The untimely death of President Hugo Chávez, coupled with the loss of
oil revenue has been a major blow to efforts in Venezuela's move
toward developing the ability to stand up to external meddling, mostly
by the American Empire. We might think, from our own propaganda, that
our role would be to send assistance to the elected government of
Venezuela. But President Hugo Chávez, had become a major thorn in the
side of the American Empire. Self Rule was breaking out all over
South and Central America. And that is not good for the Empire's
business.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/14/16, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://themilitant.com/2016/8031/803120.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 80/No. 31 August 22, 2016
(editorial)
US hands off Venezuela!
Working people across the United States need to stand with our
brothers and sisters in Venezuela, speaking out against Washington’s
pressures, threats and provocations. The propertied rulers of the
world’s preeminent imperialist power see the deep economic crisis
battering workers and farmers of Venezuela as an opportunity to bring
down the government of Nicolás Maduro and install a regime that will be
more subservient to the interests of the capitalist masters.
The toilers of Venezuela haven’t forgotten how in 2002 Washington backed
the attempted coup against the government of President Hugo Chávez,
which was thwarted by working people who took to the streets. Nor the
U.S. government’s support for the failed bosses’ “strike” that followed,
an attempt to overturn the government and strangle workers’ struggles by
crippling production. Nor how, in a display of cynical arrogance,
President Barack Obama has twice signed a “national emergency” executive
order declaring the Venezuelan government “an unusual and extraordinary
threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”
The Chávez government, and that of Maduro since, have sought to manage
the capitalist market, to use oil profits to fund social programs. They
have collaborated with the revolutionary government of Cuba and taken
initiatives throughout the Americas that encroached on Washington’s
imperialist prerogatives. This is what’s earned them the undying hatred
of the U.S. and Venezuelan capitalist rulers.
The target of Washington, and of the pro-imperialist parties seeking to
recall Maduro, is the workers and farmers of Venezuela. They rightly
fear working people as the force that is capable of ending their class
rule, as the toilers in Cuba did in 1959.
The revolutionary government and working class of Cuba are setting an
example of proletarian internationalism, making clear they will stand
firm at the side of working people in Venezuela. “Cubans will never
forget the support we received from the Venezuelan people when we were
confronting great difficulties,” Raúl Castro told Cuba’s National
Assembly July 8.
Now is the time to organize meetings and solidarity actions to demand:
End all U.S. sanctions against Venezuela! Repeal the “national
emergency” executive order and all other meddling in Venezuela’s
internal affairs! U.S. hands off!
Related articles:
Washington pressures Venezuela as crisis deepens
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