By Gerry Conover
In the face of the continued onslaught of U.S. mainstream media misinformation and disinformation, let’s look at what led to the attacks on the Venezuelan embassy in Washington D.C. by members of the Venezuelan opposition at the end of April of this year, all part of what threatens to become a U.S. invasion in Venezuela.
What is at stake in Venezuela
Who in Washington, D.C. is promoting an invasion of Venezuela, and why?
Venezuela has what U.S. oil companies want and it has set an example the ruling circles in Washington would like to have you never hear about.
While owning the largest oil reserves in the world, the government of Venezuela, since Hugo Chávez came to office in 1999, has served as an example for working people throughout the world by embarking upon a process of using its resources to lift millions of Venezuelans out of poverty. It began with a nationwide referendum that installed a new constitution and created the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
Poverty in Venezuela was reduced from 31.2% to 19.12% between 2002 and 2015, and extreme poverty from 13% to 4.76%. 95% of Venezuelans are guaranteed a pension, including housewives and farmers.
In Venezuela, 74% of the country’s budget is dedicated to social services, including food, housing, health care and education programs for low-income working families.
The government has built and delivered over two million homes to low-income Venezuelans.
Venezuela now has the lowest homelessness rate in Latin America.
These social programs are funded largely by income from Venezuela’s vast natural resources. Venezuela has not only the world’s largest proven oil reserves and one of the largest fresh water reserves in the world, it is also rich in natural gas, aluminum, iron ore, manganese, gold, phosphates and diamonds.
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The Venezuelan government did not stop there – Venezuela extended assistance to other South American and Caribbean countries in the form of greatly discounted petroleum, and provided heating oil free of charge to poor working people in the U.S. who could not afford to pay for oil in the harsh winters. In doing so, the Venezuelan government and its people serve as an example of international solidarity and as an example of how you can eradicate poverty.
However, at the same time, the Venezuelan government has stood against – and consequently inflamed – the imperial economic forces that for centuries have drained resources from the continent, concentrating wealth in the hands of a few while leaving Latin American nations underdeveloped and impoverished.
The administrations of both Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump have worked to destroy the Bolivarian Revolution by misrepresentation and manipulation of laws through international bodies; economic attrition from sanctions to block the country’s international trade; direct dirty war tactics by hiring paramilitaries; infiltration of weapons; creating false flags and narratives (“humanitarian aid”); and an aggressive and deadly mass media campaign against the Venezuelan government….
