The people of Venezuela have dealt another decisive blow against U.S. domination in Latin America. On December 6, 2020, more than 6.2 million Venezuelans voted for a new National Assembly in what was Venezuela’s 25 election in the 21 years since the Bolivarian revolution began. Despite being under massive pressure from the U.S.-led war on Venezuela and the Covid-19 pandemic, the people of Venezuela went to the polls and delivered the National Assembly back into the service of the Bolivarian revolution.
As reported by the National Electoral Council, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which is the political party of the revolutionary government of Venezuela, won 69% of the votes – and
253 out of 277 seats in the assembly. The opposition party Acción Democrática, who received 7% of the votes and 11 seats followed in second place far behind. In total, there were 107 political parties represented in the election by more than 14,000 candidates. 98 of these political parties identify themselves as members of Venezuela’s opposition, meaning that they do not support the government
of President Nicolás Maduro. Sectors of Venezuela’s pro-U.S., violent opposition, including the so-called “interim President,” of Venezuela Juan Guaidó, boycotted the election.
Contrary to what has been reported in mainstream capitalist media, the international and national election observers confirmed that the December 6, 2020 National Assembly election was democratic, free and fair. Over 1500 international election observers witnessed the December 6 election. This included the Council of Latin American Electoral Experts and several former heads of state including Evo Morales of Bolivia, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain.
SURES, non-governmental human rights organization was appointed by the National Electoral Council (a branch of Venezuela’s government that oversees elections), as the National electoral observers.
As SURES states in their final report, “it is necessary to conclude that the people who participated in the electoral process exercised their human right to vote universally, freely, informed, secretly, without
any coercion and under condition of equality.”
The International Observation Committee has also presented their findings, which included, “an increased citizen confidence in political organizations and candidates,” as reported by Venezuela Analysis.
It is not surprising, however, that none of this information graced the pages of the
Washington Post, the New York Times, any major Canadian media, or the major Television networks in the U.S. and Canada. The United States government and their allies, bent on maintaining their supremacy in Latin America, declared the Dec 6 elections in Venezuela “illegitimate,” before they even began.
Question: “Democracy for Whom?” The U.S., and Venezuela Elections
Voter turnout was 31%, which is a victory considering the exceedingly difficult conditions imposed on Venezuela by the pandemic as well as U.S. led war, sanctions, and sabotage. In their Bulletin
No.231, released following the elections, the PSUV correctly noted that for the U.S. government at
their allies, “It would not be enough for 100% of the voters registered in the Permanent Electoral
Registry to vote… because the legitimacy is not questioned in the legal arena, it is raised eminently in the political one. Their plan is to destroy the revolution, fragment the country and distribute it among the imperialist transnational corporations to recolonize the continent, and they will not cease their perverse plans against Venezuela and it revolutionary and Bolivarian government.”
Venezuela’s National Assembly elections were
called by the government based on the 5-year
election cycle established by the Constitution.
Knowing this, the United States government,
and their allies, including the government
of Canada did not waste any time in their
campaign of sabotage and interference in
Venezuela’s democratic process. In addition
to the economic and financial blockade,
threats of war and attempted invasions,
military exercises funding the violent pro-
U.S. opposition, and other such attacks, the
U.S. government and their allies launched a
targeted campaign meant to deter people in
Venezuela from voting.
In March 2020 right-wing
counterrevolutionaries calling themselves the
“Venezuelan Patriotic Front” burned down
a warehouse containing 50,000 electronic
voting machines. This attack was reminiscent
to other attacks on voting machines and
equipment carried out by the violent U.S.-
backed opposition between 2014-2017.
The Lima Group – a collection of right-wing
governments in Latin America spear-headed
by the government of Canada, released a
statement in October announcing that they,
“Renew their support of President Juan Guaidó
and the National Assembly as legitimate
and democratically elected authorities and
highlight their evident will and commitment
to contribute to the democratic transition,
led by Venezuelans themselves, as the only
way to achieve institutional, economic and
social reconstruction in Venezuela.” Far from
original, this statement continues to parrot
the Democratic Transition Framework for
Venezuela, released in March by the U.S.
State Department. Wherein, the United
States government openly offers to provide
the people of Venezuela relief from the
economic war in exchange for the overthrow
of President Maduro.
The day before the election, the Virtual Embassy of
the United States in Venezuela (the verified account
name includes the word “virtual” because the U.S.
does not have an Embassy in Venezuela) sent a tweet advising
people in Venezuela how to report allegations of fraud
and encouraging people in Venezuela not to vote.
On top of this arrogant interference, people in Venezuela also went
to the polls under the stress of the U.S.
blockade of Venezuela. This illegal and
inhumane policy is being wielded against the
people of Venezuela as a form of collective
punishment for choosing to break free from
U.S. domination.
The United States, Canada, the European
Union, and Switzerland have all imposed
sanctions aiming to coerce the people
of Venezuela into overthrowing the
democratically elected government of
President Maduro and reverse the gains of
the Bolivarian revolutionary process.
Beginning with President Obama in 2015,
when Venezuela was declared a, “threat to U.S.
national security,” the U.S. government has
unleashed a brutal regime of sanctions against
Venezuela through Congressional laws,
Executive Orders, and 300 administrative
measures. These sanctions make it virtually
impossible for Venezuela to conduct typical
business transactions, cutting Venezuela off
from food, medicines, and numerous other
basic goods, machinery and technology. They
have also enabled the theft of billions of
dollars from Venezuela. This includes funds
which have been frozen in bank accounts
throughout the United States and Europe,
and exceptions have not been made for those
being transferred for the payment of lifesaving
medicines.
The Center for Economic Policy Research
(CEPR) has estimated that these sanctions
on Venezuela killed 40,000 people between
2017-2018 alone. Since that time, the
strangle-hold of the United States on the
Venezuelan economy has grown tighter.
On December 6, people of Venezuela
mobilized for the election and cast their
votes knowing that the sanctions and war
against Venezuela would continue, and
perhaps even worsen. However, they also
did so knowing the importance of defending
their sovereignty and self-determination by
once again defying the orders coming from
Washington DC.
Viva Bolivia! Viva Venezuela! Failure of
US and imperialist Intervention in Latin
America
On October 18, 2020, the people of Bolivia
secured a resounding victory against a
violent U.S.-backed coup d’état that removed
President Evo Morales almost one year earlier.
On this day, the heroic people of Bolivia
elected Luis Arce and David Choquehuanca
of the Movement to Socialism (MAS) as
the President and Vice President of the
Plurinational State of Bolivia.
This great victory was due to the courageous
resistance of the people of Bolivia. By electing
a progressive leftist government, the mainly
poor Indigenous Bolivians who believed
in the revolutionary ideals and leadership
of MAS and Evo Morales reversed the
tremendous effort of the United States to
destroy the progressive process in Bolivia.
Without the heroic resistance of Bolivia’s
oppressed people and working class to rightwing
coup government and their resistance to
imperialism, this victory would not have been
possible.
However, it should also not be forgotten that
the continuation of the Bolivarian revolution,
its dynamic and its impact was also driving
factor of keeping the anti-imperialist
movement strong and resilient in Bolivia.
The resistance of the Bolivarian revolutionary
people of Venezuela to U.S. domination
maintains and nourishes the anti-imperialist
spirit in Bolivia and Latin America. In this
sense, it is like a resonating core of resistance
and defense against U.S. aggression. The
successful continuity of two decades of
Venezuelan Bolivarian revolutionary process
has turned Venezuela into the backbone of
the Latin American anti-imperialist and
revolutionary movement.
We have seen how, over the last few years,
the United States and their right-wing allies
have consolidated some of their forces in
Latin America, for example with the election
of Bolsonaro in Brazil in 2018. However, the
victory in Bolivia has reminded poor, working
and oppressed people around the world that
this reactionary backlash was just a pause. The
progressive and revolutionary movement in
Latin America has continued, and even with
a partial set-back the United States and their
imperialist allies cannot win.
Throughout Latin America, poor masses, the
working class and young people are rising –
in response to the deepening crisis imposed
upon them by U.S. imperialist domination
and neo-Liberal governments. Over the past
two years, the landscape is shifting, and one
can observe how people are moving to the left in South America - Argentina, Chile, Peru,
Ecuador, and Colombia.
It is also significant that since the beginning
of the Bolivarian revolutionary process until
today, the United States has failed to isolate
Venezuela from the rest of the world. Despite
the inhuman and criminal unilateral sanctions
imposed on them, Venezuela continues to
have economic and cooperative relationships
with other developing countries, especially
those that have also been targeted by the U.S.
government. This too, demonstrates to the
rest of poor, working and oppressed people
in Latin America that there is a possibility
for continued development without relying
on the United States, the World Bank, and
International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Although the severe impact of the U.S.
economic war on Venezuela cannot be
completely mitigated, there are several
examples of the ways that the government
of Venezuela has lessened the impact on the
people of Venezuela.
For example, the Russian Vaccine Sputnik
V is undergoing phase 3 trials in Venezuela
today. Venezuela has received more than
274 tons of medicines, medical supplies and
medical equipment from China to assist
in their struggle against the pandemic.
Venezuela and Cuba have also continued to
expand their cooperation, especially though
the presence of Cuban doctors in Venezuela
that have contributed to the development
of Venezuela’s free and universal healthcare
system.
Since May 2020, Iran has also been sending
tankers of gasoline to relieve the severe
shortages in Venezuela brought on by U.S.
sanctions aimed at destroying Venezuela’s oil
industry. Ten tankers are currently on their
way to Venezuela, following three that arrived
in October.
In this way, the people of Venezuela and
the Bolivarian revolutionary government
are breaking the economic sanctions by
expanding friendship with other nations,
especially those that are also facing severe
U.S. sanctions themselves. They learned
many good lessons from the example of
revolutionary Cuba. With the belief and
practice of revolutionary internationalism
and cooperation with oppressed nations and
countries, revolutionary socialist Cuba set
an example for a successful anti-imperialist
struggle. For whomever is interested in
fighting Yankee imperialism, the example
of the people of Cuba, Venezuela and the
Bolivarian revolutionary process shows that
this is possible, that there is an alternative to
staying under the domination and pressure of
the United States.
Build the Movement in Solidarity with
Venezuela Today and Tomorrow
The blow that the people of Venezuela have
dealt to the domination of the United States
and their imperialist allies in Latin America
also gives a boost those fighting against the
war at home. Poor, working and oppressed
people within the “belly of the beast,” are in a
better position to fight for their rights when
beast is wounded.
On February 19, 2019 the Foreign Minister
of Venezuela Jorge Arreaza tweeted, “The
time and resources that these imperialist
gentlemen spend on Bolivarian Venezuela
can only mean one thing: like 200 years ago,
today we are also at the geopolitical epicenter
of the multipolar world in the making
#HandsOffVenezuela”
Anti-imperialists and fighters for liberation
must have a sense for the accuracy of Arreaza’s
analysis. However, it is also good that we take
this further, that we understand Venezuela
not just as epicentre, but also the critical
point for the anti-imperialist movement in
Latin America. The success and progress
of the whole anti-imperialist, anti-Yankee
domination movement in Latin America is
dependent on the resistance of the people of
Venezuela. The continuation of Bolivarian
revolutionary process is the necessity for the
road to freedom in Latin America.
Thus, defending Venezuela is a central
task for anti-imperialists and anyone who
believes that a better and just world is not
only necessary, but possible. We must see
with clarity that standing for Venezuela’s
sovereignty and self-determination is not a
question of defending progressive causes, the
left or socialists. Let’s not get distracted. The
continuity of the Bolivarian revolutionary
process is the critical point for revolution
and counter-revolution in Latin America
and it is directly related to defending a new
movement of working and oppressed people
in Latin America. Anyone who believes that
defeating imperialism in Latin America is an
essential task will support Venezuela.
There is no doubt that the new U.S. Biden
Administration understands this just as
well as President Trump’s. When the new
Venezuelan National Assembly takes office
on January 5, 2020 – they will cement the
victory of the December 6 elections and
begin to further the Bolivarian revolutionary
process.
As people living in the United States and
Canada, and around the world, we must also
take on a new responsibility – and redouble
our efforts to end the U.S. blockade and war
on Venezuela!
In the words of Comandante Hugo Chavez
“Let the dogs of the empire bark, that’s
their job; ours is to battle to achieve the true
liberation of our people.”
Follow Alison Bodine on Twitter: @Alisoncolette
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