Hands off Venezuela – US imperialism fabricates reasons for a military invasion

To justify the invasion of Iraq in April 2003, the US imperialists deceived the UN and the world public with fake photos of alleged chemical weapons factories of the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Since February 22, 2019, a large-scale provocation has been taking place at the borders of Venezuela to provide the reactionary US-President Donald Trump with "justifications" for an invasion of Venezuela.

There can be no doubt that the self-proclaimed "Interim President" Juan Guaidó of the bourgeois opposition party Voluntad Popular is a puppet of US imperialism. In an ARD interview he himself admitted that his self-appointment had been agreed upon with the US government, which recognized him as president just a few minutes later.

Escalation at the borders

Together with a British multi-billionaire, Guaidó organized a large solidarity concert for Venezuela with well-known pop stars just behind the Venezuela-Brazil border. He mobilized thousands of his followers there in order to force a "convoy of relief goods" to cross the border together with them . On Saturday the conflict escalated. Almost 300 demonstrators were injured at the Colombian border.

US imperialism, of all countries, wants to "support democracy"

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced "measures" by Washington to "support democracy in Venezuela". Now is the “time to act" to help the "desperate Venezuelan people," wrote Pompeo on Twitter on Saturday. "The US will take action against those who oppose the peaceful restoration of democracy in Venezuela ... We stand in solidarity with those continuing their struggle for freedom.“ The fact that US imperialism, of all countries, which controlled its "backyard" Latin America for decades with fascist dictatorships, wants to bring "freedom and democracy" to Venezuela cannot be surpassed in cynicism and dishonesty.

All powers are fighting over access

Neither Maduro nor Guaidó have the welfare of the masses in mind. The Maduro government is allied with the new-imperialist states of Russia and China and is already deeply dependent on loans and, from an ecological point of view, catastrophic oil production projects, such as those on the Orinoco. Venezuela is becoming a hotbed of escalating inter-imperialist contradictions. As in Syria or Ukraine, the real danger of a world war is emerging here. They are all fighting over access to the country with the world's largest oil reserves. Above all, the growing influence of new-imperialist countries such as Russia and China, but also increasingly India and Turkey, in the so-called "backyard of the USA" is to be pushed back.

In the past decade China has granted Venezuela loans amounting to 50 billion dollars. Together with its energy companies like Rosneft, Russia has pumped more than 17 billion dollars into Venezuela over the past twelve years. This has nothing to do with "unselfish help", but aims to make Venezuela more dependent on Russia and China, who want to benefit themselves from the country's oil wealth in particular. Russian oil and gas companies are involved in the development of the Orinoco oil belt's heavy fuel oil and are planning offshore natural gas production in the Mariscal Sucre field.

Is the criticism of the Maduro government "furnishing welcome support for the USA"?

For weeks, there have been large mass protests and demonstrations in Venezuela involving around one hundred thousand people. In opposition to, but also with several tens of thousands in support of the Maduro government - partly also by civil servants and government employees. For months now, bourgeois and ultra-right-wing forces have been systematically fueling a heated atmosphere, using the justified indignation among the Venezuelan population over the catastrophic social conditions. The protests against Maduro also involve proto-fascist to fascist forces. This gives rise to a sharp social polarization between Maduro's opponents and those parts of the masses who defend the government - also because of its socialist claim.

The masses, as well as partly Latin American revolutionaries, have not yet assimilated the complete failure of the path of a "peaceful transformation" of neocolonially oppressed countries to sovereign states independent of imperialism. Their hearts are still partly dedicated to the socialist claim, and criticism of Maduro is seen by some as a "furnishing welcome support for US imperialism". That is not correct. Without the right conclusions, the Venezuelan people cannot free themselves.

The late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez had already pursued a bourgeois anti-imperialist program under the slogan "Socialism of the 21st Century". This does not change the fundamental dependence on the capitalist world market and all its crisis-proneness. Thus nothing essentially changed in the exploitation and oppression of the workers in the factories. It led instead to Venezuela getting into a new neocolonial dependency, especially from China and Russia. While Chávez's reform program initially brought a series of social improvements for the masses, Venezuela has plunged into a deep economic and political crisis in recent years. Millions of young Venezuelans - mainly from the poor population - are leaving the country. It lacks the essentials. And this in a country that is extremely rich in raw materials. This has nothing to do with socialist ideals.

A war in Venezuela must be prevented

The social hardship in Venezuela is a consequence of the Maduro government policies, but was also decisively caused by the boycott and blockade by US imperialism. It also makes use of its dependent "Lima Group", which was founded in the Peruvian capital Lima on 8 August 2017 "because of the Venezuela crisis". The founding members are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru. Later the countries Guyana and Santa Lucía joined. US imperialism so organizes itself the justifications to intervene "for humanitarian reasons". The MLPD condemns all attempts to undermine Venezuela's national sovereignty. Any invasion of Venezuela by foreign troops would be a criminal act and a violation of international law. A war in Venezuela must be prevented by the worldwide protests of the masses!

The Venezuelan people need a revolutionary perspective

The perspective of the Venezuelan people cannot lie in the dependence on one or the other group of imperialists. The ICOR organization Plataforma Socialista Golpe de Timón wrote on February 6: "Ultimately only the unity and courage of the Venezuelan people ... with historically deep anti-imperialist roots will be the guarantee for defeating imperialism again. Revolutionary political organizations face the challenge of developing a program that will make it possible to unify the struggles of the people, direct our strength towards conquering political leadership, and thus achieve that the Bolivarian Revolution will resume its revolutionary path toward the socialist horizon.”