VENEZUELA ANTHOLOGY #6
September 15, 2024
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a
Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology
(#2, 7-16-20; #3, 9-9-20; #4,
2-14-21; #5, 8-27-24)
CONTENTS OF VENEZUELA ANTHOLOGY #6
VENEZUELA’S STRUGGLE FOR NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE
US-LED WAR vs. VENEZUELA
US
Anti-Democratic Meddling in Venezuelan Elections.
Alan MacLeod. US Meddling in Venezuelan
Elections.
Margaret Kimberley and Ajamu Baraka. “Venezuela
Is a Democracy.”
Peoples Dispatch. Despite of or Because
of Attacks on Its Electoral System, and even coup attempts, people around the
world express solidarity with Venezuela.
Ed Newman. Alba Movements from 25
Countries Support Venezuela.
Vijay Prashad. Eye-witness Report from
Caracas of the Election Declares Maduro’s Election fair and decisive, despite
right-wing claims of fraud.
Roger Harris and Peter Bolton. Corporate
Media Normalizes US Interference in Other Nations.
People’s Dispatch. US Defenders of Venezuelan Bolivarian Society Gathered
Outside NYT Building.
Fernando Giuliani Analyzes the Violent Hatred That Justifies Assassination and
Foreign Intervention.
Misión Verdad. Cyber Warfare against Venezuelan
elections.
Roger Harris. July 28 Election Most
Broadly About Bolivarian Revolution and US Regime Changes by Violence and Sanctions.
SANCTIONS
Roger Harris. “US Reimposed Illegal and
Inhumane Oil Sanctions on Venezuela.”
Celina della Croce. “If the U.S. can’t
win [regime changes] with tanks and guns, it hopes that a campaign to suffocate
the people” will.
Anya Parampil. (Book). Corporate
Coup: Venezuela and the End of Empire.
Codepink: Tell Biden to Unfreeze Venezuela’s Funds.
US Confiscates Venezuela’s Presidential
Jet.
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS OF VENEZUELA’S STRUGGLE FOR
INDEPENDENCE
Thierry Deronne (Part I). “Communication
by and for the People.”
Andreina Chavez Alava. “Venezuela: Gov’t to
launch China-backed anti-poverty program.”
Ramón Grosfoguel (Part I). “Venezuela’s
Decolonial Alternative.”
Sources of Venezuela Anthologies #5 and #6.
Contents
of Venezuela Anthology #5.
SUPPORT OF VENEZUELA, VENEZUELAN ACHIEVEMENTS
TEXTS OF #6 (17 articles and one book, #5 31 articles and 2 books,
total of 51 texts in #5 + #6)
US WAR ON VENEZUELA
US WAR OF TERROR BY
SANCTIONS = COUNTLESS HARRASSMENTS
VENEZUELA AN ELECTORAL
DEMOCRACY DESPITE US MEDDLING
“Venezuela:
As US Leaders Call Fraud, US Observers
Endorse Results.” Consortium News
(7-30-24).
Western media appeared as eager as the U.S. government to undermine the July 28 presidential elections in Venezuela and agitate for political strife,
writes Alan MacLeod. Read here... By Alan MacLeod. Originally published in MintPress
News.
Much to the chagrin of the U.S. government, socialist candidate
Nicolas Maduro won a third successive term in office on Sunday, convincingly
beating his U.S.-backed opponents, Edmundo Gonzalez and Maria Corina Machado,
by seven points.
Almost immediately after the results were announced, [US]
officials began decrying the elections as a farce. “We commend [the
Venezuelan people’s] courage and commitment to democracy in the face of
repression,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a speech on
Sunday evening, adding: “We have serious
concerns that the result announced does not affect the will or the votes of the
Venezuelan people. It is critical that every vote be counted fairly and
transparently. That election officials immediately share information with the
opposition and independent observers without delay, and that electoral
authorities publish the detailed tabulation of votes. The international
community is watching this very closely, and will respond accordingly.”
Senator Marco Rubio, a longtime Venezuela hawk, went further, stating, “Everybody knows massive voter turnout like
the one today in Venezuela would result in a massive loss by Maduro. The ONLY
way he wins is with massive fraud.”
MORE
“Don’t believe the hype: Venezuela is a democracy.”
Margaret Kimberley. Mronline.org
(8-3-24). Ajamu
Baraka, Black Agenda Report editor and columnist, discusses observing the
recent elections in Venezuela and why the U.S. still seeks to undermine that
democracy.
By Margaret Kimberley, Ajamu Baraka (Posted Aug 02, 2024).
Originally published: Black Agenda Report on July 31, 2024 (more by Black
Agenda Report). Democracy, Empire, Inequality, State RepressionAmericas, United States, VenezuelaInterview, NewswireUnited
Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Venezuela
Election 2024, Venezuelan
President Nicolás Maduro
Margaret
Kimberley: Ajamu Baraka is a
Black Agenda Report editor and columnist. He is joining us from Caracas,
Venezuela, where he was an observer in the recently held national elections. We
will discuss what he observed, the meaning of the results, and the ongoing
attempts from the U.S.-backed right wing to destabilize the elected government.
Good morning, Ajamu, and thank you.
Ajamu Baraka: It’s a pleasure to be here and to have this
opportunity to discuss what’s unfolding here in Venezuela.
MK: Tell us about your role as an election observer. How did that come
about?
AB: Well, it’s a combination of factors. One
is, that this makes my third experience observing elections here. And then as
well, I’ve done this here and in other places around the world, or for quite
some time. Secondly, though, the invitation was extended to the Black
Alliance for Peace,
to join the more than 800 international observers to come in and to lend
their eyes and ears to this process.
The rationale was that
I think the Venezuelan authorities understood that, despite the fact that this
election process in Venezuela is one of the cleanest in the world, one of
the most effective and efficient, then there was a strong possibility that if
the opposition did not win, then they were going to cry fraud. And so they
wanted to have a variety of different eyes on this process. So we were
accepted. So my role basically, here is partly as a journalist with the Black
Agenda Report, and also politically with the Black Alliance for Peace.
MK:
The election was held
on July 28. We’re talking two days later, and President Maduro’s
party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, in Spanish the PSUV, did
win a majority of votes with this process that you have described as being
transparent and internationally recognized. But no sooner were these results
announced than the U.S. government, not surprisingly, said that the
results were questionable, and there were allegations of fraud. And of course,
the opposition did not accept being defeated. Talk to us about events since the
election results were announced.
AB: Well, what we saw unfold was the
playbook that the U.S. has, when it comes to events in this region and
really around the world, that when there’s an attempt to have internal
democratic processes, where the possibility of forces that may not be in
alignment with the U.S. come into power, and there is an attempt on the part of
the U.S. and the Western European allies to undermine those processes. And
that’s exactly what has occurred here in this country.
I think the world was
forewarned that the possibility of violence erupting if the opposition didn’t
win, was something that had to be dealt with, and acknowledged. But even before
we talk about that, I wanted to just briefly share with the people who are
reading this interview, that the process will determine how people actually
vote here in this country. On the day of the election, we had an opportunity to
move around primarily around Caracas and right outside, to view the process of
various voting spaces and voting precincts, and what we saw was the process in
place.
They
have a pretty robust process to make sure that results cannot be manipulated by
any force. For example, the
first thing that a voter has to do when they get ready to vote is present their
ID, but then it has to be verified through a biometric process. When they are
identified they are given a slip of paper. And then they are able to cast their
vote electronically and to have a paper ballot to verify the fact that they in
fact, have voted. And that is to ensure that there that the electronic count
and the paper ballot count correspond.
And then during the
election process, the day of the vote, the government engages in audits really
before the voting takes place, but during the day of the voting, and afterward,
54% of the machines are randomly selected for audit, all of this is clearly
observed by opposition forces. Opposition forces are allowed to be in the
voting spaces to observe the process and to be present when they begin the
process of recording the votes at the end of the day. So it’s very difficult to
manipulate this process. And that’s why when Secretary of State Antony Blinken
talked about some counter data that they have, we want to hear what that data
is because I didn’t observe too many gringo elements out there, engaging in
interviews with voters to get a sense of what was really unfolding.
Now we know that, for
example, in this country, it is not legal to engage in these exit polls because
of how they can be used. So we suspect that this statement by Blinken is part
of the process of providing a narrative that would justify the violence that
the opposition is now starting up in the country. And again, this is part of
how the U.S. operates as an anti-democratic force. That basically the only
concern is maintaining the ability to manipulate and control processes in
various countries. Venezuela is a key country that they feel compelled to try
to control because of the role it plays in our region. So we have observed a process
that was clean, and efficient. We didn’t see any irregularities. And so again,
whatever information that the opposition has, along with their masters in the
U.S., that information needs to be revealed.
MK: I think we also need to talk about the role
that the corporate media plays in amplifying what the state says. I’m
looking at the New York Times right now and it says, “Venezuela’s authoritarian leader
was declared the winner of the country’s tumultuous presidential election. The
vote was riddled with irregularities and citizens were angrily protesting the
government’s actions at voting centers, even as the results were announced.”
Talk to us about The New York Times, The Washington Post,
and other news organizations in the country and how they work with the state
against governments that are declared enemies or adversaries.
AB: Well, you know that’s part of the
process. That’s the role that they play. These are not journalistic outlets,
these are propagandists posing as journalists, they have an ideological
mission, and their mission is to support and prop up the interests of the U.S.
and Western capital. So an experiment like Venezuela is a very threatening one.
So, undermining that process is their number one objective, and the way you
attempt to undermine that process is to attempt to de-legitimize it in the eyes
of the popular forces not only inside the country but globally. . . . MORE
World Support of the July 28
Election
|
“The world stands with Venezuela amid right-wing
destabilization campaign.”. Mronline.org (8-25-24). Originally published: Peoples Dispatch on August
20, 2024 (more by Peoples
Dispatch) . Culture, Inequality, Movements, StrategyAmericas, VenezuelaNewswire2024 Election, Venezuelan
President Nicolás Maduro On
August 17, in dozens of cities across the world, people’s movements, left
parties and trade unions, participated in an international day of action
in solidarity with Venezuela, facing right-wing coup
attempts and attacks on its electoral process following the
victory of sitting president Nicolás Maduro. The day of action is part of a
solidarity campaign “Defend democracy and sovereignty! Hands off Venezuela!”
that was launched on August 9 by the International Peoples’ Assembly, ALBA
Movimientos, the Simón Bolívar Institute, and the Assembly of Caribbean
People. . . . MORE (click on title) |
Ed Newman. “ALBA Movements: Neither cohabitation nor transition!
Venezuela has decided!”
Editor. mronline.org (8-20-24).
Originally published: Radio Havana Cuba, edited on August 16, 2024 by Ed Newman (more by Radio Havana Cuba, edited) | (Posted Aug 19, 2024). Movements, StrategyAmericas, VenezuelaNewswireALBA
Movements, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
On Friday, ALBA
Movements, an organization bringing together grassroots movements from 25
countries in the Americas, issued a statement rejecting the claims made by the
presidents of Colombia and Brazil, who proposed the formation of a cohabitation
government in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro was re-elected in the
July 28 elections. Below is the statement
from ALBA Movements. . . . MORE
“Venezuela is a marvelous country in
motion: The Thirty-Second Newsletter (2024).” Mronline.org (8-10-24).
By Vijay Prashad (Posted Aug 09, 2024). Venezuela’s
opposition yet again cries fraud in the 28 July presidential but fails to
provide evidence. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Chavistas, their
frustrations grounded in the understanding that the US-hybrid war is the root
of the crisis, take to the streets and chant no volverán: they [the oligarchy]
will not return.
Originally published: Tricontinental: Institute for Social
Research on August 8, 2024 (more by Tricontinental:
Institute for Social Research). Democracy, Movements, State Repression, StrategyAmericas, VenezuelaNewswireTricontinental
Newsletter
Dear friends,
Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental:
Institute for Social Research. I have been in Caracas, Venezuela, for the past two weeks,
before and after the presidential election on 28 July. In the run-up to the
election, two things became clear to me. First, the Chavistas (supporters of
Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian project that is now led by President Nicolás
Maduro) have the enormous advantage of an organised mass base. Second, knowing
that the odds were not in their favour, the opposition, led by far-right María
Corina Machado and the U.S. government, were already signalling defeat before
the election even took place by alleging that it would be fraudulent. Since at
least the 2004 recall referendum, when the opposition tried to remove Chávez
from office, it has become a right-wing cliché that the electoral system in
Venezuela is no longer fair.
Just after midnight on
election night, July 28 (Chávez’s seventieth birth anniversary), the National
Electoral Council (CNE) announced that, with 80% of the votes counted, there
was an irreversible trend: Maduro had won re-election. . . . MORE
Corporate Media Complicit in US Interference
in Other Countries’ Affairs
“Media Coverage of Venezuela’s Election
Normalizes US Interference” By Roger D. Harris and
Peter Bolton, Popular Resistance. 8-11-24. Corporate media's coverage of Venezuela’s
July 28 presidential election is akin to an investigation of a homicide
that is focused not with identifying the murderer but with an unpaid parking
ticket of the victim. Likewise, the media has shifted the narrative into
the minutia of electoral procedures, ignoring the much larger issue of US
interference in the internal affairs of another sovereign county. Nowhere
in the corporate media is there even an inkling that US-imposed regime-change
activities in Venezuela or elsewhere might violate some basic
principles. -more-
New York Times and other US Mainstream Media Complicit with US
Government and Right -Wing Governments and Groups Meddling with Venezuelan
Internal Affairs
US-Based Activists Mobilize To Say Hands
Off Venezuela!
By People's
Dispatch. Popular Resistance.org (8-11-24). On August 9, as a part of an international
call to action issued by ALBA Movimientos, the Simon Bolivar Institute, the
Assembly of Caribbean Peoples, and the International Peoples’ Assembly to
support Venezuela against US and mainstream media support for the attempted
coup against President Nicolas Maduro, dozens of activists gathered in front of
the New York Times building in New York City. The newspaper is
notorious for backing undemocratic coups in Venezuela. Since the election of
Maduro, the New York Times has joined the US government and
right-wing governments across Latin America in... -More-
“Hate:
A key strategy of the Venezuelan opposition.” mronline.org (9-27-20).
Psychologist
Fernando Giuliani analyses | more…
Fascism, Ideology, Imperialism, StrategyVenezuelaNewswireHate
Journalist Jimmy Lopez
Morillo, alongside psychologist Fernando Giuliani and sociologist Mariadela
Villanueva, discussed the “hate”
element in the Venezuelan opposition discourse and practice, the
retaliatory feelings of those who wish to annihilate the Bolivarian Revolution,
which have been overheating during the pandemic. In a video recently released on social media,
an anonymous performer sings a song expressly justifying the assassination
of Venezuela’s legitimate and constitutional president, Nicolas Maduro, by the
White House’s Donald Trump. The musical
garbage also sings about the prospect of killing other leaders of the
Bolivarian Revolution, with a message aiming to convince listeners that with
the extermination of Chavismo, all the evils suffered by our besieged
homeland would disappear overnight.
The distribution of
this type of grotesque production is not a coincidence, especially in the
context of Washington’s escalation in genocidal threats, which happens in collusion with the greasy
governments of Ivan Duque and Jair Bolsonaro in Colombia and Brazil,
respectively, as well as those at the forefront of the most extreme sectors of
the Venezuelan opposition. The
intention is to prepare the ground in the media, and especially
psychologically, so that people internalise the idea that foreign intervention
would be the best thing that could happen to the country and to the bulk of the
population in the current circumstances.
In the lyrics of the
aforementioned “song,” there is an intrinsic element that has been around with
significant intensity in the last two decades and which has intensified in
recent weeks: hatred became a tool used by the opposition in its efforts to regain
the power and privileges which it lost upon the arrival of Hugo Chavez. . .
. MORE
“Venezuelans To Vote On Continuing The
Bolivarian Revolution” By Roger D. Harris, Popular
Resistance. The future of
Venezuela’s 25-year-old socialist movement will be decided in the upcoming July
28 election. Venezuelans will go to the polls knowing that a vote for
incumbent President Nicolás Maduro means no relief from US unilateral
coercive measures. These so-called “sanctions” have been central to
Washington’s regime-change campaign explicitly designed to asphyxiate the
Venezuelan economy and turn the people against their government; what
Venezuelanalysis calls “a war without bombs.” Venezuela, with some 930
unilateral coercive measures imposed on it by the US... -more-
“Cyber warfare is at the center of the new
coup attempt against Venezuela.” Editor.
mronline.org (8-7-24).
By Misión Verdad (Posted Aug
06, 2024). Originally
published: MintPress News on August 3, 2024 (more
by MintPress News). Empire, Inequality, Internet, WarAmericas, United States, VenezuelaNewswire2024 Coup, Cyberattack, Election 2024, National Electoral Council (CNE), Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
Attacks on the
Venezuelan electoral system have reached the terrain of cyberwarfare, according
to the complaints made by President Nicolás Maduro, the authorities of the National
Electoral Council (CNE), and the Attorney General’s Office (MP).
The president of the
CNE, Elvis Amoroso, issued a second electoral bulletin on August 2 at noon,
where he also reported that there are still signs of massive computer
attacks from different parts of the world against the CNE and the
Venezuelan state-owned telecommunications companies, which has delayed the
transmission of the voting minutes and the announcement of electoral results. These
cyberattacks have been accompanied by the burning of CNE offices in various
states and centers for the transmission and reception of computations, causing
damage to the electoral infrastructure. Investigations
are ongoing and will be broadened after President Maduro introduced an
electoral contentions appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ).
However, with the
information available up to now, it is possible to tie up loose ends regarding
the depth and dimension of this aspect of the hybrid war against Venezuela in
the context of a new regime change operation.
Epicenter of cyberattacks
According to the
graphs and data published by computer expert Kenny Ossa on July 29, Venezuela
was one of the countries that suffered the highest number of cyberattacks in the world. . . . MORE
US SANCTIONS
“China Rejects US-Led Auction of
Venezuelan Company CITGO.”
Editor. mronline.org (6-22-24).
‘We oppose illegal U.S. unilateral
sanctions and far-reaching jurisdiction against Venezuela,’ Diplomat Lin
stated. On Tuesday, China strongly condemned the seizure of CITGO Petroleum
Corporation by U.S. authorities, calling the move a flagrant violation of
international law. “The forced sale constitutes a new episode of the
multifaceted aggression carried out by United States institutions against […]
Originally published: teleSUR on June 19, 2024 (more
by teleSUR) | (Posted Jun
21, 2024). Empire, Imperialism, Inequality, State
RepressionAmericas, Asia, China, United
States, VenezuelaNewswireCITGO.
‘We
oppose illegal U.S. unilateral sanctions and far-reaching jurisdiction
against Venezuela,’ Diplomat
Lin stated. On Tuesday, China strongly
condemned the seizure of CITGO Petroleum Corporation by U.S.
authorities, calling the move a flagrant violation of international law. “The forced sale constitutes a new episode
of the multifaceted aggression carried out by United States institutions
against Venezuela,” Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian
stated, urging Washington to lift the unilateral coercive sanctions
imposed on Venezuela, since they threaten the stability and development of that
nation.
“China firmly upholds
the United Nations Charter and the basic norms governing international
relations. We oppose illegal U.S. unilateral sanctions and far-reaching
jurisdiction against Venezuela.” MORE
“US Reimposes Illegal And Inhumane Oil
Sanctions On Venezuela” By Roger D. Harris, Popular Resistance. April 20, 2024-more-
The New
York Times Runs Cover.
A minute after midnight on April 18, the US
reimposed coercive economic measures designed to cripple Venezuela’s oil industry. Later that day, the US
Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a new sanctions bill on Nicaragua.
Meanwhile, Cuba protested the US’s six-decade blockade as talks resumed between the two countries on migration.
At a time of challenged US dollar hegemony and questioning of the neoliberal order,
the three countries striving to build socialist societies in the Americas pose
a “threat of a good example.”
Also on April 18, Biden announced new sanctions on Iran. Globally, Washington has imposed sanctions
on some forty countries. Because these unilateral coercive measures
are a form of collective punishment, they are considered illegal under international law. Even
the US Congressional Research Service recognizes sanctions have “failed” to achieve their regime-change
goals. Yet the empire’s perverse response is to do more of the same rather than
reverse course. “Once they are imposed, they become politically impossible to
lift without getting something in return,” observed The New York Times. The empire’s “newspaper of record” bewailed that Uncle Sam had “no choice” but to reign more misery on
the people of Venezuela even though sanctions do not achieve their purported
purpose. . . . MORE
“How
U.S. Sanctions Are a Tool of War: The Case of Venezuela.” Celina della Croce. Mronline.org (8-19-23). The
U.S. sanctions imposed
on Venezuela are by no means an isolated case, though they are some of the most
severe. If the U.S. can’t win with tanks and guns, it hopes that a campaign to
suffocate the people will expedite regime change.
. . .In a single
year, 40,000 people in Venezuela, like Francisco,
died as a result of the U.S. sanctions that have devastated the
country’s ability to import medicines and export key goods such as oil,
paralyzing the economy and stunting the country’s ability to meet the basic
needs of the population. The same year, another 300,000 people were at risk of
dying because they were not able to access essential medicines for diabetes,
cancer, HIV, kidney disease, and other treatable conditions for more than a
year. Many have left the country in search of accessible medicine, while many
others have died, as Alexis Bolívar of Rompiendo la Norma reported in the case of those with
HIV/AIDS, the brunt of which have been disproportionately borne by the LGBTQ+
community.
The timeline that I
have heard over and over again—from people of all political persuasions
including family members of patients, the wheelchair attendant who spoke to me
about the breaking-down elevators with missing doors, and members of communes
across the country—coincides with the years that the United States ramped up
its maximum pressure campaign against Venezuela under Donald Trump,
allegedly propelled by a concern for human rights over the country’s democracy
and electoral process. But not only has this rhetoric proved, again and again,
to be false—Trump himself dispelled the myth, declaring in June 2023: “When I left [office],
Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over. We would have
gotten all that oil. It would have been right next door.” This declaration
echoed a statement made by his secretary of state Mike
Pompeo four years earlier that “We always wish things could go faster.… The
circle is tightening, the humanitarian crisis is increasing by the hour.… You
can see the increasing pain and suffering that the Venezuelan people are
suffering from.”
Based on a bilateral
study of thirty-six other oil-producing countries, economist and opposition
supporter Francisco Rodriguez found that, beginning with Trump’s 2017
blanket sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector, “the collapse in Venezuela’s oil
production is of a dimension seen only when armies blow up oil fields,”
explaining that “the only country that suffered a change in trend similar to
Venezuela in that period was Yemen, whose oil fields were the target of a Saudi
bombing campaign at the time. . . .”
MORE
ANYA PARAMPIL. CORPORATE COUP:
Venezuela and the End of US Empire. 2024.
Publisher’s
description: “The Spectacular Failure of a Coup in
Venezuela Heralds the End of American Empire.”
“Boots
on ground, credible, essential reading”—Roger Waters
“Progressive and great journalism”—Oliver Stone
“Epitomizes the best in the American tradition of politically committed
investigative reporting, hearkening back to the times of Upton Sinclair”—Francisco
Rodríguez
Corporate
Coup looks
at the attempted overthrow of the elected government of Venezuela, an
intervention which, despite open backing by the United States, failed
spectacularly.
In January of 2019, the Trump Administration
recognized a little-known opposition lawmaker named Juan Guaidó as
President of Venezuela. While Washington’s history of coups in Latin America is
well-documented, this step was unprecedented: Never before had the United
States offered legal recognition to a new government before an actual change in
leadership had taken place.
Within months it became clear that the attempt
at regime change had fallen flat: all Venezuelan territory, government
ministries, and the country’s military remained under the control of President
Nicolás Maduro. While US officials, notably Trump’s Venezuela Envoy Elliott
Abrams, boasted that roughly 54 countries had followed Washington’s lead in
recognizing Guaidó’s authority, the vast majority of United Nations member
states rejected the attempted coup. Four years on, Venezuela’s government is
firmly in place and Guaidó is nowhere to be seen.
In this fast-paced story, investigative reporter
Anya Parampil provides a narrative history of the Chavista revolution and
offers character sketches of the figures who took over its leadership after
Hugo Chávez’s death in 2014. She shows how Guaidó’s shadow regime consisted of
individuals with deep connections to transnational corporations that
sought to overturn the revolution and exploit Venezuela’s resources. In
particular she uncovers their plot to steal Citgo Petroleum, the
country’s most valuable international asset. Corporate Coup exposes
the hidden personalities and interests driving US policy on Venezuela,
revealing that while the recognition of Guaidó failed at changing reality on
the ground in Caracas, it succeeded in facilitating the unprecedented
looting of the country’s extensive foreign reserves.
This gripping story from
Venezuela shines light on the grim, shadowy character of a US foreign policy
that tramples on democratic norms around the globe. And it points to a dramatic consequence of such
policy: the rise of a new, multipolar world heralding the end of US empire.
“Communication by and for the People: A
conversation with Thierry Deronne (Part I).” mronline.org (1-19-24). A documentary filmmaker and teacher Thierry Deronne
tells the story of Venezuela’s groundbreaking community media movement.
Interviewed by Cira
Pascual Marquina (Posted Jan
18, 2024)
Originally published: Venezuelananlysis on January 5, 2024 (more
by Venezuelananlysis). Culture, Education, Movements, StrategyAmericas, VenezuelaInterview, NewswireThierry Deronne
Thierry Deronne is a Belgian-born filmmaker who has long
accompanied working-class and campesino struggles in Latin America. In the
mid-1990s in Venezuela, he fostered popular media and educational projects, and
later played a key role in the community television movement during the
Bolivarian Revolution. Deronne is currently a professor at the National
University of the Arts [Unearte]. His most recent documentary is Nostálgicas del futuro, a film about working-class feminism in
Venezuela.
In Part One of this
two-part interview, Deronne talks about
the philosophy driving the community media movement earlier this century
and the different experiments in communication that went along with it. In Part
Two, Deronne will discuss the future of popular communication, and
specifically his current project: the Escuela Popular de Cine y Teatro Hugo
Chávez [Hugo
Chávez Popular Cinema and Theater School]. . . .
MORE
CODEPINK:
“Tell Biden Unfreeze Venezuela’s funds!
12-5-23
Dear President Biden,
We are writing to
express our deep concern about the Venezuelan funds still frozen by U.S sanctions, funds that are intended for humanitarian purposes. A year ago,
a humanitarian agreement was reached between the Venezuelan government and the
opposition, promising to use these funds for much-needed programs in health,
education, food security, and electricity, all under the administration of the
United Nations. Regrettably, these funds have not yet been released.
We are appalled by
this unfortunate reality, as the withheld funds are derived from the assets
that belong to the Venezuelan people. We request your immediate action in
releasing the funds designated for these critical humanitarian aid programs.
We strongly believe
that misguided U.S. policies are not only hurting the Venezuelan people but
have created the crisis of migration from Venezuela. Unjustly punishing a
nation for political differences is counterproductive and unethical.
We, therefore, call on
your administration to take a lead role in rectifying these wrongs by not only releasing
the frozen funds unconditionally but also lifting all sanctions
imposed on Venezuela.
According to Francisco
Rodriguez, around
half the Venezuelan
economy’s contraction since 2012 can be attributed to U.S.-led sanctions.
Living standards deteriorated sharply after the Trump administration cut off
Venezuela’s oil industry from international financial
markets in 2017. The
recession in the country deepened when Washington further restricted
Venezuela’s access to oil markets and transferred control of the government’s
foreign assets to the opposition in 2019.
We urge you to
implement policies that form positive relationships across Latin America and
the Caribbean. From migration, the war on drugs, poverty and the environment —
we only stand to benefit from a policy that is based on peace, cooperation, and
respect.
Sincerely, CODEPINK
“Venezuela: Gov’t to
launch China-backed anti-poverty program.” Editor. mronline.org
(9-24-23). The Social Equality and Happiness Mission
will adapt the Chinese experience to the Caribbean country’s reality to
alleviate poverty and inequality.
Originally published: Venezuelanalysis.com on September 21, 2023 by Andreína Chávez Alava (more by Venezuelanalysis.com). (Posted Sep
23, 2023).
Culture, Health, Human Rights, StrategyAmericas, Asia, Caribbean, China, VenezuelaNewswireChina’s
International Poverty Reduction Center, Chinese
Communist Party (CCP), International
Labor Organization (ILO), President
Nicolas Maduro, Social
Equality and Happiness Mission, Venezuela’s
special economic zones (SEZs)
The Venezuelan
government has announced a new social program focused on fighting poverty and
inequality, which will be supported by China’s International Poverty
Reduction Center.
On Monday, during his
weekly TV program, President Nicolás Maduro said that the “Social Equality and Happiness
Mission” was “almost ready” to be launched and its main purpose is to “optimize
the fight against inequality, against poverty and to build a more harmonious
country.” MORE
colonialism and
imperialism.
“Venezuela,
the decolonial alternative: A conversation with Ramón Grosfoguel (Part I).” Interviewed by Cira Pascual Marquina.
Mronline.org (8-15-23). A distinguished author from the decolonial
tradition discusses the relationship between colonialism and imperialism.
Originally published: Venezuelanalysis.com on August 4, 2023 (more
by Venezuelanalysis.com). Culture, Imperialism, Movements, State RepressionAmericas, VenezuelaInterview, NewswireBolivarian Project, Neoliberalism, Part 1, Ramón Grosfoguel
Ramón
Grosfoguel is a Puerto Rican
intellectual recognized for his work on the decolonization of knowledge and
power. In this exclusive interview, Grosfoguel talks about the living links
between the colonial and the neocolonial systems, the problematic legacy of
the colonial past in Venezuela’s present, and U.S. imperialism’s neocolonialism
in relation to Venezuela.
Cira
Pascual Marquina: As a country besieged
by imperialism, one of the pending tasks in Venezuela is to understand what you
call the “coloniality of power.” What is the coloniality of power and its
relationship with Eurocentrism?
Ramón
Grosfoguel: The European
colonial project is about economic expansion, but it also has a civilizatory
dimension. At one point, when the colonial epicenter was Europe, when it was
expanding at a world scale, the colonialists not only extracted wealth from the
colonies, but they also destroyed the civilizations they encountered and
imposed their own. In other words, when we talk about colonial powers, we are
talking about the multiple power structures that were put in place during
European colonial expansion.
How did they do it?
They imposed Christendom as a cosmology and as a religion by force. Racial
domination was also applied wherever they went, and they brought structures of
political authority through their colonial administration. This included
top-down hierarchies, military domination, and Christian patriarchy.
The colonialists
enforced the international division of labor that favors the center and divides
the periphery. They did all this violently, imposing various forms of forced
labor in the periphery, and exercising direct control over the market with
economic, political, and military mechanisms.
In my work, I identify
sixteen hierarchies of power that were exported by European colonialists.
Wherever they arrived, Europeans brought colonial structures of domination that
had an important epistemological component. And precisely that’s where Eurocentrism
comes into the picture.
The colonial project
imposed its own structures of knowledge that were centered in Europe and were
undeniably Eurocentric. . . .
MORE click on title
“Venezuela Denounces U.S. ‘piracy’ after presidential jet
confiscated.” Editor. mronline.org
(9-7-24).
The Venezuelan government said the seizure
was “not an isolated action” and that it reserved the right to take legal
action in response.
Originally published: Venezuelananlysis on September 3, 2024 by José Luis Granados Ceja (more
by Venezuelananlysis) | (Posted Sep
06, 2024). Inequality, State
Repression, StrategyAmericas, United
States, VenezuelaNewswire.
Venezuela accused
Washington of “piracy” after a jet used by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
was reportedly seized in the Dominican Republic and transferred to Florida. On Monday, the U.S. government confiscated
the Dassault Falcon 900EX used by Maduro on official trips, on the grounds that its purchase violates a Trump-era Executive Order
that bars U.S. persons from business transactions with Venezuelan government
representatives. The Maduro government
reacted by condemning “recurring criminal practices” from the U.S. . . . . MORE
[See OMNI anthologies on meddling.]
SOURCES FOR VENEZUELA ANTHLOGIES #5 AND #6
This
list provides significant evidence of the one-sidedness of US mainstream media
reporting on US (constructed) enemies. I
had to go all around the world to find these publications, since presumably
many could not find publication in US media.
About Face: Veterans against War
Black Agenda Report
Caitlin Johnstone
CEPR
CodePink
Consortium News
Corporate Coup (book)
Covert Action Magazine
Extra!
Extraordinary Threat (book)
MintPress News
Morning Star
Mronline.org
Multipolarista
Newswire
Orinoco Tribune
People’s Dispatch
Popular Resistance
Radio Havana Cuba
teleSUR
Tricontinental
UN Report on San ctions
Venezuelananlysis
Viviremos: Venezuela vs. Hybrid War (book)
(Popular Resistance and mronline.org
transmitted many of the articles in Nos. 5 and 6.)
CONTENTS VENEZUELA #5
US WAR AGAINST VENEZUELA
De La Cruz, et al. Viviremos:
Venezuela vs. Hybrid War.
Ensberger and Podur. Extraordinary Threat: The U.S. Empire,
the Media, and 20 Years of Coup Attempts in Venezuela.
“Biden Extends U.S. Campaign to Crush Venezuela.” (5
articles).
Alan MacLeod. “…US Plans for War and Terror against Venezuela.”
Dan Beeton. “The Venezuelan Coup, 20 Years Later.”
Ryan Swan. “Venezuela Seeks Investigation [of war crimes] by ICC.”
“Alex Saab Is Being Tortured….”
Ricardo Vaz. US Meddling in Elections.
Jonathan Ng. “The US Is…Strangling Venezuela.”
UN Special Rapporteur Alena Douhan Reports on US v. Human Rights in Venezuela.
Douhan. “Call for Sanctions Relief.”
Andreina Chavez Alava. “UN Expert…Impact of U.S.-led Sanctions
against Venezuela.”
Ana Perdigon. “U.S. Seditious Policy against Venezuela.”
Lucas Koerner. “U.S. Empire’s Fixation with Chavismo.”
Ricardo Vaz. Extraditing Venezuelan Envoy to US.
“U.S…Using Guaido to Rob Venezuela.”
Cira Pasqual Marquina. Venezuela’s Communal Past.
Emersberger and Podur. Myth of Venezuela’s Prosperous and Democratic
Past.
“The Blockade against Venezuela…Deadly Impact of Sanctions.”
Emersberger. Alex Saab Case.
Caitlin Johnstone. US History of Interfering with Elections.
SUPPORT OF VENEZUELA
Legacy of Hugo Chavez
Lives On. (2 articles)
Leonardo Flores. “Five Reasons the Left Won in Venezuela.”
Vargas and Sonja. Venezuela’s Insurrectionist and Communal Past.
Mision Verdad. FAO Food Report on Venezuela Is Positive.
Ben Norton. “Venezuela’s Economy Will Grow. . .in 2022.”
Ociel Lopez. “Venezuela and the New Latin Left.”
Morning Star. “…Maduro’s Successful Socialist…Strategy.”
Cira Pascual Marquine. “Radical Land Reform…”
Federico Fuentes. “’Commune or Nothing’….”
Dakotah Lily. “…Ecosocialism in an Oil-Rich State.”
Jovanni. “…DemilitarizedU on Venezuelan Elections.”
END VENEZUELA ANTHOLOGY #6
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