PSL Statement – U.S. government and their media lackeys must respect Venezuela’s democracy

By Party for Socialism and Liberation

Workers World is publishing, without editing, various statements from anti-imperialist media to show the breadth of support for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and opposition to the lies of the U.S. government and corporate media. The following was published by the Party for Socialism and Liberation on July 29, 2024. (tinyurl.com/murp55s)

Before the votes were even counted, the U.S. government and their loyal servants in the corporate media were already pushing the evidence-free assertion that Venezuela’s presidential election results were fraudulent. Because Nicolás Maduro emerged victorious over Washington’s preferred candidate Edmundo González, the political and media elite are now doing everything they can to discredit Venezuelan democracy and set the stage for an internal political crisis that they hope will lead to regime change. As we publish this statement, violent protests have begun to break out as part of this imperialist-orchestrated destabilization. 

Without citing any specifics, Secretary of State Blinken remarked last night, “We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people.” Kamala Harris was unable to refer to the announced result, because she did not even wait for it to be published! She stated, “The United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected.” The implication here was that there could be no doubt that voters had in fact chosen the opposition, and if electoral authorities announced anything else then it must be contrary to the will of Venezuelans. 

Nearly every major corporate media outlet based in the United States and other western countries covered the story based around the same basic narrative — a result that couldn’t possibly be true. If any evidence at all is being cited to back up the right wing’s claims of fraud, it is ludicrously biased pre-election surveys conducted by opposition-aligned polling companies that suggested González had higher support.

What we are witnessing is a familiar pattern in the U.S. campaign to overthrow the Bolivarian Revolution — the process of socialist transformation that began with the election of Hugo Chávez in 1998. When the U.S. government thinks that the right-wing opposition has a chance of succeeding at the ballot box, then they participate in elections. When they lose the vote, they turn back to street violence and coup attempts.

The media presentation of the Venezuelan opposition as lovers of democracy is ridiculous in light of their long record of anti-democratic activities. In 2002, a military coup supported by many of the same politicians leading the opposition today briefly removed Chávez from office and installed a dictatorship led by the head of the country’s Chamber of Commerce. In 2003, big business owners aligned with the opposition conspired to shut down the economy and induced an artificial depression. 

In 2014, the opposition organized riots across the country, setting up roadblocks where acts of violence including decapitations were carried out to cause chaos. Another round of violence in 2017 involved infamous crimes like the murder of Afro-Venezuelan government supporter Orlando Figuera, who was set on fire by anti-government protesters. Then with the support of Donald Trump they decreed in 2019 that Juan Guaidó — a politician who the vast majority of Venezuelans had never even heard of — was in fact the country’s president and would be assuming control of the government. 

Spanning the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, the U.S. government has waged an escalating economic war on Venezuela — targeting especially the critical oil export sector — that has caused tremendous suffering among the people. This is what is at the root of the mass migration of Venezuelans to other parts of the world, including the United States. 

The strategists of the U.S. empire hoped they could force Venezuelans to buckle under the pressure and vote for the opposition in the hopes that this would lead to the lifting of sanctions. What is free and fair about forcing a country to choose its leaders under these circumstances, effectively with a gun to their head? But ultimately, this extortion was not successful.

There are many reasons why Venezuelans would vote to re-elect President Maduro despite the economic hardships — fraud is not the “only explanation.” Support for the Bolivarian Revolution is deeply rooted. It is a long-term project for the empowerment of Venezuela’s poor and working people and the exercise of true sovereignty independent from the Washington and Wall Street elites that have historically controlled the country. 

A large section of Venezuelan society is firm in the conviction that it is better to endure severe difficulties in their daily lives than go back to being a de-facto colony of the United States. And these difficult circumstances have been improving as an economic recovery gathers momentum. The economy returned to growth in 2022, inflation has moderated to single-digit figures, and oil production is steadily rising. On top of this, many voters were turned off that the most extreme right-wing elements of the opposition led by oligarch María Corina Machado dominated the González campaign. 

Venezuela has a professional and transparent electoral process with many layers of fraud protection. Citizens cast their votes on electronic machines but are then given a paper receipt as well. The paper receipts are audited to check the accuracy of the electronic machines, and representatives from all campaigns observe the process. Vote rigging at the massive scale being alleged by the opposition would be so obvious that evidence could be found everywhere. In the absence of this evidence, opponents of the Bolivarian Revolution are reduced to a Trump-style strategy where baseless claims about fraud are repeated endlessly until they become accepted as an article of faith. 

Instead of stirring up violence and instability, the U.S. government should end the cruel economic war and lift all sanctions on Venezuela. Venezuelans have spoken — they want to continue the Bolivarian Revolution under the leadership of President Nicolás Maduro. Politicians in Washington and a tiny handful of elite Venezuelan families should not have a veto over the will of the majority.