#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

#News | Venezuelan opposition figures reportedly conspired with Colombian paramilitaries to stage a coup d’etat and assassinate President Hugo Chávez.

Former paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso made the revelations during his testimony to Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace on Thursday.

“At one point a Venezuelan general came along with his son and some Venezuelan politicians to propose Carlos Castaño and I [...] that we carry out a coup d'état with a part of the Venezuelan Armed Forces allied with us to overthrow and assassinate Hugo Chávez,” Mancuso told the tribunal.

Mancuso, together with Carlos Castaño, led the the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC by its Spanish acronym), a former paramilitary group with ties to the Colombian Armed Forces that fought the country’s guerrilla armies, waging a violent campaign in the countryside that claimed thousands of victims.

The paramilitary chief was testifying before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP by its Spanish acronym), a tribunal established as part of a peace agreement between the Colombian state and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2016. Mancuso delivered his testimony via video from a prison inside the United States after being extradited in 2008 to face drug trafficking charges.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15767

#Opinion | "The presidential May Day announcement was also preceded by the revelations of a new corruption "scheme" involving senior officials of state oil company PDVSA and other key public enterprises, as well as real estate developers, among others. There has been much speculation about the amount of public money that has been stolen and there is no conclusive official version. In any case, everything indicates that it is in the billions of dollars. Some details of the "plot", which I will not go into here, are particularly sordid and even scandalous.

Precisely for this last reason, it seems important to me not only to highlight the strong popular outrage that persists because of the corruption scandal, which I am not sure has been properly evaluated, but to go a little further, to where the outrage cannot reach.

For example, it seems to me a good time to question, with all the responsibility and frankness demanded by the current circumstances, whether said corruption "scheme", far from being a mere accident, is not a logical consequence of the economic "normalization" that took its first steps in 2019 and seemed to take hold in 2021.

We need to wonder about the viability of a society where a handful of “winners” grossly flaunt their wealth under the helpless gaze of impoverished majorities who feel abandoned to their fate. Is it really necessary to ask whether the magnitude of the money stolen is not directly related to the opacity and discretion in the management of public resources, defended tooth and nail by government officials behind the need to circumvent the criminal economic siege against the country?"

https://venezuelanalysis.com/politics-commons/15768

#Interview | Pueblo a Pueblo [People to People] is a grassroots plan for organizing the production, distribution, and consumption of food, which connects agricultural producers with urban dwellers. In so doing, the project breaks with the despotic dictates of the capitalist market. In Part II of this three-part piece in the Communal Resistance Series, associate producers and spokespeople talk about the “Double Participation Ladder” method and about the impact of the US blockade.

"The Double Participation Ladder is about the integration of city people and campesinos, it’s about production, distribution, and consumption not being mediated by third parties, by capitalist interests, but being driven by the needs of organized communities.

In the Double Participation Ladder, production is planned on the basis of both the consumption needs in the city and the crop cycles in the campo. But the Double Participation Ladder is also about changing consumption patterns and about shifting away from conventional, toxic-based agriculture. That is why education is an important component of it."

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15769

The US empire is built on theft and crime, from stealing the land from indigenous communities to enslaving black people. It also loots other nations, with the most recent case being Venezuela's oil subsidiary CITGO.

The theft of the century is happening before our eyes.

https://youtu.be/9OXgYCRQXxs

#News | The US government has allegedly taken the first steps to offer assurances over US $3 billion in Venezuelan resources destined for a social fund agreed upon last year at the Mexico dialogue table.

According to Reuters, the Biden administration has notified the United Nations (UN) that the money could operate within the US financial system without the risk of creditors seizing it to repay outstanding Venezuelan debt. The UN-administered fund could be released by the end of the month.

Since the imposition of US sanctions in 2017, Caracas has been blocked from servicing debts, accumulating some $60 billion owed alongside obligations with foreign companies that secured international arbitrational awards for the nationalization of Venezuelan assets during the Hugo Chávez government.

In November 2022, the Maduro administration and the hardline opposition reached an agreement at the Mexico dialogue table to create a $3 billion social fund drawn from various Venezuelan seized assets to invest in education, healthcare and infrastructure repairs. The UN will be in charge of distributing the money while a Venezuelan joint commission would follow and verify its correct implementation.

However, the fund has remained unavailable with the Biden administration not showing any political willingness to ensure its safety, which delayed the implementation of the social agreement and stagnated the Venezuelan dialogue process.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15770

#News | The Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) has pointed the finger at the leadership of the ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV) for an alleged attempt to “hijack” the organization.

“The PSUV leadership wants to take away the PCV’s legal status to neutralize its role in the country’s social struggles,” Communist Party Secretary General Óscar Figuera said in a press conference on Saturday.

The leftist political party has taken aim at a self-styled “movement” that calls itself “Patriotic PCV” and claims its goal is to “rescue” the organization. The movement argues that the present communist leadership is disconnected from its bases and should be supporting the Nicolás Maduro government.

The PCV has claimed that the “Patriotic PCV” is funded by the PSUV and contains no communist activists. It denounced a “fake congress” held on Sunday in Caracas, stating that the figures who led the activity have no connection to the party. They included members of other Venezuelan political groups and alleged PSUV activists from Monagas state.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15771

#News | The Venezuelan government has rejected Washington’s continuous weaponization of its alleged fight against terrorism.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented to the US Federal Register a report singling out Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria for “not cooperating fully with United States antiterrorism efforts.” Caracas responded by reaffirming its commitment to combat terrorism and criticizing the political nature of the US’ “unfounded accusations.”

“Every year, we have fulfilled our national and multilateral obligations in this sensitive area,” read the statement published by Foreign Affairs Minister Yván Gil.

The communique pointed out Washington’s “cynical” stance on the matter, recalling that the US government gave refuge to “confessed terrorists” such as CIA-trained Cuban-born Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, involved in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people and a string of sabotage attacks on consulates and travel agencies. Both resided in Venezuela at the time of the terrorist operations and escaped to Miami, Florida, where they lived freely. Neither was ever extradited despite orders emitted in 2005 by Venezuelan justice authorities.

“During two centuries of the Monroe Doctrine, there are plenty of examples of terrorist practices against our region that have been covered and encouraged by Washington,” emphasized the statement.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15772

In Part III of this four-part piece in the Communal Resistance Series, Pueblo a Pueblo participants talk to us about the transition to a sovereign, agroecological model.

"Chávez’s project is about building a sovereign socialist society and, in these times of blockade, this has become even more important. That’s why we stand firm with the Chavista project, and we work hard to promote food sovereignty outside of the capitalist market.

Pueblo a Pueblo is about food sovereignty from below: about building a distribution and consumption system that ensures that campesinos and consumers are linked and their needs satisfied within a framework that is not simply material, but also sovereign and social.

The market is driven by interests that are never truly national and never collective. We should acknowledge that being a highly dependent country has made us more vulnerable to the imperialist blockade. That’s why developing a method that promotes national, campesino production – without imported seeds and without agrochemicals – is so important."

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15773

The BBC is shocked, of course w/ its stiff-upper-lip propagandist style, to find out that... (you better sit down for this) the Venezuelan government wants to position its message on social media (gasp!). Yes, it will be hard to recover from this one...

Read the Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/venanalysis/status/1662257786657333248

#Opinion | Venezuela’s former so-called “interim president” Juan Guaidó had barely gotten a word out during an event at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. before a group of activists leapt from their seats in order to confront and denounce the far right opposition figure. Among them was Leonardo Flores, a Venezuelan political analyst and activist living in the United States.

“Juan Guaidó, you’re a liar, a thief, return to Venezuela to face justice!” yelled Flores in Spanish before repeating himself in English.

The Guaidó-friendly crowd, which included notable Venezuelan opposition activists and sympathizers, shouted back. Among them was David Smolansky, a member of Guaidó’s Popular Will party, who let the disruption get the better of him and opted to deputize himself as a bouncer and forcibly removed one of the protesters, a man much older and smaller than himself. Smolansky grabbed the activist and attempted to put him in a chokehold before someone in the event hall yelled out his name several times in an effort to settle him down.


Inside Venezuela, Flores says far right figures like Guaidó and Smolansky are careful about where they hold public appearances, lest they face the wrath of Venezuelans who reject their violent methods of regime change. Popular Will is the party of far right activist Leopoldo López, who is currently in exile after fleeing house arrest the morning of April 30, 2019, when he and Guaidó led an unsuccessful military coup. López was also recently in Washington, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in March, where he called for an expansion of the sanctions on Venezuela that have already caused widespread hardship for the Venezuelan people.

In Washington, however, these figures from Venezuela’s far right felt safe showing their faces just about anywhere. After all, it was only a few years ago that Guaidó was invited to attend the State of the Union, where he received a standing ovation, with applause coming from both Democrats and Republicans.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15774

#News | Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro traveled to Brazil as part of an official visit to meet with his counterpart Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva where the pair discussed regional and international cooperation, including the potential entry of Venezuela into the BRICS bloc.

“This is a historic moment. After eight years, President Nicolás Maduro is back to visiting Brazil and we have recovered our right to have a foreign policy with the seriousness we have always had, especially with the countries that border Brazil,” said Lula in a press conference from the capital of Brasilia.

The high-level meeting comes as part of joint efforts to strengthen their bilateral ties following the restoration of diplomatic and economic relations after years of tension under Lula’s predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, who embraced Washington regime change plots against Maduro, backing the so-called “interim” government of opposition figure Juan Guaidó.

“Venezuela was subjected to an extremist ideological model. Suddenly all the doors and windows in Brazil were closed, all of them [...] Using this extremist approach, an attempt was made alongside other governments to impose a non-existent government on the Venezuelan people. Today that is in the past,” said Maduro.


https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15775

Landmark dishonesty from AP reporting on today's important summit of South American presidents. If poor reporting whenever Venezuela is involved is beyond expected at this point, this also shows how the corporate media is ready to attack anything that threatens the US' hegemony

Read the Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/venanalysis/status/1663794145012469760

#Opinion | I recently read that at the end of 1986, when Argentinian musician Fito Páez was 23 years old, his aunt and grandmother were assassinated in their home in Rosario. In the following days, the pain and anger led to a song insulting his hometown (“En esta puta ciudad”).

It turns out that after that, the artist refused to perform a song he had written some time before, “Yo vengo a ofrecer mi corazón” (“I come bearing my heart”), which had become an anthem of hope after the fall of the military dictatorship opened possibilities of democracy and justice in Argentina.

“I started to resent the young guy who had written that song, I was disgusted with myself. One always blames oneself,” Fito explained. Then one day a fellow artist told him he could not go on disparaging the songs he had written, because they had had a purpose at the time.

When I look back with not-so-fond eyes at some of the stuff I did, said, or wrote in the many years of the Bolivarian Process, I look for solace in that sentence. I also rely on it to remember why I refrained from doing, saying, or writing a number of other things.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/tales-resistance/15776

#News | Leaders from 12 South American nations have agreed to revive regional integration mechanisms during a summit held in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil.

The meeting was marked by the welcomed participation of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro following years of diplomatic fissures.

Tuesday’s summit was inaugurated by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, who called for integration to be a permanent goal, leaving aside political differences and focusing on the region’s challenges and inequalities.

“We need to leave strong roots for the next generations. Allowing disagreements to prevail would have a high cost [...] as long as we remain disunited, we will not succeed in making South America a continent developed to its full potential,” said Lula from the Itamaraty Palace.

Lula added that a new roadmap for regional integration will be created by the countries’ foreign affairs ministers and presented in 120 days for approval.


https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15777

#Interview | In this final part of our Communal Resistance Series, we learn about the organization’s effort to distribute food to schools and its links with the Chávez and Bolívar Commune.

"Hugo Chávez and Simón Bolívar took firm steps forward toward sovereignty, and that’s why our commune bears their name.

For me, the commune is the highest form of government, because that’s where we, the people, decide what must be done and how to do it. In a commune, the organized community – not the bosses, not the mayors or governors – is in charge and sets the rules of the game.

Also, our experience shows that communes are good mechanisms for solving problems more efficiently. A while back, we got funding to fix the Caingó road. By relying on self-management and self-construction, we were able to fix twice as much road as planned."

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15778