovereignty at the U.N.


But without a doubt, the incessant search for oil and gas in that territory expresses the superior objective of re-colonizing the Orinoco Oil Belt, in the format of "oil opening" that dominated Venezuela during the last stage of the 20th century. Conquering and securing the world's largest oil reserves as a source of full supply, in a context of aggressive competition between oil companies and their geopolitical interests, is an increasingly urgent need the U.S. oil company wants to satisfy.

The crystallization of regime change is needed. Last month, sn important group of experts from the think tank Council of Foreign Relations elaborated a set of recommendations to the U.S. government within the framework of this purpose.

In short, the viable options for a change of government in Venezuela proposed by the CFR (which has shaped U.S. foreign policy since the beginning of the 20th century) are to increase sanctions against key Chavista leaders, to push diplomatically from the OAS using neighboring countries such as Colombia and Brazil, and to demand that China and Russia withdraw their support of the Venezuelan government to intensify isolation.

The Trump Administration has fulfilled the vast majority of the CFR proposals as political routes to support the coup d'état agenda in Venezuela. The sanctions against the Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami, the State Department's pressures from the OAS and the latest sanctions against the Supreme Court are a sign of this commitment, or at least that the CFR does indeed influence certain decisions of the White House. The CFR is also funded by ExxonMobil.

Threat of sanctions against PDVSA

On Sunday, June 4, Reuters leaked comments from alleged White House officials regarding sanctions being assessed against the national oil sector.

According to Reuters, collaborators of President Donald Trump have been asked to present recommendations to sanction the Venezuelan oil sector "if necessary."

Given that 95 percent of Venezuela's foreign exchange earnings come from PDVSA, vital resources for the payment of foreign debt and imports of food and medicines, a possible oil embargo or, in its absence, sanctions that prevent oil exports to the U.S. and investment of foreign companies (threatened with suspension of licenses to operate in U.S. territory), would be a strong blow to the economic recovery plan of the Venezuelan government and the population at large by paralyzing an important income source.


A measure that could be politically costly to the U.S. (striving to convince the public that all efforts are for the well-being of the Venezuelan population) and a reversal of its effects in practice in the medium term, considering most likely oil sales to China or India would increase significantly, at the moment 60 percent of PDVSA's export destinations.

It is not by chance that these threats are leaked when the Venezuelan opposition's capacity for mobilization is showing signs of burning out, street violence hasn't been capitalized into political victories inside the country or before the international community. If this cycle of political recession increases, ExxonMobil would be pressured to take action on its own. After all, they are the owners of the circus and have invested resources that they do not intend to waste.

Closing (in progress)

According to a report by The Daily Beast in early April, top executives of ExxonMobil and Shell met in Washington in the hope that Nicolas Maduro would step down to start privatization projects of the world's largest oil reserves. It is possible that Reuter's leak has relation to these meetings and the decisions that would have been taken there.

The coup d'etat against Venezuela was not decided by the Venezuelan opposition but by the largest oil company on the planet; the framework of action of someone like Freddy Guevara or Julio Borges is limited to their condition of subordinates. If intervention by delegation fails, direct intervention (on an economic and financial scale) using positions of power and spheres of influence in the U.S. government, are even less visible.

The oil company, which truly executes the bulk of the maneuvers, has the U.S. secretary of state, a portfolio of right-wing representatives and senators — including Donald Trump — with influence in Congress and lobbying firms to impose its political and economic interests as a U.S. foreign policy against Venezuela.

In Venezuela, not only political power is disputed, but the organization of a new political, financial and energy geography on a continental and planetary scale, within highly belligerant political environment. The fall of Venezuela, for ExxonMobil, is fundamental for that disputed center of geopolitical gravity to distance itself from Russia and China, taking control in a region with the greatest natural and energetic resources of the planet.

Determining who the adversary is is key to understanding what we are currently facing.

This article was orignally published in Mision Verdad. William Serafino is a Venezuelan journalist.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Route-of-Coup-Against-Venezuela-Begins-at-ExxonMobil--20170607-0040.html

Four videos at link.

Abby Martin: World Ignores Opposition Violence at Venezuela Protests

Empire Files host Abby Martin just returned from Venezuela where she saw first hand how violent opposition protesters attempt to intimidate reporters and thereby give a false impression of what is happening


http://youtu.be/r8w7CKp1FM0


transcript
Abby Martin: World Ignores Opposition Violence at Venezuela ProtestsSharmini Peries: It's The Real News Network.

I'm Sharmini Peries, coming to you from Baltimore. Violent protests between opposition demonstrators and police forces in Venezuela have been going on for over two months now with an average of almost one dead per day. Most of the international press portrays it as being the result of police state repression. However, a detailed breakdown from the Attorney General's Office, which has recently been increasingly at odds with the government of President Maduro, shows that of the 73 people that died, 11 were the responsibility of state security forces, 21 of them has been attributed to the opposition, 13 due to looting, and two due to government civilian protests, and 26 are still under investigation. One of the victims of the protests was Orlando Figuera, who was burned alive last month when opposition demonstrators accused him of being a thief or a Chavista. He died from his wounds last Monday. This is what his mother had to say.
Speaker 2: [Spanish 00:01:22]

Sharmini Peries: Obviously, his mother considers this the responsibility of the leadership of the opposition. Joining us to discuss the latest developments in Venezuela is Abby Martin. Abby is the host of the teleSUR English documentary program Empire Files that Abby and Mike Prysner independently produce, and they recently returned from a trip to Venezuela, and they were caught up in the midst of opposition demonstrations. Thank you for joining me, Abby.

Abby Martin: Thanks so much, Sharmini. It's great to be on.

Sharmini Peries: So Abby, you went to Venezuela to ... I spoke to you before you left, and you were going there on an inquiry to figure out what was going on. You found yourself in the midst of opposition demonstrations. Describe how you got there, why you were there, and what happened.

Abby Martin: Sure. My partner, Mike Prysner, and I wanted to go to Venezuela, of course, with a country that's been in the crosshairs of the U.S. empire for the last decade, plus, obviously, since the Bolivarian Revolution. It's even been deemed the greatest threat to the Western Hemisphere, of course, amidst all of these threats, and of course, regime change calls from Trump himself, and of course, this bill from Marco Rubio offering to give $10 million to the opposition, which would turn into exponentially more on the black market there. Of course, we wanted to go and check out what was going on. We actually had planned the trip before all the unrest popped off, so we were kind of scared ... I had seen all this footage of the crackdowns, what I thought was really harsh repression based on the footage and news that I was seeing from here, so I was going with a completely open mind.
I was going there as an independent, fiercely independent, investigative journalist with the show, as you said, produced completely independently from teleSUR, to tell exactly the reality that I was seeing, and I even told teleSUR management that I was going to report exactly what the truth was that I uncovered. So when we went there, I was very surprised to see that the reality was vastly different than what we are being told, Sharmini. I mean, yes, you hear all these horrific stories, right, from on the ground, amidst these protests, and you keep hearing 60 dead, Maduro kills 60 protestors, Maduro's forces. And what you realize when you get there is, the country is pretty much split in two.
It's heavily divided between Chavistas and the opposition, and of course, amidst such economic, such a horrible economic crisis, people are going to have really strong opinions, but there are certainly huge marches on the ground on both sides. Tens of thousands of people marching for the government, for the opposition, and these are peaceful marches, jubilant atmosphere. Things are very calm, and then what you realize is, when you see these violent statistics and casualties and the death toll that's rising, and the harsh quote unquote "repression" from government forces, it's not happening at these marches. It's happening at something called guarimbas. It's a sustained blockade that a small contingent of protestors create to provoke a response from government officials, so we actually followed one of these guarimbas one night. We were almost attacked just simply for being there.
We got accosted by a hyped-up group of protestors who were saying, "What are you ... Who are you with? Who are you with?" Demanding to see our press credentials, and I was scared for my life, knowing that if we admitted that we were from teleSUR, we could have gotten lynched, burned alive, beaten to death by the mobs that you see happening all too often, so we, of course, said that we were independent journalists, that we were from America, and then they immediately said, "Okay, great. We can use you, essentially, for propaganda." They said, "Do not film anything that we do. Just film what the government does to us," Sharmini. So we saw that night what these people do on the quote unquote "front lines" at these protests. I mean, they pulled out giant 16-wheeler trucks. They pulled people out of the trucks, moved the trucks onto the highway to block entrances and exits.
They were pulling huge piles of trash and burning them, pouring gasoline on the front entrances and exits of these highway overpasses, and erupting in flames, and so trucks and cars were trying to frantically get out of the way, and this is how a lot of people have died. This death toll that you see being kind of parroted, regurgitated mindlessly by MSM does not account for the actual breakdown that you mentioned in the intro, which is the vast majority has been caused by either indirect or direct violence by the opposition.

Sharmini Peries: In what form did you see these threats launch against you about lynching, about attacking you? Is that Twitter attacks, or did you actually hear it on the ground?

Abby Martin: Well, yeah, good question, Sharmini. This has been translated, actually, into real-life actions now. It started off on Twitter, and a lot of people can say, "Oh, just turn off your Twitter." It's not as easy as that when you have hundreds of death threats coming and you have to take it seriously, especially when these people do act on it there, and there are teleSUR journalists risking their lives to still be on the ground at these protests, and now have a target on their back. It started off on Twitter, of course, Instagram, Facebook, which are all manageable until it translates into real life.
And this one woman, Angie Perez, a quote unquote Emmy award-winning journalist from Miami, was tweeting out coordinates where Mike was going to be speaking in LA when we got back, and about 20 right-wing anti-communists came out with giant signs saying that Mike and I were spies for the dictatorship, and narcotraffickers, and ... So you see this actually being translated into real life, where now we're getting harassed in person by the same people who are inciting people to lynch us, so we have to have security now. I'm contemplating legal action against this woman, at least, in the U.S., who's doing this. I mean, it's just completely insane that these people can perpetuate such an audaciously fake myth, knowing that our lives are on the line and that other journalists' lives are on the line instead of actually just denouncing the violence, which would be a lot easier.

Sharmini Peries: Abby, one thing I've noticed when it comes to Venezuela is that all of these international watchdogs, like Human Rights Watch, the Organization of American States, particularly their Committee on Human Rights, and freedom of expression, and so on, as well as so many other mainstream organizations that, if this was happening anywhere in the world, they would be on it. And when it comes to Venezuela, very little is reported from these organizations. I'm wondering what your thoughts are and what's not getting reported here.

Abby Martin: Yeah, and to give some context to this, I mean, to really explain the violence that the opposition is carrying out and the complete absence of commentary on this violence from these watchdogs, Sharmini, I mean, we're talking about these protestors that have attacked hospitals, burned down government buildings. They burned down the Housing Ministry, which has provided 1.6 million homes for poor people over the last decade. Political assassinations. I mean, directly assassinating Chavistas, attacking communes. We visited one building that was, all the windows were broken. It was just simply an art commune that gave out free dance lessons and music lessons to local kids. I mean, it's kind of sick when you see on the front lines what is being attacked and why, what is the political motivation behind these lynch mobs. Before I get into the story that happened to us and what's going on to journalists, I mean, you mentioned that young man, Orlando Figuera, that was burned alive.
This is the third Afro-Venezuelan who has been lynched, attacked by a mob during these protests, black, and the clip with his family being interviewed, and even him before he tragically died from his severe burns. He said that they said, "Hey, black guy, are you a Chavista?" And they threw a Molotov cocktail on him. I mean, they have pulled bus drivers out of the buses and torched the buses. They, throwing explosives at people, so it is just quite astounding not only is that happening, but then when you look at what happens to journalists there. Before we went, of course, we heard even Reuters journalists had been attacked by these people, but we know how dangerous it is to be a state-run journalist there, Sharmini, which is why we didn't say that we were openly with teleSUR.
But we didn't know how bad it was until after we were there on the ground reporting, because once the photos came out that we were there and started circulating and tying us back to teleSUR, then things got really, really bad. A complete fake propaganda campaign, we basically became the center of a fake news viral campaign in Venezuela started and fomented by major opposition leaders, and the media, major academics there, that were propagating a theory that Mike and I were actually spies infiltrating the protest to collect intelligence for the GNB, the Venezuelan intelligence services, based on absolutely nothing, based on me doing my job as a journalist going there and actually trying to get the truth, to cover all sides. I mean, I put my life on the line. We all put our lives on the line to get this story from these people creating these barricades, and the peaceful marches on all sides, average Venezuelan from the streets.
So it was so shocking and disheartening to see this campaign being subjected against us simply because we brought up opposition violence. Here we are looking at a country that kind of opines about how all the press is controlled by the state, how the government has a lockdown on all press, how you can't be safe as a journalist reporting on the street, that there's a total police state there. It was the complete opposite. I mean, I had no problems filming anything. The clear assault on the press is from the opposition who doesn't want you to report the truth. I mean, they put up free press as this beacon, but they don't want you to report anything that contradicts their narrative, even when it's completely proven by the Attorney General herself, who was even at odds with Maduro, as you mentioned. So when we dare to bring up the fact that the opposition was responsible for half the deaths, because half of the story's been omitted by the Western media and these human rights watch organizations, we became subjected to a lynch mob.
Not only was this fake news perpetrated around about us, but it incited hundreds of death threats, actual lynch threats. I've never been subjected to actual lynch threats before, and it was just all the same thing. "Lynch them. Lynch them. Burn them. Throw Molotov cocktails on them. We know what to do to infiltrators. Do to them what we've done to the other infiltrators," saying like, "Burn them alive." I mean, basically, if we were still there, Sharmini, we would have a target on our back, and we've seen that play out in the wake of us leaving, where a teleSUR journalist actually just got attacked with Molotov cocktails, nails, and shot in the back by opposition protestors when she was clearly marked press and standing with cameramen. This is not the first time journalists have been attacked. Someone else from Globovisión was doused with gasoline and luckily escaped before they were burned alive.
If this was happening to journalists in any other part of the world, there would be a huge outcry from international watchdogs, but unfortunately, because it's Venezuela, and because the U.S. empire wants regime change there, this is completely obfuscated, and in fact, these people are painted as peaceful, democracy-loving freedom fighters, and it makes me sick, because I see the same thing played out in Ukraine, Syria, time and again, and I was there. We risked our lives and were getting a lynch mob incited against us, and there's not a peep from these people. Instead, you see Ken Roth from Human Rights Watch actually calling for a violent coup and has the audacity to just completely marginalize the real situation, Sharmini.

Sharmini Peries: All right, Abby. I know you just got back, and you're still recovering from that experience. I thank you so much for joining us just after your return, and as the situation unfolds and you are able to reflect on what happened, we would love to have you back to continue to report this very important story.

Abby Martin: Thanks so much, Sharmini. Real News is definitely the best place to get your news on the front lines of this story. Thanks for your coverage.
Sharmini Peries: And thank you for joining us here on The Real News Network.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=19279

Venezuelan Supreme Court Torched as Jailed Opposition Leader Urges Coup
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By LUCAS KOERNER

Caracas, June 13, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela’s Housing Ministry and Supreme Court executive office were attacked Monday as jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez called on the country’s armed forces to “rebel” against the Maduro government.

Opposition leaders rallied their supporters to once again take to the streets in nationwide marches on Supreme Court offices, which ended in renewed violence.

The focus of the unrest was the wealthy eastern Caracas municipality of Chacao, where over 150 masked militants besieged Venezuela’s Housing Ministry with Molotov cocktails and blunt objects.


http://youtu.be/5csXdIwvZ7U

Opposition supporters destroyed the front gate and reportedly caused damage to the public attention offices in the first two levels of the building, leading the ministry’s employees to flee to higher floors. Ultimately 973 workers were evacuated from the building by firefighters, including 45 children from the ministry's nursery. Twenty-five children received medical attention, Justice Minister Nestor Reverol has indicated.


http://youtu.be/5csXdIwvZ7U
Among the 973 people evacuated from the Housing Ministry were 45 children. (Ministerio de Vivienda)

According to Minister Manuel Quevedo, the attack is the 15th instance of opposition violence against Housing Ministry facilities nationwide, which have been frequently targeted for their role in building 1.6 million affordable homes for Venezuela’s poor.

The Supreme Court’s Executive Magistracy (DEM) in Chacao was also attacked for the fourth time in 70 days on Monday, leading to the evacuation of the office's 2500 workers.

Hundreds of opposition supporters surrounded the building, which they proceeded to set on fire with Molotovs and homemade explosive devices in an act photographed by international journalists. Protesters broke into the high court office and carried out pieces of furniture that they subsequently burnt in the streets.

The demonstrators also looted a nearby bank, leaving the entire first floor in shambles and carrying off even the photocopy machines.

Venezuelan Supreme Court President Maikel Moreno responded to the incident with the announcement that the DEM would be moved to another location on the grounds that the opposition-held municipality of Chacao is a “lawless territory”.

Chacao Mayor Ramon Muchacho repudiated the violence against the DEM while insinuating that the attack may have been carried out by "government infiltrators", in spite of the widely circulated video footage which suggests otherwise. Muchacho did not offer evidence to bolster his assertion, nor acknowledge the attack on the Housing Ministry whose evacuation he attributed to "smoke coming from the DEM and tear gas".

Authorities have arrested 24 suspects in connection to the violent incidents, which are under investigation by the Public Prosecutor's office.

Meanwhile in Vargas state, the day’s unrest claimed the life of Socrates Salgado (49), who died under uncertain circumstances in the costal city of La Guaira. Opposition legislators have blamed the death on tear gas allegedly fired by the National Guard, but the account is unconfirmed. A state prosecutor has been dispatched to investigate the incident.

The death brings the total number of those killed in 10 weeks of opposition protests to 76, including at least 11 people dead at the hands of authorities and 21 deaths attributable to opposition political violence.

Elsewhere in Vargas, anti-government militants burnt the headquarters of the Guaicamacuto Socialist Commune in addition to ransacking and looting the Macuto popular cafeteria.

Monday’s violence comes as jailed Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez released a new video appealing to the nation’s armed forces (FANB) to rise up against their commander-in-chief.

“To the military personnel in the streets, I want to send a very clear, sober message framed by our constitution: you also have a right and duty to rebel,” he implored.

Lopez was sentenced to nearly fourteen years imprisonment in 2015 for his role in leading the previous year’s violent opposition protests demanding the ouster of the elected government, which resulted in 43 dead and nearly a thousand injured.

Lopez’s statement is the latest in a series of opposition calls to mutiny in the FANB. This past April, National Assembly President Julio Borges issued a more subtle appeal to the military’s rank-and-file to disobey orders from their superiors.

Lopez, Borges, and a host of other leading opposition figures were active participants in the US-backed 2002 coup that temporarily ousted then President Hugo Chavez for 47 hours.

PUBLISHED ON JUN 13TH 2017 AT 11.16AM

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13180

Monday’s violence comes as jailed Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez released a new video appealing to the nation’s armed forces (FANB) to rise up against their commander-in-chief.

“To the military personnel in the streets, I want to send a very clear, sober message framed by our constitution: you also have a right and duty to rebel,” he implored.

Maduro must act or the army will. If Maduro acts, Venezuela will become the South American 'Syria'. I have no doubt the US would intervene directly - then what would Maduro do? He is between a rock and a hard place. How strong is the Venezuelan people? This is a horror show...

Maduro must act or the army will. If Maduro acts, Venezuela will become the South American 'Syria'. I have no doubt the US would intervene directly - then what would Maduro do? He is between a rock and a hard place. How strong is the Venezuelan people? This is a horror show...

If the people come out strongly the army rank & file will be with them. The exceptions will be the usual elite formations, marines, paratroopers... better paid and led by the nastiest reactionaries the booj can produce. Gotta watch the air force too. I got no idea how strong Chavez's relations with the military were or how that carried over to Madero, perhaps there's something encouraging there. `

Time to deploy that people's militia, however un-trained and indifferently armed, numbers and perception are everything.

Delcy Rodríguez affirms withdrawal from Venezuela of the OAS and rejects interference

http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1497912475304/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/06/19/delcy_venezuela.jpg_1718483347.jpg
"We do not need any kind of intervention or tutelage to solve our problems," said the diplomat. | Photo: Reuters

Published 19 June 2017

Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez asserted that Venezuela will not endorse any document issued at the OAS session in Mexico.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said Monday that her country has withdrawn from the Organization of American States (OAS) and will not return as long as it is a free and independent country. He also rejected that the institution continue its intervention agency, promoted by Secretary General Luis Almagro.

"On April 27, President Maduro formalized the denunciation to the letter of this organization, Venezuela withdrew from the OAS, which we will not return to as long as we are a free, independent country," he said.

Rodriguez recalled that the US Government Recognized that the OAS was the instrument to intervene in Venezuela, with the support of a group of right-wing governments in the region.

The Venezuelan Foreign Minister called on OAS countries to recognize the population of Venezuelans who are not participating in the violent protests of the opposition, but are in favor of working for the country.

"I ask you to also look at the other Venezuela, there is a majority Venezuela that is also not opposed, that they also think in Venezuela that they want to work and excel," he said.

In addition, the chancellor indicated that the young people who participate in the violence are also victims of the opposition leadership, who refuses to dialogue and democratic and electoral mechanisms, such as the National Constituent Assembly, which seeks the reconciliation of Venezuelans and overcome the situation Economic crisis that crosses the country.

"A constituent called to overcome the oil rentier model, a Constituent to solve our problems, we do not need any intervention or tutelage to solve our problems," he said.

Rodríguez said that Luis Almagro, from the OAS, called for the opposition not to sit down and dialogue, and to take the road of violence, which left more than 70 people dead throughout the country, more than 1,000 injured and Public and private property.

Before retiring from the session of the OAS, held in Mexico, the chancellor reiterated that regardless of the outcome or document issued by the organization, Venezuela will not endorse it and called once again the respect of the member states to institutional and foundational standards.

From June 19 to 21, the XLVII General Assembly of the OAS is held in Cancun, Mexico, which on this occasion addresses the political situation in Venezuela.

http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Delcy-Rodriguez-afirma-retiro-de-Venezuela-de-la-OEA-y-rechaza-injerencia-20170619-0042.html

Google Translator

screen shots at link

Where is Venezuela going?

Jorge Martin 23 June 2017

http://www.marxist.com/images/cache/011c5946a1e900599a862d4ed756b174_w600_h317.jpg
Photo: Miquel Garcia esranxer@gmail.com

It is eighty-five days since the beginning of the current right-wing offensive backed by imperialism against the Venezuelan government of President Maduro, which has left 85 people dead. So far the reactionary opposition has not achieved any of its aims. As its ability to gather large numbers of people in the streets has diminished, rioting has become increasingly more violent and deadly. The government has called Constituent Assembly elections on July 30, which will be a major test of its level of popular support. The opposition has declared it is in “disobedience” and has vowed to prevent the election from taking place. What comes next?

The current assault of the Venezuelan opposition (representing the interests of the oligarchy and backed by imperialism) had one clear aim: the overthrow of the democratically elected government of president Maduro, by any means necessary. They used a combination of mass demonstrations in the streets with small “vanguard” groups of well equipped very violent rioters. International imperialist pressure, particularly through the agency of OAS general secretary, General Almagro, was to be part of this strategy. In order to achieve their aims, they hoped to provoke two things: 1) a popular uprising in the working class and poor areas, the traditional Chavista strongholds, 2) a rupture in the state institutions and particularly within the Armed Forces leading to a military coup which would remove Maduro.

Despite all their attempts they have had very limited success. Mass street demonstrations have tended to dwindle, as their supporters became tired and demoralised by their lack of progress. In the international arena all their attempts to get resolutions passed against Venezuela (at the OAS and the United Nations) have been thwarted. With very few exceptions there has been no significant rioting or protests in any working class or poor barrios (neighbourhoods), and anyone who says the opposite is lying. There is a deep mistrust and a healthy class hatred in the barrios towards the opposition and its leaders, who the workers and poor correctly regard as representing the capitalists, landlords and bankers and as agents of imperialism. Finally, they have not provoked any public fissure within the Armed Forces, though they have managed to pull the State Prosecutor into publicly criticising the government and taking some legal initiatives to block its actions.

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The level of violence the opposition has deployed in this guarimba (rioting) is higher than anything we have seen before. To the tactics used in 2014 (barricades, steel wire across streets to decapitate motorbike riders, arson attacks against public transport units and official buildings, etc.) we have to add the use of homemade explosive devices and rocket launchers, the use of sniper fire from residential buildings against civilians and police forces, attacks on military installations, etc. In certain parts of the country (San Antonio de los Altos, Miranda; Socopó, Barinas amongst others), well organised violent rioters, in connivance with the police forces of right-wing municipalities and state governorships, managed to get control of whole areas of urban centres for a period of time, where they destroyed all public buildings, imposed a shutdown of all commercial establishments and basically replaced the authority of the state. In some instances it is clear that paramilitary and criminal elements have been involved.

In these 85 days they have also generated a lynch mob mentality against Chavistas. The case of Orlando Figuera, beaten, stabbed and then torched by thuggish opposition protesters in Altamira, Caracas, is the most well known example. Figuera died in hospital from the wounds inflicted by this reactionary lynch mob. His “crime”? Some say he was identified as a “Chavista infiltrator”. Others have tried to justify his killing by saying “he was a thief”. In the minds of the enraged middle class which is the mass basis of the opposition, these two things are the same: Chavistas are poor, dark skinned and therefore, in their minds, criminals. This mood also led to the killing of a retired National Guard in Cabudare, Lara and several cases of assault and attempted lynchings (a businessman who was mistaken for a Chavista official in a shopping centre in the east of Caracas, an opposition journalist “who was wearing a red shirt”!).

Clearly, the opposition wanted to provoke a “Ukrainian Maidan scenario”, something they openly admitted: violent insurrectionary protests in the streets leading to the overthrow of the “regime”. So far they have failed.

Oppose the counter-revolutionary offensive
We must state this clearly: all revolutionary Marxists, all democrats for that matter, must oppose this reactionary onslaught. If the opposition were to come to power, they would pursue a vicious policy of making the workers and poor pay for the economic crisis. They would do that by massively cutting public spending in order to eliminate the budget deficit (running at something like 15% of GDP), they would implement mass layoffs of public sector workers, destroy the social programs of the Bolivarian revolution (health care, education, pensions, benefits, etc.), they would privatise wholly or partially the state owned oil company PDVSA, they would destroy labour rights currently enshrined in law, they would privatise social housing (the 1.6 million homes built and delivered by Mision Vivienda), they would privatise state-owned companies and return expropriated factories and landed estates to their former owners, etc. As for democracy, they would carry out a political purge of all state institutions and an assault on the workers, peasants and the poor and their organisations (trade unions, communal councils, revolutionary collectives, etc.). There is not a gram of progressive content in the Venezuelan opposition, which is led by the same people who carried out the coup in 2002.

We cannot take a neutral position in this conflict. A handful of former Chavista officials have positioned themselves as “outside of the polarisation”, attempting to create a “third pole”. And “Marea Socialista” (Socialist Tide) has given them a political cover. These “de-polarised” people, as they call themselves, represent the impotent cry of the liberals who pretend to stand for the sacred principles of democracy, when what we are witnessing is an open struggle between the classes. By formally refusing to take sides, they in fact are pulled into the camp of the opposition, serving as a trampoline for people moving from Chavismo to open reaction. Their impotence is shown by their own actions: press conferences and statements, with the participation of these so-called “Chavista critics” side by side with businessmen and elected officials of parties which belong to the opposition MUD. They claim to represent a majority of the Venezuelan population which rejects both the government and the opposition, but all they can muster in their public rallies is less than a dozen people.

Our position is clear: we are implacably opposed to the reactionary offensive of the opposition as it represents a mortal threat to the Venezuelan workers and poor as well as to the gains of the Bolivarian revolution.

The crucial question is, how can this insurrectionary assault be defeated? So far the government’s tactics have been three pronged: use of the national guard and disbanding opposition rioters, mass demonstrations as a show of popular support for the government and skillful countering of imperialist trickery at the OAS and UN. These have been combined with appeals for dialogue and negotiation to the opposition and the capitalists, including in relation to the convening of the national assembly.

This is clearly insufficient on two accounts. One, it does not involve the population directly in the defence of the revolution by revolutionary means, but relies solely on the state apparatus. Two, it does nothing to address the fundamental problem of the collapse in support for the government, which flows from the economic crisis and the subsequent crisis of supply of basic products, aggravated by the economic sabotage of the capitalist class.

Revolutionary rank and file initiative

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At the same time there have been initiatives taken by the Chavista left to organise self-defence and revolutionary actions to counter the reactionary campaign. In Guasdalito, Apure, a stronghold of the Bolivar Zamora Revolutionary Current (CRBZ), they have set up the Hugo Chavez Popular Defence Brigades (BPD-HC). These Brigades are based in the Communes and involve the Bolivarian Militias. Their task is the defence of public transportation and everything related to the distribution of food. Similarly, in Socopó, Barinas, revolutionary organisations have set up the Hugo Chavez Integral Defence Front (FDI-HC) with the aim of defending local revolutionary leaders and public buildings and to prevent the insurrectionary activity of the reactionary forces which in Socopó reached its highest degree of intensity in April and May. The protection of local revolutionary activists has become a necessity, as reactionary elements during the two right-wing insurrections locally had lists of known local leaders to be eliminated.

Socopó, in Barinas, has been one of the centres of the low intensity civil war which has been going on in the Venezuelan countryside. The two reactionary uprisings on April 19-20 and May 22-24 were led, organised and financed by local landowners and capitalists. For instance, a well known local latifundista provided the rioters with a JCB machine they used to launch an assault on the local police station and other official buildings. The local peasant organisations have now decided to occupy a landed estate belonging to this latifundista.

This story sums up in a nutshell what the current struggle is about, but also the limitations and counterproductive character of the government and the state bureaucracy in combatting it. The local landowner had been given a “productive land” qualification by the National Land Institute in charge of agrarian reform (INTI) to allow him to stave off peasant attempts to occupy it. This reveals the corruption of the state apparatus and the connivance of the bureaucracy at all levels with capitalist businesses and latifundistas. At the same time, the first response to this land occupation has been to send the army to the estate.

In many other rural areas similar defence organisations have emerged. On June 19, a local peasant revolutionary leader, Francisco Aguirre, was killed in Tinaco, Cojedes, while he was on guard duty at a local landed estate which was expropriated by Chavez in 2010 and handed over to peasant communes.



This is the only way to fight counter-revolution: with revolutionary measures, expropriation of the properties of the coup plotters and by giving power to the workers and peasants. It is precisely the policy of half-measures, concessions and conciliation, together with bureaucracy and corruption, which have led to the current situation. The problem is that, so far, these expressions of revolutionary struggle remain largely isolated and have taken place mainly in rural areas amongst peasants and not in the factories and amongst the working class.

The Constituent Assembly
The decision of President Maduro to convene a Constituent Assembly was immediately rejected by the opposition leaders, but was initially met with enthusiasm amongst the Chavista left and the revolutionary rank and file. It was seen as an opportunity to get the voice of the revolutionary rank and file workers and peasants heard. The announcement that Constituent elections would not take place on the basis of party lists was met with relief due to the hated practice of the PSUV bureaucracy at all levels of appointing candidates without any reference to the rank and file members. In a short space of time a number of Chavista left lists and coalitions were set up, which expressed this desire to push the revolution forward in the struggle against reaction.

One of these is the People's Constituent Platform, composed of neighbourhood organisations, revolutionary media outlets, tenants’ councils, etc., mainly from Caracas, which claims to represent “rank and file Chavismo, those who have to queue up and use public transport”. It also argues for a “people’s revolutionary point of reference to overcome the scourges of a bourgeois government system such as: corruption, adaptation, reformism and bureaucracy”.

The Fuerza Patriotica Alexis Vive has also launched its own candidates to the Constituent Assembly in a broad alliance with other revolutionary organisations. Alexis Vive has a presence in Caracas in the 23 de Enero neighbourhood, but has also been expanding nationally, building a strong presence in places like Tocuyo, Lara. They want to “give a voice in the National Assembly to those from below, critical minded Chavistas, the left wing, those who struggle” in order to build a “new revolutionary leadership” and to “cleanse our own movement if need be”.

Also in Merida, a series of revolutionary organisations have put together a “Manifesto of those from below” which recognises “the failure of capitalism” and “the need to smash the bourgeois state”.

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The programs advanced by these different currents all reflect a deep seated hatred of the bureaucracy and reformism and a desire to move forward, to take power. They all also share a common weakness in their economic program. Although they contain general anti-capitalist phrases, there isn’t a clear understanding of the need to expropriate the means of production under workers’ control and therefore a lack of clarity about the leading role which the working class has to play.

These different initiatives were accompanied by large meetings in neighbourhoods and workplaces right at the beginning of the campaign. However, slowly but surely, the bureaucratic machinery of the PSUV has started to impose itself. Local mayors, regional governors, etc., have used their control of the apparatus to impose their candidates. The short period of time allowed to collect the signatures required to stand has made it very difficult for anyone outside the apparatus to actually become a candidate. The mood has started to turn, and many now fear that the Constituent Assembly (CA) will be completely dominated by the bureaucracy.

This is a very serious situation, as the only way to get a significant turn out for the election is if the revolutionary masses feel that they have a voice of their own, that the Assembly can be used to impose their will. If the bureaucracy and the reformists have the upper hand, that will be a recipe for disaster. A low turnout in the elections would deal a serious blow to the legitimacy of the government and might even prepare a defeat in the referendum which will have to ratify any decisions of the CA, if the opposition were to decide to participate in it.

This is the crucial issue. The PSUV was defeated in the December 2015 National Assembly elections, when it lost nearly 2 million votes. That was already a protest vote against bureaucracy, corruption, reformism and the impact of the economic crisis. Most of those votes did not go to the opposition which barely increased its vote, but to abstention. The Bolivarian revolution cannot recover its support unless it addresses head on the twin problems of the economy and bureaucracy (in the state and in its own organisations).

Hugo Chavez in his last speeches made two key points: 1) we still have a capitalist economy and we need to move towards socialism, 2) we need to destroy the old bourgeois state and replace it with a communal state. For all his shortcomings, Chavez was responding to the pressure of the revolutionary people and the assault of reaction and in a more or less clear way groping in the right direction.

Economic crisis
No one denies there is a very serious economic crisis in Venezuela and that this has played a very important role in the fall of support for the Bolivarian movement. What are its causes and how can it be solved?

What triggered the crisis was clearly the collapse in the price of oil, which provides most of the government’s hard currency income. This in turn reduced the ability of the government to fund social programs and to subsidise the import of food and other basic products. The reduced availability of basic products led to an explosion of the black market, corruption, hoarding, speculation and smuggling. The government was forced to abandon the policy of general food subsidies and adopt one of targeted supply through the CLAPs. At the same time, the capitalists redoubled their sabotage of the regulated prices system, despite the government making significant concessions. The policy of a subsidised exchange rate for the importation of basic products has become, through corruption and fraud, a channel for the transfer of oil revenue dollars into the pockets of the capitalist class, thieves and speculators, fuelling at the same time the black market exchange rate (which in the last two months has shot up from 5000 BsF to the US$ to 8000). The attempt of the government to fund social spending and finance the budget deficit through printing money has fuelled a huge inflationary spiral. M2 money supply has gone up by 80% since the beginning of the year and a whopping 377% since January 2015. The government has regularly granted significant increases in the minimum wage, but these are just eaten up by inflation.

Meanwhile, the government has continued paying the foreign debt on time, massively depleting foreign currency reserves, from US$16bn in January 2016 down to just above US$10bn now. Of the remaining reserves, a large percentage is held in gold rather than actual cash, limiting the government’s room for manoeuvre. This has led to desperate moves like the recent sale of US$2.8bn of PDVSA bonds held by the Central Bank to Goldman Sachs at a 70% discount. Another operation of the same kind is being mulled, while the government has had to reschedule some of its debts to China, and PDVSA has used some of its most valued assets as collateral for cash loans. The situation is desperate.

This crisis reveals the limitations of a revolution carrying out a policy of social spending within the limits of capitalism. The capitalists throughout this time embarked on an investment strike as they feared the revolution would take away their assets (and in some cases it did). The government controls prevented the capitalist economy from functioning normally, but did not go as far as allowing for a system of democratic planning of the economy to replace it. Once oil prices collapsed it became apparent that the Emperor (“oil socialism”) was wearing no clothes.

Which way forward
There are two ways out of this deep hole the Venezuelan economy is in. One is what the capitalists want: a massive adjustment which makes the workers and the poor pay the price. This would involve freeing exchange rates, reducing the budget deficit through cuts and lifting any regulations and protections (workers’ rights, environmental rights, etc.) from the “normal” functioning of capitalism.

The other is to move forward and abolish the capitalist system by bringing banks, industries and the land into public ownership and democratic control, that is, to make the oligarchy pay. That would not bring the price of oil back up, of course, but at least it would put the country’s resources in the hands of working people so they can plan them democratically for the benefit of the majority.

Maduro’s government has chosen a policy which does not advance towards socialism but also does not fully allow the functioning of the capitalist market. It makes all sorts of concessions to the capitalists, but these are not enough for them. It promises it won’t touch private property and swears it is a friend of business, but it doesn’t convince them fully. It gives capitalists preferential dollars and other subsidies, but they just take the money and stash it abroad or sell it on the black market.

At the same time, rather than relying on the revolutionary initiative of the masses, the state and party bureaucracy act as a constant brake on it. The economic crisis, combined with the corruption of high officials, the bureaucratic way in which officials clamp down on the aspirations of the rank and file, the constant appeals to the capitalists who are sabotaging the economy, etc., are all factors that act as a cancer at the heart of the Bolivarian revolution, fomenting scepticism, apathy, demoralisation and cynicism. Even now, people in the traditional Chavista strongholds cannot see that the Constituent Assembly will serve to address the fundamental issue of food supplies and the economy. Maduro talks of a “post-oil economic model”, but no one knows what this is supposed to mean, other than any reference to socialism has been replaced by reassurances to the capitalists.

This road leads to disaster. We have said this before and we repeat it again. The ground is being paved for the right wing to come to power, sooner or later. This could be now or it could be delayed a few months. It could take place through a reactionary insurrection, a military coup, an election defeat or any combination of these. A defeat will be paid dearly by the revolutionary activists and the workers, the peasants and the poor in general.

The revolutionary gains which still remain can only be defended by completing the revolution and that means the smashing of the bourgeois state and its replacement by a revolutionary state based on workers and peasant councils, as well as the expropriation of the oligarchy (banks, capitalists and latifundistas) and imperialism.

It is crucial that the revolutionary Chavista rank and file is armed with such a program and sets itself the task of building a new revolutionary leadership on that basis (as the comrades from Alexis Vive have correctly pointed out) . This is the only way forward, for this battle now, to prevent the overthrow of the Maduro government on the part of the counter-revolution, and for the battles which will come later.

http://www.marxist.com/where-is-venezuela-going.htm

Venezuela’s Maduro Replaces Foreign Minister, Chief of Staff
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By RYAN MALLETT-OUTTRIM
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Nicoas Maduro
Puebla, Mexico, June 23, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro reshuffled his cabinet Wednesday, appointing a veteran diplomat to the foreign ministry and a controversial military figure as chief of staff.

Amid with the cabinet changes, Maduro also effectively replaced his top military brass, moving four top commanders to different government positions. Among these was the head of the National Guard, General Antonio Benavides Torres who was moved to head the Capital District.

The reshuffle was prompted after a number of top government officials stepped down to participate in elections for the upcoming national constituent assembly. The assembly will have the power to rewrite Venezuela’s constitution.

Among the most well known faces to leave the administration for the constituent assembly is Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, who will be replaced by veteran diplomat Samuel Moncada. Known for his fiery speeches, Moncada has served as Venezuela’s representative to the Permanent Council of the Organisation of American States since March.

He has also served as Venezuela’s United Nations ambassador and as head of the Presidential Commission for the Non-Aligned Movement.

“Along with having a good wit, he also speaks perfect English,” Maduro said.

Announcing the appointment, Maduro also heaped praise on the outgoing Rodriguez, who has garnered international headlines for her impassioned arguments at the OAS.

"Delcy Rodriguez truly deserves the recognition of the whole country because she has defended the sovereignty, peace, and independence of Venezuela,” Maduro said.

He continued, “Congratulations to comrade Delcy Rodriguez, mission accomplished.”

In another major change, Maduro also replaced his chief of staff, Carmen Melendez. As Melendez stands as a candidate to the constituent assembly, she will be replaced by the controversial Major General Carlos Osorio. During his tenure as food minister, the long time Maduro ally became the target of a wave of public outrage, when the government eased price controls on certain meats, cheeses and milk by around 20 percent. Then in 2016, the opposition controlled National Assembly demanded an investigation into Osorio’s time at the food ministry, including allegations of involvement in a scandal surrounding food imports. According to a complaint filed by the National Assembly’s Comptroller’s Office to the public prosecutor, over the course of a decade, at least US$27 billion in funding for food imports went missing under successive administrations, including during Osorio’s stint as food minister from 2010 to 2013.

Other changes to the cabinet include Nestor Ovalles replacing Francisco Torrealba as labour minister, while Major General Juan de Jesus Garcia Tusen will take over the Transport Ministry, and Admiral Orlando Maneiro will assume the role of fishing minister. Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez will also pick up the position of vice-president for national security, and Major General Luis Motta Domínguez will take over as vice-president for public works.

The reshuffle is the 6th round of major changes to Maduro’s governing team since he was elected in 2013, and comes as his country remains gripped by deep political and economic crisis.

PUBLISHED ON JUN 23RD 2017 AT 2.49PM

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13202

Maduro: Grenades dropped on Venezuela's Supreme Court
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says a chopper dropped grenades on the Supreme Court in Caracas, describing it as a "terror attack." Earlier, he threatened war if his opponents were to topple his government.

Helicopter 'attacks' Venezuelan Supreme Court
A Venezuelan police helicopter attacked the country's Supreme Court building and a government ministry in Caracas on Tuesday, in what embattled President Nicolas Maduro described as a "terror attack" by people seeking a coup.
The aircraft dropped four grenades on the court, where judges were meeting, and fired 15 shots at the Interior Ministry, where people were celebrating a social event for journalists, officials said. No one was injured.
The gun-and-grenade attack came hours after Maduro warned that he was prepared to enter a full-scale conflict to resolve the country's monthslong political crisis.
Speaking on state TV, the 54-year-old president appeared to claim that the attack from the stolen helicopter was part of a conspiracy to destabilize his Socialist government and said he had activated the country's air defense in response.
"Sooner rather than later, we are going to capture the helicopter and those behind this armed terrorist attack against the institutions of the country," Maduro said.
The Venezuelan news site CarotaDigital tweeted a video that purported to show a helicopter flying over the city, followed by the sound of several shots.

http://www.dw.com/en/maduro-grenades-dropped-on-venezuelas-supreme-court/a-39447537

Videos at link

Imperial media is treating this as 'conspiracy theory.

Of course they would. Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn, if that's what it takes for the Bolivarian Revolution to defend itself.

Imperial media is treating this as 'conspiracy theory.

Of course they would. Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn, if that's what it takes for the Bolivarian Revolution to defend itself.

And it MUST defend itself! Maduro has been criminally patient in my opinion, he must act.