Features: Politics

Sunday's landslide PSUV defeat affords the Venezuelan right an historic opportunity to roll back the gains of the Bolivarian Revolution, but will they succeed? Only a revitalized Chavismo, rerooted among the Venezuelan masses, can stop them. 

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Ahead of Sunday’s hotly contested Venezuelan parliamentary elections, VA talked with George Azariah-Moreno, a political anthropologist and former advisor to the country’s National Electoral Council (CNE) on the Organization of American States’ (OAS) allegations of fraud, the disqualification of dissident chavista party Marea Socialista from running, Venezuela’s evolving electoral landscape, as well as possible scenarios for Sunday’s vote. 

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Early last month, five men were shot dead in a high-rise building at the center of Caracas during an early morning standoff between special intelligence police (CICPC) and armed members of revolutionary collectives. While the circumstances leading up to the event are still unclear, the so-called Quinta Crespo Massacre created a ripple effect within the Venezuelan left that quickly highlighted a growing rift between the revolutionary left and the Bolivarian government.

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The administration of President Nicolas Maduro faces a set of adverse conditions which have the potential to turn a majority of the country’s citizens against the incumbent government at the next election. In this context, there is perhaps more riding on economic and state reforms currently being designed than first meets the eye.

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What did President Nicolas Maduro’s announcements during Wednesday’s state of the nation address tell us about the Venezuelan government’s economic agenda for 2014?

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Following a hard year for us, yesterday’s positive election result came as a relief. It is a hopeful result that gives a well deserved finger to the bitter, whinging opposition, and their private media buddies. However, the political significance of the result is also more complicated than that, and it is now time to focus our energy on really consolidating this revolution.

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The PSUV recently announced its candidates for the December elections, overriding a primaries process of selection that had been underway when Chavez died. From under confidence and vulnerability, to a disorganised grassroots and a strong-ish opposition, VA examines what is behind such a move.

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