Chavez has announced sweeping measures of nationalisation. This represents a big step forward for the Venezuelan revolution and would be a serious blow against capitalism and imperialism. Big enemies are lining up to stop this process, the most dangerous being inside the Bolivarian movement itself. It is now time to go all the way and put an end to capitalism in Venezuela and spread the revolution to the rest of Latin America.

In his weekly TV programme Aló Presidente, broadcast on Sunday April 22 from Urachiche in Yaracuy, president Chávez advised all Venezuelans to read and study the writings of Leon Trotsky, and commented favourably on The Transitional Programme, which was written by Trotsky for the founding congress of the Fourth International in 1938.

In January, Chavez said he defended the line of Leon Trotsky's theory of the Permanent Revolution. But how does this theory, developed in 1905, relate to what's happening in Latin America at the present time? Yesterday 40 people packed the NUJ Headquarters in London to find out. Alan Woods, author and editor of the In Defence of Marxism website was invited to speak at the Hands Off Venezuela meeting to explain the theory and it's relevance today.