Analysis: International

"People are Building their Communities together”: A Foreign Delegation’s View of Revolutionary Venezuela

By Rachael Boothroyd - Correo del Orinoco International, Apr 2nd 2012

(VSC)

The VSC recently organized a solidarity brigade to Venezuela so that British trade unionists could experience the Venezuelan process firsthand. Catriona Goss (CG), member of the Executive Committee for the British Venezuela Solidarity Campaign (VSC) and activist with the Student Friends of Venezuela, talks about the delegation’s success and the need to create international solidarity.

Hollywood Attacks Hugo Chavez

By Razio Cazal, Ciudad CCS / Alba Ciudad, Mar 30th 2012

The scene portrayes Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as an example of a "dangerous dictator". (Alba Cuidad)

Venezuelan writer Razio Cazal explores a scene contained within the first minute of new Hollywood film “We Bought a Zoo” which portrayes Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as a “dangerous dictator”.

Chilean Consul’s Daughter Killed in Venezuela: Bell Tolls for the Opposition

By Rachael Boothroyd - Venezuelanalysis.com, Mar 20th 2012

On Saturday evening it was reported that Karen Berendique, daughter of the Chilean Consul in Venezuela was killed and shot by police. This act of police brutality and malpractice highlights more than ever the need for a humanistic police force with respect for human rights throughout the country.

ALBA Expands its Allies in the Caribbean

By Kevin Edmonds - NACLA, Mar 6th 2012

A look at the recent regional shift towards ALBA, and organisation which the author feels has become a more dynamic alternative to CARICOM. Many Caribbean countries, as neoliberalism hits hart, are also looking more towards Venezuela than the US for alliances.

Mexico’s Ambiguous (and Fleeting?) Alliances

By Fred Rosen - NACLA, Mar 1st 2012

(NACLA)

President Felipe Calderón wishes Hugo Chávez a full and speedy recovery from cancer surgery, pays homage to Chávez’s hero Simón Bolívar, flirts with Chávez’s Bolivarian movement, and welcomes the CIA, DEA and other U.S. intelligence agencies into Mexico. Is the president guilty of a fraudulent double discourse, or is he maintaining a skillful balancing act?

US Ambassadors to Venezuela: A Chronology of Failure

By Nil Nikandrov - Strategic Culture Foundation , Feb 18th 2012

The US seal (Worthpoint).

During his 13-year-long presidency Hugo Chavez had to deal with five US ambassadors and numerous charge d'affaires. The history of relations between them and the Venezuelan leader shows how successfully one can oppose a policy of blackmail, conspiracy, overturns and 'orange revolutions'.

MST Leader: 'Let's Build a People's ALBA'

By ALBA TV and Joao Pedro Stedile, Feb 6th 2012

Joao Pedro Stedile, a founder and leader of the MST, speaks about the importance of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), an anti-imperialist bloc of eight Latin American governments that includes Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua.

Newt vs. Mitt: Uncle Sam’s Manifest Destiny Wins Votes in Florida

By Rachael Boothroyd for Correo del Orinoco International, Feb 6th 2012

Reoublican candidates Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney (dcdecoder)

In a bid to secure the Cuban and Venezuelan expat vote in Florida last week, Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich managed to conjure up the kind of anti-leftist propaganda that wouldn’t have been out of place in one of Ronald Reagan’s anti-Soviet Union speeches.

We Have to Get Out of the ICSID

By Luis Britto Garcia , Jan 24th 2012

"We have to get out of ICSID" proclaims Hugo Chavez Frias during ´Hello, President´ on the 8th of January 2012. To understand why, let´s recap. States are sovereign. A state cannot be judged by other states or organisms, because it has jurisdictional immunity, which is inalienable. To hand that over is to loose sovereignty

Venezuela’s Armed Forces Under Fire by Washington

By Eva Golinger, Correo del Orinoco , Jan 20th 2012

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (left) with General Henry Rangal Silva, who was sworn in as Venezuelan Minister of Defence this

During an event that included the transfer of mandate of several members of the high military command on Tuesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said changes to the National Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) are important for strengthening democracy.

The Distinguishing Features of Latin America's New Left in Power: The Governments of Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, and Rafael Correa

By Steve Ellner - Latin American Perspectives, Jan 17th 2012

Most political analysts place the governments of Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia) and Rafael Correa (Ecuador) in the same category but without defining their common characteristics. However there is a need to go beyond the rhetoric of many of the left’s detractors and defenders, and to examine the wide range of similarities in order to determine just how new the new left is.

Venezuela: The Threat of a Good Example?

By Eva Golinger, Jan 13th 2012

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (left) meeting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Caracas this week (archive).

Washington has made no secret of its disdain for Venezuela’s President Chavez and mass media have turned a democratic leader into a dictatorship. Does Venezuela really represent a threat to the United States or is the hype just an excuse for regime change?

Another Way is Possible: Fair Trade, Cooperation and Solidarity

By Nick Hoskyns, David McKnight , Jan 13th 2012

The ALBA alliance has been important for developing a highly successful literacy program in Nicaragua (Jenny Mathews)

Current events and discussion on the crisis in the Eurozone and more globally, have raised interesting questions of democratic deficit, sovereignty over economic policy and whether countries can work co-operatively together to improve economic and social development. Yet in Latin America, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our America (ALBA) agreement between progressive governments is showing a positive alternative, that puts people first.

Iran and Venezuela Have More in Common than the West Thinks

By Hugh O'Shaughnessy, The Guardian UK, Jan 12th 2012

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (left) and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (Prensa Presidencial).

The arrival of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Venezuelan capital Caracas on Sunday was an interesting but minor item in the process of what has become known as "south-south relations". It will strengthen western myth-makers – the same ones who brought us Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction – on the story of Venezuela as a modern day Cave of the 40 Thieves with Hugo Chávez cast as the wicked and wily Ali Baba.

Why Latin America Calls on Philosophers

By Santiago Zabala - Al Jazeera, Jan 10th 2012

At the sixth International Forum of Philosophy in Maracaibo, Venezuela,philosophers from four continents were invited to discuss "State, Revolution and the Construction of Hegemony". What is interesting is the institutional significance that is given to philosophy in the region.