Translated “Avante!” article by Luís Carapinha, member of the International Department of PCP
Three right-wing South-American governments (Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay) decided to “veto” the pro-tempore Venezuela presidency in the Mercosur, performed in rotation , following the alphabet order, by each of this organization’s five member states, for a six month period.
The Uruguay presidency, having ended in July 29th, the inner rules ought to oblige Venezuela to automatically take over. Despite the pressure in contrary, these rules were followed scrupulously by the Wide Front government, in Montevideo, in the announcement of the passage unto Venezuela. Buenos Aires, Brazil and Assumption’s arguments regarding this shameless, damaging of national interests and conducting the Mercosur towards a dubious situation, are, obviously, spurious. Undeniably, one is before an arbitrary and illegal act, which has the contours of an institutional coup attempt, amid the organization, founded in 1991, and of which Venezuela is a full member, since 2012. An act, in result of the powerful campaign against the Bolivarian revolution, namely cheered by Almagro, the OAS secretary-general, who, again and again, repeats the accusations of “the lack of democracy and absence of a state of law” within Venezuela and who has claimed, with no success, for the appliance of the infamous Inter-American Democratic Charter, against Caracas.
The Bolivarian government firm reaction, in the defence of inscribed principles in the South Common Market, and certainly supported by the supreme Washington interests, is entirely justified.
Possibly being justly qualified of inaudible, the existent situation within the Mercosur – along with all the campaign, in progress, with the objective of targeting the popular power in Venezuela, as one of the imperialism central targets within Latin America -, is certainly not a surprise, given the unfavourable setbacks and changes, concerning the force correlation verified in the last months. The coup agreement within Mercosur, is in the same direction as the coup (recycled), in Paraguay, in 2012,as well as the “institutional coup” against president Dilma Roussef, in Brazil, that the right-wing hopes to seal in the Senate final outcome. Together with Macri’s arrival to the presidency, in Argentina, a member of the pure and simple neo-liberalism and the bourgeoisie circles rendered to Washington, and whose power, imminently reactionary, has been performing a growing persecutory and anti-democratic nature action.
Independently from the decision round the Venezuela presidency in the Mercosur, to be announced this week, it is evident that the latter direction inflexion or even its paralysing, is to be inscribed in the USA strategy of promotion of the Pacific Alliance ( to which Argentina has become associated as an observateur, along with Temer’s illegitimate government intended to follow) and brand the regional economies unto the financial great capital, taking over, once again, the general control of the traditional” back garden, even though, publically abjuring Monroe’s doctrine, as John Kerry did. The ALCA reincarnation under the form of the Pacific Alliance and likely treaties, do not but demand to bury the Mercosur economic articulation, with the advanced ALBA project and the Petro-Caribbean, but nonetheless, the UNASUL and CELAC’s emptying , that represent the exponents of the sovereign integration and cooperation dynamics achieved within Latin America. And therefore, demands the destruction of the national liberator processes, that regulate their emergency.
The Mercosur blow is inseparable from the “hybrid war” against Maduro’s government and the Chávez Bolivarian Venezuela. Therefore, the opposition coalition, of the so-called MUD, is an active part of the Triple Alliance in Mercosur, accomplishing its role as the 5th column. To confront its obscure intents and unmask the imperialist campaign within Latin America, is a vital task for all revolutionaries, progressive and all democratic forces.