Left debates Venezuela

By Eva María & César Romero

Venezuela’s December elections placed the Chavista reforms of the last sixteen years in peril. The Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) took 112 of the Assembly’s 167 seats, mirroring other right-wing resurgences in Argentina and Brazil.

The Bolivarian Revolution faces determined attacks led by Venezuelan elites. But the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) shares blame for the current situation. The party’s relationship with its mass base had deteriorated; corruption and economic turmoil impact ordinary Venezuelans; and the bid to democratize the state was largely abandoned. These all left an opening for the opposition.

Faced with this situation, Marea Socialista (MS), a revolutionary socialist organization active in the Chavista process since the 1990s, left the PSUV last year. Eva María recently spoke with César Romero from the MS’s youth wing about Hugo Chávez’s legacy, the Maduro presidency, their decision to leave the PSUV, and their strategy going forward.

Read the full article here:
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/04/chavez-maduro-venezuela-mud-psuv/

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