Report: ‘What’s Really Happening in Venezuela?’

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Public online meeting: What’s Really Happening in Venezuela? | Monday July 22nd

Report by Tim Young

With two key elections approaching, in Venezuela and the United States, Venezuela Solidarity Campaign organised a briefing event for affiliates, members and supporters, entitled ‘What’s Really Happening in Venezuela?’

Speakers at the event were the new Venezuelan Ambassador Felix Plasencia and Dr Francisco Dominguez, Latin American expert and Secretary of VSC.

Chairing the meeting, VSC Executive member Sue Grey set the political context for the speakers’ contributions.

In the forthcoming Presidential election in Venezuela on 28 July ten candidates, including current president Nicolás Maduro, will be competing to lead the country until 2030. Venezuela will again be using its sophisticated and efficient voting system which the US Carter Center has judged to be the most secure in the world – and yet despite holding 30 electoral processes since 1998 the US continues to label Venezuela as a dictatorship.

This will be the 11th election that Venezuela has held since sanctions were first imposed on the country by President Obama in 2015, after other methods of reasserting US control and toppling President Hugo Chávez had failed.

The US’s sanctions are illegal coercive measures designed to bring about ‘regime change’ and secure a compliant administration posing no challenge to US economic and political interests in the region. Their effect is appalling: in 2017-18 alone it is estimated that they caused 40,000 deaths.

Under Trump (who is seeking office again as president in the US’s November election), the sanctions programme was ramped up into a blockade akin to that imposed against Cuba. Under Biden, sanctions were maintained until the global energy crisis forced the US in March 2022 to approach the Maduro government with a view to buying oil.

But only after the Maduro government succeeded in signing an agreement with the US-backed right-wing opposition Unitary Platform that established certain conditions for the 2024 presidential election were some of the US sanctions eased.

However, the US has moved again to tighten the screws on Venezuela, by reimposing sanctions on Venezuela’s oil and gas industry. And in view of President Maduro’s clear lead in the opinion polls against a fractured opposition, this looks very much like setting the stage for the US and its far-right allies to again refuse to recognise the election results, with sanctions being maintained, if not intensified.

VSC will be holding a briefing meeting on August 12 on the Venezuela election result with observers from the election and considering the implications for future solidarity work.

In the meantime, Sue introduced the new Venezuelan Ambassador, Felix Plasencia, to provide further detail on the current state of play in Venezuela.

Setting the scene for what is currently happening in Venezuela, the Ambassador reminded the audience that the illegal coercive measures, originally initiated under Obama, had had a devastating effect, not only in terms of the loss of lives but also the $600 billion loss of income from the sanctioned oil industry. Production which once stood at 3.5 million barrels per day dropped catastrophically but has slowly recovered to 900,000 barrels per day, easing the economic situation.

Despite Obama labelling Venezuela an “unusual threat” when introducing the sanctions, Venezuela’s record was one of co-operation with other countries, including supporting a number of poorer countries across the globe. Trump’s presidency saw a massive increase in US sanctions, mainly focused on oil, in a drive for ‘regime change’.

The current election is seeing the far-right candidate, Edmundo González, standing for the opposition coalition Unitary Platform (PUD) but as a proxy for Maria Corina Machado who is barred by the Supreme Court from standing, for reasons which other countries would expect to similarly punish.

Machado’s crimes include canvassing around the world for support for sanctions and for state assets to be frozen – or taken over in the case of the Venezuelan US-based oil refining company CITGO – and leading extremely violent campaigns in 2014 and 2017 to bring down the elected government through rioting and creating instability. While a National Assembly member, but speaking in place of the Panamanian representative, she addressed the Organisation of American States to speak against the government and to call for foreign support for her cause, in contravention of the constitution.

Machado’s programme for the future of Venezuela is to dismantle all the gains of the Bolivarian Revolution. But behind that the aim is to create instability and unrest and prepare the atmosphere for a civil war and foreign intervention, as the right-wing tried against Chávez and tried again in 2014 and in 2017 to topple Maduro.

This scenario contrasts with the achievements of Maduro in delivering both peace and growth despite the 900 plus sanctions imposed on the country. The economy is growing, and Venezuela has overturned a 100-year-old reliance on importing most of its foodstuffs by re-establishing agricultural production, so that now 80% of the country’s total consumption is home-produced.

The Ambassador concluded by noting that recognition of the election results will be crucial. Maduro and seven other candidates have signed a pledge to acknowledge and respect the July 28 electoral results while ensuring a peaceful process, but Enrique Marquez of the Centrados party and, significantly, Edmundo González have not done so. González’s refusal is in keeping with the right-wing opposition’s past practice of never accepting election losses, although in contrast Maduro recognised his party’s 2015 election defeat.

He further hoped that the election result will confirm huge support for Maduro and that the observer teams from around the world will acknowledge that it has been a fair and transparent election.

Dr Francisco Dominguez emphasised that the context of the election was dominated by Venezuela’s economic recovery. Despite the imposition of 930 savage sanctions against the country, inflation in June was only 1%, confounding IMF expectations. In response to this improved economic situation, some 900,000 to a million Venezuelans are returning to the country, aided by the government’s ‘Return to the homeland’ mission (Gran Misión Vuelta a la Patria).

With regard to the mainstream media portrayal of the election as ‘rigged’, Francisco pointed out that with 16 separate election audits, Venezuela’s elections are the most audited in the world. The losing opposition often claim there’s been fraud but are never able to produce any evidence, and hence the Carter Center’s approval of the electoral system.

The Chavistas’ election campaign has been extensive, with thousands of well-attended and enthusiastic meetings. In contrast, the right-wing opposition is fragmented, with nine candidates standing.

Further evidence of this weakness is that the Unitary Platform (PUD)’s González/Machado campaign has resorted to using a photo of a 2012 far-right rally to cover up the weak support for her proxy candidate González, who is polling at around 20% in contrast to Maduro who is registering between 52 and 60%. González is also not at all well, and has to be helped at meetings by Machado, even by holding the microphone for him.

The González/Machado campaign’s programme is proposing a massive privatisation agenda, covering areas including health, education, pensions, state assets and property and above all, oil and gas – essentially to enrich the elites dispossessed by the Bolivarian Revolution. A further proposal is to abolish the Labour Law passed by Chávez providing legal protections for workers.

The entire programme was published in English, hiding it from the mass of people, but has been translated into Spanish by the Chavistas, earning condemnation from the Machado/González camp!

Other opposition candidates have not necessarily endorsed this discredited programme, with one candidate publicly defecting and declaring for Maduro.

Should the Unitary Platform (PUD) win, its programme would involve dismantling the Bolivarian Revolution, taking Venezuela back to pre-1998 levels of poverty and exploitation – but this would involve employing violence on a large scale. When Juan Guaído engaged mercenaries in a plot to overthrow Maduro, their contract gave then legal immunity for any use of force to achieve the objective.

The message of the González/Machado campaign is the threat of unleashing violence – they have promised to stage a big march to the Miraflores Palace after the election, echoing the 2002 march that temporarily removed Chávez in the failed right-wing coup.

Francisco concluded that VSC and other solidarity activists need to redouble our efforts to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty and independence and defend a Chavista victory on July 28th.

Questions to the speakers focused on Venezuela’s relationship with Brazil and Colombia.

The Ambassador responded that the relationship is good: both Lula and Petro are responsible and ready to accept the result of the election. This is particularly welcome given the previously very difficult situation with their predecessors, Bolsonaro and Duque, both of whom supported sanctions and were willing to oust Maduro.

Francisco noted that Brazil is sending a delegation to observe the elections.

Both speakers saw acceptance of the election result as vital, since the far-right’s programme is aimed at creating social unrest and confrontation, allowing foreign powers to be invited in.

How to support VSC

Ben Hayes from VSC briefly outlined how people could support VSC’s campaigning: