You’re listening to Back in the USSR on CFRU 93.3 FM and I am Siegfried. One of the countries that I’ve devoted a lot of airtime to over the years is Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution that began in 1998 with the election of Hugo Chavez and the Venezuelan socialist party PSUV. I’ve talked a lot about the events that have taken place since then: about how President Chavez adopted progressive reforms, rejected neo-liberalism and used his country’s oil wealth to benefit its people, how he made public housing a top priority and put in place a public healthcare system for every man, woman and child, how he facilitated the development of workers cooperatives and communal forms of democratic governance, how he attempted to bring together all the countries of Latin America in a great anti-colonial alliance, and how Nicolas Maduro, the current president of Venezuela, carried on these efforts after his death.
But, of course, I’ve also talked about the US-supported 2002 coup attempt that nearly brought down Chavez, the violent destabilization campaign waged against Venezuela by far-right political forces with American backing, the brutal sanctions put in place under the Obama Administration and increased to truly horrific levels under Trump, Trump’s illegal declaration of the far-right politician Juan Guido as the “president” of Venezuela, and the ongoing efforts at regime change by the American Empire as it transitions to a new administration that appears equally committed to overthrowing socialism in Venezuela by any means.
What the capitalist empire of America fears the most is the example set by strong socialist states, especially if those states are anywhere in the western hemisphere, which the US considers its own “backyard”. The US blockade on Venezuela, which has choked off trade in everything, including life-saving medicine, echoes the longstanding blockade on Cuba. The US blames socialism for the poverty that exists in both countries, ignoring the fact that, before the sanctions, the Venezuelan economy was booming, and that without the blockade, by some estimates, Cuban living standards under socialism would now be on par with Western Europe.
Socialism is a very successful system. Just look at how countries like Cuba and Vietnam have handled the pandemic. Even Venezuela, despite being under massive stress from the sanctions, has handled the crisis better than almost every other Latin American country, let alone the United States where the death toll has now surpassed 300,000 and there’s still no adequate vaccination plan. Cuba now has no less than four COVID vaccine candidates in the testing phase and Venezuela has also developed its own medicine to treat the disease.
It is precisely because socialism works that the United States has to use such coercive and brutal measures to keep socialist countries down. If socialism didn’t work, and if socialist economies just fell apart on their own, why bother with sanctions? Why bother with blockades, military coups, sabotage and outright invasions?
Bolivia was one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America before its socialist government was overthrown in a US-backed military coup last year. Thankfully that government has since returned to power thanks to the heroic efforts of the indigenous and working-class people of Bolivia, but the damage has been done and it’s going to be a hard recovery.
Honduras still hasn’t emerged from the shadow of the military coup that overthrew progressive president Manuel Zelaya back in 2009 and is still ruled by an insanely corrupt political cabal that openly steals elections and brutalizes its people yet gets away with it because they’re US puppets and puppets of the Fortune 500, including multi-national Canadian mining companies that are down there occupying, stripping and poisoning indigenous lands.
The intense repression, corruption, cronyism, plunder and exploitation that we see in hyper-capitalist US client states like Honduras, Colombia and Brazil provides a clear picture as to what the United States would like Venezuela to be. Forget nationalized oil, public healthcare, subsidized housing and free education. They want governments that are willing to sell off their people and resources lock, stock and barrel to the multi-national corporations…even if it means setting the Amazon rainforest on fire and letting the world choke to death. This is why the US got its cronies in the Venezuelan opposition to boycott the December 6 elections and declare Venezuelan democracy “illegitimate”. The Empire only wants democracy in Venezuela if that democracy follows orders…and it’s hard to call that democracy at all.
Thankfully the brave people of Venezuela told the Empire and American imperialism to go to hell, just like millions of Indian farmers and workers are telling global capitalism and its far-right puppets in the Indian government to go to hell.
This report by Abby Martin of the Empire Files does a pretty great job breaking down the current situation in Venezuela.
The Empire Files – Myth and Fact in Venezuela’s Latest Election
