The Bolivarian Revolution began in Venezuela in 1999 without a shot being fired.
From then on Hugo Chavez won every election until 2012, then he died.
The revolution was bankrolled by oil. The only revolution in Latin America that actually had some real money to spend, and spend it they did. Inequality declined to the lowest rate in Latin America and Venezuelans’ quality of life improved at the third fastest rate in the whole world. As long as the oil gushed out the money flowed in to social programs…until it didn’t!
In 2008 the GFC hit the entire world like a ton of bricks, the oil price plummeted, the party was over. That was the moment the US decided to strike, while the country was on its knees the sanctions began. They were not based on any undemocratic actions by Chàves, he was still extremely popular. The excuse for the first sanctions was something about drug smuggling and supporting the FARC guerrilla movement in Colombia.
Chàvez won every election from 1999 to 2012 (5 elections)
When Chàves died he was replaced by Nicolas Maduro, who went on to win the 2013 election. Independent observers deemed the election to be free and fair. Despite this the sanctions were steadily increased until by 2017 the US had imposed the most severe trade embargo in the world on Venezuela – No company that trades with Venezuela can trade with the US, (similar to the total trade embargo on Cuba that has been in place for over 60 years, to no avail): All assets in US banks were ceased, costing the country 30-40 billion dollars. Between 2014 and 2020, Venezuela lost 99% of its foreign currency income. The economy shrank by 80%. 8 million people deserted the country, 20% of the population, the largest migration in Latin American history. The country went from one of the richest in Latin America, to one of the poorest, almost over night. The US was rubbing its hands with glee, their strategy was working a treat, the more suffering, the less votes for Maduro. The crippling sanctions were placed on Venezuela way before any electoral fraud took place in the 2018 and 2024 elections.
In 2021 things got really nasty, US and European financial institutions blocked Venezuela’s payments to Covax, preventing it from acquiring Covid vaccines. If not for Cuban vaccines many more people would have died as a direct result of US policy.
Those who claim to believe in democracy should ask themselves, is it a legitimate part of the democratic process for the oligarchs and their US backers to ruin a nation’s economy in order to turn the voters against the government?
This is not an isolated case, it is standard practice throughout Latin American history. In Nicaragua in the 1980s the US actually employed mercenaries to systematically destroy any infrastructure they came across, including schools and health care centres, until the Sandanista government caved and called an election they knew they would lose. Not because they were unpopular, but because the voters knew full well that if they did not remove their beloved Sandanistas from power the war would never end.
In 2018 the Venezuelan voters were given a stark choice: Vote for Nicholas Maduro and continue your suffering, or turf him out and the US will not just end the blockade but they will shower you with billions of dollars and rebuild your economy. This is not democracy, it is blackmail!
Further reading…..
All data gleaned from Wikipedia
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