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Venezuela – it’s all about the oil
The oil industry made Venezuela one of the richest — and most unequal — nations in Latin America; now US hawks want to get their hands on the estimated 300 billion barrels left, writes BERT SCHOUWENBURG
First lady Melania beams at a gathering of the Venezuelan American community in Florida, as Donald Trump spoke attacking Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s socialist governmment
Trump’s economic adviser has exposed the actual strategy: forcing other countries to provide financial support for US world hegemony
Activist Angie Zelter has been arrested more than a hundred times. She’s not stopping now, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
Natalia Marques looks at last week's ruling that Khalil can be deported and its implications
We are not here to advocate for the arms industry or its CEOs, writes STEVE HANDFORD, and that means we must take a stand against the government’s spending on war
Educators must fight for an inclusive, creative system that values all children
Although our sector is hearing better things from the current government, the recognition that what we do is education in its own right, rather than just childcare, is still not reflected in policy, writes LUCY COLEMAN
WHATEVER you may think of US National Security Adviser John Bolton, he is at least honest about the reasons for US aggression towards Venezuela. While Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Latin America Minister Alan Duncan try to justify Britain’s craven support for US imperialism by falsely accusing President Nicolas Maduro of rigging elections, Bolton has openly stated that he wants US corporations to control and run Venezuela’s oil industry.
In other words, he wants to reverse the nationalisation of the oil industry that took place in 1976 when the then Venezuelan president Carlos Andres Perez created Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
Venezuela’s hydrocarbon boom began in 1922 when Shell discovered huge deposits of oil in the Maracaibo basin. In 1920/21, Venezuela had been a small producer exporting 100,000 barrels of oil that were worth one ninth of the country’s coffee exports over the same period. By 1926/27, annual exports were six million barrels, and by 1935/36, 23 million barrels or 20 times the value of exported coffee.
Under the dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gomez, oil companies from the US and Europe were given long leases and generous tax breaks that brought them huge profits. By the end of the 1930s, Shell, Standard Oil and Gulf controlled 99 per cent of production and the state retained only between 10 and 20 per cent of the profits. Needless to say, neither the US nor British governments of the day had anything to say about the democratic deficit in Caracas.
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BERT SCHOUWENBURG details how the libertarian, radical-right president’s shock doctrine has pushed millions into poverty while dismantling the state and aligning with US imperialism and Israeli slaughter
The last six months have seen the self-styled ‘libertarian capitalist’ bulldoze workers’ rights and national sovereignty, as his crazed shock-doctrine economic reforms face growing resistance on the streets, writes BERT SCHOUWENBURG
