Chicago, IL – The contradictions at the heart of Venezuelan society have burst asunder. A fierce struggle is now underway to determine the foundations of the country's future. The Venezuelan bourgeoisie have wholeheartedly decided that they are willing to endure civil war and foreign invasion so long as it leads to the repression of the upright masses. The working class and other popular sectors, meanwhile, can no longer tolerate the economic suffering inflicted upon them from the business owners, and are ready to do battle against any invaders that seek to return their class enemies to power.

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 – In Venezuela's first presidential election since 2013, President Nicolás Maduro was re-elected in a landslide, receiving 67% of the vote in an election where the opposition was deeply divided and unwilling to unite behind a candidate. Henri Falcón, the most prominent opposition figure to run, received the endorsement of only a handful of parties and only got 27% of the vote. The majority of the right-wing opposition refused to even participate, pre-emptively condemning as fraudulent the very electoral system praised by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter as “the best in the world.”

Meeting in Caracas Feb. 26, the Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) and the governing United Socialist Party (PSUV) reached a historic agreement after days of negotiation. As a result of the “PSUV-PCV Unitary Accord,” the first of its kind in the country’s revolutionary struggle, the two parties agree to work together to solve the challenges facing Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution. The PCV also agreed to endorse Nicolás Maduro for president in the upcoming April 22 election. The Unitary Accord was presented at the PCV’s Fourteenth National Conference, during which President Maduro and several top PSUV members and government ministers addressed the delegates and signed the Accord. The entire proceedings were broadcasted live by Venezuelan TV. Below is the PSUV-PCV Unitary Accord in its entirety, translated by Fight Back! staff. PSUV-PCV Unitary Accord

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.

Milwaukee, WI – Despite freezing cold temperatures, Milwaukee students and anti-war activists rallied in solidarity with the Venezuelan government on March 3. They stood waving flags and held up signs reading “U.S. hands off Venezuela,” and “Soy Chavista!” Standing on ice and snow, they chanted against U.S. intervention and in support of Venezuela’s President Maduro. They are joining progressive people around the world holding rallies in solidarity with the Venezuelan government.

On April 16, newly elected Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called on workers to resist the wave of right-wing violence that broke out after the recent presidential election. Speaking defiantly to a crowd of workers in Miranda state on Tuesday, April 16, Maduro said, “If they continue with violence, what we can do is to radicalize this revolution.”