PSUV
Solidarity protest in Sydney, April 19, 2013, organised by the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network. Photos by Peter Boyle.
By Ewan Robertson, Mérida, Venezuela
April 19 2013 -- Venezuelanalysis.com –- Nicolas Maduro was sworn in as Venezuela's president for the constitutional period 2013–2019 today, promising to continue Hugo Chavez’s legacy and spearhead “a revolution of the revolution”.
In the National Assembly in Caracas, Maduro took his presidential oath before assembly president Diosdado Cabello.
“I swear by the whole people of Venezuela, by the supreme commander [Hugo Chavez], that I will abide by and make respected the constitution of the laws of the republic ... to construct an independent, free and socialist nation for all”, Maduro declared.
PSUV election rally. Photo by Tamara Pearson/Venezuelanalysis.
The Venezuelan people have spoken: Nicolas Maduro is president
End the opposition violence! Respect the democratic process!
No US-backed intervention in Venezuela!
The Venezuelan people have spoken: Nicolas Maduro is president
End the opposition violence! Respect the democratic process!
No US-backed intervention in Venezuela!
April 17, 2013 -- The Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network joins with all those voices for democracy and peace to call for an immediate end to the opposition-initiated violence now occurring in Venezuela.
On April 14, a majority of Venezuelans voted for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela’s (PSUV) presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro. In doing so, they voted to continue the Bolivarian revolution previously led by Hugo Chávez.
Venezuela has one of the most transparent and secure voting systems in the world and the presidential elections were, according to all independent observers, free, fair and constitutional. The election result must be respected.
Understanding Venezuela's election result: 'This time it was up to us to do it alone, and we won'
Election day, April 14, 2013.
By Tamara Pearson, Merida
Eyewitness Venezuela: Maduro wins close victory; Right wing reacts violently
By Ryan Mallett-Outtrim, Merida
April 16, 2013 -- Green Left Weekly -- The room erupted into cheers when the election result was announced. For hours, the city of Merida's most ardent supporters of socialist presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro had gathered in the local offices of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). However, after a few moments, the closeness of the numbers sank in.
At the time of writing, the National Electoral Council (CNE) had announced that with 99% of votes counted, the PSUV's Maduro won with 50.6%. His closest rival, Henrique Capriles, received 49.1%; giving Maduro a slim 1.5% victory.
In the last presidential elections, Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez defeated Capriles – the candidate of the US-backed right wing hostile to the Chavez-led Boliviaran revolution -- by just over 10%,. Many supporters of the revolution were expecting a similar result.
Last month, a joint Barclays/Datanalisis report gave Maduro a 14.4% lead, while pollster Hinterlaces predicted his victory would be 18%.
Venezuela: Nicolas Maduro, driving the revolution forward
Nicolas Maduro drove a bus to the National Electoral Council to register his candidacy for president.
By Luis Hernández Navarro, translated by Ewan Robertson for Venezuelanalysis.com
March 29, 2013 -- La Jornada -- Nicolas Maduro is a robust, burly man, 1.9 metres tall with a thick black moustache. He drove a metro bus in Caracas for seven years, was foreign minister for six more and is now interim president and candidate for the country’s top office. He is part of the a generation of Latin American leaders like metal worker Lula da Silva and coco-leaf unionist Evo Morales, who entered politics from the trenches of opposition social struggles [translator: in opposition to the neoliberal administrations that governed Latin America before the continent’s "pink tide", which began in the late 1990s].
Venezuela's April 14 presidential election campaign: start of a new era
"We are all Chavez"
Luis Bilbao: Hugo Chavez, internationalism and revolution
By Luis Bilbao
Supporters rally for PSUV candidate for Merida, Alexis Ramirez. Photo from YVKE Mundial.
By Tamara Pearson, Merida
December 16, 2012 -- VenezuelAnalysis -- With all votes counted to the point of results being irreversible, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) has won 20 states, and the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition, three states in the December 16 regional elections.
The opposition lost control of Zulia, Tachira, Carabobo, Monagas and Nueva Esparta, but retained Amazonas and Miranda and Lara states.
In Miranda, one of the key states at stake, contested by PSUV ex-vice-president Elias Jaua, and the opposition presidential candidate and current governor of Miranda, Henrique Capriles, the opposition won with 50% to Jaua’s 46%.
In Bolivar state, where the results were very close, the opposition candidate Andres Velasquez is refusing to recognise his defeat and has called on locals to “defend” his “victory”.
Venezuelans and residents chose 23 state governors and 237 state legislators. The results of the state legislative voting have yet to be announced.
In the 2008 regional elections the PSUV won 17 of the 22 states being contested.
For state by state results see below.
El futuro del 'socialismo del siglo XXI' tras las elecciones
[In English at Venezuela: The future of ‘21st century socialism’ after Chavez's victory.]
Por Federico Fuentes, traducido para
La reelección del presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez el pasado 7 de octubre con más del 55 % de los votos fue vital por dos razones.
En primer lugar, el pueblo venezolano impidió el retorno de la derecha neoliberal al poder. De haber ganado ésta, hubiera intentado dado marcha atrás, con el apoyo de Estados Unidos, a los importantes avances conseguidos por la mayoría pobre desde el primer triunfo de Chávez en 1998. Entre estas mejoras se incluye un enorme aumento de los servicios básicos prestados por el gobierno (como educación, sanidad y vivienda), la nacionalización de sectores estratégicos anteriormente privatizados y la promoción de la participación popular en las comunidades y lugares de trabajo.
Venezuela: Michael Lebowitz on what we can expect from Chavez's fourth term
Michael Lebowitz in Zagreb. Photo by Jovica Drobnjak.
Click HERE for more articles by or about Michael Lebowitz.
Click HERE for more coverage and analysis of the Venezuelan revolutionary process.
November 1, 2012 – Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal – The following interview with Michael Lebowitz was recently published in Novosti, a left-wing newspaper in Zagreb, Croatia.
Ecosocialism 2025
