The repudiable attack on the National Assembly by armed groups, before the passive glance of the Bolivarian National Guard, is a fact that aggravates the already deep Venezuelan political crisis. While Maduro “condemned” the aggression, Congressman Diosdado Cabello, of the PSUV, claimed that these and “future actions that will be in newspaper headlines”.
We repudiate this action that corroborates the anti-democratic, repressive, and reactionary course of this government, which not anti-democratic National Assembly but also represses workers and their organizations, the youth and students, the neighbors who suffer raids and destruction of their homes, and all the popular sectors that have protested against the very serious crisis that we suffer.
The permanent onslaught of democratic freedoms by the government is carried out through repressive agencies such as the National Police and GNB, but also through gangs composed mostly of armed lumpen that benefit from total impunity; we should add the action of the OLHP and the Tun-Tun operation implemented by SEBIN, which arrests activist and opposition militants, without the least respect for due process.Additionally, other organizations, such as the CNE and the TSJ, prevent any kind of popular expression by refusing to call for regional elections. The gross maneuvers to prevent the recall referendum last year, the indefinite suspension of elections in important trade union organizations such as SIDOR in Guayana, INPSASEL, or the Petroleum National Federation in ALCASA, more recently – among others, clearly show that this government, beyond its speech, has a systematic plan to prevent the expression of the opposition.
Additionally, other organizations, such as the CNE and the TSJ, prevent any kind of popular expression by refusing to call for regional elections. The gross maneuvers to prevent the recall referendum last year, the indefinite suspension of elections in important trade union organizations such as SIDOR in Guayana, INPSASEL, or the Petroleum National Federation in ALCASA, more recently – among others, clearly show that this government, beyond its speech, has a systematic plan to prevent the expression of the opposition.
Maduro without popular support
The call for a fraudulent Constituent Assembly is nothing more than a desperate action to try to regroup some of its demoralized forces and try to legitimize a government that has lost its base of popular support. The vast majority of the population blames this government for this situation and wants Maduro out.
All indicators of poverty, illiteracy, child and maternal mortality, job loss and insecurity have grown. The poverty of the working people is measured by the cost of the basic food basket: $1,450,000 Bolivars, when the salary, including the food subsidy, reaches only 250 thousand, taking into account the recently announced salary increase. This is why a majority sector of the population also rejects the Constituent Assembly as an exit to the economic, political, and social crisis, and thinks that the government must leave. This is why the people are in the streets.
The government conceals its policy to get out of the crisis: will it continue paying the foreign debt with hunger, medicine shortage, and poverty wages? Will it create joint ventures to hand over basic industry companies to Chinese or Russian multinationals and, why not, the US? Will it give them special economic zones, without trade unions and labor laws, to over exploit the workers? What does the government propose? Not a word. Surely hidden in the resolutions of the fraudulent Constituent, among “socialist” and “anti-imperialist” speeches, they will find “free hands” to act and adjust even more.
The MUD can not be the way out of the crisis
The MUD has mounted on social discontent and the desire for change to direct such anger towards an electoral exit, trying to negotiate an agreement to get out of the crisis. But the polarization has been hindering a possible agreement. This is why it is increasingly difficult to reach an agreement with Maduro in power.
In order to weaken and delegitimize the Government’s Constituent Assembly, the National Assembly launched a “popular consultation” on July 16, 14 days before the Constituent Assembly. If they can assemble this consultation, they will surely get support from broad sectors.
From the UST, we do not encourage any expectation that a broad popular participation will guarantee, in the hands of the MUD, that the expectations and anxieties of change will materialize. On the contrary, it will help this political leadership to negotiate in better conditions.
To the thousands of young people who daily risk their lives or their freedom in the streets, we respectfully ask: what is the proposal of the political leaders of the opposition organized in the MUD to get out of the crisis? Will they continue to pay off the fraudulent foreign debt? Will they repatriate the flight capital? Will they investigate businessmen who received cheap dollars and took them abroad or to the black market? Will basic industries be privatized, leaving thousands upon thousands of unemployed workers? What will be the future of you, as young people? Will they further devalue the bolivar, unleashing more inflation? Who will pay for the cheap dollar party that all businessmen enjoyed: workers and popular sectors? Neither does MUD say a word about how they intend to get out of this crisis.
From the UST we denounce the government, the PSUV, and the opposition of the MUD of hiding their proposals and we say: both will seek to make us, the working people, pay even more for the crisis that we are already suffering. There should be no confidence in this leadership.
For a workers’ and poor people’s exit to this brutal crisis
As socialist, we will continue to insist that it is the workers, with their own flags and organizations and from below, that must organize a great national struggle to oust Maduro.
Only then we’ll be able to fight for a real emergency economic plan, at the service of the workers and the country. Among other points, we propose: IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF FOREIGN DEBT PAYMENT; money for living wages; food, medicine, health, and education; investigation of the foreign debt and Chinese, Russian, and multinational loans; investment in land recovery to produce food; recover basic enterprises; no to the Mining Arch, Nationalization of all oil; end of joint ventures; full enjoyment of democratic freedoms: free elections, freedom to prisoners for protesting; investigation of all acts of violence and murder by a special commission composed of human rights organizations, workers, family members, and independent personalities. We repudiate attacks on trade unions, parties, and social and popular organizations. For the end of state intervention in trade unions: elections now! In all Unions and Federations; full freedom to elect the leaders without the intervention of the CNE or the TSJ; for a General Strike and a “Venezolanazo”, to kick out Maduro and rebuild the country. OUT WITH MADURO AND HIS GOVERNMENT OF HUNGER AND MISERY!
This Emergency Economic Plan can only be carried forward to the ultimate consequences by a government of the Workers and the poor people. This is what we fight for, and we call on all the workers to join us to carry out this struggle.Unidad Socialista de
Unidad Socialista de los Trabajadores (UST) – International Workers’ League (IWL-FI)
