Arlington, TX – On November 9, Dozthor Zurlent, a former adviser to Hugo Chavez, came to the University of Texas at Arlington to give a lecture to over 30 attendees on the status of the Bolivarian Revolution.

Paez, Venezuela – Groups of mainly women stand with pride in front of Manuelita Saenz Bolivarian School and Community Center. The new center and school provide classes on music, culture, politics, feminism, sports, etc. Children and adults from all over the neighborhood attend to open their minds and improve their education.

Caracas, Venezuela – Images of men sitting in prison, looking down at their shoes, awaiting court for violating and committing acts of violence against women appear on the TV screen. Scrolling across the bottom of the screen are the words, “The most people in prison in Venezuela are men who have committed gender violence.”

Caracas, Venezuela – Groups of women, wearing blue hardhats, stand proudly in front of a five-floor building, surrounded by lush mountains. The community members are building 93 apartments for families in the area. 80% of the workers are women.

Caracas, Venezuela – A Freedom Road Socialist Organization labor delegation toured the Canaima laptops and tablets factory in Caracas, Venezuela on March 12. The Canaima plant is located within walking distance of the bridge where U.S. puppet Juan Guaido launched a failed coup d’état April 30, 2019. Upon arrival, leading representatives of the Canaima assembly plant greeted the American Teamsters with genuine smiles and warm handshakes.

Caracas, Venezuela – On the final day of the World Anti Imperialist Congress, January 24, Venezuelan President Nicólas Maduro spoke to the hundreds of international delegates from over fifty countries. A delegation from Freedom Road Socialist Organization is participating in the Congress.

Caracas, Venezuela – On January 23, thousands marched in Caracas and listened to a fiery speech from President Maduro to mark two important historic events. In 1958, mass movements joined with patriotic forces in the military to bring down the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jímenez. This was the model of civic-military unity that President Hugo Chávez used in his vision of a Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. Unfortunately for Venezuelans, the fall of the Jímenez dictatorship was a short-lived victory. The betrayal of this victory ushered in 40 years of violent repression of communists and other dissidents and disastrous economic policies like import substitution and neoliberal privatizations of important public services. By 1989, the massive poverty created by neoliberal policies led to an urban rebellion of workers and the poor, which led to a vicious police crackdown that killed over 3000 people. Three years later, paratrooper commander Hugo Chávez led a military uprising that ultimately failed but created a lasting popularity in the minds of millions of Venezuelans.

Chicago, IL – On Monday September 16, the leaders of several opposition parties arrived at the Foreign Ministry in downtown Caracas to participate in the Roundtable of National Dialogue organized by the elected government of Nicolás Maduro. The Roundtable was established in the aftermath of the fascist violence in 2017, which was a response to the Supreme Court's decision to strip the National Assembly of its powers after its refusal to adhere to the country's constitution.

Caracas, Venezuela – August 31 marked the last day of the Meeting of International Workers in Solidarity with the Venezuelan People and Its Government. In the morning, hundreds of trade unionists assembled to hear closing remarks and review a final declaration. Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) joined with other delegations came from 25 countries, and all parts of Venezuela, and proudly shouted out their approval. The audience was lively and often broke out in chants.

Chicago, IL – Venezuela is a country where the dreams of the conscious workers of the world are being made real. It is a nation of 30 million people where, every day, the working class is becoming more conscious of its historic role in building socialism and taking steps to achieve it in the not so distant future. And in the face of an imperialist offensive that threatens them with starvation, where the threat of military invasion hangs over their heads like a storm cloud, they continue their struggle undeterred.

Chicago, IL – On August 6, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton attended a gathering of representatives from the right-wing governments of Latin America. There, he announced the next stage in the U.S. campaign to defeat the Bolivarian Revolution: A total blockade of Venezuela. All U.S. citizens are banned from doing business with “the Maduro regime,” and any company – U.S. or international – that does business with the Venezuelan government will be subject to fines, asset seizures and sanctions. While the announcement did not include the immediate deployment of the U.S. Navy to enforce the blockade, Bolton hinted that the option remained on the table if foreign companies and governments did not comply.

Caracas, Venezuela – On July 26, the delegation from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) participated in a gathering of trade unionists from around the world with the leaders of the Central of Bolivarian Socialist Workers (CBST), the largest labor federation in Venezuela.

The following statement was published today, March 5, by the Communist Party of Venezuela and was written by Freddy Subdiaga, a Party leader in the state of Anzoátegui. The statement was written in Spanish and translated by Fight Back! staff.

Chicago, IL – One week ago, on January 23, a new stage in the Bolivarian Revolution began. The U.S. government and its lackey regimes in Latin America, the so-called “Lima Group,” broke international law and ignored the Venezuelan Constitution by declaring Juan Guaidó – leader of the far-right People's Will Party – the legitimate president of Venezuela, and pompously demanding Nicolás Maduro's resignation.

Milwaukee, WI – Venezuela has been in the news lately. For the first time in decades, the threat of war between the United States and a Latin American country hangs over our hemisphere.

Milwaukee, WI – An understanding of Bolivarian Venezuela is critical for revolutionaries in the U.S. Alongside Cuba, it is the strongest enemy of U.S. imperialism in the Western Hemisphere, and is on the short list of countries with which the Trump administration is openly threatening war. This alone is reason enough for Marxist-Leninists in the U.S. to want to understand Venezuela and stand in solidarity with its people. Their ability to defeat the reactionary efforts of the American monopoly capitalists is an inspiration for all of us who wish to see a world without imperialism.

On Oct. 28 and 29, the 7th National Meeting of Revolutionary Organizations was held in Caracas, an effort by Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist People’s Unity (UPRA) to build unity among the Bolivarian revolutionary organizations. The gathering happened in the context of ongoing efforts to deepen the Bolivarian Revolution inside the National Constituent Assembly (ANC), to deal with an increasingly violent reactionary opposition, as well as threats of imperialist violence from the Trump administration. Below is the political declaration released by the gathering:

In the Oct. 15 regional elections, Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution secured a major victory against the far-right opposition, winning 17 out of 23 governor seats – with one still undecided. States like Lara and Miranda, which had long been dominated by the bourgeois parties, were secured by the United Socialist Party (PSUV). Voter turnout, over 61%, was the highest turnout for governor elections in over a decade.