"Few women – if any – in Venezuela’s “Fifth Republic” (as the Chávez and post-Chávez era is known) left as significant a mark on the country’s history as Tibisay Lucena, who died of cancer on April 12, 2023, at the age of 63. Her main accomplishment was that during the 14 years as president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), she fundamentally reformed the country’s electoral system to make it one of the most fraud-proof systems in the world.

I first met Tibisay in 1997, well before Chávez became president of Venezuela, while she was studying for an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology at the New School for Social Research in New York City. I didn’t get to know her that well at the time, but she was a friend of my Venezuelan girlfriend (who later became my wife). At the New School, she headed up the Latino Student Association and was studying electoral systems. Despite (or because of?) her relatively small stature, she always comported herself with friendliness, dignity, and authority. I stayed in touch with her throughout my time in Venezuela and even while living in Ecuador, mainly as a journalist for Venezuelanalysis."

Read VA founder Greg Wilpert's article honoring one of Venezuela's most important political figures during the Chavismo years.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15747

#Interview | "We are anti-capitalists and for good reason. Capitalism is an exploitative political and economic system that has created the widest inequities in human history, and has brought our planet to the brink of destruction. It’s led to previously unimaginable weapons and wars, which have brought about countless amounts of human suffering. Like everything, however, capitalism does have varied traits. There are some progressive aspects to capitalism. It’s proved to be a more humane production method than African slavery in the Americas. Or to the conquest, which was a product of the feudal logic of economic and political expansion, dominant in Iberia at the time. Some revolutionary governments in the Global South have been able to utilize the capitalist mode of production as a tool in the struggle against US imperialism (a.k.a. unilateralism).

Capitalism, once the strength of European empires, has become its weakness. The tendency for rate of profit to fall has forced industry abroad, creating new poles of power and reducing the strength of U.S. imperialism – the chief opponent of global liberation movements. Utilizing capitalism as a tool to overthrow capitalism has been a promising development over the past fifty years. It’s often overlooked that this was also what Marx envisioned nearly two centuries ago."

Enrique S. Rivera is a historian, journalist, and documentary film producer. Read our interview with him:

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15748

#News | Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his Bolivian counterpart Luis Arce reaffirmed their strategic alliance and signed 13 agreements covering oil, gas, mining, education, healthcare, and culture.

In a televised joint press conference, Arce said the agreements “marked the relaunching” of the countries’ bilateral relations and pledged to continue working with Caracas to achieve regional integration. “We want Venezuela to know that it has a great ally and partner in Bolivia, not just commercially but for strategical and long-term issues.”

The Bolivian leader said that his country was "very pleased to establish very important cooperation agreements,” mainly in the areas of energy as well as culture and healthcare. Arce added that the Bolivian people would begin training in Venezuela to specialize in different medical fields while knowledge exchange would be ingrained in every other cooperation accord.

The signed agreements were headlined by expanded cooperation in the hydrocarbons and petrochemicals sectors in order to develop exploration, exploitation and refining projects as well as to strengthen the partnership between state oil companies Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB).

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15749

It’s amazing how Reuters can just cram industrial amounts of dishonesty into articles with just a handful of paragraphs. Venezuela is like a performance-enhancing drug for corporate journalists, and not in a good way (thread)

https://twitter.com/venanalysis/status/1649661268574232577

#News | The Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office has opened an investigation into the death of Leoner Jesús Azuaje Urrea while in the custody of the country’s intelligence agency SEBIN.


Azuaje was reportedly found dead in his cell at SEBIN’s Helicoide facility in Caracas on Thursday afternoon. Attorney General Tarek William Saab broke the news and the working theory that the death had been a suicide. He appointed two prosecutors to investigate.

On Friday, Saab presented preliminary investigation findings via his Twitter account. He stated that an autopsy found the cause of death to be mechanical asphyxiation as a result of Azuaje having hung himself with his bedsheets in his cell.

The country’s top prosecutor added that the detainee reportedly left a suicide note and that prior psychological evaluations had found “mental disorders” and “signs of anxiety attacks.”

The 38-year-old Azuaje had been charged with corruption in the early hours of Wednesday.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15750

#News | Venezuelan opposition figure Juan Guaidó fled to the United States after “illegally” entering Colombia.

On Monday evening, Guaidó posted a video aboard an airplane claiming he had been “expelled.” However, Colombian officials denied his claim, asserting that he had not been forcibly removed, that he was accompanied by US agents and that he already had a plane ticket bound for Miami.

“Mr. Guaidó was not expelled, Mr. Guaidó had an agreement to travel to the US. We allowed it for humanitarian reasons despite his illegal entry into the country,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro posted on his Twitter account.

Guaidó’s surprise arrival to Colombia threatened to derail Petro’s international conference on Venezuela, set to take place Tuesday, with the aim of restarting stalled talks between the Venezuelan government and opposition.

Upon his arrival in Miami, the US-backed politician stated that he and his family had been "threatened" but did not offer more details. He had recently warned that a warrant for his arrest was imminent.

The Venezuelan opposition figure has increasingly resorted to publicity stunts amidst his political downfall.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15751

#News | The International Conference on the Political Process in Venezuela was held Tuesday in Bogotá, Colombia, with representatives from 19 countries and the European Union (UE) and concluded without concrete developments.

The summit began with a televised speech by Colombian President Gustavo Petro before closed-door discussions took place. Afterward, Colombian Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva read a communique to the press outlining “common ground” positions reached by the attendees to help jumpstart the paralyzed dialogue process between the Venezuelan government and US-backed opposition.

The first point in the agenda was “establishing an electoral timetable that allows free and transparent elections with full guarantees for all Venezuelan actors.” Leyva added that the attendees considered “the importance of taking into account the recommendations of the European Union Electoral Observation Mission made in 2021,” in reference to the regional vote that saw the return of most opposition parties to the electoral arena and yielded a significant victory for Chavismo.

Following the summit’s conclusions, the Venezuelan government issued a communique “acknowledging the deliberations.” Caracas reiterated the “imperative need” to lift the wide-reaching sanctions “which constitute an aggression against the entire Venezuelan population.”

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15752

#Opinion | "I recently read that some twenty years ago President Hugo Chávez launched the National System of Missions, a series of social programs in several areas including food, education, housing and healthcare. It was a multi-pronged offensive to pay back the “social debt.”

This got me recalling how many years ago, when I was 23 years old and fresh out of university, I taught in Mission Robinson II. This was a program meant to give people a sixth-grade education. I had students both from Robinson I (literacy and early primary school) as well as those over 15 who, for one reason or another, did not get the chance to finish their primary schooling.

Those evening classes, held in a giant Caracas school called “Gran Colombia” to make it even more romantic (1), shook all my social sensibility fibers. I, and all the other instructors, were dead set on ensuring that everyone had the necessary tools to not get screwed over by those from above, and I was sure that together we could do it.

In truth, the consequences of a lack of education were not foreign to me. My parents, both Portuguese immigrants, barely finished third grade, and in my childhood I witnessed time and again how challenging it was for them to communicate. Even more so in a different language."

https://venezuelanalysis.com/tales-resistance/15753

#Interview | "Materializing the rights granted by the Constitution in a country under siege becomes very difficult. In fact, the blockade led to stagnation in the process of transformation.

Let’s take our state as a case study: Amazonas has 177 thousand square kilometers, and Indigenous communities are spread through a vast territory. Many communities can only be reached by boat. What happens when fuel is not available? How does the state maintain social programs in territories that are hours away by boat? And, what’s more, how can children go to school when in many Indigenous communities schools are a boat-ride away and fuel is nowhere to be found?

The blockade has snatched away so much from Indigenous peoples! It has taken many, many lives. It has also narrowed the horizon so much that communities are shrinking quickly: some move to the city, others leave the country, and others go to the mines."

An organizer talks about Indigenous peoples and the Bolivarian Process, the impact of the blockade on their communities, and future prospects.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15754

#News | Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has welcomed the approval of a “Domain Extinction” law by the country’s National Assembly (AN) as part of ongoing efforts to fight corruption.

Maduro argued that the 48-article bill was “very thorough” and would “strike a blow against corrupt mafias” operating inside the state apparatus.

“Those who think they can play a double game, play simultaneously for the crooks and for the revolutionaries, are seriously mistaken,” the president warned during a televised broadcast on Friday.

Venezuela has recently seen headlines hogged by a massive anti-corruption operation following allegations that the state oil company PDVSA had been defrauded of US $3 billion as part of a scheme involving the country’s cryptocurrency watchdog SUNACRIP.

Under severe US sanctions, the Caribbean nation’s oil industry has been plagued by unreliable intermediaries that have seen the new leadership overhaul contracts and demand upfront payments.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15755

#News | Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro presented a number of labor-related measures during the traditional Workers’ Day march in Caracas.

The government will raise the monthly food bonus for workers from US $2 to $40, while the so-called “economic war bonus” was set at $30, setting a $70 income floor for state employees. Both benefits will be paid in bolívars (BsD) but will be pegged to the US dollar in order to maintain their value in case the currency devalues.

However, there was no minimum wage increase, with the amount remaining at the 130 BsD ($5.25 at the present exchange rate) set in March 2022. At the time, it corresponded to roughly $30 but the exchange rate devaluation over the subsequent months saw over 80 percent of its value erode.

The Venezuelan president additionally promised new collective bargaining agreements for the public sector, a tax reform to target high earners and corporations, and a special plan to assign 50 oil wells whose proceeds will be exclusively destined to fund social security.

Maduro called the measures a “resistance plan” and pledged that “sooner rather than later” there would be a recovery of Venezuelan salaries.


https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15756

Venezuelanalysis sat down with a panel of intellectuals and solidarity activists to discuss US sanctions and anti-imperialist resistance.

Listen here: https://venezuelanalysis.com/audio/15757

#News | The US government will not block the sale of CITGO, the US-based subsidiary of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and the country’s most important asset abroad.

In a letter filed on Friday in the US District Court in Delaware, the US Department of Justice said that the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) “will not take enforcement action against individuals or entities” involved in a court-ordered auction process of CITGO shares set in motion last year.

The statement added that once a winning bidder emerges, OFAC will implement a "favorable licensing policy" for the execution of CITGO’s sale procedure “or the negotiation of a settlement agreement among the relevant parties.”

With three refineries and a network of over four thousand gas stations stateside, the Houston-based oil subsidiary reportedly registered a $2.8 billion profit last year and could be valued at $13 billion. However, no revenue has been perceived by Caracas since 2019 after Washington recognized Juan Guaidó’s self-proclamation as “Interim President” and handed CITGO’s management to an opposition ad hoc board.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15758

#Opinion | "May 28, 2023 will mark exactly two years to the date of Rep. Jim McGovern’s letter imploring President Biden to “stop using the Venezuelan people as a bargaining chip.” “The impact of sectoral and secondary sanctions is indiscriminate, and purposely so,” the congressman wrote in what has been referred to by policy experts as “the best letter that we’ve ever seen out of Congress on sanctions, period.”

His letter was applauded by his constituents and human rights defenders around the world and remains frequently cited by leading experts in the field – including supporters of the Venezuelan opposition who are calling for an end to the US sanctions.

But, two years later, the sanctions remain intact, and negotiations between the Biden and Maduro administrations on the issue have stalled. During this time, tens or even hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have died, primarily due to a lack of medicine that was once provided by the government, which – as a result of the sanctions – no longer has the funds to provide its citizens with basic services."

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15759

#News | Venezuela is demanding US authorities pursue a thorough investigation into the killing of 8 people, several of them Venezuelan nationals, in Brownsville, Texas after reports emerged that the incident may have been deliberate.

“In light of this painful episode and the loss of lives of compatriots, Venezuela urges the corresponding US authorities to investigate the facts in depth and clarify their causes,” read the communique from the Venezuelan government. The statement specified the need to “rule out” a hate crime that could have been motivated by ”a culture of violence and intolerance promoted by extremist sectors of American politics and society.”

At approximately 8:30 in the morning on Sunday, a gray Range Rover drove into a crowd of men waiting near a bus stop in the border city of Brownsville, reportedly killing 8 and injuring 10, some critically.

According to media reports, the men had recently left the nearby Bishop Enrique San Pedro Ozanam Center, a homeless shelter that also provides support to migrants.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15760

#News | Venezuelan authorities have arrested the mayor of the Simón Rodríguez municipality in Anzoátegui state.

On Thursday, Ernesto Paraqueima was detained by members of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and flown to Caracas to face charges.

Paraqueima drew the national spotlight following a leaked audio in which he said that a mural painted by autistic children in a shelter was “horrible and disgusting.” He went on to belittle the children for “having painted with their feet” and vowed to remove the art piece.

His comments sparked outrage and led the Venezuelan National Assembly to demand an investigation against the Simón Rodríguez mayor during a legislative session on Tuesday.

The following day, Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced an arrest warrant against Paraqueima and later confirmed his arrest. He was charged with inciting hatred, violating the Law for the Protection of Children and Teenagers (LOPNNA) and restricting free trade.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15761

#Opinion | This past week, while the rest of the world looked elsewhere, one of the biggest thefts committed against any country in recent history took place. In one fell swoop, the Biden government greenlighted the plunder of several Venezuelan assets: US-based oil subsidiary CITGO, millions of dollars held in US bank accounts and a state-owned aircraft.

All these assets had been seized or frozen long ago but after recent (extraterritorial) US orders amidst the neverending aggression against Caracas, there is almost zero chance of the Venezuelan people ever getting them back. More blows to a besieged economy that will only increase the human toll already caused by years of a US-led blockade.

Perhaps the least surprising of the three is the Venezuelan hardline opposition regaining access to the country’s resources held in US bank accounts to finance its operations, which range from traveling to Washington to lobby for more sanctions to maintaining luxury lifestyles and the occasional Zoom meetings or electoral activities in middle-class neighborhoods. They call these actions “fighting for freedom and democracy.”

Recently, the US State Department gave the long-expired opposition-controlled National Assembly (AN) access to $347 million in Venezuelan frozen funds. The Washington-backed troup had been temporarily cut off following the ousting of self-proclaimed “Interim President” Juan Guaidó in January. With the former US puppet fleeing to the United States, presumably with a nice bounty, is the turn for self-exiled Dinorah Figuera (she lives in Spain), and other unelected deputies to run the circus and reap the benefits. Never mind that their terms ended in January 2021 following the 2020 parliamentary vote that saw a Chavista-majority AN emerge.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15762

#News | A group of 21 US Democratic members of Congress penned a letter urging President Joe Biden to lift sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela in order to stop increased migration to US borders.

“In light of [sanctions] grave humanitarian toll on the peoples of those countries, and the significant logistical challenges that the resulting increase in migration is causing for federal, state, and local authorities, we urge you to act swiftly to lift the failed and indiscriminate economic sanctions that were imposed by the prior administration,” read the letter published on Wednesday.

The border states representatives stressed that migration numbers have reached levels not seen for at least two decades and that arrivals of migrants and asylum seekers from Cuba and Venezuela are expected to increase sharply with the expiration of the COVID-era Title 42. The public health order allowed officials to expel migrants at US land borders, sending them back to their home countries or returning them to Mexico. According to data from US Customs and Border Protection, over 2.8 million migrants were expelled since its implementation in early 2020.

On Wednesday, US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned migrants against crossing into the US, claiming there will be “tougher consequences for people who cross illegally.”

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15764

#Interview | Pueblo a Pueblo is a grassroots plan for organizing the production, distribution, and consumption of food that connects agricultural producers with urban dwellers. In so doing, the project breaks with the despotic dictates of the capitalist market. In the first of this three-part piece in the Communal Resistance Series, Pueblo a Pueblo’s spokespeople talk about their organization’s history and its objectives.

"The market system focuses on consumption, but production and distribution are erased from the equation. That is why Pueblo a Pueblo focuses on – and links – production, distribution, and consumption in what we call a “living economy” [economía viva]. This new kind of economy must develop outside of the dominant mechanisms of alienated consumption.

In real terms, what does this mean? The pueblo must be in control of land, seeds, and distribution mechanisms, but also of consumption."

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15763

Venezuela’s oil sector has continued its slow recovery as the industry remains mired in wide-reaching US sanctions.

The latest OPEC monthly report placed the Caribbean nation’s April crude output at 724,000 barrels per day (bpd), as measured by secondary sources. The figure rose from 700,000 bpd in March.

For its part, state oil company PDVSA reported a higher number of 810,000 bpd, up from 754,000 bpd the prior month. Exports were likewise strong in April as PDVSA’s customer list has grown following a renegotiation of contracts to secure upfront payments.

The April production measured by secondary sources is the highest since the first trimester of 2020. In the past six years, the oil industry has been targeted by financial sanctions, an oil embargo, secondary sanctions and a raft of other measures from the US Treasury Department with the goal of crippling Venezuela’s main source of foreign income.

PDVSA’s output fell strepitously from 1.9 million bpd before the first measures all the way to around 350,000 bpd in the second half of 2020. It then doubled over the next 18 months and has hovered around 700,000 since late 2021.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15765

#Opinion | "Last year, I wrote a long essay telling my family’s migration story amidst our country’s social collapse in the immediate aftermath of US sanctions. Since then, some of my relatives have returned home and left again as economic hardships continue to weigh us down.

For a while, my brother considered making that treacherous journey through the Darien Gap to reach the United States, not for the long-debunked “American dream” but for mere survival. After many long talks about everything that we had seen happen to other migrants, from being stranded to injuries and death, he decided not to. The relief I felt then, and now, is immense. More so with the current war waged against migrants on both sides of the US-Mexico border.

In the last three months, we have witnessed 40 migrants killed in a fire at a migrant center in Ciudad Juárez as the US uses Mexico as a barrier to prevent people from crossing northward, while another eight were killed in Brownsville, Texas. In both cases, many of them were Venezuelans. A Brownsville survivor, who lost one leg, told a reporter he no longer had dreams.

The choice to migrate is never taken lightly and the reasons are deeply rooted in US imperialism. But because empathy and compassion are foreign words for Washington bureaucrats, they insist that Western interests are worth destroying entire nations with economic warfare while also denying responsibility for the increased migration seen in recent years.

US Senator Bob Menéndez is the latest to showcase such psychopathic behavior. On May 11, he blasted a group of 21 US House Democrats for asking President Joe Biden to lift sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela, rightly pointing out that these measures are the main factors behind the countries’ widespread suffering which forces people to flee these US-inflicted catastrophes."

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15766