The racial conflict in Venezuela - El conflicto racial en Venezuela

Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution from the start enjoyed the support of of key AfroVenezuelan groups and individuals as well as the much larger mestizo or mixed groups. They all rebelled against the white elites. By contrast, the AfroCuban groups such as the societies of color were not involved in the Cuban Revolution which after winning tried to remove racism and its consequences. There is more awareness in Venezuela of the role racism plays in driving social conflicts and the government has taken to talking about the US as a white supremacist government.

This racial conflict is playing out to this day, where the white opposition has selected mestizo Juan Guaido to lead their efforts, bypassing more senior white politicians. This is likely a reaction to the drubbing they took in the whole National Assembly debacle, as described in Racism and the Fight over Venezuela, 2/12/2019 Strategic Culture:

"Venezuela currently has two assemblies that claim the right to legislate. In 2015 the opposition won a majority in the National Assembly, the original parliament of Venezuela.

However, the Venezuelan Supreme Court barred four lawmakers from taking their seats while it probed allegations of electoral fraud. As a result, only 163 of the 167 lawmakers were sworn in on January 5. The next day, three opposition deputies were sworn in over protests by members from the legislature’s minority who announced their intention to challenge the move.

The Supreme Court of Venezuela then held that the National Assembly was in contempt of the court. The move created a political stalemate. To solve it the president called for the election of a Constitutional Assembly. Its main task is to consider constitutional changes. But it can also overrule legislation that the National Assembly makes. The Supreme Court accepted the solution. The National Assembly, the rotational presidency which Random Guy [Juan Guaido] took at the beginning of this year, is since only a secondary parliament."

This article points to a series of pictures, including those at left, to illustrate the fact that the National Assembly is overwhelmingly white while the Constituent Asembly much more accurately reflects the makeup of the country.

There is a general progressive failure to understand the racialized nature of this conflict and to act on it. Without this information, people underestimate the support for Maduro and are unable to generate much enthusiasm behind the defense of the Venezuelan people.

The following articles give further information on the conflict.

El conflicto racial en Venezuela

Desde el principio, la Revolución Bolivariana de Venezuela contó con el apoyo de grupos e individuos claves afrovenezolanos, así como de grupos mestizos mucho más grandes. Todos se rebelaron contra los elites blancos. Por el contrario, los grupos afrocubanos, como las sociedades de color, no participaron en la Revolución cubana que, después de ganar, intentó eliminar el racismo y sus consecuencias. Hay más conciencia en Venezuela sobre el papel que juega el racismo en la conducción de los conflictos sociales y el gobierno ha empezado a hablar de los Estados Unidos como un gobierno de supremacistas blancos.

Este conflicto racial se está desarrollando hasta el día de hoy, donde la oposición blanca ha seleccionado al mestizo Juan Guaido para liderar sus esfuerzos, evitando a los políticos blancos de mayor rango. Esta es probablemente una reacción a la paliza que sufrieron en toda la debacle de la Asamblea Nacional, como se describe en Racism and the Fight over Venezuela, 12/2/2019 Strategic Culture

"Venezuela actualmente tiene dos asambleas que reclaman el derecho a legislar. En 2015, la oposición obtuvo la mayoría en la Asamblea Nacional, el parlamento original de Venezuela. Sin embargo, la Corte Suprema de Venezuela prohibió a cuatro legisladores tomar sus escaños mientras investigaba las denuncias de fraude electoral. Como resultado, solo 163 de los 167 legisladores prestaron juramento el 5 de enero. Al día siguiente, tres diputados de la oposición juraron protestas de miembros de la minoría de la legislatura que anunciaron su intención de impugnar la medida. La Corte Suprema de Venezuela luego sostuvo que la Asamblea Nacional estaba en desacato a la corte. El movimiento creó un estancamiento político. Para resolverlo el presidente convocó a la elección de una Asamblea Constitucional. Su tarea principal es considerar los cambios constitucionales. Pero también puede anular la legislación que hace la Asamblea Nacional. El Tribunal Supremo aceptó la solución. La Asamblea Nacional, la presidencia de rotación que Random Guy [Juan Guaido] tomó a principios de este año, es ya solo un parlamento secundario ".

Este artículo apunta a una serie de imágenes, incluidas las de la izquierda, para ilustrar el hecho de que la Asamblea Nacional es abrumadoramente blanca, mientras que la Asamblea Constituyente refleja con mayor precisión la composición del país. Hay un fracaso general dentro de los progresistas en comprender la natura racializada de este conflicto y actuar en consecuencia. Sin esta información, las personas subestiman el apoyo a Maduro y no pueden generar mucho entusiasmo detrás de la defensa del pueblo venezolano. Los siguientes artículos dan más información sobre el conflicto:

Racialized Conflict articles/Articulos sobre el conflicto racializado

QUE HA PASADO EN VENEZUELA SOBRE EL DECENIO? 3/22/2019 8vo Mandamiento: "El gobierno de Uruguay y la organización Mundo Afro, organizaron una actividad para lanzar la propuesta del Consejo Nacional para la Equidad Racial. Para ello fuimos invitados especialista de Brasil, Venezuela y la activista afroestadoundiense Angela Davis, a quien se le rindió un merecido homenaje por su larga trayectoria de lucha por la defensa de la mujeres y su compromiso político contra la Supremacia blanca Estadounidense que hoy rige las riendas politicas encabezados por el Cartel dee Lima y por eso gobiernos títeres de Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Honduras, Paraguay, Chile, Guatemala, Argentina y Chile."

La supremacía blanca es la clave para el golpe de estado perpetrado por Trump en Venezuela 3/13/2019 Hincapie: "En la siguiente instantánea podemos ver a los miembros del partido de Guaidó en la Asamblea Nacional, blancos como la nieve… …sobre todo si los comparamos con sus opositores políticos de la tercera foto, los miembros del Congreso que apoya al presidente electo Nicolás Maduro. Los que respaldan a Maduro son casi todos de tez más oscura. Esta es la historia de Venezuela en blanco y negro, algo que no te contarán ni el New York Times, ni el resto de medios del establishment. El denominado levantamiento popular de este año, es en realidad el resultado de la furiosa reacción de los blancos (y ricos) venezolanos contra su arrinconamiento por parte de la mayoritaria masa de mestizos (y demás razas) pobres."

In Venezuela, White Supremacy Is a Key Driver of the Coup 2/7/2019 Orinoco Tribune: by Greg Palast - "First, we have Juan Guaidó, self-proclaimed (and Trump-proclaimed) president of the nation, with his wife and child, a photo prominently placed in The New York Times. And here, the class photo of Guaidó’s party members in the National Assembly. They appear, overwhelmingly light-skinned — especially when compared to their political opposites in the third photo, the congress members who support the elected President Nicolás Maduro. This is the story of Venezuela in black and white, the story not told in The New York Times or the rest of our establishment media. This year’s so-called popular uprising is, at its heart, a furious backlash of the whiter (and wealthier) Venezuelans against their replacement by the larger Mestizo (mixed-race) poor. (Forty-four percent of the population that answered the 2014 census listed themselves as “white.”)"

Racism Sin Vergüenza in the Venezuelan Counter-Revolution 5/27/2014 Venezuelanalysis.com "Racism is one of the main engines and expressions of the

Racist caricature of Chavez
"Miko Mandante"

current counter-revolution. In Venezuela the revolutionary struggle to end white supremacy and for self-determination is slow, and complicated by white elites, backed by US imperialism, and by the denial of many that racism persists.... Traditionally anti-racist coalitions have ignored Venezuela. It is time we stand in solidarity with the majority of people in Venezuela and voice strong opposition to U.S. – sponsored coups or any intervention on the side of the counter-revolution."

The denial that racism persists and the accompanying invisibilty of Black and Indigenous Venezuelans in many otherwise solid progressive articles are an important reason the situation there is not being challenged. #NoMoreSilence. This phenomena holds true across the Americas. It was noticeable in progressive reactions to the election of Trump, an exceptionally out front and charged up proponent of white supremacy, a characteristic his voters viewed as THE primary reason for selecting him. And yet progressives had trouble seeing this and many remain dismissive of identity politics. We can no longer afford this.

There are many cartoons such as the one at right by Kiko Rodriguez. It is one of the more repulsive depictions of Chavez that not only expresses time-worn racist contempt for people of African descent, but also foments hatred by appealing to white fears that have existed since the days of slavery. The title is “Miko Mandante”, meaning “Ape Commander” to mock the affectionate title “Mi Comandante” used by masses of Venezuelan people. Kiko Rodriguez left his birthplace in Cuba for Ecuador in 2000. He won the First Annual Latin American Illustration Competition with this cartoon, which was widely circulated in the private press of Venezuela and other countries (adapted with thanks from Venezuela Analysis, Racism Sin Vergüenza in the Venezuelan Counter-Revolution).

The backing by Afro Venezuelans is a strength and in ju jitsu terms a weakness to be exploited by the hard right Opposition - The Invisibility of Protester Deaths in Poor Areas 1/26/2019 Venezuela Analysis. An area of vulnerability tied to leftist invisibilization of Africans - "If that data is analyzed along with allegations in 2017 that young people linked to criminal practices were paid to do what they did in a violent way, it is possible to think that this is a repetition of this tactic by the political opposition. What are being promoted are small concentrations of violence in popular sectors in order to symbolically and materially undermine the main base of support of the government." There is a difference between frustration, which many people experience due to government mismanagement, and support for the antidemocratic white supremacists maneuvers of the opposition and the US, which was founded to preserve slavery from an abolitionist England.

Articulos/Articles

One of many cartoons of Maduro as a gorilla

Guaidó’s mercenary hit contract on Venezuela’s Maduro mirrors official US bounty, authorizes death squad killings  5/10/2020 Greyzone: "The contract signed by Guaidó and Silvercorp also enables the killing of anyone they deem to be “armed and violent colectivos.” For a sector of Venezuela’s upper-class opposition, the term “colectivo” is a dehumanizing, oft-used catch-all term applied to any working-class person. Trade unionists, pro-government protestors, even anyone riding a motorcycle is presumed to be part of an armed and dangerous gang in the lurid fantasies of the light-skinned elitists of Eastern Caracas. Therefore, the contract essentially permits Silvercorp to kill any member of the government’s popular support base with impunity."

CHUAO CIMARRONES OF THE XXIst CENTURY DEFEAT NORTH AMERICAN MERCENARIES  5/7/2020 Jesús Chucho García: "DECLARATION OF THE JUAN RAMON LUGO AFROREVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT - Recently, Chuao, a town on the coast of Aragua State, Venezuela, was put on the geopolitical world map, given the incursion of some mercenaries from the Venezuelan radical opposition and some green berets from the Donald Trump government, who were captured by maroon-militiamen, members of the Juan Ramón Lugo Afrorevolutionary Movement."

CHUAO CIMARRONES DEL SIGLO XXI - DERROTAN MERCENARIOS NORTEAMERICANOS - DECLARACION DEL MOVIMIENTO AFROREVOLUCIONARIO JUAN RAMON LUGO  5/5/2020 Jesús Chucho Garcia: "Así comenzamos el mes de la Afrovenezolanidad decretado el 10 de mayo por la Asamblea Nacional presidida en mayo del 2005, por el actual presidente legitimo de la Republica Bolivariana, Nicolas Maduro Moros con motivo del levantamiento el día 10 de mayo de 1795, del cimarrón Jose Leonardo Chrino en la sierra de Falcon. Inciamos dignamente el mes de la afrovenezolanidad con la gesta antiimperialista de los cimarrones de Chuao."

Afro-Venezuelan Culture and Resistance: A Conversation with Ines Perez-Wilke  5/24/2019 Venezuela Analysis: "Of course, one of the things that President Chavez did is make the racial issue visible. The double standard here produces a situation that is very different from what people experience in English-speaking societies, where there is clearly a racialized policy and that explicit racism allows one to organize a struggle directly against it. It doesn’t mean that that system is better, but it does allow you to make the debate clearly and publicly. The double standard here makes things more difficult because when a person, militant, or group takes up the theme of racism, it is often perceived as if it were merely a fantasy. It appears to be just an invention of that group. So one of the things that Chavez’s discourse did was to make [the existence of racism] explicit and visible. It made explicit the power relations that, in fact, exist regarding access to means and goods, to education, to territorial occupation for black people over the course of our long history. Chavez’s discourse allowed us to express, propose, and make visible the links between the question of class and the issue of race."

EL FRACASO DE LOS TRES CHIFLADOS EN LA OPERACION LIBERTAD  5/4/2019 AfroIdeologia: "Pareciera que la burguesia blanca racista estadounidense, siempre vive en un mundo irreal, se trata del estilo holliwodense, que impera en sus mentes desde que se descubrió el mundo de la ilusión que produce el cine. Desde el cinematógrafo se fueron inventando leyendas que veiamos cuando éramos pequeños en la tv blanco y negro, donde Kimosadi (el llanero solitario), llamando “tonto” a su fiel compañero, un indigena que se subestimaba a las ordenes de un enmascarado, que ni nombre tenia, reflejaba que eran los bobos que recibían ordenes."

Violent, Bigoted Supporters of Juan Guaidó Attempt to Invade Venezuela’s D.C. Embassy  5/2/2019 Venezuela Analysis: "One of the Venezuelan opposition protesters was calling me and other embassy protectors racial slurs. He called me ‘India,’ which, for context, is a very derogatory term for somebody who is indigenous. He also went ahead and he said ‘you’re so ugly, you can see the indigenous all over your face.’”"

El odio y el exterminio racial aumentó con el neoliberalismo  3/25/2019 ALAI Net: "Miguel Pereira, Beatriz Ramírez y el líder legendario Romero Rodríguez, son parte de los que emprendieron la iniciativa para que el Estado uruguayo colocara las demandas sociales en materia de derechos humanos, sociales, políticos y culturales de los afrouruguayos. Este Consejo sobre la equidad Racial, bajo la coordinación de un grupo de trabajo tiene tres objetivos centrales: Implementar el Decenio internacional de las personas afrodescendientes; promover medidas concretas para el efectivo cumplimiento de las acciones establecidas en la Resolución de la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas número 68-237, y, por último, trabajar en la creación y puesta en práctica del Consejo Nacional de Políticas de Equidad Racial. En su intervención, Beatriz hizo un recorrido de cómo la agenda social afrodescendiente se abrió espacio en el Estado que durante largos años no reconocía a los afrouruguayos. Posteriormente, Miguel Pereira destacó las estrategias y los compromisos que el movimiento social afrouruguayo empujó con agenda propia el diálogo y lograr así espacios en las políticas públicas más allá de los gobiernos de turno que han pasado durante los últimos verte años en Uruguay."

EL ODIO Y EL EXTERMINIO RACIAL AUMENTO CON EL NEOLIBERALISMO EN AMERICA LATINA  3/22/2019 Jesus Chucho Garcia: "Sin embargo nuestro pais el año pasado organizo el encuentro internacional para el tema afro, el cual se realizo el 24 de marzo del 2018 donde se concreto el decreto presidencial Afrodescendientes y para lo cual se designo a tres organismo para su implementación estatal CONADECAFRO; INCODIR y DERECHOS HUMANOS DE LA CANCILLERIA. Por nuestra parte intentamos que estos tres organismo articularan una agenda, promovimos una reunión de trabajo para ello, pero es no fue posible que estos organismo articularan una agenda para implementación del Decenio, a un año de haberse dado ese decreto la implementación es CERO, esta en el subsuelo."

QUE HA PASADO EN VENEZUELA SOBRE EL DECENIO?  3/22/2019 8vo Mandamiento: "El gobierno de Uruguay y la organización Mundo Afro, organizaron una actividad para lanzar la propuesta del Consejo Nacional para la Equidad Racial. Para ello fuimos invitados especialista de Brasil, Venezuela y la activista afroestadoundiense Angela Davis, a quien se le rindió un merecido homenaje por su larga trayectoria de lucha por la defensa de la mujeres y su compromiso político contra la Supremacia blanca Estadounidense que hoy rige las riendas politicas encabezados por el Cartel dee Lima y por eso gobiernos títeres de Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Honduras, Paraguay, Chile, Guatemala, Argentina y Chile."

La supremacía blanca es la clave para el golpe de estado perpetrado por Trump en Venezuela  3/13/2019 Hincapie: "En la siguiente instantánea podemos ver a los miembros del partido de Guaidó en la Asamblea Nacional, blancos como la nieve… …sobre todo si los comparamos con sus opositores políticos de la tercera foto, los miembros del Congreso que apoya al presidente electo Nicolás Maduro. Los que respaldan a Maduro son casi todos de tez más oscura. Esta es la historia de Venezuela en blanco y negro, algo que no te contarán ni el New York Times, ni el resto de medios del establishment. El denominado levantamiento popular de este año, es en realidad el resultado de la furiosa reacción de los blancos (y ricos) venezolanos contra su arrinconamiento por parte de la mayoritaria masa de mestizos (y demás razas) pobres."

Black Alliance for Peace Heads to Venezuela!  3/9/2019 Black Alliance for Peace: "If you’re reading this, you’re aware of some of the ways the U.S. empire has manipulated in its latest attempt at a coup in Venezuela. In an act of brazen illegality, the Trump administration has barred the Bolivarian republic from being able to access its own money in foreign banks and has transported “humanitarian aid” that was embedded with materials that could have been used by the largely white supremacist opposition to ferment violence against the Venezuelan government."

The Politics of Food and Blackness in Venezuela  3/3/2019 Venezuela Analysis: "In part two of this series, Groundings' Devyn Springer talks with Christina Schiavoni, a scholar and activist who deals with issues of food, food sovereignty, and agriculture. Her work in Venezuela has been very important to dispelling misinformation about food, food shortages, and agricultural production in Venezuela, as well as the great strides towards food sovereignty that the Bolivarian Revolution has made. The interview specifically references an essay of hers titled "The Politics of Food in Venezuela" that masterfully combats myths and intentional misinformation surrounding the subject. VA's Jeanette Charles speaks with Dr. Akinyele Umoja, head of Georgia State University's Black Studies department and co-founder of the Malcom X Grassroots Movement. His work joins social, political, and cultural movements of today across the African Diaspora and continent. In this interview he discusses the long history of Malcolm X Grassroots Movement's solidarity work with Afro-Venezuelans, how the Bolivarian Revolution is a Black revolution, and how the government has taken great strides to help African people both in Venezuela and around the world."

Maduro as gorilla  2/25/2019 Jordan Woll: "Venezuelan opposition makes fun of Maduro for being a working person of color. He was a union bus driver and classifies himself as of mixed heritage. Here he is depicted as a gorilla. They called Chàvez a black monkey. A favorite photo they use of Maduro is one of him biting into a banana. No wonder Trump likes the opposition, they're supremacists like him."

Kenyan activists slam US-Guaido coup attempt in Venezuela  2/24/2019 ILPS: "Mr. Sobukwe Shukura, organizer of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party or AAPRP, followed and condemned the US and European countries for instigating and supporting the coup against the Venezuelan government. He called attention to the racial dimension of the struggle in Venezuela, to how indigenous and Black populations have historically been robbed of their land and subjected to slavery and oppression by colonizers and their puppets among big capitalists and landlords. It is in this light that he praises the improvements in the living standards in Venezuela caused by Bolivarian reforms — first under Hugo Chavez and continued by Maduro. He said these benefit Venezuela’s poor, composed mostly of colored people who have historically been oppressed by colonialism and neo-colonialism."

Movimiento Panafricanista realiza conversatorio en defensa de la Revolución Bolivariana  2/22/2019 Gobierno Bolivariano: "Este viernes, desde el Centro de Saberes Africanos, Americanos y Caribeños en Caracas, se realizó el conversatorio “Primer Encuentro Panafricano en defensa de la Revolución Bolivariana”, a cargo de su fundador y presidente, Reinaldo Bolívar y del coordinador nacional del Movimiento Federal Panafricanista de Guinea Bissau, Djalo Mamadu Djabi. El conversatorio estuvo dividido en tres espacio; la primera ponencia se tituló Panafricanismo en África y el Caribe, la segunda; el Panafricanismo en defensa de la Revolución Bolivariana y por último se dio espacio a la lectura de pronunciamiento ofrecida por el Movimiento Federalista Panafricano y a las preguntas del público."

LA JUVENTUD AFROVENEZOLANA DEBE PONER EN PRACTICA EL CIMARRONAJE ACTIVO  2/22/2019 Jesus Chucho Garcia, Facebook: "El expositor dijo que es necesario fortalecer esa corriente historia con cuatro componentes: El político ideológico sobre la base del Cimarronismo-bolivarianismo y los pensamientos mas lanzados y humanos del mundo. 2-La organización tomando como punto de partida los Cumbes [Palenques] Ancestrales. 3. La sostenibilidad económica para no ser dependiente del Estado y ser autonomos, insistió hay que ir mas allá de las chambas juveniles y crear empresas afrojuveniles y 4- La autodefensa como decía Malcolm X ¨por todos los medios necesario¨"

Open Letter to Rep. Ocasio-Cortez on Venezuela  2/20/2019 Medium: by Stan Goff - "The only thing most of the Venezuelan elite hate more than indigenous Venezuelans are Afro-Venzuelans . . . and Chavez was both. So are the poor majority in Venezuela. Nicholas Maduro is the legitimately elected President of Venezuela. The United States government, in coordination with the racist Venezuelan ruling class, is the “opposition.”"

PRIMER ENCUENTRO PANAFRICANISTA EN DEFENSA DE LA REVOLUCIÓN BOLIVARIANA  2/19/2019 Saberes Africanos: "El Centro de Saberes Africanos, Americanos y Caribeños junto al Comité Panafricanista en Venezuela invita al 1er ENCUENTRO PANAFRICANO en DEFENSA DE LA REVOLUCION BOLIVARIANA, que se efectuara en la ciudad de Caracas – Venezuela desde el 21 al 1 de marzo del 2019. Este encuentro tiene como objetivo estratégico fortalecer y avanzar en las relaciones con los movimientos socio-políticos africanos, caribeños y de nuestra América, comprendiendo la “diplomacia de los pueblos” como un proceso de intercambio solidario y complementario entre organizaciones sociales y partidos de izquierda para el análisis de idearios políticos, coyunturas, sistematización de experiencias y construcción de propuestas en función de concretar planes y acciones dirigidos al desarrollo integral de los pueblos con estricto respeto a la independencia, soberanía y su autodeterminación, donde los movimientos sociales sean los “intelectuales colectivos” transformadores de las relaciones internacionales desde una perspectiva REVOLUCIONARIA."

Canadian Reporter In Venezuela Contradicts U.S. News Coverage  2/17/2019 Jimmy Dore Show: "Most of those people (signing the petition) are dark skinned There seems to be a racist aspect to the coup."

La poblacion afrodescendiente de Barlovento se prepara en los Ejercicios Militares  2/17/2019 Freddy Blanco: "La poblacion afrodescendiente de Barlovento se prepara en los Ejercicios Militares ” Bicentenario de Angostura 2019” con el espíritu aguerrido que caracteriza a los barloventeños milicianos y milicianos acuden de manera voluntaria a la formación cívico, militar e ideológica para la defensa integral del país."

How Trump's attacks on Venezuela triggered a revolution in Haiti  2/14/2019 Green Left: "The PetroCaribe Fund was supposed to pay for hospitals, schools, roads and other social projects, but the people saw virtually nothing accomplished. Two 2017 Senate investigations confirmed that the money had been mostly diverted into other pockets. So, what was the straw that broke the camel’s back? It was Moïse’s treachery against the Venezuelans after their exemplary solidarity. On January 10, in a vote at the Organization of American States (OAS), Haiti voted in favour of a Washington-sponsored motion that said Maduro is “illegitimate” after he won more than two-thirds of the presidential vote last May. Haitians were already angry about the unbridled corruption, hungry from skyrocketing inflation and unemployment, and frustrated from years of false promises and foreign military humiliation and violence. But this spectacularly cynical betrayal by Moïse and his cronies, in an attempt to win Washington’s help to put out the growing fires beneath them, was the last straw."

Racism and the Fight over Venezuela  2/12/2019 Strategic Culture: "A figure named Juan Andrés Mejía would have been next in line but for reasons that are only now clear, Juan Guaido was selected. “There is a class reasoning that explains Guaidó’s rise,” Sequera, the Venezuelan analyst, observed. “Mejía is high class, studied at one of the most expensive private universities in Venezuela, and could not be easily marketed to the public the way Guaidó could. For one, Guaidó has common mestizo features like most Venezuelans do, and seems like more like a man of the people."

Haitian and Dominican governments betray Venezuela at the OAS; Popular sectors mobilize for resistance  2/11/2019 Haiti Analysis: "Ironically, it was Venezuela that helped to develop the island’s energy infrastructure in recent years. A key part of this is the REFIDOMSA oil refinery in the Dominican Republic which the Venezuelan government helped to develop and partially owns, and which has also been used to help alleviate increased fuel demands and shortages in Haiti. For more than a decade Venezuela has aided the governments of Haiti and the Dominican Republic through a preferential system known as Petrocaribe, which provided subsidized crude oil prices to meet the countries critical energy demands."

How Washington Funded the Counterrevolution in Venezuela  2/8/2019 The Nation: "Thereafter, USAID/OTI largely shifted its efforts toward the burgeoning student movement that developed in the mid-2000s—the movement in which Guaidó “cut his political teeth,” according to a report in The Guardian. A former USAID/OTI member who helped devise US efforts in Venezuela said the “objective was that you had thousands of youth, high school, and college kids…that were horrified of this Indian-looking guy in power. They were idealistic. We wanted to help them to build a civic organization, so that they could mobilize and organize. This is different than protesting.” In other words, USAID/OTI sought to take advantage of racialized fear of Chávez to organize middle-class youth around a long-term strategy to defeat him."

In Venezuela, White Supremacy Is a Key Driver of the Coup  2/7/2019 Orinoco Tribune: by Greg Palast - "First, we have Juan Guaidó, self-proclaimed (and Trump-proclaimed) president of the nation, with his wife and child, a photo prominently placed in The New York Times. And here, the class photo of Guaidó’s party members in the National Assembly. They appear, overwhelmingly light-skinned — especially when compared to their political opposites in the third photo, the congress members who support the elected President Nicolás Maduro. This is the story of Venezuela in black and white, the story not told in The New York Times or the rest of our establishment media. This year’s so-called popular uprising is, at its heart, a furious backlash of the whiter (and wealthier) Venezuelans against their replacement by the larger Mestizo (mixed-race) poor. (Forty-four percent of the population that answered the 2014 census listed themselves as “white.”)"

Venezuela's Maduro Slams Donald Trump Government: 'White Supremacy Governing the White House Despises Our People'  2/4/2019 Newsweek: ""Let's respect each other, or is it that you are going to repeat a Vietnam in Latin America?" he said, referring to the Vietnam War that took place between 1965 and 1973. “The white supremacy governing the White House despises our people,” Maduro added."

The Racist, Imperialist War on Venezuela  1/31/2019 Black Agenda Report: "The same forces that resist Black community control of police and schools in the United States seek to overthrow any government in the formerly colonized world – that is, non-white nations -- that claims the right of self-determination and national sovereignty. U.S. imperialism is inseparable from white supremacy – which is why the United States has paid no domestic price for its role in the deaths of at least 20 million people since World War Two -- six million in the Congo, alone. U.S. “liberals” and “progressives,” much like their counterparts in Europe, speak endlessly of democracy at home while supporting their War Party abroad."

Why the Black Alliance for Peace opposes U.S. intervention in Venezuela  1/28/2019 Mundo Obrero: "There can be no equivocation in the face of injustice and the psychopathology of white supremacist ideology that is unable to respect the rights and humanity of people of the Global Majority — Black and Brown people who are the ones who suffer from these imperialist adventures mobilized by the U.S./EU/NATO axis of domination. The idea of a benevolent hegemon might be a comforting myth that assuages the conscience of left and progressive forces who engage in open class/race collaboration with the white supremacist, colonial/capitalist patriarchy that is the Western European project. But for those of us relegated to what Frantz Fanon called the “zones of non-being,” we cannot afford any illusions about the nature of what we are up against."

Cutting through the lies about Venezuela  1/26/2019 Liberation: "The reactionary opposition is not starving for “democracy.” They’ve have been invited to collaborate and dialogue by the Chavista movement for decades to resolve problems, but they’ve refused, saying that this huge movement that commands the respect of Venezuela’s workers and poor should have no voice, and should be silent and acquiesce to U.S. corporate domination. The opposition affirm this whenever they purposefully burn foodstuffs and use financial mechanisms to manufacture artificial scarcity for commodities and necessities, in a cynical effort to diminish support for Maduro’s government and punish his support base. The class character of the opposition is also affirmed, when in their guarimbas, right wing thugs belonging to the opposition commit hate crimes, including lynchings and other forms of torture against Afro-Venezuelans and other supporters of the Chavista movement."

The Invisibility of Protester Deaths in Poor Areas  1/26/2019 Venezuela Analysis: "We have seen testimony indicating a high turnout of young people linked to criminal practices in these protests. If that data is analyzed along with allegations in 2017 that young people linked to criminal practices were paid to do what they did in a violent way, it is possible to think that this is a repetition of this tactic by the political opposition. What are being promoted are small concentrations of violence in popular sectors in order to symbolically and materially undermine the main base of support of the government. In the case that this is true, we urge state security bodies to respect the standards of progressive and differential use of force in the course of legitimately controlling these actions. In the middle of a peaceful demonstration, there may be people employing violence and the state is obliged to treat them differently, protecting life in any case. We also urge the government of President Maduro to refrain from criminalising generalizations, which put the population of these areas or the legitimacy of their right to protest at risk."

Maduro Squeezed as Trump Recognizes Guaido and Protests Expand  1/23/2019 Bloomberg: "Venezuelans took to the streets in the biggest opposition protests since mid-2017 to back Guaido and increase pressure on Maduro. While the leftist government crushed violent protests two year ago, this time poorer areas of the capital are leading angry demonstrations over failed public services, food scarcity and rising prices. Local press showed crowds gathering in major cities."

Why do They Discriminate Against AfroTV Barlovento?  1/19/2019 Orinoco Tribune: By Jesús Chucho García - "More than a month ago, Afrotv Barlovento was set on fire and basic equipment was stolen for community communication work, education training, permanent voices to the people, complaints to speculators, among other aspects. Afrotv Barlovento was the only audiovisual space, with many limitations, where people expressed their needs and clamored for the solution of their problems. One month after that, an efficient response was not obtained. As we all know Barlovento is an Afro-descendant region with indigenous components, with a rich cultural diversity, the second cocoa-producing region of Venezuela, which by the way produces tons of cocoa for the outside world and we are not seeing a return of those profits for our own communities The governor of Miranda must assume with full responsibility the reconstruction of the physical space of this station, which is part of the security of the State, as the Law of Conatel says."

POR QUE DISCRIMINAN A AFROTV BARLOVENTO?  1/18/2019 Aporrea: Por Jesús Chucho García - "Hace mas de un mes, Afrotv Barlovento, fue incendiada y se robaron los equipos básicos para el trabajo de comunicación comunitaria, educación formación, vocería permanente al pueblo, denuncias a especuladores, entre otros aspectos. Afrotv Barlovento era el único espacio audiovisual, con muchas limitaciones, donde la gente expresaba sus necesidades y clamaba por la solución de sus problemas. A un mes de eso, no se a obtenido una respuesta eficiente. Como todos sabemos Barlovento es una región afrodescendiente con componentes indigenas, con una rica diversidad cultural, la segunda región productora de cacao de Venezuela, que por cierto produce toneladas de cacao para el exterior y no se esta viendo un retorno de esas ganancias para nuestras propias comunidades."

Robaron y quemaron sede de AfroTV en Barlovento  12/15/2018 El Nacional: "La sede de AfroTV fue robada y quemada en San José de Barlovento, estado Miranda, durante la madrugada de este viernes. Esta es la única televisora comunitaria de la localidad, la cual inició sus transmisiones en el año 2010."

Hampa acaba con un canal de televisión en Barlovento hasta incendiarlo  12/15/2018 Venezuela al Dia: "Blanco lamenta la pérdida de los archivos y registros de la cultura afrodescendiente venezolana. Y apuntó que el hecho violento pareciera no ser fortuito, “porque desde que AfroTv inició operaciones en 2010, viene denunciando los procesos de exclusión que vive la población afrodescendiente de Venezuela”."

Denuncian hurto y quema de la televisora Afro TV en San José de Barlovento  12/15/2018 Noticiero Digital: "En la madrugada del viernes fueron hurtados equipos de la televisora Afro TV, que opera en San José de Barlovento, municipio Buroz del estado Miranda. Se llevaron, entre otros, cámaras, computadoras y micrófonos. Posteriormente, los hampones quemaron las instalaciones, según señaló el portal web de Radio Fe y Alegría. La televisora operaba en el Centro de Estudios Integrales de Barlovento (Ceiba) un edificio de tres pisos en una calle que actualmente se encuentra cerrada por reparaciones de su calzada."

Movimientos de Afrodescendientes del Continente repudian atentado contra Afro-Tv  12/14/2018 Aporrea: "En la agenda de nuestras actividades visitamos los estudios de Afro-Tv en la región de Barlovento y apreciamos una experiencia única de televisora Comunitaria con visión política desde adentro de las comunidades afrodescendientes de Venezuela, y su reivindicación como sujeto transformador en permanente lucha por sus derechos. Hoy nos golpea la noticia que sus estudios fueron quemados y la mayor parte de sus equipos fueron saqueados por manos criminales en un acto incompresible para nuestro concepto. Repudiamos este acto vandálico con intenciones de obstaculizar la labor encomiable de un equipo formado por líderes y lideresas afrovenezolanas, comunicadores y creadores populares."

Black Internationalism and the Colonial Challenges Facing Haiti and Venezuela  10/18/2018 Venezuela Analysis: "The most recent US efforts to isolate Venezuela from the region, demoralize its people through a concerted economic war, and intervene in its political process—by working with international collaborators to ultimately punish its black majority revolutionary process—have their historical precedents in Haiti. Haitians experienced these counter-revolutionary attacks as they fought to defend their own revolutionary process under the leadership of Fanmi Lavalas President Jean Bertrand Aristide and earlier, throughout the era of Haitian Independence."

Marronage Meets Bolivarian Socialism: Maroon Comix, A Review  9/5/2018 Venezuela Analysis: "Along Venezuela’s coastal towns and its mountainous countryside, entire Afro-Venezuelan and Indigenous communities have deepened their political commitment to studying anti-colonial struggles and incorporating these orientations, tactics and struggles into their current struggles. Since 1999, the Bolivarian Process has radically transformed the political landscape of the nation by: unearthing maroon historical figures and inscribing them into Venezuela’s national identity, even elevating figures such as Guaicaipuro, Juana La Avanzadora and Negro Primero to the National Pantheon, implementing educational initiatives; developing political, economic and cultural ties with other nations heavily inspired by maroons such as the Caribbean; as well as empowering political campaigns responding to the interests of the African and Indigenous working class and poor majority."

The Spirit of Black August in Solidarity with Venezuela  9/4/2018 Venezuela Analysis: "The majority, Black and Brown working class in Venezuela do not want a US model. The people are fighting everyday against these attacks in their collectives, cooperatives, communes and grassroots social movements. The Bolivarian State, a revolutionary government determined to human rights and guaranteeing a life with dignity and happiness for all stands with its people. The Venezuelan people support their President Nicolás Maduro and are manifesting their vision for 21st Century Socialism."

ARAAC: EL NEOLIBERALISMO AGUDIZÓ LA EXCLUSIÓN Y EL RACISMO A LAS/LOS AFRODESCENDIENTES EN LAS AMERICAS Y EL CARIBE.  4/5/2018 Diafar Diaspora Africana de la Argentina: "Reunidos en Caracas durante los días 23, 24 y 25 de marzo, en el marco del Lanzamiento del Decenio de los Pueblos Afrodescendientes en Venezuela (2014-2025), nosotras y nosotros, miembros de la Articulación Regional Afrodescendiente de las Américas y el Caribe (ARAAC), una organización democrática, progresista y revolucionaria, agradecemos las atenciones y la oportunidad que nos brindó el gobierno Bolivariano bajo la dirección del presidente Nicolás Maduro, para realizar nuestras reflexiones sobre el retroceso que han venido sufriendo millones de afrodescendientes en países que han retornado al neoliberalismo salvaje como Honduras, Brasil, Argentina y Paraguay, pero al mismo tiempo la agudización de la exclusión y los asesinatos de líderes y lideresas afrocolombianos/as desde el gobierno Uribe Vélez y continuado por el actual presidente Santos, donde aún después de haberse firmado un proceso de paz, cada día continúa la violencia contra las comunidades negras, indígenas, campesinas y populares y sus dirigentes, lo que revela la complicidad contínua entre los intereses de la burguesía nacional, la clase política y las empresas del gran capital transnacional."

¿Resucitaran los afrodescendientes con agenda propia ?  4/2/2018 Aporrea: "Ante una delegacion Internacional con representacion de lideres afrolatinoamericanos, Caribe, Europa y de Estados Unidos, los cuales gozan en sus respectivos paises de mucho respecto por sus activismos a favor de las y los afrodescendientes, quedo demostrado una vez la disposicion del proceso Bolivariano de retomar una agenda que viene planteando el Movimiento Afrovenezolano en sus distintas Corrientes para acabar con los vestigios de la discriminacion, el racismo, la exclusion y los desequilibrios regionales en cuanto a los desarrollos locales de las comunidades afrodescendientes."

DE LA ABOLICION DE LA ESCLAVITUD AL DECENIO AFRODESCENDIENTE  3/25/2018 Aporrea: "En la década de los años setenta comenzaría un lento despertar protagónico de las y los afrodescendientes en exigir sus derechos, en aplicar la convención contra la discriminación racial, en proponer reconocimiento en el sistema educativo y en otras áreas estratégicas sobre todo de la mujer liderizada por Argelia Laya, Irene Ugueto Josefina Brington, las tomas de tierras en Yaracuy, Barlovento, las luchas en el sur del lago de Maracaibo, la reivindicación cultural afro en San Agustín del Sur, La Vega y Caricuao. Con la llegada del presidente Chávez y el surgimiento de la Red de Organizaciones Afro, con profundo conocimiento de la exclusión histórica, comenzaría un proceso de reafalbetizacion dentro del proceso bolivariano para incluir con la agenda propia afro nuestra participación protagónica como sujetos de derecho, protagónica y participativa."

Defender y desarrollar el legado de Hugo Chávez  3/16/2018 Diafar Diaspora Africana de la Argentina: por Danny Glover - "Los ataques políticos contra sus políticas públicas e internacionales y los despectivos ataques racistas personales no pudieron disuadirlo de confrontar el hecho empíricamente evidente de que las políticas de gobernanza global de la élite, que favorecían a los ricos y poderosos entre las naciones y los ciudadanos, eran destructivas y mortales para la mayoría de los países y las masas de ciudadanos en todo el mundo. Fue claro y directo al observar: "El racismo es muy característico del imperialismo y el capitalismo. El odio contra mí tiene mucho que ver con el racismo. Debido a mi gran boca y pelo rizado. Y estoy muy orgulloso de tener esta boca y este pelo, porque es africano"."

Venezuela mestiza, pero profundamente racista  12/6/2017 Climax: "En 2013, de acuerdo con un estudio publicado por The Washington Post, Venezuela resultó ser el país más racista del continente americano. Los datos compilados por Max Fisher y recogidos por el World Values Survey señalan que los países nórdicos, anglosajones y latinoamericanos son los más tolerantes a aceptar ciudadanos de distintos orígenes." [Por esto, el gobierno EEUU mata a los afro, lo que no se ve en Venezuela.]

Derrotada la violencia, racismo e intervencionismo  10/22/2017 Aporrea: "Una vez mas, las mayorías, por no decir todas, las comunidades afrovenezolanas apoyaron con sus votos al proceso Bolivariano, lo cual demuestra que, pese a la severa crisis que se vive en estas comunidades, su lealtad al proceso bolivariano es indiscutible. El articulo de Freddy Pollito Blanco, develando el racismo de Carlo Ocariz al calificar a los ¨negros¨de Barlovento como ¨jediondos¨, tuvo su efecto. A eso se le suma que fue en el Estado Miranda (PLaza Altamira) donde quemaron e hirieron a jóvenes afrodescendientes por ser chavistas y ¨negros¨."

¿Comisión contra el odio sin afrodescendiente?  8/30/2017 Aporrea: "Venezuela no escapa de ese eclipse de Trump que contagió a Monseñor Antonio Castillo quien le echó agua bendita a los guarimberos quemadores de afrodescendientes y azusando a una guerra civil y de razas en Venezuela."

Venezuela’s long history of racism is coming back to haunt it  8/16/2017 The Conversation: 'In the early years of Hugo Chávez’s rise to power, right wing criticism of the government was frequently couched in racial and cultural terms. The private media portrayed government supporters as hordes of “monkeys” moved by base emotions and swayed by an authoritarian leader. One anti-Chavista told me in 2005 that a president should be a “señor” who speaks English, and not someone from such a humble background that he only started wearing shoes at the age of eight. Chávez was not fit to be president, she elaborated, “because of his culture, the tiny bit he has … He wants us all to live like he used to live”.

Strange Fruit: Venezuela has an Opposition that Nobody Should Support  7/29/2017 Venezuela Analysis: "Bolivarian University Professor Chris Gilbert addresses the racism and white supremacy of the Venezuelan opposition in light of recent lynchings against Black and Brown Venezuelans accused of being "Chavistas" or "thieves" by opposition militants."

The Struggle For Venezuela and Its Afro-historical Component  7/8/2017 Black Star News: "It is no different in Venezuela today. How do we account for the burning by anti-government demonstrators of a 21 year old Afro Venezuelan, Oscar Figuera, simply for identifying as a Chavez supporter? The anti-Bolivarian opposition is also anti-Black. These are the stories you don?t hear about during these ?peaceful? opposition protests; just as few knew about the lynching of Black Libyans and ethnic cleansing of Tawergha and other abuses due to the media blackout except for a few outlets. This opposition is really no different than the Right-wing that supports President Donald Trump and here in America they include Neo-Nazis and the KKK."

Una Citta con el racismo  6/29/2017 EPG Consultora: Etiqueta: Racismo en Venezuela

Venezuela Is Under Attack for Asserting That Black Lives Matter  6/23/2017 teleSUR: "Chavez was the first president in the Americas to openly acknowledge and embrace his Indigenous and African heritage. The privately owned Venezuelan media often referred to him with racist slurs. In 2005, Chávez declared that, "hate against me has a lot to do with racism. Because of my big mouth and curly hair. And I'm so proud to have this mouth and this hair, because it is African." That same year, Chávez created the Presidential Commission for the Prevention and Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination in the Venezuelan Educational System."

Venezuela mestiza, pero profundamente racista  6/12/2017 El Estimulo: "En 2013, de acuerdo con un estudio publicado por The Washington Post, Venezuela resultó ser el país más racista del continente americano. Los datos compilados por Max Fisher y recogidos por el World Values Survey señalan que los países nórdicos, anglosajones y latinoamericanos son los más tolerantes a aceptar ciudadanos de distintos orígenes. Venezuela fue una excepción, Fisher presume que se debe a que la distribución desigual de la riqueza ha influenciado en una alterada percepción pública de las distintas etnias y tipos."

Venezuelan Youth Burned for 'Being Chavista' Dies from Injuries  6/4/2017 teleSUR: "Orlando Jose Figuera was burned alive on May 20 in Caracas’ Altamira neighborhood, one of the capital’s affluent areas, after opposition protesters suspected that the 21-year-old Black man was a government supporter."

Racism and Hate Fuel Right-Wing Terrorism in Venezuela  6/1/2017 teleSUR: "Rhetoric aimed at vilifying all Chavistas, often mixed with racism and bigotry, has motivated a growing number of hate crimes and assaults."

TERRORISMO RACIAL EN LA PLAZA ALTAMIRA  5/27/2017 JOVENES AFROVENEZOLANOS: "Recuerdo que casi inmediatamente después del golpe de Estado Contra el presidente Chávez y el paro petrolero, cuando los militares tomaron la plaza Altamira, esta fue convertida en una especie de Apartheid. Si la memoria no me falla en esos tiempo pasaba una indígena y la golpearon por ser india chavista. Posteriormente a mi amigo Cesar Quintero quien tuvo que pasar por esa plaza a pie para llevar al profesor japonés Jun Isibashi para su hotel, un grupo de terrorista racista, lo agarraron, pues el amigo además de ser afro llevaba una franela roja, fue golpeado y luego recogido irónicamente por la policía de Chacao, después de recibir una rumba e palo."

Burning Man in Venezuela  5/26/2017 The Nation: "The other day, anti-government protesters in Venezuela set a man on fire, severely burning nearly 80 percent of his body. The man had brown skin, and government supporters say he was a Chavista, to highlight the racist savagery of their adversaries. The opposition says he was a thief."

Racist Mobs Lynch, Set Fire to Venezuelans with Brown Skin, Assuming Them Chavistas  5/21/2017 Liberation: "In at least one documented incident, the man attacked did not identify as a supporter of Chávez or of the Bolivarian government, but he was assumed so by a mob that attacked him based on his skin color. Right wing supporters are disproportionately whiter and from wealthier neighborhoods; the man in question was Afro-descendant and reportedly from a barrio of Caracas. He was reportedly accused by right wing protesters of being an infiltrator before the mob set upon him."

Maduro alerta de una “supremacía blanca” que busca imponerse en Latinoamérica  3/5/2017 Nuevo Herald: "El presidente de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, alertó este domingo a sus pares de América Latina de un “supremacía blanca” que pretende imponerse de nuevo para “revivir” el colonialismo, y dijo que la región solo la podrá enfrentar “unida”. “Hoy en el mundo pretende imponerse de nuevo la supremacía blanca, (…) una especie de supremacía, de mundo superior, una ideología amenazante, peligrosa que no podemos desdeñar o subestimar”, dijo Maduro durante la instalación de la XIV Cumbre de jefes de estado y de Gobierno del ALBA-TCP en Caracas."

La ultraderecha contra Venezuela  2/13/2017 ALAI: por Jesús Chucho García - "De nuevo, arrancando el año 2017, al igual que el año pasado, el radio de acción de la combinación perfecta de los ultraderechistas diputados venezolanos y los ultraderechista de siempre del Congreso de los Estados Unidos, arremeten contra el proceso bolivariano. La reciente visita del diputado de la Asamblea Nacional de Venezuela y miembro del partido fascista Voluntad Popular Freddy Guevara por Washington, tuvo como finalidad solicitar una bomba de oxígeno desesperadamente para reunirse con el equipo de gobierno del presidente Donald Trump, así como con el amargo Luis Almagro, secretario general de la OEA y congresista de la ultraderecha como Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Marcos Rubio, Ted Cruz y el acusado e investigado por corrupción Bob Menéndez, entre otros, incluyendo algunos demócratas de la misma estirpe."

El discreto encanto del racismo venezolano  1/27/2016 Contrapunto: "Durante años he tenido que escuchar en diversos espacios académicos y cotidianos comentarios de personas que aseguran que Venezuela es un territorio libre de racismo, que por fortuna las desigualdades de carácter étnico-racial no han tocado nuestra tierra, que todos somos iguales, somos mestizos, que quienes consideramos que la discriminación racial existe es porque somos resentidos sociales o en el menor de los casos acomplejados, pues nuestras relaciones sociales se caracterizan por la armonía y la fraternidad entre coterráneos. Pero llama particularmente la atención que estas afirmaciones son repetidas hasta el cansancio por personas que no creen en la existencia de las múltiples y diversas formas de discriminación que coexisten en nuestra sociedad porque no han estado expuestos a ninguna de ellas."

Black Lives Matter Network Denounces U.S. “Continuing Intervention” in Venezuela  11/26/2015 Venezuela Analysis: "The co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Network and Executive Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration warns that the recent electoral victory of U.S.-backed counter revolutionary parties in Venezuela endangers the country’s African-descended population. The letter denounces “corporate media lies about electoral corruption voiced by Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sander’s defamation of late President Hugo Chavez labeling him a dictator.” “We reject any action the U.S. puts forward to plunder Venezuelan natural resources, occupy the country and incite violence.”"

Historian outlines keys to justice for Afro-Venezuelan community  11/8/2015 Diamondback: "Justice, reparations and development are the three principles that can right the wrongs that plague Afro-Venezuelans today, according to a Venezuelan historian who visited this university. Jesus Chucho Garcia, a Pan-Africanist and filmmaker, came to Nyumburu Cultural Center on Friday to present his documentary, “Chavez in Africa,” and discuss the history behind the struggles that descendants of Africans in Venezuela face."

Venezuela | Movimientos afrodescendientes proponen incluir lucha contra el racismo en los medios  8/15/2015 Legado Afro: “No es posible que en los medios de comunicación se sigan difundiendo estereotipos donde se presenta como ‘inferiores’ a los afrodescendientes; necesitamos que haya más presencia indígena y afrodescendiente en los programas”, indicó Luisa Pérez, vocera de la Fundación La Muchachere de Curiepe."

El racismo en Venezuela  6/24/2015 Aporrea: "En algunas paredes del Este de Caracas, se podían leer los siguientes mensajes: "Chávez, macaco, Chávez, peón de hacienda, Aristóbulo, tu mamá es la mona Chita, "Peón de presidente. Chávez, muérete maldito negro". En muchos negocios del Este de Caracas no se permitía ni se permite la entrada de negros."

Tackling Racism In Venezuela to Build a Society of Equals  3/20/2015 teleSUR: "Hugo Chavez was the first president in Venezuela's history to claim and honor his indigenous and African ancestry. In an interview in 2005, Chavez famously said, “Hate against me has a lot to do with racism. Because of my mouth, because of my curly hair. And I’m so proud to have this month and this hair, because it’s African.” An emphasis on tackling structural racism saw the passing of the 2011 Law Against Racial Discrimination."

Racism Sin Vergüenza in the Venezuelan Counter-Revolution  5/27/2014 Venezuelanalysis.com: Racism is one of the main engines and expressions of the current counter-revolution. In Venezuela the revolutionary struggle to end white supremacy and for self-determination is slow, and complicated by white elites, backed by US imperialism, and by the denial of many that racism persists.

Venezuela’s Afro Descendent Front Proposes Program of Action to Confront Racism and Fascism  5/12/2014 Venezuela Analysis: "On Saturday, May 10, ignoring the rain, more than 1000 African Descendant Venezuelans flooded the streets in a march from the Venezuelan Central Bank to Miraflores Presidential Palace in downtown Caracas. Members of drumming groups from each of the nation’s states, some in traditional costumes and some wearing t-shirts claiming membership in the Frente Afrodescendientes (Afro descendent Front) had gathered to mark the official Day of Afrovenezolanidad (Afro-Venezuelaness)."

Why Are There No Barricades in Afro-Descendant Communities?  4/23/2014 Venezuela Analysis: By Jesús Chucho García

Are Race and Class at the Root of Venezuela’s Political Crisis?  4/6/2014 VOA: ""He was often called ‘the black’ (el Negro) by Venezuelan elites and also understood to be Afro- and indigenous—as opposed to mestizo,” Ciccariello-Maher said. “Part of what angered elites so much when Chavez came to power was that he was a person who didn’t look like he was ‘fit’ to govern,” said George Ciccariello-Maher, an assistant professor of political science at Drexel University in Philadelphia, is the author of We Created Chávez: A People’s History of the Venezuelan Revolution."

Are Race and Class at the Root of Venezuela’s Political Crisis?  4/6/2014 VOA: "“Part of what angered elites so much when Chavez came to power was that he was a person who didn’t look like he was ‘fit’ to govern,” said George Ciccariello-Maher, an assistant professor of political science at Drexel University in Philadelphia, is the author of We Created Chávez: A People’s History of the Venezuelan Revolution."

Racism Sin Vergüenza in the Venezuelan Counter-Revolution  3/27/2014 Venezuela Analysis: "The title is “Miko Mandante”, meaning “Ape Commander” to mock the affectionate title “Mi Comandante” used by masses of Venezuelan people.[3] During her rant, Olga never mentioned the race of Venezuela’s poor, or the extreme poor, who in 2003 were 30% of the population and by 2011 were only 6.8%.[4] Chavismo’s accomplishments, especially in reducing poverty, are significant because of the near total correlation between class and race in Venezuela."

Contra el racismo y por amor al Comandante Hugo Chávez se pronuncian en Belém do Pará  1/9/2014 Radio del Sur: "En el marco de las luchas sociales que los pueblos indígenas y afro descendientes de Latinoamérica gestan por el Continente, el Instituto Nangetu de Tradición Afro-religiosa y Desarrollo Social llevó a cabo un evento político cultural en contra del racismo y la intolerancia religiosa a la que son expuestas las comunidades de raíces africanas en Brasil."

Why the Black and Poor Loved Hugo Chávez  3/6/2013 The Root: By: Tonyaa Weathersbee - "The news, at least back in the U.S., was that Chávez had shut down RCTV, and the speculation was that in doing so, he was moving the country toward totalitarianism. But the throngs of black and brown Venezuelans who gathered to support him apparently didn't believe that. Nor did they care about the fate of a station that rarely saw them in a positive light or, for that matter, at all. What they cared about was the fate of a leader who not only acknowledged his own black features and heritage but also saw theirs."

Why the Black and Poor Loved Hugo Chávez  3/6/2013 The Root: by Tonyaa Weathersbee - "But in disrupting my breakfast, the crowd also provided me a picture of the Venezuela that I rarely, if ever, saw on television at home. This was a picture that showed the mostly brown and black and poor who viewed Chávez not as a dictator but as a savior. This was the Venezuela that, not unlike the brown and black and poor people in the United States, the media had reduced to invisibility."

Héctor Gutiérrez: El racismo surgió como una ideología para reforzar el colonialismo  10/25/2012 Centro de Saberes Africanos: "En este orden de ideas, aseveró que el colonialismo se presenta como un proceso que viene a traer orden, progreso y mejor calidad de vida “cuando en realidad los colonizadores se dedican a suprimir costumbres, religiones, culturas, entre otras actividades autóctonas, a los habitantes de los territorios que logran someter”. Citando a Boaventura de Sousa Santos, autor del libro Una epistemología del Sur, Héctor Gutiérrez señaló que el capitalismo y el colonialismo están aún vinculados profundamente aunque las formas de articulación hayan variado a lo largo del tiempo. A modo de reflexión manifestó que “si queremos descolonizarnos hay que reconocer las ancestralidad y la diversidad en la humanidad”."

Venezuela: Promulgada Ley Orgánica contra la Discriminación Racial  12/22/2011 Legado Afro: "El presidente de la República Hugo Chávez promulgó este lunes, en Consejo de Ministros Extraordinario celebrado en el Palacio de Miraflores, la Ley Orgánica contra la Discriminación Racial, la cual fue aprobada por unanimidad por los diputados y diputadas de la Asamblea Nacional (AN) el pasado 22 de agosto."

Alexis Machado "Todo lo malo lo asocian con lo negro"  6/20/2011 Aporrea: con video - "Dentro del marco del IV Foro Internacional de la Afrodescendencia, celebrado en el Hotel Alba en Caracas, desde el día de ayer 18 hasta el 22 de junio, realizamos una entrevista a Alexis Machado, creador del grupo afrodescendiente Elegguá, en Tapipa, Edo. Miranda. Además de ser el productor, Alexis es el prolífico autor de las canciones del repertorio de Elegguá, agrupación que cuenta con innumerables cantos del acontecer venezolano, tanto en lo político como en lo social. Elegguá es un grupo conformado por mujeres de la zona de Tapipa, estado Miranda y han realizado muchas giras internacionales llevando la voz de Venezuela en sus cantos de trabajo, parrandas, folías y otras manifestaciones del canto tradicional con elementos incorporados, propios de la creatividad del grupo."

Venezuela inaugura el Foro de la Afrodescendencia dedicado a Haití  6/19/2011 EFE: ""Este evento lo dedicamos a Haití y vamos a designar una comisión permanente que le haga seguimiento a las promesas que se hicieron con Haití y hay mucha gente que no ha cumplido y es necesario velar porque esas promesas se cumplan", dijo el diputado oficialista y primer vicepresidente del Parlamento, Aristóbulo Istúriz. El legislador denunció, además, que "mucha gente dice que va a ayudar a Haití violándole la soberanía como pueblo".

Durante tres días se realizará en Caracas Foro de la Afrodescendencia dedicado a Haití  6/19/2011 AVN: "El encuentro se incluye dentro de las celebraciones por el Bicentenario de la Firma del Acta de la Independencia de Venezuela, el 5 de julio, fecha en la que se tiene previsto la conformación de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y del Caribe (CELAC), organismo de integración y unidad de las regiones al sur del Río Bravo, sin la presencia de Estados Unidos ni Canadá."

El racismo de Globovisión hace que los Afro descendientes Venezolanos se unan para protestar  4/30/2011 Aporrea: "En este sentido, vemos con preocupación la embestida mediática de los últimos días, esencialmente un video transmitido por el canal Globovisión (y re-transmitido el día viernes 04 y lunes 07 del presente mes por Venezolana de Televisión en el programa Dando y Dando), donde se evidencia un mensaje de alto significado racista; allí se burlan de la presencia de héroes y heroínas como La Negra Matea, Hipólita, Pedro Camejo y José Leonardo Chirinos, entre otros. Cabe destacar que en el video se comete la violación de otros derechos, por el uso de imágenes de niñas y niños en un colegio, que independientemente de contar con consentimiento de sus padres, madres o representantes (si fuese el caso) fueron utilizadas para transmitir un mensaje racista, lo que agrava la culpa."

Afro-Venezuelans and the Struggle Against Racism  4/29/2011 Venezuela Analysis: By Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United States - " An estimated 100,000 enslaved Africans were brought to Venezuela between the 16th and 19th centuries. Most were sold to the central coastal states, which operated an agricultural economy based in coffee and cacao. Abolition occurred in 1854, but freedom did not bring equality. Racism continued to flourish in Venezuela throughout most of the 20th century, and African heritage was denied through an emphasis on racial mixing. The mestizo, born of European, Indigenous, and African blood, became a cornerstone of national identity. In this scheme, Blackness was devalued to such an extent that state policies sought to "whiten" the population through European immigration."

Mapa electoral afrovenezolano  9/1/2010 Aporrea: por Jesus Chucho Garcia

El racismo nuestro de cada día  3/21/2010 Aporrea: por Jesus Chucho Garcia

Definiendo al racismo en Venezuela  4/3/2009 Barinas, Venezuela: "No soy afrodecendiente, soy negro simplemente"

Afrovenezolanos Exigen Profundizar la Revolucion  7/11/2008 Prensa Afrovenezolana: "Durante los dias 17 al 20 de julio se estara realizando el II Encuentro Nacional Afrovenezolano, donde participaran delegados y delagadas de catorce estado del pais para elaborar el plan quinquenal 2008/2013 para el desarrollo integral de las comunidades afrodescendiente en el pais."

El racismo de Globovisión hace que los Afro descendientes Venezolanos se unan para protestar  4/30/2008 Aporrea

The Afrovenezuelan Network and the Paramilitary Menace - La Red Afrovenezolana ante la Amenaza Paramilitar  3/5/2008 AfroCubaWeb

La Historia de Venezuela plagada de ideas racistas  9/14/2007 Aporrea

El Racismo en Venezuela  9/3/2007 EL ECO DE LOS PASOS

Afrovenezolanidad y cultura de resistencia  5/27/2007 La Voz: "Durante todo este mes se han estado realizando una serie de actividades para sensibilizar al país sobre la deuda social acumulada por el Estado venezolano con las comunidades afrovenezolanas Desde su fundación en el mes de junio del año 2000 en San José de Barlovento, la Red de Organizaciones Afrovenezolanas ha venido impulsando seis líneas estratégicas de trabajo en los campos educativos, culturales, jurídicos, indicadores sociales y relaciones internacionales."

Is There a "Black Vote" in Venezuela?  12/4/2006 Venezuela Analysis: "Luis Perdomo, a black Barlovento resident, was denied entry to a Nelson Mandela birthday commemoration last year. Seeing his complexion, a "revolutionary" government official assumed he was a bike messenger and turned him away. Perdomo had been an invited speaker. He eventually gave his speech, during which he also recounted this humiliating incident. But afterward, Venezuela's state TV network refused to interview him, though they spoke to the other presenters, upset that he dared to criticize the government at an event it had organized."

Vargas Llosa: "un nuevo racismo"  10/15/2006 BBC Mundo: publicado 1/06 - "El destacado escritor peruano Mario Vargas Llosa publicó un artículo, reproducido en el periódico argentino La Nación, en el que califica de racistas los planteamientos del presidente electo de Bolivia Evo Morales, del presidente de Venezuela Hugo Chávez y del candidato presidencial peruano Ollanta Humala."

Racism and Racial Divides in Venezuela  5/13/2005 Venezuela Analysis: published 1/21/04, interview with Chucho Garcia

Teaching Race in Venezuela  5/13/2005 Venezuela Analysis: "At the International Afro-Descendent Conference hosted by Venezuela last weekend, Humberto Brown of the Global Afro-Latino and Caribbean Initiative (USA) stated that “Afro Descendents cannot talk about democracy in countries in which racism exists.” The conference was hosted by The Afro-Venezuelan Network and the Ministry of Information and Communication May 6-8 in Caracas. The aim of the conference was to ensure that in the process of creating Latin American unity, the inclusion of historically oppressed sectors (composed mainly of indigenous and Afro-descendent groups) is not overlooked. Participating in discussions were panelists from Venezuela, Brazil, Peru and Colombia, among others, as well as a delegation from the US-based Trans-Africa Forum."

The Chavez Revolution: Venezuela Must Be A Black State Part II  10/10/2004 Black State

Racismo y Discurso Político en Venezuela  5/1/2004 Redalyc: "El racismo ha constituido un elemento fundamental del discurso político hegemónico en Venezuela desde la conquista hasta nuestros días. En la co- yuntura actual su presencia se ha exacerbado como resultado de las luchas económicas, políticas y sociales actualmente en desarrollo en el país, particu- larmente desde la llegada a la presidencia de la República del líder del proce- so revolucionario bolivariano, Hugo Chávez Frías. Sostenemos, en efecto, que la crisis económica que comenzó con la caída de los precios internacionales del petróleo y la consecuente devaluación del bolívar el llamado Viernes Negro, en febrero de 1983, preparó el camino para darnos cuenta de lo que el conflicto político actualmente existente en el país sólo ha terminado de poner en forma dramática sobre el tapete: existe en Ve- nezuela un profundo racismo no sólo hacia los habitantes afroamericanos e indígenas del país sino también, y muy particularmente, hacia los sectores po- pulares en general, los cuales son continuamente descalificados por las clases altas y medias opuestas al proceso de cambios como “ tierrúos ” , “ niches ” , “ zambos ”, “ negros ” , “ indios ” , “ pata en el suelo ” , “ chusma ” . Este racismo for- ma parte importante del discurso político de la oposición."

RACISMO Y DISCURSO POLÍTICO EN VENEZUELA  5/1/2004 Rev. Venez. de Econ. y Ciencias Sociales: "Sostenemos, en efecto, que la crisis económica que comenzó con la caída de los precios internacionales del petróleo y la consecuente devaluación del bolívar el llamado Viernes Negro, en febrero de 1983, preparó el camino para darnos cuenta de lo que el conflicto político actualmente existente en el país sólo ha terminado de poner en forma dramática sobre el tapete: existe en Ve- nezuela un profundo racismo no sólo hacia los habitantes afroamericanos e indígenas del país sino también, y muy particularmente, hacia los sectores po- pulares en general, los cuales son continuamente descalificados por las clases altas y medias opuestas al proceso de cambios como “ tierrúos ” , “ niches ” , “ zambos ”, “ negros ” , “ indios ” , “ pata en el suelo ” , “ chusma ” . Este racismo for- ma parte importante del discurso político de la oposición."

Globovision TV assures African diplomats there's no racism in Venezuela  3/21/2004 Vheadlines: "In the letter, Ravell says he's surprised about the lack of interest and sociological curiosity on the part of "your respectable diplomatic missions to understand the multiples characteristics of our people's identity." However, in an attempted exculpatory, the Globovision media boss laments the fact that the Africans "do not understand the Venezuelan people's sense of humor." "

Racism and Racial Divides in Venezuela  1/21/2004 Venezuela Analysis: "The correspondence between skin color and class membership in Venezuela is quite stunning at times. To confirm this observation, all one has to do is compare middle to upper class neighborhoods, where predominantly lighter colored folks live, with the barrios, which are clearly predominantly inhabited by darker skinned Venezuelans."

Chucho Garcia Interview - Racism and Racial Divides in Venezuela  1/21/2004 Venezuela Analysis: "However, the TransAfrica Forum delegation, in its final press conference in Venezuela, made this its central topic, saying that, yes, racism in Venezuela is alive and well, despite the fact that practically all Venezuelans that they spoke to denied it. They mentioned several incidents that seemed fairly obvious to them, such as news commentators referring to their trip as being a “burned” tour – in a reference to their skin color. Also, a prominent opposition spokesperson referred to the delegation as “monkeys” – a fairly common deprecatory term Venezuelans use for people of African descent. Also, the cartoonist of one of the major newspapers, El Nacional’s Zapata, caricatured their visit, making obvious negative reference to their racial background… The Afro-Venezuelan network has compiled a list of over 1,000 racist comments that have appeared in Venezuela’s media in the past year and half… Unfortunately, all of this is awfully unscientific and will probably thus not convince the majority of Venezuelans who have been raised by the notion that there is no racism in Venezuela. The need to research and find hard data on racism in Venezuela is, however, precisely one of the demands of Venezuela’s Afro-Venezuelan network."

Venezuela in Black and White  11/24/2003 Venezuela Analysis: by Greg Palast - "And that's what it's all about. Race and class. Whatever else you hear about Venezuela, this is the story in a single frame. Like apartheid-riven South Africa, the whites, 20% of the population, have the nation's wealth under lock and key. The Rich Fifth have command of the oil wealth, the best jobs, the English-language lessons, the imported clothes, the vacations in Miami, the plantations. That is, until Hugo Chavez came along."

Venezuelan president stands tall for the Black and Brown  1/29/2003 Final Call: ""The people put Hugo Chavez back into power after the coup," observed Elombe Brath of the Harlem-based Patrice Lumumba Coalition, adding that Mr. Chavez represents a large segment of Venezuelans who are Black. "The same type of movement of Black Panamanians that elected Manuel Noriega in Panama was used to elect Mr. Chavez in Venezuela," Mr. Brath stressed… According to Amy Chua, a Yale professor of law and author of "World on Fire: How Free Market Democracies Breed Ethnic Hatred & Global Instability," says that Mr. Chavez, along with 80 percent of Venezuela’s population, is referred to as "pardo," a term that has class and ethnic overtones that refer loosely to brown-skinned people of Amerindian or African ancestry. She said Venezuela’s economy is controlled by a minority of "cosmopolitan Whites" or "martuanos," the Venezuelan term for persons with European features. Observers say Mr. Chavez promised to "cleanse" his nation of corrupted and co-opted elites who have gained political power… Mr. Raimondo believes the greatest concern of the Western powers is Mr. Chavez’s call for a "configuration" of Latin American states for the new century. Hugo Chavez ’s vision of a rail artery that would join the Caribbean basin through railways and link them with the great rivers, which Mr. Chavez calls the "arteries of continent," is what really scares the U.S. State Department, Mr. Raimondo said. "Hugo Chavez is a Black man who has angered the oil barons of the world such as Vice Pres. Dick Cheney and, of course, Pres. Bush," Viola Plummer of the December 12th Movement said."

Venezuelan plays race card  1/14/2003 Washington Times: the Rev. Moon weighs in - "Though racial labels are nearly meaningless in this nation, in which most people are of mixed African, Native American and European descent, Mr. Chavez's supporters tend to be mostly poorer and darker, while those trying to oust him are mainly descendents of European immigrants, many drawn by Venezuela's post-1930s oil boom… Caracas political scientist Anibal Romero said Mr. Chavez seeks to foment racial tensions. The president "has said many times that he is the son of Indians and black people, trying to convey the message that those are the only legitimate Venezuelans," Mr. Romero said."

As Venezuela Boils, Blacks are Caught in the Middle  1/10/2003 Africana.com: "As Chavez has alienated the predominantly white political and business elite, he has appealed to the poor majority, who are black and Indian. Observers note that Chavez's populist rhetoric has exposed Venezuela's ethnic and racial fault-lines (the country's population is 21 % white, 10 % black, 67 % mestizo, and 2 % indigenous), and deepened the divide between the country's white middle and upper classes and the poor majority — some 80 % of the country's 24 million people live in poverty. With populist rhetoric — not to mention copper skin and curly hair — Chavez is seen as a champion of the country's mestizo population (mixed people of black, Indian and white background) and he often appeals directly to the poor and non-white majority to counter the racism of the elite."

Racist Rage Of The Caracas Elite  12/11/2002 Guardian, UK: "Opposition spokesmen complain that Chavez is a leftist who is leading the country to economic chaos, but underlying the fierce hatred is the terror of the country's white elite when faced with the mobilised mass of the population, who are black, Indian and mestizo. Only a racism that dates back five centuries - of the European settlers towards their African slaves and the country's indigenous inhabitants - can adequately explain the degree of hatred aroused. Chavez - who is more black and Indian than white, and makes no secret of his aim to be the president of the poor - is the focus of this racist rage." El Mico Mono...

(Re)construccion de una identidad negra en Venezuela  10/1/1998 Pouvoirs dans la Caraïbe: "En Venezuela, las culturas étnicas o regionales no pudieron participar plenamente en los proyectos modernizadores promovidos por las élites, pero padecieron de las consecuencias de los mismos. El mito del mestizaje y el de la democracia racial1 se unieron para reducir la cultura popular, especialmente de origen afro, a un espacio folklórico. Además, las regiones de población negra, cercanas en su mayoría las grandes ciudades, han sufrido un violento proceso de éxodo rural que ha debilitado sus identidades. Sin embargo, se ha podido observar a partir de 1945 un nuevo interés hacia las manifestaciones culturales negras y indígenas."

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