Written by Dale Johnson   

VENEZUELA, LOCAL OLIGARCHS AND U.S. INTERVENTIONISM. The local privileged class interests and the U.S. have been futilely trying to do-in Hugo Chavez and Venezuelan socialism for more than a decade, carrying out a failed military coup in 2002, an oil sector shut-down in 2003, with U.S. agencies funneling large sums of money to the neo-liberal opposition set on regime change by any means feasible--engaging in all manner of subversion down to the present day. In February 2015 the Venezuelans denounced a plot to bomb strategic targets and the Presidential Building , kill President Maduro, mobilize opposition forces, and install regime change by force and violence. According to the evidence gathered by the government, a plane disguised as Venezuelan Air Force, contracted to Academi, was to do the bombing. It is said that the plot was overseen by General Geary of Southcom in Miami and Rebecca Chavez of the Pentagon. Academi is the reorganized mercenary corporation Blackwater that committed atrocities in Iraq. The former head of NSA and Naval Admiral Bobby Inman now administers Academi and former Attorney General John Ashcroft is involved. The coup attempt also had backing, and prior conspiratorial subversion from some military officers and the right-wing Mayor of Caracas (one of the few cities electing opposition candidates), who has been arrested along with some military personnel.
This was followed in March 2015 by President Obama´s declaration of Emergency Powers to invoke additional sanctions against Venezuela on the basis of “a national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by the situation in Venezuela.” Never a more upsidedown situation! Venezuela is considered a threat because it has honest elections that have led to a transition to socialism, sits on huge reserves of oil, uses oil revenue to forge alliances in Latin America, pursues a foreign policy of independence that opens to a plural world, and sets a forward-looking example for the region and the world.
Since the first election of Hugo Chavez in 1998 (subsequent elections were won by large majorities in numerous occasions in Presidential--including a recall attempt against Chavez--Congressional, State, and Municipal elections since that date) the U.S. has been pouring in millions of dollars in funding to right-wing opposition groupings. US AID and its Office for Transition Initiatives has funded more than $50 million, and the National Endowment for Democracy has been very generous with distributing dollars. In March 2015 President Maduro tried to end this illegal activity by ordering a reduction in the size of the U.S. Embassy staff. In 2014, opposition groups led violent street actions that ended with many persons killed, most of them police and government supporters. These events then lead to a concerted international media campaign that the government was violating human rights, followed by sanctions imposed by President Obama and the U.S. Congress. Again more upsidedownness! The privileged vested interests engage in sabotage of the economy by hoarding, exporting scarce goods, creating a black market in goods and currency…in an attempt to win over and mobilize the middle class (greatly expanded with the social gains over the last 16 years) for reaction and demoralize the population. (This was a strategy that worked to undermine the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua in the 1980s and led to military dictatorship in Chile and other Latin American countries in the 1970s).
Here are some of the accomplishments of the Bolivarian Socialism for the 21st Century:
“50 Truths about Hugo Chavez and
the Bolivarian Revolution
President Hugo Chavez, who died on March 5, 2013 of cancer at age 58, marked forever the history of Venezuela and Latin America.
1. Never in the history of Latin America, has a political leader had such incontestable democratic legitimacy. Since coming to power in 1999, there were 16 elections in Venezuela. Hugo Chavez won 15, the last on October 7, 2012. He defeated his rivals with a margin of 10-20 percentage points.
2. All international bodies, from the European Union to the Organization of American States, to the Union of South American Nations and the Carter Center, were unanimous in recognizing the transparency of the vote counts.
3. James Carter, former U.S. President, declared that Venezuela's electoral system was "the best in the world."
4. Universal access to education introduced in 1998 had exceptional results. About 1.5 million Venezuelans learned to read and write thanks to the literacy campaign called Mission Robinson I.
[it is now 1.7 million, with 800,000 adults continuing in high school programs.]
5. In December 2005, UNESCO said that Venezuela had eradicated illiteracy.
6. The number of children attending school increased from 6 million in 1998 to 13 million in 2011 and the enrollment rate is now 93.2%.
7. Mission Robinson II was launched to bring the entire population up to secondary level. Thus, the rate of secondary school enrollment rose from 53.6% in 2000 to 73.3% in 2011.
8. Missions Ribas and Sucre allowed tens of thousands of young adults to undertake university studies. Thus, the number of tertiary students increased from 895,000 in 2000 to 2.3 million in 2011, assisted by the creation of new universities.
[university enrollment is now 2.7 million; 13 new universities have been created in 15 years]
9. With regard to health, they created the National Public System to ensure free access to health care for all Venezuelans. Between 2005 and 2012, 7873 new medical centers were created in Venezuela.
10. The number of doctors increased from 20 per 100,000 population in 1999 to 80 per 100,000 in 2010, or an increase of 400%.
11. Mission Barrio Adentro I provided 534 million medical consultations. About 17 million people were attended, while in 1998 less than 3 million people had regular access to health. 1.7 million lives were saved, between 2003 and 2011.
12. The infant mortality rate fell from 19.1 per thousand in 1999 to 10 per thousand in 2012, a reduction of 49%.
13. Average life expectancy increased from 72.2 years in 1999 to 74.3 years in 2011.
14. Thanks to Operation Miracle, launched in 2004, 1.5 million Venezuelans who were victims of cataracts or other eye diseases, regained their sight.
15. From 1999 to 2011, the poverty rate decreased from 42.8% to 26.5% and the rate of extreme poverty fell from 16.6% in 1999 to 7% in 2011.
16. In the rankings of the Human Development Index (HDI) of the United Nations Program for Development (UNDP), Venezuela jumped from 83 in 2000 (0.656) at position 73 in 2011 (0.735), and entered into the category Nations with 'High HDI'.
17. The GINI coefficient, which allows calculation of inequality in a country, fell from 0.46 in 1999 to 0.39 in 2011.
18. According to the UNDP, Venezuela holds the lowest recorded Gini coefficient in Latin America, that is, Venezuela is the country in the region with the least inequality. (note—except Cuba)
19. Child malnutrition was reduced by 40% since 1999.
20. In 1999, 82% of the population had access to safe drinking water. Now it is 95%.
21. Under President Chavez social expenditures increased by 60.6%.
22. Before 1999, only 387,000 elderly people received a pension. Now the figure is 2.1 million.
[ now over 2.5 million.]
23. Since 1999, 700,000 homes have been built in Venezuela.
24. Since 1999, the government provided / returned more than one million hectares of land to Aboriginal people.
25. Land reform enabled tens of thousands of farmers to own their land. In total, Venezuela distributed more than 3 million hectares.
26. In 1999, Venezuela was producing 51% of food consumed. In 2012, production was 71%, while food consumption increased by 81% since 1999. If consumption of 2012 was similar to that of 1999, Venezuela produced 140% of the food it consumed.
27. Since 1999, the average calories consumed by Venezuelans increased by 50% thanks to the Food Mission that created a chain of 22,000 food stores (MERCAL, Houses Food, Red PDVAL), where products are subsidized up to 30%. Meat consumption increased by 75% since 1999.
28. Five million children now receive free meals through the School Feeding Program. The figure was 250,000 in 1999.
29. The malnutrition rate fell from 21% in 1998 to less than 3% in 2012.
30. According to the FAO, Venezuela is the most advanced country in Latin America and the Caribbean in the eradication of hunger.
31. The nationalization of the oil company PDVSA in 2003 allowed Venezuela to regain its energy sovereignty.
32. The nationalization of the electrical and telecommunications sectors (CANTV and Electricidad de Caracas) allowed the end of private monopolies and guaranteed universal access to these services.
33. Since 1999, more than 50,000 cooperatives have been created in all sectors of the economy.
34. The unemployment rate fell from 15.2% in 1998 to 6.4% in 2012, with the creation of more than 4 million jobs. [now 4.5 million have been created]
35. The minimum wage increased from 100 bolivars/month ($ 16) in 1998 to 2047.52 bolivars ($ 330) in 2012, ie an increase of over 2,000%. This is the highest minimum wage in Latin America.
36. In 1999, 65% of the workforce earned the minimum wage. In 2012 only 21.1% of workers have only this level of pay.
37. Adults at a certain age who have never worked still get an income equivalent to 60% of the minimum wage.
38. Women without income and disabled people receive a pension equivalent to 80% of the minimum wage.
39. Working hours were reduced to 6 hours a day and 36 hours per week, without loss of pay.
40. Public debt fell from 45% of GDP in 1998 to 20% in 2011. Venezuela withdrew from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, after early repayment of all its debts.
41. In 2012, the growth rate was 5.5% in Venezuela, one of the highest in the world. [in 2014 it was -2.8%]
42. GDP per capita rose from $ 4,100 in 1999 to $ 10,810 in 2011.
43. According to the annual World Happiness 2012, Venezuela is the second happiest country in Latin America, behind Costa Rica, and the nineteenth worldwide, ahead of Germany and Spain.
44. Venezuela offers more direct support to the American continent than the United States. In 2007, Chávez spent more than 8,800 million dollars in grants, loans and energy aid as against 3,000 million from the Bush administration.
45. For the first time in its history, Venezuela has its own satellites (Bolivar and Miranda) and is now sovereign in the field of space technology. The entire country has internet and telecommunications coverage.
46. The creation of Petrocaribe in 2005 allows 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, or 90 million people, secure energy supply, by oil subsidies of between 40% to 60%.
47. Venezuela also provides assistance to disadvantaged communities in the United States by providing fuel at subsidized rates.
48. The creation of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) in 2004 between Cuba and Venezuela laid the foundations of an inclusive alliance based on cooperation and reciprocity. It now comprises eight member countries which places the human being in the center of the social project, with the aim of combating poverty and social exclusion.
49. Hugo Chavez was at the heart of the creation in 2011 of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) which brings together for the first time the 33 nations of the region, emancipated from the tutelage of the United States and Canada.
50. Hugo Chavez played a key role in the peace process in Colombia. According to President Juan Manuel Santos, "if we go into a solid peace project, with clear and concrete progress, progress achieved ever before with the FARC, is also due to the dedication and commitment of Chavez and the government of Venezuela."
51. More than 1200 radio and TV stations are cooperatively run by communities, youth, workers, indigenous groups.
52. 96% of the population is registered to vote.
53. Since 2011, each year 300,000 homes are being built—towards a goal of 3 million. Families receive subsidized home loans.”
Quoted from a March 9, 2013, analysis by Salim Lamrani - Opera Mundi, http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/8133
Given these achievements for “Socialism of the 21st Century” why does President Obama declare that Venezuela is a threat to U.S. national security and impose sanctions? Why is there a clear intent to reverse all these accomplishments and revert to the class rule of the privileged by instigating regime change by subversion, force and violence? Precisely because these are worthy achievements, examples for the region and the world. And because Venezuela sits on vast oil reserves; because oil revenue serves social development instead of private enrichment; because Venezuela pursues policies that challenge U.S. regional dominance; because Obama and all servants of power, Republican and Democrat, cannot abide challenge to the rule of capital.
Personally, I really grow weary of “liberal” Democrats, Obama, former Secretary Clinton, current Secretary of State Kerry, who feign as defenders of democracy, justice and progress while acting to impose dictatorship, injustice, and roll-back of progress. Truman and the Democrats started the Cold War and a half century of anti-communist hysteria. Kennedy and his cohorts poured fire and brimstone on Cuba; promoted an Alliance for Progress in Latin America that provided a cover for fomenting military dictatorship; started the Vietnam War. Johnson carried on that war to, fortunately, ultimate defeat. Carter was less fearsome, but did mess up the Iranian situation that continues to today. Clinton spearheaded sanctions against Iraq that caused the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children and led to Bush´s War. One rather expects the worst from Republicans, but save us from Democrats!
The American Movement needs to do everything possible in a Hands Off Venezuela campaign. Solidarity organizations are listed in the Appendix.