Today the Obama administration threw a bone to the extreme right, with a press release from Secretary of State John Kerry announcing “restrictions on travel to the United States by a number of Venezuelan government officials who have been responsible for or complicit in such human rights abuses.” This is of course a very hostile gesture that is transparently political, and has nothing to do with human rights.
As murmurs of U.S. sanctions against Venezuela continue in the aftermath of the protest violence there, researcher Michael McCarthy recently published an article in World Politics Review making some good arguments for why they would be a bad idea.
By Federico Fuentes - Green Left Weekly, Jul 30th 2014
One of the most important public debates over the future of Venezuela's revolutionary process has opened up after the publication of a document by recently ousted planning minister Jorge Giordani.
By Arlene Eisen - Venezuelanalysis.com, Jul 30th 2014
At the local level, a movement of communal justice is gradually spreading an alternative to the traditional adversarial court system to settle civil disputes.
In this interview, Marta Harnecker discusses the possibilities for radical transformation in El Salvador under the new government of Salvador Sanchez Ceren. She compares the experience in El Salvador with that of Venezuela, and explains the impact Venezuela has had on progressive movements in the region.
By Federico Fuentes - Green Left Weekly, Jul 21st 2014
Federico Fuentes examines the debate underway within Chavismo over the Bolivarian project’s economic direction following the public criticisms of the Maduro administration’s policies made by former planning minister Jorge Giordani.
In this interview,the director of Venezuela's Central Bank discusses Argentina's "vulture fund" dispute. Tovar also outlines the latest efforts at creating an alternative finanancial architecture for Latin America, such as the Bank of the South and the Sucre currency.
By Nathan Thanki- earth in brackets, Jul 15th 2014
Nathan Thanki reports from Margarita Island, Venezuela, on the South American nation's unique approach in the first ever social preCOP on climate change.
In a May 12 letter, two Nobel Peace Prize Laureates and over 100 scholars, journalists and human rights activists called on Human Rights Watch to close its revolving door to the U.S. government. On June 3, HRW published a response from executive director Kenneth Roth on its website, arguing that their “concern is misplaced."
By Z.C. Dutka - Venezuelanalysis.com, Jul 9th 2014
Cuban economist and ex-guerilla combatant Orland Borrego, who fought alongside Che Guevara during the Cuban revolution, will be advising Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro on how to establish a “total re-structuring” of the Venezuelan economy.
By Adrian Fernandez Jauregui – Earth in Brackets, Jul 7th 2014
The issue being raised by many of these European and North American activists is that Venezuela is a major oil producer and that attending such an event would lend tacit support to their fossil fuel extraction. As a Bolivian, I believe the reality is more complex; this piece is my attempt to add nuance, as well as to call out some of the underlying assumptions of my Northern colleagues and allies in the climate fight.
By Joe Emersberger – TeleSUR English, Jul 7th 2014
In the heated media war over Venezuela, studies produced by well-funded NGOs (usually with ties to powerful states) have been regularly cited by the western corporate media to paint a grim picture of the country.
Almost three months have passed since an enraged right-wing mob brutally beat law student William Muñoz (30), then doused him with gasoline. It was a scene horrifically reminiscent of lynchings that have murdered thousands of Black people in the U.S.
Unite the Union, the largest union in Britain and Europe, this week unanimously passed a motion to support the government of President Nicolas Maduro and re-affirming their support for the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign.
