#News | Hundreds of Venezuelan teachers took to the streets to demand higher wages and the restoration of collective bargaining rights, including social and medical insurance.

The nationwide protests began on Monday organized by the United Federation of Teaching (Fetramagisterio) alongside unions from around 18 states. Teachers were joined by workers, administrative personnel, and retirees from the public education sector with demonstrations taking place near education-related government buildings and public squares in city centers.

In Caracas, teachers gathered outside the Ministry of Education to demand immediate answers to their months-long struggle for decent salaries, the full payment of stipulated bonuses as well as the reactivation of the Hospitalization, Surgery, and Maternity (HCM) services and the Institute of Social Welfare and Assistance for the Ministry of Education Staff (Ipasme).

The leader of the Venezuelan Teachers' Association (Fenaprodo-CPV), Raquel Figueroa, ruled out a national strike but said members will remain in the streets until they secure a new collective contract that respects labor rights and sets a salary increase.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15682

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#Interview | In the south of Yaracuy state, Urachiche is a township nestled between the Aroa mountains and the flatlands that open onto the Venezuelan llanos. It has a long history of struggle and – together with the neighboring Bruzual township – forms the heart of the vibrant cult of María Lionza, a syncretic goddess that brings together Indigenous and African traditions.

Urachiche is also home to two closely-related communes: Hugo Chávez and Alí Primera. Here we learn about the history of these communes and their struggles to collectively control the land.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15683

#News | Venezuelan industrial workers have staged demonstrations to demand higher wages at state-owned steelmaking company Siderúrgicas del Orinoco (Sidor).

Since last Monday, hundreds of Sidor workers have walked out from their posts in the large-scale industrial complex in Ciudad Guayana, Bolívar state. They have blocked the local highway every day and urged the company to address a number of labor issues.

“This is not a political protest,” spokesman Henry Quintana told local reporters. “This is a workers’ protest, and we will not back down until we are heard.” Other spokespeople stated that salaries should be set in US dollars to shield them from currency devaluation.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15684

🎙In December, the VA staff sat down to look back at the "top stories" from 2022 and analyze what 2023 might have in store.

Listen here: https://youtu.be/1cQGckxxYeA

The latest iteration of Washington’s regime-change efforts against the democratically elected Venezuelan government came to an end. On December 30, an opposition-controlled parliament whose term ran out two years ago voted to end the US-backed “interim government” headed by Juan Guaidó.

A few outlets recognized that the latest developments represented “a blow” (New York Times, 12/30/22) or “a failure” (Financial Times, 1/8/23) for the United States, but for the most part the media’s goal seemed to be to solidify the biased premises underlying the regime-change operation. Corporate media remain as unwilling as ever to question US foreign policy, regardless of its deadly consequences.

The Guaidó-led operation had earned the wholehearted support of the media establishment from the get-go (FAIR.org, 1/19/19, 1/31/19). However, its end did not lead to a reckoning or reevaluation of past coverage. The loyal stenography from Western pundits is as reliable as ever (FAIR.org, 6/13/22, 5/2/22, 4/15/20, 1/22/20, 9/24/19).

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15685

#News | National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez warned that talks between the Venezuelan government and the opposition could face an imminent end as a result of the lack of progress on the release of US $3 billion in Venezuelan funds seized by Washington.

Rodríguez, who heads the government delegation, accused the opposition of not holding its end of the bargain.

“There is no reason to continue to dialogue with people who do not keep their word. If the more than [US] $3 billion dollars that was stolen from the people is not returned, the dialogue will not continue," said Rodríguez.

In November 2022, delegations representing both the government and opposition traveled to Mexico City to sign a partial agreement, mediated by Norway, focused on social issues following the resumption of the dialogue process after a year-long hiatus.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15686

#News | Venezuela’s most prized foreign asset has moved a step closer to being broken up and seized by creditors.

CITGO, the US-based subsidiary of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, is worth an estimated US $8 billion. With three refineries and a network of over four thousand gas stations stateside, it faces a number of threats as several corporations and bondholders look to claim shares as compensation for arbitration awards and defaulted debt.

On Tuesday, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued general license 5J blocking transactions involving the PDVSA 2020 bond until April 20. Previous licenses had been issued for six months or an entire year, and the shorter term for the current one is seen by analysts as a signal that it will not be extended further.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15687

Nested in the mountains of Yaracuy, the Alí Primera Commune was born shortly after Hugo Chávez began to promote communes. However, its roots date from some 500 years ago, in the resistance that Indigenous peoples mounted against Spanish colonists. Later, in the 1960s, the mountains became home to communist-inspired guerrilla movements.

The Alí Primera Commune is solidly organized, with a fraternal spirit and solidarious attitude among its militants. However, this rural commune faces many challenges. Accessible only by walking or motorbike, a part of the community lives in very humble adobe homes where they cook on the open fires. Moreover, the US blockade has adversely impacted local production. The challenges these campesinos face are many, but their resilience and commitment to Chávez’s communal project is the stuff myths are made of.

In this interview by Cira Pascual Maquina and Chris Gilbert, we learn about the Alí Primera Commune, a rural, mountainous commune located in a territory of almost 12 thousand hectares and home to more than 4000 families.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15688

#News | Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has reportedly momentarily suspended oil sale contracts to Asian markets as the country’s oil production remains stagnated and exports slip.

In December, Venezuela produced 676,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to secondary sources from the latest Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) report, only 12,000 bpd above November’s output. The figure is virtually on par with the 681,000 bpd produced 12 months ago.

For its part, PDVSA reported 669,000 bpd, slightly below the previous month’s 693,000 bpd.

Caracas had set the goal to pump 1.5-2 million barrels in 2022 after Iran began providing diluents and other inputs the year prior, but recurrent operational disruptions and the need to prioritize fuel production made the target unreachable.

International analysts have ruled out that Venezuela will ramp up production in 2023, in the absence of significant sanctions relief, as the oil industry needs significant upgrades and repairs after years of disinvestment.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15689

Chris Gilbert and Cira Pascual Marquina look at the Venezuelan communes as a key force in an extended process of national liberation and social emancipation.

"When people come together and decide to work and relate to each other, not based on economic value and profits, but in the name of satisfying their real needs — that is, for the sake of life and not capital — as is happening currently in Venezuela, then it is an occurrence of world-historical importance. There may be no headline and it may sound like a mere whisper but, to appeal to the terms of Tracy Chapman’s song, it is a revolutionary whisper. That is because a commune’s shift to producing for real needs and use-values, not for an anonymous market, and with democratic control of its own production, spells the beginning of a profound transformation that could completely change the world, allowing for both unprecedented human flourishing and planetary survival."

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15690

#News | The VII Summit of Heads of State Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) concluded Tuesday with an affirmation of support for the dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the political opposition.

Citing security concerns, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro opted not to participate personally in the summit in Buenos Aires.

“Latin America and the Caribbean must be heard, in a single voice, and tell the United States of America: no more interventionism, no more coup plots, enough of sanctions against the free and sovereign countries of the continent,” said Maduro in a video message delivered during the gathering of the region’s heads of state.

The fate of the dialogue process in Venezuela is uncertain after the head of the Venezuelan government delegation accused the US-backed opposition of failing in its commitment to secure the release of US $3 billion in Venezuelan funds seized by Washington. A member of the opposition negotiating team claimed the release of the funds was “not easy”, while the White House has not commented on the delay.

In its statement, the region’s leaders explicitly called on the “international community” to support the implementation of the deal.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15691

#News | US Democratic representative and chair of the House Rules Committee, Jim McGovern, sent a letter to President Joe Biden requesting the removal of sanctions against Venezuela for violating human rights.

“The [Biden] administration should assess the humanitarian and human rights impact of all sanctions imposed on Venezuela and seek to lift any whose principal effect, intended or not, is to undermine the livelihoods and well-being of the millions of people who have stayed in the country,” read the letter addressed to the White House.

In his letter, McGovern also encouraged the Biden government to “reconsider reopening consular activities and eventually the US embassy in Venezuela while permitting the Maduro government to do the same in the United States.”

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15692

The US blockade has had devastating consequences for working-class Venezuelans. In this interview, we learn about its impact on the Alí Primera Commune and their strategies of resistance.

"We are an imperialist target because we are a rich country: we have a lot of oil and other resources that they [the US and allies] need. However, we have been struggling against oppression since the Spanish got here.

Later, in the independence struggle in the early 19th century, we fought for national and social emancipation. Even then, Simón Bolívar was aware of the imperialist threat and said: "the United States appears to be destined by providence to plague Latin America with misery in the name of liberty.” Then, Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution constituted an affront to imperialism, yet we reaffirmed our intention to be a sovereign nation. That is why the US is dead set on bringing this project down."

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15693

#News | The Venezuelan National Assembly (AN) has introduced a bill to supervise non-governmental organizations (NGO) operating in the country.

The parliamentary majority of the ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV) approved the project to legislate the “supervision, regularization, operation and financing” of NGOs during the January 24 AN session.

The draft was passed in its first discussion. It will now move to a “consultation phase” for possible amendments, with some deputies scheduled to hold street assemblies in their constituencies.

AN member and PSUV Vice President Diosdado Cabello, who presented the bill, said the goal is to hold NGOs accountable to Venezuelan authorities.

“This will help us bring order to a sector where there is definitely none,” he said. Cabello claimed that more than 60 NGOs had been identified as having “political and not social objectives.” He named a handful, including Súmate and Futuro Presente, with reported ties to anti-government parties.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15694

🧵🧵🧵Lying for a living. Once Reuters finds a compact package for mistruths it will repeat it over and over. The most remarkable absurdities will be written if that means endorsing Washington's disgraceful and murderous foreign policy.

Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/venanalysis/status/1619401009226481665

🧵🗞 Western media reporting on Venezuela is biased almost by definition. We know that going in. But every so often there’s a piece that ticks all the dishonesty boxes. The bad journalism equivalent of a perfect game. You might have guessed, this comes from the Guardian

Read the thread: https://twitter.com/venanalysis/status/1620237596038422528

#News | United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on member states to suspend measures such as sanctions that undermine human rights and aggravate the economic crisis in Venezuela.

“It is clear that the sectorial sanctions imposed since August 2017 have exacerbated the economic crisis and hindered human rights,” Türk told reporters upon the conclusion of his visit to the Caribbean country.

As part of his three-day visit, Türk held a face-to-face meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, as well as Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez, among other high-ranking officials.

The UN human rights head likewise emphasized the need for reforms to the country’s justice and security sector and made an explicit call for people “arbitrarily detained” to be released.

“We ratify our commitment to the defense of human rights and the will to advance in the improvement of the justice system,” wrote Maduro on Twitter following his meeting with Türk.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15695

#Opinion | A recent trip to the Venezuela-Colombia border had some good and bad surprises for VA columnist Jessica Dos Santos.

"A couple of weeks ago I went to Táchira state, on the border with Colombia. It had been six years since I had last flown by airplane. This flight reminded me how much I enjoy traveling, how wonderful it was to fly when ticket prices were reasonable compared to wages or the times I got to do it on journalistic assignments.

A flight to Táchira these days costs US $100. Going by bus is at least $50 but it takes a whole day. To take one’s own car is nearly impossible because a full gas tank is not enough for the whole trip and filling up along the way can be a rollercoaster. Carrying jerrycans or securing black market suppliers would drive my anxiety up way too much.

Still, I retained hope that upon arriving at San Cristóbal (Táchira capital), one of my friends would offer to drive me around. After all, people from the Andean region are renowned for their generosity. But this did not happen. Reality was no match for whatever goodwill there might have been."

https://venezuelanalysis.com/tales-resistance/15696

#Opinion | "Venezuelan women are being murdered at a frightening pace, and yet the country still lacks a clear path of action to understand, report, prevent and eradicate this extreme form of gender-related violence.

Last year alone, the country registered 236 femicides, which means a woman was killed every 37 hours, according to the Utopix Femicide Monitor, a platform that gathers femicide data by scanning digital outlets since 2019. These numbers are even more alarming considering this is an unofficial count; the true scale of femicide is likely much higher.

If we look at recent years, femicides in Venezuela are growing exponentially. The Femicide Monitor tracked 167 cases in 2019 and 256 the next year, a 53 percent increase, as victims of machista violence were forced into lockdown with their aggressors during the Covid-19 pandemic. Then in 2021, 239 women were killed, almost on par with 2022.

Everything indicates that this worrisome trend will continue, but aside from feminist organizations, nobody seems to be sounding the alarms and there is no sign of a comprehensive government plan to assist women at risk."

VA writer Andreína Chávez takes stock of Venezuela's alarming reality of gender violence. 👇

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15698

🧵🗞We have to hand it to them. No one can churn this steady output of pure-grade bullsh*t about Venezuela like Reuters. Let's take a look at the latest propaganda hits:

Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/venanalysis/status/1621368213161263104