Venezuela crisis intensifies with default

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women, LGBT people, national minorities, etc. We support the right of self-determination Socialist Action is a national organization of activists committed to the emancipation for oppressed nationalities, including Blacks, Chicanos, and Puerto Ricans. We are of workers and the oppressed. We strive to revitalize the antiwar, environmental, labor, internationalists, and hold that workers of one country have more in common with workers anti-racist, feminist, student, and other social movements with a mass-action perspective. of another than with their own nation’s capitalist class. We seek to link struggles across Recognizing the divisions that exist on the left and within the workers’ movement, we seek national boundaries, and to build an international revolutionary movement that will facilitate to form united front type organizations around specific issues where various groups have the sharing of experiences and political lessons. We maintain fraternal relations with the agreement. In this way we seek to maximize our impact and demonstrate the power and Socialist Action believes that the capitalist state and its institutions are instruments of the In the process we hope to bring activists together from different backgrounds into a ruling class, and that therefore they cannot be used as tools of the working class but have revolutionary workers’ party that can successfully challenge the wealthy elite—whose profit- to be smashed. That is why we fight for revolution. When we fight for specific reforms, we do so with the understanding that in the final analysis real social change can only come We are active partisans of the working class and believe in the need for independent about with the overthrow of capitalism, the establishment of a workers’ government, and the working-class politics—not alliances with the bosses’ parties. That is why we call for workers fight for socialism. Our ultimate goal is a truly democratic, environmentally sustainable, and in the U.S. to break from the Democratic and Republican parties to build a Labor Party egalitarian society organized to satisfy human needs rather than corporate greed. We invite Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly by Socialist Action Publishing Association, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610.

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Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of Socialist Action. These are expressed in editorials. Socialist Action is edited, Clip and mail to: Socialist Action newspaper, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610. C Venezuela in default after the country redit agency Standard & Poor has ruled missed $237 million in scheduled bond pay­ ments. This comes amidst an economic crisis with official inflation around 4000% and price increases well over 1000%. President Nicolás Maduro’s attempt to restructure is hindered by sanctions that stop U.S. banks from buying any of the resulting debt.

Maduro has undertaken a dramatic restruc­ turing at state-owned oil firm PDVSA. Gen­ eral Manuel Quevado now heads the firm, and more than 100 officials have been arrested on charges of corruption. Six executives at PD­ VSA’s U.S.-based refinery corporation CITGO have been detained, among them several U.S. citizens.

Maduro called for a “new oil revolution” as PDVSA’s output has declined from 2.4 million barrels per day (bpd) to 1.9 million bpd in the last year. Oil industry watchers have expressed fears that military control will lead to further drops in produc­ tion. Oil is Venezuela’s main export and source of hard currency for imports and debt payments.

There are constant shortages of basic goods. This has hit medicine particularly hard, as even antibiotics like penicillin are scarce. Birth control had previously been available for free as part of Venezuela’s social programs; now it is only found on the black market at outrageous markups.

Maduro and his supporters blame their woes on economic warfare against Venezuela. While there is a measure of hoarding, most of the shortages come from the combination of price controls and currency controls. Imports have stopped because the combina­ tion would require goods to be sold for less than they originally cost. Corn production has dropped 50% since 2008, with farmers unable to obtain seed or sell their product at a profit.

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Name Address City State Phone E-mail Criminality is endemic in today’s Venezuela. The country’s murder rate is 91.8 homicides per 100,000 population—compared to five in the United States. The situation is so desperate that the armed forces can no longer drive at night because soldiers are fre­ quently attacked for their weapons and money.

Maduro’s popularity is extremely low, around 23% in recent polls, but over 61% of Venezuelans oppose sanctions. Luckily for the ruling PSUV (United Social­ ist Party), the political opposition has fractured. The MUD (Democratic Unity Roundtable) coalition was split over participation in October’s regional elec­ tions, and PSUV won an unexpected 54% of votes.

Former governor Antonio Ledezma escaped house arrest and went to Spain by way of Colombia. Freddy Guevara of the Popular Will party asked the Chilean embassy for asylum. Democratic Action (AD), the larg­ est party in MUD, acted independently of its partners and accepted several posts from the controversial Na­ tional Constituent Assembly (ANC). Dialogue between the government and opposition is expected to contin­ Fourth International.

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Maduro has been relying more heavily on the armed forces to maintain control. Handing PDVSA over to the military is the “jewel in the crown” of the alli­ ance between the president and his generals. A new law prohibits social media postings that “promote fascism, intolerance or hate.” In recent days, Human Rights Watch has reported systemic torture of anti-government protesters. Maduro’s increasing authori­ tarianism follows the trend of populism in decline and raises frightening prospects for Venezuela’s future.

The Venezuelan revolution had high hopes under Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s predecessor, but it never went beyond using oil profits for social benefits. The economy remained capitalist, and Chávez leaned on the “Boliburguesía,” millionaires around the oil in­ dustry who were sympathetic to his project. He also continued to faithfully make payments on Venezuela’s foreign debt, a policy Maduro followed even as it de­ pleted the country’s cash reserves.

Chávez tried to have a revolution without following the example of the Russian and Cuban revolutions, nationalizing industry and land. This left capital in power over the Venezuelan economy. Oil profits were spent or sent abroad rather than invested in durable state industry and agriculture. This worked with high oil prices but led to economic crisis once they dropped. Organs of local democracy grew in good times, but the crisis has led to a dangerous turn to the military and repression.

A mass revolutionary socialist party committed to completing the Venezuelan revolution is the first step out of the crisis. It must organize the struggle against the economic crisis and replace the capitalist government with a workers state. Such a revolution could not be confined to Venezuela but would spread throughout Latin America and the world.

If Maduro’s regime falls to the pro-capitalist oppo­ sition, it will be a disaster for the Venezuelan people. PDVSA would be privatized and revenge exacted on workers and the poor. But there is danger that if workers do not take control of the country, Maduro’s regime, supported only by the military, will move further down the road of repression and authoritari­ anism. n For info about Socialist Action and how to join: Socialist Action National Office, P.O.

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