Recently we have seen many important events
happening in Venezuela, such as the devaluation of the bolívar and the
nationalisations in the banking sector, which needs to be analysed
carefully. The movement of occupied factories made important steps
forward last year, but still faces sabotage by counter-revolutionary
managers and workers are still struggling for nationalisation under
workers’ control. In order to defend the conquests already made, the
revolution must put the nationalisation of the commanding heights of
the economy on the agenda. Only this can destroy capitalism and provide
the necessary prerequisites for a socialist planned economy.

The nation of Haiti was hit with a
devastating earthquake. The governments of Cuba and Venezuela responded
within hours with medical brigades, firefighters, fuel and supplies,
and there has been massive sympathy, generosity and volunteerism from
workers around the world. What a difference compared to the response
from the United States. The U.S. government has pledged assistance
in the way of one hundred million dollars – less than is spent on the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in just two days.

There is a manmade element to the
catastrophe now confronting the Haitians. The country doesn’t just happen to be
poor; it has been made poor and kept poor. Haiti is the poorest country
in the Western hemisphere, with the worst infrastructure and a people
most vulnerable to disaster and disease, because of the machinations of
imperialism. Although the earthquake could not be avoided, the scale of
death and destruction clearly could have been.