Venezuela: for a class position – statement by Lucha de Clases and Junta Patriótica de Salvación on the political crisis

Below, we publish a joint statement issued by Lucha de Clases (Venezuelan section of the RCI) and Junta Patriótica de Salvación, on the current political crisis in Venezuela. In this statement, we put forward a class position in the face of government authoritarianism and the false democratic disguise that the pro-imperialist right wing is trying to flaunt today.

[Originally published in Spanish at luchadeclases.org.ve]

Before 28 July, the working people were torn between choosing between maintaining the ongoing disaster of Maduro’s government, at the service of the nouveau riche in the PSUV; and an ultra-liberal, pro-privatisation option, under the leadership of the traditional bourgeoisie and their imperialist masters. Both options represented two sides of the same coin, the continuation of the cuts and austerity for the working masses, making workers pick up the bill for the crisis of Venezuelan capitalism.

At the end of the electoral process, the CNE declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner without publishing the tally sheets of each polling station, according to the parameters established by law. The CNE and the state officials have consistently claimed to have been the subject of cyber-attacks, but have suspended the planned audits that were supposed to provide evidence of such allegations. Maduro then filed a contentious appeal with the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) in an attempt to buy time.

On Monday 5 August, the CNE submitted the alleged voting records to the judiciary, for supposed evaluation behind closed doors, at the hands of an institution totally subordinated to Miraflores [the presidential palace]. Meanwhile, the pro-imperialist right wing has created a website where it has published more than 80 percent of the alleged voting tallies that show a victory for its candidate, Edmundo González. The dispute between the old and the new rich has opened a new institutional crisis that is plunging the country into a spiral of conflict, from which the working people have nothing to gain.

US imperialism has declared their puppet, María Corina Machado, as the winner. Their position has been replicated by several Latin American governments that are subordinate to its interests. It has also signalled through its spokespersons that the patience of the United States and the international community is “wearing thin”. It is our duty to condemn these threats coming from the most reactionary power on Earth, that has a long track record of genocides, invasions and coups. Its plan is to plunder our natural resources on an even wider scale, and impose on us a dictatorship of its banks and multinationals.

After the issuing of the first results bulletin by the CNE, people in neighbourhoods and impoverished areas expressed their discontent in what was clearly a popular uprising. Unlike the reactionary guarimbas [barricades] of 2014 and 2017 – which were always concentrated in upper middle class neighbourhoods – on 29 July, Venezuela’s poor took to the streets to reject a result they did not recognise. The government’s brutal anti-people austerity policies, combined with repression and repeal of democratic rights, has pushed a majority of the poor into the arms of the rancid right wing.

This is a reality that cannot be hidden. Popular discontent has taken an important qualitative leap, and the consequences of this will largely determine the course of events. It is necessary to separate the massive popular protest of 29 July from the expressions of vandalism, looting and destruction that followed as a result of the infiltration of elements of the lumpenproletariat, which distorted the initial character of the demonstrations. In addition, there have been murders and hate crimes against pro-Maduro popular activists, which we categorically reject.

The government didn't hesitate in its repressive deployment of police and paramilitary police groups / Image: Confidencial, Wikimedia Commons

The government didn't hesitate in its repressive deployment of police and paramilitary police groups, resulting in 24 deaths and dozens of wounded, as well as more than 2,000 arrests in less than a week. The government has regained control of the situation on the streets for the time being. Since then, Caracas neighbourhoods in particular have been under police and paramilitary patrols and surveillance. Repressive state forces are raiding homes and arresting protesters without warrants. In many cases, the authorities do not report where the detainees are being held, preventing their families from immediately locating them. The detainees are being prosecuted for hate crimes and terrorism, without allowing them the legitimate right to legal defence and review of their files. The President of the Republic has announced that the detainees will be transferred to the prisons of Tocuyito and Tocorón, marking an a priori condemnatory remarks that ignore the principle of presumption of innocence. In addition, he has encouraged the PSUV rank and file to denounce their neighbours through a window in the VenApp application, which we strongly condemn.

We strongly condemn all violations of the democratic rights of the people in these neighbourhoods, repression, arbitrary arrests and raids, violations of due process, and charges against more than 2,000 people who are about to be convicted of serious crimes in trials riddled with flaws. It is our duty to demand the immediate release of all arbitrarily detained citizens and the annulment of the judicial proceedings against them.

At all times, the parties of the pro-imperialist bourgeoisie have distanced themselves from the protests in the neighbourhoods and popular areas, showing their fear of the initiative of the poor masses and the possibility of being overtaken by them. They have backed the statement of Fedecámaras, in which the country's largest employers’ association implores these peaceful protesters not to disrupt their businesses. The right wing has not said a word about the arbitrary arrests in the barrios and has limited itself to denouncing the arrests of witnesses or leaders of PUD parties [PUD, Democratic Unitary Platform, is an alliance of opposition parties]. This tells us all we need to know about the anti-working class character of these reactionaries.

Due to exceptional circumstances, today they enjoy the undeserved electoral support of millions of workers and the poor, which they have clearly betrayed with their silence.

The organisations presenting this statement believe it necessary to put forward a consistent class position, dissociating ourselves categorically from both the traditional right wing – which hopes to regain power to unleash all the revanchist anger of reaction, not only against Chavistas, but also against the whole of the working people – and also from government authoritarianism, which has led us into this impasse. We do not believe in the false ‘democratic’ disguise of a right wing that in the past organised repeated coups d'état in Venezuela, called for invasion by foreign military forces, and promoted financial sanctions against its own country. But we also repudiate the false talk of victimhood by the same government that has pulverised wages and labour rights, ended trade union freedom, aligned itself with the interests of the big landowners, bureaucratically suffocated all instances of popular participation, plundered the public treasury for the benefit of the PSUV's layer of nouveau riche, and emanates a conservative, anti-rights line, while negotiating with Fedecámaras, Consecomercio and Conindustria.

We demand that the will of the majority of the people expressed at the ballot box be respected, while calling for maximum distrust of the pro-imperialist right wing. The complete independence of the working class is necessary, in order to fight the authoritarianism of the government with its own demands. While we demand the restitution of the democratic rights violated in the last period, we call on the workers of the city and the countryside to organise to win better wages and labour rights, for quality public services, for the right to land for the peasants, and for education and decent jobs for the youth. Only the struggle and organisation of all the oppressed will open the way to a better future.

At present, dialogue scenarios are opening up under the auspices of the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. If they materialise, the right wing and the government would negotiate the future of the country behind the backs of and to the detriment of the working people. For this reason, we reject and ignore all negotiations behind closed doors. Enough with the national and international elites controlling our destiny!

The absence of the political subjective factor representing the interests of the workers and the people has prevented the oppressed classes from defending and positioning their interests in society. We openly call for the construction of a revolutionary alternative, which is capable of uniting the forces of the working class and the people to defeat the old and the new rich, and to build a society that guarantees the satisfaction of the needs of the majority. All workers, peasants, communards and consistent revolutionaries willing to join us in this great endeavour are called upon to participate. We call on the Chavista people who today feel betrayed to support us in this titanic task, which will be the only one that guarantees that the interests of the poor of the country will not continue to be trampled upon. We must only rely on our own strength.

Respect for democratic rights and full freedom for the protesters!

Respect for the majority will of the people!

Maximum distrust of the pro-imperialist bourgeoisie!

Whoever governs, rights are defended!

No to the dialogue of elites!

Let us build the revolutionary alternative!