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Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

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Revision as of 17:40, 15 July 2022 by Forte (talk | contribs) (Added map of Venezuela)
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
República Bolivariana de Venezuela
Flag of Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Flag
Location of Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Official languagesSpanish
Recognized national languages26 indigenous languages
Area
• Total
916,445 km²
Population
• 2018 estimate
28,887,118


Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,[1] is a country on the northern coast of South America, sharing borders on the west with Colombia, Brazil by the south, Trinidad and Tobago on the north-east, and on the east with Guyana. It consists of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea.

Venezuela has been the target of hostility from the US imperialists due to its significant reserves of oil, as well as its recent trend of electing left-leaning progressive governments which prioritize social programs and the implementation of what some observers describe as Socialism of the 21st century.[2] In his 2020 memoir The Room Where It Happened, John Bolton, former National Security Advisor under U.S. President Donald Trump wrote regarding Venezuela:

Shortly after the drone attack [on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on August 4, 2018][3], during an unrelated meeting on August 15, Venezuela came up, and Trump said to me emphatically, “Get it done," meaning get rid of the Maduro regime. “This is the fifth time I've asked for it,” he continued. [...] Trump insisted he wanted military options for Venezuela and then keep it because “it's really part of the United States.”[4]

History

Early history

From 1902 to 1903, Venezuela was blockaded by European navies.[5]

Bolivarian government 1999-present

The Bolivarian Revolution refers to a left-wing populism social movement and political process in Venezuela led by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez who founded the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. The "Bolivarian Revolution" is named after Simón Bolívar, an early 19th-century Venezuelan and Latin American revolutionary leader. According to Chávez and other supporters, the "Bolivarian Revolution" seeks to build a mass movement to implement Bolivarianismpopular democracy, economic independence, equitable distribution of revenues, and an end to political corruption—in Venezuela. They interpret Bolívar's ideas from a populist perspective, using socialist rhetoric.[6]

This left-wing tendency has attracted repeated attacks from the US imperialists to the north, including coup attempts in 2002, 2019, and 2020[7], among others.[8][9]

The US maintains a blockade against Venezuela to try to strangle their economy. In August of 2021, Peru announced it would no longer participate in the blockade.[10] The blockade against Venezuela even negatively affects US businesses[11] and has caused 40,000 deaths due to lack of food and medicine.[12] Venezuelan capitalists have burned food[13] and buried it underground.[14] Despite this, Venezuela's malnutrition rate has decreased from 13.2% in 2001 to 8.2% in 2017.[15]

In 2021, president Maduro spoke to the UN General Assembly saying that 'we must build a "new world without imperialism"'[16]

Despite their elections being declared democratic by the US-based carter center[17], and not having the death penalty[18][19], the US media insists that Venezuela is a brutal dictatorship, thus trying to lay the groundwork for "humanitarian interventions"[20]

Despite attempts at economic isolation, the US was forced to re-engage the Venezuelan economy for its oil.[21]

References

  1. "Constitución de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela" (15 December 1999). Archived from the original.
  2. https://pt.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Resolucoesdo3oCongressoPT.pdf
  3. Joe Parkin Daniels (2018-08-05). "Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro survives apparent assassination attempt" The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2022-07-15. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  4. “Shortly after the drone attack, during an unrelated meeting on August 15, Venezuela came up, and Trump said to me emphatically, “Get it done," meaning get rid of the Maduro regime. “This is the fifth time I've asked for it,” he continued. I described the thinking we were doing, in a meeting now slimmed down to just Kelly and me, but Trump insisted he wanted military options for Venezuela and then keep it because “it's really part of the United States.””

    John Bolton (2020). The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir: 'Chapter 9: Venezuela Libre'. Simon and Schuster.
  5. "US Imperialism in Nicaragua and the Making of Sandino" (2020-02-21). Archived from the original on 2021-03-05. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  6. https://www.mintpressnews.com/bolivarianism-vs-fake-us-democracy/38258/
  7. Benjamin Norton (2022-02-06). "CIA backed failed 2020 invasion of Venezuela, top coup-plotter says" Multipolarista.
  8. https://elpais.com/diario/2002/04/17/internacional/1018994403_850215.html
  9. https://www.rt.com/usa/497111-trump-ruined-venezuela-coup/
  10. Peru Will no Longer Support Blockade on Venezuela
  11. Blockade Against Venezuela Makes US Businesses Suffer: US Exports Dropped by 93% from 2012 to 2020 by Orinoco Tribune
  12. Andrew Buncombe (2019-04-26). "US sanctions on Venezuela responsible for 'tens of thousands' of deaths, claims new report" Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-02-19. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
  13. Venezuela Protesters Set 40 Tons of Subsidized Food on Fire (2017-06-30). TeleSur. Archived from the original on 2018-05-14.
  14. Venezuela's Economic War: Tons of Food Found Buried Underground (2015-08-17). TeleSur. Archived from the original on 2015-09-26.
  15. Food and Agriculture Organization. "Prevalence of undernourishment (% of population)" World Bank. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  16. Venezuela at UN: We must build 'new world without imperialism' by Ben Norton of Moderate Rebels on Substack Sep 22, 2021
  17. Carter Center > Venezuela > Monitoring Elections
  18. Roger G. Hood. The death penalty: a worldwide perspective, Oxford University Press, 2002. p10
  19. Determinants of the death penalty: a comparative study of the world, Carsten Anckar, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0-415-33398, p.17
  20. Venezuela’s Strange Dictatorship by Orinoco Tribune
  21. Francisco Dominguez (2022-06-01). "MADURO’S SUCCESS: PRINCIPLED RESISTANCE TO IMPERIALISM PAYS OFF" Morning Star, Popular Resistance.