Two years have passed since the death of Hugo Chávez. His death, as I wrote at the time, was a great loss for the cause of freedom, socialism and humanity. I had known him for almost ten years and had an enormous respect for his courage, honesty and dedication to the cause of socialism.

The historical experience of Chile, Nicaragua and Cuba demonstrates that as long you do not remove the class enemy from power within the country, they will not stop until they have crushed the revolution. This is very relevant to the situation faced today by the Venezuelan revolution. Read the statement of the Marxist Tendency of the PSUV, the IMT in Venezuela.

On Thursday, February 12, the Venezuelan authorities announced the arrest of 7 officers of the Venezuelan Air Force who were taking part in a coup plot to remove the democratically elected government of President Maduro and install a "Transitional government" in its place.

This article was written for the first edition of a new Venezuelan magazine called “Proceso: revista crítica de izquierda” (Process: critical left magazine), published by the political education school Escuela de Gobierno Hugo Chávez Frías of the Merida governorship.

To the degree that the reformist and class collaborationist nature of Heinz Dieterich’s ideas has been exposed, he has met with rejection. In Venezuela his pro-bourgeois views and his close relation with the counterrevolutionary General Raul Baduel discredited him and led to a radical break with Chavez. Recently by him was published in the well-known left-wing website Aporrea. In response to requests from activists in Venezuela, Alan Woods has written a reply.

The defeat of the attempts by the counter-revolutionary opposition to overthrow the Venezuelan government by force has given way to a wide debate amongst the Bolivarian rank and file about economic policy.

On the evening of April 10, the main political representatives of the Venezuelan opposition attended a meeting at Miraflores Presidential Palace with representatives of the government and the Bolivarian revolution. The meeting generated a lively debate within the Bolivarian movement. We publish here the statement of Lucha de clases - the Venezuelan section of the IMT, together with some explanatory notes.

On Tuesday, April 1, a group of violent opposition protestors attacked the building of the Ministry of Housing, setting it on fire. Over 300 people had to be evacuated, including children from a nursery in the same building. You are not likely to have read about it in the mass media.

It is often the destiny of revolutionary leaders that after death those that attacked and vilified them during their lifetime begin to praise them, while simultaneously distorting their ideas, watering them down, reducing them to impotence, just as one neuters a troublesome tomcat.

After a week of “guarimbas” (public disturbances organised by the Right Wing) one thing has been obvious – these protests have been carried out by a minority which represents only itself with the sole aim of creating chaos and sabotage. The only way to confront them is through the conscious and organised mobilisation of the working class and the revolutionary people. 

For the last two weeks there has been a violent campaign of rioting on the part of a small number of opposition supporters in Venezuela. They have blockaded streets and avenues (mainly in the middle and upper class areas of urban centres) in an attempt to force the removal of president Maduro. What is the meaning of these actions and how should they be confronted?

[Statement by Hands off Venezuela]After days of violent opposition demonstrations in several cities of Venezuela, February 12 had been billed as the D Day of an offensive to overthrow the democratically elected Maduro government. In several cities there were opposition demonstrations which were allowed to proceed without repression. There were also bigger revolutionary , youth demos marking 200 years since the battle of La Victoria, during the independence war.

Using the slogan of “Unity on the Streets” the right wing in Venezuela has launched a new “guarimba” (1) (attempts by right wing opposition to create public disorder and unrest on the streets –Ed.) against the Bolivarian revolution.

The December 8th municipal elections in Venezuela gave yet another victory to the Bolivarian revolution, with the Socialist United Party (PSUV) and its allies in the Great Patriotic Pole receiving 5.1 million votes (49.24% of the total) and 4.4 million (42.72%) going to the opposition. If you count the votes for Bolivarian candidates outside of the main GPP alliance, the total for the revolution adds up over 54%.

In recent days President Maduro has rightly explained the seriousness of the economic war against the Bolivarian revolution, pointing out that the culprits are the capitalists (Fedecamaras, Consecomercio and Venamcham) and has announced a series of measures to address it.