Portside

The situation in Venezuela is dramatic but this does not explain the centrality of the country in all the news reports. Situations of greater seriousness in other countries are totally ignored by the same media. In Colombia, since the beginning of the year, 46 social movement leaders have been assassinated and in the last 14 months 120 have perished. More terrifying is the scene in Mexico. Every day some journalist is added to the long list of students, teachers . . .

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The mainstream media consistently fails to report who is instigating the violence in this conflict. Although obviously disillusionment is widespread, there are many important reasons for progressives and popular sectors to support the Maduro government.

Exxon wants to topple Venezuela for geopolitical and geo-economic reasons.

Venezuela does not have the religious or sectarian divisions that have fueled the civil wars, mass slaughter, and chaos of Libya, Syria, or Iraq ― all countries where the US/major media narrative about the results of successful or attempted regime change turned out to be horrifically wrong. But the political polarization in Venezuela since Chávez was elected in 1998 has been overwhelmingly along class and therefore racial lines as the two are highly correlated.

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The OAS has no positive role to play in resolving the political crisis in Venezuela, any more than would Senator Marco Rubio or other Florida politicians who seek regime change there. It should be clear that the organization is currently an instrument of those who simply want to use the current crisis to topple the Venezuelan government. People who want to avoid escalating violence or civil war in Venezuela should not pretend otherwise. Differing responses.

Venezuela updates.

The historical time is in our favour. What helps us in this fight is that the kind of society we propose is in the interests of the immense majority. The great question is: why does this not translate into an equivalent social and electoral support? Part of the reason is media disinformation. But we are also at fault. We have not been able to explain our project in understandable terms. And worst of all, we preach democracy but act in an authoritarian way.