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”
mike a arsuaga
You’re an idiot
Informed Consent
It’s precisely because China abandoned “socialism” and embraced a hyper capitalist model (an aggressive one with little regulation and croni capitalism…which I don’t recommend) that they prospered. Now China is an oligarchy controlled by elite families. They are only “Comunist” to the extent that they call themselves such.
The US has nothing to fear
Socialism is Evil
Complete B.S. This author will tout any conspiracy theory to justify socialism, even though at stake is the starvation of 30M Venezuelans now lining up 5hrs for rationed food, remincent of North Korea. Socialism is destroying Venezuela, but the author won’t admit it and needs to come up with a convenient boogieman to cover its failure.
Socialism is Evil
China’s success is the result of Dung Tsao Ping scrapping socialism and replacing it with capitalism.
Faerieson
It’s a shame that quite so many individuals are keen to endorse a Daily Mail ideology, and to blindly condemn any kind of embryonic alternatives to an approaching global dominion by a faceless 1%. The macro and micro economic issues are so complex and diverse as to make a complete nonsense of such simplistic (lack of) analysis.
Whatever the actual reasons are for the success (or not) of any system, it should be clear that many of the greatest ‘pressures,’ and thus influences, remain largely in the hands of undemocratic uber-wealthy interests. These ‘interests’ effectively fund the lifestyles of its Congressmen (or others). The US (for example) may favour the term, ‘democracy,’ during its PR involvements with the global media, but exactly what the real driving forces are after is invariably an altogether different matter.