Re: [Marxism] WSJ on Venezuela part II

[Greg McDonald via Marxism]

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>
> If this article is accurate (which may not be the case, given the extreme
> hostility of the US  ruling class to the Maduro government), this would
> indicate that the Venezuelan revolution is undergoing a process of
> bureaucratic degeneration.
>


Unfortunately, WSJ reportage is usually pretty accurate, as opposed to
their editorial page.

Greg McDonald

>
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Re: [Marxism] WSJ on Venezuela part II

[Chris Slee via Marxism]

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If this article is accurate (which may not be the case, given the extreme 
hostility of the US  ruling class to the Maduro government), this would 
indicate that the Venezuelan revolution is undergoing a process of bureaucratic 
degeneration.

If so, this is a product of the same factors that led to the degeneration of 
the Russian revolution - the isolation of the revolution in a backward country, 
in a world dominated by hostile imperialist powers.

Trotsky said: "The basis of bureaucratic rule is the poverty of society in 
objects of consumption, with the resulting struggle of each against all". Hence 
the US economic blockade against Venezuela, by creating or exacerbating 
shortages, has intensified the pressures toward bureaucratisation.

The weakness of the US left, and its inability or unwillingness to build a mass 
movement in solidarity with Venezuela, is an important factor contributing to 
the ability of the US government to impose the blockade, and hence the tendency 
towards bureaucratic degeneration of the revolution.

Chris Slee


From: Marxism  on behalf of John Reimann 
via Marxism 
Sent: Wednesday, 20 March 2019 7:21:58 AM
To: Chris Slee
Subject: [Marxism] WSJ on Venezuela part II

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Here's the second half of the article:

Two days later, on Jan. 25, masked police dragged Mr. Godoy from his house,
his mother protesting, and took him to nearby alley. He was shot in the
foot and stomach and had a diaper stuffed in his mouth, which neighbors
interpreted as a message to other would-be rebels considering speaking out
against Mr. Maduro.

“I heard lots of shots, and my son cry out ‘Jehova, Jehova,” Cecilia
Buitrago, Mr. Godoy’s mother, told Mr. Guaidó in a meeting
<https://twitter.com/jguaido/status/1103107285000302592?mod=article_inline>shortly
after the killing.

The corpse was returned to the family two days later, and Mr. Godoy’s
mother remains in hiding.

Across barrios such as La Vega, fading murals celebrating former leader
Hugo Chávez compete with fresh graffiti demanding “Fuera Maduro,” or Maduro
Out. Many blame government brutality for the shift.

“Symbolically, it is a huge blow to the government to lose the support of
the barrios,” said John Polga-Hecimovich, a political-science professor at
the U.S. Naval Academy. “In practical terms, it probably means more
repression.”


*Rising power*

Barrios took a high-profile role in Venezuela’s recent history. In
February, 1989, a barrio uprising over increases in transport prices led to
a crackdown by army and police that killed hundreds. The massacre inspired
a previously unknown Lt. Col. Hugo Chávez to attempt an overthrow of
then-President Carlos Andres Perez in a failed 1992 coup.

Once Mr. Chavez took power in 1999, he championed the barrios. One
government program, Barrio Adentro, built health-care clinics staffed by
Cuban doctors. Local clinics saved residents long trips to public hospitals.

The barrios, in turn, saved Mr. Chavez in 2002. Thousands of residents
staged street protests to demand his return after a faction of the armed
forces briefly pushed him from power. El Comandante, as he was known, was
so popular in barrios that few opposition politicians dared campaign there.

The economic crisis has left the barrios in far worse shape.

In 2014, the poorest 20% of the nation’s population had 3.35% of the
wealth. Now, it is 1.41%. The share of wealth going to the richest 10%,
which includes those high in government, doubled their share of wealth to
61% from 30% over the same period, according to a wide-ranging study of
poverty by the Andres Bello Catholic University.

Venezuela has become the most unequal country in the hemisphere next to
Haiti, the study found.

In wealthy eastern Caracas, five-star restaurants cater to customers with
access to dollars, often high-ranking officials. A pizza pie may cost the
equivalent of a month’s wage by barrio residents.

Last year, Venezuelans were incensed by an online video showing Mr. Maduro
and his wife enjoying a meal at an Istanbul restaurant run by the celebrity
chef known as Salt Bae.

“The army and top officials here don’t suffer. It’s the barrios that
suffer,” said Yasiri Paredes, 32. who runs a food kitchen serving free food
in the La Vega barrio. She also is the cousin of Mr. Godo

[Marxism] WSJ on Venezuela part II

[John Reimann via Marxism]

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Here's the second half of the article:

Two days later, on Jan. 25, masked police dragged Mr. Godoy from his house,
his mother protesting, and took him to nearby alley. He was shot in the
foot and stomach and had a diaper stuffed in his mouth, which neighbors
interpreted as a message to other would-be rebels considering speaking out
against Mr. Maduro.

“I heard lots of shots, and my son cry out ‘Jehova, Jehova,” Cecilia
Buitrago, Mr. Godoy’s mother, told Mr. Guaidó in a meeting
shortly
after the killing.

The corpse was returned to the family two days later, and Mr. Godoy’s
mother remains in hiding.

Across barrios such as La Vega, fading murals celebrating former leader
Hugo Chávez compete with fresh graffiti demanding “Fuera Maduro,” or Maduro
Out. Many blame government brutality for the shift.

“Symbolically, it is a huge blow to the government to lose the support of
the barrios,” said John Polga-Hecimovich, a political-science professor at
the U.S. Naval Academy. “In practical terms, it probably means more
repression.”


*Rising power*

Barrios took a high-profile role in Venezuela’s recent history. In
February, 1989, a barrio uprising over increases in transport prices led to
a crackdown by army and police that killed hundreds. The massacre inspired
a previously unknown Lt. Col. Hugo Chávez to attempt an overthrow of
then-President Carlos Andres Perez in a failed 1992 coup.

Once Mr. Chavez took power in 1999, he championed the barrios. One
government program, Barrio Adentro, built health-care clinics staffed by
Cuban doctors. Local clinics saved residents long trips to public hospitals.

The barrios, in turn, saved Mr. Chavez in 2002. Thousands of residents
staged street protests to demand his return after a faction of the armed
forces briefly pushed him from power. El Comandante, as he was known, was
so popular in barrios that few opposition politicians dared campaign there.

The economic crisis has left the barrios in far worse shape.

In 2014, the poorest 20% of the nation’s population had 3.35% of the
wealth. Now, it is 1.41%. The share of wealth going to the richest 10%,
which includes those high in government, doubled their share of wealth to
61% from 30% over the same period, according to a wide-ranging study of
poverty by the Andres Bello Catholic University.

Venezuela has become the most unequal country in the hemisphere next to
Haiti, the study found.

In wealthy eastern Caracas, five-star restaurants cater to customers with
access to dollars, often high-ranking officials. A pizza pie may cost the
equivalent of a month’s wage by barrio residents.

Last year, Venezuelans were incensed by an online video showing Mr. Maduro
and his wife enjoying a meal at an Istanbul restaurant run by the celebrity
chef known as Salt Bae.

“The army and top officials here don’t suffer. It’s the barrios that
suffer,” said Yasiri Paredes, 32. who runs a food kitchen serving free food
in the La Vega barrio. She also is the cousin of Mr. Godoy, the man shot in
the alley.

During the blackout that dimmed the capital for five days, Caracas’ top
restaurants ran on portable generators. But in La Vega, the network of food
kitchens like the one run by Ms. Paredes temporarily closed, leaving
hundreds of children hungry,

During the blackout, Eloina Peña, 55, sold out the entire inventory of a
small bodega she runs in La Vega, fearing the food would spoil. Now she
wonders how she will restock. “The government has us cornered,” she said.
“But if we just stay quiet, we’ll be accepting these humiliations.”


Sections of La Vega, home to about 120,000 residents, have been without
water for nearly 10 months. The occasional water truck that meanders up the
steep hillside sometimes only goes to the homes of government supporters,
according to residents.

When the Fe y Alegria Andy Aparicio parish school had a small fire on its
patio last year. firefighters had no available truck to help. Teachers and
students used water, dirt and sand to put it out, school official said.

*Empty shelves*

Venezuela’s rate of hyperinflation, estimated by national economists to now
be as high as 2 million percent, is best measured in everyday barrio life.

Yulitza Ramos, 32, has seven children, and her boyfriend makes the
equivalent of $6 a month, enough to buy about two kilos of rice at black
market prices. They get a box of subsidized food from the government once a
month, but it’s not nearly enough. “I used to be able to provide for my
kids,” she said, “and now we don’t have enough to eat. I feel like a
failure as a mother.”

Her daughter Milagro, 12, sk