An image of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump hangs in the window of a campaign office in Hamtramck, Michigan, November 4, 2024
TIM YOUNG warns that the president-elect’s record of economic and political interference from his last stint in the White House show dangerous potential for escalated aggression against the Bolivarian government from 2025
THE US election result raises the spectre of Trump renewing the assault on Venezuela that his loss to Biden interrupted in 2020.
In office between 2016 and 2020, Trump’s approach to Latin America showed an implacable hostility towards Venezuela, as well as other governments in the region determined to advance their population’s interests, not those of the US.
Venezuela has been subjected to US extraterritorial intervention and interference for over two decades. From the early days of Hugo Chavez’s election as president in 1998, the US has sought, in conjunction with Venezuela’s economic and political elites, to topple the Venezuelan government and re-establish its control and influence over the country and its oil wealth.
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While the global situation has changed since 2020, with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and the US’s developing aggressive strategy towards Russia and China, there is no reason to believe the US’s long-standing desire to destabilise the Venezuelan government and achieve “regime change” is off the table.
For his part, Trump made it plain when campaigning this year in North Carolina what motivated his drive to unseat Maduro: “When I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over; we would have gotten all that oil.”
The solidarity movement in Britain must be prepared to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty against any renewed offensive by Trump when he assumes the presidency in 2025 — as well as continuing to campaign for Britain to give Venezuela back its gold.
The coup plot comes just a month and a half after President Nicolás Maduro was reelected in the presidential election, which to date, the US has refused to recognize
In a press conference given on September 14, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced that authorities had dismantled an operation reportedly backed by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States and the National Intelligence Center of Spain, which sought to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, Cabello, and other government officials. The minister announced that Venezuelan authorities had seized 400 weapons from the US and arrested 14 mercenaries who were involved in the plot. Among the arrested is Wilber Joseph Castañeda, an active US military officer and Navy Seal. Two Spanish citizens were reportedly also arrested, José María Basua and Andrés Badasbe.
#ÚltimoMinuto| Ministro de Interior @dcabellor da detalles de la operación sobre Venezuela que han sido detectados y desarticulados.
Algunos puntos claves:
✔️ Fueron decomisadas 400 armas que provenían de EEUU para asesinar al presidente Nicolás Maduro, la Vicepresidenta… pic.twitter.com/ztdATsYVDq
Officials stated that according to a document they seized from one of the detainees, the plot included attacking the Miraflores Palace and other public institutions, in addition to carrying out sabotage actions against various public services to generate chaos.
According to officials, those arrested possessed between 10-12 weapons in their homes that were set to be used in the destabilization plan. Cabello noted that many of those arrested also have links to Venezuela’s far-right opposition network.
He added that the weapons seized by authorities were brought to the country in “apparently legal” shipments and received by groups linked to the extreme right.
One of the leaders of the illegal arms trafficking network in the country, Cabello claimed, is a man who is already a fugitive from Venezuelan justice, Iván Simonovis. “Because of the capture of this weaponry here in Venezuela, they have taken actions in other countries that have included the murder of people. Simonovis knows what I am talking about,” he stated.
Venezuela has demanded that the United States government respond to the incident and “clarify the use of its agencies and the use of its territory to traffic weapons aimed at overthrowing a democratically elected government.”
Cabello declared: “The United States is behind this operation, they are delivering these weapons so that they circulate freely and reach Venezuela…They can say what they want, their agents are confessing. Castañeda is the head of the operation [of] the CIA here and they have a link with criminal groups in Venezuela.”
Regarding the Venezuelan state’s intelligence capacities, Cabello stated: “Let the world know that we are going to use all the necessary mechanisms to repel, to defeat these groups of mercenaries, of terrorists who try to undermine peace and order in Venezuela…prepare to be defeated again.”
Venezuelan people marched in the rain on July 30 in defense of the electoral results. Photo: Zoe Alexandra
Social and workers’ movements across the world have launched a campaign to stand in solidarity with the Venezuelan people as they face a wave of attacks following the presidential elections.
On August 9, the ALBA Movimientos, a platform of social and political movements from across the Americas and the Caribbean, the International Peoples’ Assembly, the Simon Bolivar Institute, and the Assembly of Caribbean Peoples, launched a campaign titled: “For Democracy and Sovereignty: Hands Off Venezuela!” The campaign comes in the aftermath of Venezuela’s presidential election and a wave of seemingly coordinated attacks from right-wing political actors, mainstream media, and US and its allies.
The launch document states that, for several months, a media campaign has been created to question the legitimacy of the elections in the Caribbean country. “From the hegemonic media, with political and diplomatic strategies, it has been sought to install an idea of the illegitimacy of the recent Venezuelan electoral process,” states the communiqué.
The joint statement affirms that the campaign mentioned above against the legitimacy of the Venezuelan electoral process has been shaped from several communicational fronts: creating doubts about the technological capacity of the electoral machines, reinforcing the 930 economic sanctions against Venezuela, generating violence in the streets and illegally self-declaring González Urrutia as president of the country, among others.
The geopolitical importance of Venezuela, both for its geographic location and vast natural resources, are at the center of the current dispute, the organizations argue. “It is impossible [to understand the situation of] Venezuela without placing it in the regional and global geopolitical context: its privileged place in world oil production, its common goods placed at the service of the people, the place it occupies in the multipolar world together with the emerging countries, and of course, its leadership of a project of union and regional integration in Latin America and the Caribbean that gives continuity to the defeat of the FTAA and keeps alive the horizon of continental sovereignty far from the designs of the United States”.
In this way, the document invites progressive and revolutionary organizations to combat the media campaign imposed by the national and international opposition to Venezuela, which, according to the document, is directly aligned with the imperialist interests of the United States.
On August 9, the launch day of the campaign, the movement platforms have called on organizations across the globe to mobilize on the streets and on social media in support of Venezuela.
🇻🇪 BREAKING! The people of New York City say “HANDS OFF VENEZUELA” and “NO to US Intervention” in front of New York Times Headquarters
While The New York Times has been engaged in a misinformation campaign to encourage and justify US-led coup attempts and economic warfare… pic.twitter.com/TbMXycKvr4
South African workers speak out in support of Venezuela
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), in a press release issued on August 8, 2024, congratulated the Venezuelan people for holding free and fair elections, as well as congratulating the re-election with more than 51% of the votes of Nicolás Maduro as president of Venezuela.
NUMSA also questions the media campaign against the legitimacy of the electoral process that could lead to a coup d’état in Venezuela. According to the communiqué, “These media houses are not neutral. Their role is to advance the interests of capital and to promote US imperialism and hegemony. It is not in the interest of Western powers to endorse the elections in Venezuela…We are deeply concerned that US propaganda is being reproduced by many media houses that have sadly been trapped into reinforcing attempts at a coup by imperialism against the will of the Venezuelan people.”
In addition, the NUSMA communiqué insists on the close relationship that the Venezuelan opposition has with the geopolitical interests of the United States, including the friendship that María Corina Machado has professed with the Zionist government of Israel; “The United States does not have a commendable history in defending the dignity of most people. Today, we can take one look at the US-backed genocide against the Palestinian people to know this. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that the right-wing opposition coup leader in Venezuela is a Zionist”.
Likewise, the NUMSA communiqué recognizes the great economic and geostrategic value of Venezuela in current international relations, which is why there are imperial powers that seek to control the political future of Venezuela at any cost so that the recognition of the elections would be a way for the people to reaffirm their sovereignty and their ability to decide their future without the interference of other countries: “the US has set its sights on the enormous mineral wealth of Venezuela and seems determined to expropriate these through the imposition of a puppet regime under the leadership of Edmundo González. Against this backdrop, all progressive forces must reaffirm their unwavering commitment to the sovereignty of Venezuela. We call on our government, media, governments, and media houses worldwide to uphold the principles of peace, democracy, and national self-determination by acknowledging the outcomes of the Venezuelan election.”
Anti-imperialist and progressive movements from across the world are gearing up for the international campaign to condemn the so-called hybrid war against Venezuela and express their support to its struggle for sovereignty and democracy.
Supporters of President Nicolas Maduro gather for a government rally in Caracas, Venezuela, August 3, 2024Supporters of President Nicolas Maduro gather for a government rally in Caracas, Venezuela, August 3, 2024
VENEZUELANS hit the streets on Saturday in a series of massive demonstrations to safeguard the country’s Bolivarian revolution.
The marches, called by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and labelled as the Great National March for Peace, came as the US-backed opposition continued to cast doubt on the victory of Nicolas Maduro in the presidential election.
Thousands rallied in the capital Caracas to the presidential Miraflores Palace, to give their support to President Maduro and show their support for the outcome of the poll, which took place on July 28.
Demonstrators shouted slogans such as “The streets belong to the people of Bolivar, Chavez and Maduro;” “We are joy, we are the majority” and “There is no room for violence in Venezuela.”
A large caravan of motorcyclists also toured the capital to show their support for the president.
Before the demonstration began, representatives of the motorcyclists called for respect for the democratic process in Venezuela, telling Venezuelan Television that “they must prevent their children from being used by fascism.”
They, along with the other marchers, also rejected the imperialist attack that is being mounted against the country through economic sanctions.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro greets the president of the country’s Supreme Court of Justice, Caryslia Rodríguez, in Caracas on July 31, 2024. (Photo: Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images)
Venezuela’s foreign ministry hit back at the U.S. State Department, accusing it of spearheading a “coup attempt.”
The U.S. State Department has formally recognized opposition candidate Edmundo González as the winner of Venezuela’s election as the nation’s highest legal body began an investigation of the vote at the request of President Nicolás Maduro, who says he prevailed in the contest that is now under intense global scrutiny.
In a statement released days after Venezuela’s election authority, Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE), declared Maduro the winner with just over 51% of the vote, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed late Thursday that “it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election.”
“Now is the time for the Venezuelan parties to begin discussions on a respectful, peaceful transition in accordance with Venezuelan electoral law and the wishes of the Venezuelan people,” said Blinken, the top diplomat of a country that has repeatedly attempted to overthrow the Maduro government and hammered the country’s economy with sanctions. “We fully support the process of reestablishing democratic norms in Venezuela and stand ready to consider ways to bolster it jointly with our international partners.”
Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs Ministry quickly hit back, saying Friday that it “rejects the serious and ridiculous statements attributed to United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in which he pretends to assume the role of the Venezuelan electoral authorities, demonstrating that the U.S. government is leading the coup attempt against Venezuela, promoting a violent agenda against the Venezuelan people and their institutions.”
Blinken’s statement accepting the right-wing opposition’s claim of a decisive victory came a day after Maduro asked Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice on Wednesday to audit the presidential contest in the face of vocal concerns from regional leaders, election observers, and leading human rights organizations.
In a joint statement issued Thursday, the presidents of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico said they are “closely following” the vote-counting process and called on the CNE to “move forward expeditiously and publicly release the data broken down by voting station”—something the Maduro government indicated it will do but has yet to provide.
Meanwhile, the Carter Center—an organization whose founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, once praised Venezuela’s election system as “the best in the world”—argued that the 2024 contest “did not meet international standards of electoral integrity and cannot be considered democratic.”
“In the limited number of polling centers they visited, Carter Center observer teams noted the desire of the Venezuelan people to participate in a democratic election process, as demonstrated through their active participation as polling staff, party witnesses, and citizen observers,” the group said in a statement earlier this week. “However, their efforts were undermined by the CNE’s complete lack of transparency in announcing the results.”
The Carter Center also preemptively raised doubts about the legitimacy of the Venezuelan high court’s assessment of the election.
“You have another government institution, which is appointed by the government, to verify the government numbers for the election results, which are in question,” Jennie Lincoln, who led the Carter Center’s election delegation to Venezuela, told The Associated Press. “This is not an independent assessment.”
The tense and high-stakes dispute over the rightful winner of Venezuela’s election has set off violence in the streets of the nation’s capital and sparked fierce debate over the path forward for the Latin American nation’s government.
Some on the progressive left, both in Venezuela and internationally, view the right-wing opposition’s claims to victory as yet another in a long line of attacks on Venezuelan democracy by pro-corporate and fascist forces, while others—including left-wing regional leaders such as Chilean President Gabriel Boric—have expressed deep suspicions about the legitimacy of the contest, particularly given the CNE’s lack of transparency surrounding the vote count. CNE has attributed the delayed rollout of full results to a cyberattack.
“The international community, and especially the Venezuelan people, including the millions of Venezuelans in exile, demand total transparency of the election records and the process, and that international observers not affiliated with the government report on the accuracy of the results,” Boric wrote on social media. “From Chile, we will not recognize any result that is not verifiable.”
Venezuela’s opposition, led by María Corina Machado, continues to insist it won Sunday’s election, producing its own website purporting to demonstrate that González defeated Maduro with 67% of the vote.
On Thursday, Machado—who was barred from participating in the presidential contest—took to the pages of the U.S. business press to proclaim that she can “prove Maduro got trounced.”
“Maduro didn’t win the Venezuelan presidential election on Sunday. He lost in a landslide to Edmundo González, 67% to 30%,” Machado wrote in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal. “I know this to be true because I can prove it. I have receipts obtained directly from more than 80% of the nation’s polling stations.”
Maduro has pledged to release the full election results in the coming days and blamed Machado and the U.S. for stoking unrest and violence.
“If the U.S. government is willing to respect sovereignty and stop threatening Venezuela, we can return to dialogue,” Maduro wrote in a social media post on Thursday.
