Dr. Lee Artz presents: Bolivarian Venezuela in Defiance of the US Empire
Nicolas Maduro was reelected President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on May 20, 2018. Maduro received a landslide 67.7% of the total vote cast. His nearest challenger received about 21%. This result occurred despite a unrelenting disinformation and sanctions campaign in the country. This campaign was conducted by the United States-OAS- and internal Venezuelan opposition. The deceit of the US government here has not been lost on observers who have noted that the United States government has been attacking Russia at the very same time for allegedly interfering in the 2016 US elections while the United States has been working overtime to delegitimize and disrupt the just completed Venezuelan elections.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has served as an inspiration for much of the struggling peopleâs of the world. Since 2015, the US has unleashed illegal sanctions on Venezuela as a form of economic warfare. These sanctions are illegal under international law because they impose a collective punishment upon the Venezuelan people for the actions of their government.
Now we learn that the President of the United States has raised the question of the invasion of Venezuela. Polling has indicated that the vast majority of Venezuelans are against sanctions and any outside military intervention. The poor and formally dispossessed also have nothing too lose by resisting any attempted right wing takeover of Venezuela. The international community must also reject any outside interference in Venezuela.(program)
Contrary to US government,corporate and oligarchic imaging, the toilet paper crisis would be over, overnight, if the suppliers delivered the goods they have been hording and the US Treasury stopped blocking money transfers.
The wealthy neighborhoods have no shortages.
"Make the economy scream" then President Nixon told Secretary of State Kissinger as they plotted to overthrow Chile's socialist government and impose a Catholic fascist dictator; someone they and US corporations felt comfortable working with; shared values.
War criminals continue to occupy the White House and sociopaths the highest positions of US government, finance and the Council on Foreign Relations. The crisis for them that needs addressing is not a dictatorship, but the participatory democracy that the Bolivarian Constitution establish when it replaced the two party "democracy" that worked solely to protect the wealth of Venezuela's elites and US corporations.
Dr. Arts talk unwraps the distorted narriative provided by the NYT et al , about Venezuela and what it has accomplished over the past 20 years. He calls on us to support its historic accomplishments, and in spite of mistakes made along the way defend its historic achievement of empowering its citizens to shape the conditions of their own lives.
Open University of the Left
Dr. Lee Artz is the Director of the Center for Global Studies at Purdue Northwest. He teaches media and culture in the graduate program at PNW. Lee is a former steelworker and machinist. He has participated in Latin American solidarity activities for decades.
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