Analysis: Law and Justice

The Judicial Coup Advances

ewan — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:30:51 +0000

Luis Britto Garcia

Venezuelan writer and lawyer Luis Britto Garcia explores how opposition leader Henrique Capriles hopes to use international judicial bodies to challenge the 14 April presidential election, and predicts that “a grave judicial battle is brewing”.

Venezuela: ‘We spend more, in order to gain more’

chris — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 02:18:06 +0000

Jody McIntyre - New Internationalist

The deep social changes are described to me as ‘the process’. Governments that came before the election of Hugo Chàvez in 1998 are grouped as ‘the Fourth Republic’. Venezuelans, now living in the Fifth Republic, do not want those days to return.

We’re Not Going to Allow Shortages or Messing with Prices

ewan — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 02:39:31 +0000

Ciudad CCS / Consuelo Cerrada

The Venezuelan government continues its fight against price speculation, hoarding and sporadic shortages of certain products. Venezuelanalysis.com translates this interview with the president of Indepabis, the government’s consumer protection body charged with inspecting businesses and ensuring that companies abide by laws on price controls and other measures to guarantee the population’s access to goods and services.

We Need a Mass Movement to Push For the Law Against Forgetting

ewan — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 17:46:41 +0000

C. Hernandez / C. Melendez - CIUDAD CCS

“We need a mass movement to lead the struggle to demand justice for the crimes of the Pacto de Punto Fijo era (1958-1998),” says parliamentarian Fernando Soto Rojas in this interview with Venezuelan daily Ciudad CCS.

“Those Who Do Their Job Shouldn’t Fear Inspection”: Interview with Venezuela’s “Inspector”, Admiral Carmen Meléndez

ewan — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 22:59:42 +0000

C. Hernandez / C. Melendez - Ciudad CCS

Tired of hearing that public works and government projects are not functioning like they should, President Hugo Chavez has given instructions for Carmen Melendez to do on-site supervisions and to bring back the names of those responsible. The very possibility her visiting public institutions suspected of inefficiency will send some into a panic, and make others tremble.

Terrorist Accomplice Supports Venezuelan Opposition Candidate

ewan — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 15:33:40 +0000

Jean-Guy Allard – Correo del Orinoco International

Ricardo Koesling, the leader of opposition political party Piedra (“Rock” in English) who declared “we’ll use bullets, fists, kicks, everything we’ve got, to force the Chavistas out” and publicly reiterated his ongoing support for right-wing candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski, just happens to be the top Caraca sbased boss of Miami’s Cuban- American Mafia and the Venezuelan link in Luis Posada Carriles’ international terrorist network.

Open Borders and Open Hearts: How the Venezuelan State Addresses its Population of Colombian Refugees

ewan — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 00:34:23 +0000

Stephanie Kennedy

Stephanie Kennedy analyses the Venezuelan state’s response to the influx of refugees resulting from Colombia’s on-going internal conflict, and the experience of Colombians upon arrival in Venezuela.

Citizen Security from a Leftist Perspective: International Conference in Venezuela

ewan — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:19:40 +0000

Rachael Boothroyd - Correo del Orinoco International

Founded in 2009, the UNES was conceived of as a totally new way of training police officers and reforming policing methods. The proposal of the UNES in itself is incredible, but also somewhat daunting. In short, to fundamentally transform the power relationship between the police and society.

The Latest Howlers From Human Rights Watch on Venezuela

ewan — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 14:01:46 +0000

Joe Emersberger

Predictably, election season in Venezuela has come with yet another voluminous report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) that mostly rehashes the debunked claims of its 2008 report.

Violence and Other Questions

tamara — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:37:05 +0000

Silvio Rodriguez – Cubadebate

Cuban revolutionary singer Silvio Rodriguez provides a brief analysis of the roots of violence in Venezuela.

Insecurity in Venezuela: a Class Issue

tamara — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 00:24:01 +0000

Euler Calzadilla - CMI Venezuela

This article conveys the position of the Venezuelan sector of the Internatioanl Marxist Current (CMI) on the issue of crime, analysising the root causes of it, and criticising the limits of the Bolivarian government's response.

One Year in Prison: Letter from Julian Conrado to the People

ewan — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:43:53 +0000

Julian Conrado

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) member and protest Julian Conrado singer sends a message from a year in prison after his capture by Venezuelan authorities in May 2011. The Colombian government has requested his extradition.

A Personal Account of Land Occupations in Barquisimeto

ewan — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 00:28:18 +0000

Jacob Foucault

Jacob Foucault writes his personal experience of a grassroots land occupation in a wealthy area of the city of Barquisimeto, in Lara state to the west of Venezuela.

Chavez Speaks About Julian Conrado: “Let’s not Repeat the Granda Affair”

ewan — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 23:22:03 +0000

Kaos en la Red - Indira Carpio Olivo and Ernesto J. Navarro

Following a question from a journalist with RCN Colombia, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez commented on the case of Julian Conrado, a protest singer and FARC member who was apprehended a year ago in Venezuela by Venezuelan authorities. Colombian authorities want him extradited to Colombia.

Judge and be Judged

ewan — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:45:57 +0000

Luis Britto Garcia - Correo del Orinoco International

Acclaimed author and intellectual Luis Britto Garcia provides a critical look at international attempts to discredit the Venezuelan judiciary.

Chapter by Chapter Summary of Venezuela’s New Labour Law

tamara — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:01:25 +0000

Venezuelanalysis.com

Venezuelanalysis.com brings readers this detailed, chapter by chapter summary of the new Organic Law of Work and Workers (LOTTT), a law which has been under discussion in both the national assembly and by workers and movements since 2003. The law contains 554 articles.

Venezuela’s New Labour Law: Promoting Mutual Parental Responsibility

ewan — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:28:01 +0000

Lady Gomez - Ciudad CCS

Venezuelan newspaper Ciudad CCS explores how the country's new Labour Law will improve the labour rights of parents and promote a greater role for fathers in the upbringing of their children.

Adriana Gregson: We Must De-mystify the Pathology of Crime in Adolescents

Rachael — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 01:04:16 +0000

Adriana Gregson and Akaida Libertad Orozco Díaz - Encontrarte

In this interview, Adriana Gregson talks about the pilot initiative which she set up at a young offenders' institute in Caracas. The project, which was set up with government funding, allows incarcerated youths to produce radio programmes with a political content for the community.

Impunity for Venezuela's Big Landowners

Rachael — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:02:48 +0000

Joe Emersberger and Jeb Sprague

In this piece, Joe Emersberger and Jeb Sprague discuss filmaker Edward Ellis' documentary "Tierras Libres". The documentary explores the assassinations of peasant-activists killed by hired assassins for trying to implement the government's land reform project and their families' quest for justice within a judicial system that is still controlled in large part by the national elite.

Security in Venezuela: Between State Politics and Political Manipulation

ewan — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:11:16 +0000

Jesse Chacon, Rebelion

We’ve seen in previous articles how political manipulation of the issue of security attempts to show an increase in murders as a specific factor of the Bolivarian revolution. However, we can see how violence has been dramatically increasing for a long time now, since the opposition of today was the government

A Summary of a Massive Financial Fraud Campaign Against the Venezuelan State and People

juan — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:22:11 +0000

Arturo Rosales - Axis of Logic

As a political actor against the Venezuelan government mainly via its editorials Veneconomy has just published a shameful piece trying to justify the actions of stockbrokers who did irreparable damage to the Venezuelan economy since exchange controls were imposed on January 17th 2003.

Anti-Corruption Laws Ban Opposition Candidate from Ofﬁce; Inter-American Court Intervenes

juan — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:38:28 +0000

Correo del Orinoco

This week Venezuela’s top legal ofﬁcial reiterated his assertion that any decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) must respect the country’s "constitutionally-based judicial order" in the case of Leopoldo Lopez, the opposition politician barred from holding public ofﬁce for acts of corruption and administrative irregularities.

Communes in Caracas: Communal Organization Includes the City

juan — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:05:44 +0000

Karla Ron - Ciudad CCS

Among the aims of community organization is that of building the communal State, where power is exercised directly by the people, through self-government, with an economic model of social property and endogenous development.

WikiLeaks: How the U.S. Shot Down a Czech-Venezuelan Plane Deal

juan — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:28:04 +0000

Chris Johnstone - Czechposition.com

A Czech-built plane, which featured in the James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies,” was subject to frantic US diplomatic activity to block a lease deal with the leftist Venezuelan regime of Hugo Chávez, according to US diplomatic cables over recent years published last week by WikiLeaks.

The Criminalisation of the Popular Struggle: An Interview with Félix Martínez

Rachael — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 03:50:38 +0000

Aporrea.org and Félix Martínez

In this interview, Martínez discusses the recently formed "Committee Against the Criminalisation of the Popular Struggle", in reference to the attacks and murders carried out against social activists, often with impunity.

Revolutionary Vignettes. Part 3: Chirino and Chomsky, Ultraleft and Bourgeois Critics of the Bolivarian Revolution

juan — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:37:24 +0000

Jorge Martín - In Defence of Marxism

While I was in Venezuela a number of comrades asked me about some manifesto against “Chavez's attacks on trade union rights” and also about the controversy over a letter Noam Chomsky had signed which the bourgeois media had used in their campaign in defence of “human rights” in Venezuela.

US: $20 Million for the Venezuelan Opposition in 2012

juan — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:23:53 +0000

Eva Golinger - Postcards from the Revolution

Since Hugo Chavez won his first presidential elections in 1998, the US government has been trying to remove him from power. With multimillion-dollar investments, every year Washington’s agencies advise and aid anti-Chavez groups with their campaigns and strategies against the government.

Remembering Injustice: Venezuelan Activist Jorge Rodriguez Assassinated by Government Forces in 1976

juan — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:36:26 +0000

Correo del Orinoco International

This week Venezuelans commemorated the life and legacy of Jorge Antonio Rodriguez, the popular socialist leader brutally murdered on 25 July 1976 by forces loyal to then president Carlos Andres Perez (Democratic Action, or AD).

Revolutionary Doctors: How Venezuela and Cuba Are Changing the World’s Conception of Health Care

juan — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:57:33 +0000

Steve Brouwer - Monthly Review Press

Revolutionary Doctors, a new book published by Monthly Review Press, gives readers a first-hand account of Venezuela’s innovative and inspiring program of community health care, designed to serve—and largely carried out by—the poor themselves. Drawing on long-term participant observations as well as in-depth research, author Steve Brouwer tells the story of Venezuela’s Integral Community Medicine program, in which doctor-teachers move into the countryside and poor urban areas to recruit and train doctors from among peasants and workers.

Chomsky: Good Intentions, but Wrong on Facts in Case of Judge Afiuni

Rachael — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 15:52:32 +0000

Edward Ellis - Correo del Orinoco International

Academic life in the United States can be very agreeable. The life of a professional scholar normally implies good pay, not overly strenuous hours and job security. Do your job, don’t make too many waves and enjoy the ride into a solid upper-middle class retirement. Perhaps it’s the fear of threatening this comfortable existence that has kept so many intellectuals over the years in the US from taking up causes of social justice... A glaring exception to this trend, of course, has been the MIT linguistics professor Noam Chomsky.