Venezuela's right-wing attack Alan Woods

The extensive article of the Marxist.com editor Alan Woods entitled "Where is the Venezuelan Revolution Going?" has caught the attention of thousands of people in Venezuela and around the world. In the ranks of the PSUV and the Bolivarian movement it has been met with an enthusiastic response for its Marxist standpoint, but on the other side it has raised the hatred of the Venezuelan bourgeoisie and their political spokespeople.

While we await a response from Alan Woods to the calumnies of the right wing, we provide our readers with links to articles, videos and notes, so that they can see with their own eyes the level of distortion and manipulation of these defenders of Big Business.

On November 4, at a press conference, Ramón Muchacho, leader of Primero Justicio, said Alan Woods was the "principal ideological advisor and personal friend" of President Chavez, adding that the article explains the current path being taken by the government with the latest expropriations. The video can be seen here (in Spanish): Part I and Part II.

This press conference was broadcast by Globovisión (the biggest opposition TV-station in Venezuela) and reflected in Internet and printed media: In El Nacional, Últimas Noticias, Correo de Orinoco (download PDF, page 8), Noticias24, Diario El Progreso (Bolívar), NotiActual.

Subsequently there are a number of right-wing writers who have repeated the allegations that Alan Woods is the "chief ideologist of the government." Among the comments published in El Universal (one of the most influential newspapers of Venezuela) is one of María Teresa Romero and another by Elides J. Rojas. As a result of these comments, the editors of the digital version of El Universal decided to upload the entire text of Alan's original article to their website. A further comment repeating the lies was made by Victor J. Q. Gonzalez in En Oriente.

The attacks of the bourgeoisie are not limited to Venezuela. On November 18, an article appeared (in English) in The Economist which stated that:

"Mr Chávez seems to be following the advice of Alan Woods, a Welsh Trotskyist who has become an informal adviser. Mr Woods, who is better known in Caracas than Cardiff, publicly urged the president to respond to his electoral setback by “accelerating the revolutionary process”, expropriating land, banks and the main industries."

Source: Lucha de Clases (Venezuela)