The latest VA podcast episode dives into the recent Congress on Communal Democracy, exploring its history, participants, and its mission to build grassroots alternatives to “liberal democracy.” Host José Luis Granados Ceja, fellow VA member Cira Pascual Marquina and Catalan activist Isa Chacón discuss the limits of current political systems, the po…

The latest Venezuelanalysis podcast episode catches up on the latest developments from Venezuela on many fronts. Host José Luis Granados Ceja is joined by fellow VA writer Andreína Chávez Alava to discuss the recent arrests of foreign nationals and weapons seizures, the XVI BRICS Summit, and new corruption allegations in the Venezuelan oil industry…

With the Venezuelan opposition in disarray following its most recent attempts to take power, the ball is now in Washington's court. Where does the US empire go from here? Venezuelanalysis podcast host José Luis Granados Ceja and editor Ricardo Vaz went over the different scenarios in the latest episode. The conversation also covered the plunder of …

The Venezuelan political landscape has seen the farthest-right sectors, led by María Corina Machado, emerge as the leaders of the opposition. But this trend is far from unique to Venezuela. From Argentina to Italy, and with the Gaza genocide as the ugliest exponent, fascism and its violent impact are growing. In the latest VA podcast episode, staff…

Following a short hiatus, the Venezuelanalysis Podcast is back with a new format. On-the-ground staff members are set to feature more prominently, with the podcast now published on YouTube and delivered on a more regular basis. In this episode, host José Luis Granados Ceja is joined by editor Ricardo Vaz to catch up on the latest from Venezuela: re…

With the Venezuelan presidential elections fast approaching, Venezuelanalysis members José Luis Granados Ceja and Andreína Chávez sat down for a special podcast episode to discuss a range of topics, from imperialist soft power to corporate media propaganda.Por Venezuelanalysis

The brutal US-led sanctions campaign has led grassroots socialist organizations to reinvent themselves and come together to survive the conditions created by the economic blockade. In our latest podcast episode, we go deep into communes and the socialist project in Venezuela, discussing the challenges in building a communal economy, political auton…

With the US reimposing oil sanctions, we look at the implications and how grassroots socialist movements hold the key to fighting back. On today’s episode we talk with Laura Lorenzo about the Pueblo a Pueblo initiative, a grassroots plan for organizing the production, distribution, and consumption of food that directly connects agricultural produce…

The ruling class must establish its hegemony in order to assure its survival, and cultural production is critical to this process, dominance over our cultural lives is indispensable for capitalism to reproduce itself. As Gramsci wrote: “To achieve a revolutionary perspective, the worker must first be freed of the ideological fetters imposed on him …

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez sought to build a participatory democracy that would directly include the population in decision making and knew that a robust education system, one that would seek to incorporate those historically excluded from the formal educational system, was indispensable. From primary school all the way into higher education,…

By retaking control of the region’s natural resources, pink-tide governments throughout Latin America were able to make great strides in the redistribution of wealth, working to attend to the social debt owed to the population. But this came at a cost. Today there is a clear global consensus that climate change is real and we risk making the planet…

With another year nearly behind us, Venezuelanalysis hosts a special podcast episode where we once again take stock of the Venezuelan political landscape and look at the most important topics from Venezuela. This time around, the VA staff sat down to discuss sanctions relief, the Essequibo dispute, upcoming elections and a lot more.…

What is behind the decision by the US Treasury Department to suspend sanctions on Venezuela? Is it because of increased Venezuelan migration to the US? Is it owed to fears of wider instability in the Middle East? Or has the White House finally come to terms with the failure of the current regime-change strategy? You won’t be surprised to learn that…

On today’s episode, we present to you two new books on Venezuela. The first is “A War Without Bombs: The social, political and economic impact of sanctions against Venezuela” written and published by the Venezuelanalysis team. The book is now available to everyone to download for free on our brand new website. A War Without Bombs aims to provide Ve…

On today’s program we’re looking into the bipartisan imperialist consensus in Washington when it comes to Venezuela. Following a recent US Congressional delegation to Brazil, Chile, and Colombia by Representatives Greg Casar, Nydia Velázquez, Joaquin Castro, Maxwell Frost, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, media outlets were once again filled with head…

At the end of June, dozens of popular power collectives gathered at the El Panal Commune in western Caracas to participate in the “Reflections on Communal Democracy” summit. It was a space to reflect and debate on the progress and challenges for the construction of socialism in Venezuela. In this podcast episode, host José Luis Granados Ceja is joi…

Trump’s recent candor about his push for regime change in Venezuela to secure access to oil proved that US support for the so-called interim government was never about democracy or human rights. It was always about imperialism and the neocolonial drive for the control of Venezuela’s resources. While the prospects of the US-backed opposition taking …

Following a day-long discussion about U.S. interventionism and efforts to resist imperialism at the Latin America and the Caribbean Policy Forum, host José Luis Granados Ceja is joined by Nick Estes from The Red Nation, Claudia De La Cruz from The People’s Forum, Teri Mattson of the WTF is Going on in Latin America and the Caribbean podcast, Hector…

Last month, the National Anti-Corruption Police revealed alleged “serious acts of corruption" in state-owned oil company PDVSA. Fallout was swift, over 50 individuals have now been arraigned. The charges include misappropriation of public funds, influence peddling and money laundering. Some may even face treason charges. Calling the anti-corruption…

“El Golpe de Timón” - was Hugo Chávez’s address to his cabinet of ministers on October 20th, 2012, shortly after his resounding reelection on October 7, 2012. The speech, translated into English as “Strike at the Helm”, is considered his political testament, broadcast live over-the-air, it was his last major political address to his government and …

Sanctions, also known as unilateral coercive measures, should primarily be understood as a tool of neocolonialism. Unilateral Coercive Measures are aimed at inflicting collective punishment on a sovereign state. In the case of Venezuela, they are driven by an effort to secure access to the country’s vast oil wealth, to once again bring Venezuela un…

With the year drawing to a close, the Venezuelanalysis staff recorded a special podcast episode. In this episode we take stock of the Venezuelan political landscape. Host José Luis Granados Ceja is joined by Cira Pascual Marquina, Andreína Chávez and Ricardo Vaz, each chose their "top story" for the year, analyzing different aspects of the Bolivari…

We focus on a complex issue: Venezuelan migration. We look at the causes behind the exodus of millions of Venezuelans and the dishonest, politicized propaganda surrounding the issue. While coverage of Venezuela in the mainstream media is notoriously poor, when it comes to migration it has been flat out dishonest. Deliberately distorting the issue, …

President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and President Gustavo Petro of Colombia announced that the border between the two countries, after being closed for years, will officially reopen on September 26. The decision to reopen the border represents yet another step in the restoration of diplomatic relations between Venezuela and Colombia following the…

One of the clearest expressions of the struggle of the Venezuelan working class against the bourgeoisie today is the efforts by workers to seize control of the means of production directly, taking the factory out of the hands of the bosses and running their workplaces democratically. In the tenth episode of the Venezuelanalysis Podcast, the subject…

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, born July 28 1954, is undoubtedly the most important figure in modern Venezuelan history. Former Uruguayan President Pepe Mujica, upon hearing news of Chávez’s death on March 5th, 2013, said: "I met Che, I met Mao, but I can say this man is a character who broke the mold." In the ninth Venezuelanalysis Podcast episode, we …

In this episode, the team at Venezuelanalysis answers questions submitted by readers and followers. From questions about Venezuela’s relations with its neighbors to the future of the struggle against US imperialism, it’s everything you always wanted to know about Venezuela.Por Venezuelanalysis

The Great Housing Mission is undoubtedly one of the flagships of the Bolivarian Revolution. The program created by Hugo Chávez in 2011 has provided a reported four million houses for low-income families and looks to reach five million by 2025. In the newest episode of the Venezuelanalysis podcast, we go over the struggle to establish housing as a h…

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has upended the previously existing geopolitical order. With mid-term elections looming and rising energy costs inside the US as a result of the conflict and the subsequent ban of Russian oil imports, the White House was left scrambling. This global scenario led Washington to abandon its years-long strategy of pretending…

The Bolivarian Revolution has always worked to put social inclusion at the very center of its political program, focusing on attending to the needs of the most marginalized. In a capitalist patriarchal system this meant expanding the political participation of women; but this also doubled the social reproduction work of women, who found themselves …

With its immense oil reserves, there was a time when Venezuela was called the “Saudi Arabia” of Latin America. This reliance on oil rents invariably distorted much of the economy, making it cheaper to import food rather than produce it locally. This decades-long arrangement helps explain Venezuela’s challenges when it comes to securing food soverei…

Today more than ever, it is critical to support anti-imperialist media. With recent victories by the left in Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Honduras, US Imperialism is nervous. The response by the US Department of State to these recent elections in Latin America, discrediting the first two and only reluctantly embracing the latter, is proof that neo-col…

In our first Dispatch you’ll be hearing directly from members of the Venezuela Analysis team who were on the ground covering the election in the capital and surrounding region where the United Socialist Party secured an important victory in Venezuela’s regional and local elections on Sunday, winning at least 19 of the 23 governorships. The 42.3% tu…

On November 21, Venezuela will hold its 27th election since Chávez came to power, critically this will be the first time since 2015 that Chavismo will face most of the opposition in an electoral contest after the self-styled Group of Four parties finally abandoned their boycott strategy. The third episode of the Venezuelanalysis podcast looks at th…

The corporate media coverage of Venezuela has always placed its focus on Chávez and Maduro, what the government did or said. This narrative, and the respective counter-narrative, ignore one key element of the Bolivarian Process: popular power. The second episode of the Venezuelanalysis podcast focuses on grassroots organizations under conditions of…

In this episode we take a look at the impact of US-led sanctions against Venezuela. We’ll speak with UN Special Rapporteur Alena Douhan on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights. https://venezuelanalysis.com/ Music: Embandolaos - Los Caimanes Negros Javier Marin - Llanto Sandino Primera - Cómo Quise…