Oscar Figuera, general secretary of the Communist Party of Venezuela, affirms that the government of Nicolás Maduro “is going in reverse” with respect to the “social and economic transformation agreement” and “the liberating national project” of Hugo Chávez. “Those who lead the country are not socialists, that’s a lie, and much less communists,” he accuses, but makes it clear that the problem is not personal but political, among other reasons because when the workers protest they send them to the Sebin and put them in jail . “Whoever governs, the people have the right to defend themselves»
Oscar Figuera, deputy to the National Assembly elected in 2020 and general secretary of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV), distinguishes “fear” from “fear.” He believes that the first is not possible when “you have dignity”, the second is inevitable “in the face of a power that is exercised with such a level of arbitrariness” as is the case in the government of Nicolás Maduro. He thinks of him that he displays “an accommodating anti-imperialism” and with “falsehood”.
«If (Hugo) Chávez were alive, he would tell them, at least, Pharisees«, affirms Figuera in a long conversation with the journalist Vladimir Villegas in his space on YouTube Vladimir a la carte.
The PCV responded in a statement, on August 22, to “Captain Diosdado Cabello” his “angry and visceral attack” against the party that supported Hugo Chávez since 1998 and, later, Nicolás Maduro. Now, Figuera admits that they cannot be “exempt from the necessary self-criticism” because they called to vote for the current ruler in the 2018 presidential elections.
Regarding the revived accusations between the government and Rafael Ramírez, Oscar Figuera recalls that he tried, as president of the Comprehensive Social Development Commission, to summon the then Minister of Petroleum and Cilia Flores, president of the AN at the time, ordered him to suspend that appearance. “She had nothing to ask of me, it was her decision to suspend that citation of hers.”
«Let’s look for the historical trace and see who has defended Rafael Ramírez; he has never been the PCV ». “We neither support nor defend Rafael Ramírez, what we point out is that those responsible for what Rafael Ramírez does and for much of what Guaidó does with impunity is the government.”
He assures that “in sectors of the PSUV” there is “an important debate about the politics of the leadership.”
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“We are not going to support Maduro”
He recalls when the PCV supported Rafael Caldera in the 1993 elections and explains that the reason was to make use of the “wedge of the same suit” principle, which served to break with bipartisanship while supporting the policy of freeing the leaders. from 4F and 27N.
Thinking about the near future and an electoral competitor for 2024 that comes out of Chavismo itself, Figuera warns that “wedges of the same suit are always more dangerous because they know that wood, its strengths and weaknesses. Within the framework of what is happening in Venezuela, the international context and the role that the United States plays in our politics, that is a possibility that a wedge that confronts each other will emerge from the same wood. However, he stresses that for the PCV the most important thing is programmatic commitment.
“We are not going to support a candidate who raises the same flag as Maduro, nor are we going to support Maduro if he raises today’s neoliberal flags.”
Since February 2018, when the PSUV and the PCV signed “a unitary framework agreement” it has not been possible to have a new meeting to analyze the national political situation, says the PCV deputy.
Given the bad relations they have with the leadership, Figuera warns that if the government decides to intervene judicially in the PCV «let them do it, we are not going to ask anyone not to do it; they have the power, but know that this is not going to bring the leadership or the militancy of the PCV to their knees, know that this is not going to prevent us from continuing to act».
Among the actions that Figuera says they are “pushing” is “the reconstruction of the CUTV”, the Unitary Confederation of Workers of Venezuela. He made it very clear that they are “developing a broad policy of workers, peasants and popular action to confront and defeat the neoliberal plan of the government and capital that is developed on miserable wages and the violation of the rights of workers, the right to unionization, violation of the right to collective bargaining, the right to strike.”
He criticized high government officials —whom he did not identify by name— who are “horrified because someone calls a strike.” «That is in the Constitution, gentlemen! Yes, we have the right to strike in the Constitution and if the conditions arise and you don’t back down, there will be a strike in this country at some point because the workers will be able to regroup their forces to defend their rights».
“We can launch a global campaign against Maduro”
Oscar Figuera advances that he has been thinking of “taking a megaphone” to the National Assembly where, despite having the same representation as any other deputy, the president of the body, Jorge Rodríguez (PSUV), has not given him the right to speak for a long time .
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He affirms, in reference to the minority faction of the AN that was not elected in the ruling coalition, that “there are deputies from that collaborationist oppositionism who have approached me to propose to the PCV to create a different faction because also in that group they are prevented from exercise of their own existence as deputies.
Asked about the position of other communist parties in the world regarding what is happening in Venezuela, Figuera clarified that in the PCV “we do not spend time asking the communist parties of the world to condemn Maduro (…) We have not carried out a world campaign against the Maduro government. We can do it. We have how to do it. There are people who are willing to be part of it from abroad, but we have not believed that it is necessary yet to carry out a campaign of these characteristics.
He affirms that “these people are bad”, in reference to the Maduro government.
“These people allowed the country to be destroyed in order to be able, later, to convince the people that there was no other option, that everything had to be sold. President Maduro said, with his very clean face two years ago in the National Assembly, boasting of it, that from 2013 to 2017 they had paid 109 billion dollars in foreign debt service; but there was no real to reactivate PDVSA, there was no real to develop the Venezuelan countryside. So, it seems that there was a plan: to destroy what exists in order to be able, already, at the lowest level of the town’s existence, to convince it that there was no other option: we have to sell the furniture, we have to sell the refrigerator because if we don’t we starve; we have to sell the house and we go under a bridge. Sell it!, because the reason for existence is to survive. They’ve manipulated that.”
Figuera laughs several times at the government’s arguments when he cites them ironically and lists them sarcastically.
«I am going to fight with US imperialism but I leave Citgo there (laughs), with whom I am fighting I leave him a fundamental good. I am fighting with European imperialism, but I leave my gold in such a place. In what strategic mind can I leave the goods that I am going to defend in the territory of my enemy? That is why he insists that “there is a meta-discourse that tries to be socialist and a practice that is savage capitalism.”
He also laughs that the government labels the PCV as “imperialists” when “it is they who reconcile, who reached an agreement not to touch (Juan) Guaidó.”
“Why is Guaidó still free? Because after the guarimba of 2017 and the constituent assembly, where the people’s decision to defeat the guarimberos is achieved, they reach an agreement. OK, we lower the guarimba, but what are you going to leave us to continue abroad?. Is it monomers? Will it be Citgo? And what will happen to our boss? Will he be able to walk free? The people are becoming more aware of this every day, that this government leadership reached an agreement with the Guadocista leadership and with the collaborationist opposition that is in the AN and that is why they do not touch Guaidó.
The Communist Party of Venezuela plans to hold its National Congress between November 3 and 5 next. The electoral issue, says Figuera, must correspond to the agenda of the XVI National Conference of 2023, but he admits that it is a matter of discussion what they will give in the face of the elections that should be held in 2024.
“We will hold a congress in November with a decision from the TSJ or without a decision from the TSJ or the CNE. We will continue, unless they put us in jail. We are going to hold our congress with or without authorization. We are autonomous. No one is going to prevent us from renewing our internal life. We are discussing the programmatic update, the political life, the national reality».
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