https://www.workers.org/2019/01/24/workers-world-party-statement-u-s-hands-off-venezuela/

Workers World Party calls on the movement here in the U.S. to unite in the streets to defend the elected Nicolás Maduro government of Venezuela against Washington’s blatant coup attempt, aimed at rolling back the gains made by the Bolivarian Revolution. This aggression is an attack on working and oppressed peoples everywhere.

Venezuela’s sovereignty is at stake as the Trump administration has formally anointed a small right-wing grouping with unknown “leaders” in Venezuela, calling it the “legitimate” government. This refusal to recognize the will of the Venezuelan people, who have consistently elected leaders committed to the path of independence from Washington, is imperialist arrogance taken to its height.

It is also a clear threat that U.S. imperialism intends to intervene openly to overthrow the Venezuelan government and install its own puppets, as it tried to do in 1961 with the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion against revolutionary Cuba.

In the 21st century alone U.S. imperialism has lied to the population here, inventing pretexts to bomb, invade and overthrow governments in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, committing war crimes and murdering millions of people. It has killed other hundreds of thousands in Syria through subversion, sabotage and bombing. These costly U.S. wars devoured hundreds of billions of dollars and created tens of millions of refugees abroad, even as public services here are starved for funds.

There is no doubt that were this latest imperialist intervention in Venezuela to succeed, it would increase the tide — and the suffering — of economic and political refugees who already are fleeing repressive governments installed in Central America with Washington’s blessing.

Let’s be in the streets to say: No more coups! No more regime change! Hands off Venezuela!

http://m.fightbacknews.org/2019/1/24/frso-condemns-us-intervention-venezuela

Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) condemns in the strongest possible terms the actions of the Trump administration and its allies as violations of the sovereignty of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. By declaring that he will no longer recognize Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate president, and instead claiming right-wing politician Juan Guaidó is head of state, Donald Trump opens the door to a brutal Syria-style intervention in the heart of South America. It became even clearer that the United States seeks war in Venezuela when, after Maduro severed relations with the United States and demanded all of its officials leave the country, the White House announced that it had no intention of removing its diplomats.

These actions, in violation of international law and the Venezuelan Constitution, show that imperialism will go to any lengths to restore its dominance over Latin America. For over a century, the U.S. monopoly capitalist class and its governments have organized coups, fueled civil wars and supported the ruthless suppression of revolutionary and popular movements across the region. Most recently, the Trump administration supported the rise of fascist Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and cheered on as the Colombian government betrayed its peace deal with the FARC and began murdering and imprisoning ex-combatants.

FRSO has stood against U.S. intervention around the world for decades, and in the global struggle between imperialism and oppressed nations we stand firmly on the side of the latter. We also recognize that the attacks against Venezuela contain a special character. In November, Trump's national security advisor John Bolton stated that Bolivarian Venezuela is part of a "troika of tyranny" that is "a sordid cradle of communism in the Western Hemisphere." Nicolás Maduro and other leaders of the Bolivarian Revolution openly declare their intention of building socialism in their nation. This, in the eyes of the White House and Wall Street, makes Venezuela an existential threat and justifies any and all measures to destroy the Bolivarian Revolution.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization stands shoulder to shoulder with the Venezuelan masses and their president Nicolás Maduro against the attacks and threats of the U.S. and its allies. We call on all progressive and popular forces in the United States to organize against the Trump government and do everything possible to prevent intervention in Venezuela.

In closing, we echo the words of Venezuela's revolutionaries, ready if war is brought to their homeland - "Listen Yankees, we will be your Latin American Vietnam."

There is a right-wing coup attempt underway in Venezuela orchestrated by the Trump White House and the CIA along with its junior partners — the so-called Lima Group. The democratically-elected government of Nicolás Maduro has broken relations with the U.S. government and ordered the U.S. embassy in Caracas closed and all its agents to leave the country within 72 hours. We are witnessing once again a classic example of U.S. imperialism and its proxies attempting to carry out an illegal regime change operation against a progressive government. People all over the world need to stand in solidarity with Venezuela in this critical moment.

The declaration by Juan Guaidó that he is assuming the presidency of the country is an outrage, and represents an attempt by the Venezuelan capitalist elite and their masters in Washington to overturn the country’s Bolivarian Revolution, which has empowered Venezuela’s poor and laid the foundations for the construction of socialism. Guaidó, a member of the far-right Popular Will party, was virtually unknown in the country until a few weeks ago — he has no popular support and is simply a vessel for the conspiracy underway directed by the Trump administration.

In a statement, Trump claimed that “In its role as the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people, the National Assembly invoked the country’s constitution to declare Nicolas Maduro illegitimate, and the office of the presidency therefore vacant.” This is a ridiculous distortion of the truth. President Maduro was re-elected last year with 67 percent of the vote in an election that was judged to be free and fair by independent observers.

In fact, it is the National Assembly that is illegitimate. The National Assembly was declared to be in contempt by the Venezuelan Supreme Court after it defied the National Electoral Council and seated legislators whose elections were nullified on the basis of vote buying. All decisions made by the National Assembly, including the selection of Guaidó as its leader, are unconstitutional and null and void.

This is far from the first time that the United States has sponsored a coup against a democratically-elected government. The overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953, Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz in 1954, and Chilean President Salvador Allende in 1973 are just some of the more well-known examples. On a press briefing call today, a senior State Department official pointedly refused to rule out the possibility of the United States taking military action against Venezuela.

The Trump administration’s rhetoric about human rights and democracy is completely hollow. Venezuela is in fact being targeted because it has a socialist government that challenges the dominance of western corporations and refuses to obey the dictates of Washington.

We call on all progressive people and opponents of U.S. wars to rally in defense of Venezuela’s sovereignty and the Bolivarian Revolution. Actions are taking place outside the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, D.C. today at 6:30 p.m., in Los Angeles on Thursday at CNN headquarters at 6:00 pm, in Washington, D.C. on Thursday at 1:00 p.m. in front of the White House, and in San Francisco on Friday at 5:00 p.m. at 24th and Mission Sts. Now more than ever, we need to take to the streets and demand: “U.S. hands off Venezuela!”

https://www.dsausa.org/statements/dsa-statement-on-us-intervention-in-venezuela

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) categorically opposes any and all efforts by the US government to intervene in the domestic politics of Venezuela. The US has a long and bloody track record of actions to overthrow democratically elected governments, stop the spread of socialism, and maintain US imperial dominance in the region. This includes the US government’s support of the 2002 Venezuelan coup that led to the temporary ouster of the legitimately-elected president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez. These imperial interventions must stop immediately; the future of the Venezuelan people, and the broader prosperity of Latin America depend on it.

Venezuela is currently suffering devastating economic and political crises that have left millions without consistent access to basic goods and services, and in a state of perpetual insecurity. Inflation has reached astronomical levels, rendering the local currency practically valueless, and limiting the positive impact of regular minimum wage increases implemented by the Venezuelan government. In the wake of President Nicolás Maduro’s inauguration for a second term on January 10, the political situation has become still more dire.

Maduro’s inauguration was accompanied by claims from both the Venezuelan opposition as well as a host of governments in the region and beyond that, he is no longer the legitimately elected President of Venezuela. These claims are based on prior accusations that the May 2018 Venezuelan presidential election was marred by the government’s use of tactics that ensured Maduro’s victory in advance.

The newly-appointed leader of the opposition-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaidó of the right-wing Voluntad Popular (Popular Will) party, used this legitimacy crisis as an opportunity to proclaim himself the acting President of Venezuela, and called upon the Venezuelan people to rise up in protest against the Maduro government. Many, including a small band of National Guard soldiers on January 22 (who were quickly suppressed by security forces), have heeded the call, leading to sustained protests across the country beginning on January 21.

Though there have been reports of repression on the part of the Venezuelan security forces (including the brief arrest of Guaidó himself outside Caracas) and property damage on the part of opposition protesters (including the arson of an important community center in Caracas), significant confrontations between government and opposition supporters have yet to materialize. Nor has there been any indication that top military leaders are planning to break with Maduro. Nonetheless, the situation remains extremely tense. Any small political miscalculation could provoke serious violence and chaos in the country.

The role of the United States government in this unfolding situation over the last two weeks has been substantial and extremely counterproductive. Its actions have served only to deepen political divisions and decrease the likelihood of a peaceful solution to the crisis. President Trump and Vice President Pence have both expressed their full support for the unelected Guaidó as acting President, and are working tirelessly to organize other nations to do the same. Further, Trump has stated that he is contemplating a military intervention in Venezuela, and the US National Security Council has indicated that it is strongly considering an embargo on Venezuelan oil imports to the United States. These actions would each have catastrophic consequences for the already suffering Venezuelan people. The US government is clearly more interested in using Venezuela as a boogeyman to show the dangers of socialism than in playing a constructive role in resolving the crisis. Unfortunately the consequences of this rhetorical posturing are all too real for the Venezuelan people.

The US government’s recent actions to destabilize Venezuela are only the most recent in a long series of unfortunate actions it has taken over the past several years. In addition to past reckless and worrying comments made by President Trump and other members of his administration about the need for foreign military intervention in Venezuela, the US government has imposed financial sanctions against Venezuela. These sanctions are putting further constraints on the importation of desperately needed food and medicine into Venezuela.

The sanctions also preclude Venezuelan firms from access to US credit, effectively eliminating the Venezuelan oil sector’s capacity to maintain current levels of production, let alone return to pre-2015 levels (which were more than twice as high as current levels). Given that Venezuela depends so heavily on oil exports to fund the importation of basic goods, the US government’s sanctions against Venezuela’s oil sector are tantamount to direct sanctions against the Venezuelan people, whose economic security grows more precarious by the week.

Both the increasingly top-down Venezuelan government as well as the fractious Venezuelan opposition, which has at times resorted to anti-democratic methods, bear significant responsibility for the current crisis and there are important critiques to be leveled against both. As US socialists, we have a duty to do everything we can to stop US imperialism and make the world safe for democracy and socialism; however, our role as an organization should not be to intervene in the internal politics of Venezuela. Instead, we have a responsibility to use the leverage we have to intervene strategically in US foreign policy to help the Venezuelan people defend the gains made during Hugo Chávez’s presidency.

To that end, we call upon the US government to immediately cease and desist all attempts to intervene in the internal politics of Venezuela and break with its shameful legacy of imperial control in the region. Further, we call upon DSA chapters and DSA supported political representatives to mobilize in this particularly critical moment around a campaign of solidarity with the Venezuelan people, aimed specifically at reversing the US government’s disastrous and counterproductive sanctions against Venezuela.

Solidarity with the people of Venezuela! Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution!

https://socialistworker.org/2019/01/25/the-venezuelan-people-must-decide-not-trump
Right-wing opposition leader Juan Guaidó has declared himself interim president of Venezuela against sitting President Nicolás Maduro, and he was immediately recognized by the U.S. government and a range of authoritarian leaders in Latin America. Here, the International Socialist Organization states its opposition to this new assault against the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people.

AS INTERNATIONALISTS and anti-imperialists, we look to the people of Venezuela to defend their own sovereignty. We recognize that the greatest threat to peace, democracy and prosperity in Latin America has always been the U.S. state and U.S. big business.

President Donald Trump must have choked on his words when he claimed to stand up for “freedom and the rule of law.” This from a man who has imprisoned thousands of Central American children in cages. We hold him and his administration responsible for the deaths of 8-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonzo and 7-year-old Jakelin Caal.

And Vice President Mike Pence’s accusation that “Nicolas Maduro is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power” rings hollow from a man who, along with Trump, won office after losing the popular vote, and who regularly defends the reactionary monarchy in Saudi Arabia.

Donald Trump delivers a speech to Republican Party leaders
We unconditionally oppose all U.S. aggression against the people of Venezuela and demand that the Trump administration refrain from any provocative military actions. Unfortunately, there is broad bipartisan consensus in Washington, D.C., to target the people of Venezuela. Let us not forget that almost two years ago to the day, President Barack Obama declared Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary threat.”

These external threats have only intensified the economic and political crisis ravaging Venezuela. As an article in Socialist Worker reported last month: “The UN estimated in 2017 that over 1.4 million Venezuelans had migrated. The IOM’s statistics are much higher. By early 2018, it counted more than 2.3 million migrants, a 900% hike from 2015. This amounts to around 7 percent of Venezuela’s population.”

The Venezuelan right has sought to weaponize this crisis for its own purposes. Not only do they wish to force President Nicolas Maduro out of power, but they aim to tear up all social gains that the people have made over the last 20 years.

Let us speak clearly. Self-declared “interim President” Juan Guaidó is playing the role of U.S. puppet. And when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declares that “All OAS member states must align themselves” with Guaidó, it is clear who is calling the shots.

We note that the neo-fascist Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro rushed to embrace Guaidó, while IMF representative and Argentine President Mauricio Macri extended his recognition, as did Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who owes his own power to a U.S.-backed military coup.

WE HAVE always defended the right of the people of Venezuela to elect their own leaders. We opposed the attempted coup against the democratically elected President Hugo Chávez in 2002, and we have supported the important anti-poverty reforms his government made over the years.

As the same time, we have clearly stated our opposition to the bureaucratic definition of socialism advocated by former President Chávez, and we pointed to the dangerous bureaucratic and anti-democratic path followed by President Maduro and his regime. So while we stand against U.S. intervention and interference, we also recognize the social crisis on the ground facing millions of ordinary Venezuelans.

We note that Maduro’s government has lost support, as is obvious by the low turnout of the last elections and the wide array of people who attended the January 23 protest against him. Many people in Venezuela are fed up with the situation and see no clear solutions coming from the government. But their opposition to Maduro does not mean the people agree with the right and with the U.S.

We defend the right of Venezuelans to choose their leaders, but as one solidarity statement put it: “The people no longer want Maduro, but no one chose Guaidó.”

The Venezuelan people have suffered enough. We demand an end to U.S. interference. We say:

No to the Guaidó-Trump coup
End all U.S. sanctions on Venezuela.
Withdraw all elements of the U.S. Navy Fourth Fleet
End all U.S. economic, political and diplomatic aid to the right-wing opposition.
Economic refugees should be welcomed into the U.S.
Abolish all debt held by U.S. and European banks, the World Bank and the IMF

https://www.socialistalternative.org/2019/01/24/venezuela-mass-mobilization-workers-build-real-socialism-put-corrupt-bureaucracy/

The situation in Venezuela has reached a critical point during the last twenty-four hours.

The new leader of the Venezuelan right and far right, Juan Guaidó, (recently elected president of the counterrevolutionary national Assembly) has proclaimed himself President. He called on his supporters to take to the streets to force through the down fall of Nicolás Maduro’s government. Immediately, the most reactionary governments in Latin America and the world, with far-right Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil) and Donald Trump (USA) at the head, have recognized Guaidó as Venezuela’s “only legitimate president.”

A coup d’état planned by imperialism and the Venezuelan and international right
Wielding all kinds of threats, the U.S. Secretary of State (and former director of the CIA), Mike Pompeo, has demanded that the Maduro government resign immediately. “We have all the options on the table” said Trump. The Venezuelan ultra-right leader, also announced on television that “we are very close to the moment for which we fought for years” and told Maduro to resign “if he wants to save his life”. Latin American governments that stand out for their reactionary and antisocial policies and their servility to Washington enthusiastically support the coup while cynically claiming to stand “for democracy.” You only have to see who leads this ‘Holy Alliance’ to understand what is at stake: the Colombian president Duque (linked to Urribe narcoparamilitarismo), the Ecuadorian President Moreno (The Judas of the Ecuadorian left) President Macri (responsible for the brutal cuts that have provoked the Argentine people to rise up on their feet and fight) or the Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández (organizer of an electoral fraud with the support of the White House last year and responsible for the repression and murder of dozens of protesters). As is to be expected applauding enthusiastically from the other side of the Atlantic are the European right and far right in Spain with Pablo Casado from the PP, Albert Rivera (Cuidadanos) and the fascistic elements of Vox in the front line.

Guaidó and the Venezuelan right are trying to take advantage of the desperation and indignation felt by the Venezuelan people in the face of the economic and social collapse that the country suffers. GDP and living standards have fallen by 50% in the last four years and the situation has only worsened with price increases of up to 1000% since the beginning of this year.

As we write these lines, tens of thousands of people in different parts of Venezuela have responded to the call of Guaidó not to leave the streets until Maduro resigns or the military takes him down, copying the script of the failed right-wing coup against Chavez in April 2002. On the other hand, Government supporters who had gathered in the Plaza O’Leary of Caracas and other central points of the big cities have been called upon by Diosdado Cabello, leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), to go to the Miraflores Palace, as happened in 2002, and keep a vigil to defend it and Maduro from a possible opposition assault.

The pacts of the government with the capitalists open the way to the reaction
The main difference of this coup with that perpetrated against Chávez in 2002 is that the parasitic, corrupt and reactionary Venezuelan right is managing to mobilize not only young university students, professionals and small owners belonging to the middle classes, as happened during the violent guarimba that caused more than 100 deaths between March and July 2017. On this occasion, significant sectors of the youth, unemployed, and even workers, desperate because of the economic situation and the brutal price increases, are marching from poor neighborhoods called onto the street by the right and the extreme right.

Since August 2018, when the government of Maduro applied the so-called Economic Reactivation Plan and devalued the bolivar by establishing a new currency, the Sovereign Bolivar (60 BS equal to 1 dollar), hyperinflation – which was already out of control – has reach devastating levels. Before the start of this latest crisis, the dollar was exchanged for 3,000 sovereign bolivars! Some analysts forecast six or seven-digit inflation for this year.

A simple consultation in a private clinic, something to which not only the middle layers but also many workers are forced to have because of the collapse of the public health service, has soared in price in a few days from 2,000 to 15,000 BS. The state company mobile phone company Movilnet has raised its lowest rates from 169 to 1,300 Bs! While accepting these increases, or even applying them in services and products that depend on public companies, the governments’ only response was a “triumphalist”, a new salary increase of 400% ( from 4,500 BS to 18,000 Bs per month). That is worth barely $ 6, completely insufficient to deal with the rise in basic commodity prices.

The promised wage increases, that hyperinflation eats before being they are applied, together with the triumphalist and even contemptuous tone of the leadership and the PSUV bureaucracy against those who protest, the recourse to repression against many workers who have staged defensive strikes in recent months, together with the fact that most of the bureaucrats who wear the red flannel live with all kinds of privileges and material conditions similar to that of the capitalist class, has only intensified the rage of people. On this objective basis, the right has regained the initiative and launched this new assault for power.

But the victory of the right wing reactionary forces will not solve the problems of the working people. On the contrary! The objective of the imperialists who are pulling the strings behind Guaidó is to force an intervention by senior military officers or at least of a significant layer of them to overthrow Maduro and give power to the right. For years, Maduro has tried to stay in government by giving more and more concessions, economic power and weight in the government to the military high command. This has contributed to an increase in corruption and provoked unrest amongst workers and the people. However, it will not guarantee the loyalty of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) to Maduro.

During its previous offensive to take power in 2017, the Venezuelan right had already managed to open a breach in the state apparatus with the support of Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz and the resignation of some senior military officials. Then, a key factor for the military leadership, was that the right wing opposition strategy was not enabling them to secure the mass mobilizations they hoped for and they did not spread from the urban middle class to the working class and poor neighborhood’s. In addition, the terrorist actions of the fascist gangs convinced hundreds of thousands of workers, who were very dissatisfied with the government’s policies, to give the PSUV and its National Constituent Assembly (ANC) a last chance. But now the situation has undergone a qualitative transformation.

The PSUV bureaucracy does not defend socialism
The media of the ruling class and international world reaction present the events in Venezuela as the failure of socialism. In Venezuela itself, with the inestimable help of the bureaucratic leaders of the PSUV – who classify this disaster and its policy of pacts with businessmen of a “transition to socialism” -, the right uses the economic collapse to sow confusion among the masses, undermine its morale and discredit the idea of socialism, workers control and in general everything that smells left or revolution.

In fact, the program applied by Maduro and the PSUV leaders are light years away from socialism and what millions of people expected in 2013, when they voted to keep the social plans and reforms carried out by Chávez in trying to respond to the aspirations of the working class and the most oppressed sectors of the people.

Since then, Maduro and his collaborators, also inspired by the Chinese government and a whole legion of Stalinist “fellow travelers”, have tried to convince the Venezuelan and international ruling class that they could manage the worst crisis in the history of Venezuelan capitalism with less social upheavals than the right wing would mean. During recent months they have approved very hard social cuts and wage reductions, the dismissals of thousands of workers from public companies by trying to cover them up with a fraudulent and impotent “revolutionary mysticism”. Through these policies they have only managed to erode in record time the massive social support that the PSUV had. Now the same bourgeoisie and businessmen who benefited from the government aid and signed agreements with the regime are maneuvering with imperialism to regain direct control of government and state power. This crisis is the result of the bureaucratic “socialist” model of a caste of demoralized and corrupt officials, military and politicians, who have risen totally above the living conditions of the people who have been fighting to maintain their privileges. Their actions have undermined the conquests of the Bolivarian revolution and allowed the reaction to advance.

Organize action committees in each neighborhood and each factory. Build a united front of the left to defeat the coup and end capitalism and the bureaucracy
Guaidó is like a wolf in a lambs clothing and speaks of a government for all and reconciliation. Yet if this right-wing reactionary and the forces that support him come to power, the result will be a nightmare for millions of workers and peasants, who are suffering from the social and economic crisis. Their political and economic agenda can only be applied with even more massive layoffs, brutally cutting social spending and repressing unions, social movements, and activists on the left, on an even more brutal and bloody scale than they do in the countries of their sponsors – Duque, Bolsonaro, and Macri .

The first task of the working class and the politically conscious and combative people of Venezuela is to organize resistance against the coup. We must begin by denouncing the true objectives of Guaidó, the right wing and imperialism. We have to organize assemblies in each company and place of work to discuss what our needs and demands are and how the economic plans and policies of the right mean a mortal danger. It is urgent to create action committees in defense of the rights of workers and the people in each work center and each neighborhood, defending a genuinely socialist class program, which proposes the expropriation of the big private monopolies and banking to end the hyperinflation and corruption, the abolition of the privileges of the bureaucracy and that strives to transfer real power to the hands of the working class and the oppressed. We must organize massive mobilizations and the legitimate self-defense of the people against the violence of the right.

The experience of recent years shows that we cannot have the slightest confidence in the Maduro government, the bureaucracy or the senior army officers if we want to prevent the victory of the reaction. It has been Maduro’s policies, his bureaucracy and his corruption that have opened the way to the right wing and the coup. The only way to avoid a tragic result for the working class and the people of Venezuela is to raise a united front of the left, completely independent of those who have caused this disaster, to openly fight for the conquest of power to establish a democratic administration of the workers’ and exploited people, based on direct democracy in all aspects of social and economic life, that advance an economic plan, through the expropriation of capitalists and the management and democratic control of workers, to create employment and increase production and the social conquests won previously.

There is no time to lose. Massive resistance must be waged against the blow of reaction and imperialism with mass mobilization from below, raising a revolutionary socialist and internationalist program. The peoples and the working class of the whole world, beginning with those of Latin America, have the duty to reject the bloodbath that the right-wing coup and its international mentors are preparing. Only the working people can save the people!