Objective: Venezuela

The main objective of the United States and conservatives in Latin America is the overthrow of Hugo Chavez and annihilation of the Bolivarian Revolution, by any means necessary.

The behavior of the Venezuelan leader has been critical in mobilizing various revolutionaries and progressives who have joined together — including members of the Bolivarian Alliance for Our America (ALBA), Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay — and in fostering regional unity and integration; liquidating ALCA [Free Trade Area of the Americas]; creating agencies, such as UNASUR [Union of South American Nations] and even ALBA itself; and the utilization of petroleum as an instrument of social justice and solidarity. In addition, one should consider the far-reaching economic collaboration and complementarity of Caracas and Havana; Venezuela came to the rescue of the Cuban revolution during the most difficult period in the 1980s and continues to be vital to the island and the solidarity of the duo in Latin America.

The election of Chavez to the Venezuelan presidency in December 1998 marked the first time in which the popular Latin American rebellion defeated neo-liberalism and influenced the surge of other movements, not always as radical as that of Venezuela, but whose common denominator was rejection of Washington Consensus politics. The U.S. and local oligarchs have always opposed this trend, but it was not until recently that they took an offensive position against progressive governments and popular forces in Latin America. This began with Yankee-Uribista aggression against territorial Ecuadorian sovereignty in 2008, and continued with the coup-d’état and intense militarization in Honduras.

The Eighth ALBA Summit, which took place in Havana in December 2009, condemned “the political and military offensive of the United States toward the Latin American and Caribbean region, manifested primarily by the treaties initiated with nations of the region to establish military bases … the gravest threat to peace, security and stability in Latin America.”

Destruction of the Bolivarian Revolution is a priority, in addition to the causes already mentioned, because of the abundant energy resources of Venezuela, greedily coveted by Washington and its allies. Clearly demonstrated by the conduct of the media pack that attacks all progressive governments, Venezuela is targeted with singular fury and intensity. It is truly amazing to see the complete absence of professional ethics in the treatment of Venezuela by media sources such as CNN, El País, the Washington Post and their international and Venezuelan counterparts.

The provision of military bases and the deployment of Yankee troops to Central America and the Caribbean, all the way to South America — particularly after the agreement to install seven bases in Colombia (now demolished for a year by agreement of that country’s Constitutional Court), together with those in Aruba and Curacao — provides strong evidence that they are essentially against Venezuela, subject, of course, to act at any moment against governments like those of Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua.

The U.S. has deployed diverse forms of conflict against the Bolivarian Revolution: lockouts, coup d’états, petroleum strikes, recalls, protests, mobilization of middle-class students, hoarding by private food companies, all sprinkled with a lot of money for the counterrevolution. The weapon of choice in recent times, in view of the September 26 election, is an intensification of the vicious media campaign inside and outside Venezuela: taking out of context genuine security problems, which are decades in the making and likely exacerbated by outside forces, for which government efforts find no short-term solution.

Washington will continue to try other forms of subversion. The dangerous recourse of assassination remains, but it will leave the military option for last. In addition, setbacks in Iraq and Afghanistan and preparations against Iran make it difficult to open a war front for now in Latin America.

For now, winning two-thirds of the legislative seats on September 26 is crucial to prevent a serious revolutionary setback in Venezuelan and for the independence of Latin America.