Global Learning
  • Home
  • Defenders of Cuban Socialism
    • UN Charter
    • Declaration of Human Rights
    • Bandung
    • New International Economic Order
    • Non-Aligned Movement
  • Substack editorial column
  • New Cold War articles
  • Friends of Socialist China articles
  • Global Research articles
  • Counterpunch articles
  • Cuba and the world-system
    • Table of Contents and chapter summaries
    • About the author
    • Endorsements
    • Obtaining your copy
  • Blog ¨The View from the South¨
    • Blog Index
    • Posts in reverse chronological order
  • The Voice of Third World Leaders
    • Asia >
      • Ho Chi Minh
      • Xi Jinping, President of China
    • Africa >
      • Kwame Nkrumah
      • Julius Nyerere
    • Latin America >
      • Fidel Castro
      • Hugo Chávez
      • Raúl Castro >
        • 55th anniversary speech, January 1, 1914
        • Opening Speech, CELAC
        • Address at G-77, June 15, 2014
        • Address to National Assembly, July 5, 2014
        • Address to National Assembly, December 20, 2014
        • Speech on Venezuela at ALBA, 3-17-2015
        • Declaration of December 18, 2015 on USA-Cuba relations
        • Speech at ALBA, March 5, 2018
      • Miguel Díaz-Canel >
        • UN address, September 26, 2018
        • 100th annivesary, CP of China
      • Evo Morales >
        • About Evo Morales
        • Address to G-77 plus China, January 8, 2014
        • Address to UN General Assembly, September 24, 2014
      • Rafael Correa >
        • About Rafael Correa
        • Speech at CELAC 1/29/2015
        • Speech at Summit of the Americas 2015
      • Nicolás Maduro
      • Cristina Fernández
      • Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations >
        • Statement at re-opening of Cuban Embassy in USA, June 20, 2015
        • The visit of Barack Obama to Cuba
        • Declaration on parliamentary coup in Brazil, August 31, 2016
        • Declaration of the Revolutionary Government of Cuba on Venezuela, April 13, 2019
      • ALBA >
        • Declaration of ALBA Political Council, May 21, 2019
        • Declaration on Venezuela, March 17, 2015
        • Declaration on Venezuela, April 10, 2017
      • Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) >
        • Havana Declaration 2014
        • Declaration on Venezuela, March 26
    • Martin Luther King, Jr.
    • International >
      • Peoples’ Summit 2015
      • The Group of 77 >
        • Declaration on a New World Order 2014
        • Declaration on Venezuela 3/26/2015
      • BRICS
      • Non-Aligned Movement
  • Readings
    • Charles McKelvey, Cuba in Global Context
    • Piero Gleijeses, Cuba and Africa
    • Charles McKelvey, Chávez and the Revolution in Venezuela
    • Charles McKelvey, The unfinished agenda of race in USA
    • Charles McKelvey, Marxist-Leninist-Fidelist-Chavist Revolutionary
  • Recommended Books
  • Contact

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Recommended books on Amazon.com; click on image of book to connect

US policy in Latin America and Venezuela

2/28/2014

1 Comment

 
     During the past fifteen years, a new political reality has emerged in Latin America.  The process of change began with popular protests against the neoliberal project, with its orientation to the free flow of goods and capital, imposed by the United States and the global powers as well as the international finance agencies, with devastating consequences for the people, especially the most poor.  The energy and momentum of the popular protests were channeled toward the forming of alternative political parties, which were able to win elections and take power in several Latin American countries.  These nations have attempted to attain true independence, to control their natural resources, to provide for the social and economic needs of the people, and to strengthen commerce, cultural exchanges, and political dialogue within the region. 

    Leading this process of change have been Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador, which have proclaimed socialism for the twenty-first century, in alliance with Cuba, persistent in its socialism.  Charismatic leaders (Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales, and Rafael Correa) emerged in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador.  Using structures of representative democracy established after the fall of the Latin American dictatorships, they formed alternative political parties and won presidential elections.  Once in power, in accordance with campaign promises, they convoked constitutional assemblies, formed through democratic elections, which emitted new constitutions.  The leaders were subsequently elected presidents of their nations under the new constitutions.  Thus all three governments are legitimate, democratic, and constitutional governments.  However, inasmuch as they seek to fulfill the aspirations of the people for true independence, they are anathema to the US government and to the major international news media, owned by US corporations.

    The political orientation of the entire region of Latin America and the Caribbean has been affected, even those countries where traditional political parties are still in power.  The formation in 2010 of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, consisting of the 33 states of the region and excluding the United States and Canada, is an indication of the extent to which the new political climate has affected the region.

      US policy has sought to reverse the changes in Latin America, and a key part of its strategy has been to bring about the fall of the governments of Chávez, Morales, and Correa, by means of promoting destabilization.  US diplomatic missions have provided support for opposition parties and destabilization strategies, in flagrant violation of international rules of diplomacy, which stipulate that diplomatic missions should not become involved in the politics of the country in which they are located. 

     The US government has had the support of the international news media, which have demonized the three leaders, thus generating confusion among the people of the United States.  This confusion has the practical consequence of denying the people of the United States the right to reflect on the significance of the emergence to power of three charismatic leaders in Latin America on a basis of popular mobilization and organization, a reflection that conceivably could have important implications for US domestic politics and foreign policies.

     The most recent manifestation of the US policy is the attack on the government of Nicolás Maduro, who assumed the presidency of Venezuela upon the death of Hugo Chávez.  Personally designated as his successor by Chávez, Maduro was elected to the presidency, in accordance with the procedures established by the Constitution.  The latest US strategy has involved the encouragement of street violence by extreme right factions and the creation by the international media of an image of chaos and human rights violations in order to establish a justification for US military intervention.

     At the height of the violence by right-wing gangs and the distorted media images of the situation (see “Events in Venezuela” 2/25/2014 and “Venezuela and the media” 2/27/2014), US public officials began to lay the foundation for a possible intervention.  Secretary of State John Kerry proclaimed that the United States was deeply concerned by the growing tension and violence.  Spokesperson Jen Psaki asserted that the Venezuelan government ought to take more seriously the grave situation in which it finds itself.  Another spokesperson, Marie Harf, called upon the government of Venezuela to immediately release those who, according to her, had been detained for peacefully exercising their rights.  President Obama expressed that the government of Venezuela, instead of expelling US diplomats, ought to respond to the legitimate demands of the people.  Meanwhile, US Senator Marco Rubio, Republican from Florida, demanded concrete action by the Obama administration.

      The Venezuelan chancellor issued a statement protesting the declarations of US public officials, maintaining that they “constitute a new and gross interference” in Venezuelan affairs, and noting that “they are based on false information and assertions without foundation.”  The statement also asserted that the independent governments and peoples of the world are waiting for the United States to explain why it “finances, encourages, and defends opposition leaders that promote violence.”

     The US strategy appears to have been defeated.  Maduro reacted with intelligence: he convoked peaceful demonstrations by supporters of the Bolivarian revolution; he announced the formation of a National Anti-Coup Command, which will organize popular vigilance in centers of work and study and in neighborhoods; and he called for dialogue with the moderate opposition, seeking to isolate the extreme right.  And the Venezuelan government received the immediate backing of many of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, as occurred with the attempted coups against legitimate, constitutional, and popularly elected governments headed by Evo Morales in Bolivia and Rafael Correa in Ecuador, attempted coups that also had US support.

      We the people of the United States must find the means to overcome the distortions of reality that serve the interests of the powerful, so that we can develop an understanding that would empower us and would enable us to establish a government that has international policies consistent with the ideals of democracy.  I refer here to democracy in the full sense, understood as including the right of all nations to sovereignty and true independence.  Let us find the means to bury forever imperialist foreign policies that hypocritically pretend to be democratic, accomplishing their objectives by means of distortions, manipulations, and lies.


Key words: Third World, revolution, colonialism, neocolonialism, imperialism, democracy, national liberation, sovereignty, self-determination, socialism, Marxism, Leninism, Cuba, Latin America, world-system, world-economy, development, underdevelopment, colonial, neocolonial, blog Third World perspective, Venezuela, mass media, US foreign policy
1 Comment
Alan Jenkins
3/3/2014 10:02:16 am

Excellent! thank you so much, Chuck. I'll be in touch via email this week.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author: Charles McKelvey

    Retired professor, writer,  and Marxist-Leninist-Fidelist-Chavist revolutionary

    Categories

    All
    American Revolution
    Blog Index
    Bolivia
    Charismatic Leaders
    China
    Critique Of The Left
    Cuban History
    Cuba Today
    Ecuador
    Environment
    French Revolution
    Gay Rights
    Haitian Revolution
    Knowledge
    Latin American History
    Latin American Right
    Latin American Unity
    Marx
    Marxism-Leninism
    Mexican Revolution
    Miscellaneous
    Neocolonialism
    Neoliberalism
    Nicaragua
    North-South Cooperation
    Presidential Elections 2016
    Press
    Public Debate In USA
    Race
    Religion And Revolution
    Revolution
    Russian Revolution
    South-South Cooperation
    Third World
    Trump
    US Ascent
    US Imperialism
    Vanguard
    Venezuela
    Vietnam
    Wallerstein
    Women And Revolution
    World History
    World-System
    World-System Crisis

    Archives

    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    January 2013

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

More Ads


website by Sierra Creation