Trump out of Venezuela
Text of a Socialist Party Scotland leaflet
US imperialism, headed by Donald Trump, has kidnapped Venezuelan president Maduro and extradited him to New York to stand trial. Socialist Party Scotland and the Committee for a Workers’ International condemns this act of colonial aggression by US imperialism.
It is access to the vast Venezuelan crude oil reserves, the largest in the world, that Trump and the oil barons who backed him want.
The US president claims the US will now run Venezuela until an acceptable regime is in place and that US oil companies will be heavily involved in the Venezuelan oil sector. In his press conference, Trump invoked the Monroe Doctrine, which is based on US imperialism intervening in its so called ‘backyard’ in pursuit of its interests. How this develops is uncertain, but it will arouse the anger and hatred of US imperialism throughout Latin America.
In the hours following the kidnapping of Maduro, Trump and US defense secretary Marco Rubio threatened Colombia and Cuba with military attacks. Greenland, with it’s natural resources, is also in the sights of Trump.
This intervention is a further illustration that the so-called “rules based” international order that existed following World War Two has been shredded and now there are no rules. Yet, that previous era should not be glorified. The “rules” were frequently broken in wars in Vietnam, Iraq and elsewhere.
Military coups instigated by US imperialism in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and throughout Latin America, to name but a few.
Venezuela has 303 billion barrels of crude oil in reserve, 20% of the world’s total. Securing supplies along with an estimated US$1 trillion gain for US business is in the offing if they can get their hands on it.
As we wrote late last year before the US attack, “Regime change for the lucrative black gold, which is the mainstay of the economy of the petrostate of Venezuela, is one of Trump’s real objectives.
Geopolitical factors are also a factor in Trump’s objective of regime change. He is also warning rival powers, China and Russia, not to challenge US influence in the Americas. Putin is supporting Maduro, and both regimes have trade relations, including oil.”
It is not yet clear if a section of the military in Venezuela and some in the PSUV leadership are prepared to collaborate with Trump and his plans.
What is clear is that the US strategy has no worked out plan other than a naked asset grab of the Venezuelan petrostate.
US imperialism has long wanted the overthrow of the Venezuelan government, since the election of Hugo Chavez, in 1998.
An attempted military coup to oust Chavez, a radical left populist in 2002, backfired as millions poured onto the streets defeating the coup and restoring Chavez to the Presidency.
The mass social explosion which followed drove the radical, well intentioned, Chavez, even further to the left, undertaking partial nationalisations, speaking of “socialism in the 21st century” and, using revenue from oil, introduced sweeping social reforms.
The fall in global oil prices had a devastating effect, resulting in stagnation and then economic decline. Chavez died in 2013 to be replaced by Nikolas Maduro.
Hyperinflation and shortages have all resulted in a devastating social collapse. Between 2014 and 2021, the GDP plummeted by 75%. The devastating social situation led to a dramatic fall in support of the regime.
Since 2013 over 8 million (out of an estimated population of 28 million) people have fled the country, in one of the largest global refugee and immigrant crises.
Such an impasse in the situation has resulted in big opposition to Maduro’s regime which is more corrupt and authoritarian than which existed under Chavez.
Maduro still maintains a significant base of support. This is likely to be solidified and may be strengthened in response what has take place. Trump clearly is aiming at regime change.
The amassing of a military force threatening Venezuela is going to arouse the strong anti-imperialist sentiment that exists throughout Latin America.
Calls for the UN and OAS to intervene as global capitalist institutions will resolve nothing. The solution lies in the hands of the Latin American working class to build a real socialist alternative that can confront US imperialism and establish a genuine democratic socialist alternative in the continent, and link up with the working class of the US.
The Maduro regime is not a democratic socialist regime. It abandoned the radical reform programme of Hugo Chavez which had encroached against capitalist interests and used socialist rhetoric.
It is the task of the Venezuelan working class to find the road to democratic socialism and socialists can have no illusions in the US imperialist intervention aimed at installing a new regime compliant with its interests.
The future of Venezuela is for the working class and poor of that country to decide, not meddling imperialism and other right wing forces.
The CWI condemns and opposes all US imperialist intervention in Venezuela or elsewhere. There can be no support given to the reactionary right-wing opposition in Venezuela.
It is the challenge facing the Venezuelan working class to find a road to fight imperialist aggression, oppose the capitalist right wing and establish a genuine democratic socialist government of the workers and poor.
Such a workers’ government can offer a solution to the catastrophe affecting Venezuelan society, including an appeal to the masses throughout Latin America and the US for support and solidarity.
