U.S. Is Trying to Seize Venezuela’s Oil
On Jan 10, Pres. Nicolás Maduro was inaugurated for a second term as President of Venezuela with three times the votes of the opposition candidate. In response to Maduro’s overwhelming democratic victory, Trump and his Wall St. coalition are ramping up the war drive against Venezuela. The US State Department have imposed sanctions, blocking Venezuela from the oil trade. U.S. sanctions against Venezuela have already cost its people $20 billion. Sanctions are an act of war whose purpose is to impoverish the people to attempt to turn them against the government. They have failed. For three days in a row, massive rallies of workers and youth in support of the Bolivarian revolution have take place. Protests against U.S. intervention have been held all around the world.
The U.S. government bribed a few officers and encouraged them to attempt a coup. They failed. The vast majority of the military are loyal to the people, refusing to become puppets for the super-rich. Now Trump is talking about “a military option.” All this is done to seize the oil and make Venezuela another country that is bled to death by foreign banks and owned by foreign capitalists.
“In our country, there’s the largest certified oil reserves in the world. Those who lead the empire in the United States want to put their hands on it as they did in Iraq and Libya. That wealth belongs to us.”
—President Nicolás Maduro
Against the will of the people, Trump & Co. handpicked their own candidate who went to George Washington University, a school known as a CIA nursery. They picked Juan Guaidó, the candidate of the rich, oil companies and a C.I.A. puppet. The U.S. attempted to get a United Nations resolution against Venezuela. They have failed. For years the CIA has underestimated the determination of the Venezuelan working class that wants justice, independence and sovereignty.
The Maduro government has not only loyalty among the military but also has the support of popular militias in working class and poor neighborhoods. Pres. Maduro grew up in a poor neighborhood. He was a bus driver and president of their union. He is a man of the people and is Mestizo/Indigenous/African.
His government built 2.5 million affordable homes and directly delivers 6 million food boxes to families every 3 weeks. Healthcare and education are free in Venezuela. Where do the funds for this come from? The Venezuelan government pays for these programs with money from their oil industry. U.S. oil corporations hate this because money is going to the people instead of into their wallets.
Trump, his advisor John Bolton, V.P. Pence, Sec. of State Pompeo, and other cronies all have ties to the oil industry, including Exxon-Mobil. The for-profit weapons industry (companies like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon) are also thirsty to cash in on Trump’s war drive.
The current attempt by the ultra-right wing to illegally seize control of the government has been cheered on by Wall St. Reuters News writes “the excitement has spread…to the trading rooms of Wall Street, where investors have driven up the prices of the country’s defaulted bonds on hopes for a new government that will be more likely to resume debt payments.” They want the government treasury to be turned over to them rather than to peoples’ needs.
U.S.-LED CHILEAN COUP LED TO A BLOODBATH OF THE PEOPLE, POVERTY AND RULE OF THE GENERALS
The US military has attacked Latin American and Caribbean countries 56 times since 1945, and once in 2002 in Venezuela. Elliot Abrams, who was appointed US special envoy to Venezuela on January 25 played a leading role in the attempted 2002 against Chavez. He also helped to arm the right-wing death squads responsible for mass murder in Nicaragua and El Salvador. The U.S. has carried out many coups against other elected governments such as Chile in 1973 and Honduras in 2014 after which dictators were installed to destroy social benefits. There is not one democratic goal in U.S. intervention, that’s just the lie to cover up their evil intentions.
STAND UP NOW WITH MADURO AND THE PEOPLE!
The Venezuelan people and working class New Orleanians have a common enemy: the ultra-rich who are suffocating communities here. The military buildup against Venezuela is at the expense of food stamps, schools, and other social programs at home. Oil companies and arms dealers are out to make profits no matter who suffers.
Republicans and Democrats Hate Any Government That Puts Workers & Poor First.
Once again, we see that the feud between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party is superficial. Just like the European imperialists who criticize Trump but unite against Venezuela, these two parties of Wall Street come together to pursue imperialist intervention on behalf of the oil companies and military profiteers.
WORKERS HERE AND IN VENEZUELA HAVE COMMON NEEDS AND A COMMON ENEMY – U.S. IMPERIALISM
We workers here in the U.S. have no interest in supporting a CIA intervention in Venezuela or anywhere else, but a lot to gain when workers anywhere can liberate themselves from imperialism and the rule of the super-rich like they have done in Venezuela. Hands off Venezuela! U.S/CIA out of Latin America!