91��̳ - Steve Ellner

With Trump in the White House, US influence in Latin America is on the decline

Steve Ellner — Thu, 01 May 2025 10:15:00 +1000

Indignation and resistance to United States President Donald Trump’s bullying, deportations and economic reprisals are spreading across Latin America, writes Steve Ellner.

Trump’s policy toward Latin America: Even anti-communist zealots in Miami don’t like it

Steve Ellner — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 15:00:00 +1100

Unlike Donald Trump’s policies on immigration, trans rights and taxation, his Latin American policy is plagued by vacillations and uncertainties, a sign of his deepening reliance on a transactional approach to foreign policy, argues Steve Ellner.

Anti-US imperialism and Maduro’s Venezuela

Steve Ellner — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 12:30:00 +1100

In the second part of our interview, Steve Ellner, Associate Managing Editor of Latin American Perspectives and a retired professor of the Universidad de Oriente in Venezuela, speaks to Federico Fuentes about opposition to United States imperialism and the left’s appraisal of the Nicolás Maduro government in Venezuela.

Prioritising the struggle against US imperialism

Steve Ellner — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 11:45:00 +1100

Steve Ellner, Associate Managing Editor of Latin American Perspectives and a retired professor of the Universidad de Oriente in Venezuela, speaks to Federico Fuentes about the need to prioritise the struggle against United States imperialism and the challenges for international solidarity.

Is it OK to mention NATO expansionism when we discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Steve Ellner — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 12:45:00 +1100

The issue that has generated most heat on the left is not whether Russia's invasion is justifiable, writes Steve Ellner, but whether raising NATO distracts from the atrocity of the invasion.

Venezuela: US continues meddling with election

Steve Ellner — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 10:30:00 +1100

United States president Joe Biden's administration is urging the Venezuelan opposition to participate in the state and local elections slated for November 21, writes Steve Ellner. However, Washington’s change of tack doesn't mean it won't continue meddling.

United States: Why politicians and media support lifting sanctions on Iran due to COVID-19, but not Venezuela

Steve Ellner — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 13:00:00 +1000

A reporter recently told US President Donald Trump he had a moral responsibility to help Iran as it is hit by the new coronavirus. No mention was made about Venezuela. Why Iran and not Venezuela? Steve Ellner explains why.

Centrists within US Democrats fear a leftward political slide if Trump impeached

Steve Ellner — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 14:45:00 +1000

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s decision to oppose impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump is motivated by fear of the rise of a leftist pole within or from outside the Democratic Party, writes Steve Ellner.

Venezuela: Regime change is ‘made in the USA’

Steve Ellner — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 11:00:00 +1100

Since its outset, the Donald Trump administration has ratcheted up pressure on Venezuela and radicalised its positions, writes Steve Ellner.

Venezuela: NYT editorial opposing military intervention may do more harm than good

Steve Ellner — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 14:30:00 +1000

There is a growing body of pro-establishment statements in the United States opposing the possibility of US military intervention in Venezuela, writes Steve Ellner.

The latest expression of this position is a New York Times editorial titled “Stay Out of Venezuela, Mr. Trump”, published on September 11.

At first glance the editorial is a welcome statement that counters the careless war-mongering declarations coming from the ilk of Marco Rubio and a number of high-ranking Trump administration officials, as well as Donald Trump himself.

Venezuela: Where things stand after the May 20 presidential vote

Steve Ellner — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 14:45:00 +1000

The refusal by presidential candidate Henri Falcón to recognise the results bodes poorly for Nicolas Maduro’s new term as president. The consolidation of a moderate bloc within the opposition that Falcón represented — which recognises the government’s legitimacy — would have significantly cut into the strength of the more intransigent or radical parties on the right and provided Venezuelan politics with much needed stability.

Bolivia’s VP on building plebeian power in a neoliberal age

Steve Ellner — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 10:00:00 +1000

Plebeian Power: Collective Action & Indigenous, Working-Class & Popular Identities in Bolivia
By Alvaro Garcia Linera
Haymarket Books, 2014
345 pp, US$28.00

Alvaro Garcia Linera, twice-elected vice-president of Bolivia, is the continent’s most prominent theoretician-politician to place 21st century Latin American left thought in a Marxist framework.

Despite crisis, Venezuela no ‘populist failure’

Lucas Koerner — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 11:00:00 +1100

Venezuela is again grabbing headlines in the media, amid allegations of lack of democracy and exaggerated accounts of nonetheless very real economic problems.

Much commentary puts the problems facing the country down to the alleged “failed populism” of Venezuela’s pro-poor Bolivarian Revolution. Last month, the New York Times even compared Donald Trump to Venezuela’s late socialist president Hugo Chavez in an article titled “What Hugo Chavez can teach us about Donald Trump”.

Venezuela: Why capitalism, not socialism, is to blame for corruption

Steve Ellner — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 10:00:00 +1000

“Oil didn’t wreck Venezuela’s economy, socialism did.” That’s what Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, of the Washington-based conservative think tank Ethics and Public Policy Center, wrote earlier this year in his reflection on Venezuela’s deepening economic crisis. Gobry, a prolific writer for Forbes and the Wall Street Journal, criticised Venezuelan analysts who scapegoat oil, even though he recognised that declining oil prices have aggravated the nation’s difficulties. “The culprit is clear and obvious,” Golbry contends. “The problem is Venezuela's authoritarian socialism.”

Venezuela: Chavismo caught on horns of dilemma

Steve Ellner — Sun, 31 May 2015 10:00:00 +1000

Leftists in Venezuela have put forward several explanations for the pressing economic difficulties and growing discontent that have beset the nation recently. These difficulties raise the possibility of an opposition takeover of the National Assembly in this year’s elections.

Venezuela: Maduro rules out austerity amid falling oil prices, debate over way forward

Steve Ellner — Sun, 17 May 2015 10:00:00 +1000

It is a point of honour for the Venezuelan government that despite the sharp plunge in oil prices and acute shortages of goods, President Nicolas Maduro has ruled out austerity measures. In a recent TV interview with former vice president Jose Vicente Rangel, Venezuelan Central Bank president Nelson Merentes explained why, saying: “Do you remember what happened on February 27, 1989?”

Venezuela: Terrorist campaign backed by US, corporate media

Steve Ellner — Fri, 16 May 2014 10:00:00 +1000

The private media and important actors both at home and abroad, including Washington, have downplayed, and in some cases completely ignored, the terrorist actions perpetrated against the Venezuelan government over the past three months. Among the latest examples that have gone underreported abroad is the assassination in late April of Eliezer Otaiza, a historic leader of the Chavista movement and president of the Caracas city council.

Venezuela: Chavistas debate pace of change

Steve Ellner — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 10:00:00 +1000

The violent anti-government protests that shook Venezuela in February have again thrust the issue of the pace of change into the broader debate over socialist transformation. Radical Chavistas, reflecting the zeal of the movement’s rank and file, call for a deepening of the “revolutionary process”. Moderate Chavistas favour concessions to avoid an escalation of the violence.

Venezuela: ‘Peaceful protests’ a deceptive term that hides true nature of opposition actions

Steve Ellner — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 11:00:00 +1100

The Venezuelan opposition and much of the media use the term “peaceful protests” to distinguish gatherings of protesting students and other young people from the more violent actions by opponents of President Nicolas Maduro's government -- including vandalism and shootings carried out by those outside of the university community. “Peaceful protests”, however, is a loaded term that serves to plant doubts about the intentions of the Maduro-led Chavista government.

Venezuelan opposition strategy based on provocation, manipulation

Steve Ellner — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 11:00:00 +1100

The strategy and tactics of the Venezuelan opposition is a replay of events that took place leading up to the coup against Hugo Chavez on April 11, 2002. The blatant distortions and in some cases lies of the media — CNN in Spanish playing a lead role — represent an essential element in the strategy. There are two main groups that the United States-funded right-wing opposition has mobilised. From all appearances, the two act in coordination even though their style, and even social background, differs.

US destablisation of Venezuela part of larger picture

Steve Ellner — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 11:00:00 +1100

Since the 1990s, many critics of the United States have accused Washington of promoting the dismemberment of nations such as Yugoslavia, in accordance with neoliberalism’s drive to weaken central governments and nation states. Today, Washington’s official policy in nations like Syria and now the Ukraine has been support for rebels seeking to overthrow the government, even though their chances of success are minimal.

Venezuela: Violence caused by opposition, not government

Steve Ellner — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 11:00:00 +1100

The slant of Venezuela’s private media and the international media on what is happening in Venezuela is clear: The government is responsible for the violence. In the first place, it is said, government-ordered gunmen are shooting at peaceful demonstrators and the violence generated by the opposition is just a response to the brutality of police and military forces. But there is considerable evidence that shows the violence, including that of unidentified motorcyclists against demonstrators, is being carried out by the opposition. Consider the following:

Venezuela: Right-wing provokes violence in time-worn practice

Steve Ellner — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 11:00:00 +1100

History repeats itself. The time-worn tactic of the dominant class that controls the spread of information is to provoke violence and then blame it on the enemy, usually those who struggle for change. Nero did it when he burned down much of Rome and blamed it on the Christians. Similarly, US newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst used the sinking of the USS Maine in 1898 to create war fervour that led to war with Spain.

Venezuela: The revolution's prospects for the coming year

Steve Ellner — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 11:00:00 +1100

The illness of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has created uncertainty over the future direction of his government, and specifically its commitment to revolutionary change and socialism. Throughout the 14 years of his presidency, the key to Chavez’s political success was the constant deepening of the process of change, which invigorated the rank-and-file of his movement.

Venezuela: Media fails to present balance

Steve Ellner — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 10:00:00 +1000

On September 28, a British Guardian reporter who interviewed me by phone published an article on the September 26 Venezuelan National Assembly elections titled “Opposition Gains Loosen Chavez’s Grip on Power.” According to the article, I said the electoral results “suggested the government should try to modify its radical discourse and accommodate the opposition, as long as it accepted the government’s legitimacy”.

91������̳ - Steve Ellner