The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 3rd May 2019
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 3rd May 2019
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 3rd May 2019
THE PEOPLE rallied in defence of their Bolivarian revolution this week to see off yet another attempt by those in the pay of American imperialism to seize power in Venezuela. As they streamed into the heart of the capital, Caracas, to demonstrate their support for President Nicolas Maduro and his revolutionary government another drama was being played out at a nearby air-base, which a tiny band of rebels claimed to have captured in the name of the self-appointed “interim president” Juan Guaidó.
Meanwhile Cuba has called on the international community to stop US imperialism’s dangerous and aggressive escalation. Cuban leader Miguel Diaz Canel said that Cuba stands by the legitimate government of Venezuela, which is calmly and courageously facing a new coup attempt by the pro-imperialist right with the complicity of the USA and its lackey governments in the region.
Juan Guillermo Guaidó, an American pawn, called on the army and his supporters to take to the streets to overthrow the Maduro government and “recover their freedom”. Some, drawn from the rich quarters of Caracas where Guaidó draws his strength, heeded his call and clashed with the riot police in the capital whilst a reactionary politician, Leopoldo Lopez, was freed from house-arrest by what the army called a “small group of traitors” in the intelligence service. But the small rebel band near the Carlota air-base fled when the security forces opened up with tear-gas shells.
Within 24 hours what Juan Guaidó called the “final phase” of “Operation Freedom” had fizzled out. Guaidó has gone into hiding and Lopez has taken refuge in the Spanish embassy. No-one knows, apart from the CIA, exactly what Guaidó hoped to achieve this week. He’s gained nothing from this little escapade, which Venezuela’s Attorney General dismissed as “a ridiculous attempt to derail the country’s constitutional order”.
President Maduro appeared on national television on May Day to deliver a message to “the Venezuelan people and the world”, during which he said that an investigation into the coup attempt planned by Leopoldo Lopez had begun and a number of people have already been detained. five members of the armed forces have been wounded in the clashes and two of them are in a critical condition. “This cannot go unpunished. I have spoken to the attorney general, and he has appointed three national prosecutors who are questioning everyone involved in this event, and they are tasked with investigating and filing criminal charges” Maduro said.
Far-right politicians working for the Americans launched a violent campaign against President Maduro soon after he was sworn in for a new term in January. Juan Guaidó, the head of the old National Assembly, proclaimed himself “interim president” with the blessing of the imperialists and their regional lackeys. But Russia, People’s China, and a number of other countries have voiced their support for Maduro as the only legitimate president of Venezuela.
The Americans have lost another battle but they won’t give up. Vice-Admiral Igor Kostyukov, the head of Russian military intelligence (GRU) said: “US subversive activity against the Bolivarian Republic continues. Various options are being developed for shifting the ‘Chavist’ government — from creating conditions for growing protest sentiments and their subsequent transformation into a ‘social explosion’ to a military intervention against Caracas.
“Washington, fearing to engage the national armed forces, wants to organise an invasion by the hands of its allies, primarily Colombia. “In addition, the creation of illegal armed groups of Venezuelan deserters, representatives of Central American criminal groups, Colombian rebel groups, which are already used to commit sabotage on the infrastructure of the Bolivarian Republic