El Mecha, January 28, 2019
Original post in spanish: http://contrahegemoniaweb.com.ar/venezuela-no-es-por-el-petroleo/
Translation by Marlene Obeid
At the beginning of 2016 I was in Chile for activities linked to militancy. In the framework of that meeting we had the possibility of having a brief talk with the ambassador of Venezuela in Chile.
The diplomat, who was a well trained cadre, told us his vision of the Venezuelan situation. Of all the things he said, there was one in particular that broke with some of my schemes that made me think and I want to share.
Following our questions he told us that the coup attempts in Venezuela had nothing to do with oil alone (we came from the “guarimbas” of 2014 and the ones from 2017 were yet to come). There were many more reasons. He asked himself rhetorically, for example, how much is Telesur worth in market prices? And I add, how much will it be politically worth for the media moguls to silence that dissident voice? In addition, the ambassador explained that the Venezuelan bank is mostly in the hands of the State, as well as electricity, gas and water services. As well as the steel and aluminium companies. That is to say: a virgin oasis for the privatising voracity of the large multinational corporations that control these sectors.
At that time he told us that PDVSA (Venezuela Petroleum Ltd) would have an asset value of 2 trillion dollars. One of the first actions that the press attributed to the self-proclaimed Guaidó is that he was going to renew the board of directors of “Citgo Petroleum”, PDVSA’s subsidiary in the United States and “one of the main assets of the industry outside Venezuela’s borders”. In addition, they maintained that it is already scheduled to sanction a new “National Hydrocarbons Law” that establishes “public and contractual terms, FLEXIBLE” [1] (I do not know if you are familiar with this term).
Before Chavez government, PDVSA was commanded from a central computer located in Miami. Changing that situation cost Chavez sabotages, lockouts and a coup that lasted 47 hours (also promoted from the US). Surely, one of the first things to happen, if the “democratic restoration” commanded by Trump triumphs succe will be to put that Miami command back into operation.
The diplomat also told us that Aznar and the King of Spain had become angry with Chávez when he had decided to remove fishing companies, mostly Spanish and which were devastating the resources, from the Venezuelan Caribbean sea. On the other hand, this action benefited local fishermen and recovered the country’s fishing sovereignty.
As if that were not enough, transgenic farming is prohibited in Venezuela. It is very sad that Bayer-Monsanto, Dupont, Novartis, which are among the most powerful corporations on the planet, can not make the rotten fruit agribusiness flourish, due to the fierce “dictatorship”.
On the other hand, the Bolivarian Republic does not buy any more arms or military equipment from the US or France, as it used to do. Instead it acquires them in Russia and China. The Military Industrial Complex governs the US since the end of World War II, as President Dwight Eisenhower himself warned, when his term ended in 1961. Neither commercially nor geopolitically can the masters and warlords be happy with this situation.
Finally, Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, while the US is the main consumer of that resource …
As you can see, large corporations can have a lot to gain: flexibilise, privatise, plunder …
That’s why I’m wondering, are you really worried about democracy?
Are they really saying that democracy is going to “return” to Venezuela while in the hands of the racist, misogynist, world king of intolerance and apologist of white supremacy? The one that closed the government for two months because they do not approve of its medieval wall, where migrant children are imprisoned. Does that beast, together with Piñera the Pinochetist, Macri the Pro-Cesar, and Bolsonaro the fascist are the champions of democracy?
Let me laugh a little … or cry.
The twentieth century and the first years of the XXI have already passed. You do not have to be a historian to know what happened after each Yankee intervention, nor need to be a constitutionalist to realise that a president is not named by twitter (from the US!), or is sworn from a street stand. You do not need to be a political scientist to know that democracy in the White House is measured by how close to the ground are a government’s knees. A very simple equation: the more prostrate to US interests, the more democratic.
After the global crisis of 2008, a brutal offensive has been launched against our peoples. In July 2008 the Yankees relaunched the Fourth Fleet (responsible for operations in the Caribbean, Central and South America), while the presence of military bases has been expanded: reports claim that there are 76 US and NATO military bases. Since then there have been several episodes that attempt against democracy. In 2009, the Yankees provoked a coup d’état in Honduras, in 2012 there was a parliamentary coup against President Lugo in Paraguay, in 2015 the right succeeded in dismissing Dilma through “impeachment” and last year imprisoned Lula, so that he could not stand for election, facilitating the ascent of Bolsonaro, to mention the most significant episodes.
These are brutal efforts that seek to destroy the sovereignty of Latin American countries and that seek to deepen the looting: through “good” means, with the help of the media and the judiciary…, or bad means.
That is why no one in Our America can be non-partisan about what is happening. Discussing Maduro’s government is not the focus of the debate. Venezuela’s problems and contradictions (which exist and are great) must be solved by the Venezuelan people.
The central theme today is peace, stability, democracy (in earnest), sovereignty and self-determination.
While facing interference, colonialism and looting:
Yankees out of Latin America!
No to intervention!
Yes, for the Second and Definitive Independence of Our American Nations!
Socialism or Barbarism!
Source: https://lapalabracaliente.wordpress.com/2019/01/27/venezuela-no-es-por-el-petroleo/
