"It's not a question of democracy or defending human rights, but of sovereignty and safeguarding the interests of the people," says PCB leader
At a press conference held on Tuesday, August 13, at the headquarters of the Communist Party of Benin (PCB), Philippe Noudjenoume, first secretary of the Party, confirmed that the presidential elections in Venezuela on July 28, 2024 had gone smoothly. As an observer, he states that the vote was transparent and free. To this end, he vehemently denounces the imposition of the will of the United States to the detriment of the Venezuelan people. Nicolás Maduro did win the presidential election, according to Noudjenoume.
Read his full statement below:
On July 28, 2024, Venezuela held its 4th presidential election under President Nicolas Maduro, successor to President Hugo Chávez. In the midst of this hustle and bustle, and against the backdrop of preparations for global war, it is important for public opinion in Benin and Africa to be informed of the real stakes involved, so as to have a fair idea of the brouhaha that is unfolding after President Maduro's re-election.
Ladies and gentlemen, from July 23 to August 3, 2024, I was in Caracas, as International Guest of the Government Party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), to observe the Presidential Election of July 28, 2024. I was doing so in a triple capacity, as Representative of the Communist Party of Benin, President of the West African Peoples' Organization (WAPO) and of the Alliance Pour la Patrie.
At this point, I would like to express my thanks to the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for having given us this opportunity. The Government has invited an impressive number of international observers to this poll: no fewer than 900 guests from 101 countries. The Venezuelan Authorities were confident in the legitimacy and reliability of the electoral system, as well as in the particular stakes involved in this election.
At the preparatory stage, during the electoral campaign, and during the election itself on Sunday July 28, 2024, everything went smoothly, with respect for the laws and institutions of the Republic. As Observers, we visited many polling stations on polling day, interviewing citizens and gathering opinions; many Guests were deployed outside the capital, Caracas, to other less urban areas. The efficient electoral system apparently left little room for fraud, as multiple voting was impossible and, once registered, the voter could not register again anywhere in the country.
All seemed calm, until the "Consejo Nacional Electoral" (National Electoral Council) announced the results on the night of July 28-29, 2024. President Maduro was duly proclaimed elected with 51.2% of the vote. We, the international observers, were unanimous in our praise for the smooth running of the elections and the regular re-election of President Nicolas Maduro.
But then came an intense post-election uprising, with massive foreign and aggressive intervention by the United States, the European Union and the fascist governments of Latin America such as Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay and others, on a scale never before seen, at least according to observers. Demonstrators not only attacked Chávez statues in the capital itself, but even in outlying towns; statues representing indigenous peoples immortalized by Chávez were destroyed, expressing a fascist, white supremacist movement, along the lines of Brazil's Bolsonaro or Argentina's Milei, or France's RN.
In fact, this is nothing new--it's as if we're witnessing a "remake" of what already happened when President Maduro was re-elected in 2018. Back then, this is what was written: Nicolás Maduro, successor to the charismatic Hugo Chávez, who has just been re-elected, is preparing to govern the country under difficult conditions. But why all the fuss after the Venezuelan elections? Why all the fuss, when the world over, even in Africa and the United States, we're witnessing elections that are far less credible or transparent (massive fraud and open rigging), and nowhere has there been so much outpouring of emotion?
This is not about the so-called defense of democracy, the defense of human rights (and then Gaza!!!), it's about nothing more or less than the interests of imperialist power, the US and its allies in their rage to control the world's resources.
What is at stake?
Venezuela ranks 33rd in the world and is a major energy power. It holds the world's 1st largest proven reserves of crude oil (302.25 billion barrels, i.e. 1/5th of the world's reserves), ahead of Saudi Arabia, and the 4th largest reserves of natural gas. The country also boasts vast mining resources (gold, bauxite, iron, nickel, coal, etc.) for which it occupies honorable positions.
Venezuela has the largest gold reserves in Latin America, far ahead of Mexico. The country has 351 tons of the precious metal, placing it 16th in the world. In terms of water resources, Venezuela ranks 12th in the world for renewable water resources.
Venezuela is the fifth largest Latin American economy in terms of gross domestic product, after Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia, with an estimated GDP of USD 367.5 billion in 2013, according to the World Bank. Its ranking is identical when expressed in purchasing power parity, and it boasts the world's second-largest refinery, the Amuay refinery, built with American investors.
Due to its enormous natural resources, particularly oil, Venezuela is first and foremost a country with an oil-based economy. Indeed, oil exports account for 95% of exports and 60% of GDP. The main economic activity is the exploitation and refining of oil for export and domestic consumption. The oil sector dominates the economy, accounting for around a third of GDP, 85% of export profits and 43% of government revenues.
But why has this wealthy country been plunged into the most serious crisis in its history? Quite simply because, since the advent of Commander Hugo Chávez in 1998, the Venezuelan people have decided to become the owners of their own resources, and to take charge of their own destiny by assuming sovereignty.
Until the Chávez regime came to power, these enormous oil resources were owned by foreign companies, notably Chevron (American). The crime of the Chavez regime is to have implemented a systematic and popular socialist sovereignty policy, based on the recovery of natural wealth (through nationalization of the oil sector in particular), and the redistribution of the enormous revenues from this wealth to the population. The nationalization of strategic sectors--oil in the hands of Petroleum PLC, the American companies Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, and the French Total and Statoil--and the nationalization of the telecommunications and electricity production sectors, as well as the cement industry. In 2010, the retail sector was nationalized, with the Venezuelan subsidiary of the éxito group, owned by the French Casino group, accused of contributing to price rises. The local subsidiary of the American company NorPro, manufacturer of a product for oil drilling, was nationalized and integrated into the state-owned company PDVSA. The Italian steel group TenarisDalmine was expropriated from its assets, having failed to reach a financial agreement with the government.
From an agricultural point of view: it took the arrival of President Chavez in 1999 and the Bolivarian Revolution to launch a bold agricultural reform. By decree, this reform consisted in "progressively eliminating the latifundios (large private landholdings) and promoting an equitable distribution of land for the benefit of the poor." In other words, it consisted in nationalizing the large latifundios and redistributing them (redistribution of "100,000 plots of land in return for the purchase of the land at cost price by the expropriated owners"). This enabled Venezuelan agriculture to regain a slightly higher priority. Venezuela went from producing 17,160,577 tonnes of food in 1998 to 24,686,018 tonnes in 2018.
After 2003, thanks to rising hydrocarbon prices, a more relaxed political climate and the return of PDVSA to the fold, Venezuela enjoyed an average GDP growth rate of 13.5% until 2009 (one of the highest in the world, according to official and IMF figures). The government's social investments, through the misiones, in education, food and healthcare, created since 2001, are beginning to bear fruit: the poverty rate was cut by almost 30 points between 2003 and 2008 (from 54% to 26%), including a particularly significant 72% reduction in extreme poverty, while almost 1,250,000 people became literate between 2003 and 2004 according to figures from the BCV (Banco Central de Venezuela).
This social progress has also been accompanied by a reduction in inequality as measured by the Gini index. GDP per capita in PPP terms rose between 2003 and 2008, from $5,033 to $8,500 according to IMF figures (an estimate), and from $5,500 to $8,500 between 1999 and 2008 (also an estimate).
So that's the crime committed by Chavez and his successor Maduro, who must be put down, according to the imperialists. The first is to work towards a collapse in world oil prices; the second is to take a whole battery of anti-economic measures (over 930 US measures) against Venezuela, including an embargo on all products to and from Venezuela; the third is to attack the life of the leader Chavez, whose death is suspected to have been caused by US poisoning.
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On the political front, the United States has tried everything: stirring up rebellions in the army, setting up puppet elements for coups d'état with the help of dollars, For a long time, it set up the puppet Guaidó against Maduro, after the failure of this lame experiment, it came to the current one.
The current context
The current context, which is characterized by the exacerbation of global tensions, preparations for a world war between the two antagonistic camps (NATO/BRICS), the Ukraine-Russia War and the Palestinian crisis, has aggravated the situation. The resolution of the Venezuela equation within Latin America appears to be a strategic challenge. This is all the more true given that Maduro's government has recently taken important steps towards overcoming the crisis by taking significant economic and structural measures. Maduro's government has adopted four important measures:
- Stimulating national production (through the diversification of products) to cope with the foreign embargo. This has resulted in increased domestic production and food self-sufficiency.
- Increasing and rationalizing domestic tax collection.
- Stimulating non-traditional exports, i.e. increasing exports of products other than petroleum products.
- Granting substantial aid to Venezuelan entrepreneurs. As a result, the country grew by 7% in early 2024, according to official data.
The shortages in stores and markets observed in 2021, when I last visited the country, as a result of the US embargo measures, are visibly receding. Life is returning to this dream country.
It's not a question of democracy or defending human rights, but of sovereignty and safeguarding the interests of the people. All the so-called left-wing organizations that cling only to questions of "democracy," à la Trump or Macron, are very much on the wrong track, for they are objectively aligning themselves behind imperialist interests against the people. They will be rejected by history.
This statement was translated from an article originally published on L'oeil Républicain.
