Venezuela

Chávez - no hero of ours

Hugo Chávez, the president of Venezuela died this week after a lengthy battle with cancer. Much of the left across the globe has lauded Chávez because he won 15 elections, used some of Venezuela’s immense oil wealth to pay for social programmes and stood up to American imperialism in Latin America. Neoliberals have chastised him as a dictator standing in the way of free markets. Whilst we have absolutely no truck with the neoliberals, our own assessment of Chávez is highly critical for our own reasons. Should socialists hold up Hugo Chávez and his Bolivarian, 21st century socialism? No, we...

Venezuela without Chávez

While reports of Hugo Chávez’s death may be exaggerated, there is little doubt that his prolonged treatment in Cuba is giving rise to a crisis, in which the Venezuelan workers are likely to lose out. Chávez went to Cuba for cancer treatment on 11 December, the fourth time he has been for treatment in less than two years. He has not been seen in public since and missed his swearing in as president on 10 January. Before his latest surgery, Chávez anointed vice president Nicolás Maduro his successor if circumstances required him to step down. Maduro has so far only taken the reigns temporarily...

Venezuela: Lies, damned lies, and statistics

“Anybody familiar with Stalinism will know the technique; figures record yet another triumphant over-fulfilment of the five-year plan while the peasants drop dead of starvation in the fields.” NCAFC held its AGM last weekend in Birmingham where Student Broad Left – the student front of Socialist Action – proposed a motion so absurd that only the four members of Student Broad Left present at the NCAFC conference voted in favour of it. In their motion “Venezuela shows there is an alternative: free education as a right", Student Broad Left claim that: “One amazing achievement has been the...

Support the independent left in Venezuela

The Venezuelan elections on 7 October are an important turning point for the Chavista movement in the country and for the international left. Hugo Chávez faces not only a resurgent right wing candidate Henrique Capriles, but also a socialist challenge in the shape of Orlando Chirino. Chávez, despite being hampered by his treatment for cancer, has over 40% in most reliable polls and is well ahead of Capriles. But it is around Chirino that the genuine working class forces can coalesce. The traditional forces of the right have united around Henrique Capriles of the centre-right Justice First...

Cinq textes en francais: Venezuela, Irak, Iran, Grèce, NPA

Alliance for Workers’ Liberty: cinq textes Mai 2012 Cliquez ici pour télécharger pdf Table des matières Venezuela: Le capitalisme d'État de Chavez vacille Les États-Unis se retirent d'Irak Non à la guerre! Non à la bombe iranienne! Contre l’étranglement de Grèce par les banques! Un appel au NPA: non à la scission ! Traductions de Hugo Pouliot

Venezuela: Le capitalisme d'État de Chavez vacille

Traduction d'une article de Pablo Velasco, Solidarity 3/170, 2 April 2010 . Une décennie après que Hugo Chavez ait proclamé la «révolution bolivarienne» au Venezuela, son projet est enlisé dans la stagnation. Malgré toute la rhétorique sur le «socialisme du 21e siècle», le régime bonapartiste continue de présider sur un capitalisme vénézuélien et d'étouffer l'émergence d'un mouvement ouvrier indépendant authentique. L'hostilité du gouvernement américain peut bien avoir fait de Chavez une icône «anti-impérialiste», mais c’est une chimère de croire que ses forces font partie de la renaissance...

Venezuela: stop anti-union repression!

The following statement has been issued by several trade union leaders and fighters for workers' rights in Venezuela. The case is about an attack by thugs, composed of people linked to the PSUV apparatus, on a workers' assembly in a plant of the state mining firm Ferrominera. The attack killed one...

Venezuela: Ruben Gonzalez sentenced 7 years and 2 months for a strike!

On 1 March, in Cuidad Piar, Ruben Gonzalez, a trade-unionist in Ferrominera, was sentenced to jail for strike action. Ruben said after the verdict: "I will go in jail but I had done what I had to do". His lawyers called 70 witnesses as the accusation was only calling 5 witnesses. The charges were...

Election setback for Chávez

The Bonapartist regime of Hugo Chávez suffered a setback in the Venezuelan elections on 26 September, winning a majority of parliamentary seats but not the two-thirds majority it wanted in order to make further constitutional changes. The ruling party, Chávez’s PSUV, gained 98 of the 165 seats available in the national assembly. The Patria para Todos (PPT, homeland for all) party gained two seats. The PPT was until recently part of the ruling party’s coalition — its general secretary was vice-president of the national assembly in the last session and it previously had 11 deputies. The right...

Venezuelan elections – setback for Chávez

The bonapartist regime of Hugo Chávez suffered a setback in the Venezuelan elections on 26 September, winning a majority of parliamentary seats but not the two-thirds majority it desired. The ruling party, Chávez’s PSUV gained 98 of the 165 seats available in the national assembly – enough for a...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.