Stolen Police Helicopter Attacks Venezuela Top Court, Interior Ministry

teleSUR | June 27, 2017

Oscar Alberto Perez has been identified as the pilot who stole the helicopter. | Photo: Screenshot from Twitter video.

A helicopter from the Venezuela’s Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigations agency was stolen Tuesday evening, circled around the Supreme Court building, firing shots toward the building, followed by two explosions which were said to be grenades, according to official sources.

The top court’s building in northern Caracas was sealed off after the national guard repelled the attack, which occurred around 5 p.m. local time.

A banner was unfurled from the helicopter that read, “350 Libertad,” in reference to article 350 of the Bolivarian Constitution that opposition forces are attempting to invoke to stop the National Constituent Assembly.

Venezuela’s Maduro Condemns Helicopter Attack on Supreme Court, Justice Ministry

by LUCAS KOERNER

VENEZUELANALYSIS.COM | June 27, 2017

Caracas, June 27, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has denounced a “terrorist attack” on the offices of the Supreme Court and Justice Ministry in downtown Caracas late Tuesday afternoon.

According to the head of state, the attack was perpetrated by a member of the Venezuelan forensic police (CICPC) piloting a stolen police helicopter.

The assailants reportedly circled the Supreme Court, opening fire and dropping at least four hand grenades, one of which did not explode. The president indicated that the attack coincided with a “social function” in the Supreme Court, which he said could have resulted in “dozens of dead or injured”.

Venezuela: Our Programme for the Constituent Assembly

by LUCHA DE CLASES

In Defense of Marxism | June 16, 2017

The calling of a National Constituent Assembly (ANC) has been issued in the middle of one of the worst offensives of the counter-revolution and imperialism in the last eighteen years. In this political situation, the convening of a Constituent Assembly has awoken important revolutionary aspirations among sections of the workers’ and people’s vanguard, who are ready to fight to elect deputies to the Constituent Assembly who come from the rank and file and defend a programme of revolutionary demands.

This is in opposition to the bureaucratic clique at the top that is trying to impose itself with any means necessary, with the aim of imposing a programme of concessions to the ruling class and the abandonment of any pretence of a socialist programme.

OAS Fails to Pass Anti-Venezuela Resolution, amid Rumors of More US Sanctions

by RYAN MALLETT-OUTTRIM

VENEZUELANALYSIS.COM | June 22, 2017

The OAS voted down a US-backed resolution aimed at condemning Venezuela. (Reuters/OAS Pool)

Puebla, Mexico, June 22, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The United States failed Wednesday to persuade the Organisation of American States to condemn Venezuela’s government, amid growing speculation of a new round of unilateral sanctions.

On the final day of OAS talks in Cancun, Mexico, the US pressed for a formal declaration condemning President Nicolas Maduro’s handling of his country’s political and economic crisis. The proposal was strongly backed by US allies including the host country Mexico.

The War for Power in Venezuela’s Countryside

by Marco Teruggi

teleSUR | June 19, 2017

Since opposition protests began in Venezuela in early April, much of the media coverage has focused on clashes in Caracas. However, the opposition’s campaign to bring down the government of Nicolas Maduro has not been limited to the country’s capital.

Marco Teruggi reports on a recent visit to the small, but strategic town of Socopo, in the largely rural state Barinas, which has been the site of a campaign of terror and an all-out struggle for power.

It was original published at 15 y Ultimo and has been translated by Green Left Weekly’s Federico Fuentes.

Interventionist Moves Against Venezuela Fail Again at OAS Meeting

teleSUR | June 19, 2017

A motorcyclist rides past a mural depicting Venezuela’s late President Hugo Chavez in Sabaneta, Venezuela, June 13, 2017. | Photo: Reuters

Two opposing resolutions submitted at the Organization of American States to discuss the situation in Venezuela prior to its annual meeting has again led to the failure of interventionist moves by U.S.-backed forces, as both proposals put forth did not receive the two-thirds majority needed to pass.

Hours before the meeting scheduled for 2 p.m., local time, Peru withdrew a draft resolution on the country Monday shortly before foreign ministers were set to meet to discuss the political situation in Venezuela in hopes of adopting a resolution on the issue. The proposal put forward by Peru, Canada, the United States, Mexico and Panama and supported by other countries, called for the government of President Nicolas Maduro to be condemned and attempted to put a stop the National Constituent Assembly to rewrite the Venezuelan Constitution.

Venezuelan Grassroots Socialist on the Challenges Facing the Bolivarian Process

by FEDERICO FUENTES & STALIN PEREZ BORGES

Green Left Weekly | June 11, 2017

Stalin Perez Borges. (Green Left Weekly)

An important debate has opened up among the left, both within Venezuela and internationally, as a result of the recent turmoil in the country.

In an attempt to bring the views of grassroots Venezuelan militants to an English-speaking audience, Green Left Weekly’s Federico Fuentes interviewed Stalin Perez Borges.

A life-long union and socialist activist, Perez Borges is today a member of the United League of Chavista Socialists (LUCHAS), a radical current within the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

What Marxism Teaches Us About Protests in Venezuela

by Ramiro S. Fúnez

teleSUR | 22 May, 2017

Freedom. Democracy. Stability.

These are the demands that mainstream media will have you believe are behind ongoing anti-government opposition protests in Venezuela, which have since claimed over 50 lives.

Borrowing plot lines from “David and Goliath,” the alphabet soup of corporate news outlets perpetuate the same ill-conceived dichotomy. On one side are the powerless, peace-loving democrats protesting for political freedom. On the other side is the powerful, violent authoritarian government fighting against those demands.

Venezuela Opposition Protesters Kill Police Chief, Injure 3

teleSUR | June 13, 2017

Slain Merida Police Chief Douglas Acevedo Sanchez (L) and a Venezuelan opposition protester (R) | Photo: Policia de Merida and Reuters

Merida Police Chief Douglas Acevedo Sanchez leaves behind three children.

 

Alexis Ramirez, governor of Venezuela’s Merida state, announced Tuesday the murder of one police officer and the injury of three other people at the hands of right-wing opposition protesters.

The protesters, according to Ramirez, fired several rounds during an afternoon opposition demonstration in the state’s Libertador municipality.

The political defeat of the Venezuelan right-wing

by Guillermo Cieza

The Dawn News | June 07, 2017

Photo credit: Cuba Debate

After over 60 days of street violence, after over 60 murders, the Venezuelan right is being politically defeated.

Some telling numbers back this affirmation:

• Yesterday, the protest convened by the opposition’s Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) in 15 spots around Caracas was a resounding failure. Less than a hundred people showed up at each spot.
• A poll by the Democratic Action party asked people whether they think the government is right in saying that the opposition’s protests are led by terrorists showed that over 70% of Venezuelans think that is correct.
• Yesterday, the municipal police of Lechería, a district governed by a member of the opposition, shot a group of opposition protesters, wounding two.