Executive Bureau of the Fourth International
January 24, 2019
This statement was adopted by the Executive Bureau of the Fourth International on 24 January 2019. It was published in International Viewpoint here.
The Fourth International openly declares itself against the latest attempted coup and imperialist interference in Venezuela cynically orchestrated and called for by US vice-president Mike Pence (in place of Trump, who is discredited in Latin America). In a video circulated on the night of 22 January, the starting flag was raised for the unfolding of a strategy beginning with the would-be usurper Juan Guaidó proclaiming himself “president” of Venezuela, even though nobody had voted for him. This was followed by a string of neoconservative, right-wing and neofascist presidents and governments in Latin America and throughout the world rushing to “recognise” the purported new government. The Organisation of American States and the countries signatories to the “Lima Declaration” also immediately fell in with the imperialist plans by recognising Guaidó’s illegitimate presidency and imposing a blockade on Venezuela, thereby helping in an attempt to provoke a response that would act as an excuse for an armed intervention.
We strongly support campaigns to condemn this attempted coup d’état and imperialist intervention, which violate the basic norms of national sovereignty. We call for the widest popular, united, internationalist and democratic mobilization against the coup, which means that, regardless of our differences with and our criticisms of the Maduro government and the regime it implemented in Venezuela, we do not see a solution via an imperialist coup. Let the Venezuelan people freely, independently and democratically decide their future.
Venezuela’s undeniable political, social and economic problems can only be solved democratically without any interference by imperialists who lack all credibility in their claims to defend “democracy and human rights”.
It is true that important popular sectors, exasperated by the very serious economic situation of the country and by the government’s difficulties, contradictions and wrong choices, have taken to the streets in support of the coup. The tragedy is that it is not by placing themselves under the orders of the national oligarchy and the international reactionary and even neofascist imperialist forces they are going to make the economic, social and human rights situation in Venezuela any better.
At the present time everything suggests that those carrying out the coup are trying to force a civil war and/or direct intervention by foreign powers, which would only aggravate the country’s problems and lead to a deepening of the political offensive by the right and the far right on the American continent and throughout the world. Armed conflict would be catastrophic for the region and open the door to a new crusade for the control of the country’s oil resources by the major international oligopolies. The catastrophe caused by the United States’ occupation of Iraq gives some idea of what could happen in Venezuela and the whole region if those taking part in the coup fail to change course.
We call on all revolutionary, progressive and democratic forces to mobilise against this latest imperialist interference and to defend the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people in solving their political, social and economic problems democratically and pacifically, free of economic sabotage and without the threat of armed intervention, respecting the will of the majority as expressed through the ballot box.
No to the coup in Venezuela!
For an anti-imperialist and independent solution to the Venezuelan crisis!
Executive Bureau of the Fourth International
24 January 2019
Against the coup intervention in Venezuela!
This statement was issued by the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT, Mexican section of the Fourth International) on 23 January 2019. It was published in International Viewpoint here.
The Workers’ Revolutionary Party (PRT) stands emphatically against the new attempted coup d’état and imperialist intervention against Venezuela. In an open and cynically orchestrated campaign called by the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence (given Trump’s discredit to Latin America) in a video circulated during the night of 22 January, to give the starting flag to a strategy that led in a matter of hours to self-proclamation — without anyone voting for him — of the real usurper Juan Guaidó as “president” of Venezuela. Following this self-proclamation, there was an avalanche of “recognitions” of the supposed new government by presidents and governments all over the world, some openly neofascist, and with no democratic tradition at all, from Trump himself to Macri and Bolsonaro.
We resolutely join the national and international campaigns condemning this attempted coup d’état and imperialist intervention that violates the minimum basis of national sovereignty, for which the peoples of our America have fought for more than two centuries. We call for the broadest popular, unitive, internationalist and democratic mobilization against the coup, which means that — regardless of all differences, criticisms and oppositions — the government has democratic legitimacy based on the ballot box and, in any case, cannot be overthrown by means of an imperialist coup. Let it be the Venezuelan people, free and sovereign, who democratically decide their future.
Comments
4 responses to “No to the coup in Venezuela!
For a democratic solution to the crisis!”
To Daniel P. Jones I would say it’s quite obvious that Washington has been working hand in glove with Guaidó, the guy most people in Venezuela didn’t know. Clearly Mike Pompeo’s recent Latin American trip was to line up the authoritarian countries behind his announcement. For the last 15 years Washington has been spending millions in helping the far-right opposition forces in Venezuela. The reality is that Venezuelans have to come up with their own solution! No to intervention from the U.S. or the Lima group!
This is a much better statement:
http://newpol.org/content/people-no-longer-want-maduroand-no-one-chose-guaid%C3%B3
Excuse me but I think you are letting your rhetoric carry away your logic. What coup d’état? How many soldiers has the U.S. or any other government sent to Venezuela? How many has Madura’s authoritarian baby sitter, Cuba, sent? Are the countries of Latin America that support the Venezuelan opposition really all fascist?
Yes, the U.S. has a terrible track record in developing world and particularly Latin America. But I think we need to pay attention to the facts and not our fantasies. Truth is, Venezuela is a nightmare right now. The great hopes of the Bolivarian Revolution have foundered amid incompetence, corruption, and autocracy.To say that “the government has democratic legitimacy based on the ballot box,” after last year’s grand manipulation, is laughable.
Get a grip on reality. You are no democratic socialist.
How then is the backing of Maduro by China, Russia, et al. any better? Do you think THEY do not have designs on Venezuela’s oil? Do you not think that Russia, in particular, won’t hesitate to back utter totalitarianism?
In a perfect world, all non-Venezuelan forces should withdraw, but it is extremely naive to assume this will happen!