The year begins and it’s already clear that the electoral circus will be used once again to tame the social struggle in Venezuela, a script routinely applied with success for the last 10 years. Elections for governors, state representatives and mayors are set for November 16, so the official politicos and the opposition started campaigning right alter the Constitutional Referendum of December 2nd, again with the sneaky proposal to postpone collective demands in order to be elected to the contested positions. Both sides continue to sell the canard that given the importance of these elections to regain freedom or to advance the revolution nothing matters more in 2008 than to clear the road to victory at the ballot, after which these enl... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) The profile of anarchism in Venezuelan history has been less pronounced than in other parts of Latin America, where it has vigorously manifested itself through collective struggles, publications, personalities and ideological debate. It is, however, worth pointing out that it has also influenced our social and cultural evolution
From the end of the 19th Century to the first third of the 20th Century, some local intellectuals were either sympathizers or tolerant readers of anarchism, but nothing like a Flores Magón, Barret, Oiticica, González Prada or other exponents of Latin American anarchist thought (Cappelletti 1990). The few who did explore libertarian pathways produced hardly any written material, and then veered towards... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) We address all the expressions of the libertarian movement, particularly those of this continent, not only to draw their attention to the situation we are living in Venezuela since April 2017, but by what we understand as urgency for the international anarchism expresses more emphatically on these dramatic circumstances, with positions and actions consistent with what has been the preaching and practice of the anti-hierarchic (actual word used here is “Ácrata”.^N.delT.) ideal in its historical walk.
It is deplorable that, while on the one hand the Chavista government — today headed by Maduro — together with its sounding boards from the outside and, on the other, the opponents from the right and the social-dem... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Since two decades ago, by means of our publications, the Venezuelan anarchists have denounced and been against the vices and slants of the private media corporations as RCTV. This company had guaranteed its economic success combining evil oligopolistic practices, opportunist bonds with the current state power and the emission of “garbage-content” with the excuse of “giving the people what they want”. However, the problems that indeed this company represented are taken now as an excuse for the imposition of a solution that means a repetition and multiplication of the same vices. In the 2007´s Venezuela, the meanness of a part of the private oligopoly is supposed to be corrected by the dreadful of a state monopol... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Introduction
Why a report about Chevron in Venezuela?
May 21st is the day various social movements from around the world have chosen to stage a planetary day of action against Chevron. The objective is to demand that the United States- based oil company modifies its practices and admits responsibility for the serious crimes it has committed all over the planet during its history.
Venezuela has the largest oil and gas reserves of the region and has had a long-lived relationship with Chevron. Nevertheless, the ecological and social consequences of energy exploitation in Venezuela are not discussed, neither is the responsibility for the contamination and displacement of indigenous and peasant communities incurred by transnational companie... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) When an illness becomes serious, when medical attention becomes a vehicle for myopic, politically motivated decisions and when a patient becomes drunk with power, it can only end this way. The strongman has died, and in so doing, he has initiated a substantial shift in the Venezuelan political landscape.
What used to be the regime’s greatest strength has suddenly turned into its defining weakness: it was all Chávez, and, without him, the only solution is to fabricate an absolute commitment to his memory and his plans for succession. The government’s true fragility can now be seen, a government which tried to demonstrate its “popular, socialist” character via a grotesque personality cult, a practice that has n... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) While we are still suffering from the impact of the problems which had intensified towards the end of 2009, such as the fraudulent ‘Bolibourgeois’ bankers and the ongoing malaise throughout public services, a host of measures recently undertaken by the government signal a bitter start to 2010 for Venezuela. Firstly, there was the implementation of a bulky devaluation, sure to increase inflation and submerge a large sector of the population in misery. Next came the announcement of electricity rationing throughout Greater Caracas — as had been the de facto case in the rest of the country — only to subsequently be suspended due to the uproar and conflict it caused, but now pending its reintroduction when the conditions ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Among other things Octavio Alberola is presently the driving force behind the GALSIC (Support Group for Libertarians and Independent Trade Unionists in Cuba), a support and information network which, in concert with the Cuban Libertarian Movement in Exile (MLCE), denounces the excesses of Fidel Castro's multi-faceted dictatorship from an anarchist viewpoint.
El Libertario: What are anarchism's beefs with the so-called Cuban revolution?
Octavio Alberola: Essentially, that it is not a social revolution at all but a semantic ploy to disguise its true essence and the reality of a populist dictatorship.Of course, there is the matter of the lack of fundamental human rights (rights of opinion, expression and assembly), denied to Cubans by a tota... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) On February 4th, 2014, students from the Universidad Nacional Experimental del Tachira (Experimental University of Táchira), located on an inland state of the country, protested due to the sexual assault of a fellow female classmate in lieu of the current insecurity situation of the city. The protest was repressed, and several students were detained.
The next day, other universities around the country had their own protests requesting the release of these detainees, being at the same time repressed and some of them incarcerated. The wave of indignation had the context of the economic crisis, the shortage of first necessity items and the crisis of basics public services, as well as the beginning of the enforcement of an economic plan... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) There are ideas and actions on the world that claim to transform it, that transformation being the theme of all political work, in which ideas of what “has to be” become social imperatives when it comes to the public good. This leads to the extreme polemics of ideological positions that arise from both “reactionary” and “revolutionary” sectors confronted with the march of historic events. Not only do they polarize themselves, but each position includes contradictions and insulting misunderstandings. In the unstable parts of the world where social conflicts continue to storm, the discussion of goals and methods continues to be common in contemporary politics.
This difficult debate is going on in Colombia,... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) With a lot of rhetoric and propaganda the Chavez administration has advanced different examples of co-management which, they claim, demonstrate their desire to transform Venezuela’s relations of production. A compañero from Europe visited us recently and got to know two of the most celebrated cases: Alcasa and Invepal. Here is the report he prepared for El Libert@rio # 51 about the actual working conditions in the country’s most “important” co-managed businesses.
Alcasa is an Aluminum factory located in Ciudad Guayana, some 800 km south-east of Caracas. According to official accounts it is an example “par-excellance” of co-management. In order to “change the relations of production” in... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) For some time now the Venezuelan government has made systematic advances in the reorganization of the national police intelligence system, with the intention of discovering and neutralizing autonomous social movements that appear in the country. The Intelligence and Counterintelligence Law (temporarily suspended) and the new Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN in Spanish) are but two examples of this. In order to promote the necessary knowledge on this issue among activists, we give an informative recap of the different tactics used by the State to break up the antagonistic social fabric and criminalize its followers.
The State’s intelligence tactics
These tricks were developed and/or systemized by the COINTELPRO program of esp... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Once again we must consider the dilemma of whether to participate or not in the electoral contest (referendum), this time with the difference that it is not a case of choosing a candidate but rather constitutional norms for the government of collective life. This situation requires careful reflection. If we heed current positions what we have is a ruling party that accepts en masse the reforms proposed by the Boss and increased embarrassingly in a premeditated maneuver by a servile National Assembly. The absurdities of the original constitutional reforms were so many that it set the scene for a comical fictitious debate which resulted in a plastering of equally aberrant additions. There is no serious debate of content and reasons, only disc... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) From the publishers of El Libertario goes our reply to the habitual expressions that the coarse right or the easy-going left used to attribute us; the same left that, inside and outside of Venezuela allows that the mirage of the Chávez pseudo-revolution impressed them. We could and would like to say very much more about this subject, however currently here there is the essential and concise information about our point of view that, even when it was expressed several times it does not implies that it does not have to be repeated.
Hugo Chávez talks about socialism, popular sovereignty and participation. So, why posing disappointments if those ideals agree with anarchism?
The rouses of Chávez are so diverse. However, he ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Dated the day after the death of the Venezuelan president (03/06/2013), a statement was released entitled “La muerte de Hugo Chavez. Su impacto en America Latina y el mundo” — “The Death of Hugo Chavez. Its impact in Latin America and the world”, [1] published and maintained (at the time of writing) in a prominent place on the website of the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation — FAU, the group that claims authorship of the article.
In the text are various statements about the personality of the deceased, his historic role in Venezuela and Latin America, on the government and the political movement that he led, and the contemporary socio-political process in Venezuela; leading to an assessment and conclusions ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) We know that you fight in three fronts: a) against pseudo-leftist Chavista groups in power; b) against the anti-Chavez opposition directed by the social democrats and the right; and c) against groups or parties of the traditional left. Could there be a ghetto imposed by the state, the right and its social democrat allies and the traditional left for anarchists in your country, or is a retreat necessary?
Whatever the socio-political situation in any given country is, those who wield or want to wield power will try to curb any symptom of consistent libertarian struggle by building “ghettoes” of repression, open or hidden, where to confine it. It is natural for the anarchist militant to confront the intentions of the powers that b... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) 1) Are the protests in Venezuela led by opposition parties on the right?
No. The current wave of protests began in the city of San Cristóbal (Tachira) on Feb. 4 when students denouncing security issues on the university campus were met with repression and several were jailed. The consequent protests focused on liberating the detained students, spread to other cities and were also met with repression, intensifying student unrest. It was in this context that a faction of the opposition launched a proposal for street demonstrations dubbed “La Salida” to demand President Maduro’s resignation, while another faction opposed the idea of street demonstrations focused on this larger, single demand. Despite the arrest of the... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Data and facts deny the claim that the “imperialist” interests were threatened in Venezuela with the arrival of the so-called Bolivarian government. As reality shows, the presidencies of Hugo Chavez and Maduro have deepened the extractive role assigned to the country by capitalist globalization, which together with financial and speculative capital, continue to earn big profits in Venezuela. Just two examples. The first a looks at the report Chevron: The Bolivarian connection,[1] expossing the fabulous expansion of this US transnational under the so-called “Socialism of the XXI Century”. The second is evident in what the “fracking” issues, denounced by the president of PDVSA as a “weapon of capitali... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Positive transformations in society are produced by the actions of popular movements and not by governments. As has been clearly illustrated in the case of Venezuela, as well in other parts of Latin America, the will for change of the majority has been channeled and co-opted by a new bureaucracy which tries, by all available means, to tighten its grip on power. Since 1999 the survival at any cost of the new government has been its principle aim, and in the centralization, militarization and personalization that have been promoted under the euphemism ‘revolutionary process’, one of its principal tasks has been to pacify and co-opt the wide array of power structures and protagonists who, during the 1990’s, struggled to end t... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) On the morning of 26/11/2009, Mijail Martínez – 24 years old – was assassinated in the city of Barquisimeto, Lara state. Martínez was a cameraman and activist with the Victims’ Committee Against Impunity in Lara state (commonly referred to as CVCI-Lara in Spanish — translator). According to witnesses, two persons unknown attacked Mijail outside his front door, and after calling his name several times they fired several shots into his chest area. The victim was an audiovisual producer who worked on the television program of his father, Victor Martínez, a longtime Bolivarian militant and former representative on the region’s Legislative Council. Demonstrating the contradictions within the so ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) [Introductory note: Anarchists from across the world have requested a text that summarizes, from a libertarian perspective, what is happening in Venezuela, especially to dismantle the lies that authoritarians of all varieties have said about it. In response, we have prepared the following, which is already being translated and disseminated in various languages, with the intention of putting forward our perspective and unmasking the deceitful positions that have been widely disseminated about what is happening in this country.]
Those who have read us before will be very familiar with the approach taken by various statist factions to the Venezuelan situation, and it is precisely to them and their deceptions that we will refer to here, in an... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) During the night of March 3, 2013 Yukpa Cacique Sabino Romero, well known for his defense of the rights of the Yukpa people, was assassinated on Chaktapa Highway, in the Sierra de Perijá (Zulia State). Since November 13, 2003 when President Hugo Chavez, speaking at El Menito, Lagunillas, announced the increase in carbon exploitation to 36 million metric tons per year in the territories inhabited by different native ethnic groups, Sabino Romero was one of the people from indigenous communities that mobilized to protest the consequences their land would suffer due to the expansion of mega-mining in their region. Sabino’s struggle focused on obtaining the zoning and title to the indigenous territories, for which he put together di... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Venezuela has landed on the dark side of the moon. The recently opened 21st century seems to be escaping us for good. We will not have a chance to face it with any prospect of success. Eight years of speeches drawn from a time past, eight years of inefficiency in the management of public funds, of unstoppable corruption, of the waste of immense riches, of awful public services, of leaving the most basic necessities unsatisfied, of unemployment, of the breaking down of the industrial infrastructure, including the oil industry, of no social security, of charity as a way of survival, of lies and debasement as pervading attitudes...eight years of totalitarian control over the social and political system by the faction in power, of lack of ideas... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) Statement about the events of February — March 2014
One doesn’t have to be a genius to forecast that the sorry socio-economic situation in Venezuela, inherited after 14 years of Hugo Chavez’s government and made worse in a little over a year with Nicolas Maduro, was creating a conflict ready to erupt, particularly when the huge income from “black gold”, which up until 3 or 4 years ago sustained the fantasy of “oil socialism”, stopped. The income is still abundant, but the waste, the incompetence, the corruption and the greed of those who rule are still greater. Between the narco-generales and other predators in uniform, highly placed bureaucrats who run the gamut from avid greed to nothingness, t... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) The modern history of social struggles in Venezuela is associated with the across-the-board transformation of the country brought about by large-scale oil exploitation beginning in the 1920s. This became evident after the death of Dictator J.V. Gomez, who ruled Venezuela with an iron fist from 1908 until December 1935. His demise was the signal for the appearance in the socio-political sphere of diverse collectively-organized actors, recently formed and until then repressed by the dictatorship. These consisted mostly of workers’ unions and student associations, but they also included feminist, cultural, peasant, educational, and professional associations.
Since that time (the end of the 1930s through the 1950s), these social movement... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) On 10th May, 2009, President Hugo Chávez appeared on national television from the El Tigre region of Barinas state in order to announce to the nation the availability of a mobile telephone made under the supervision of the Bolivarian government. Some weeks earlier, he himself had named it “El Vergatorio” [a crude term which roughly translates as “the biggest dick” — translator]. Rather typically for those familiar with chavista propaganda methods, the unveiling of this product — supposedly symbolizing yet another step forward for his political project — coincided with the traditional Venezuelan national holiday for Mothers’ Day.
That same day, Chávez declared that “this te... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) I.
The collapse of the food crop is demonstrated by the increase in imports within the sector, from US$1.6bn in 1999 to $7.4bn in 2008. Last year, the government was forced to purchase abroad some 57.9% of the foodstuffs required for its subsidy programs. The cost of imported food per head per annum has risen from $75 in the 1990s to $267 today.
However, there’s more to it than us solely having become more dependent on abroad for our food. We also suffer from the constant inflation of food prices: 46.7% in 2008, and more than 36% in 2009. This escalation is nowhere near compensated for; neither by the nominal raises in the minimum wage, nor by the distribution of subsidized food via Mercal, which currently finds itself in a state ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)