New podcast episode is out! Our team got together to break down some of the most important Venezuela stories, as well as lay out some of the scenarios for 2024 (always a bad idea!)

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Venezuelan opposition figure María Corina Machado has ruled out challenging her political disqualification via the country’s Supreme Court.

In a press conference on Wednesday, the far-right leader called her ban “non-existent” and argued there was “nothing to appeal.”

“Our strategy is citizen organization, towards free and competitive elections,” she said. “The procedure proposed by the regime restricts the electoral route,” Machado added, in reference to an agreement between Venezuelan government and opposition dialogue delegations to set up a review process via the Supreme Court.

On November 30, the participants of the recent Barbados Agreement announced that opposition politicians currently barred from holding political office could file appeals before the maximum judicial instance until December 15.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela-us-backed-machado-refuses-to-appeal-ban-gets-florida-endorsement/

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will meet with Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali on December 14 to address the ongoing Essequibo controversy amidst increased tensions and threats of military deployment.

The meeting will be hosted by the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, who sent a letter Saturday to Maduro and Ali urging them to “de-escalate the conflict and institute an appropriate dialogue.”

In his letter, Gonsalves said that both Guyana and Venezuela had agreed to talk with mediation from Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a United Nations (UN) representative and the leaderships of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), of which St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica hold the respective pro tempore presidencies.

“Both of you are on public record for committing to the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace and the maintenance of international law,” Gonsalves reminded the Venezuelan and Guyanese heads of state, adding that “time is of the essence” and that much was “at stake.”

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/presidents-of-guyana-and-venezuela-to-hold-summit-on-essequibo-dispute/

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Imperial forces oppose the exercise of territorial sovereignty because it is an obstacle to the expansion of their corporations, which are, in fact, their first occupation armies.

In disputes over territory, hegemonic capitalism will always opt for the country whose government guarantees greater possibilities of plundering the disputed space, looting its natural and human resources, or gaining geostrategic advantages.

In the case at hand, that country is Guyana, which became an object of desire for oil giants since important reserves of light crude were discovered in the undelimited waters off the Atlantic facade of Venezuela and the Essequibo continental territory, which the former British colony exercises in possession by way of the void 1899 Paris Arbitration Tribunal verdict.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/columns/unusual-and-extraordinary-venezuelan-sovereignty-and-the-essequibo-referendum/

With the year drawing to a close, the Venezuelanalysis team sat down to discuss some of the most important stories in Venezuela.

Host José Luis Granados Ceja was joined by Andreína Chávez, Cira Pascual Marquina and Ricardo Vaz to analyze the recent sanctions easing by the US, the growing tensions surrounding the Essequibo Strip, next year’s presidential elections and the present challenges for popular power in Venezuela.

Listen here 👇

https://venezuelanalysis.com/podcasts/the-venezuelanalysis-podcast-episode-21-sanctions-the-essequibo-and-the-2024-elections/

Venezuela and Guyana agreed Thursday to an ongoing direct dialogue between the two countries following a first meeting between their respective leaders in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

On Thursday evening, both nations published the “Joint Declaration of Argyle for Peace Between Guyana and Venezuela.” The eleven-point document establishes that neither nation will threaten the use of force against the other, that both committed to “resolving controversies in accordance with international law” and to “refrain[ing] from escalating any conflict.”

Furthermore, the declaration states that the two foreign ministries will establish a joint commission to “address matters as mutually agreed.” A second meeting between Ali and Maduro will take place in Brazil within the next three months, also with CELAC and CARICOM mediation.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela-and-guyana-to-maintain-direct-dialogue-amid-essequibo-dispute/

The recovery of sale prices has seen the Venezuelan government project a 27 percent increase in oil revenues for 2024. Reuters reported that next year’s budget forecasts $11.9 billion in income from PDVSA, up from $9.34 billion in the 2023 projections.

The Venezuelan National Assembly approved a $20.5 billion 2024 budget on Thursday, up 39 percent compared to 2023. However, the estimations are made in bolívares and currency devaluations force recurrent adjustments throughout the year. The Venezuelan government pledged that over three-quarters of the budget is earmarked for social spending.

Apart from the oil sector, PDVSA has additionally looked to court investment for natural gas projects. Unlike for oil ventures, Venezuelan legislation does not require that PDVSA hold a majority stake in gas projects.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela-oil-output-struggles-govt-eyes-bigger-revenue-in-2024/

#10ReasonsToSupportVenezuelanalysis ‘Tis the season! A time to wind down, spend time with loved ones, and support independent journalism 😁 [https://tinyurl.com/2jsdm4b5]. So in case you’re not too familiar with VA’s work, or need a reminder, here is what we have been up to

https://twitter.com/venanalysis/status/1735838803699413066

Far-right Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado reversed her stance and submitted a last-minute appeal of her official disqualification from public office.

“[The Venezuelan government] is looking for excuses to prevent me from participating. That is why we are here today, to show that they are not going to force us to abandon the electoral route […] the ball is in their court,” said Machado upon exiting the offices of the Venezuelan Supreme Court on Friday.

Her decision to present her case before the country’s highest court comes after first refusing to challenge her political prohibition, arguing as recently as Thursday that there was “nothing to appeal.”

Upon leaving the Supreme Court premises, Machado insisted to local reporters that her appeal was to demonstrate that her ban on running for office “does not exist.” The filed document was later posted online.

Ahead of a deadline imposed by the United States, government negotiators reached an agreement last month with the hardline opposition allowing for the country’s Supreme Court to review the cases of candidates presently disqualified from running for public office.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuelan-far-right-candidate-reverses-course-appeals-election-disqualification/

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https://youtu.be/Bl6LYANnNrg

The recent urgency of resolving the Essequibo quandary has everything to do with actions taken by ExxonMobil Corporation.

In 2015 ExxonMobil discovered copious off-shore oil reserves under Essequibo’s territorial waters. Guyana’s government expanded the bidding process for oil explorations. A previously humdrum territorial dispute had turned into a momentous contest with potentially far-reaching consequences.

ExxonMobil epitomizes power and wealth. Profits in 2022 were $56 billion. ExxonMobil’s revenues of $413.7 billion for 2022 were greater than the GDPs that year of all but 34 countries in the world; it ranked seventh for income-generating capacity among the world’s corporations. ExxonMobil sees Guyana as its potentially most productive oil-producing region, a place accounting for more than 25% of ExxonMobil’s total hydrocarbon production.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/opinion/oil-wealth-us-intervention-aggravate-venezuela-guyana-border-conflict/

In Venezuela, there is a popular saying that goes, ‘A turtle can’t climb a tree and an armadillo doesn’t shave,’ which is used to describe something impossible to change or achieve, or when someone refuses to see reality as it is.

This clever expression has provided me with clarity on a long-standing internal conflict: Venezuela should not resume selling oil to the United States after US sanctions devastated our oil industry and our livelihoods in the name of regime change. Is this a crazy idea, or is it the logical, if difficult, choice towards true liberation?

In other words, should the Maduro government allow the commercialization of Venezuelan oil by corporations of the aggressor country and continue to bind our economy to the whims of Washington’s foreign policy goals? I think the answer is simple: Choose the path free of extorsion.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/the-subversive-truth-we-shouldnt-sell-oil-to-the-united-states/

Venezuela successfully negotiated the release of Alex Saab, a government envoy who spent more than three years detained.

Saab landed in Caracas on Wednesday afternoon and was greeted by his family and Venezuelan government officials. His release comes as a result of a negotiation between the Nicolás Maduro government and the Joe Biden administration that will see the release of up to 36 people, 10 of them US citizens, currently detained in Venezuela.

The Maduro government envoy was arrested during a refueling stopover in Cape Verde in June 2020 on his way to Iran to negotiate food and fuel import deals amidst US sanctions. In October 2021, he was forcefully flown to Florida to face a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The Venezuelan government and Saab’s defense lawyers have maintained that he was acting as a special envoy and therefore was subject to diplomatic immunity. Caracas viewed the detention of Saab as a violation of international law, tantamount to a “kidnapping” and his persecution as a politically motivated trial. Saab maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering.

Caracas placed immense diplomatic pressure on Washington to secure his release, with the Venezuelan government delegation walking away from talks with the US-backed opposition in October 2021 when the envoy was taken to Florida and charged.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela-secures-release-of-govt-envoy-alex-saab/

The governments of Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago signed an agreement on Thursday to jointly produce and export offshore natural gas from the Dragon Gas Field.

According to a Venezuelan statement, Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA has granted a 30-year license to Trinidad’s National Gas Company (NGC) to develop Dragon, located in Venezuelan waters, with Royal Dutch Shell as the project’s operator.

In its first phase, the project is expected to yield an output of 185 million cubic feet per day of natural gas and it involves building a 17-kilometer pipeline from Venezuela’s Dragon field to Shell’s Hibiscus field in Trinidadian waters for the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and petrochemicals. Part of the output will be earmarked for export to international markets.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela-signs-30-year-alliance-with-trinidad-to-develop-dragon-gas-field/

Venezuela’s US-based oil refiner CITGO suffered a fresh setback with a judicial ruling favoring oil corporation ConocoPhillips.

On Thursday, Delaware District Judge Leonard P. Stark dismissed a motion seeking to stop the firm from joining a court-mandated auction of shares of CITGO’s parent company PDV Holding to satisfy a string of creditors.

Worth an estimated US $13 billion, CITGO, a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA, risks being broken up in the coming months after Stark set the share sale process in motion.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela-conocophillips-closer-to-seizing-citgo-shares-over-massive-award/

With your generous donations, we can ensure that our journalists have the resources they need to report on important issues in Venezuela next year while focusing on the people's fight to defeat the US blockade and keep the Bolivarian Project alive.

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https://youtu.be/Bl6LYANnNrg

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ordered large-scale military exercises around the disputed resource-rich Essequibo region following the arrival of a British warship to neighboring Guyana.

In a televised broadcast on Thursday, Maduro announced “a joint defensive action of the entire Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB)” along the eastern Caribbean coast and Atlantic front “in response to the provocation and threat of the United Kingdom against peace and the sovereignty of our country.”

According to the Venezuelan Defense Ministry, the operation will involve over 5,600 military personnel and will encompass patrolling land, air, and sea areas alongside the disputed Essequibo territory.

Maduro’s order came as Britain’s Defense Ministry announced Sunday it would send the Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Trent to Guyana “as part of a series of engagements in the region during her Atlantic Patrol Task deployment.” An anonymous source told AFP the war vessel would arrive on December 29 but would not dock on Georgetown and would stay for less than a week for open sea defense exercises.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuelan-military-conducts-exercise-in-response-to-uk-warship-provocation/

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It’s an important time to write about Venezuela but it’s also terribly difficult – it’s complex, convoluted, combated and controversial. There’s so much crossfire around this country that it’s difficult to make any sense of what’s really going on. But there is bright light in this turbulent tunnel, light toward which an owl of Minerva files, at the dusk of one century and toward the dawn of the next, there to rendezvous with eagles and condors. The metaphors are mixed, like the magic, like the oil and the water and the revolution. I hope this short story of a few chapters from the end of a century of oil in Venezuela, might open some windows through which that bright light might shine – from other side of the sanctions, live from the revolution that won’t be televised.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/opinion/venezuela-2023-oil-and-water-and-untelevised-revolution/

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