Venezuela

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By Chris Slee

July 18, 2021 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — Links recently published an interview with Venezuelan activist Antonio Gonzalez Plessmann. He speaks of a "turn to the right" by the Venezuelan government, headed by President Nicolas Maduro.

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Interview with Antonio González Plessmann by Federico Fuentes.

June 26, 2021 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — In the face of a prolonged and deep economic and political crisis, Venezuela’s government has embarked on a “turn to the right” in economic policy, while resorting to repression against the left.

This is the conclusion of a new report released by human rights organisation Surgentes, Turn to the right and repression to the left: Human rights violations against Venezuela’s popular camp (2015-2020).

The report says this shift — publicly defended by the government as a tactical turn — directly clashes with “the essential pillars of Chavismo”, the political movement forged by former president Hugo Chávez.

Its findings, which are the result of extensive interviews and fieldwork, echoes what some sections of Chavismo have been arguing for a while.

Link International Journal of Socialist Renewal's Federico Fuentes spoke with Surgentes’ Antonio González Plessmann about the investigation.

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Interview with Yonatan Vargas by Federico Fuentes

November 1, 2020 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — The Bolívar and Zamora Revolutionary Current (CRBZ) is a radical grassroots current that operates as a public tendency of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Largely set up by activists from the Ezequiel Zamora National Campesino Front (FNCEZ) and Simón Bolívar National Communal Front (FNCSB), it has a presence in a majority of Venezuela’s states and members that have elected as parliamentarians, mayors and local councillors on the PSUV ticket.

In this interview, Yonatan Vargas, an member of the CRBZ international relations team, outlines some of the CRBZ’s views on current developments in Venezuela, including the rise in protests over basic services, the impact of sanctions, the debate generated by the new anti-blockade law and the upcoming National Assembly elections.

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[Available in English here

Entrevista con Reinaldo Iturriza por Federico Fuentes

31 de octubre de 2020 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal  Como activista revolucionario que trabaja con los movimientos populares de Venezuela y sociólogo que ha estudiado y teorizado ampliamente el surgimiento del chavismo como un movimiento político de las clases populares, Reinaldo Iturriza está bien situado para proporcionar una descripción general de la situación actual dentro de la Revolución Bolivariana. Iturriza también se desempeñó como Ministro de Comunas y Movimientos Sociales, y luego Ministro de Cultura en el gabinete del presidente Nicolás Maduro entre 2013 y 2016.

En esta entrevista, Iturriza expone sus puntos de vista sobre la ley anti-bloqueo recientemente aprobada por la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente y el debate que ha generado, las divisiones electorales que se han abierto dentro la revolución y el estado actual del chavismo.

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[Disponible en castellano aqui.]

Interview with Reinaldo Iturriza by Federico Fuentes

October 31, 2020 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — As a revolutionary activist working with Venezuela’s popular movements and a sociologist who has extensively studied and theorised the rise of Chavismo as a political movement of the popular classes, Reinaldo Iturriza is well placed to provide an overview of the current state of play within the country’s Bolivarian Revolution. Iturriza also served as Minister for the Communes and Social Movements, and then Minister for Culture in President Nicolas Maduro’s cabinet between 2013 and 2016.

In this interview, Iturriza outlines his views on the recently approved anti-blockade law and the debate it has generated, the electoral divisions that have opened up with the revolution, and the current state of Chavismo.

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By Steve Ellner

October 30, 2020 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — Like other Venezuelan centrists, Claudio Fermín – a protege of neoliberal president Carlos Andrés Pérez in the early 1990s – has changed course and now vehemently opposes both US interventionism and his nation’s radical right. His changes show just how much Venezuelan politics have been transformed over the recent past. Since the attempted coup of April 2002, leftist governments have been pitted against a united opposition intent on achieving regime change by any means possible. But now such extreme polarization seems to be weakening. 

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By Cira Pascual Marquina

July 12, 2020 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Venezuela Analysis — Michael Lebowitz is a professor of political economy, researcher, and prolific writer. He is the author of Beyond Capital: Marx's Political Economy of the Working Class (1992), The Socialist Imperative: From Gotha to Now (2015), and the upcoming Between Capitalism and Community (2021). From 2006 to 2011, Lebowitz was Development Director in the Program in Transformative Practice and Human Development at the Centro Internacional Miranda, in Caracas. In this interview, he explores the importance of participation and democracy in the construction of socialism, while reflecting on the internal contradictions of the Bolivarian Process.

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Interview with Luis Salas by Cira Pascual Marquina

June 22, 2020 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Venezuela Analysis — Former Venezuelan Vice President for Productive Economy Luis Salas is a founder of the online journal 15 y Ultimo and a member of the economic think tank Vortice. He is well known for his prolific analyses of the country’s economy, always carefully documented. In this interview with Venezuelanalysis, Salas explores the government’s general tendency towards economic liberalization in the midst of a complex economic scenario.

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By Cira Pascual Marquina

March 8, 2020 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Venezuela Analysis — Ketsy Medina is an inventive writer, committed photographer, and brilliant conversationalist. On November 30, 2017, her mother, Maigualida Sifontes, was a victim of femicide. The assassin is still at large and crime-scene evidence was “lost” in police custody. This experience triggered Medina’s struggle for justice for her mother and other victims of femicide. In this interview, Medina talks about her personal journey and the recent efforts to build a united feminist movement in Venezuela.