Comunes: Key points for understanding what is happening in Venezuela (plus statement: ‘A de facto government is born, let’s organise the rebellion’)

First published in Spanish at Comunes. The translation below is based on a version that was first published at Comunes, which has been edited and in parts re-translated by Federico Fuentes for clarity.

Dear comrades from Latin America and the world who visit us, we welcome you from the communities, footpaths, streets, farms, factories and universities not visited by those who have destroyed the dream of a democratic and popular revolution. We would like to invite you to our communities to confront our reality, one that clashed with the official narrative. We want to have a conversation with you about the following:

Labour

The material conditions of the working class: Those of us who live from our work have been surviving for almost a decade on the lowest wages in the world and have lost the rights we won in the 20th century. The concept of wages has been destroyed while our children, siblings, parents and relatives have had to leave the country to avoid starvation. This is in stark contrast to the opulent lifestyle and consumption of the ruling political elite, something that is confirmed by the situation of those who live in the countries you come from, where Venezuelan migrants face disinterest from the country’s diplomatic offices. The government, with its ruling political elite that speaks of socialism, organises almost everyday extravagant dinners in hotels, restaurants and the presidential palace, while thousands of children go to bed with nothing in their stomachs. They talk about the country’s economic recovery while wages continue to fall. Who is benefitting from this economic growth? Whose economy is growing? It is not that of the working people.

Politics

The political freedoms of the people who live from their sweat faces a dramatic situation: The right to strike and protest has been taken from us in Venezuela. There is no possibility for workers’ complaints to be interpreted simply for what they are. The working class cannot protest as they do in your country, because they risk being accused of being conspirators or traitors. Would you accept that in your country? We have dozens of labour leaders and workers that have been prosecuted, persecuted or imprisoned, just for asking for a wage rise. Even worse, now simply thinking about rebellion from below and raising such opinions is enough to bother bureaucratic officials and the nouveau-riche above, who have converted this into a crime.

Democracy

Without the left there is no democracy: There is no organic left-wing within the PSUV [United Socialist Party of Venezuela] — neither in its political and intellectual leadership or among its rank-and-file activists. Those committed to the project of sovereignty and peoples’ power defended by [former president Hugo] Chávez have been driven out by a sectarianism that defends the imposition of a neoliberal consensus at all cost. Every left party that stood by Chávez is today under legal investigation or has been intervened, with their rightful political leaderships stripped of their party’s electoral registration. Handpicked impostors imposed by the organs of power are rewarded for taking control of political organisations that have a decades-long tradition of struggle. In Venezuela, being critical and thinking critically, as you do in your country of origin, leads to the immediate intervention of political organisations. But the left continues to organise in the communities, embracing dreams of a better tomorrow and building hope for a brighter future. For the government, politics is reduced to obedience to its decisions. Chávez’s rebellious political thinking remains only in slogans and for “official” use in political events. They have stripped Chávez of his popular and rebellious character.

Fascism

Fascism with an ‘anti-fascist’ discourse: Whenever political tensions arise in the country, the right-wing leads fascist outbreaks of hatred and violence. It is true that the fascist right has grown in Venezuela, both out of the old conservative and social democratic parties, now converted into fierce anti-socialists, as well as from the PSUV, which has adopted neoliberal post-socialism as its ideology. This situation has built a path for consensus that threatens to become a new Social Pact (government–opposition) that attacks democratic freedoms and the hard-earned rights of the working class and people. In Venezuela, a neofascism is being hatched by the government, PSUV and the extremist right-wing opposition. The peculiarity is that the government pretends to conceal this with an anti-fascist discourse that lacks any concrete connection to Venezuela’s reality. Otherwise, ask yourself: why are the rights to abortion, equal marriage, the legalisation of marijuana, the right to strike and the rights of workers being disregarded, while a fear of dissent is installed? Why were dozens of teenagers arrested after July 28? And why have the government and the right-wing opposition turned their backs on them? Anti-fascism serves as a farce to conceal neoliberal authoritarianism: the social protests after July 28 — overwhelmingly popular and peaceful (and only marginally fascist and violent) — were successfully controlled through legal and state-parapolice repression. Beyond the electoral political conflict, we see a continuity of the economic model of exploitation and plundering. Defending the interests of capital demands sharpening the juridical-political and ideological instruments for controlling social conflict and class struggle. Today, the laws and proposed law against the blockade, hatred and fascist expressions, as well as laws on NGOs and electoral procedures, seek to strengthen these instruments of domination under the excuse of a fascist threat.

Geopolitics

Anti-imperialism in alliance with Chevron: Blaming the sanctions for worsening social conditions omits the fact that this deterioration began before them. At the same time, there is no doubt that sanctions have only made the situation worse. The rise in oil production of the past few years has allowed the government to supply energy to the gringos it claims to fight. Meanwhile, these companies extract oil without paying a single cent to the nation. Never in Venezuela’s history since oil exports began in the early 20th century have we exported oil under such neo-colonial conditions. The profits from these exports have in no way served to improve the daily life of the Venezuelan people. The rhetoric of anti-imperialism is nothing more than a slogan used by the nouveau-riche of Venezuela.

Neoliberalism

How the capitalist class is constituted in Venezuela: The capitalist class has been formed around the capture of oil rent, benefits from the currency exchange market, import licenses, and customs and tax exonerations. Obtaining political power is the means to get rich. That is why the radical right-wing and Madurismo are engaged in such an intense fight for control of the government, because both sectors represent the old and new capitalist class. There is no revolutionary productive model, or even remnants of it in resistance. There is only plundering of natural resources and economic liberalisation.

Land

The lands that Chávez gave to the campesinos have been returned to the landowners: [Ezequiel] Zamora’s idea of land for those who work it, which Chávez promoted, is now a caricature. What was yesterday granted to campesinos in an act of justice has today been taken away from them. The former landowners feel heard and cared for by Maduro’s government. To make matters worse, in the past few years, 12 million hectares have been handed over to international agribusiness in what they called the Eastern Agrarian Special Economic Zone.

Production

Goodbye to expropriated factories: Maduro’s government has just handed over 350 public enterprises to the section of the capitalist class represented by Conindustria, in an attempt to close deals with all factions of the capitalist class. Meanwhile, the workers of these enterprises have not yet received their severance payments or social benefits. What we have is the Pax of the rich and the pacts of the crooks.

Bolivarianism

Democracy as Bolivarianism’s terrain: In 1996, Chávez called upon us to build a revolution using democracy as our political weapon. Millions of Venezuelans not only supported his call but built advanced forms of participation. Today, democracy is restricted to elections, whose results are accommodated to the needs of those in power. The July 28 election, in which millions of Venezuelans participated, ended up being a mockery as the National Electoral Council proceeded, against the law and Venezuela’s electoral tradition, to violate the right to vote and the will of the people. Months after the election, the people still do not have mechanisms to verify if their will was respected. Democracy is not a matter of FAITH but a verifiable and auditable exercise by the population. Without political democracy, the only option left is a further weakening of the possibilities of the working class to have a voice.

Chávez

Chávez’s project has been betrayed: A new Chávez, a revolutionary caricature, has been tailor-made to fit the needs of those in power. Meanwhile, in the streets, the people continue supporting the Chávez of “Por Ahora” (For Now) of 1992. Chávez will return when we are able to weave resistances together against Maduro’s betrayal of the Bolivarian revolutionary project. Chávez has been betrayed, and the people know it.

Constitutional reform

Enshrining neoliberalism and authoritarianism: In 1999, we created a constitution in the service of a homeland based on social justice. The whole project of radical transformation of Venezuelan society is contained in the Constitution we elaborated and approved in a referendum during the period of rising popular protagonism. To reform it when neoliberal and authoritarian ideas strive to impose themselves can only mean a step backward in terms of our legal framework. There is a well-known phrase Chávez used to say: “Everything within the Constitution, nothing outside of it”.

Organise

Organise to change reality: Paraphrasing Guaraní writer Tadeo Zarratea: “We do not want to change the commissioner or the judge. That is not what we need. What affects us is our reality, which is what we want to change. We organise ourselves precisely to change our reality. We ask you to understand that the people are not in the presidential palace.”

Support

We want to meet with popular movements and the left that struggles: We would cherish a dialogue with you from the standpoint of the people who organise and resist. We know that you live, breathe and support the struggles of your people. Today we ask you to support the struggles of the Venezuelan people, not the survival of those who profit from power in the name of the people.

We would like to leave you with a brief thought: During the past 25 years in Venezuela there has been a revolution and a government, as simultaneous processes. For many years, the revolution, composed of social movements, trade unions, organisations, and political parties, was under the leadership of Chávez and achieved epic feats in terms of building a transformative social model that promoted production, labour, organisation, rebellion and a just redistribution of wealth amid constant conflicts with imperialism and unpatriotic capitalists. With Chávez, we were in government, which was fundamental for accelerating the gains of the revolution. With Chávez at the head of the government, we were moving in a revolutionary and popular direction. But in the past 10 years, the Bolivarian Revolution has lost protagonism and is no longer expressed in government policies. The results are in plain sight. In this document, we address some of them, hoping that we can discuss them with you. Do not be misled, do not believe that by supporting the government, you are supporting the Bolivarian Revolution.

We invite you to be part of building this new dream of social justice that our people are weaving, always unbowed and rebellious, even if at times we seem in a state of calm.

A de facto government is born, let’s organise the rebellion

Published in Spanish at Comunes. The translation below is based on a version that was first published at Comunes, which has been edited and in parts re-translated by Federico Fuentes for clarity.

In light of the presidential inauguration of Nicolás Maduro on January 10, 2025, we, activists and militants from popular sectors who make up of the Political Current COMUNES, express the following:

1. We all know what happened in Venezuela on July 28. The Nicolás Maduro government that begins on January 10 is the result of a series of unconstitutional and unlawful actions committed by the public powers to override the will of the majority. It signifies the opening of a new stage in the political history of the country, in which the total loss of democracy is intertwined with the seizure of the state by economic, political and military elites. On January 10, 2025, a de facto government will be born in Venezuela.
2. Social injustice and the loss of democracy go hand in hand. The Maduro government, resting on an alliance of business sectors, the arbitrary use of force and the systemic dissemination of falsehoods, has suspended in practice the civil and political rights enshrined in the Constitution (to vote, to demonstrate, to express oneself, to not be arbitrarily detained, to have a fair trial, to not be tortured, etc), as well as social rights (decent wages, pensions, and incomes; quality education, food and health; a clean environment). To maintain their privileges and neoliberal policies, the elites need an unequal society and an exploited people occupied with simply surviving, without rights and democracy, fearful and demobilised.
3. Beneath the apparent “normalisation” lies our insurgence, waiting for the moment and manner to express itself. In these moments, our state of mind as a people is one of indignation and rage, but also frustration and fear. There are reasons for this. The National Electoral Council and the Supreme Justice Tribunal mocked the will of the majority. The mobilisations against electoral fraud were repressed by the police, military and para-police groups. Young people from popular sectors and activists continue to be unjustly imprisoned by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the courts, with the complicity of the Ombudsman’s Office and the Public Defense. But arbitrariness and repression are not enough to make our indignation and desire for change disappear, they can only contain it, partially and temporarily. Our rebelliousness continues to simmer — sometimes on low heat, at other times on high and crackling heat — waiting for the means and moments to express itself in pursuit of profound democratic transformations.
4. One cannot cook with smoke. Ensuring that our rebellion helps bring about democratic changes that favour social justice is our main challenge. This is not a short-term endeavor. That is why we reject the false hope sowed by the right, which is wagering on our salvation from invading armies, mercenaries or new US sanctions (that harm the people and benefit Maduro’s corrupt clique). For the solution to our crisis to be long-lasting and favorable to the rights of the majority, it must come from within and not from outside. It must come from the popular sectors and not the right or imperialism, who are co-responsible for the crisis we are living through.
5. Wishful thinking will not bring change, let’s organise the rebellion. Below we are suggesting some actions in which we can come together to transform the country, according to everyone’s possibilities and availability.

• Come together in multiple ways: In small gatherings with neighbours, co-workers and fellow students, or with Venezuelans migrants abroad, to organise popular organisations to defend rights, the constitution and social justice. If you believe that you are at risk, this should be done without much fanfare. But we need to come together and build organic networks that can push for change. Individualised anger and atomisation will only produce more frustration, but organised rebellion can open paths.
• Debate and reflect: In our organisations or informal spaces we must collectively reflect on the causes, consequences and solutions to the country’s crisis. How did we get here? Who benefits from the loss of democracy, our low wages, or the loss of sovereignty over our resources? What can we do, from where we are, to transform the situation in the country?
• Small actions wherever we are: From small discussion groups about a problem of local or national interest, to large forums and statements taking a position on issues of collective interest.
• Mobilise in the streets, demand our rights: We must continue to demand, in the streets and through different means, our rights: to a decent salary, income and pensions; full freedom and reparation for those unjustly detained; the rights of teachers and our children to a quality education, with 5 days of class a week; the right to functioning public services, to denounce corruption and to demand accountability over public resources; the right to request the annulment or reform of anti-democratic laws; and respect of the will of the people. Although Maduro’s government is unconstitutional, it rules over the territory and population. That means it is obliged to guarantee the rights of the people. We, the people, are with the constitution, even if those in power ignore it. Struggle will open paths for us.
• Unity: The organisations of the comunes — the common and everyday people — need to come together. First among ourselves and then with other organisations from the popular and democratic camp, around a plan of struggle and a minimum program for the transformation of the country.

They want us isolated: Let’s organise and unite!

They want us silent: Let’s debate and express our rebellion and proposals!

They want us paralysed by fear: Let’s mobilise to demand our rights, defend democracy and build social justice!