Relations between the Maduro regime and one of its traditional allies, the Venezuelan Communist Party (CPV), are at their lowest point in years. Recently, the gap between the two sides has widened further.

Communist leaders are increasingly backing unions demanding higher wages. At the same time, they denounce the government’s corruption, demanding an investigation involving President Nicolas Maduro himself.

The PCV party also called for an independent investigation into the death of the former president of the state-owned cardboard factory Cartones de Venezuela. Leoner Azuaje was imprisoned during Maduro’s recent “anti-corruption” purge and reportedly committed suicide in his cell a few days later.

In late 2022, the PCV denounced the Maduro government in Havana during the 22nd International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties organized by the Cuban Communist Party. PCV Politburo leader Hector Rodriguez told the audience: “Venezuela’s recent experience shows the limits of progressivism. He abandoned the policy of nationalizing strategic industries, working with large landowners and protecting social and labor rights in favor of a neoliberal economic program of privatization and price liberalization.

Recently, clashes in the National Assembly between PCV representatives and Maduro’s people, led by Jorge Rodriguez, have escalated. The PCV opposes the liberalization of Maduro’s economy, and its ruling party accuses it of colluding with the opposition and the US to undermine Hugo Chavez’s Bolivarian revolution.

PCV general secretary Oscar Figueroa speaks of Maduro’s plan to outlaw the party, as he has done in the past with the Patria Para Todos and Podemos parties.

The PCV has been part of the Bolivarian revolution since Hugo Chávez was elected president in 1999. She joined with the Patria Para Todos, the Tupamaro movement and other minority left organizations to form an alliance with the PSUV (ruling party) called Polo Patriótico. a political electoral bloc created by Chávez to defeat the opposition.

Cooperation between the PCV and the Chávez-Maduro governments has not always been cordial. Venezuela’s oldest political party has refused to ally with the left-wing movements that spawned the PSUV in 2006, despite a personal appeal from Chávez. These disputes were settled amicably, and the country’s communists have consistently supported Maduro in his economic decisions and efforts to neutralize the opposition. But over the past three years, the cracks in the relationship have become wider and deeper.

Source: El Pais