📢 Our book on sanctions is available now!

"A War Without Bombs" aims to provide the tools to understand (and collectively revert) the devastating impact of the blockade on the people of Venezuela.

You can download it as a PDF here: https://venezuelanalysis.com/opinion/a-war-without-bombs/

Chris Gilbert is a Marxist scholar committed to the revolutionary process in Venezuela, who teaches at the Bolivarian University in Caracas. His new book, Commune or Nothing! Venezuela’s Communal Movement and Its Socialist Project, just released by Monthly Review Press, is an engaging account of the country’s old-yet-new experiment in building a free, diverse, and humanly-rich society that is not bound by capitalist exchange-value production.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/the-commune-is-a-comprehensive-reworking-of-social-relations-a-conversation-with-chris-gilbert/

Washington’s sanctions relief has been exclusively directed at helping US and European companies to recoup unpaid debt from Caracas while the blockade against the Caribbean nation remains intact.

However, Bloomberg reported that Washington and Caracas have been engaged in talks since last year in Doha, Qatar, and the US government might be willing to lift some oil and banking sanctions against Venezuela. This could allegedly allow the Venezuelan government to reengage with financial institutions and recover around $3 billion frozen in accounts in Europe.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela-oil-output-recedes-as-caracas-renews-us-sanctions-relief-talks/

On October 4th, Venezuela’s Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, announced a warrant for the arrest of Juan Guaidó on charges including treason, false representation and corruption stemming from his time as head of the US-appointed “interim government” of Venezuela. Guaidó is alleged to have exploited state resources to fund his parallel administration, resulting in the potential loss of a staggering $19 billion in public assets.

Taking to social media from the safety of his Miami home, he claimed in response that “this is how the dictatorship’s machine for promoting lies works”. Unfortunately for him, the US’ own court documents prove that this charge was factually based. Guaidó, in fact, did preside over the loss of at least $19 billion in state holdings through his management of Citgo, a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned PDVSA. How did this happen? How did a man, powerless within his own country, lose its largest overseas asset?

“All that was privatised”, said then-president Hugo Chávez of the telecommunications giant CANTV, “let it be nationalised”. Thus began the 2007 nationalisation wave that took control of mining, oil, and agricultural operations for the people of Venezuela. This move represented an important step in the Bolivarian Revolution’s promise of wealth redistribution and of changing Latin America’s peripheral role as raw material supplier to companies in the Global North.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/opinion/guaido-citgo-and-the-19b-hole/

🔴#BreakingNews | The Nicolás Maduro government and the US-backed Venezuelan opposition signed an agreement laying out conditions for upcoming presidential elections.

With mediation from Norway, the two parties met in Barbados on Tuesday, resuming talks that had been suspended for nearly a year.

The signed agreement saw the two parties agree to hold the presidential vote in the latter half of 2024. Other electoral conditions set out include the update of the electoral registry, the implementation of presently existing audits and the invitation of international observation missions from organizations including the African Union, the European Union and the Carter Center.

Furthermore, the two sides pledged to recognize the results, and that all actors should have full electoral guarantees. They also agreed that each party should be free to choose its candidate. However, the wording did not state that politicians currently barred from political office would have their bans lifted.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuelan-government-opposition-dialogue/

[UPDATE] The Venezuelan government and the Unitary Platform went on to sign a second, four-point joint accord noscriptd “Partial Agreement for the Protection of the Nation’s Vital Interests.” The text reiterates Venezuela’s claim over the Essequibo Strip and a rejection of recent actions by neighboring Guyana in granting oil exploration licenses in the disputed area’s territorial waters.

The two sides likewise vowed to “defend the assets and property” of Citgo, a US-based subsidiary of state oil company PDVSA. Valued at US $10-13 billion, Citgo is set to undergo a court-mandated auction of shares to satisfy a number of international arbitration awards. Former self-proclaimed “Interim President” Juan Guaidó and his associates have drawn severe criticism for jeopardizing the country’s most prized foreign asset.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuelan-government-opposition-dialogue/

Some time ago,[1] when facing the systematic deployment of the “caudillo” [leader] archetype by the elites displaced from power during the early days of the Bolivarian Revolution, I pointed out that this discursive practice followed a very particular hagiographical form. Of course, their point was not to justify what would be the equivalent of a “monarch,” but to summon a subject that would be capable of defeating the caudillo: civil society.

I wrote then, concerning this discourse: “‘Civil society’ is not just the obverse, embodying the interests of the elites being displaced, but also the reverse of the ‘pueblo’ subject of Chavismo, which still remains invisible, reduced, hidden. Unable, or rather unwilling to recognize any uniqueness in Chavismo, it [the discourse] invariably concludes that Chávez is a reiteration of the secular past, more of the same, the eternal caudillo (along with the masses), a reminder of how much barbarism still exists among us.”

In response to this discourse that “tightens and dehumanizes Chávez’s figure (deifying and demonizing him simultaneously) and relegates Chavismo to ostracism, expelling it from the ‘earthly paradise’ of politics,” I argued that it was necessary to “desacralize Venezuelan politics: the way its history is told, the way it is conceived and narrated.”

https://venezuelanalysis.com/columns/politics-of-the-commons-earthly-chavez/

The US Treasury Department emitted a license allowing production, investment and sale in the Venezuelan oil, gas and gold sectors, a move classified by the Venezuelan government as the suspension of sanctions on state-owned oil company PDVSA.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued four six-month licenses “suspending select sanctions.”

The announcement came on the heels of an agreement signed Tuesday between the Nicolás Maduro government and the US-backed Unitary Platform in Barbados establishing certain conditions for the 2024 presidential elections.

“In response to these democratic developments, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has issued General Licenses authorizing transactions involving Venezuela’s oil and gas sector and gold sector,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson wrote in a statement.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela-praises-progressive-sanctions-removal-as-us-treasury-issues-temporary-licenses/

Venezuelanalysis stands with the people of Palestine

On October 14, socialist communards from El Panal Commune hoisted the Palestinian flags over several tower blocks in the 23 de Enero barrio of western Caracas. While Palestine may seem like a foreign issue in a distant land, the grassroots socialist movements see it very differently. Internationalism, solidarity and anti-imperialism have been core tenets of the Bolivarian Process since the very beginning.

Just two days earlier, hundreds of activists gathered in Caracas’ Plaza Bolívar to support Palestinians’ right to resist and condemn the latest genocidal attack on Gaza by US-backed Israeli occupation forces.

Whether in-person or online, there has been no shortage of solidarity initiatives from Venezuela. Chávez’s words from 2010 still echo very strongly as a shining example of principled internationalism at a time when all too many in power, especially among the Western left, fail to stand with Palestine Rather than seek refuge in the platitudes of international law and UN resolutions, the Venezuelan revolutionary leader called out Israel as a terrorist state.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/solidarity-against-a-live-broadcast-genocide/

Five opposition politicians and activists have been released from prison after the resumption of talks between the Venezuelan government and the US-backed right-wing sector this week.

Opposition’s chief negotiator Gerardo Blyde broke the news on Wednesday night by posting a picture on X with journalist and Popular Will (VP) party member Roland Carreño, who had been detained since October 2020 on charges of conspiracy, terrorism financing, money laundering, weapons trafficking and association to commit a crime.

According to Venezuela’s Attorney General’s Office, Carreño had diverted thousands of US dollars from the Simón Bolívar Foundation, the charitable program of Venezuela’s US-based oil subsidiary CITGO, to four major opposition parties. In 2019, the US government put CITGO under the control of the self-proclaimed “interim government” led by Juan Guaidó.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela-authorities-release-jailed-opposition-activists-govt-hints-at-us-diplomat-visit/

María Corina Machado emerged as the runaway victor of the primary elections organized by several US-backed political organizations on Sunday.

The electoral process, which was self-organized and relied on manual voting, began early morning but experienced delays after several of the 3,000 polling stations had to be changed at the last minute and electoral material was not delivered on time. According to reports, several voting centers remained open past the official 4 p.m. closing time because of long queues of people waiting to cast their votes.

Once voting centers closed, the National Primary Commission (CNP) claimed that a server blockage had delayed the counting process. A first briefing issued at midnight gave a resounding victory to far-right Machado with 93.13 percent of the vote after 26.06 percent of ballot boxes were tallied.

On Monday night, a second report ratified Machado’s lead at 92.56 percent with 64.88 percent of voting centers tallied, representing almost 1.6 million people.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela-far-right-maria-corina-machado-wins-opposition-primary-elections/

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who attended in person alongside counterparts from Cuba, Honduras, and Colombia, praised the condemnation of unilateral coercive measures, also known as sanctions, in the official statement.

“I thanked the governments attending this important day for their unanimous support for Venezuela in their demand for the total lifting of all criminal and illegal sanctions against our Homeland,” wrote Maduro on social media following the meeting.

The final declaration marked a departure from other recent statements concerning migration in the Americas, such as the Los Angeles Declaration, which has been criticized for falling short in meeting the needs of migrants. The Palenque Declaration, in turn, adopted a decidedly political posture and with an emphasis on human rights. The meeting in Chiapas did not include a representative from the US and instead featured the participation of leaders from countries where the majority of migrants originate from.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela-celebrates-regional-call-for-end-of-sanctions-at-migration-summit/

Venezuelans will head to the polls on December 3 to weigh in on the country’s sovereignty struggle over the Essequibo Strip.

On Monday, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) announced the date and the questions comprising the non-binding referendum.

The Caribbean nation’s maximum electoral authority accepted the petition brought forward by the National Assembly following the most recent public flare-up of the longstanding territorial dispute with eastern neighbor Guyana.

Caracas protested after Georgetown opened up a bidding process for oil exploration in the Essequibo Strip’s territorial waters. An exchange of diplomatic communiques saw the Nicolás Maduro government accuse its Guyanese counterpart of acting as “an employee of ExxonMobil,” in reference to the oil giant’s major involvement in drilling projects in the area.

Venezuela has repeatedly accused Guyana of violating the 1966 Geneva Agreements that saw the two nations commit to finding an amicable solution to the controversy dating back to the late 19th century.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuelan-government-calls-referendum-over-essequibo-dispute/

🇻🇪🎙️ New podcast episode!

In this episode, we present to you two new books on Venezuela. First, host José Luis Granados Ceja talks to fellow VA member Cira Pascual Marquina about “A War Without Bombs: The social, political and economic impact of sanctions against Venezuela,” written and published by the Venezuelanalysis team. With the US offering Venezuela a temporary lifting of sanctions, it’s essential to understand these measures and take stock of their deadly consequences.

The second segment features Chris Gilbert, author of “Commune or Nothing! Venezuela’s Communal Movement and its Socialist Project,” a book that details and analyzes how Venezuela’s communards have plowed ahead with the construction of socialism even under the most difficult circumstances.

LISTEN NOW 👇

https://venezuelanalysis.com/podcasts/the-venezuelanalysis-podcast-episode-19-a-war-without-bombs-and-communal-resistance/

Venezuelan popular organizations are demanding greater state support for their economic projects.

The issue of the state purchasing the production from communes came to the forefront during a public meeting featuring President Nicolás Maduro, several of his ministers, and communards from across the country on October 20.

The gathering was held in Caracas to commemorate the 11th anniversary of former President Hugo Chávez’s final major public speech, the so-called “Strike at the Helm.”

During his speech, Maduro queried his cabinet members on whether state institutions were buying the output from communal enterprises. The loud jeers from the crowd saw the Venezuelan president order his ministers to draw up a plan.

“We have not delivered on the promise to prioritize the purchases of communal production,” he said.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuelan-communards-urge-govt-to-increase-support-for-grassroots-production/

If a genie, or a demon, showed up and said “I’m granting you six months to improve your precarious life,” what would you do? That is more or less the dilemma the Venezuelan government faces today.

As everyone has read by now, the United States government provided a partial and time-limited (six months) suspension of the oil and gas sanctions levied against Venezuela. Other measures relating to the gold trade, banking and state airline Conviasa have been lifted with no expiration date. Still, yankee officials remind us every day that they will slap back these sanctions if the government does not “behave.”

In other words, there is sanctions relief in areas that Washington deems strategic, especially given the oil volatility caused by conflicts in Ukraine and in the Middle East, and also the significant pressure caused by the arrival of Venezuelan migrants at its southern border.

Surely if Venezuelans, the very ones who did not get a dime from the “humanitarian aid” loudly touted by the US and the Juan Guaidó imaginary government, had ended up on someone else’s doorstep it would not be a problem. But alas, they dared to go north.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/tales-of-resistance-a-perilous-honeymoon-with-the-us/

Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has signed at least three spot sales contracts and is in the midst of negotiating more supply deals following Washington’s temporary easing of sanctions on the country’s energy sector.

Since 2017, PDVSA has been under US sanctions, including an export embargo that has blocked the Venezuelan company from selling crude to international markets. On October 18, the US Treasury Department issued time-limited licenses allowing production, investment and sale in the Venezuelan oil and gas sectors.

The sanctions waivers followed the resumption of the dialogue process between the Nicolás Maduro government and the US-backed opposition on October 17, which concluded with the signing of an electoral accord.

Although the six-month exemptions will not significantly impact oil production, they have allowed PDVSA to secure spot sales and reactivate contracts to boost exports in the upcoming months. Currently, the South American country has a reported stock of 30 million barrels of crude and fuel ready to be shipped.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/pdvsa-signs-spot-contracts-as-companies-rush-to-buy-venezuelan-crude/

The Electoral Branch of the Venezuelan Supreme Court suspended the opposition primary process that saw far-right opposition politician Maria Corina Machado chosen to represent the “Unitary Platform” in upcoming presidential elections.

The selection of Machado was conducted on October 22 by the self-styled National Primary Commission without the assistance of the country’s National Electoral Commission (CNE).

“All effects of the different phases of the electoral process conducted by the National Primary Commission are suspended,” read the Supreme Court ruling.

The motion to suspend the primary process was brought forward by José Brito, an opposition lawmaker that is at odds with the leadership of the “Unitary Platform” and its parties. Brito, who is described in the ruling as a “aspiring participant in the primaries”, requested an injunction by the court over the process’ alleged “illegal and unconstitutional acts.”

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuelan-supreme-court-suspends-opposition-primaries/

In the 1940s, a Hollywood movie called “Gaslight” left us a few lessons on how psychological terrorism and manipulation work. In this black-and-white thriller, an unscrupulous man convinces his young wife she is crazy through a campaign of false accusations and fabricated problems.

Quite literally, the husband spends the movie secretly hiding objects and dimming the gaslights in the house, then accusing the wife of being forgetful and imagining things, thus diminishing her self-worth and distorting her sense of reality. The goal was to get rid of her while maintaining his image of a good, caring husband, a hero who only tried to save her.

Usually, we the audience would be just as bewildered as the wife about her sudden insanity, but in this film we are forced to watch her self-blaming journey from the point of view of the manipulator, leaving us with a mix of helplessness, sadness, anger and terror.

It is easy to sympathize with the wife. We’ve all had our lights dimmed at some point in our lives, whether we realize it or not. Unfortunately, this is not limited to interpersonal relations, it can also happen in political contexts with entire countries being subjected to psychological abuse. There’s no better example of what a gaslighter is than the United States—the world’s biggest narcissist and bully.

This old Hollywood film being the origin of the term “gaslighting” is actually quite fitting given that the US government relies heavily on its massive entertainment industry and corporate media to peddle its propaganda and manipulate the world into believing it stands for democracy and human rights. All this while wreaking havoc in the Global South through wars, coups, blockades, and sanctions, killing thousands and sinking countries into humanitarian crises.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/columns/the-subversive-truth-us-collective-gaslighting-will-be-defeated/

VA talked to Vladimir Ramírez Sánchez, Ilich Ramírez Sánchez's brother, about the extraordinary history of the Venezuelan man who committed his life to the Palestinian cause.

"Ilich had become an international target for the French, for US imperialism, and for Zionism, and he had to stay on the move. However, he continued to organize and participate in actions for the Palestinian cause. He was also in contact with the Italian Red Army, Germany’s Red Army Faction [RAF], Ireland’s IRA, the Basque Country’s ETA, and the Japanese Red Army. They were building an international alliance to confront Imperialism and Zionism."

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/ilich-ramirez-sanchez-a-venezuelan-who-fought-for-palestinian-liberation-a-conversation-with-vladimir-ramirez-sanchez/