With or Without the OAS Venezuela Must Win the Fight

By Carlos Aznárez on June 2, 2016

Photo: Bill Hackwell

Photo: Bill Hackwell

For Venezuela and the continent these are not times for warm or watered-down positions. The Empire and the regional right are pushing ahead and there is no more evidence needed as to what they are looking for and the lengths they will go to achieve it.

The truth is that in several of these assaults, to which we are becoming accustomed, they are having a degree of success. They seize Governments causing abrupt turns in the policies that were in progress and they then begin to apply neoliberal prescriptions similar to those in the 1990s, which had been over turned by the struggle of the people and some leaders who joined them.

There is a new Latin American and Caribbean road map that demonstrates that the intent of these new conquerors is not temporary in nature. We cannot lie to ourselves any longer nor can we continue with medieval arguments about whether the cycle of progressive governments is over or not. Things are as they are – the right wing governments and those currently flirting shamelessly with the United States, and its allies in the European Union, are now the majority in the region. The regional integration structures and processes are paralyzed and almost autistic. The newest round coming from the General Secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, who was given political life by Tabaré Vázquez and José Mujica, neatly fulfilled his own reactionary ideas with the script that the Empire had written for him for the occasion. The diplomatic battle should be fought but it is not definitive or the most effective approach for not losing ground.

Commander Hugo Chávez was right when he raised the issue of generating popular militia structures so that together with the Bolivarian armed forces Venezuela could be prepared for contingencies for the defense of the revolution. What was taking place just a few years ago seems hard to imagine today with what is looming around the corner.  The enemy knows that Venezuela is not an area easy to dig, because Nicolas Maduro is not like Fernando Lugo of Paraguay, nor the people that are with him who would not be willing to accept palatial punches without fighting back in each one of the places where popular power has been built up during all these years.

No, in Venezuela everything will be different than what we have seen lately in South America. The humble people, who emerged with the revolutionary process knows very well that the level of nationalism and hatred of the oligarchy is such that there will be no choice but to defend themselves with what they have on hand. Maduro is right when he instructs the people, because only there is the possibility of winning an integral war that does not allow an end without winners and losers.  It is the class struggle without make-up, and the conciliators, social democrats, and opportunistic pacifists have no place in it. Either the Revolution wins or the counter Revolution does with all its consequences.

That is precisely why the level of continental solidarity with Venezuela should put aside differences and criticisms on how the country arrived at this moment and face the tasks required for revolutionary unity. First and foremost this is necessary to help avoid the Bolivarian Venezuela being destroyed by an opposition which does not hesitate to summon foreign military intervention to satiate their own nationalism by standing with the government in Washington and the multinationals who are ready to transform the land of Venezuela into a similar scenario that we are accustomed to seeing in the Middle East.

Remember the words of Argentine journalist and guerilla fighter Jorge Ricardo Masetti on his 87th birthday when he said, “It is the time for those who fight and not of those who weep”. It is in that sense from now on all the decisions made by President Nicolas Maduro (commander in Chief of this anti-imperialist counteroffensive) will be critical ones. He has already taken an important step by pointing at the heart of the spurious National Assembly and condemning them for “treason to the homeland.” He needs to push further and ignore what “others will say.” Importantly he needs to listen to the voices coming from the communes and the more militant neighborhoods, those who are willing to form the rows in the front line. Maduro should not have any hesitation about the need to toughen policy to save the revolution. Also he needs to send to hell the OAS and their pimps, as did the dignified Cuba of Fidel, who demanded also the urgent formation of a united front of rejection with the ALBA countries.

There are plenty of statements of goodwill, but what is needed in times of war is to know how many men and women are there to count on, and not to wait until events unfold in such a way that when response is needed it is too late.

Translation: Resumen Latinoamericano North America Bureau

Source: Resumen Latinoamericano