Debating Venezuela

Emiliano Teran Mantovani argues Steve Ellner’s defence of Venezuela’s Maduro government reflects a tendency on the left to defend decaying regimes rather than chart out alternative paths rooted in popular struggles.

Steve Ellner — Gabriel Hetland’s article “Capitalism and authoritarianism in Maduro’s Venezuela” presents a one-sided and decontextualised view of Venezuela under Maduro. 

Gabriel Hetland — Maduro’s authoritarianism has garnered significant attention, but there has been less notice of the transformation in Maduro’s class base.

Atenea Jiménez explains the origins and objectives of the Alliance for Sovereignty and Democracy, how the new Donald Trump presidency might impact Venezuelan politics and the need for solidarity with Venezuela’s left.

Comunes — With Chávez, 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.

Luís Bonilla-Molina — The July 28 presidential election marked the start of a new phase within Madurismo, one of deepening authoritarianism in order to stabilise its pro-capitalist regime.

Luís Bonilla-Molina — To understand the situation of the Venezuelan working class, it is important to analyse the Maduro government and Madurismo in three phases.

María Alejandra Díaz — Caught between two warring parties intent on continuing head-on towards a collision, we must insist on doing politics and defending transparency, popular sovereignty and the Constitution.

Neirlay Andrade argues that the Maduro government’s refusal to publish election results means it ‘is crossing a line of no return and rapidly imposing a reactionary regime.’

Malfred Gerig situates the impact of United States’ sanctions on Venezuela and the rise of Venezuela’s crony capitalism within the context of the nation’s “Long Depression”.

Steve Ellner lays out his views on anti-US imperialism, how this should factor into the left’s appraisal of China and Latin America’s Pink Tide governments, and what this means for international solidarity activists.

Chris Slee — Activists in Venezuela have every right to criticise government policy. But for socialists in the imperialist countries, our priorities should be different.