Venezuela is rich in oil, but its people are impoverished by imperialism, the exploitation of its resources and its workers. The election of Hugo Chávez in 1999 transformed the country into the bête noire of the United States. The so-called "Bolivarian Revolution" and its increasingly authoritarian drift have profoundly affected Venezuela and have resulted in economic collapse for years. It is against this backdrop that Donald Trump, on January 3, 2026, launched Operation Absolute Resolve, which was nothing short of an act of state piracy. Let's revisit some historical elements to understand what is at stake.
Oil has been at the heart of the Venezuelan economy for decades. It has attracted significant private investment, particularly from the United States, as in the case of the Paraguaná refining complex.
In the 1980s, Venezuela was governed by a centrist coalition. On February 27 and 28, 1989, a popular uprising erupted in Caracas following a sharp increase in fares, particularly on public transportation, and economic reforms imposed by the International Monetary Fund. On the second day, President Carlos Andrés Pérez activated the Ávila Plan and sent the army against the revolting population, resulting in over 3,000 deaths in just a few days.
Two coup attempts followed in 1992, one led by Hugo Chávez. He was elected president of the Republic on December 6, 1998. Despite his anti-imperialist discourse, Chávez had adapted well to US imperialism from the beginning, as the United States remained the main customer for Venezuelan oil.
After 2003, thanks to rising hydrocarbon prices, a more relaxed political climate, and the resumption of state control over the national oil company PDVSA, Venezuela experienced an average economic growth rate of 13.5% until 2009, one of the highest in the world according to official data and those of the International Monetary Fund.
Beginning in 2001, the government launched so-called missions in the areas of education, nutrition, and healthcare. The poverty rate dropped from 54% to 26% of the population between 2003 and 2008, with a significant reduction in undernutrition and illiteracy.
But oil revenues haven't been used exclusively for social programs. Endemic corruption is inseparable from the Chavista regime. It has allowed the import of all kinds of consumer goods for the benefit of the Bolivarian bureaucracy.
Already in those years, numerous other problematic aspects of the "Bolivarian Revolution" emerged. Among these were the continued ban on abortion-except in cases where the woman's life was in danger-and its harsh repression. The same reactionary attitude from those in power manifested itself toward same-sex marriage, prohibited by the 1999 Constitution. Socially, Chavismo was characterized by strong conservatism, indulgent toward so-called "honor killings" and supportive of practices that allowed the victim to "solve a rape problem" by marrying her attacker.
Chavismo also involves repressing workers' struggles, especially within the factories of large Western multinationals. Suffice it to recall what happened on June 9, 2011, in Ciudad Guayana, when an armed gang from Hugo Chávez's party, the PSUV, attacked a Ferrominera workers' assembly held outside the company gates. One worker was killed and two others were injured in this violent attack.
Internationally, Venezuela has joined the network of dictatorships, alongside Putin's Russia, Gaddafi's Libya, Ahmadinejad's Iran, and Assad's Syria. Beyond the pretext of anti-Americanism, this membership reveals an alliance of authoritarian regimes united by the desire to maintain absolute power over their own populations.
Chavismo was based on a broad patronage system and a heavy dependence on oil. But Chavista oil policy was disastrous, marked in particular by a chronic lack of investment in infrastructure. Thus, despite the oil revenue, the Chávez years were marked by a sharp increase in public debt, from $28 billion to $130 billion, especially owed to China, the country's main creditor.
These years were also marked by growing authoritarianism - with the regime gradually evolving towards a one-party authoritarian state - and a sharp increase in crime, with the homicide rate quadrupling.
Venezuela's unbalanced economic structure, its atrophied industry, chronic food shortages, and extremely high inflation have never been addressed. The collapse of oil prices in 2008 reversed the situation, triggering the economic collapse of Chavismo.
The Maduro Years
Hugo Chávez led the country until his death in 2013. Before dying, he appointed Vice President Nicolás Maduro as his successor, who became interim president and narrowly won the 2013 presidential elections with 50.62% of the vote.
The legislative elections of December 6, 2015, however, marked a large victory for the right-wing opposition. On October 25, 2016, the Venezuelan Parliament, controlled by the right-wing opposition, approved the initiation of impeachment proceedings against the president. After a long period of political deadlock, in July 2017, Maduro attempted to bypass Parliament by electing a Constituent Assembly entirely controlled by Chavistas.
A phase marked by violence and harshly repressed social protest followed, to the point that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights denounced "an excessive use of force" against the demonstrators.
The United States introduced its first economic sanctions against Venezuela in 2015, under President Barack Obama, justifying them by stating that the country posed an "unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States." In 2017, the European Union also adopted a sanctions plan aimed at strangling the Venezuelan economy.
On May 6, 2025, the daily newspaper l'Humanité wrote: "Washington is seeking more than ever to stifle the Bolivarian revolution and is once again aiming for a return to the 'maximum pressure' strategy." The aim of these policies is "to deliver the final blow to an economy that is just recovering from the consequences of what UN rapporteurs have called 'cruel measures' with 'devastating effects on the entire population': a GDP collapse of over 80% between 2013 and 2020, the worst episode of hyperinflation recorded in the world since the end of World War II between 2015 and 2021, and more than 90% of Venezuelans falling below the poverty line that same year."
On January 23, 2019, Juan Guaidó, president of the Parliament, proclaimed himself interim president of Venezuela and took the oath during a rally in Caracas. Maduro remained in power thanks to the support of the Venezuelan armed forces.
It is against this backdrop that, starting in August 2025, Trump deployed a massive war fleet near Venezuela's maritime borders, threatening armed conflict. The following December, the US president announced a naval blockade of Venezuela by the US military to prevent the circulation of oil tankers. On January 3, 2026, Caracas was bombed for several hours by the US military as part of Operation Absolute Resolve, and Donald Trump announced the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
Trump's drug trafficking accusations against Maduro, now all but vanished and replaced by a blatant desire to seize Venezuelan oil, appear for what they were from the beginning: Trump-style fake news . Fake news designed to mask an imperialist offensive aimed at imposing its dominance in what the US government considers its "backyard" and countering China's political and commercial influence in Latin America.
Against imperialism and dictatorship
We've seen it: the situation in Venezuela is extremely complex. Faced with this reality, what political stance should we take? It seems to us that the best option is to let Venezuelan comrades speak out.
The militants of the National Committee of Conflict of Workers in Struggle , who participate in the International Trade Union Network of Solidarity and Struggle, have published the following text, which we believe is important to disseminate:
«First, to make things clear, even if this point is as obvious to you as it is to us: we totally condemn the US military intervention.
Before January 3, there had already been twenty-two US armed operations against Venezuela. On January 3, none of the three Venezuelan armed forces (air, land, and sea) responded. One hundred and fifty US planes flew over the capital, fifteen US helicopters landed there, with no response. This raises questions... For years, the government has been telling us that Russia would protect us in the event of a US imperialist attack!
The fact is that the regime is still in place, as are the repression and restrictions on freedoms; indeed, all of this has been strengthened since January 3rd. A new decree has been issued, justified by the state of emergency.
The president of the United States is posing as the world's policeman. We know full well that what interests him in Venezuela is not democracy, but oil! One key thing must be understood: even under Chávez, and obviously after Chávez, US imperialism never disappeared from our country; multinationals have always been present in Venezuela. Chevron is its main symbol. When oil unionists denounced oil gifts to Cuba, Iran, Russia, or China, they were accused of being agents of imperialism! To formally comply with the Constitution, a Venezuelan company appears in every oil contract, always as a minority player and subordinate to a multinational. The Russian and Chinese states have invested massively in Venezuela. Today we find ourselves in the midst of competition and deals between US, Russian, and Chinese imperialisms!
Under the guise of anti-imperialism, the ruling group that was in government-and still is-has become pro-imperialist. The lack of a response to the military intervention of January 3rd and the continuity of government through the former vice president demonstrate the existence of a tacit agreement with the United States.
It's true that some people in the country were hoping for this kind of external intervention to restore freedoms. This is not our position, nor is it in the interests of the working class. As already stated, this is not at all the goal of the US intervention, nor what the US-sanctioned government intends to do. Furthermore, we cannot accept the very principle of imperialist military intervention.
As workers and trade unionists, what are our priorities? We must continue the fight for democracy, for the release of all political prisoners, for workers' rights, and for respect for the right to self-determination of peoples, including our own.
It is necessary to provide some concrete elements to comrades from other countries so that they can fully understand our situation, the condition of the Venezuelan working class, in continuity with what was already expressed during the meeting of the International Trade Union Network of Solidarity and Struggle in November 2025:
In 2018, very harsh austerity measures were adopted, dubbed the "economic recovery, growth, and prosperity program." This resulted in a freeze on wage increases, while prices were liberalized.
The official salary is less than a dollar a month! That's the cost of two liters of gasoline. There are bonuses, generally between $120 and $150. There haven't been any pay increases in years.
In the oil sector, the collective bargaining agreement has not been renewed for four years; this is one of the multinationals' demands that has been met.
We have won numerous lawsuits: for unpaid wages, against unjustified dismissals, to obtain reinstatement, etc. But public companies are not complying with these decisions, and the government has allowed it. Since January 3rd, we have the impression that directives have been issued to ensure that the rulings actually contradict the legitimate demands of workers.
In the oil sector alone, one hundred and twenty workers are in prison, without any charges; anti-union and anti-worker repression is very severe. The state of emergency decree legalizes extrajudicial detentions. Controls, for example, on the contents of personal phones, are intensifying. The army is intensifying pressure within companies.
More than ever, our task is to unite the working class around its demands and the demand for its rights. While the "great national mobilization of January 15th" is currently suspended, there will still be actions in the coming days and weeks. The support of international trade unionism will be essential for us.
Internationalism is equally important for the millions of Venezuelans in exile. Illusions about US intervention and multinational "aid" must be dispelled.
The law provides for workers' control of businesses and popular control of public finances. But none of this exists. It is also on these issues that we must insist, to demonstrate that the solution to poverty, repression, and everything we have been experiencing for years cannot be found in multinational capitalism or imperialist intervention.
"We must continue the dialogue with our colleagues, with our neighbors, and ensure that as many people as possible share our positions: defense of workers' demands, release of political prisoners, respect for freedoms, and denunciation of all forms of imperialism!"
Conclusion
In conclusion, we would like to return to the tasks that directly concern us in France. First, we feel it is essential to denounce US imperialist intervention and the arbitrary arrest of a sitting head of state. But denouncing Western imperialism cannot exhaust our efforts in the Venezuelan situation.
We are also called to denounce the "campist" theses that emerged during the former USSR, which relativized criticism of Soviet imperialism under the pretext of combating Western imperialism. This is the same logic we see at work today when a segment of the French left refuses to criticize the Venezuelan regime, instead focusing all its attacks on Trump's United States. International solidarity cannot be built on such mystifications.
Finally, we believe it is equally important to denounce the regime in power in Caracas, before and after the US intervention: the repression against the social movement and trade unionism, the absence of democracy, the appropriation of wealth by a "Madurista" neo-bourgeoisie.
This type of "socialism" does not build human emancipation. Class struggle remains our compass, here as in Venezuela.
https://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/wpAL/
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Link: (en) Italy, FDCA, Cantiere #42 - Venezuela: Against Imperialism and Dictatorship - Libertarian Communist Platform (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]
Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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