DSA Delegation meets President Nicolas Maduro, July 2, 2021. Photo Presidential Press.
Caracas, July 6 (special for OrinocoTribune.com)—This past Friday, July 2, the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, received a delegation of representatives from the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) at the Miraflores palace in Caracas, where they held a cordial meeting in which political and geopolitical issues were discussed along with history, on the occasion of the 200-year anniversary of the Battle of Carabobo that consolidated Venezuela’s independence from the Spanish empire.
During the meeting, the activists told the president about their experience during their stay in the country, where they had the opportunity to learn about the advances of the Bolivarian Revolution in industry, social programs, and tourism.
https://twitter.com/luchaalmada/status/1411124643013050369
Thus Venezuela strengthened its ties of cooperation and solidarity with activists and those in the US who struggle for democracy and values including peace, and the sovereignty of the peoples of the world, to strengthen the fight against the blockade promoted by Europe and the United States.
RELATED CONTENT: Final Declaration of the Bicentennial Congress of the Peoples of the World
The DSA delegation arrived in Venezuela on June 20, to participate in the Bicentennial Congress of the Peoples of the World and fulfill an agenda that allowed them to visit various states of the Caribbean nation.
#EnVivo 📹 | Encuentro con Socialistas Democráticos de los Estados Unidos. https://t.co/8UkEcJ3NfD
— Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) July 3, 2021
Among the activists who attended the meeting with the Venezuelan Head of State and top government officials was the Chair of the National Political Committee of the DSA, Jen McKinney; a member of the International Committee, Carrington Morris, DSA NPC members Sean Michael Estelle and Austín González; labor activist and member of the international committee, Luisa Herrera; and Marvin Gonzalez, member of the Secretariat of International Relations.
DSA is a socialist and worker-oriented faction of the US Democratic Party with roots in the Socialist Party of America of Eugene V. Debs. Generally speaking, DSA’s ideology is described as social democracy or democratic socialism. As the largest socialist organization in the US, DSA is comprised of over 90,000 members including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, elected to the House of Representatives as Democrats in 2018, and again in 2020 when they were joined by Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman. The party currently has eleven members elected to state legislatures. Over the last few years, DSA has been noted for their ability to increasingly appeal to younger voters in the US.
RELATED CONTENT: The DSA: Leading the Masses Towards Soft Imperialism and Petty-Bourgeois Reformism
Though many in the international left movement associate DSA with Trotskyist tendencies, its diversity makes it a complex mosaic of ideological tendencies ranging from liberals—as in the case of of its elected officials, broadly speaking—to Marxist-Leninists, who play a significant role within the organization.
US right-wingers (of all colors) attack DSA decision
The visit is already causing uproar in US political circles, where they are trying to associate the Democrats’ liberal elected officials directly with DSA, and among radical Trotskyists and “armchair” communists, who considered the decision inappropriate.
For example, in reference to the DSA visit with Maduro, Ronna McDaniel, GOP (Republican Party) chairwoman, wrote that “Maduro is a brutal dictator who has profited off the starvation of his own people. Yet DSA met with him. Make no mistake, Venezuela is the future DSA members in the ‘Squad’ like AOC want for the US. Their dangerous ideology should be rejected.” Of course McDaniel failed to mention that Venezuela’s current problems are the direct result of the US economic blockade against the Venezuelan people, a blockade made possible by illegal “sanctions” launched by the Republican Donald Trump.
Maduro is a brutal dictator who has profited off the starvation of his own people.
Yet DSA met with him.
Make no mistake, Venezuela is the future DSA members in the "Squad" like AOC want for the U.S. Their dangerous ideology should be rejected.https://t.co/r88G9aGKE6
— Ronna McDaniel (@RonnaMcDaniel) July 5, 2021
Meanwhile, armchair communists, alleged Venezuelan “socialists” in the US and Trotskyists decided to organize a Zoom panel for tomorrow, Wednesday, July 7 to “inspire a discussion about our pending tasks here in the US to stand in solidarity with the Venezuelan people.” The sponsors are Tempest Magazine, Venezuelan Workers Solidarity (an unknown group of Venezuelan socialists in the US) and Internationalism from Below.
Another reaction to the DSA visit came from the infamous Elliott Abrams, who wrote a blog post entitled “Democratic Socialists of America Embraces Maduro Dictatorship” on behalf of the Council on Foreign Relations, in which he repeated the familiar script accusing President Maduro of being a despot and a dictator. Abrams parroted paid “reports” by Amnesty International and partial information from the Office of the UN Commissioner on Human Rights Office, and rattled off all the “human rights atrocities” allegedly committed by Maduro’s “regime.”
Abrams, the neoconservative responsible for heinous crimes in Latin America, convicted by US courts for lying to Congress, ends up issuing a tract in which he explains to his readers what real socialism is. Abrams laments how far the DSA and Maduro have strayed from actual socialism—according to his personal theoretical knowledge on the matter—and cites the Socialist International’s declaration of principles.
Can you imagine?
Featured image: DSA Delegation meets President Nicolas Maduro, July 2, 2021. Photo Presidential Press.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by Jesús Rodríguez-Espinoza
OT/JRE/SL
Jesús Rodríguez-Espinoza
Jesús Rodríguez-Espinoza is an expert in international relations, Venezuelan politics, and communication. He served for several years as Consul General of Venezuela in Chicago (United States); before that, he was part of the foundational editorial team of Aporrea.org. He is the founder and editor of the Venezuelan anti-imperialist news outlet Orinoco Tribune.
