Maduro al pueblo EE.UU. 12 Crisis humanitaria? 12 Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Vol. 61 No. 7 Feb. 14, 2019 $1 As U.S. creates economic crisis Global solidarity grows for Bolivarian Venezuela By Sam Ordóñez Take action to Feb. 10—For two-and-a-half weeks, Venezuela has seen almost daily demonstrations in which millions of people across the country have reaffirmed their support for the gov- stop U.S. aggression ernment of Nicolás Maduro. The Venezuelan masses have By Francis T. Parker given a clear message: The Bolivarian Revolution is alive and New York well, and won’t surrender to a U.S. coup. On Jan. 23 opposition figure Juan Guaidó, head of the Feb. 14—Plans for demonstrations to stop U.S. National Assembly—that is operating in contempt of aggression against Venezuela have been gather- the highest court—proclaimed himself president of the ing support in New York, across North America Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. His proposed changes for and throughout the globe. Many of these actions the country are a complete capitulation to U.S. imperialism: National and International Actions stem from strong feelings among the peoples of the privatization of natural resources, neoliberal austerity and world in solidarity with Bolivarian Venezuela and an generous concessions to foreign capital. equally strong desire to stop Yankee imperialism. The Trump administration announced that it will send Saturday, February 23 One such initiative taking place in the heart “humanitarian aid.” A day later, Guaidó invited the U.S. ship- of imperialism has been the appeal published on ment into Venezuela, stating that aid would enter through nowaronvenezuela.org nowaronvenezuela.org (No War on Venezuela) to Colombia, Brazil and a Caribbean island. Venezuela’s legiti- Continued on page 7 mate government—the only real government—has repeatedly said it will not allow the U.S. to enter its national territory. Guaidó’s virtual coup government has failed to mobilize more than a few thousand supporters, who are in mostly wealthy neighborhoods. Instead, Guaidó has called on the military to rebel and on the U.S. to invade Venezuela to put his “government” in power. So far, except for a few individ- uals, the Bolivarian Armed Forces has declared its loyalty to the real government. This is true even though the U.S. has tightened sanctions on individual generals. In response to the threat of invasion, the Bolivarian gov- ernment has begun arming the country’s community militias. The fabricated ‘humanitarian crisis’ The main pretext that the Trump gang has presented for backing (and in truth directing) the coup government is its claim that there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, which it blames on the government. The most recent threats of military invasion have been justified by the delivery of “humanitarian aid.” The real cause of economic problems is due to the mach- inations of U.S. imperialism and its cronies. PHOTO: BRANDAN "BMIKE" ODUMS/ COLORLINES The collapse of oil prices in 2014, due to a Saudi Arabian Mural of activist-athletes Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid painted as artists protest racism on Super Bowl weekend in Atlanta, pp. 8-9. decision to flood the global market, had a huge impact on the Venezuelan economy. Oil has been the main national indus- try since it was discovered in the country, and Venezuela currently sits on the largest certified reserves of crude oil. Venezuela 6-7, 10 8-9 In addition to the drop in oil revenues, in 2015 U.S. President Barack Obama enacted economic sanctions on Venezuela, which Trump has since increased. These sanctions cost the Pres. Maduro's open letter Celebrate, don't Venezuelan economy billions of dollars every year and make Solidarity — Texas to Tehran appropriate it difficult to import certain products, particularly medicines. Due to the sanctions, currency manipulation and deliberate Internationalism The 'Kaeper Bowl' withholding of imported goods by opposition business owners, Mumia's radical politics Continued on page 6 U.S. gang of seven Subscribe to Workers World ☐ 4 weeks trial $4 ☐ 1 year subscription $30 Education workers on the move 4 ☐ Sign me up for the WWP Supporter Program: workers.org/donate Name _______________________________________________________________ Wall resisters at the border 5 Email _______________________________ Phone _________________________ Editorial: Whose State of the Union? 10 Street _______________________________________________________________ City / State / Zip _______________________________________________________ Revolutionary Cuba 3 Workers World Weekly Newspaper workers.org 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10011 212.627.2994 Mexican strikers 4 Brexit & workers 11 Page 2 Feb. 14, 2019 workers.org Honor Black History Month Support Workers World this week Fighting racism in February 2019, Black History imperialist chains, on the principle of self-determina- ◆ In the U.S. Month, means starting at the top of the political ladder tion—that oppressed people have the right to fight to Take action to stop U.S. aggression............... 1 and denouncing the openly racist, white supremacist in end all forms of inequality and injustice by any means Activists demand: Reopen Mumia's appeal........3 the White House. 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Closing date: Feb. 13, 2019 multinational, multigenerational and multigendered orga- The ruthless ruling class today seeks to wipe out Editor: Deirdre Griswold nization that not only aims to abolish capitalism, but to decades of gains and benefits won by hard-fought strug- Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, build a socialist society because it’s the only way forward! gles by people’s movements. The super-rich and their Monica Moorehead, Minnie Bruce Pratt; Capitalism and imperialism threaten the peoples of the political representatives have intensified their attacks on Web Editors: Ben Carroll, John Steffin world and the planet itself in the neverending quest for the multinational, multigender and multigenerational ever-greater profits. working class. It is time to point the blame at—and chal- Production & Design Editors: Gery Armsby, Capitalism means war and austerity, racism and repres- lenge—the capitalist system. Jayla Hagans, Sasha Mazumder, Scott Williams sion, attacks on im/migrants, misogyny, LGBTQ oppres- WWP fights for socialism because the working class Copyediting and Proofreading: Paddy Colligan, sion and mistreatment of people with disabilities. It means produces all wealth in society, and this wealth should Sue Davis, S.