A member of Venezuela’s ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV) has urged President Nicolás Maduro to crack down on allegedly corrupt scrap metal dealings.

Gastón Guisandes, a veteran journalist from Zulia state and PSUV activist, penned an open letter to Maduro on Thursday expressing “concern and condemnation” over acts of corruption involving former airforce pilot Bismark Carretero and the Pegasus company in the scrap business.

“As a concerned citizen, I ask myself how these acts of corruption might have taken place without government knowledge or actions,” he wrote. Guisandes pointed to Carretero’s “ostentatious lifestyle” as a sign of ill-acquired wealth.

“I urge you to launch an exhaustive investigation based on the publicly available information,” he went on to state,” while demanding that high-government officials “who have acted with impunity” be exposed.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15845

About time... Spain's El País reports that the $3 billion in frozen Vzlan assets will soon be released. This was agreed to between the Venezuelan govt and opposition last November! But this thread is to point out the dishonest b.s. from the Spanish establishment's mouthpiece 🧵

https://twitter.com/venanalysis/status/1701488452951212234

Billions in frozen Venezuelan assets destined for a social fund to be invested in education, healthcare and infrastructure repairs are expected to be released soon, El País reported Friday.

In November the Nicolás Maduro government and the hardline opposition agreed to a US$ 3 billion fund, to be drawn from Venezuelan assets abroad, as part of negotiations held in Mexico and mediated by Norway. A statement released at the time of the agreement said the money, to be administered by the United Nations (UN), would primarily be used to acquire medical equipment as well as vaccines, medicines, and other supplies; strengthen the electric system; repair school infrastructure; and expand food programs.

However, the resources were not released due to administrative barriers imposed by the United States. US President Joe Biden has largely kept in place a strict sanctions program on Venezuela designed to secure regime change in the country. Washington maintains that its sanctions are aimed at “restoring democracy” in the Caribbean country. Meanwhile, Caracas considers these frozen assets to have been illegally seized by the US and its allies.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15846

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has wrapped up a six-day visit to China with a meeting with President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to strengthen political and economic ties.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, the two leaders announced they would upgrade their countries’ relations to an “all-weather strategic partnership.” This is a high category reserved by the Chinese government for important diplomatic partners. Venezuela is the first Latin American country to reach this level.

The new partnership will “expand practical binational cooperation in various fields and strengthen collaboration in international affairs so as to improve the welfare of their peoples and jointly promote the construction of a new world,” read the statement.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15848

The Venezuelan oil sector saw its production levels recede in August as a result of operational setbacks in its crude upgraders.

The latest report from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) placed Venezuela’s output at an average of 730,000 barrels per day (bpd) last month, down from 772,000 in July, according to secondary sources.

In contrast, the figures reported directly by state oil company PDVSA stood at 820,000 bpd, up from 810,000 the previous month. OPEC data often gets updated in subsequent publications.

According to Reuters, several crude upgraders had maintenance issues or diluent shortages that forced them offline for extended periods, affecting output levels. Located in the Orinoco Oil Belt in eastern Venezuela, crude upgraders process extra heavy oil into exportable grades.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15849

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro traveled to Cuba Friday to take part in the G77 plus China Summit where he called for countries of the Global South to strengthen their ties, pursue independent development models, and reject unilateral coercive measures.

“We as peoples of the South have to find our own paths, our own political models and not accept dictates from any former power or from any power with colonial ambitions,” declared Maduro during his speech at the International Conference Center in Havana, Cuba. The meeting took place on September 16 and 17.

Calling the Cuban capital of Havana the “epicenter of the resistance of the people of Latin America and the Caribbean”, the Venezuelan president praised the host nation and his counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel for their efforts in organizing the G77 plus China Summit.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15850

When it comes to historic, memorable speeches, there is one that will always come to mind: President Hugo Chávez at the UN General Assembly on September 20, 2006.

Not only did Chávez call US then-President George W. Bush a war criminal, a tyrant and the devil, he also called out Western hypocrisy when it comes to democracy and peace. He did this in the devil’s house!

Chávez likewise stressed the obsolete nature of the United Nations to help solve the problems of the peoples of the world because it has become subservient to the US and its allies. He proposed to transform it with the Global South leading the way.

Most importantly, the Venezuelan leader reassured us that there were plenty of reasons to remain optimistic about the future as people continue to rebel and organize for a better tomorrow: A new dawn is on the horizon.

In a surprising move, the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) and several smaller leftist parties broke with the government of Nicolás Maduro in July 2020 after twenty years of supporting him and his predecessor Hugo Chávez. In effect, the PCV rejected Maduro’s “defensive strategy” consisting of rollbacks designed to attract private capital in the face of adverse circumstances largely caused by US–imposed sanctions.

The PCV accused the Maduro government of embracing a neoliberal approach, abandoning the working class, and violating democratic norms. Actually, the PCV was always critical of Chávez and Maduro, but the party’s anti-imperialism had previously overshadowed criticism of the government (Vázquez, 2021). Curiously, the PCV and its allies broke with the Chavista (pro Chávez) government when Washington, supported by several dozen conservative and right-wing governments, was ratcheting up pressure on Venezuela through interventionist policies to achieve regime change.

While some analysts on the left attributed Maduro’s concessions to the need to attract capital and influence Washington policy makers, the PCV blamed the rollbacks on “the government’s dominant liberal bourgeoisie tendency” (Ellner, 2021; PCV, 2021b). The analysis of subjective conditions (the consciousness and resoluteness of the revolutionary subject) and objective conditions by Marx and Lenin in their formulation of non-offensive or defensive strategies helps frame the issue of the Maduro government-PCV split.[1]

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/objective-conditions-in-venezuela-maduros-defensive-strategy-and-contradictions-among-the-people/

The Venezuelan government has announced a new social program focused on fighting poverty and inequality, which will be supported by China’s International Poverty Reduction Center.

On Monday, during his weekly TV program, President Nicolás Maduro said that the “Social Equality and Happiness Mission” was “almost ready” to be launched and its main purpose is to “optimize the fight against inequality, against poverty and to build a more harmonious country.”

Although Maduro did not give details, he stressed that the social program will work alongside the Chinese anti-poverty center. The government led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been responsible for lifting over 850 million people out of poverty in the Asian giant since 1980.

“In 1981, almost 90 percent of the Chinese population was below the absolute poverty line as measured by the World Bank,” —the Venezuelan leader went on to explain in his national broadcast —“but in 2019 the figure did not reach 1 percent and by the end of 2020 the Chinese government announced poverty eradication in the country.”

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela-govt-to-launch-china-backed-anti-poverty-program

For our 20-year anniversary as an anti-imperialist outlet working on the ground from Venezuela, we've decided to celebrate with a colorful, revolutionary brand new look!

Visit us at http://venezuelanalysis.com and remember that you can support us at http://venezuelanalysis.com/donate/

High up in Venezuela’s Andes, the township of Mucuchies is home to a campesino-led initiative striving for sustainable agricultural production. Integral Producers of the Highlands [PROINPA, for the organization’s Spanish-language name] is widely recognized not only for its top-notch seed potatoes but also for its scientific initiatives such as a state-of-the-art seed lab, a germplasm bank, and, most recently, an aeroponic seed production facility.

One of the secrets to PROINPA’s success is its democratic organization and emphasis on education. Founded 24 years ago, the organization’s structure has an assembly of associated producers as its topmost level of decision-making. That is, at PROINPA, it is the producers themselves who are in charge. These associates are all hard-working campesinos but have also achieved high levels of formal education. Many have doctorates or masters, and all have gone through educational processes centered on the science and sustainability of food production.

PROINPA’s core mission of food sovereignty is of strategic importance to a country under siege. The organization pursues this goal by promoting agroecology, crop diversification, endogenous scientific development, and a new social organization of production.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/campesinos-as-scientists-proinpa-combats-seed-dependency-part-i/

Venezuela launched Thursday a digital tool dubbed the “Geopolitical Map of Sanctions” at the United Nations (UN) in New York as part of an effort to document and denounce the use of unilateral coercive measures.

Considered a “High-Level Side Event” during the UN General Assembly (UNGA), the debut of the “Geopolitical Map of Sanctions” counted on the attendance and interventions of representatives of various countries targeted by unilateral coercive measures, including Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran and Russia.

The launch of the anti-sanctions instrument comes after President Nicolás Maduro called on the Group of 77 plus China at a recent summit to lead a campaign at the UN to end sanctions.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela-debuts-geopolitical-map-of-sanctions-at-united-nations-in-new-york/

The governments of Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago struck an agreement to advance a joint energy project.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro hosted Trinidadian Energy Minister Stuart Richard Young on Wednesday at Miraflores Palace. Young co-signed the deal with Venezuelan Oil Minister Pedro Tellechea in a televised press conference.

The two nations, through their respective state-owned companies Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and National Gas Company (NGC), will explore offshore natural gas at the Dragon field, located in Venezuelan waters.

“Today’s deal and the project to jointly produce and sell gas is a message of cooperation, solidarity and shared sovereignty,” Maduro said. “It is a message of peace for the whole Caribbean.”

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela-strikes-trinidad-natural-gas-deal-raises-essequibo-claim-against-guyana/

A large-scale military-police procedure took control of one of Venezuela’s most dangerous prisons, which allegedly served as the base of the transnational criminal organization “Tren de Aragua” (Aragua Train).

On September 20, around 11,000 officers from the Venezuelan Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) alongside the national police launched the “Cacique Guaicaipuro Liberation Operation” in the Aragua Penitentiary Center, known as the Tocorón prison, located in the northern Aragua state.

In a televised address following the operation, Interior Minister Remigio Ceballos informed that some 1,600 prisoners were in custody and would be transferred to 85 other detention centers across the country.

The Venezuelan minister stressed that “human rights were guaranteed” during the procedure while family members of the detainees, including women and children who reportedly lived inside the facilities, had been evacuated from the place and put into safety. According to reports, one army officer died during the operation in accidental circumstances.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuelan-army-takes-down-transnational-crime-organization-in-tocoron-prison/

Venezuelan human rights advocacy group SURES questioned the repeated renewal of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council’s Independent International Fact-finding Mission on Venezuela.

“We view with concern the continuous renewal of the mandate of this mission since 2019, which establishes additional procedures beyond those responsible for monitoring the implementation of international treaties signed by Venezuela,” SURES Director María Lucrecia Hernández told the Human Rights Council in Geneva during its 54th session on Monday.

Since its inception in 2019, the Independent International Fact-finding Mission has been repeatedly criticized by the Venezuelan government and human rights advocates working inside the country as having a politically driven mandate and flawed methodology.

The Venezuelan government maintains that the initiative forms part of a broader effort by the United States and its allies to promote regime change in Venezuela.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuelan-human-rights-group-casts-doubt-on-un-international-fact-finding-mission-and-methodology/

A couple of weeks ago, the water pipe that supplies my building, the school next door and a number of small businesses, burst.

A local handyman examined the problem and did all he could. But on this occasion his solution was very “artisanal”. He lifted the drain and tied up a shitload of old shirts in the spot where the water was leaking.

Let’s say the leak became less obvious but still very much unsolved. It reminded me of one time when a pipe burst in my house and I temporarily fixed it with cork from a bottle cap. Only in this case there were hundreds of people affected.

It was obvious that a proper solution needed, as a minimum, to break the pavement and replace the pipe altogether. In other words, something to be done by the proper authorities.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/columns/tales-of-resistance-public-services-and-market-logic/