#News | The government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN) successfully concluded on Monday the first round of peace talks held in Caracas, Venezuela.

Representatives from both delegations signed a joint statement highlighting the “respectful, transparent and cordial” atmosphere in the negotiations.

In addition to outlining the agenda and procedures for the dialogue with ”clear rules”, the joint declaration also specified a series of humanitarian measures in areas of the country most affected by armed conflict, as well as a communications strategy that the parties are calling “pedagogy and communication for peace”.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro celebrated the positive development in peace talks in neighboring Colombia.

“For our country, its people and its government, it has been an event of transcendental importance to have been able to serve as the host of this first round, which concludes with highly positive results, contributing to the development of peace talks promoted by the government of President Gustavo Petro,” read a statement from the Venezuelan government.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15667

#News | Venezuela’s crude production continues to hover below 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) as the industry enters its sixth consecutive year under US sanctions.

Despite the output standstill, exports increased moderately with 619,300 bpd of crude and refined products shipped in November, 16 percent more than in October, but still below August's peak of 813,000 bpd, as registered by Refinitiv Eikon.

Another surge in exports is expected by year-end as US corporation Chevron is reportedly ready to ship one million barrels of Venezuelan crude to US refineries in the Gulf of Mexico by late December. This would be the first US-bound shipment since 2018 following Washington’s financial sanctions against PDVSA the year prior.

Currently, Chevron and PDVSA’s joint oil ventures are producing a reported 20,000-50,000 bpd, a significant· fall from the 160,000 barrels a day pumped in 2018 and well below the 200,000 bpd maximum capacity.

Although there is room for an increase, Chevron officials have discarded an immediate boost in output. Earlier this month, the firm’s Chief Executive Michael Wirth said the company will not invest in exploration and production in the next six months, with the company instead focusing on shipping a reported 1.79 million barrels of exportable crude it has in stock to US refiners.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15668

Vijay Prashad really needs no introduction. If you're amidst a popular struggle, chances are you'll bump into him or into something he's written about it. A great comrade and a great reference.

Help us continue to undermine Washington's information war: https://venezuelanalysis.com/donate

With the year drawing to a close, we recorded a special podcast episode. We chose our "top stories" for the year to take stock of the Venezuelan political landscape and marked some of the issues to keep an eye on in 2023.

Listen here (early access): https://www.patreon.com/posts/75942263

#Interview | Nested in the working-class El Valle barrio in Caracas, the 5 de Marzo Commune is a project that explores new ways to empower an urban community. With a group of young people at the helm, including many university students, this commune has developed a feminist discourse that is often missing in other communal spaces.

Here, two spokespeople tell us about the challenges of commune-building in a large city. 👇

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15669

🎙Special #podcast episode! The Venezuelanalysis team picked some top stories from 2022 to take stock of Venezuela's current political+economic+social context. There was also time to single out some 2023 developments to keep an eye on.

Listen here: https://venezuelanalysis.com/audio/15670

Chris Gilbert takes a look into the creative ways communards operate in urban centers and how these projects intersect with the much-needed transformations required for a grassroots and socially integrated ecology.

"Recycling exists all around the world now, and the separation of waste has become a sort of global norm, with color-coded trash cans found in most major cities. However, the work here in this commune has more social substance and economic importance than the recycling operations (or, for that matter, most community gardens) of the Global North. A visitor can see how the communards here have adopted the globalized slogan, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” painting it on the commune’s walls. The connection to a worldwide movement is likely meaningful for these communards. However, it is important to recognize that these terms mean something more substantial in this commune. In the context of a Venezuelan commune—where reducing is imposed by the crisis and the blockade, reusing is a productive undertaking, and recycling an existential necessity—the slogan also goes hand in hand with new social relations."

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15671

🧵It's probably curtains for self-proclaimed Guaidó if even the corporate media are calling it. But the Associated Press will not waste a chance to print out an industrial dose of shameless propaganda. It's amazing just how naturalized these lies and biases are (thread)

https://twitter.com/venanalysis/status/1606349304003645442

#Opinion | Looking ahead to the new year, VA columnist Jessica Dos Santos takes stock of economic inequalities and the challenges for the Venezuelan people.

"Amidst all the economic contradictions, we don’t really know what should be celebrated, what is cause for concern, or when we should just lie down and weep. It is totally unclear that something good for the government, the business sector, trade relations, global geopolitics, will also translate into something positive for us down here.

I’m sure I’m not alone in wishing that negotiations go beyond the release of high-ranking relatives in exchange for US executives jailed in Venezuela, and move towards big objectives that we can all follow and identify with.

With all the uncertainty, we have learned to treasure small joys. For example, seeing our (Olympic gold medallist triple jumper) Yulimar Rojas tear everything in her path, or Venezuelan baseball players from the MLB coming back to play in the Venezuelan league playoffs after being authorized by the US Treasury Department."

https://venezuelanalysis.com/tales-resistance/15672

#News | Florida judge Robert Scola has rejected a motion to dismiss criminal charges against Venezuelan government envoy Alex Saab by ruling against claims to diplomatic immunity.

In his decision published Friday, the district magistrate argued that the United States' non-recognition of the Maduro government should disqualify Caracas' appointees' diplomatic status. In January 2019, the Trump administration supported opposition politician Juan Guaidó’s self-proclamation as “interim president.”

Scola reached his conclusions after evidentiary hearings on December 12 and 13 and oral arguments on December 20. The judge also sided with federal prosecutors who brought up alleged inconsistencies in the documents submitted by Saab's lawyers in recent months to back up his position as a special envoy.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15673

Venezuelan human rights organization Fundalatin recently announced the death of Gabriel Cisneros, a Venezuelan child who could not receive a liver transplant because Washington’s murderous sanctions continue to paralyze the state-funded program that covered these procedures.

Gabriel is sadly one more in a long list of victims of the US economic war. The Simón Bolívar Foundation is the social program of US-based Venezuelan oil subsidiary CITGO. It was created in 2006 by former President Hugo Chávez to help patients with rare cancers, especially children with leukemia, receive transplants and other life-saving treatments in hospitals abroad when these were not available in the country.

However, financial sanctions imposed in 2017 against Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, CITGO’s parent company, blocked the Venezuelan government from using the international financial system, thus impeding payments for kids' treatments. The situation was later compounded when Washington seized CITGO in early 2019 and put it under the control of the US-backed self-proclaimed “interim government” led by Juan Guaidó.

Meanwhile, deadly sanctions and opposition funding remain high on the US agenda. On December 19, the US Senate approved the 2023 spending bill which includes $50 million for "democracy programs” for Venezuela, upping from the $33 and $40 million allotted in previous years.

Read the full article 👇

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15674

In 2022, the Venezuelan government carried out strong international activity to continue challenging Washington’s blockade designed as part of the strategy to isolate the Caribbean country and overthrow President Nicolás Maduro.

Breaking this international exclusion required learning, developing and implementing an adequate methodology and intelligent work scheme that abandoned some of the traditional methods of diplomacy, in order to successfully grasp the new opportunities that surfaced last year when the isolation policy against Venezuela in the international arena began to crumble.

Some radical measures included reducing the role of the Foreign Affairs Ministry by appointing two low-profile ministers with modest political backgrounds: Félix Plasencia (August 2021 - May 2022) and Carlos Faría (incumbent) in order to centralize foreign policy issues amidst the country’s difficult times. Since early 2021, President Maduro alongside Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez have planned and executed international relations.

It is no secret that Venezuela's main foreign policy task right now is to fully reestablish relations with the United States. However, the Bolivarian government has reiterated that this can only be done on the basis of mutual respect and non-interference. In order to advance along this path, Venezuela has demanded the elimination of the 763 sanctions as well as 900 other measures that comprehend the 1,600 unilateral coercive measures imposed by Washington against the Venezuelan people.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/around-world-60-days/15675

PLOT TWIST! Self-proclaimed Juan Guaidó throws a hail mary. He pulls out all the stops: the pointless hand gestures, three Venezuela flags, a poorly lit portrait of Bolívar. It's a potpourri of sheer nonsense, but there's not much else going on, so let's have some fun! (thread)

https://twitter.com/venanalysis/status/1608649797011116038

#Breaking Opposition parties vote to end the self-proclaimed "interim government" led by Juan Guaidó after a very acrimonious Zoom session. A watershed moment in the history of made-up posts. Plenty of nonsense and backstabbing still to come, so stay tuned!

#News | The three largest Venezuelan opposition groups voted to eliminate the so-called “interim government.”

On Thursday, Democratic Action (AD), Justice First (PJ) and A New Era (UNT) followed through on their pledge to put an end to the bureaucratic apparatus led by self-proclaimed “Interim President” Juan Guaidó.

The decision was taken during a virtual session of the defunct, opposition-controlled National Assembly (AN) elected in December 2015. Though its term ended in January 2021, the main anti-government parties boycotted the December 2020 legislative elections and instead kept a largely ceremonial parallel parliament by unilaterally extending its mandate on a yearly basis.

Via a Zoom call, a project to reform the so-called “Transition Statute” garnered 72 votes in favor, 29 against and 8 abstentions.

The “Transition Statute” was the framework set up by the US-backed political formations to reject the Nicolás Maduro government’s authority as well as not recognize the 2018 presidential elections. It was the basis for Guaidó’s self-proclamation as “interim president” in January 2019.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15676

#Opinion | And so it ended. Not with a bang, but with a whimper. After all, it was made of cardboard.

It is very rare to have a political phenomenon beautifully encapsulated in a single moment or image. But in the case of (former) self-proclaimed “Interim President” Juan Guaidó, we got exactly that.

On November 22, 2021, the Obama knockoff politician was giving a press conference in a fancy-looking set, with plenty of flags and a little podium. As he trudged along his nonsense something magical happened: the presidential shield behind him fell to the floor. It was made of cardboard.

For all the absurdity that preceded and followed this episode, this will be Guaidó’s defining moment. Last week, his opposition allies finally had enough and decided to end the “interim government.”

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15677

#News | Brazil’s Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva was sworn into office Sunday as tens of thousands of supporters cheered his return to power and social movements celebrated the beginning of a new era for Brazil-Venezuela relations.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro warmly greeted Lula’s inauguration, saying on Twitter that it marked a step forward for regional integration efforts.

“I congratulate with joy the inauguration of our comrade [Lula] as President of Brazil. A new wave of liberation runs through the Patria Grande, opening paths for the geopolitical advancement of South American unity projects,” wrote the Venezuelan leader.

Mauro Vieira, Lula’s incoming foreign minister, confirmed last month that the return of da Silva to the presidency would also bring the restoration of diplomatic relations with Venezuela following years of strained relations with Lula’s predecessor.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15678