Longread: Eyewitness in Venezuela – a 14-Year Perspective

by Peter Lackowski

Red Revolution Media | May 22, 2019

I was in Venezuela from April 26 to May 5, 2019. It was the fifth time I have been there in a span of 14 years, so I was able to put things I saw on this trip in that context.

My first visit was in 2005. I saw people begging, sleeping in doorways, street venders filling not just sidewalks, even whole streets in some areas.

But I also saw bundles of books being distributed house to house, following a campaign to teach everyone to read. I visited clinics in poor neighbourhoods staffed by Cuban medical personnel. I saw independent radio stations run by people in their communities, broadcasting local news, and providing a platform for commentary on current events. Stores had basic foods at affordable, subsidized prices. “Missions,” funded directly by oil revenues so as to bypass government ministries, were addressing social problems that bureaucracies from the pre-Chávez government failed to resolve.

Call for Solidarity Delegation to Caracas August-19 to 28 -2019

 REVOLUCIONALIMENTARIA | April 20, 2019

What’s going on right now in Venezuela? Come see for yourself by connecting with the grassroots movements at the heart of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution.

The Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of New York, In partnership with Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville (SAL),US Food Sovereignty Alliance invites historians, artists, videographers, writers, political analysts, and other activists who sympathize with the Bolivarian Revolution to join a delegation to Caracas, Venezuela this coming August. Witness:

Protests expected at Venezuelan Embassy following ejection of last Maduro supporters

by Mark Gruenberg

Peoples’ World | May 17, 2019

Pro Nicolas Maduro supporters hold signs and speak with a bullhorn from the second floor window of the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, Thursday, May 2, 2019. | Andrew Harnik/AP

WASHINGTON—Demonstrators are expected this Saturday at noon at the Venezuelan Embassy here  two days after police – following the orders of the right-wing GOP Trump administration – ejected the last four supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from the building.

The eviction, after 38 days, is a proxy for President Donald Trump’s ideological effort to overthrow Maduro, the elected Venezuelan president. It’s also a throwback to both U.S. “gunboat diplomacy” of the 20th century and to prior and frequent U.S. intervention in Latin America, often on behalf of corporate interests.

A first-hand account from Caracas from the day of the coup through May Day

by Peter Lackowski

MR Online | May 09, 2019

The following account is by our comrade, Peter Lackowski, a retired teacher living in Burlington, Vermont, who was part of a delegation on a visit to Venezuela during and after the failed right-wing coup d’état on April 30, 2019.

April 30: Caracas the day of the rightists’ failed coup

Today there was a farcical attempt to take a military airport that fizzled. It turned into a dozen or so guys throwing stones and being ignored. The Guardian is shamelessly running video of something that happened weeks ago as though it were today. We were there and it was all normal.

There was a demonstration of about 200 people in the usual upper class neighborhood

Venezuela: A Dangerous Moment

by Angel Guerra Cabrera

May Day in Cuba, Photo: Bill Hackwell

The comic strip of a coup d’etat in Caracas on April 30 deflated itself with the sunset that same day. No military action was required against it. In fact, most of rebel soldiers who had been tricked to be there at daybreak, realizing they were being used for a coup, talked to their commanders and went back to their barracks by midday.

Live Updates: Venezuelan Govt Says Guaido Coup Failed, Lopez Hides in Chile’s Embassy

teleSUR | April 30, 2019

 Photo: teleSUR

The Venezuelan opposition lawmaker has once again called on the military to overthrow the legitimate government of President Nicolas Maduro. 

Juan Guaido, the opposition lawmaker who illegally proclaimed himself “interim president” of Venezuela Tuesday morning made a call on social media asking the military and people to begin an uprising against the legitimate government of President Nicolas Maduro.

 

Russian Intel: West ‘Tearing Apart’ Venezuela Like Syria, Libya

teleSUR | April 25, 2019

Russian Intelligence Sergei Naryshkin says western countries are “tearing apart” Venezuela and following the same patterns as in Libya and Syria. | Photo: Reuters file

Western countries, Naryshkin highlighted, “are tearing Venezuela apart cynically and following the same patterns as in Libya and Syria. The U.S. retakes the Monroe Doctrine.”

Chief of Russian Intelligence Sergei Naryshkin has denounced the “tearing apart” of Venezuela and promoting of the humanitarian catastrophe in the Latin American nation by Western countries.