The Recall Vote is the latest tactic in the U.S.’s Dirty War on Venezuela

In their latest attempt to topple the democratically elected government of Venezuela, right-wing forces are mobilizing to revoke President Nicholas Maduro’s presidential mandate. Rallying behind far right politicians and sworn enemies of the Bolivarian government, Henrique Capriles and Freddy Guevara, opposition organizers are attempting to gather tens of thousands of signatures to recall Maduro and undo 17 years of revolution. Guevara today threatened to organize “a popular mobilization” if the National Electoral Council does not validate the signatures within five days.

This latest ploy must be seen within the context of a total war strategy that has been imposed against the Bolivarian government. The U.S.-backed opposition strategy includes a media war, a diplomatic war, an economic war, a political war and outright terrorist assassinations.

The moneyed interests of Venezuela will not stop until they can wrest power back from the Bolivarian government which has consistently fought for the empowerment of the poor for the first time in the nation’s history. What haunts the old ruling class are the social gains that the workers and peasants have made in the past seventeen years. Health care, pensions, food subsidies, higher education and the right to a 35 hour work week were once only the rights of a select few. Now the masses of Venezuelans enjoy these rights.

Imperialism — working around the clock through their collaborators within Venezuela — is employing a tried and true strategy against Venezuela, economic sabotage. Through hoarding — which leads to artificial shortages — inflation, smuggling and sanctions, the true economic power brokers foment chaos from without but make it appear as though the economic struggles are purely the responsibility of the current government. The terrorist Contra war and the ongoing 55 year blockade of Cuba were designed to do just that, destabilize nations that refused to do the U.S.’s bidding. What was unforgivable to empire was Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela’s sovereignty. The empire is sending a clear message: keel over, play by our rules and do business with us or we will crush you.

In a classic case of inverting reality, showing a flagrant disregard for the facts, the Obama administration continues to define Venezuela as a “national terrorist threat.” The exploited, underdeveloped country that has never invaded anyone is a threat to an empire that has invaded Latin American over 200 times in the past 150 years? Obama’s hostility towards Venezuela exposes the true intentions of the U.S. despite their highly-touted “opening” towards Cuba. Only someone completely bereft of any history of the region could fall for the latest U.S. propaganda. Venezuela — far from being a terrorist state — has rendered billions of dollars in internationalist assistance to oppressed countries across the globe, including marginalized communities across the U.S.

The intensified efforts of Venezuela’s enemies to undo nearly two decades of progress means that the movement in defense of Venezuelan self-determination is more important than other. The Cuba-Venezuela Solidarity Committee calls upon anti-imperialists across the U.S. to unmask Washington’s true intentions, agitate against the recall referendum and stand with the Bolivarian revolution!