Production has been falling in Venezuela’s oil industry for more than five years. In 2019, the US oil embargo on Venezuela added insult to injury in an already struggling industry. Carlos Mendoza Potellá, an economics professor at Venezuela’s Central University and former advisor to Venezuela’s Central Bank, discusses the present conjuncture while looking at the future of the oil industry.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15457

When Hugo Chávez was elected in 1998, one of his priorities was to address two centuries of poverty and inequality in the Venezuelan countryside. A landmark Land Law published in 2001 allowed campesinos and the state to rescue over six million hectares of unproductive land.

But these efforts also provoked a violent reaction from landowners and the rural bourgeoisie, with over 300 campesinos killed in the past 20 years.

In the latest episode of The Venezuelanalysis Podcast, we go over these historical struggles and the present reality in rural Venezuela. Host José Luis Granados Ceja talks to Andrés Alayo, one of the key spokespeople of the Campesino Struggle Platform, about current contradictions in the countryside and the fight against an agribusiness model amidst a severe economic crisis.

Subscribe now for early access: patreon.com/posts/62779230

#Venezuela At least 100 “activists” abandoned Leopoldo López’s right-wing (fascist) political party Voluntad Popular. During a press conference on Saturday, they took off their shirts and hats with the party’s symbol proclaiming the leadership doesn’t represent them anymore.

Argentine authorities committed to an “exhaustive and detailed” investigation into alleged preparations for an invasion of Venezuela as part of a US military strategy to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro.

Argentine Defense Minister Jorge Taiana confirmed the probe with his Venezuelan counterpart Vladimir Padrino López in a phone call.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15459

🎙 The Venezuelanalysis Podcast Episode 05: Campesinos, Class Struggle and the Land!

In the latest episode of The Venezuelanalysis Podcast, we go over historical land struggles and the present reality in rural Venezuela.

Listen here: https://venezuelanalysis.com/audio/15460

In Tuesday’s Doha summit, government representatives discussed measures to preserve stability in global hydrocarbon markets against the backdrop of mounting tensions with Ukraine and NATO as well as Washington’s newly imposed sanctions on Russia following Moscow’s recognition of Luhansk and Donetsk’s independent republics.

Venezuela and Iran celebrated efforts to stabilize the markets while denouncing the need to stop Washington’s coercive measures which severely hampered their industries. The two nations rank seventh and second in natural gas reserves worldwide, respectively.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15461

Grassroots organizations rallied in Caracas on Tuesday to demand action from judicial authorities in the struggle for urban housing.

Dilsia Arévalo, spokeswoman from the Tenants’ Movement, urged Attorney General Tarek William Saab to set sights on recurring attacks and attempts to evict families in order to drive up rent prices. She added that homeowners use tactics such as turning off the water supply or outright violence to coerce tenants into leaving. “We are witnessing property rights and speculation trample peoples’ right to housing.”

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15462

High oil prices in the international market are currently favoring Venezuela’s oil industry. These prices make the Venezuelan product more attractive to international buyers. However, this favorable situation also generates uncertainty: a drop in prices could hit production again in an already frail industry.

The purpose of our analysis is not to generate pessimism. Instead, we want to provide a realistic perspective about an industry that is crucial to the national economy.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15463

Venezuela commemorates 33 years since the popular rebellion known as “Caracazo” against the US-backed gov't neoliberal policies.

The February 27, 1989 uprising is considered the genesis of the Bolivarian Revolution and a forerunner of anti-neoliberal resistance in Latin America.

https://youtu.be/ocgszIsnfr8

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro called for a “peaceful resolution” to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine in order to avoid a further escalation of the conflict.

Maduro’s statement also condemned the violation of the Minsk Agreements—a series of international agreements aimed at ending the armed conflict in the Donbas region of Ukraine—calling NATO’s handling of the accords a “mockery” and that their “derailment” constituted a violation of international law.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15465

"When it comes to rural Venezuela, the most urgent task is to consolidate the spaces that campesinos possess. We must stop the restoration process and consolidate production in the lands that are in our hands."

Emma Ortega loves working in the fields when she is not studying rural land tenure in Venezuela or struggling for the rights of campesino women. Recently, she served as a deputy of the National Constituent Assembly (2017-2020).

In this exclusive interview with VA, Ortega talks about the origins of what she calls the “Fordist” model of land management in Venezuela and the role of rural women transforming the country’s agrarian production.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15466

Judge Leonard Stark of the US Delaware District Court authorized a special master to conduct a marketing and sales process for a “contingent auction” of CITGO shares “including selecting a winning bid.”

However, the ruling clarified that the company’s shares will not be transferred until the winning bidder obtains a license from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which currently blocks any attempt to sell or auction the US $8 billion-worth Venezuelan asset.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15467