June 11, 2024 from Havana
A new ghost is haunting the world: that of the rise of the extreme right and the rise of a fascism that we thought was banished to the history books. Endorsed at the ballot box, as they did almost a century ago, they do not hide to show their most impudent side. The most openly criminal side is left for Gaza, where the world is once again witnessing a genocide that counts, right now, with the complicity or cowardice of a large part of the West.
The nightmare is spreading throughout Europe, hovering over the United States and reaching Latin America which, after suffering the obscene presence of Bolsonaro, is now suffering from that of Milei, a character no less dangerous for being grotesque.
It would be irresponsible not to take into account that the ultra-right has gone from babbling platitudes to taking the initiative on key issues for citizenship. Standard-bearer of a “cultural war” understood as the fight against any claim for economic, political, social or cultural rights, however basic they may seem, this new fascism is experiencing a moment of expansion that makes it feel emboldened and euphoric.
In the midst of such a disturbing panorama, the resounding victory of Claudia Sheinbaum in the Mexican elections is encouraging, a recognition of the work of her predecessor and a support for the Latin Americanist vocation and the commitment to the poor that the president-elect will continue to carry out.
On this next July 28, Hugo Chávez, the leader who headed the Bolivarian Revolution and vindicated a socialism for the XXI century, will be seventy years old. Precisely on that day, general elections will be held in Venezuela in which not a dozen candidates but, in essence, two projects of society will face each other. The most powerful media in the world have already chosen theirs. Obviously, that of the counterrevolution. The spoiled candidate of the opposition, and above all his mentor (the favorite card of the Empire), are beginning to monopolize spaces in foreign legislative headquarters as well as in the press and on digital platforms. Now that the assassination and invasion attempts, the violent riots and terror, the sanctions and the theft of the country’s resources, and even the farce of a spurious president without a people, the media onslaught is intensifying.
The machinery of disqualification has already been set in motion. An influential Spanish newspaper, for example, is quick to slip a poisoned suspicion: “the absence of observers from the European Union leaves the elections without a robust supervision”. Other media are already circulating alleged polls that give the victory to the so-called United Democratic Platform, as an argument to disregard any adverse result and as a contribution to the climate of distrust that is intended to be generated. It will not surprise anyone that in the coming weeks the campaign will continue to raise its tone. More than preparing to win, the Venezuelan right wing seems ready to launch the accusation of fraud, which will undoubtedly count on the immediate and enthusiastic support of more than a few governments and media. It is a scenario we know well.
The history of Latin America and the Caribbean has oscillated between the abuse to which its peoples have been victims for centuries and the struggles they have waged with blood and fire for their freedom. If last year was the bicentenary of the Monroe Doctrine, which would come to represent the imperial option, this year marks the battle of Ayacucho, which sealed the independence of South America. This is not only a dispute between the candidate of the Bolivarian Revolution and one of his opponents. The onslaught of the hegemonic media does not allow us to forget that what is at stake today in Venezuela is precisely one of those two alternatives: either Monroe or Ayacucho.
Casa de las Americas, faithful for 65 years to the project of cultural emancipation of our America, calls on the intellectuals of the world, and particularly of the region, to closely follow the events in our brother country, the maneuvers of the local and global right wing, and to be alert to any attempt to usurp the sovereign decision of the Venezuelan people.
Source: Casa de las Americas, translation Resumen Latinoamericano-English