Solidarity with President-Comrade Nicolás Maduro!
Solidarity with President-Comrade Nicolás Maduro of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the PSUV and all comrades and allies!
Tomorrow, the Republic of Venezuela and its citizens will once more return to the polling stations to vote and tomorrow it will determine the fate of President Maduro. Returning again to the polling stations has now become a regular event for the citizens of Venezuela, a state that is marked by a level of national and local voting that is unrivaled in its frequency.
The decision presenting itself to the Venezuelan people tomorrow is one of further march to socialism or one of alliance with the imperialism of outside US and EU-based forces tied to their local bourgeois compradors.
The vote is for the future of not merely Venezuela alone but for the whole of Latin America and the world itself. Venezuela is the crown jewel of international imperialism in the battle for reversing the recent trend of the liberation of previously client states, chained to the dictates of the United States and international imperial capitalism. Side by side with China, Venezuela has been a beacon of light and inspiration for its neighbors and global allies, demonstrating a fierce independence that has rejected the easy policy of craven acceptance of a state of mendicancy.
The sin of Venezuela and its leaders – from Simon Bolivar, the Liberator, down through Comrade Hugo Chavez and now Nicolas Maduro – allied with its proletariat and peasantry has been this independence and resiliency. Whether the reversal of the George W. Bush-led coup against President Chavez, the onward march of the socialist programs providing housing and jobs and land to the people, the solidarity with other regional states in the face of imperialism or the international support for oppressed peoples worldwide, the Bolivarian state has been the beacon of light and it is for this reason that it has come under attack by conservatives and liberals alike.
Whether the policies of former President Bush, Obama or current President Trump, the fangs of United States of America have been bared, waiting to move in for the kill, for a bloody oil-soaked meal of the people, leadership and natural resources of Venezuela.
Indeed, the revolutionary stamina and determination of Venezuela is seen in the fact that it is not opposed merely by the Western conservatives but the pseudo-left and progressives of the ruling capitalist class. Indeed, it was Bernie Sanders, the “progressive” “democratic socialist” leader in the United States, who called President Chavez a “dead communist dictator” and who has recently co-sponsored a bill which threatened the Venezuelan government over these upcoming elections, attempting to de-legitimize them months before they were scheduled to be held. The Democratic liberal wing of the ruling capitalist class in the United States is fully aligned with the Republican conservative wing in the United States in seeking the ouster of socialism in Venezuela. There is not a sliver of light between their ultimate goals for Venezuela.
So it is that these elections are critical for the people of Venezuela. The domestic opposition to Nicolás Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution is seeking to reverse the successes that have been won. They are seeking to chain the Venezuelan state to a traditional comprador elite. They are seeking to reverse the dignity of the Revolution and indeed the dignity of the people – the workers, the peasants, the indigenous, the African-descended citizens, the women, the workers, the disabled, the youth.
The united mind and heart of the international working class must have one clear place and goal tomorrow – the victory of the Revolution and the people in the victory of Comrade Nicolás Maduro!
Hands off Venezuela!
Onward to victory!
Onward to intensified socialism!
Yes to Revolution!
Yes to the People!
Victory and Solidarity to Venezuela!
Victory and Solidarity to the PSUV and allies!
Victory and Solidarity to Comrade Nicolás Maduro!
http://akahnnyc.blogspot.com/2018/05/so ... e.html?m=1
Venezuela
Re: Venezuela
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Venezuela
Results of Venezuelan election:
More results of Venezuelan election:
More results of Venezuelan election:
@marcorubio
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The dictatorship of @NicolasMaduro has, as expected conducted an illegitimate “election”. Maduro claims he received more votes than the total number of people who actually voted. Tomorrow the U.S. & international community will respond as necessary. #Venezuela
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Venezuela
Venezuela: Opposition's Call for Abstention in Presidental Vote Was Defeated, Says Rodriguez
Published 20 May 2018 (10 hours 17 minutes ago)
Maduro won the Venezuelan presidential elections Sunday, gaining a second term for six years with over 5.5 million votes.
Delcy Rodriguez, the President of Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly, said the calls for an abstention in the country's presidential election were defeated Sunday.
Highlighting the turnout figure of 46.1 percent published by the National Electoral Council (CNE) Rodriguez said: "This is the answer of a people who want to live peacefully.”
With 92.6 percent of the votes counted, Maduro had 5.8 million votes, with his closest rival, former governor Henri Falcón getting 1.8 million votes, according to CNE President Tibisay Lucena who added that in total, 8.6 million Venezuelans voted, out of an electorate of 20.5 million people.
"As president of the National Constituent Assembly, I’m very pleased with the civic behavior of the Venezuelan people. They have rejected extremist elements, violent elements, and those who have impinged against the constitutional order," Rodriguez during a press conference.
She added: "The Venezuelan people have been demonstrating in the right way, peacefully, the path of democratic coexistence, by exercising their right to vote. So the extremist elements, those who promoted abstentionism, were defeated. However, I can say, as the president has said, that we’re not going to stop chasing all the possible avenues for dialogue, so they can finally understand the Venezuelan reality. So that they stop their incoherent and ignorant portrayal of our people."
Maduro’s main competitor Henri Falcon, who had promised to change Venezuela’s currency, Falcon said he wouldn't recognize the results, claiming that they were "illegitimate." He blamed abstentionist sectors of the opposition for his loss and called for new elections to be called for October.
Some 150 international observers from 30 countries and international organizations were in Venezuela for the elections.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, former Spanish Prime Minister and also an international observer, gave positive feedback about the presidential elections.
"I do not have any doubt about the voting process. It is an advanced automatic voting system. I come here to keep the peace, coordinate and promote dialogue to improve the democratic mechanism here. What I need to do here is to see whether people can cast their ballots at their own discretion. Now we all see how people vote, don't we?" he said.
https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/ ... -0033.html
The NPR coverage of this, as with other matters of empire, is double plus Goebbels. And no one seems to notice.
Published 20 May 2018 (10 hours 17 minutes ago)
Maduro won the Venezuelan presidential elections Sunday, gaining a second term for six years with over 5.5 million votes.
Delcy Rodriguez, the President of Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly, said the calls for an abstention in the country's presidential election were defeated Sunday.
Highlighting the turnout figure of 46.1 percent published by the National Electoral Council (CNE) Rodriguez said: "This is the answer of a people who want to live peacefully.”
With 92.6 percent of the votes counted, Maduro had 5.8 million votes, with his closest rival, former governor Henri Falcón getting 1.8 million votes, according to CNE President Tibisay Lucena who added that in total, 8.6 million Venezuelans voted, out of an electorate of 20.5 million people.
"As president of the National Constituent Assembly, I’m very pleased with the civic behavior of the Venezuelan people. They have rejected extremist elements, violent elements, and those who have impinged against the constitutional order," Rodriguez during a press conference.
She added: "The Venezuelan people have been demonstrating in the right way, peacefully, the path of democratic coexistence, by exercising their right to vote. So the extremist elements, those who promoted abstentionism, were defeated. However, I can say, as the president has said, that we’re not going to stop chasing all the possible avenues for dialogue, so they can finally understand the Venezuelan reality. So that they stop their incoherent and ignorant portrayal of our people."
Maduro’s main competitor Henri Falcon, who had promised to change Venezuela’s currency, Falcon said he wouldn't recognize the results, claiming that they were "illegitimate." He blamed abstentionist sectors of the opposition for his loss and called for new elections to be called for October.
Some 150 international observers from 30 countries and international organizations were in Venezuela for the elections.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, former Spanish Prime Minister and also an international observer, gave positive feedback about the presidential elections.
"I do not have any doubt about the voting process. It is an advanced automatic voting system. I come here to keep the peace, coordinate and promote dialogue to improve the democratic mechanism here. What I need to do here is to see whether people can cast their ballots at their own discretion. Now we all see how people vote, don't we?" he said.
https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/ ... -0033.html
The NPR coverage of this, as with other matters of empire, is double plus Goebbels. And no one seems to notice.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Venezuela
Venezuela decided again for the Bolivarian Revolution
In an extremely hostile scenario, characterized by the blockade and the economic war, the interference of the European Union, the United States and allied governments, and all kinds of attacks from the media to paramilitary violence, the candidate of the Frente Amplio de la Patria beat its rivals with a big advantage
Author: International Writing | international@granma.cu
May 21, 2018 21:05:25
Nicolás Maduro won the victory with 67.78% of the votes. photo: EFE
CARACAS.-Venezuela once again demonstrated on Sunday that it is an example of how ballot boxes can beat guns and violence, and successfully developed an election day in which Nicolás Maduro was re-elected to the presidency of the country with more than 67 % of the votes
In an extremely hostile scenario, characterized by the blockade and the economic war, the interference of the European Union, the United States and allied governments, and all kinds of attacks from the media to paramilitary violence, the candidate of the Frente Amplio de la Patria beat his rivals with a wide advantage.
No country in Latin America has gone to the polls like Venezuela to resolve their political differences, 25 times in the last 20 years. This time, once again the culture of active nonviolence, promoted by the central government, triumphed and the Bolivarian forces celebrated the popular victory.
Venezuela voted in peace and Chavismo surpassed in this process its 2015 figures, where the opposition won parliamentary elections, with this same electoral system, and the Bolivarian option obtained that time 5,622,844 votes.
DIALOGUE AND PRODUCTIVE REPRODUCTION
After the electoral victory, President Maduro will focus his efforts on working to boost the productive apparatus of the country, as well as solve the political situation through national dialogue, as he said.
The re-elected Head of State will occupy the presidency of the South American nation in a new mandate period from 2019 to 2025, with a government program focused on deepening social protection policies and recovering the economy through dialogue , against the destabilizing actions promoted by oligarchic sectors.
From the outskirts of the Miraflores Palace, in this capital, where on Sunday night the people gathered to celebrate the victory of the revolutionary leader, the Head of State emphasized that the strengthening of peace and national coexistence will be the basis of development. of the country, reported PL.
«I swear to you that I will keep my word and I will dedicate myself to recover and reactivate the engines of the economy. I am fully aware of the challenges we are going to face, I am a more prepared president, I will respond to the trust that the people gave me, "said Maduro.
In this regard, he reaffirmed that the national dialogue is the way to guarantee the country's social peace. «I believe in peace, in dialogue, in respect for the Constitution. The future of our country is in the hands of all Venezuelans, we must settle the
differences. Respect for the sectors that voted for the opposition and those that did not vote. I take my hands to travel the only way that is patriotism, "he said.
Also, President Maduro called the former presidential candidates for a day of meeting and rapprochement of political dialogue in Venezuela.
THE OPPOSITION DOES NOT RECOGNIZE ITS DEFEAT
On the other hand, the defeated ex-candidate, Henri Falcón, announced that he will not recognize the results of the presidential elections and regional legislative councils.
"We do not recognize this electoral process as valid (...), we do not know categorically," said Falcón before the results were announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE).
He also argued that during the electoral process some political coalitions failed to comply with part of the pre-electoral agreements established by the CNE, while requesting that the elections be held again in October 2018.
While the former candidate for the Movement Hope for Change, Javier Bertucci, said he will not know the results if the percentages are very closed.
In this regard, the head of the Simón Bolívar Campaign Command, Jorge Rodríguez, questioned the systematic attitude of the right not to recognize the electoral results when they are adverse, as happened again with the former candidates mentioned.
"Unfortunately, the Venezuelan right has a deep deficit of very severe democracy, it has a very high antidemocratic record, not only because it resorts to violence with a certain affinity, but it only recognizes the elections when they
win them, they are not worth percentages, participation or votes. », Said the socialist leader.
He recalled that this sector has repeatedly refused to participate in elections and some have called for abstention. "They did not participate in the 2005 parliamentary elections or mayors of 2017 because they knew they were going to lose; They chanted fraud in the election of governors of 2017 because we won 19 of 23 governorates, "he said.
Rodriguez added that the shielding of the Venezuelan electoral system even has international recognition, for its technological platform, which also guarantees the speed to publicize results on the day of the election, which is not recognized by the opposition or by some countries. that, in spite of having electoral mechanisms that have been questioned even by their own peoples, they question the Venezuelan processes.
From China, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lu Kang, demanded respect for the decision of the Venezuelan people, reported Xinhua.
After the results obtained this Sunday in the presidential elections, where President Nicolás Maduro was re-elected, the Asian giant urged to abide by the results of an "electoral process that went by with great calm and great civility."
At the headquarters of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Kang added that China's position has always been non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries and that it believes that the Government and the Venezuelan people have the capacity to handle the internal affairs of the country.
While the vice-president of the Commission of Policy of Information of the Russian Parliament, Alexander Yushchenko, indicated this Monday that "the town has won to him once again the game to the CIA, that works in Venezuela".
http://www.granma.cu/mundo/2018-05-21/v ... 8-21-05-25
Google Translator
In an extremely hostile scenario, characterized by the blockade and the economic war, the interference of the European Union, the United States and allied governments, and all kinds of attacks from the media to paramilitary violence, the candidate of the Frente Amplio de la Patria beat its rivals with a big advantage
Author: International Writing | international@granma.cu
May 21, 2018 21:05:25
Nicolás Maduro won the victory with 67.78% of the votes. photo: EFE
CARACAS.-Venezuela once again demonstrated on Sunday that it is an example of how ballot boxes can beat guns and violence, and successfully developed an election day in which Nicolás Maduro was re-elected to the presidency of the country with more than 67 % of the votes
In an extremely hostile scenario, characterized by the blockade and the economic war, the interference of the European Union, the United States and allied governments, and all kinds of attacks from the media to paramilitary violence, the candidate of the Frente Amplio de la Patria beat his rivals with a wide advantage.
No country in Latin America has gone to the polls like Venezuela to resolve their political differences, 25 times in the last 20 years. This time, once again the culture of active nonviolence, promoted by the central government, triumphed and the Bolivarian forces celebrated the popular victory.
Venezuela voted in peace and Chavismo surpassed in this process its 2015 figures, where the opposition won parliamentary elections, with this same electoral system, and the Bolivarian option obtained that time 5,622,844 votes.
DIALOGUE AND PRODUCTIVE REPRODUCTION
After the electoral victory, President Maduro will focus his efforts on working to boost the productive apparatus of the country, as well as solve the political situation through national dialogue, as he said.
The re-elected Head of State will occupy the presidency of the South American nation in a new mandate period from 2019 to 2025, with a government program focused on deepening social protection policies and recovering the economy through dialogue , against the destabilizing actions promoted by oligarchic sectors.
From the outskirts of the Miraflores Palace, in this capital, where on Sunday night the people gathered to celebrate the victory of the revolutionary leader, the Head of State emphasized that the strengthening of peace and national coexistence will be the basis of development. of the country, reported PL.
«I swear to you that I will keep my word and I will dedicate myself to recover and reactivate the engines of the economy. I am fully aware of the challenges we are going to face, I am a more prepared president, I will respond to the trust that the people gave me, "said Maduro.
In this regard, he reaffirmed that the national dialogue is the way to guarantee the country's social peace. «I believe in peace, in dialogue, in respect for the Constitution. The future of our country is in the hands of all Venezuelans, we must settle the
differences. Respect for the sectors that voted for the opposition and those that did not vote. I take my hands to travel the only way that is patriotism, "he said.
Also, President Maduro called the former presidential candidates for a day of meeting and rapprochement of political dialogue in Venezuela.
THE OPPOSITION DOES NOT RECOGNIZE ITS DEFEAT
On the other hand, the defeated ex-candidate, Henri Falcón, announced that he will not recognize the results of the presidential elections and regional legislative councils.
"We do not recognize this electoral process as valid (...), we do not know categorically," said Falcón before the results were announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE).
He also argued that during the electoral process some political coalitions failed to comply with part of the pre-electoral agreements established by the CNE, while requesting that the elections be held again in October 2018.
While the former candidate for the Movement Hope for Change, Javier Bertucci, said he will not know the results if the percentages are very closed.
In this regard, the head of the Simón Bolívar Campaign Command, Jorge Rodríguez, questioned the systematic attitude of the right not to recognize the electoral results when they are adverse, as happened again with the former candidates mentioned.
"Unfortunately, the Venezuelan right has a deep deficit of very severe democracy, it has a very high antidemocratic record, not only because it resorts to violence with a certain affinity, but it only recognizes the elections when they
win them, they are not worth percentages, participation or votes. », Said the socialist leader.
He recalled that this sector has repeatedly refused to participate in elections and some have called for abstention. "They did not participate in the 2005 parliamentary elections or mayors of 2017 because they knew they were going to lose; They chanted fraud in the election of governors of 2017 because we won 19 of 23 governorates, "he said.
Rodriguez added that the shielding of the Venezuelan electoral system even has international recognition, for its technological platform, which also guarantees the speed to publicize results on the day of the election, which is not recognized by the opposition or by some countries. that, in spite of having electoral mechanisms that have been questioned even by their own peoples, they question the Venezuelan processes.
From China, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lu Kang, demanded respect for the decision of the Venezuelan people, reported Xinhua.
After the results obtained this Sunday in the presidential elections, where President Nicolás Maduro was re-elected, the Asian giant urged to abide by the results of an "electoral process that went by with great calm and great civility."
At the headquarters of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Kang added that China's position has always been non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries and that it believes that the Government and the Venezuelan people have the capacity to handle the internal affairs of the country.
While the vice-president of the Commission of Policy of Information of the Russian Parliament, Alexander Yushchenko, indicated this Monday that "the town has won to him once again the game to the CIA, that works in Venezuela".
http://www.granma.cu/mundo/2018-05-21/v ... 8-21-05-25
Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Venezuela
'Revolution here to stay,' says Maduro after election win
Venezuelans party after news of President Nicolas Maduro's re-election
NICOLAS Maduro declared that Venezuela’s “revolution is here to stay” after sweeping to an overwhelming victory in Sunday’s presidential elections, taking 68 per cent of the vote.
“It has been a heroic, beautiful, popular victory forged in the struggle. I’m the president of all Venezuelans,” Mr Maduro declared in his victory speech.
Jubilant supporters in Caracas chanted: “Let’s go, Nico,” letting off fireworks in celebration of Mr Maduro retaining the presidency.
Speaking from the balcony of the Miraflores Palace, he warned against attempts to destabilise Venezuela following months of threats from neoliberal forces, with many — including the European Union — having called for the elections to be cancelled.
“To the empire, I say understand that Venezuela is the guarantee of social and political stability in our country and the region. It's a sin to try and destabilise Venezuela,” he said.
Right-wing opposition groups boycotted Sunday’s presidential and state legislative council elections and have consistently rejected government-initiated talks, despite Mr Maduro urging them to engage in political dialogue rather than street violence.
The government drafted the Democratic Co-existence Agreement earlier this year in an attempt to broker peace and bring an end to US-sponsored sanctions.
However, the main opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) refused to sign the accord and called for a boycott of the elections.
Mr Maduro received around 5.8 million votes, comfortably ahead of his closest rival Henri Falcon, who polled 1.8m.
Despite Falcon campaign officials telling the Star before the vote that they would respect the outcome, Mr Falcon immediately declared the results “illegitimate” and demanded a fresh election in October.
However, Mr Maduro’s stunning victory keeps the Bolivarian revolution alive in the face of “the biggest international aggression against Venezuela,” which has see crippling sanctions imposed by the US and EU.
Bolivian President Evo Morales praised Mr Maduro’s victory as a triumph over those seeking to bring down Venezuela’s socialist government.
“The sovereign Venezuelan people have triumphed again against coup plotting and interventionism by the North American empire.
“The free peoples will never submit. Congratulations to brother Nicolas Maduro and the brave people of Venezuela, ” Mr Morales said.
Mr Maduro insisted that “permanent dialogue is what Venezuela needs.
“If the empire or the right-wing governments of the region want, one day, to talk in peace and respect, I’m always open to dialogue," he added.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article ... on-victory
Venezuelans party after news of President Nicolas Maduro's re-election
NICOLAS Maduro declared that Venezuela’s “revolution is here to stay” after sweeping to an overwhelming victory in Sunday’s presidential elections, taking 68 per cent of the vote.
“It has been a heroic, beautiful, popular victory forged in the struggle. I’m the president of all Venezuelans,” Mr Maduro declared in his victory speech.
Jubilant supporters in Caracas chanted: “Let’s go, Nico,” letting off fireworks in celebration of Mr Maduro retaining the presidency.
Speaking from the balcony of the Miraflores Palace, he warned against attempts to destabilise Venezuela following months of threats from neoliberal forces, with many — including the European Union — having called for the elections to be cancelled.
“To the empire, I say understand that Venezuela is the guarantee of social and political stability in our country and the region. It's a sin to try and destabilise Venezuela,” he said.
Right-wing opposition groups boycotted Sunday’s presidential and state legislative council elections and have consistently rejected government-initiated talks, despite Mr Maduro urging them to engage in political dialogue rather than street violence.
The government drafted the Democratic Co-existence Agreement earlier this year in an attempt to broker peace and bring an end to US-sponsored sanctions.
However, the main opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) refused to sign the accord and called for a boycott of the elections.
Mr Maduro received around 5.8 million votes, comfortably ahead of his closest rival Henri Falcon, who polled 1.8m.
Despite Falcon campaign officials telling the Star before the vote that they would respect the outcome, Mr Falcon immediately declared the results “illegitimate” and demanded a fresh election in October.
However, Mr Maduro’s stunning victory keeps the Bolivarian revolution alive in the face of “the biggest international aggression against Venezuela,” which has see crippling sanctions imposed by the US and EU.
Bolivian President Evo Morales praised Mr Maduro’s victory as a triumph over those seeking to bring down Venezuela’s socialist government.
“The sovereign Venezuelan people have triumphed again against coup plotting and interventionism by the North American empire.
“The free peoples will never submit. Congratulations to brother Nicolas Maduro and the brave people of Venezuela, ” Mr Morales said.
Mr Maduro insisted that “permanent dialogue is what Venezuela needs.
“If the empire or the right-wing governments of the region want, one day, to talk in peace and respect, I’m always open to dialogue," he added.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article ... on-victory
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Venezuela
Ten attempts to destabilize the recently re-elected Venezuelan government
Granma outlines ten of the destabilizing actions made public in the last 48 hours against the legitimate government of Nicolás Maduro
Author: Iramsy Peraza Forte | informacion@granma.cu
may 23, 2018 12:05:37
Maduro received three-times as many votes as his closest rival for the presidency, Henri Falcón. Photo: El Confidencial
While thousands of people gathered around Miraflores Presidential Palace to greet the re-election of President Nicolás Maduro, opposition sectors, the United States, the European Union and the Latin American right launched a predictable destabilization plan against the most recent democratic electoral process undertaken on Sunday, May 20, in Venezuela.
The Venezuelan people, victims of one of the most brutal economic wars of recent times, only comparable to the blockade imposed on Cuba for more than 50 years, re-elected Nicolás Maduro as their legitimate President with more than six million votes.
Meanwhile, the “protectors of democracy” in the region and the world reactivated their hostile agenda against the homeland of Bolívar, and ignored the clear message emitted at the polls.
The Venezuelan government, accustomed to this type of action since taking a different path to that dictated by Washington in 1998, once again faces a wave of interference in its internal affairs.
Granma outlines ten of the destabilizing actions made public in the last 48 hours against the legitimate government of Nicolás Maduro:
1- NEW SANCTIONS IMPOSED BY THE UNITED STATES
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced on Sunday new unilateral sanctions against Venezuela, violating the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and the norms of international law.
Through an executive order, Trump prohibited any U.S. citizen, institution or company from purchasing debt or accounts receivable from the Venezuelan executive, including those derived from state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA).
Venezuelan authorities condemned the illicit and illegitimate measures which seek to expand the economic and financial siege against the country, undermine the right to self-determination of the Venezuelan people, and attack their model of socioeconomic development.
2- REFUSING TO RECOGNIZE THE POPULAR WILL
According to a statement issued Monday, May 21, Canada and the thirteen Latin American governments that form the Lima Group, refused to recognize the election results.
Among the arguments to support this aggressive stance is a supposed abstention of Venezuelans in the elections on Sunday. However, the presidents of both Chile and Colombia, members of the Group, were elected with a lower turnout than that which saw Nicolás Maduro re-elected, and yet they have not been subject to any such accusations.
Likewise, the Lima Group includes nations such as Brazil, where a parliamentary coup removed the legitimately elected President Dilma Rousseff from power, and Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, the most popular candidate in the lead up to elections in the South American giant, has been unfairly imprisoned. Meanwhile, the President of Peru had to resign over accusations of corruption, and the 2017 elections in Honduras were marked by fraud and corruption scandals.
3- DIPLOMATIC ATTACKS
The governments of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Saint Lucia, members of the Lima Group, agreed to “reduce” their level of diplomatic relations with Venezuela, and recalled their ambassadors to Caracas for consultations.
The Group also announced that it will present a resolution during the 48th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) on the situation in Venezuela.
4- OAS ATTACKS
In February, the OAS approved a resolution that demanded the Venezuelan government cancel the presidential elections. This organization has been at the forefront of the international attacks seeking to isolate those nations in the region undergoing progressive processes of change. Venezuela is the principal target of such attacks, due to its regional leadership in this regard. Thus, the OAS maintains an interventionist campaign against this nation while turning a blind eye to scandalous situations in other countries.
OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, ignored the democratic will expressed by the Venezuelan people on Sunday, and reiterated that the organization does not recognize Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate President of Venezuela. In addition, he assured that they will continue “fighting for the end of the Venezuelan dictatorship” and again called for “a transitional government.”
5- EXPANSION OF THE ECONOMIC BLOCKADE
Following instructions from the United States, several Latin American countries also stated that they will coordinate actions with international financial organizations to “try not to grant loans to the Government of Venezuela,” which is facing a major economic crisis.
In addition, they noted that they will intensify and expand the exchange of financial information to perfect the sanctions against the South American nation, all with the objective of tightening the economic blockade against Caracas.
6- ENCOURAGING BORDER DISPUTES
One of the consequences of the economic war and crisis that Venezuela is suffering, promoted from abroad, is the increase in migration flows from that country to neighboring nations.
Although this is a common phenomenon in the history of Latin America, and in the past Venezuela itself received millions of Colombians and other migrants, there are attempts to manipulate the issue in order to justify a conflict.
Colombia and Brazil have both seen an increase in the presence of U.S. troops, while the U.S. government has said it hasn’t ruled out a “military option” in the case of Venezuela.
7- THE EUROPEAN UNION JOINS THE ATTACKS
Contrary to the attempts to maintain an independent foreign policy from the United States, the European Union has joined the attacks against the Venezuelan government.
The bloc announced that it is studying the adoption of measures following alleged irregularities in the Venezuelan elections.
According to the EU and specifically Spain, the elections in Venezuela revealed “fundamental democratic deficiencies” and “serious irregularities,” despite the fact that more than 150 international observers highlighted the validity and transparency of the results emanating from the polls.
8- OPPOSITION BOYCOTT
Before the official results were issued by the National Electoral Council (CNE), presidential candidate Henri Falcón had already stated that he wouldn’t recognize the results of the electoral process.
Falcón, who obtained 1,820,552 votes, representing 21.01%, thus followed a formula widely used by the Venezuelan right on refusing to accept the results at the polls when unfavorable to them.
Meanwhile, Javier Bertucci, the candidate for Esperanza para el Cambio (Hope for Change Party), who obtained only 10.82% of the vote, also joined the campaign to undermine the results, alleging “violations of the Venezuelan electoral law.” However, he later accepted the result, but continued to question the process.
9- THE PATH OF VIOLENCE
After being re-elected as Head of State, Maduro called for dialogue and reconciliation, proposals that were immediately rejected by the Democratic Unity Roundtable coalition (MUD) and other opposition forces.
The MUD, which didn’t propose a candidate for these presidential elections, sacrificed its own political space in the country several months ago and embraced calls for violence, while crying fraud long before the results were announced, just like those opposition candidates participating, and also ruling out any possibility of talks with the Maduro government.
Extremely discredited and divided, the MUD, which doesn’t propose its own government agenda, but rather a series of directives specified from abroad, is now trying to fabricate a scenario to delegitimize the elections in which it decided not to participate, aware of its likely defeat against Chavista forces.
10.-MEDIA MANIPULATION
From the photos used in the international media, to the headlines chosen, the coverage of the elections in Venezuela was designed to try to undermine the participation of citizens and their majority support for the Bolivarian Revolution.
Likewise, most of the Western mass media continues to echo terms such as “political prisoners,” when the government has provided countless evidence that those who are being prosecuted have committed crimes or incited violence, which has resulted in hundreds of deaths.
http://en.granma.cu/mundo/2018-05-23/te ... government
Granma outlines ten of the destabilizing actions made public in the last 48 hours against the legitimate government of Nicolás Maduro
Author: Iramsy Peraza Forte | informacion@granma.cu
may 23, 2018 12:05:37
Maduro received three-times as many votes as his closest rival for the presidency, Henri Falcón. Photo: El Confidencial
While thousands of people gathered around Miraflores Presidential Palace to greet the re-election of President Nicolás Maduro, opposition sectors, the United States, the European Union and the Latin American right launched a predictable destabilization plan against the most recent democratic electoral process undertaken on Sunday, May 20, in Venezuela.
The Venezuelan people, victims of one of the most brutal economic wars of recent times, only comparable to the blockade imposed on Cuba for more than 50 years, re-elected Nicolás Maduro as their legitimate President with more than six million votes.
Meanwhile, the “protectors of democracy” in the region and the world reactivated their hostile agenda against the homeland of Bolívar, and ignored the clear message emitted at the polls.
The Venezuelan government, accustomed to this type of action since taking a different path to that dictated by Washington in 1998, once again faces a wave of interference in its internal affairs.
Granma outlines ten of the destabilizing actions made public in the last 48 hours against the legitimate government of Nicolás Maduro:
1- NEW SANCTIONS IMPOSED BY THE UNITED STATES
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced on Sunday new unilateral sanctions against Venezuela, violating the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and the norms of international law.
Through an executive order, Trump prohibited any U.S. citizen, institution or company from purchasing debt or accounts receivable from the Venezuelan executive, including those derived from state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA).
Venezuelan authorities condemned the illicit and illegitimate measures which seek to expand the economic and financial siege against the country, undermine the right to self-determination of the Venezuelan people, and attack their model of socioeconomic development.
2- REFUSING TO RECOGNIZE THE POPULAR WILL
According to a statement issued Monday, May 21, Canada and the thirteen Latin American governments that form the Lima Group, refused to recognize the election results.
Among the arguments to support this aggressive stance is a supposed abstention of Venezuelans in the elections on Sunday. However, the presidents of both Chile and Colombia, members of the Group, were elected with a lower turnout than that which saw Nicolás Maduro re-elected, and yet they have not been subject to any such accusations.
Likewise, the Lima Group includes nations such as Brazil, where a parliamentary coup removed the legitimately elected President Dilma Rousseff from power, and Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, the most popular candidate in the lead up to elections in the South American giant, has been unfairly imprisoned. Meanwhile, the President of Peru had to resign over accusations of corruption, and the 2017 elections in Honduras were marked by fraud and corruption scandals.
3- DIPLOMATIC ATTACKS
The governments of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Saint Lucia, members of the Lima Group, agreed to “reduce” their level of diplomatic relations with Venezuela, and recalled their ambassadors to Caracas for consultations.
The Group also announced that it will present a resolution during the 48th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) on the situation in Venezuela.
4- OAS ATTACKS
In February, the OAS approved a resolution that demanded the Venezuelan government cancel the presidential elections. This organization has been at the forefront of the international attacks seeking to isolate those nations in the region undergoing progressive processes of change. Venezuela is the principal target of such attacks, due to its regional leadership in this regard. Thus, the OAS maintains an interventionist campaign against this nation while turning a blind eye to scandalous situations in other countries.
OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, ignored the democratic will expressed by the Venezuelan people on Sunday, and reiterated that the organization does not recognize Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate President of Venezuela. In addition, he assured that they will continue “fighting for the end of the Venezuelan dictatorship” and again called for “a transitional government.”
5- EXPANSION OF THE ECONOMIC BLOCKADE
Following instructions from the United States, several Latin American countries also stated that they will coordinate actions with international financial organizations to “try not to grant loans to the Government of Venezuela,” which is facing a major economic crisis.
In addition, they noted that they will intensify and expand the exchange of financial information to perfect the sanctions against the South American nation, all with the objective of tightening the economic blockade against Caracas.
6- ENCOURAGING BORDER DISPUTES
One of the consequences of the economic war and crisis that Venezuela is suffering, promoted from abroad, is the increase in migration flows from that country to neighboring nations.
Although this is a common phenomenon in the history of Latin America, and in the past Venezuela itself received millions of Colombians and other migrants, there are attempts to manipulate the issue in order to justify a conflict.
Colombia and Brazil have both seen an increase in the presence of U.S. troops, while the U.S. government has said it hasn’t ruled out a “military option” in the case of Venezuela.
7- THE EUROPEAN UNION JOINS THE ATTACKS
Contrary to the attempts to maintain an independent foreign policy from the United States, the European Union has joined the attacks against the Venezuelan government.
The bloc announced that it is studying the adoption of measures following alleged irregularities in the Venezuelan elections.
According to the EU and specifically Spain, the elections in Venezuela revealed “fundamental democratic deficiencies” and “serious irregularities,” despite the fact that more than 150 international observers highlighted the validity and transparency of the results emanating from the polls.
8- OPPOSITION BOYCOTT
Before the official results were issued by the National Electoral Council (CNE), presidential candidate Henri Falcón had already stated that he wouldn’t recognize the results of the electoral process.
Falcón, who obtained 1,820,552 votes, representing 21.01%, thus followed a formula widely used by the Venezuelan right on refusing to accept the results at the polls when unfavorable to them.
Meanwhile, Javier Bertucci, the candidate for Esperanza para el Cambio (Hope for Change Party), who obtained only 10.82% of the vote, also joined the campaign to undermine the results, alleging “violations of the Venezuelan electoral law.” However, he later accepted the result, but continued to question the process.
9- THE PATH OF VIOLENCE
After being re-elected as Head of State, Maduro called for dialogue and reconciliation, proposals that were immediately rejected by the Democratic Unity Roundtable coalition (MUD) and other opposition forces.
The MUD, which didn’t propose a candidate for these presidential elections, sacrificed its own political space in the country several months ago and embraced calls for violence, while crying fraud long before the results were announced, just like those opposition candidates participating, and also ruling out any possibility of talks with the Maduro government.
Extremely discredited and divided, the MUD, which doesn’t propose its own government agenda, but rather a series of directives specified from abroad, is now trying to fabricate a scenario to delegitimize the elections in which it decided not to participate, aware of its likely defeat against Chavista forces.
10.-MEDIA MANIPULATION
From the photos used in the international media, to the headlines chosen, the coverage of the elections in Venezuela was designed to try to undermine the participation of citizens and their majority support for the Bolivarian Revolution.
Likewise, most of the Western mass media continues to echo terms such as “political prisoners,” when the government has provided countless evidence that those who are being prosecuted have committed crimes or incited violence, which has resulted in hundreds of deaths.
http://en.granma.cu/mundo/2018-05-23/te ... government
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Venezuela
How do you explain the resistance of the Venezuelan people and the Government of Nicolás Maduro?
Any president prior to the arrival of Hugo Chávez at the Miraflores Palace would have succumbed a few days later with an attack similar to that which the Government of Nicolás Maduro lives day by day.
Author: Dayron Rodríguez Rosales | internet@granma.cu
May 24, 2018 21:05:43
Nicolás Maduro has always been close to his people, both in moments of celebration and in difficult times. Photo: AVN
Economic war, sabotage, low oil prices, international sanctions and political violence. Any president prior to the arrival of Hugo Chávez at the Miraflores Palace would have succumbed a few days later with an attack similar to that experienced by the Government of Nicolás Maduro day by day.
Nevertheless, the Venezuelan people stand and support the leaders of the Bolivarian Revolution. How to explain that heroic resistance?
THE CHÁVEZ LEGACY
The Bolivarian Commander changed the history of his country forever. Chavez forces now have their legacy and the strategic project that he designed for Venezuela as one of the main tools to project the present and the future of that nation.
Even some people who oppose the current government share the ideas of inclusion, justice and equality that came to politics in the hands of Chavez.
The cultural change and the way of understanding how the Government works is perhaps the greatest contribution of Chavism and one of the keys to understanding the why of its capacity for resilience.
THE CAPACITY OF MATURO LEADERSHIP
Chavez saw in Maduro the figure to give continuity to the Bolivarian Revolution and so he let the world know a few weeks before his death.
This indisputable symbolic support has been combined with the leadership and resistance capacities shown by Nicolás Maduro in the exercise of his functions, in the face of all threats.
Whether in the international political arena or in countless public squares in the interior of his country, the current president manages to carry his messages to broad layers of the population on the basis of a revolutionary ideology, chavista and anti-imperialist.
SOCIAL MISSIONS
Initiated by Chávez and continued by Maduro, the missions and great missions changed the face of Venezuela in a few years. One of the most important was Barrio Adentro, which has the collaboration of Cuban doctors to bring health to the most remote corners of Venezuela.
Up to mid-2017, 71,900,000 medical examinations (from a blood sample, to a computerized axial tomography) had been made free of charge, and nearly three million surgical procedures had been performed. 179 191 lives have been saved; 830 indigenous doctors have graduated, and thousands more are being trained.
Operation Miracle, also with Cuban help, allowed more than 70,000 Venezuelans to recover their sight.
In another field of great social impact, housing, the Bolivarian nation has broken all records with more than two million houses built and delivered to the people under fair conditions.
HUMANIST VOCATION OF THE REVOLUTION
Since 2013, the Maduro Government has deepened the humanist vocation of the Revolution initiated by Chávez, dedicating most of the Gross Domestic Product to social programs and the redistribution of wealth.
Even in the midst of the limitations and the economic boycott of the right wing, citizens have not been left homeless.
For example, in 2016 a program was launched to bring food to the population at fair prices and avoiding speculation, which currently benefits more than 12 million families.
Through the Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP), more than 60,000 tons of food and basic products are distributed to the most vulnerable sectors of Venezuelan society.
Also, the "Carnet de la Patria", an electronic reading document delivered to 16 million people, has allowed improving access to social programs and aid vouchers.
A DIVIDED OPPOSITION
After the conjunctural victory of the right in the parliamentary elections of 2015, which seemed to breathe air into that discredited political faction of the country, with great tendency to violence, during the last months the Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (MUD) has been fracturing.
Some sectors are still betting on sabotage and the destruction of the country as a way to gain power, while others value the possibility of confronting Chavismo at the polls, as seen in the past presidential elections.
This break was deepened with the decision of Chavismo opponent Henri Falcón to appear in the elections, moving away from a boycott of the MUD.
Because of its own vanities and internal struggles, as well as the social cost of its violent methods, the right loses more and more prestige. However, it has been a destabilizing factor for the country and an open door to foreign interference.
CIVIC-MILITARY UNIT
The current Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) has a pacifist character, and at the same time, a radically anti-imperialist, zamorista, anti-oligarch, chavista and nationalist condition. That reality is another of the great achievements of the Chavez transformations and one of the guarantees for the stability of the country.
Therefore, and in the midst of a critical situation due to the attacks of the national and international right of the enemies, the Venezuelan Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino López, made public his rejection of any attempt of armed uprising.
"The Bolivarian revolution, the State and the Venezuelan people have and count on the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) fulfilling their tasks constitutionally," said Padrino.
On the other hand, the FANB ratified their allegiance to the Constitution and the people of Bolívar before the interventionist declarations of the United States.
VENEZUELA AS ANTIMPERIALIST BASTION
During the last two decades, Venezuelans have also grown aware that their country, with its great natural resources, plays a transcendental role in the concert of nations, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Bolivar's ideals are at the center of Chavez thinking, especially his warning that "the United States seems destined by Providence to plague America with miseries in the name of freedom." Both Chávez and Maduro took on that vision with an anti-imperialist vocation and in favor of the causes of the Third World.
The government of Nicolás Maduro is an international voice in the name of the humble and the exploited, which gives that country a dignity recognized by the peoples of the entire world.
http://www.granma.cu/mundo/2018-05-24/c ... 8-21-05-43
Google Translator
Any president prior to the arrival of Hugo Chávez at the Miraflores Palace would have succumbed a few days later with an attack similar to that which the Government of Nicolás Maduro lives day by day.
Author: Dayron Rodríguez Rosales | internet@granma.cu
May 24, 2018 21:05:43
Nicolás Maduro has always been close to his people, both in moments of celebration and in difficult times. Photo: AVN
Economic war, sabotage, low oil prices, international sanctions and political violence. Any president prior to the arrival of Hugo Chávez at the Miraflores Palace would have succumbed a few days later with an attack similar to that experienced by the Government of Nicolás Maduro day by day.
Nevertheless, the Venezuelan people stand and support the leaders of the Bolivarian Revolution. How to explain that heroic resistance?
THE CHÁVEZ LEGACY
The Bolivarian Commander changed the history of his country forever. Chavez forces now have their legacy and the strategic project that he designed for Venezuela as one of the main tools to project the present and the future of that nation.
Even some people who oppose the current government share the ideas of inclusion, justice and equality that came to politics in the hands of Chavez.
The cultural change and the way of understanding how the Government works is perhaps the greatest contribution of Chavism and one of the keys to understanding the why of its capacity for resilience.
THE CAPACITY OF MATURO LEADERSHIP
Chavez saw in Maduro the figure to give continuity to the Bolivarian Revolution and so he let the world know a few weeks before his death.
This indisputable symbolic support has been combined with the leadership and resistance capacities shown by Nicolás Maduro in the exercise of his functions, in the face of all threats.
Whether in the international political arena or in countless public squares in the interior of his country, the current president manages to carry his messages to broad layers of the population on the basis of a revolutionary ideology, chavista and anti-imperialist.
SOCIAL MISSIONS
Initiated by Chávez and continued by Maduro, the missions and great missions changed the face of Venezuela in a few years. One of the most important was Barrio Adentro, which has the collaboration of Cuban doctors to bring health to the most remote corners of Venezuela.
Up to mid-2017, 71,900,000 medical examinations (from a blood sample, to a computerized axial tomography) had been made free of charge, and nearly three million surgical procedures had been performed. 179 191 lives have been saved; 830 indigenous doctors have graduated, and thousands more are being trained.
Operation Miracle, also with Cuban help, allowed more than 70,000 Venezuelans to recover their sight.
In another field of great social impact, housing, the Bolivarian nation has broken all records with more than two million houses built and delivered to the people under fair conditions.
HUMANIST VOCATION OF THE REVOLUTION
Since 2013, the Maduro Government has deepened the humanist vocation of the Revolution initiated by Chávez, dedicating most of the Gross Domestic Product to social programs and the redistribution of wealth.
Even in the midst of the limitations and the economic boycott of the right wing, citizens have not been left homeless.
For example, in 2016 a program was launched to bring food to the population at fair prices and avoiding speculation, which currently benefits more than 12 million families.
Through the Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP), more than 60,000 tons of food and basic products are distributed to the most vulnerable sectors of Venezuelan society.
Also, the "Carnet de la Patria", an electronic reading document delivered to 16 million people, has allowed improving access to social programs and aid vouchers.
A DIVIDED OPPOSITION
After the conjunctural victory of the right in the parliamentary elections of 2015, which seemed to breathe air into that discredited political faction of the country, with great tendency to violence, during the last months the Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (MUD) has been fracturing.
Some sectors are still betting on sabotage and the destruction of the country as a way to gain power, while others value the possibility of confronting Chavismo at the polls, as seen in the past presidential elections.
This break was deepened with the decision of Chavismo opponent Henri Falcón to appear in the elections, moving away from a boycott of the MUD.
Because of its own vanities and internal struggles, as well as the social cost of its violent methods, the right loses more and more prestige. However, it has been a destabilizing factor for the country and an open door to foreign interference.
CIVIC-MILITARY UNIT
The current Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) has a pacifist character, and at the same time, a radically anti-imperialist, zamorista, anti-oligarch, chavista and nationalist condition. That reality is another of the great achievements of the Chavez transformations and one of the guarantees for the stability of the country.
Therefore, and in the midst of a critical situation due to the attacks of the national and international right of the enemies, the Venezuelan Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino López, made public his rejection of any attempt of armed uprising.
"The Bolivarian revolution, the State and the Venezuelan people have and count on the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) fulfilling their tasks constitutionally," said Padrino.
On the other hand, the FANB ratified their allegiance to the Constitution and the people of Bolívar before the interventionist declarations of the United States.
VENEZUELA AS ANTIMPERIALIST BASTION
During the last two decades, Venezuelans have also grown aware that their country, with its great natural resources, plays a transcendental role in the concert of nations, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Bolivar's ideals are at the center of Chavez thinking, especially his warning that "the United States seems destined by Providence to plague America with miseries in the name of freedom." Both Chávez and Maduro took on that vision with an anti-imperialist vocation and in favor of the causes of the Third World.
The government of Nicolás Maduro is an international voice in the name of the humble and the exploited, which gives that country a dignity recognized by the peoples of the entire world.
http://www.granma.cu/mundo/2018-05-24/c ... 8-21-05-43
Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Venezuela
Financial sectors block Venezuela $ 1,400 million for medicines and food
Caracas, 01 Jun. AVN
International financial sectors blocked to Venezuela 1,400 million dollars that the National Government allocated to import medicines, food, among other inputs, in order to meet the needs of the people, denounced Friday the President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro.
"We currently have 1.4 billion dollars kidnapped, already hired to import medicines, food and supplies for the country, and all the things we are importing necessary for the country, all the accounts are after us, they freeze our accounts" , detailed in a meeting held at the Miraflores Palace.
This blockade responds to the sanctions imposed unilaterally and illegally by the government of the United States, Canada and the European Union against Venezuela.
Maduro explained that the accounts of the service providers with which Venezuela maintains commercial relations, block them. "They cancel the account to the supplier as punishment so that nobody dares in the world to sell us products," he warned.
"(These actions) are not going to stop the course of dignified Venezuela, revolutionary Venezuela, they are not going to stop Venezuela in any way," he added.
This incident is compounded by what happened last year with Euroclear - one of the largest systems of compensation and liquidation of financial values in the world - that prevented the National Executive from using 1.65 billion dollars to buy food and medicine.
This financial institution is used to perform banking operations in the international field. Through this company the Bolivarian Government makes transactions around the bonds of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), while other national institutions use it to buy medicines and food.
Something similar did the Government of Colombia against Venezuela. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has banned a laboratory from selling anti-malarial drugs to the Venezuelan state, inputs that are now acquired through agreements with India.
Santos ordered the laboratory BSN Medical, one of the few manufacturers of Primaquine in the region, medicine for the treatment against malaria, cancel the sale of this input to the people of Venezuela.
Recently, the Health Minister, Luis Lopez, denounced that the international bank blocked the Republic a transaction of seven million dollars for the purchase of supplies of dialysis treatment for some 15,000 patients.
http://www.avn.info.ve/node/446573
Google Translator
Never underestimate the savagery of capital.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Venezuela
Maduro will deal with workers plan to boost production in PDVSA
Caracas, 01 Jun. AVN
The President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro, announced on Friday that next week he will meet with the oil working class of the country to address the plan to boost the productive capacity of the company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
During a meeting with representatives of the Broad Front of the Nation, held at the Miraflores Palace, he said that this proposal arose from the dialogue with the parties that make up the front.
"Proposals have been made for the productive recovery of PDVSA and we are going to move forward this week. I have already instructed the executive vice president (Tareck El Aissami) so that the proposals made by the PPT, the PCV and Tupamaro in relation to the productive recovery, from the working class, be evaluated immediately, "he said.
"I want a special meeting, no later than Tuesday, with the working class of PDVSA, with the revolutionary currents to approve in detail the productive recovery plan of PDVSA, the entire petroleum refining and petrochemical industry," he said.
In transmission of VTV, he said that the most important thing is to collect the proposals of the base workers of the industry.
AVN - 01.06.2018 08:56
http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/maduro ... %B3n-pdvsa
"Backing into socialism' ...I'm not complaining, with the hegemon breathing down your neck you really cannot afford to rile the beast when it's on the warpath and you have limited recourse.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Venezuela
The Politics of Food in Venezuela
by Ana Felicien, Christina Schiavoni and Liccia Romero
Conclusion
The situation confronting Venezuela today is far more complex than that portrayed in the dominant narrative, and it demands more thorough analysis. Through the lens of food and a focus on questions of power related to race, class, gender, and geography, new elements emerge that are key to understanding the present conjuncture. These include (1) food as a vehicle for social differentiation over time, most fundamentally in the creation and maintenance of an elite, an elite-aligned middle class, and a class of “others”; (2) the concentration and consolidation of power in the agrifood system, maintained through elite alliances, both within and outside of the state structure, and through both overt and hidden forms of power; (3) increasing homogenization, uniformity, and controllability of the agrifood system, from production and importation to consumption, through highly racialized notions of science and modernity; (4) marketing strategies that forge intimate relationships with the public so that specific industrially processed foods pervade everyday life; (5) dependency on monopolized supply channels and on supermarkets for access to such products; (6) the disappearance of such products, constituting an attack on everyday life, particularly that of the “others,” especially women; (7) the implication of the state in the products’ disappearance, while the role of private capital remains largely hidden; (8) the attempted consolidation of power by the elite through proposals for the restoration of the missing products (and of “order” more generally), in opposition to state programs and policies, with appeals to the working class “others”; (9) a rallying of the middle class in the name of “the people,” against the government and its alliance with the “others,” by coopting social justice imagery while committing racialized acts of violence; and, all the while, (10) a further strengthening of state-capital relations, constituting a further concentration and consolidation of power in the agrifood system.
While far from a comprehensive list, these elements reflect emerging trends in Venezuela today, stemming from elite alliances long in the making. Of particular note are the invisible—or so ubiquitous as to effectively be invisible—mechanisms of control in the realm of everyday life that facilitate the exertion of dominance over the population, especially the working poor. This is particularly true of everyday practices around food. Through processes of colonization, modernization, and today, globalization, the entire structure of the modern industrial food system—i.e., offering foods appealing to the tastes of the masses (tastes conditioned over time), but in a highly controlled and controlling way—can readily be made into a tool of control and domination, as in Venezuela today. However, as we have seen, food is also being used as a means of resistance.
The dominant narrative tends to obscure not only the main drivers of the current crisis, but also the many responses coming from the grassroots. This phenomenon is linked to the common portrayal of the Venezuelan working class as passive victims rather than active agents. The same stereotypes and “othering” that led to the common perception that most Venezuelans were blindly following Chávez, with his petrodollars and charisma, are today leading international media to ignore, among other things, the unprecedented popular advances toward food sovereignty manifesting at present. Such stereotypes of the poor and poverty are so pervasive that few questions were asked when a New York Times article on starvation in Venezuela featured a picture of people eating one of the country’s most popular dishes, or when an article in the Guardian entitled “Hunger Eats Away at Venezuela’s Soul as Its People Struggle to Survive” reported that in the fishing village of Chuao, “diets have shifted back to patterns more familiar to parents and grandparents, to fish, root vegetables and bananas”—the type of dish for which many foodies would pay dearly.59
While these contradictions might be painfully, even laughably apparent to the average Venezuelan, such stories serve as powerful mechanisms reinforcing the dominant narrative on Venezuela and shaping international opinion. While we might expect as much from the Western mainstream media, it bears asking why the same narrative is reproduced so seemingly uncritically in intellectual and academic circles, including those of the left. Could it be that we do not always leave our own biases at the door, either?
This is where the importance of reflexivity comes in, as well as that of praxis-based partnerships among scholars and grassroots movements, to ensure that events and experiences we might not directly encounter ourselves, from our own places of power and privilege, do not become invisible, and that we question narratives that too comfortably fit our own realities. As scholars and activists, we are faced with a choice, as each day brings new forms of aggression against the government, people, and process in Venezuela by the United States and its allies. We can wait and offer post-mortem analyses of what could have been, or we can join now with Venezuelan grassroots movements—not uncritically, as constructive critique is needed more now than ever, but unequivocal in our solidarity with their struggles. We can make pronouncements about the “end of the cycle” of the rising left in Latin America, or we can stand with those who see no place for themselves at “the end of the cycle”: those for whom—and by whom—history is still being written, and for whom giving up is not an option.
https://monthlyreview.org/2018/06/01/th ... venezuela/
by Ana Felicien, Christina Schiavoni and Liccia Romero
Conclusion
The situation confronting Venezuela today is far more complex than that portrayed in the dominant narrative, and it demands more thorough analysis. Through the lens of food and a focus on questions of power related to race, class, gender, and geography, new elements emerge that are key to understanding the present conjuncture. These include (1) food as a vehicle for social differentiation over time, most fundamentally in the creation and maintenance of an elite, an elite-aligned middle class, and a class of “others”; (2) the concentration and consolidation of power in the agrifood system, maintained through elite alliances, both within and outside of the state structure, and through both overt and hidden forms of power; (3) increasing homogenization, uniformity, and controllability of the agrifood system, from production and importation to consumption, through highly racialized notions of science and modernity; (4) marketing strategies that forge intimate relationships with the public so that specific industrially processed foods pervade everyday life; (5) dependency on monopolized supply channels and on supermarkets for access to such products; (6) the disappearance of such products, constituting an attack on everyday life, particularly that of the “others,” especially women; (7) the implication of the state in the products’ disappearance, while the role of private capital remains largely hidden; (8) the attempted consolidation of power by the elite through proposals for the restoration of the missing products (and of “order” more generally), in opposition to state programs and policies, with appeals to the working class “others”; (9) a rallying of the middle class in the name of “the people,” against the government and its alliance with the “others,” by coopting social justice imagery while committing racialized acts of violence; and, all the while, (10) a further strengthening of state-capital relations, constituting a further concentration and consolidation of power in the agrifood system.
While far from a comprehensive list, these elements reflect emerging trends in Venezuela today, stemming from elite alliances long in the making. Of particular note are the invisible—or so ubiquitous as to effectively be invisible—mechanisms of control in the realm of everyday life that facilitate the exertion of dominance over the population, especially the working poor. This is particularly true of everyday practices around food. Through processes of colonization, modernization, and today, globalization, the entire structure of the modern industrial food system—i.e., offering foods appealing to the tastes of the masses (tastes conditioned over time), but in a highly controlled and controlling way—can readily be made into a tool of control and domination, as in Venezuela today. However, as we have seen, food is also being used as a means of resistance.
The dominant narrative tends to obscure not only the main drivers of the current crisis, but also the many responses coming from the grassroots. This phenomenon is linked to the common portrayal of the Venezuelan working class as passive victims rather than active agents. The same stereotypes and “othering” that led to the common perception that most Venezuelans were blindly following Chávez, with his petrodollars and charisma, are today leading international media to ignore, among other things, the unprecedented popular advances toward food sovereignty manifesting at present. Such stereotypes of the poor and poverty are so pervasive that few questions were asked when a New York Times article on starvation in Venezuela featured a picture of people eating one of the country’s most popular dishes, or when an article in the Guardian entitled “Hunger Eats Away at Venezuela’s Soul as Its People Struggle to Survive” reported that in the fishing village of Chuao, “diets have shifted back to patterns more familiar to parents and grandparents, to fish, root vegetables and bananas”—the type of dish for which many foodies would pay dearly.59
While these contradictions might be painfully, even laughably apparent to the average Venezuelan, such stories serve as powerful mechanisms reinforcing the dominant narrative on Venezuela and shaping international opinion. While we might expect as much from the Western mainstream media, it bears asking why the same narrative is reproduced so seemingly uncritically in intellectual and academic circles, including those of the left. Could it be that we do not always leave our own biases at the door, either?
This is where the importance of reflexivity comes in, as well as that of praxis-based partnerships among scholars and grassroots movements, to ensure that events and experiences we might not directly encounter ourselves, from our own places of power and privilege, do not become invisible, and that we question narratives that too comfortably fit our own realities. As scholars and activists, we are faced with a choice, as each day brings new forms of aggression against the government, people, and process in Venezuela by the United States and its allies. We can wait and offer post-mortem analyses of what could have been, or we can join now with Venezuelan grassroots movements—not uncritically, as constructive critique is needed more now than ever, but unequivocal in our solidarity with their struggles. We can make pronouncements about the “end of the cycle” of the rising left in Latin America, or we can stand with those who see no place for themselves at “the end of the cycle”: those for whom—and by whom—history is still being written, and for whom giving up is not an option.
https://monthlyreview.org/2018/06/01/th ... venezuela/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."