By Gilberto Perez of La Marx Venezuela

Our struggle of the Venezuelan people against the capitalist dictatorship of Maduro is also the end of the political current that dominated Latin American politics for more than 20 years. The enormous crisis collapses the Maduro government in Venezuela, in the midst of the global collapse that capitalism is experiencing.

Our Venezuelan people, immersed in hunger, misery and repression, in a process of political revolution that is going through the world, rise up against the Maduro government supported only by the Armed Forces.

With an accumulated inflation of 500%, an increase in hunger and misery, the minimum income remains at 130 bolivars, which today are equivalent to five dollars, with the collapse of the health and education system, added to this is the constant repression of masses, prohibiting photographing the empty shelves of supermarkets, or the long lines to purchase the minimum essential food items, such as flour, milk, etc., no media can publish or insinuate the price of the dollar since 2007, under the sanction of the Law against illegal exchange rates, prohibiting the central bank from releasing inflation rates, or the photography of bodies piled up on weekends in Venezuelan morgues, with large fines including prison

In our country, as the rejection of the oppressed people increases, the repression against workers and union activism increases. Thus, in the first six months of the year, with 4,351 protests driven by salary increases and compliance with collective agreements, union leaders have been sentenced to long prison sentences and many others have been arrested by the police forces. and military, for the fact of mobilizing and denouncing the regime

On August 1, union members Reynaldo Cortés, Alonso Meléndez, Alcides Bracho, Néstor Astudillo, Gabriel Blanco and Emilio Negrín were sentenced to 16 years in prison, without a single piece of evidence against them.

Maduro tries to sustain himself through the referendum maneuver, calling for National Unity

Our people repudiate Maduro and his henchmen, and to divert and try to stop the political and social conflict, they resume the seizure of the Essequibo of Guayana, promoting the nationalist defense of Venezuelan territory, and continue holding on to a thread that the masses cut. In the desperate maneuver of the capitalist dictatorship of the Maduro government, calls for National Unity to "defend" the Essequibo

This farce of the non-binding consultative referendum, which was carried out on December 3, disguised as a consultation of the people, to support the government's position of taking over the Essequibo territory in Guyana, is a complete lie. Maduro's argument is based on what many Venezuelans consider an illegitimate agreement dating back to the 19th century that awarded Guyana the Essequibo region.

The failure of Maduro's government is crossed by the rejection of the Venezuelan people, where 10,554,320 votes were counted, but in reality they voted 2 110 864, that is, only 10.2%, with which the people massively gave him the back the referendum called by the dictatorship, with an abstention of almost 90% of the population eligible to vote. Despite the repression of the people to vote, it was a failure, however, accompanied by the fraud of the regime, it won the yes to take a position in the territory.

Essequibo - also known as Guayana Esequiba - is a territory three times larger than Costa Rica, where almost 300,000 people live, mined for natural and mineral resources, it has large reserves of gold, copper, diamond, iron, bauxite and aluminum, among other minerals, immense oil wealth. 

From 2015 to date, the multinational ExxonMobil and its partners made 46 discoveries that raised Guyana's oil reserves to around 11 billion barrels, representing about 0.6% of the world total.

Most of the reserves are located in a 26,000 square kilometer oil and gas block known as Stabroek, off the country's Atlantic coast, which lies partially in the territorial waters of the region disputed by Venezuela. In addition to the wealth of water resources, such as Cuyuní, Mazaruní, Kuyuwini, Potaro, Rupununi.

When Spain founded the Captaincy General of Venezuela, Essequibo was part of the territorial sub-entity, and - after obtaining its independence in 1811 - Venezuela remained in control of its sovereignty.

In 1899, the Paris Arbitration Award was issued, a ruling favorable to the United Kingdom with which the territory was officially under British rule. But four decades later, a memorandum by American lawyer Severo Mallet-Prevost - part of Venezuela's defense in the Paris Arbitration Award - was made public, in which he denounced that the award was a political compromise and that the judges were not impartial. .

Severo Mallet-Prevost's revelations and other documents led Venezuela to declare the award "null and void" and reactivate your claim.

Three months before granting independence to Guyana in 1966, the United Kingdom agreed with Venezuela on the Geneva Agreement that recognized Venezuela's claim and sought to find satisfactory solutions to resolve the dispute.

Between 1982 and 1999, both countries tried to resolve the dispute through the UN good offices mechanism, which never produced concrete results. During the government of Hugo Chávez, the dispute was shelved, in part due to the good relations between Chávez and Georgetown.

But this changed when dozens of oil deposits began to be discovered in coastal areas of the disputed area in 2015. Tensions between Venezuela and Guyana have progressively increased since then. Now, the interests of Maduro's capitalist dictatorship are not only economic, but also political.

In mid-September, the Venezuelan Parliament, with a Chavista majority, proposed organizing a referendum to consult Venezuelans about the "rights" of the country on the Essequibo. A month later, the government-controlled CNE announced that the consultation would take place on December 3.

The referendum in question consisted of five questions, for which the government asked for five yeses:

• Do you agree to reject, by all means, in accordance with the law, the line fraudulently imposed by the Paris Arbitration Award of 1899, which seeks to deprive us of our Guayana Esequiba?
• Do you support the 1966 Geneva Agreement as the only valid legal instrument to reach a practical and satisfactory solution for Venezuela and Guyana regarding the controversy over the territory of Guayana Esequiba?
• Do you agree with Venezuela's historical position of not recognizing the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice to resolve the territorial controversy over Guayana Esequiba?
• Do you agree to oppose, by all means, in accordance with the law, Guyana's claim to unilaterally dispose of a sea pending delimitation, illegally and in violation of international law?
• Do you agree with the creation of the Guayana Esequiba state and the development of an accelerated plan for comprehensive care for the current and future population of that territory, which includes, among others, the granting of citizenship and a Venezuelan identity card, in accordance with the Geneva Agreement and International Law, consequently incorporating said state on the map of Venezuelan territory?

After the weak positive result in the consultative referendum, Maduro signed 6 decrees for the creation of the Guayana Esequiba state, which will carry out its political administration in the territory of Essequibo, with the creation of the Comprehensive Defense Zone (ZODI) of Guayana Esequiba with three comprehensive defense areas and 28 development sectors by the FANB, a new official map of Venezuela, new natural parks, activation of identification cards in said place, construction of schools and headquarters of public powers. In addition, the designation of Major General Alexis Rodríguez Cabello as the Sole Authority of the state of Guayana Esequiba.

On December 6, the attorney general appointed by the Constituent Assembly, Tarek William Saab, announced arrest warrants against 14 people accused of "conspiring" to "sabotage" the holding of the consultative referendum.

The end of the dictatorship of the Maduro regime. The way out is not reformism

The oppressed masses in Venezuela, in a process of political revolution, with the exhaustion of the Chavista-Maduro regime, are looking for a way out, and imperialism is trying to install an alternative, to sustain the capitalist system and contain the anger of the masses to María Corina Machado, who is disqualified by the Venezuelan Comptroller's Office from holding public office, who won the internal elections of the Unitary Platform, which groups to most of the opposition, she was designated as a candidate for thecapitalist elections of 2024

Machado, founder of the political movement Vente Venezuela, co-founder of the civil association Súmate, member of the citizen platform Soy Venezuela, of liberal origin, defender of the reduction of the State and promoting the free market and entrepreneurship as the main drivers of the creation of wealth and employment.

"Ideologically speaking I am liberal, I believe in democracy, the rule of law, private property and the market, But I am neither left nor right because that no longer exists. My ideology has more to do with ethics and spirituality. I connect with people from there, with all my emotionality."

The Maduro dictatorship must be defeated, but Machado is not the solution. The Venezuelan people must impose their own way out.

The reformist solutions proposed by the Chavista organizations have failed. The comrades who are active in these organizations or the currents promoted by the Pope must turn their backs on the leaders of these organizations, who have lied, hiding the capitalist and starvation character of Chavismo.

In our Venezuela and throughout the world, revolutionary solutions are needed to end the disaster in which capitalism is sinking us worldwide. Chaves and Maduro showed themselves as "revolutionaries" and "left" another farce, rich characters who govern for the 1%, leading in the name of the revolution to hunger, misery and oppression with repression of the people, which deserves the repudiation of millions in all countries

That is why in Venezuela we must support a solution independent of the capitalist parties, a solution in the hands of the workers and the Venezuelan people. We must reject all interference by imperialism, which is why it is essential that the workers and the humble sectors of the population of Venezuela continue in the streets, mobilized until the general strike against hunger is imposed, for the freedom of political prisoners, and the right to assembly. , and unionization. A path to impose a working-class and popular solution to this crisis, and defeat the capitalist dictatorship of Maduro, and open the way to world Socialism.