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, Venezuela massively expanded educational opportunities for the population since the onset of the Bolivarian Process. Unfortunately today, under a brutal economic blockade, many of those gains have been rolled back. Venezuela’s public education syste ..read more

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 uninhabitable if we do not take urgent action immediately. How can progressive and leftist governments in Latin America work to secure climate justice? Should we consider de-growth as the strategy, as some progressive thinkers advocate? What of anti ..read more

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 ..read 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 the answer is yes, to all of that, and more. In our latest podcast episode, host José Luis Granados Ceja is joined by fellow VA member Ricardo Vaz and political analyst Ociel López to break down Washington's calculations, the potential impact of the ..read more

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 headlines about the need for the US to change its relationship with Latin America. Despite the potential for this trip to “replace” or “realign” the US-Latin America relationship, public comments by lawmakers following their trip, Democrats are still dee ..read more

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 joined by Dahís Suárez and Iván Tamariz, from the Panal 2021 Commune which hosted the event. He also talks with fellow VA member Cira Pascual Marquina on the debates that took place and the bigger picture of grassroots struggles in Venezuela. Musi ..read more

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 political power by force fizzled out swiftly, another plan has remained firmly in motion: the plunder of Venezuelan foreign assets. VA’s Ricardo Vaz joins host José Luis Granados Ceja to talk about US efforts to keep the so-called interim government ..read more

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 Figarella from the Anti-Imperialist Action Committee, and Celina della Croce from the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, as well as Venezuelanalysis’ Greg Wilpert, to have a rich discussion about the fight to bury the Monroe Doctrine, en ..read more

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 is workers' control!  Podcast host José Luís Granados Ceja talks to Venezuelan worker Sergio Requena about the need to break with capitalist logic and seize the means of production, as well as fellow VA member Cira Pascual Marquina about the hi ..read more

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 go go over Chávez's revolutionary legacy. More than a president, he was a teacher, a political scientist, a soldier, a visionary, a powerful orator, and a man profoundly committed to the well being of the Venezuelan people. Podcast host José Luís Gra ..read more