Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Venezuelan Socialists Reject the Coup Attempt Without Supporting Maduro

On Tuesday morning, Venezuela’s self-proclaimed “interim president” Juan Guaidó began a coup attempt against the government of Nicolás Maduro. The following statement was published by the Workers’ League for Socialism (LTS) in Venezuela.

Facebook Twitter Share

The members of the Workers’ League for Socialism (LTS) clearly reject the new attempt by the right-wing opposition to unleash a military coup. In our statement for May 1st, we pointed out that [self-proclaimed “interim president” Juan] Guaidó intended to use that date to renew his call for a coup. This prediction was confirmed on Tuesday.

As we have argued since the onset of imperialist aggression led by the U.S. government, we oppose and confront any imperialist interventionism, without implying any political support for the reactionary and anti-worker regime of Maduro and the Armed Forces. Trump and his ilk do not care at all about the suffering of Venezuelan people; their only objective is to install a puppet government in Venezuela at the service of their plans for recolonization – a plan that offers no progressive solution to the current misery.

This policy was supported by the governments of the Latin American Right that first recognized Guaidó, and then on Tuesday, came out in support of his coup attempt.

Since January 23, imperialism has used appeals, maneuvers and threats to try to split the Armed Forces in order to overthrow Maduro. After their attempts failed and their coup offensive entered a stalemate, they concentrated on economic aggression and asphyxiation, which has worsened the hardships of the people. The plans for a coup remained latent, and were reactivated with this Tuesday’s attempt.

A government emerging from a military coup, under the control of the U.S., would mean nothing good for the masses! In the name of “freedom” and “democracy,” they are attempting to install a government of national subordination to the dictates of the IMF and imperialist capital, who would become the new masters of the country, with the imposition of more foreign debt and the massive surrender of companies and resources in a wave of privatizations. This plan is totally pro-business, anti-national and against the people. The needs of working people would be, even further subordinated to guaranteeing capitalist interests and profits. Those of us who confront Maduro’s government and its policies must firmly oppose this recolonizing offensive by imperialism, with Guaidó as its vehicle.

The Maduro government, however, is not taking any real anti-imperialist measures. It just places itself under the wing of powers like Russia or China, while defending itself against the coup with bureaucratic-military methods that also afflict the people. All it does is strengthen the Armed Forces as the true power and arbiter of the situation. We do not place any trust in these Armed Forces, who may end up reaching some kind of negotiated settlement with the right. That is why we affirm that the struggle against the coup and against imperialism must be carried out with total political independence. We workers need our own political program, with the perspective of struggling against the misery we are subjected to and against the authoritarianism of the government.

We must put forward a program that aims to attack the interests of imperialist capital and of the parasitic national bourgeoisie (both its oppositional and its chavista wings), because that is the only way we can fight to win our demands and stop the appetites of the U.S. as well as the plundering by international capital. A defeat of the pro-imperialist coup-attempt by our own methods of struggle, based on a program with these characteristics, would put us in better conditions to confront Maduro.

Together with the organizations made up of workers, women and youth with whom we form the Trotskyist Fraction for the Fourth International (FT-CI) in different countries of Latin America, Europe and the United States, we are firmly opposed to this new coup attempt.

First published in Spanish on La Izquierda Diario Venezuela. Translation by Nathaniel Flakin.

Facebook Twitter Share

La Izquierda Diario Venezuela

Our Venezuelan sister site, part of the international network of La Izquierda Diario

Latin America

Declaration: End Imperialist Intervention in Haiti, Solidarity with the Haitian People

The “Multinational Security Support Mission” announced by the United States marks a new imperialist-colonial intervention in Haiti by the United States, the UN, and their allies.

The Fight against Javier Milei Has Set The Stage For a Whole New Wave of Struggle

The defeat of the Omnibus Law is a key victory for the movement against Javier Milei’s austerity plan and attacks on democratic rights. It shows that the working class and oppressed have the power to fight against the advance of the Far Right in Argentina and across the world.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

February 9, 2024

Defying Repression: Socialist Electeds in Argentina Show Us What Revolutionary Parliamentarism Looks Like

Workers in Argentina are defying police repression and fighting back against the far-right government’s shock therapy. Trotskyist members of congress are not just protesting inside the chamber — they are on the front lines of the demonstrations, getting pepper sprayed and shot with rubber bullets.

Nathaniel Flakin

February 9, 2024

Crisis for Javier Milei as Austerity Bill Is Defeated 

After a national strike and days of mobilizations, the movement in the streets has defeated far-right president Javier Milei’s anti-worker Omnibus Bill.

Otto Fors

February 7, 2024

MOST RECENT

Former president Donald Trump standing at a podium in front of American flags.

To Stop Trump, We Need Much More Democracy, Not Less

Democrats have been trying to kick Trump off the ballot as an "insurrectionist." Liberals say we have to restrict democracy in order to save it. As socialists, we think they have it backwards: to beat the Far Right, we need a mass movement fighting for radical democracy.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 18, 2024

“Poor Things” Floats Like a Butterfly and Stings Like a Butterfly

Poor Things is a fantastical comedy with beautiful set design and costumes and an Oscar-winning performance from Emma Stone. So why did it leave me feeling so empty? Despite juggling feminist and socialist ideas, the film is ideologically muddled and often self-contradictory.

Basil Rozlaban

March 16, 2024

New Jersey Democrats Attack the Public’s Right to Government Records

The New Jersey state assembly, led by the Democratic Party, just tried to fast-track a bill that would have gutted the Open Public Records Act. This is a reminder that their party is an obstacle, not an ally, in the fight to preserve democracy.

Samuel Karlin

March 15, 2024
President Biden giving his State of the Union speech at a podium in March, 2024.

Biden’s State of the Union: Hyper-Nationalism and Eroding Legitimacy

President Biden’s hyper-nationalistic State of the Union speech focused on selling himself as a defender of democracy at home and abroad. But it’s not enough to solve his — and the whole U.S. regime’s — crisis of legitimacy.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

March 14, 2024