Interviews from Quito – Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution Today
Blanca Eckhout, Venezuela National Assembly Representative, explains the Venezuelan revolution and its future challenges. She discusses U.S. meddling in the Colombian border crisis, ExxonMobil’s interference in the Essequibo territory dispute, and how the international media has covered these topics.
Interviews from Quito – Voting in Venezuela
Today our host Gregory Wilpert interviews Tibisay Lucena, the President of the National Electoral Council of Venezuela. With reference to the low electoral participation of large segments of the population of Latin America, Wilpert observes that it is not enough to have clean, fair elections if the people don’t go to the polls. To what … Continue reading
Interviews from Quito – Economic strides and challenges in Venezuela
Today our host Gregory Wilpert interviews Alfred Serrano, a Spanish economist who has served as an advisor to the governments of Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela and is also the author of “The Economic Thought of Hugo Chavez”. The discussion touches on Venezuela’s main economic problems, particularly inflation and food shortages, and their causes. These must … Continue reading
Interviews from Quito – Ignacio Ramonet
Today Gregory Wilpert interviews Ignacio Ramonet, the former editor of Le Monde Diplomatique and also the author of numerous books, including book-length interviews with Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez and who has also written a lot on the mass media and the changing media landscape. The conversation begins with a discussion of methods being used … Continue reading
The OAS-mediated negotiations, the strike, and other recent events
C ésar Gaviria, the General Secretary of the OAS, has the unenviable job of mediating negotiations between Venezuela’s government and its opposition, while the political situation deteriorates and tension grows. Following a full three weeks of negotiations, the two parties at the negotiating table seem farther apart than when they first sat down at the … Continue reading
Coup D’Petrol In Venezuela
Exactly one year after the opposition’s first “general strike,” on December 10, 2001, which launched the campaign to oust the democratically elected president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, the opposition is engaged in its fourth “general strike” and has come very close to finally achieving its goal. The fourth employer-sponsored general strike, which began on December … Continue reading
Why Venezuela’s Middle Class (for the most part) Opposes Chavez
“Chavez’ greatest error was to screw the middle class,” says Carlos Escarrá, a prominent constitutional lawyer and former Venezuelan supreme court judge, who describes himself as being with the “proceso,” but not a Chavista. The “proceso” is the process of social transformation that was initiated by the movement which brought President Chavez to power. When … Continue reading
Venezuela after the Coup Attempt
More and more details about the attempted coup against President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela are beginning to emerge, although much of it still remains shrouded in mystery. The perhaps biggest unsolved mystery is who were the snipers who started the shooting at the April 11 demonstrations, which resulted in 17 dead, and provided the justification … Continue reading
Coup in Venezuela: An Eyewitness Account
The orchestration of the coup was impeccable and, in all likelihood, planned a long time ago. Hugo Chavez, the fascist communist dictator of Venezuela could not stand the truth and thus censored the media relentlessly. For his own personal gain and that of his henchmen (and henchwomen, since his cabinet had more women than any … Continue reading
An Imminent Coup in Venezuela?
It appears that the strategy of President Chavez’s opposition is to create as much chaos and disorder in Venezuela as possible, so that Chavez is left with no other choice than to call a state of emergency. This, in turn could either lead to a military coup or U.S. military intervention. Given that Venezuela has … Continue reading
Gregory Wilpert 