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The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) calls on all progressive people and the working class in particular to defend the sovereignty of Venezuela against Western imperialism.  We reject attempts by the US, the EU and their right wing allies in Latin America to stage a coup and remove the democratically elected Nicolas Maduro from the seat of power. Their ultimate goal is to wipe out the Bolivarian Revolution and erase the positive contribution of former Socialist President Hugo Chavez whose nationalization policies improved the lives of the working class majority and the poor in Venezuela.

Led by the US, the United Kingdom and the European Union have chosen to ignore the will of the people and are imposing Juan Guaidó as the Venezuelan President. Guaidó is a puppet who is being propped up by the Trump administration to become the President of Venezuela so that he may smash all the Socialist gains of the Bolivarian Revolution and return Venezuela into the arms of the rapacious US, UK and European Union capitalists. He has no legitimate claim to the presidency of Venezuela.

Nicolas Maduro is the country’s democratically elected president. What we are seeing in Venezuela, is an attempt by the US and Western powers to carry out an illegal regime change, against all known and well established international laws, so that they can pursue their own selfish interests. They are not acting in the interests of the working class or, for that matter, even the interests of the capitalists of Venezuela.  Now we know that the US has advanced plans to invade Venezuela to make sure the coup succeeds.

From 1999 when the Venezuelan people democratically changed their Constitution and formally embarked upon their Socialist path, the US and Canada and their Western European allies have waged a ruthless and deadly economic war against Venezuela.

They have bombed the value of the Venezuelan currency with massive inflation. They have deployed the most vicious sanctions any country in the world has ever suffered. They have blocked trade between Venezuela and its trading partners. Today, the US has illegally seized the assets of Venezuela in the US, thus ensuring that Venezuelan oil cannot be refined and traded, globally. The UK has also stolen the gold deposits of Venezuela in the UK thus denying Venezuela the essential credit and collateral it needs to engage in international trade.

On 26 January, the US announced sanctions against the state-owned oil company the PDVSA and seized its assets. This will have a very dire impact on the Venezuelan economy and government. Moreover, any company offshored that is buying PDVSA crude will have to wind down its purchases by that date if it is using U.S. dollars to buy it or is closing a transaction through an American financial institution. Americans working with PDVSA as contractors both in the U.S. and Venezuela will be banned from working with the company beginning March 29.

These measures and many more, including a vicious global media campaign to demonize and discredit Venezuela’s socialism have all finally combined to collapse the economy of Venezuela and to produce their desired effects: mass poverty and violent political discontent against the socialist Venezuelan government, led by Venezuelans.
 
The US and Western European powers are openly courting and bribing the Venezuelan army to abandon their loyalty to their country and people and support their puppet Guaidó. It is clear that the Trump administration thinks it is now time to deliver the fatal blow, to go in Venezuela for the kill.

Satisfied with the result of their evil economic and political war against Socialist Venezuela, Trump and his Western allies now want to impeach Maduro and replace him with their puppet Juan Guaidó.

The reality now is that Venezuela is now on the verge of civil war. The Venezuelan masses must rise up to defend their sovereignty and the Bolivarian Revolution. NUMSA is the largest Marxist-Leninist inspired trade union in the world and we are in support of Venezuela and the working class

We call for broad international anti-imperialist campaigns against this foreign intervention. We ask the world working class to ask themselves: what can we do to stand up against the US and its Western puppets and to defend the right of Venezuela to determine its own path of development?

Today it is Socialist Venezuela, who will be next? It is our duty to do all we can to defend the gains of the working class majority and the poor of Venezuela. We call on all our comrades locally and abroad to give their full support and to do all they can to defend democracy.

Aluta continua!

The struggle continues!

Issued by NUMSA