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Vol. 80/No. 43 November 14, 2016
Caracas, pro-imperialist parties start talks amid crisis
BY MAGGIE TROWE
As rampant inflation and shortages of food, medicine and other
necessities ravage working people in Venezuela, a less-than-united
coalition of pro-imperialist opposition parties organized large protests
against President Nicolás Maduro and the United Socialist Party of
Venezuela (PSUV) government Oct. 26. But a strike they called for Oct.
28 fizzled.
Seeking to avert violent clashes, the government has held negotiations
with some opposition parties in recent months, the latest session
initiated by the Vatican and the Union of South American Nations
(Unasur). The talks have been encouraged by the Barack Obama
administration, which prefers a transition to a more pro-Washington
government without the breakdown of stability.
Protests organized by the Democracy Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition,
the latest drawing several hundred thousand people Oct. 26, have
demanded the government allow a presidential recall referendum this
year. Venezuela’s electoral authority Oct. 20 suspended opposition
efforts to put the recall on the ballot, after courts declared large
numbers of signatures fraudulent.
MUD also called for workers to stay home two days later for a general
strike, but support for the stoppage was “patchy,” according to press
reports. Many workers expressed frustration with the shortages and
economic crisis, and think that “something must be done.” At the same
time, they distrust the bosses’ aims and fear the confrontational course
pressed by sections of the opposition could spiral into economic and
political chaos.
Concerned that MUD’s “general strike” would recall the failed 2002
bosses’ “strike” that attempted to oust the late President Hugo Chávez,
Fedecamaras, the country’s main employers’ association, didn’t call on
factory and business owners to shut down operations as they did in 2002.
The association’s vice president, Carlos Larrazabal, told Reuters that
companies were staying open and letting workers decide whether to come
in or not.
Thousands of supporters of the ruling United Socialist Party of
Venezuela rallied outside the presidential palace that day to declare
the stoppage a failure.
Divisions among opposition parties
Representatives of some MUD affiliates, including the social democratic
Democratic Action, A New Era, and Justice First led by Henrique
Capriles, attended Oct. 30 negotiations with government officials. The
Popular Will party, whose leader Leopoldo López is in prison, did not
participate.
Former presidents Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Republic, Martín
Torríjos of Panama and Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain have promoted
the Unasur-sponsored talks. “We need to prevent this politically and
economically important ally from plunging into conflict and make sure
there is a process of dialog and stability,” said Zapatero Oct. 28.
After discussion with U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon Nov.
1, the opposition called off a Nov. 3 protest at the presidential palace
and put proceedings in congress to remove Maduro on hold until Nov. 12.
The dire economic situation faced by Venezuelan toilers is the product
of the world contraction of capitalist production and trade and related
decline of the price of oil, the country’s main export and source of
revenue. While the government of Maduro and his predecessor Chávez have
used oil revenues to fund expanded access to education, health and
housing, boost employment and raise living standards for many workers
and peasants, the predominance of capitalist property relations
guarantees the weight of the economic and social crisis is shifted onto
the backs of workers and poor farmers.
The day before the stoppage, the government raised the minimum wage and
food subsidy by 40 percent, the fourth such increase this year.
Scarcity of basic food products at government-subsidized stores has
forced workers to spend long hours in line. Government troops policing
the lines have at times clashed with workers.
In July the president placed distribution of food basics in the hands of
Defense Minister Gen. Vladimir Padrino López. Many government measures
have given the military greater control of economic activity. The Maduro
government has also created neighborhood Committees for Supply and
Production, led by PSUV supporters, to distribute subsidized food
products — with limited results due to the government’s failure to
mobilize working people in city and countryside to confront the
consequences of the capitalist crisis.
Meanwhile, imperialist banks and investors have continued their plunder
of the wealth produced by the Venezuelan people. The government oil
company Petróleos de Venezuela, hard hit by low prices, recently
negotiated a bond swap to postpone debt repayment until 2020, increasing
its debt but buying time to try to increase production, while hoping for
an upturn in prices.
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