Stand by Venezuela!

Last year Donald Trump told the world he deserved to get the Nobel Peace Prize. A few weeks ago he dubbed himself the “President of Peace”. Now he seems to have had second thoughts. He’s kicked off the New Year by raiding Caracas to seize the Venezuelan leader for a show trial in New York on trumped up charges of drug trafficking. He says he’s going to “run” Venezuela and take all their oil. He tells us that Colombia and Cuba are next on the list along with Greenland, which is an autonomous part of Denmark – an American ally and member of NATO. He justifies all this by saying he’s applying a modernised version of the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, which asserts Washington’s “right” to control the entire Western Hemisphere, that he now modestly calls the “Donroe” doctrine.

We’ll he can kiss his Nobel prize goodbye though this immensely vain man doubtless now imagines that throwing his weight around in the Caribbean puts him in the same league as Alexander the Great and Napoleon. Others dismiss him as a senile old man with delusions of grandeur. But at the end of the day it’s not what Trump thinks that counts – it’s what those who put him back into the White House want.
The Trump administration seeks to “Make America Great Again”, largely at the expense of its own allies, and boost American manufacturing through tariffs and protectionism while using secret diplomacy, military force and economic blackmail to achieve its goals. Gone are the days of the “West”, the “special relationship” and the “new world order”. British and Franco-German imperialism once believed that accepting American leadership would give them a share of the spoils.  But the “West” has gone. They can scrabble around with their “coalition of the willing” all they like. They’ll get nothing from Trump & Co.
American “isolationism” means Big Oil, Silicon Valley, Aerospace and the rest of their manufacturing sector. It’s the other side of the reactionary coin – the thinking of those sections of the American ruling class that realise that world domination is beyond their grasp and so seek to restore their hegemony in the Americas  and much of the Global South while maintaining their control of the world’s oil and energy market. But even this may soon prove to be beyond their reach.
When the Americans moved to normalise relations with People’s China in 1972 the Chinese side stressed that “wherever there is oppression, there is resistance. Countries want independence, nations want liberation and the people want revolution – this has become the irresistible trend of history”.
It was true then and it’s true now. Most of the Donbas is free. The Ukrainian fascists are on their last legs. The Israelis have failed to crush the Palestinian resistance in Gaza. The Venezuelan government has not collapsed. 
The world communist movement says imperialist aggression must be confronted. Maduro must be immediately and unconditionally freed and all the revolutionary, working-class and popular forces of the world must mobilise and express active solidarity with the Venezuelan people resisting American aggression.

Down with the Imperialist boot in Venezuela and Latin America!

Joint Statement by Communist and Workers’ Parties

 
The undersigned Communist and Workers’ Parties strongly condemn the criminal bombings carried out by the United States against the city of Caracas and other areas of Venezuela in the early hours of 3 January. This military imperialist attack constitutes a serious violation of the sovereignty of an independent state and is directed against the interests of the people of Venezuela and other peoples of the region. 
The operation included the illegal and violent arrest, transfer, and imprisonment in the USA of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, an unacceptable and reprehensible act that violates every concept of international law, effectively rendering it meaningless. Consequently, we demand his immediate release. 
This attack is not an isolated incident, but rather the culmination of years of sanctions, threats, blockades, and destabilization efforts. The real objective was never the defence of human rights, nor the supposed fight against drug trafficking, nor the rhetoric of “democracy”, all of which serve merely as pretexts. The true aim has been the direct imposition of the geopolitical and economic interests of US imperialism in Venezuela and the region, within the context of the struggle among capitalist powers for control over energy resources, strategic raw materials, trade routes, and markets. 
In a cynical and shameless manner, Donald Trump declared that the United States would "run" Venezuela until a so-called “transition” was completed. This statement exposes the imperialist nature of his plan and confirms the real motives behind this aggression: the control of Venezuela’s oil and natural resources and the imposition of his plan for economic, political, and military control over the entire continent. We categorically reject this plan of imposition and this so-called democracy enforced through the use of armed force. 
We warn that Venezuela is being used as an example, and that a strong response is required to confront imperialist aggression, which has been carried out in such a brutal manner and with barbaric military means against the people of Venezuela and all the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. 
We demand an immediate end to the military aggression against Venezuela, the withdrawal of US troops from the Caribbean, and full respect for the sovereignty, self-determination, and territorial integrity of the Venezuelan people.
We call upon the revolutionary, working-class, and popular forces of the world to mobilize and express active solidarity with Venezuela against this new bellicose escalation of attacks by US imperialism. 
We condemn the direct threats issued by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio against Cuba following the intervention in Venezuela, and we express our solidarity with the people and the Communist Party of Cuba. 
 
Unity of the peoples against imperialist barbarity! 
Proletarians of all countries, unite! 

 
SolidNet Parties signing the Joint Statement
 

1. PADS, Algeria
2. Communist Party of Australia
3. Party of Labour of Austria
4. Communist Party of Bangladesh
5. Brazilian Communist Party
6. Communist Party of Britain
7. New Communist Party of Britain
8. Communist Party of Canada
9. Socialist Workers' Party of Croatia
10. Communist Party of Bohemia & Moravia
11. Communist Party of Denmark
12. Communist Party of Ecuador
13. Egyptian Communist Party
14. Communist Party of El Salvador
15. Communist Party of Greece
16. Communist Party of India 
17. Iraqi Communist Party
18. Communist party of Kurdistan-Iraq 
19. Tudeh Party of Iran
20. Communist Party of Ireland
21. Workers Party of Ireland
22. Communist Party of Israel
23. Jordanian Communist Party
24. Socialist Movement of Kazakhstan
25. Lebanese Communist Party
26. Communist Party of Mexico
27. New Communist Party of the Netherlands
28. Communist Party of Norway
29. Paraguayan Communist Party
30. Palestinian Communist Party
31. Palestinian People Party
32. Romanian Socialist Party
33. Communists of Serbia
34. Communist Party of the Workers of Spain
35. Sudanese Communist Party
36. Communist Party of Sweden
37. Swiss Communist Party
38. Syrian Communist Party
39. Syrian Communist Party [Unified]
40. Communist Party of Turkey
41. Communist Party of Ukraine
42. Union of communists of Ukraine
43. Communist Party USA
44. Communist Party of Venezuela

 

Other Parties

1. Argentinian Communist Party
2. New Communist Party of Australia
3. Revolutionary Brazilian Communist Party
4. Patriotic Movement Manuel Rodríguez, Chile
5. National Commission for the Reorganization of the Communist Party of Ecuador
6. Revolutionary Communist Party of France
7. Revolutionary Party - Communists (France)
8. Communist Party (Germany)
9. Communist Front (Italy)
10. Organisation of Communists, Russia
11. Russian Communist Party (Internationalists)
12. Communist Workers' Platform USA

 

 

Hands off Venezuela!

 

By New Worker correspondent

Last Saturday Theo Russell represented the New Communist Party at a rally in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin demanding “Hands off Venezuela”, organised by the Coop Anti-war Café.
Speakers at the rally included Nancy Larenas from the Communist Party of Chile, Maren Crosnest and Renate Döhring from the United Front for Latin America, Heinrich Buecker from the Anti-war Café, and Cornelia Praetorius from Mothers against War.
In his contribution Theo Russell said that “Five or ten years ago, some people were comparing the current world situation with the 1930s, but it is now clear that the capitalist system is now in a deep and very dangerous crisis”.
He noted that across Western Europe the old political order was crumbling with new right wing parties gaining millions of votes, but said “we also need to be positive, last year we saw the far-right anti-migrant, anti-Muslim rioters in Britain vastly outnumbered by people from the local communities, we have seen millions marching on solidarity with the people of Palestine, and two weeks ago over five million people protesting in cities across the United States against Donald Trump’s repressive and autocratic policies”.
The Coop Anti-war Café  runs a café, gallery, shop and meeting venue two blocks from the Alexanderplatz at 3 Rochstrasse and it is usually open from Monday to Saturday from 5.30 pm to 2 am, however it’s best to confirm before visiting by emailing: info@hbuecker.net or calling 0049 15154 161869. It has been a centre for organising anti war and political action for 25 years.

Using Hunger as a weapon

 By Arnold August

A ship containing 25,000 tons of soy products which was in the Panama Canal heading to Venezuela was just seized due to the US blockade. The US is using hunger as a weapon,

So declared Cuban President Díaz-Canel in his 28^th July speech at the Foro de São Paolo in Caracas. It is not the first time that Cuba, through its leaders and revolutionary press, has made such an affirmation. Furthermore, in a modest and unassuming way, so has Venezuela. No doubt similar declarations will be made in the future. The fate of Venezuela is still being played out, even though the Bolivarian Revolution and its President, Nicolas Maduro, have defeated every single attempt by the US and by Venezuela’s external and internal enemies to overthrow the government.

Some supporters in Caracas of both the Cuban Revolution and the Bolivarian Revolution questioned whether Cuba should also be honoured for standing in that first trench.

The writer of these lines believes that the answer is “yes and no.” Since 1959, Cuba has solidly positioned itself – and likewise been designated by the world anti-imperialist movement – as proudly standing upright in that first trench as far as Latin America is concerned. Moreover, the international left consensus continuously and correctly reminds us that the Cuban Revolution has primarily been holding that banner courageously aloft on its very own.

Even though other important breakthroughs have occurred, nothing compares to the rise of Hugo Chávez and the fledgling Bolivarian Revolution through the December 1998 elections.

And in the wake of this watershed in Latin American history arose the development of regional integration, which would not have been possible without Chávez together with that other Latin American giant, Fidel Castro. Thus, one can say that both Cuba and Venezuela occupied that coveted (but not sought-after) first trench standing on the same footing.

However, as a result of the first coup attempt against the Maduro government on 23^rd January 2019, everything changed. The ripple effect not only hit Latin America but also, to a large extent, the world.

Never before in decades on this planet have we witnessed such a US-led international, sustained, vicious and coordinated economic, political and diplomatic media disinformation/lying campaign against a government and its leader – in this case, President Maduro – as we have seen over the last six months (and ongoing).

To put this in context by taking definite time frames, one can recall the “Black Spring” media war against Cuba in 2003 over the arrest of mercenaries, the so-called “dissidents.” However, this was nothing compared with Venezuela in 2019. After a relatively short period of time, the controversy over Cuba fizzled out on its own.

As far as personalising a media war by targeting an individual leader, what comes to mind is the “blitzkrieg” in much of the international media against the persona of Fidel Castro after he passed away on 25^th November 25, 2016.

Like starving sharks sensing blood, much of the mainstream media carried out a virtual non-stop, ten-day campaign. It centred around the theme that the “dictator” had passed away and so finally Cuba could come to its senses and liberate itself from socialism, its political system, and make concessions to the US in order to “be deserving of” better relations.

But it lasted only while the Cuban people laid their leader to rest. It soon became clear that Cuba would remain on the same path it had chosen to take since 1959. The time span was not more than about two weeks. It was, thereafter, business as usual.

These and other examples are relatively minor compared with the current 2019 anti-Maduro campaign.

Cuba defeated the mercenary US-backed military invasion at the Bay of Pigs in 1961 at a time when the Revolution was already solidly in power and did not share any political or economic power with pro-American forces. Close to 60 years after the Bay of Pigs, the US is still licking its wounds. It knows that it cannot – and will not – dare to attempt a military coup in Cuba or invade the island. Whether or not the US likes it, the military option for Cuba is not on the table.

The situation in Venezuela, however, is different. While the civic–military union is solid, a military intervention in Venezuela is still possible – and it is always on the American table. For example, during the Foro, while meeting with parliamentarians on 28^th July, one of the Bolivarian Revolution’s main leaders, Diosdado Cabello, said, “It is probable that the US Marines will enter Venezuela; the problem for them, however, is how they are going to leave [alive].”

Even though some of the important Trump allies in the Lima Group do not approve of a military solution, how much weight does this hold in the balance when all these allies fully support regime change?

Let us take one example to draw a distinction between Cuba’s and Venezuela’s situation from the author’s own country. It is still very “fashionable” in Canada at all levels of society and in the mainstream media to oppose the US blockade against Cuba and refrain from open regime change rhetoric. However, the US-led media war against Venezuela is so powerful and all=encompassing in Canada that it is “fashionable” in this country to repeat all the American lies and swallow hook, line and sinker the US narrative against Venezuela and especially its leader, Maduro.

Venezuela is thus indeed in the first trench of the anti-imperialist struggle. In the course of a meeting on 4^th February 2019 with a small foreign delegation in Caracas, Maduro pointed out to us that Venezuela was not seeking the honour of being the epicentre of the international anti-imperialist battle. However, invoking Vietnam, he drew the historical parallel and stated that Venezuela is indeed up to the challenge.

Yes, Venezuela is in the first trench. However, as Díaz-Canel pointed out, the U.S. is also targeting Cuba and Nicaragua.

Thus, due to its repeatedly stubborn refusal to abandon Venezuela despite US attempts to starve Cuba into submission and take the road of treason, Cuba is indeed, in a manner of speaking, sharing that first trench with Venezuela. Yet, Venezuela ranks first there, up front, not by its own choice, but rather because of a situation forced upon it by the US and its allies. The Bolivarian Revolution holds its head up, courageously peering over the trench and ready to take that first bullet, if need be – but not without a fitting response.

SOLIDARITY WITH THE BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION

The European Network of Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution expresses its support to the Venezuelan people and to the constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro Moros as legitimate president, democratically elected last May 20 2018, with 67.80% of the valid votes. Electoral process that counted on the participation of opposition candidates, and with an electorate that exceeded the 9 million. Accordingly, it agrees:
1. To make a call to defend the peace of Venezuela.
2. To defend the democratic institutionality in Venezuela that expressed its sovereign decision on May 20, 2018, in a free, transparent presidential election accompanied by international observers.
3. To recognise the exercise and legitimacy of all the public authorities with strict adherence to the laws and the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic, in the exercise of the participative democracy and leading of the Venezuelan people.
4. To express our solidarity firmly to the Venezuelan people in defending their sovereignty and their right to resolve their internal affairs in peace and in exercising their right to self-determination.
5. Categorically reject foreign interference in the internal affairs of the nation, and in particular the statements of incitement to violence in the country by the United States of America, the group of Lima and the OAS in the person of its Secretary-General Luís Almagro.
6. Categorically reject any attempt at coup d'état in the country imposing by force or coercion figures of alleged authority that are not derived from the popular vote as the self-proclaimed John Guaidó.
7. To require the United States of America, the European Union, the Swiss Confederation and Canada, respect for international law and the immediate lifting of illegal economic sanctions and which dramatically affect the Venezuelan people.
8. To demand to the United Kingdom the return to Venezuela of the reserves of 14 tonnes of gold still withheld without justification in the Bank of England, to demand to Belgium the return of US $1650 million retained in Euroclear, and to demand to the United States the return of the Goods and money from Venezuelan Citgo.
9. We alert the international community to the intention of the United States government to instrumentalise humanitarian law by manipulating humanitarian aid to justify military intervention in Venezuela.
10. We support the proposal of the dialogue to resolve the differences between the different political forces of Venezuela. governments of Uruguay, Mexico, the Caricom countries and the Vatican to promote a process of dialogue to resolve the differences between the different political forces of Venezuela.

 London 9th March 2019



ORGANISATIONS:

1. ALBA Malta North África Coord.
2. Alba Suiza
3. Alianza País-Ecuador
4. Amor Guatemala
5. Asociación ARLAC
6. Assange Défense League
7. Bolivia Solidarity Campaign
8. Colectivo AJI
9. Colectivo En Amigos, Paris
10. Colombia Humana
11. Comité Lula Livre UK - FREE LULA
12. Congreso de los Pueblos
13. Coordinadora de Solidaridad con Latinoamérica
14. DIDEPU
15. EPSR
16. GPPUK
17. Green Party
18. Grupo Suma Qamaña
19. Hands off Venezuela
20. LAB
21. Labour Councillor
22. Labour Party
23. MERU
24. Partido Comunista Chileno Acción Proletaria -Bélgica
25. Partido Suizo del Trabajo
26. Revolutionary Communist Group
27. SORTU
28. Suiza-Cuba
29. The New Communist Party (NCPB)
30. Venesol
31. Venezuela Solidarity Campaign

European Countries attendees to the event:

Bélgica
Francia
Inglaterra
Malta
País Vasco
Suiza

Letter from Venezuela

By Theo Russell

A Letter from Venezuela was screened at the Bolívar Hall in London last week. It is an inspiring film which shows that, despite systematic sabotage and violence, the support for Maduro and the Bolivarian revolution is a mass phenomenon, and full of energy and determination.

The soon-to-released film was directed by Carolina Graterol, who lives in London and who visited Venezuela after several years away when her sister died of malaria.

She travelled all over the country, filming the ordinary people of the cities and countryside. One of the most interesting aspects is hearing many Venezuelans describing not only the problems they face but how they are overcoming them.

An example of the mass support is a spontaneous 150 mile peasant march to Caracas, simply to show their support for Nicolás Maduro, with chants of “Let’s Go, Nico!”.

It won’t surprise our readers to hear that everything reported in the British media about Venezuela is false. Shortages of certain foods and products have been deliberately created but there was absolutely no sign in the film of “starvation”.

People, especially the young, are going abroad, but this is for economic reasons, lack of jobs and the pressures of life in Venezuela.

In the 20 years since Hugo Chavez came to power, the USA has used in Venezuela many of the tactics against Allende’s Chile.

The extreme opposition violence includes horrific scenes of setting Maduro supporters on fire, the bombing of police, kidnappings, and the ‘Guarimbas’ – opposition roadblocks using tyre spikes, burning tyres and tripwires.

Activists point out the similarities of these tactics with those recently seen in Nicaragua and the 2014 Ukraine coup, where in both cases puppet groups were trained by the USA in sophisticated street-fighting methods.

Historically Venezuela has been one of Latin America’s most racially and economically divided countries. Whilst the population is far more racially mixed then other Latin America countries, over 99 per cent of the rich elite are white Europeans.

One activist describes “a regrowth of fascism” and says that pro-opposition doctors have waged a campaign to deliberately sterilise poor women.

The US-led economic war on Venezuela is on a massive scale. Ships from Britain, the USA, Germany and Italy have joined the trade blockade. After the death of Hugo Chavez in 2013 western countries began a campaign of disinvestment and risk agencies have pushed interest rates on loans to Venezuela to 50 per cent.

There is constant sabotage of food, electricity, gas, water and medical supplies, either physical or cyber, and massive hoarding by private businesses to inflate prices.

Leaked reports on ‘Operation Venezuela Freedom 2’, drawn up in 2017 by US Southern Command in Panama, describe plans to “siege and suffocate”, portray Venezuela as “close to collapse/imploding”, and to link Maduro’s government to corruption and money laundering.

The plan shows preparations for rapid military intervention from US bases in Panama, Honduras, the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curaçao, and six bases in neighbouring Colombia.

But the film also shows how Venezuelans are resisting the sabotage, and the huge advances for the poor, the indigenous peoples and the disabled since 1999. A disabled citizen describes how rights for disabled people in the new constitution are a model for the rest of Latin America.

There has been huge investment in education; and 2.5 million new houses have been built since 2015. Staple foods are sold at government prices and monthly food boxes sent to poor families.

We see the determination of Venezuelans to overcome the sabotage and shortages with new, self-reliant forms of production, abandoned factories expropriated, and equipment and parts being repairing or reverse engineered.

The energy and enthusiasm of the Venezuelan masses for Chavismo, and their music and songs, are contrasted with the weakness of the openly divided opposition.

As one activist says: “The dictatorship we have is that of the media. We have no dictatorship here!”

And another puts the struggle in context, saying: “Fighting imperialism is long-winded but they cannot defeat us.”

The message of this film is a positive one: whatever the USA tries, it cannot defeat the Bolivarian revolution.

Stand by Venezuela!

 The American cyber-attack on Venezuela’s national power grid is the latest  chapter in the less than covert attempt by US imperialism to bring down the Maduro government and destroy the Bolivarian revolution.

For nearly four days, most of Venezuela was blacked-out bringing the country’s embattled economy to a near standstill. Though power is now returning reactionary American politicians have rushed to celebrate the imperialist sabotage that deprived the population of an essential basic service; left hospitals without the power they require to work and disrupted other basic services which are indispensable in the everyday-life of the masses such as food, water supply, transportation, communications, public safety, trade, bank transactions and payments using credit cards.

The sabotage perpetrated against the power supply system in Venezuela, was an act of terror against the defenceless population of an entire nation and turn it into a hostage of the non-conventional war launched by US imperialism against the legitimate government of Nicolás Maduro and the civic and military union of the Bolivarian and Chavista people.

But the Venezuelan people have closed ranks around the Maduro government and the Chavista revolution that has dared to stand up to the might of US imperialism to empower working people to take power into their own hands.

Every step that the Trump clan and their Venezuelan hirelings take has been thwarted by the Venezuelan people. Every attempt by US imperialism and its Latin American agents to impose its will on the country has been exposed as a plot by the CIA and its local placemen to achieve “regime change” in Venezuela.

The May government has joined in Donald Trump’s crusade against Venezuela by ordering the “independent” Bank of England to withholding $1.2 billion in Venezuelan gold in yet another attempt to curry favour with the White House.

 Grovelling to the Americans, of course, comes as second nature to Tories who believe that the global interests of the British ruling class are best preserved through the might of US imperialism. It’s a view also shared by the Blairites on the Labour backbenches and, indeed, by some who pose as Corbyn supporters who mask their support for imperialism with phoney talk about “human rights”, “democracy” and “humanitarian aid”.

Last month communist and workers’ parties, including the New Communist Party, condemned the imperialist plans of the USA, the European Union and their allies in Latin America to overthrow the legally elected Maduro government and get their greedy hands on Venezuela’s oil and gold assets.

The world communist movement condemned the latest provocations of US imperialism and stated that any attempted coup or imperialist attack will be opposed, not only by “the people of Venezuela, but also by the communist and workers’ parties – the working class and people’s movement all around the world!

“Loyal to the principles of proletarian Internationalism we express our solidarity with the people of Venezuela. Only the people of Venezuela have the capacity to decide on the internal affairs of their country. We express our solidarity with the Communist Party of Venezuela, the Communist Youth of Venezuela and other Venezuelan anti-imperialist forces that struggle under difficult conditions to defend the people’s interests”.