Read our editorial on the US imperialist war of aggression against Venezuela here.
On January 15, Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez submitted a reform proposal regarding Venezuela’s hydrocarbon law to “allow [US] investment flows to be incorporated into new fields, fields where no investment has ever been made and into fields where there is no infrastructure.”
The reform, which passed an initial vote in the National Assembly, would allow foreign—mainly US—and domestic companies to operate oilfields with less interference and lower taxes from the Venezuelan old-state, a step towards injecting US finance capital to further subjugate the oppressed nation.
This follows a deal already in motion for the US sale of 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil.
In testimony before Congress 01/28, ultra-reactionary Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump Administration is selling Venezuela’s oil while dictating to Venezuela how it spends the proceeds. According to Rubio, the Venezuelan government “pledged to use a substantial amount of those funds to purchase medicine and equipment directly from the United States.”
US imperialism continues to hijack tankers carrying Venezuelan oil, with the latest hijacking on 01/20, as part of the blockade to keep the oppressed nation’s strategic resources firmly within the grips of US imperialism and out of its rivals’ hands.
While Rodríguez said at a 01/25 press conference, “Enough already of Washington’s orders,” according to chief of US imperialism Donald Trump, the interim president maintains a good relationship with Washington. Meanwhile, Rubio’s written Congressional testimony repeated military threats against the Venezuelan old-state if it stops following US imperialism’s orders.
Of note, monopoly media reports claim the CIA plans to set up permanently in Venezuela, following the CIA infiltration of the country as part of the US kidnapping of President Maduro and First Lady Flores 01/03.
At a press conference on 01/10, Rodríguez said the US military gave her and other Venezuelan cabinet members 15 minutes during the kidnapping operation to decide whether or not to capitulate to US aggression and that they would be killed if they chose not to. She said that the sole reason for her capitulation was that the “threats and blackmail [from US imperialism] are constant.” In the same statement, she said her goal was “to preserve political power.”
In contrast to the country-selling moves of Rodríguez, the Venezuelan people support resistance with weapons in hand.
Image: Delcy Rodríguez in a CELAC meeting, May 2017. Credit: Presidencia El Salvador.
The Worker is an entirely volunteer-run revolutionary newspaper free from and radically antagonistic to corporate influence. We rely on the support of our readers to sustain our editorial line in service of the working class and the reconstitution of its party, the Communist Party. Make a one-time or recurring donation to our newspaper today:
Make a one-time donation
Make a monthly donation
Make a yearly donation
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearly
