It is the story of Venezuela, America's newest undeclared war, and the unholy beasts Uncle Sam is paying to win it.
I have suffered deeply to bring you this story, and have prescribed myself a regimen of back-to-back hyssop baths in an effort to purge away any negativity such coverage might bring. Four spirits freshly summoned from the graveyard hang around the house now, watching me type every word and pulling me back to reality each time I break off into maniacal laughter; when they do I write down Psalm 35 on a small piece of paper and eat it, a backwoods technique to preserve one's sanity I learned from a one-eyed Seminole woman in a town called Okahumpka. She chuckled then, calling me "wee hatke-hajo" and assured me I'd need it in my chosen line of work.
How right she was. To be a journalist requires not just the ability to sense bullshit but to breathe it, to inhale it, to filter particles of truth from the same fumes designed to dull the senses and demolish the mind. You gain a taste for the stuff and can pick up the scent for miles away, a mutant creature let loose to devour all that is terrible and wrong in the world; like a water moccasin you swim towards everything dangerous in an effort to kill it first.
The current cloud surrounding the troubles of Venezuela might be the purest strain of the stuff I've yet to encounter. As far as I've seen no Anarchist has sufficiently tackled the subject, no reporter has followed all the evidence, and no soul has yet to fathom the macabre timeline that awaits millions of people if the United States wins.
Lord, how long will you look on? Let those who rejoice at this misfortune be disgraced and humiliated; let those who exalt themselves over it be clothed with shame and reproach! Let us peer deeply into the rat nest that is a capitalist-run press and the lies they package as truth.
"For they do not speak in friendly ways,
but contrive deceitful schemes against those who live peacefully in the land." – Psalm 35
Nothing could be further from the truth and the American government knows it.
Venezuela's economic woes are by design and have American fingerprints all over them. Anybody else notice how cheap gas is nowadays?
"Starting in 2014, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia flooded the market with cheap oil. This is not a mere business decision, but a calculated move coordinated with U.S. and Israeli foreign policy goals. Despite not just losing money, but even falling deep into debt, the Saudi monarchy continues to expand its oil production apparatus. The result has been driving the price of oil down from $110 per barrel, to $28 in the early months of this year. The goal is to weaken these opponents of Wall Street, London, and Tel Aviv, whose economies are centered around oil and natural gas exports….
Writing for Townhall in 2014, Michael Reagan bragged that his father did the same thing to hurt the Soviet Union during the 1980s:
'Since selling oil was the source of the Kremlin's wealth, my father got the Saudis to flood the market with cheap oil. Lower oil prices devalued the ruble, causing the USSR to go bankrupt, which led to perestroika and Mikhail Gorbachev and the collapse of the Soviet Empire.'"
Venezuela's oil revenues account for about 95 percent of export earnings and around 25 percent of gross domestic product, making this an aimed economic attack against a country the US has tried to destroy many times before. If there was any doubt the roving shithawks of American Imperialism were responsible you'd only need to hear a recent interview done by the current head of the CIA:
"So I want to be careful with what I say but suffice to say, we are very hopeful that there can be a transition in Venezuela and we the CIA is doing its best to understand the dynamic there, so that we can communicate to our State Department and to others. The Colombians, I was just down in Mexico City and in Bogota a week before last talking about this very issue trying to help them understand the things they might do so that they can get a better outcome for their part of the world and our part of the world"
Remember: these are the same horsefuckers that compare themselves to the manufacturers of poison gas used in the Holocaust and literally said their "real job was to kill as many Communists as possible." When they say "better outcomes" and "understanding the dynamic" you can be sure it means torture, mass death, and the supremacy of the United States above everything else.
Ever the example that Capitalists act as a class, American-backed companies are gleefully adding to the crisis. Heinz employees are claiming the company's factories are capable of operating at full capacity to meet the country's shortage of certain food items—but that the owners do not want that to happen. Bridgestone, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, Ford Motor Company, and Kimberly-Clark Corp number among other American companies mysteriously slowing production in Venezuela due to "business concerns" while the Japanese-run Toyota continues to chug along just fine. A "bosses' strike" has even been called, management locking up industries and refusing workers the ability to slow down a catastrophic economic collapse.
Here it is, a full-blown class war, naked as sunshine and for all to see. The plan? A combined pincer strike of fixed markets and shortages of essential goods, one causing the economy to turn into a boiling pot of rage and hate for whoever was in charge. Where have we seen this before?
"The situation on the ground today in Venezuela, in particular the shortages of basic goods, is in some respects analogous to the conditions leading up to the 1973 coup against the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende in Chile. A major tactic of the right-wing Chilean opposition and the Nixon administration was to 'make the economy scream' by provoking food shortages, a truckers strike, and mayhem in the streets. Researcher Peter Kornbluh, in The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability, summarizes declassified cables that indicate in the days preceding the overthrow of Allende a terrorist paramilitary group and a 'large segment' of the business community were 'undertaking actions to increase discontent and incidents of violence…in order to create an atmosphere in Chile which would be propitious for a military coup."'
It's a winning strategy and Uncle Sam will take it all the way to make it a success. In the 1970's the CIA went so far as to pay workers in Chile not to work with the equivalent of $40,192,000 dollars, all to exacerbate shortages and manufacture a crisis capable of overthrowing the government. But just as in the past you need someone on the ground to really get things crazy, and a white guy with a Boston accent sticks out like a priest at a boy scout jamboree. You need local help, the kind of hellish beasts hopped up on ideology and with a foaming desire to kill so common to the Right.
Meet the "protesters" so beloved by the American media.
"Assailants I did not know tore at me and did not stop. With godless mockery they gnashed their teeth at me." – Psalm 35
They sure do have a funny way of showing it.
"Two Venezuelan protesters attacked a state-owned storehouse Thursday, setting fire to the building and destroying food reserves kept there…
About 40 tons of food that would have been distributed through the Mercal subsidized food market and subsidized government programs were consumed by the flames…Consequently, 40,000 families will be affected by the fire, which also serves 399 Local Supply and Production Committees, CLAP, 278 schools, 31 comprehensive diagnostic centers, three penitentiaries, a geriatric center, as well as 52 nutrition houses."
Who are these "protesters," these "freedom fighters" so adored by the Imperium, wrapped in flags and howling for blood? What's clear, even in the grossly ideological articles coming out of the capitalist press, is that the current protests have much in common with a "short-lived 2002 coup against Chavez, who was removed from power by dissident army officers and right-wing business leaders for several days before being restored to office."
What they fail to mention is how right-wing they are.
CryptoCuddlefish, a "non-denominational communist" and political observer has been pointing out symbolism among the opposition that would be instantly recognizable to any member of the AltRight:
According to sources in Venezuela these are not just a few kids with a hard-on for the middle ages. The Tribuna Popular, a communist news site, highlights 12 fascist organizations operating within the opposition and notes they are some of the most active and organized forces within the protests.
"While the MUD (Democratic Unity Roundtable) has no control over the barricades, much less neo-Nazi groups, which have been trained to resist the Revolutionary and Bolivarian government, they certainly have a military command, which has organized, logistics, financing, location, entrances and exits, communications and operational control of each of the barricades, as well as the planning of systematic attacks and selective assassinations, with the aim of generating a civil war and achieving the much desired Yankee intervention." (Translated from Spanish)
The protesters, interviewed by American media, admit as much.
"'There's level 1 to 7,' he says. Level 1 protesters are up front, face-to-face with police. People call them warriors.
'These are kids, most of them under 25, which are students most of them — or they have nothing to lose, they don't have a job, they don't see a future and they fight for their life,' he says.
…He says these are people who help with logistics….He gets the food through a network of people who operate more or less anonymously, sharing information through messaging apps about drop-off points and pickup spots where they are hiding supplies.
'It's like a war. There are soldiers, there's [logistics], there's intelligence…"
Recently in Venezuela a helicopter attack against a government building was followed by a video produced by opposition forces. In it the attack is admitted to be the work of "an underground network nestled within the security and armed forces determined to end the embattled government of Nicolas Maduro." Most interesting, and perhaps even terrifying, are the crusader and fascist overtones prevalent throughout:
"Perez marries the idea of nationalist struggle with Christian idealism. Pointing to a blue cloth tied to his left arm, he says 'we are using this distinction, which is the color of truth and Jesus Christ, who is with us.' He explicitly identifies himself and his comrades as 'nationalists, patriots, and institutionalists." Near the end, he exclaims a coda: 'we are warriors of God, and our mission is to live at the service of the people. Long live Venezuela!'"
The presence of this man dispels any lingering doubts about American involvement. According to Mint Press News Pérez has been known to work for Miguel Rodríguez Torres, a former general and former minister of Venezuela's Department of Interior Relations, Justice and Peace who is currently being investigated for his ties to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the CIA. These charges first came to light when the Venezuelan news agency Últimas Noticias obtained an official DEA document that described Rodríguez Torres as a "key information provider" for the agency and recommended that he be secured as a protected source for the DEA and U.S. government.
These new crusaders, directly supported and in league with the United States against what they call "the modern world," are far from allies of the working class; instead they are intent on terrifying it into submission. The opposition in one incident attacked communes for low-income citizens, firing guns at residents, burning several homes, and mortally wounding a child. Deaths of government supporters have included that of socialist union leader Esmin Ramirez, who was kidnapped on April 22 and found murdered the next day. A leading activist of the PSUV in Miranda State, Jacqueline Ortega, was also murdered on April 22; her son had been murdered earlier. A black man was set on fire, beaten up, and stabbed four times for merely looking like a "Chavista," the government noting the racially motivated tones of the attack.
Yet what does the capitalist press run?
"Anti-government protesters want Maduro to step down, accusing him of eroding democracy. Maduro, meanwhile, has ordered the Venezuelan armed forces onto the streets to maintain order…Maduro, 54, has been defiant, taking a confrontational tone with members of the opposition and protesters, whom he calls 'vandals and terrorists.'"
By the gods, how I long for a sweeping fire to burn the THROATS of these liars!
"Oppose my opponents, Lord; fight those who fight me. Take Your shields—large and small—and come to my aid. Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers and assure me: 'I am your deliverance.'" -Psalm 35
"Never thought it'd be this cheap," says one.
"Neither did I," says the other.
My grip on the handle of the pump grew tighter, enraptured by the day-to-day existence of an animal blissfully unaware of its environment. To them the covert machinations of an imperial power were simply beyond comprehension, the same weapon strangling a country as mysterious yet natural as any other weather pattern. They wore camouflage clothes and had bumper stickers calling for sinners to turn to god. I filled up and went inside, buying an 18 pack to quiet my screams.
On the way home the emperor's words were read over the AM stations to an ignorant and gullible public.
"Yesterday, the Venezuelan people again made clear that they stand for democracy, freedom, and rule of law. Yet their strong and courageous actions continue to be ignored by a bad leader who dreams of becoming a dictator. The United States will not stand by as Venezuela crumbles. If the Maduro regime imposes its Constituent Assembly on July 30, the United States will take strong and swift economic actions."
Democracy, freedom, words so empty you could pour all of Lake Okeechobee into them and still have room for more; I practically drowned myself in Rue Water and sage smoke as soon as I got home in an effort to purge away what vile vibrations such bullshit spreads. Here I remain, the 18-pack gone and the rum flowing, still disgusted with the world around me.
There is no opposition in Venezuela, only the freshest front in a new era of American warfare. The only body seeking liberation is the international body of Capital, a resurrection of the unchecked hunt by foreign parasites for cheap goods and even cheaper lives to produce them. Just as we did in the Ukraine, we'd riled up our pet nazis and let them loose on an unsuspecting public.
Writing now at nearly 4:15am I realize for the people I saw at the gas station the above simply doesn't matter. To repeat these obvious facts isn't enough to interest them, let alone make them give a fuck. I could sit here and edit every trace of radicalism out of this article in an attempt to make it digestible to the rudest of palates, but what would be the point? Common human decency has long been unfashionable, and to the wild American it is all but atrophied. Politics and the scenes of people dying are but commercials in a life that is lived one football season to the next; God has chosen them to rule the world, or so their masters say, and if a few brown people have to die to keep their lifestyles afloat so be it. Soldiers don't kill innocents, companies don't plot with governments, and salvation awaits all those little slugs who work well and die quietly.
We know where an "American" will stand. So where should an Anarchist?
To be an Anarchist is to be surrounded and enmeshed in politics, a never-ending battle to determine who or what owns your soul. Venezuela, a fight whose outcome could reverberate for generations in the continent nearest to us, is one we must throw our lot in with. Like a black ibis sitting atop a church it is a sure sign and a dire omen for probabilities and possibilities yet to manifest.
Make no mistake, the government of Venezuela is not our friend nor our ally. Hell, much to the chagrin of Tankies everywhere, it isn't actually socialist.
Today those same capitalists Chavez spared are in league with the United States to destroy everything Venezuelans fought for; an important lesson there, and one all Anarchists should remember: Revolution cannot be made half-way. Capitalists will only play nice with a "left-leaning" State until they can sink their vampiric fangs deep into its jugular. The bourgeoisie have no pity or mercy when their interests are at stake, peace merely a code word for sharpening your knives. We would be wise to act the same.
The chaos in Venezuela offers a unique opportunity. Anarchists on the ground describe it as a "pre-insurrectional moment" and note "if there are no factors that can maintain and increase this tension until it explodes, the politicians will be able to recover their leading roles." If Anarchists are looking for a side to support this is it. We can, through a campaign of attacks, sabotage, and mass-scale propaganda, make it clear our hearts are with Venezuelans, not Maduro or American-backed fascists. We can actually act to slow down and expose the American war effort while inciting Venezuelan comrades to greater and greater seizures of power outside of State control. This conflict, far from being a simple battle between two nations, can be a riotous portal from which real class war can be launched.
Like the Pleiades stars rising in the sky it is either a sign of great luck or an omen of terrible foreboding.
The Powers That Be make no secret of their will to stop the world-wide spread of revolution, where-ever and what-ever shape it might take. Liberation or death is the gauntlet staring back at us from the ground; if the United States wins we know what will follow: widespread persecution, the return of lands and businesses to large landholders and bankers, rape, murder, and all of it under the scarcely concealed fist of a fascist movement.
If Venezuela is the answer there can only be one question for Anarchists: is it better for their lives and their revolutionary aspirations that Venezuela fall to the United States or that Uncle Sam come crawling home, bloodied and beaten?
Make your choice
and let your deeds do the talking.
Dr. Bones is a Hoodoo-slingin' Florida native and Egoist-Communist spitting pure vitriol and sorcerous wisdom at a world gone mad. He lives with his loving wife, a herd of cats, and a house full of spirits. His poltergasmic politics and gonzo journalism can be found at Gods & Radicals and The Conjure House. He can be reached by email, twitter, or facebook.
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