Solriche

..the only thing Venezuela has in abundance is chaos , this is the verdict of most of the mainstream media on the crisis in Venezuela. The home of Chávez's Bolivarian revolution is beset by violent anti-government protests set against a background of economic problems. Supporters of Chávez and his successor, Maduro, accuse Venezuela's elites of economic sabotage and colluding with foreign powers to overthrow the government. Venezuela has reached a crossroads with the choice of taking the revolution forward or the ' Chavismo ' movement being drowned in blood. Gains of the Bolivarian revolution Hugo Chávez Hugo Chávez 's Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV formally MVR) came to power on a radical programme of reform after the 1998 election. Most of his support came from the working classes and sections of the middle classes that had experienced worsening circumstances over the previous decade. Ordinary people made huge gains under Chávez ...

By way of an update on the crisis in Venezuela this is the text of an introduction I gave at a UK Labour Party meeting. Venezuela: Pro-government demonstration [Intro] “Thank you for inviting me to introduce this discussion. Given the short amount of time [10-15 minutes], I'll only be able to give a very general overview and concentrate on the situation as it is today. A lot of the reporting and talk on Venezuela is characterised by double standards. We see the spectacle of British journalists filing hang wringing reports on hungry people in Venezuela while 500k children relying on food banks this summer got barely a passing mention. The West accuses Maduro of forming a dictatorship, they've imposed sanctions and threatened military action. Turkey's Erdogan has gathered huge powers to himself as president, sacked 10,000s of public servants, jailed dozens of journalists on trumped up charges. Hear a lot of tut tutting but no talk of sanctions or military op...