Venezuelanalysis

#News | Heading the Venezuelan delegation was Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez who criticized the application of sanctions and the economic blockade imposed on Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, detailing the severe impact of US and EU sanctions and calling for them to be lifted. The CELAC bloc also disagreed with the EU’s unilateral decision to invite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to give an address. Leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean have been hesitant to wade directly into the Russia-Ukraine conflict, despite heavy lobbying by European leaders. Leaders from the region such as Brazil’s Lula da Silva have sharply criticized Europe’s arming of Ukraine, calling instead for a negotiated peace agreement in order to end hostilities as soon as possible. Zelensky was ultimately not allowed to address the summit, nonetheless, EU officials sought a clear condemnation of Russia in their final communiqué but were unsuccessful in achieving consensus between all states. https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15809

The wisdom and creative powers of the people never cease to amaze: Venezuelan grassroots collectives held a congress to advance democracy and sovereignty within their territories and build their own pathway toward a more just society.

#News | Roszarubezhneft is reportedly in conversations with Venezuelan oil authorities to strike a deal similar to the one PDVSA has with Chevron in order to take control of crude exports from its five joint ventures in the South American country. https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15808

#News | A coalition of grassroots collectives held a demonstration on Friday in Caracas in defense of labor rights. The so-called Popular Front in Defense of Salaries (Spanish acronym Frenpodes), which brings together a number of leftist Chavista organizations, organized the mobilization to deliver a writ of amparo before the Venezuelan Supreme Court. The document requests that Venezuela’s maximum judicial authority take action on two matters pertaining to working-class wages. “We, as a group of popular, leftist, class-based organizations, decided that we needed to reclaim these flags, which are at the heart of Chavismo.” https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15807

#Interview | Hegemonic feminist currents focus on patriarchal oppression, but racialized forms of oppression seldom enter their discourse. Merlyn Pirela is a Venezuelan Afrofeminist activist and organizer, and a member of the Afro-Venezuelan Women’s Cumbe. In Part I of this two-part interview, Pirela explores the historical forms of oppression and domination, and the Afro-Venezuelan struggle for emancipation. https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15806

#Opinion | In the past six years, US foreign policy towards Venezuela can be encapsulated in one word: sanctions. There have been other aspects to it, like the propping up of a self-proclaimed “interim government.” But economic coercive measures have been front and center, both in terms of their widespread use and their impact on the Venezuelan people. The calls for sanctions relief have grown steadily in recent months, from multilateral organizations, some Democratic officials and even foreign policy experts. The first group points to the collective punishment of Venezuelan civilians, the second to the pressure on US borders from increased migration, and the third argues that the policies have “failed.” It is worth laying out what this “failure” entails. US policies have certainly failed in their primary declared goal of triggering regime change and ousting the Bolivarian Revolution. But from a broader perspective, sanctions are generating some very significant long-term consequences that have begun to take shape in recent months. https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/15805

Iván Márquez, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia Segunda Marquetalia, reportedly died Friday in a Caracas hospital. "The information provided by the group is that he died in a hospital in Caracas, where he received medical attention for serious injuries suffered in an attack in Venezuela at the end of June 2022," a source close to the Segunda Marquetalia told Reuters. Neither Colombian nor Venezuelan officials have confirmed his death. The guerrilla commander, whose legal name was Luciano Marín Arango, was a seasoned leader within the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People’s Army (FARC-EP) and a member of its secretariat. Márquez was also the lead negotiator for the rebel organization in peace talks with the Colombian government held in Cuba and facilitated by Venezuela. The FARC-EP eventually reached an agreement with the government of then President Juan Manuel Santos in 2016, leading to the demobilization of the rebel organization’s forces under the supervision of the United Nations. https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15804

#News | Six corporations are set to join a court-ordered auction of CITGO shares following a recent judicial ruling. On Friday, the Third Circuit concluded that Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA is the country’s “alter ego,” and thus liable for its debts. The measure exposes PDVSA’s US-based subsidiary CITGO to corporations looking to enforce international arbitration awards over assets nationalized by the Venezuelan state. The court confirmed an earlier ruling from a Delaware District Court, rejecting an appeal from the Venezuelan opposition-control ad hoc PDVSA board that argued that the country’s “political turmoil” should warrant an outcome different than a 2019 decision that established the alter ego. “Because reviewing PDVSA's other arguments would stretch the limited grant of our appellate jurisdiction [...] we decline the invitation and will affirm the district court's judgment," the Third Circuit’s three-judge panel stated. It is unknown at the time whether there will be a further appeal filed before the Supreme Court. https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15803

#News | The Venezuelan Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) have launched a large-scale operation to clear out the Yapacana National Park, in Amazonas state, from illegal mining and other criminal activities. According to official reports, almost 2,000 miners have been evicted since last month from the Yapacana area under “Operation Autana 2023.” On Monday, the armed forces seized equipment and material such as engines, fuel, 195 motor pumps, 18 electric generators, and destroyed 130 improvised housing and storage structures. "They [the illegal miners] have been evicted voluntarily and their wellbeing attended to. They understood that nothing will prevail over environmental rights," FANB General Domingo Hernández Lárez told the press. On June 30, 800 illegal miners were evicted from the "Mina Nueva" sector where the FANB dismantled four camps with mining equipment, mercury, and explosives. Only a week prior, another camp was destroyed near the area containing almost three kilos of liquid mercury and 292,000 Colombian pesos. Authorities also arrested 25-year-old Wilfredo Alexánder Yaramare Esteves over alleged links to criminal organizations based in Inírida, Colombia. “Operation Autana 2023” was launched following Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s order to root out illegal mining from national parks in the Venezuelan Amazon region, which expands across the Amazonas, Bolívar, and Delta Amacuro states, south of the country. https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15802

The Venezuelan people celebrated 212 years of independence with a colorful civic-military parade as well as other ceremonies and cultural events around the country. "Venezuela continues to stand up, with dignity and without kneeling to empires", said President Nicolás Maduro from the Paseo de los Próceres in Caracas. On 5 July 1811, Venezuela's First National Congress approved and signed the Declaration of Independence, breaking away from the Spanish Crown and establishing the First Republic based on a range of premises including equality and freedom of expression. The independence movement began on April 19, 1810, when the Venezuelan people demanded the resignation of Captain General of Venezuela Vicente Emparan. This was followed by the Venezuelan Independence War (1810-1823) and preceded by three centuries of indigenous resistance and slave rebellions against the colonizers.