Dear VA readers,
If 2019 had been a challenging year for Venezuela, 2020 somehow managed to surpass it. Electricity blackouts, a border standoff and a coup attempt gave way to a paramilitary invasion attempt, a global pandemic, and now, parliamentary elections this December 6. But there has been one constant: devastating US sanctions.
Hell bent on regime change, Washington has levied ever more crippling unilateral measures to strangle the Venezuelan economy. The sanctions, which have been denounced as “collective punishment,” have imposed severe hardship, from fuel and medicine shortages to a breakdown of public services, handicapping any efforts at economic recovery. Hardest hit is the country’s working-class black and indigenous majority, overwhelmingly concentrated in the informal sector. Simply put, Venezuelans can’t breathe!
But Venezuelans are not alone. In nearby Colombia, Haiti, and Chile, people have been rising up against murderous neoliberal client regimes backed by Washington, while the US Empire has itself been rocked by the George Floyd rebellion against white supremacist police terror.
Across the hemisphere, the US imperial “policeman” has relied on a loyal Western corporate media ever eager to whitewash its asphyxiating violence – whether at home or abroad – and that of its local proxies.
Let Venezuela breathe! Support Venezuelanalysis' independent, on-the-ground coverage! (Venezuelanalysis / Utopix)
And here is where alternative media like Venezuelanalysis come in. For seventeen years, we have stood firm against the corporate media propaganda war, never ceasing to platform the voices of the Bolivarian grassroots. Against all odds, Venezuelan popular movements continue to organize and resist, and we at VA remain as committed as ever to defending the Venezuelan people’s right to life, dignity, and self-determination.
But we need your support! Independent of government or corporate backers, our on-the-ground coverage relies 100% on contributions from readers like you. A $10, 20 or 30 a month contribution goes a long way to sustain our grassroots independent journalism. No donation is too small!
In solidarity,
Cira, Manuela, Paul, Ricardo, Jeanette, Katrina, Lucas, Rachael and Greg for the VA team