Please include sources for any claims; baseless speculation is counterproductive. Remember that this is not a win for the US, just another outburst of a dying empire.

  • rainpizza@lemmygrad.ml
    14·
    16 hours ago

    Delcy Rodríguez on economic exchange with the US: “Venezuela’s economic relations will continue to be diversified”

    Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, clarified that the January 3rd attack has created a blemish on relations with the United States unlike anything seen before . However, she emphasized that this does not impede the flow of trade that has been maintained throughout history.

    However, she emphasized that this scenario does not halt the country’s dynamism in the international market, where Venezuela continues to consolidate its presence in a sovereign manner.

    She specified that of the 71% of the oil export market, 27% is destined for the United States, confirming that the economic relationship remains active despite the serious political conflict.

    Source -> https://venezuela-news.com/delcy-rodriguez-sobre-intercambio-economico-eeuu-relaciones-economicas-venezuela-seguiran-siendo-diversificadas/

    • sousmerde_rtrdataire@lemmygrad.ml
      4·
      9 hours ago

      Here’s the full declaration(, automatic spanish subtitles translated in english works well).
      Does anyone here think that they shouldn’t ?

      The argument/fear would be that they survived until now partly because they were authoritarian&cautious enough to prevent multiple coup attempts that would have worked in a lot of other countries(, but also because they got through economically, etc.). What if the u.s. warmed up the relations only to get close enough with them to do a coup ?

      I’d like to believe that after so many years they won’t put themselves in a situation where the expected western betrayal has too much of an impact, among other precautions.
      I also believe in their participatory(&protagonic) process(, its critics would prefer bourgeois democracies). A contented population is useful against coups, and if all goes well economically then the best is yet to come and they’ll have many more reasons to be proud of their collective accomplishments.
      They ‘know what’s at stake’/‘feel the “weight of the centuries”’ better than i do, and won’t lower their guard, may there be no more killings&destructions.

      • rainpizza@lemmygrad.ml
        5·
        7 hours ago

        The “authoritarian” word is an idealist concept and it is not a very helpful word to describe the reality that we live in. By definition, every single state in this world is authoritarian.

        As for understanding why Venezuela keeps trading with the US which seems to be your question judging by the news of the US Embassy in Caracas, then this article in french may help -> https://histoireetsociete.com/enfin-une-position-politiquement-responsable-venant-du-venezuela-celle-de-thierry-deronne/

        Well, that article is basically a translation of people dispatch -> https://peoplesdispatch.org/2026/01/05/venezuelas-revolution-still-stands-debunking-trumps-psyop/

        Brief teaser:

        The subsequent statements from Caracas calling for dialogue and negotiations with the US must then be understood not as capitulation, but as a retreat under duress. The objective conditions are severe. Right-wing shifts in Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador, El Salvador, Peru, and Bolivia, and vacillation by progressive governments in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, mean that Venezuela faces political isolation in Latin America. The material and political support it has received from allied governments in Russia and China clearly is not enough to deter US imperialism from another aggression. The continued naval blockade and the demonstrated existential threat posed by further US military action remain the most significant challenges.

        In his first statement on January 3, Trump implied that Delcy Rodriguez had expressed a willingness to cooperate with the US and meet its demands. Some on the left believed him, interpreting this as a sign of Delcy’s capitulation. Her press conference that same day reaffirmed Venezuela’s sovereignty and its own demands to the US, including the release of President Maduro. The next day, Delcy, after leading a meeting of the party leadership and government ministers – during which the unity of the party, the masses, and the military was reaffirmed – published a message to the world, clearly directed at Trump and the United States government. She called on the US government to work together with Venezuela towards peace and development, but on terms of sovereignty and equality. This should not be interpreted as either betrayal or capitulation. In fact, this statement echoes every statement made by Maduro over the last three months and throughout the years of tensions with the US. Maduro himself consistently called for diplomacy and negotiation to avoid an all-out war, and had already offered to negotiate comprehensive economic agreements with the US for Venezuela’s oil and mineral resources. If the Venezuelan state were to sign such deals going forward – now with Maduro kidnapped – it would not constitute treason.

    • Saymaz@lemmygrad.ml
      7·
      13 hours ago

      The victims are helpless when the bully has all the support in their part of the hemisphere.

  • rainpizza@lemmygrad.ml
    17·
    1 day ago

    The Minister for Science and Technology, Gabriela Jiménez Ramírez, denounced the destruction of five research centers of the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC) in Venezuela as a consequence of US attacks.

    Source -> https://www.telesurtv.net/agresion-ee-uu-destruccion-centros-investigacion-ivic-venezuela/

    Edit

    According to Telesur above, the US attack targeted the centers of Physics, Chemistry, Ecology and the Nuclear Technology Unit, fundamental spaces for the development of health, engineering and oil sovereignty of the nation.

  • rainpizza@lemmygrad.ml
    19·
    1 day ago

    The Bolivarian National Armed Forces ( FANB ) paid tribute to the soldiers who died in the attacks ordered by the White House on January 3, when US military forces kidnapped the constitutional president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife Cilia Flores , and through criminal bombings murdered dozens of people .

    Source -> https://www.telesurtv.net/fanb-combatientes-venezolanos-agresion-eeuu/

    Another source with the faces of the heroic soldiers -> https://t.me/dhernandezlarez

    • Preston Maness ☭@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      17·
      2 days ago

      My Spanish isn’t great, but doesn’t “Presidenta Encargada” translate to something like “Acting President” or “Interim President” and not just “The New President”?

  • darkernations@lemmygrad.ml
    28·
    2 days ago

    I sometimes keep going back to this article on Chomsky by Dashthered, especially the bits on Chavez and Maduro (well worth a a read again):

    https://dashthered.medium.com/the-anti-chomskÿng-66dcd8224729

    Venuzuela (following from the likes of Allende) is what all these anti-tankie left/rad-liberals nominally shoukd want when they say they want “socialism” but still hold electoralism as their primary means of envisioning democracy. And this is what happens - either you get coups/assasinations Allende/Morales style or in order to survive against imperialism you have to be more authoritarian against capital and imperialism.

    So after seeing all these trial and tribulations and still want to be “anti-tankie” it really is highlighting the privilege of the westerner armchair “socialist”; their class on the global stage and the material conditions they benefit from that relationship overrides everything else.

    The material always comes before the idea.

    https://redsails.org/why-marxism/

    https://redsails.org/tankies/

    (If this is the wrong place to comment on this then mods please delete this/let me know)

    • ExotiqueMatter@lemmygrad.ml
      19·
      2 days ago

      The cope is gonna be very funny when Venezuela obviously refuses these ridiculous terms. not mad capitalist coping

      More seriously. The US has no control over Venezuela whatsoever. I don’t know why they are so smugly certain that they can now order Venezuela around just because they kidnapped a politician and dropped a handful of bombs, but they can’t. Not remotely close.

      Edit: It’s probably a bad faith ultimatum they know Venezuela is gonna refuse so they can use that as an excuse to continue invading like @La Dame d’Azur remarked.

      • La Dame d'Azur@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
        25·
        2 days ago

        It reminds me of the bullshit ultimatum Austria-Hungary gave to Serbia before the outbreak of WWI.

        Strikingly that ultimatum was made in bad faith, with A-H knowing Serbia wouldn’t accept it in the first place. The ultimatum was only made so A-H could pretend it was being fair to Serbia so when they inevitably rejected the bogus demands they’d have an excuse to invade. I’m getting the same vibe here tbh. I think Caracas won’t accept and I also think Washington knows this and is in fact counting on it to justify a full-fledged invasion.

        • cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml
          3·
          1 day ago

          The fact that they chose to do a cowardly kidnapping in the middle of the night and run away before Venezuela could fight back makes it much more likely that this is another bluff. If they were willing and able to do a full-fledged invasion, don’t you think they would have done that instead?

          It would have been more advantageous from a PR perspective to present such an ultimatum to Maduro and to invade when he refused. Now that the media has already declared that “the dictator is gone” they will have a harder time justifying an invasion.

          Also, there were never enough military assets and troops assembled for a full-fledged invasion, and now there are even less, which again points to a bluff. They may do more bombing and almost certainly more piracy, but i don’t think they can put boots on the ground for any extended period of time.

  • rainpizza@lemmygrad.ml
    25·
    2 days ago

    South American countries that celebrated Maduro’s kidnapping want to accelerate the deportation of Venezuelans

    Just hours after Washington’s attack on Caracas, several South American administrations seem to want to take advantage of the situation to resolve the challenge that Venezuelan migration has represented for them in recent years.
    One of the most explicit cases occurred in Argentina, where the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, spoke to hundreds of Venezuelans who had gathered to celebrate the illegal detention of Maduro, reminding them that they would now have to return to their homeland.
    “Maduro is no longer here, he was taken away, and now a path begins where all of you will walk and return to your beloved Venezuela ,” the Secretary of State said, concluding her message with “we will miss you.”

    • Commiejones@lemmygrad.ml
      6·
      1 day ago

      Just more narrative flailing. They are throwing all these lies hoping that some of them stick to justify their actions but none of them will.

    • La Dame d'Azur@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      19·
      2 days ago

      Much like the claim Venezuela’s VP sold Maduro out so she could become prez this is yet another line of disinfo designed to confuse and divide.

    • ExotiqueMatter@lemmygrad.ml
      18·
      2 days ago

      Sounds like bullshit. Their victory in Ukraine is already assured, they have no reason whatsoever to make a deal like that.

    • GreatSympathy505@lemmygrad.ml
      12·
      2 days ago

      If AP is saying Russia said that, then the entire jig would be up. This is the same as the Economist saying Rodríguez is Trump’s ideal candidate because she’s got experience with oil.

    • darkernations@lemmygrad.ml
      13·
      2 days ago

      Russia is willing to “give US free rein in Venezuela in exchange for Ukraine

      I don’t buy it. What would this even mean in practice? It just really goes to show the condescending perspective these “journalists” have against the global south. It’s another one on the tally for Trump=bad because he didn’t do it the “right way”.

      • nathanboleshevik@lemmygrad.ml
        6·
        2 days ago

        Do you think it’s part of the manufacturing of consent to give the idea that Venezuela is all alone and their allies will abandon them in hopes of weakening morale within Venezuela?

        • darkernations@lemmygrad.ml
          7·
          2 days ago

          I suspect its the faction of western capital who feel the faction of capital supporting Trump’s administration is not belligerent enough against Russia; the latter who feel collectively they should cut their losses against perceived competing capitalist countries and focus on socialist countries and the pro-social projects that make up the Pink Tide of the Americas.

          I no longer believe in manufacturing consent as I feel it starts with the ideal of convincing other people through ideas rather than their material conditions that then form peoples’ beliefs. (Dialectical materialism: the material is always before the idea). In essence, I believe what is considered manufacturing consent is in reality a narrative for license of imperial bigotry (which is why people aren’t keep “falling” for new lies; they are instead intelligently looking for new lies that backup their imperial relations as a class).

          What we consider as “manufacturing consent” is actually a social advertisement of the current spectrum of acceptable ideas to publically believe that will not ruin one’s social standing in society (ie the chance to become a capitalist or maintain being a capitalist, or the chance for a worker to find paid work or keep paid work). Though this may be seen as the “stick” remember the real “carrot” of the average westerners’ lives being subsided by the explitation of the global south.

          Manufacturing Consent (Chomsky) < Inventing Reality (Parenti) < “Brainwashing” is not real (Day):

        • darkernations@lemmygrad.ml
          4·
          2 days ago

          Do you think it’s part of the manufacturing of consent to give the idea that Venezuela is all alone and their allies will abandon them in hopes of weakening morale within Venezuela?

          I thought about your question more. It may well be a signifier to embolden right wing parties and media in the Americas about the isolation of the left in the western hemisphere. I saw Prashad’s interview on Breakthrough News which echoed the above and talks about the Angry Tide vs Pink Tide.