Labour veterans who supported Chile Solidarity will know what's coming next
“Washington has placed Venezuela on the regime change fast track,” argues Eva Golinger, the noted American born author and newspaper editor, in a hard hitting article in which she she writes that:
“There is a coup underway in Venezuela. The pieces are all falling into place like a bad CIA movie. Headlines scream danger, crisis and imminent demise, while the usual suspects declare covert war on a people whose only crime is being gatekeeper to the largest pot of black gold in the world.”
This follows the US Department Of State imposing a second round of financial sanctions on Venezuela this month.
The sanctions include visa restrictions on Venezuelan government officials, whom the USA accuses of ‘human rights violations’ in a reference to last year’s right-wing coup attempt through violent street protests.
The US went ahead with the sanctions despite total opposition from the Community Of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Heads of State Summit in Costa Rica in January. CELAC brings together all the Latin America and Caribbean nations and works as an alternative to the US-backed Organization Of American States.
In December last year, after an earlier round of sanctions on Venezuela, the heads of states of MERCOSUR, the (the Latin American equivalent of a ‘common market’), which includes Brazil and Argentina, opposed sanctions against Venezuela.
February’s unilateral sanctions also sparked outrage throughout Latin America. It prompted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to meet with Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) secretary general, Ernesto Samper, to ask for the help of the regional bloc’s mediation on the interventionist actions carried out against the country by the United States.
President Maduro was clear that US Vice President Joe Biden had been pressing other countries to ‘isolate’ Venezuela. Maduro said he had proof that the US Embassy in Venezuela was attempting to bribe officials to ‘turn them against his government’ – in effect the start of an American backed ‘regime change’ attempt against a democratically elected government.
In her article, Eva Golinger explains:
“President Obama approved a special State Department fund of US $5 million to support anti-government groups in Venezuela. Additionally, the congressionally-funded National Endowment For Democracy is financing Venezuelan opposition groups with over US $1.2 million and aiding efforts to undermine Maduro’s government.”
She also argues that the USA is:
“Making Venezuela’s economy scream. As shortages continue and access to dollars becomes increasingly difficult, chaos and panic ensue. A very similar strategy was used in Chile to overthrow socialist President Salvador Allende. First the economy was destroyed, then mass discontent grew and the military moved to oust Allende, backed by Washington at every stage. Lest we forget the result: a brutal dictatorship led by General Augusto Pinochet that tortured, assassinated, disappeared and forced into exile tens of thousands of people. Not exactly a model to replicate.”
Those of us with longer memories will of course have spotted the signs that lead to a neo-liberal experiment where privatisations, sell-offs of state assets and the dismantling of employment rights were tested out in the Chilean people.
Labour cannot ignore the recent sanctions imposition on Venezuela and the attempst to destablise the country. Labour veterans who supported Chile Solidarity following the 1973 coup will know the signs and what’s coming next.
Labour needs to be clear that they will oppose ongoing attempts by the USA and others to de-stabilise Venezuela with ‘regime change’ as its final goal with a Chiliean style against a democratically elected government.
Tony Burke is vice chair of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign. Follow him on Twitter
71 Responses to “Comment: Venezuela on ‘fast track’ to coup”
William Krul
Lets see…One country might be China? Now surpassing the US economically and certainly a greater middle class now than 50 years ago. Actually poverty has been significantly decreased (according to World Bank data) in Venezuela and the balance of payments there is on the plus side whereas that of the US is highly negative and increasing. The US is acting out of fear that the “socialist” model might actually work and historiclly has done everything in its power to make them fail.
CGR101
You mean the people of Venezuela have finally had enough of socialism in the same way as they did in the USSR, East Germany, etc…..
Phil Hove
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBErk_QqRMo
Phil Hove
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekspkn7rPio
Manfredo
Couldn’t agree with you more – I have advised the Venezuelan opposition, and told them under no circumstances to seek violent or extra-constitutional overthrow. Maduro is the best asset the opposition has from the point of view of discrediting the Chavez model. It must, and will fall, when its erstwhile supporters and political base turn against it. The decade or so after it si swept away will be hard – it is always hard and painful to go from the left to the right, as that entails the reactivation of investment in human and physical capital and ignition of economic production and productivity. When you go from the right to the left everything is wondrous and happy immediately, as you are redistributing other people’s money. But then the money runs out. and the party stops. Maybe the best thing is to separate social policy from economic policy. Poland might have gotten it right better than most – in 1992 it was per capita equal to Ukraine, now it is 4 times as wealthy and its middle classes and social indices have blossomed. What Putin fears above all other is that Ukraine follow Poland – if that occurred, Ukraine’s economy would be larger than Russia’s in absolute terms. Put that in your socialist pipe and smoke it. Enjoy having bureaucrats runs businesses, customer service, and the innovation economy.