Venezuela Contra Mundum
Photograph Source: Beatrice Murch – CC BY 2.0
The USA is imposing collective punishment on Venezuelans with illegal sanctions for daring to assert their sovereignty in deciding that only they, the Venezuelan people, in fair elections, can determine their governance.
Joseph Conrad insightfully wrote in his book Lord Jim: “You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends“. The same can be said about a nation. So, it should be a clue to any observant person, that the forces of the extreme right, and those who are hoodwinked by them, lead the charge against Venezuela, with a relentless hybrid war and smear campaign.
The USA and its allies are at the head of this campaign. Their motives lie undoubtedly in the desire to take control of the nation’s immense oil reserves, plus its gas, gold and lithium. As well, the USA is imposing collective punishment on Venezuelans with illegal sanctions for daring to assert their sovereignty in deciding that only they, the Venezuelan people, in fair elections, can determine their governance.
Can anyone doubt that the forces of the extreme right are ascendant in geopolitics?
In the USA, the extreme right grows bolder and stronger each day. Under the leadership of Trump, a narcissistic man whose speeches are tinged with rage and absurdities, they violently mobbed Capitol Hill in Washington while denying the results of the election won by Biden. The world looks on in astonishment and dismay as Trump is poised to win the presidential elections on Nov. 5, especially now that he can drape himself with the cloak of martyrdom. His core supporters are very forgiving, or have highly selective memories, or are simply infatuated by the self-proclaimed savior from the continuing decline of their country. During Trump’s last presidency, illegal sanctions against Venezuela became extreme and he threatened military invasion. The Venezuelan vice-president Delcy Rodríguez, in defining fascism stated that: “…it not only manifests itself in expression of hatred, violence and death but also forms of economic fascism, such as the US criminal blockade imposed against Venezuela.”[1]
The hopeful exceptions in Europe are those of the UK and France whose recent elections amazingly sidelined the far right. But it seems everywhere else we see extreme right parties – some could be considered as openly fascist – rise in Spain, Germany, Estonia, Serbia, Finland, Hungary, Italy and Switzerland. Some of these parties form the government or part of it, some have legislative representatives where before they had few or none, and some are in opposition nipping at the heels of governments. But their presence is palpable, and menacing. The far right in the European Union always vote to malign and attack Venezuela.
In Canada, the main opposition party, the Conservative Party, is moving further right under a mediocre leader, Poilievre, who leads the polls against the Liberal Justin Trudeau. The strategy of Poilievre is typical of the far right that hide their real aims under an ad hominem campaign: that is, very scarce in providing solutions and virulently blaming and insulting the person of Trudeau. It is proving so effective that if the Liberal Party was smart, it would replace Trudeau and deflate the campaign of the Conservatives.
Both the Liberal and the Conservative parties of Canada, in their rush to kowtow to their powerful southern neighbour, have unjustly and mean-spiritedly lashed out against Venezuela, a nation that has not harmed Canada nor any Canadians. They have imposed illegal sanctions, organized and led the now defunct Lima Group, a cabal of far-right governments that pushed for “regime change” in Venezuela, broke diplomatic relations with Venezuela so that not even consulates are allowed, and denied the right of Canadian/Venezuelans to vote in the last Venezuelan presidential elections and upcoming one.
In Latin America, Brazil’s would-be dictator, the erratic Bolsonaro, led an attack on the Brazilian Congress a lá Trump. While in power, he managed to sideline both Dilma Rousseff and Lula with legal injustices of lawfare. He is not in power now but is still not a political pariah and not behind bars, as he should be. His disdain for the Venezuelan government was such that only the Brazilian army was able to persuade him against invading Venezuela.
In Argentina, Javier Milei is a prime example of an extremist leader with a disordered mind, saying publicly: “I’m the king of a lost world! I’m the king and I will destroy you!”[2]. Melei is bent on dismantling social rights and attacking anyone who opposes him. He has taken it upon himself to insult the Venezuelan government and president whenever he can. The Argentinian embassy in Caracas has become a haven of the far right.
So, in this sea of rising far right extremism, there is a country in open defiance that fights the violence and deceptions of fascism, the racist elites and the predatory corporations. A government that is on the side of the working classes, that zealously protects their social benefits and welfare and their Human Rights and champions the environment. That country is Venezuela, whose Constitution, on its first page, proclaims itself a democratic society, participatory, multiethnic, and pluricultural, with the values of liberty, solidarity and the common good.
The far-right forces, backed by Washington and the fascist, racist Venezuelan elites, have never ceased to try to destabilize the nation and overthrow the government. In 2014 they were responsible for a series of virulent street violence that led to 43 deaths, 878 injured and millions in damages. In 2017 they continued with 121 deaths and 1,958 injured, including the horrendous death of a young man, Orlando Figuera, who because of his dark skin, “looked Chavista” and was burned alive on the street.