Down with the Coup in Venezuela! — OCRFI Statement

Organizing Committee for the Reconstitution of the Fourth International (OCRFI)

January 24, 2019

Down with the Coup in Venezuela!

This is not the first time that U.S. imperialism has fomented a coup attempt in Latin America (witness 2016 in Brazil with Michel Temer, who paved the way for Jair Bolsonaro). This is not the first time that U.S. imperialism has engaged in such actions in Venezuela, strangling that nation with a blockade as it seeks to plunder the Venezuelan nation’s oil. But this time, it was without even the pretense of subterfuge that the Trump administration, with the help of its Brazilian puppet Bolsonaro, sparked the ongoing coup attempt.

On January 22, at 7:30 a.m., U.S. Vice President Mike Pence announced the coup attempt slated for the following day, publishing on Twitter: “As the good people of Venezuela make your voices heard tomorrow, we say, on behalf of the American people, estamos con ustedes [we are with you].”

Barely 24 hours later, Juan Guaido, Speaker of the National Assembly, proclaimed himself “President in Office,” and this coup attempt was immediately applauded by representatives of imperialism and their puppets in the region. Trump, through his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, quickly bolstered Guaido: “The United States recognizes Juan Guaido as the new interim president of Venezuela,” followed by Bolsonaro, who threatened to support the coup with the intervention of the Brazilian army on Venezuelan territory.

It is no surprise that the coup plotters and their sponsors received the support of the European Council, which had the gall to claim that on the occasion of the January 23 coup “the people of Venezuela massively called for democracy and the possibility to freely choose their own destiny.” Nor should we neglect to mention the shameful statement by French President Emmanuel Macron, who dared to speak of the “illegitimate election of [Nicolás] Maduro”, affirming that the European Union “supports the restoration of democracy”!

As if democracy and the right of peoples to choose their own destiny freely were not precisely the polar opposites of imperialist interference, of Washington’s organization of coups d’état through which U.S. imperialism affirms the right to decide, in the place of the peoples, who should govern them!

The secretariat of the Organizing Committee for the Reconstitution of the Fourth International (OCRFI) condemns the coup d’état in Venezuela and imperialist interference. The OCRFI stands side by side with the Venezuelan workers and people whose decision to to defend themselves by all means against imperialist-led intervention and for national sovereignty will be totally legitimate. It supports the Venezuelan government’s decision to break off diplomatic relations with Washington.

The OCRFI stands alongside the workers, activists, youth, organizations and anti-war coalitions in the United States who tell Trump: “Not in our name!” and who will demand an immediate end to U.S. intervention in Venezuela.

The OCRFI stands shoulder to shoulder with the Brazilian workers in their drive to build the broadest united front of workers’ and popular organizations to defeat any threat of military intervention by Bolsonaro against the sister people of Venezuela.

The OCRFI calls on all its organizations around the world to participate in any and all workers’ and popular mobilizations against the attempted coup d’état in Venezuela, with their own demands:

– Down with the coup d’état!

– Imperialists: Out of Venezuela now, Out of Latin America now!

– Trump, Bolsonaro, European Union: Hands off Venezuela!

– For the right of the Venezuelan people to freely determine their own destiny!