About Venezuela Shannon is clearer than the left

We present a series of articles concerning the serious economic and political crisis in Venezuela, taking advantage of our decision to translate them to send to non-Spanish speaking comrades, however, we ask your cooperation, do not hesitate to send us your political comments , his contributions or corrections to the translations, we are not experts in the language of Shakespeare, nevertheless we take the risk to publish them, undoubtedly we advance, like militants by an international organization of the workers, that cannot be other than the Refoundation of the Fourth International

About Venezuela

Shannon is clearer than the left

"Our policy and our sanctions are trying to force an agreement ... what the president (Trump) is saying is that the region's patience has a limit. This is not a threat, but to say that Venezuela is too important a country to leave it for years. Look, the Venezuelan people have shown a resilience and a strength to overcome the adversity impressive, and that has allowed the country to cross moments of scarcity that would have caused explosions elsewhere. But it would be a mistake to think that the patience and capacity of the Venezuelan people represent apathy. It is not like this. It is a country that requires a solution to its political crisis "Tomas Shannon, US Undersecretary of State, in an interview with the newspaper El Pais de España (Jan Mártinez Ahrenz Washington October 17, 17)

Again the empire and its acolytes do not recognize the electoral results of the governorates, denounce them and threaten with greater sanctions.

The fundamental problem is the aggression or intention of direct or indirect intervention in the destiny of the country, it is not a question of supporting Maduro, the problem is confused because in Venezuela the government of Maduro has sunk the country in its worst economic and social crisis, a vertiginous increase of the poverty and the unemployment and that gives rise so that the Venezuelan partners of the empire, try through to remove the government, to impose itself to its wide ones.

The actions of the Trump government are an aggression by the empire against an oppressed country, are unacceptable and reflected deformedly in the debates between the Shannon and the Maduro, who nevertheless express it better than the great majority of leftists who write about Venezuela. These denounce as a priority the dictator Maduro, denounce the repression by the government and highlight the "popular protests"

Maduro in each of his public statements asks God for his help for dialogue with the right-wing opposition, which is no more democratic than Maduro, neither is the government of Colombia or Mexico. Every state represents the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, in addition the "official chavismo" clings to power but make choices shared by the right-wing opposition.

Maduro is so incapable that even for dictator does not mean not to commit abuses of power and electoral advantage, but is a child compared to a Temer  (Brasil president)  or a Santos (Colombia president), who govern directly with the CIA and the Pentagon, perhaps a Diosdado Cabello may be in the near future to the height of these.

The fascist bands led by the MUD and the church took advantage of popular discontent, mobilized but at no time represented the interests of workers and communities. In the confrontations, rather riots against the GNB, the national police and paramilitary groups called collectives, the culprits, the intellectual and material authors of the murders, assaults, fires to public places, among which the health ones and educational, freight  and public transport, were never determined, all these actions were financed and organized from the right parties, mayors, governorates and institutions both national and foreign, with promotion to international media that have endorsed genocides like CNN, chains of Colombian TV and the Spanish press.

Oil is not Soy or Coffee

The struggle in Venezuela for power is a struggle between privatizers, on the one hand Maduro and Eulogio del Pino (PDVSA) negotiating with Russia a greater participation in the production of the Orinoco Oil Belt, on the other hand the 100% privatization proposals of the right expressed in the MUD.

Reuters reported in July that Rosneft was negotiating a mortgage swap over 49% of Venezuela-owned refiner Citgo (US) for a stake in energy assets and fuel supplies in order to avoid complications from potential US sanctions , "If they offer something more interesting, we will consider (the proposals)" says the chief executive of the Russian oil company Igor Sechin

Trump threatened not to buy more Venezuelan oil, but he did not dare, under pressure from lobby of oil industry, as demonstrated in a letter sent to Trump by the US Congress.

 "Venezuela is the third largest supplier of crude to the United States, after Canada and Saudi Arabia. 90% of Venezuelan crude imported by the United States is processed on the Gulf Coast of Mexico (Texas). Displacement of this amount of crude would increase the refiner's costs, reduce efficiency, and raise consumer fuel prices. In addition, it could destabilize crude markets worldwide, raise world oil prices, and strengthen the economies of Iran and Russia. "

The strength of the Venezuelan economy is peculiar because it resides in the State property of oil, alone shared in joint ventures in the Orinoco oil belt (the largest in the world). In Venezuela, the proletariat has the power to refine a little more than 1.3 million barrels a day of oil and produce more than 3 million crude, in addition to producing and processing through gas (natural and liquefied) in 3 vast cryogenic and petrochemicals complexes, which are no small thing, although today it only exports crude product of the lack of investment and maintenance of PVDSA in the refineries, operating in about 1/3 of its installed capacity. Venezuela has the second largest refinery in the world.

the government also has 100% ownership in electric power generation companies, gold, iron and aluminum, mining and processing (refining), cement industries, much of the food, companies rice, Sugar, dairy, coffee, fertilizer companies, wheat mills, also paper mills, hotels, as well as the largest telephone company in the country, among many. All in permanent losses of its production.

The economic warfare by the public and private employers is against the Venezuelan people and will always be so in a society where the relations of production and distribution are capitalist.

The first thing that must be noticed of the interview with Shannon is the importance they give to our situation from the outside, and this is also common from the inside, for example when Mendoza Potella (Venezuelan expert in economics and oil) affirms the vital character of that resource for our Nation, but also points out that Venezuela is a traditional exporter to the Texas refineries on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. In addition to being a net exporter of hydrocarbons, it has the largest oil reserves in the world and its gas potential is not negligible.

The government talks and negotiates elections

The participation and results of the elections to the ANC and regional governors were significant, despite popular discontent. The welfare state, now diminished but not exhausted, favors the government, this is still the clientele mechanism through pensions, housing, food in the bags "Clap", card of homes of the country, sub employment called “chamba juvenil”, in addition to coercion to public employees to go to vote.

Along with this, some sectors were motivated to support the government in the fear or anger of the opposition of the right, by the chaos caused by the fascist actions that worsened the serious economic situation and social change caused by the government, another element was the failure of the MUD, having performed primaries to present unitary candidates to the governorates and ended up being divided, with several candidates opposed to each other. The fascist methods were temporarily defeated and the left continues in the limbo, without presenting concrete proposals as an alternative to the MUD and the continuity of government.

Until today the whole economy has failed, the little that is left is administered by the banks in function of their interests, not of the country, and Maduro is proud of paying without fault the debt, at the expense of the growth of misery, hunger and unemployment.

The regulation of prices is a mockery, the only price that is regulated are salaries, that's why we have to decide because of us, the salary must cover the basic needs of every worker, if there is not for all we decide for ourselves the workers. The priority is the national production and for this it is necessary to have the resources to start up the productive apparatus, it is essential the integral nationalization of the banking, part of the raw material and accessories must be imported, for that reason it is necessary to nationalize foreign trade, under control from the workers. Necessary exchange agreements of any kind cannot be sustained without the support of a productive economy, just as foreign debt cannot be given priority over the interests and needs of Venezuelans. Immediate suspension of debt repayment.

With the objective of directing existing resources, to leave the economic bankruptcy, only a government of the workers can undertake the pending tasks, this forces to propose a front of fight after a concrete platform by means of a program with this objective, there is no other way, the bourgeoisie, is parasitic and harmful, its function is to squeeze the country, eradicate it.

Jose Capitan