Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Trump-Appointed Venezuela Coup Leader Plans Neoliberal Capitalist Shock Therapy
Ben Norton
06 Feb 2019
Trump-Appointed Venezuela Coup Leader Plans Neoliberal Capitalist Shock Therapy
Trump-Appointed Venezuela Coup Leader Plans Neoliberal Capitalist Shock Therapy

Venezuela’s US-appointed coup leader Juan Guaidó plans to privatize state assets and give foreign corporations access to oil, the Wall Street Journal admitted.

“Guaidó plans to implement the neoliberal capitalist shock therapy that Washington has imposed on the region for decades.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that Venezuela’s US-appointed coup leader Juan Guaidó has already drafted plans for “opening up Venezuela’s vast oil sector to private investment” and “privatizing assets held by state enterprises.”

The report confirms what The Grayzone previously reported.

“Juan Guaidó, recognized by Washington as the rightful leader, said he would sell state assets and invite private investment in the energy industry,” read the Wall Street Journal’s January 31 article.

The paper noted that Guaidó plans “to reverse President Nicolás Maduro’s economic polices,” explaining:

“Mr. Guaidó said his plan called for seeking financial aide from multilateral organizations, tapping bilateral loans, restructuring debtand opening up Venezuela’s vast oil sector to private investment. It includes privatizing assets held by state enterprises … He also said he’d end wasteful state subsidies and take steps to revive the private sector.”

In other words, Guaidó plans to implement the neoliberal capitalist shock therapy that Washington has imposed on the region for decades.

“Guaidó seeks to adopt an aggressive “structural adjustment” program.”

Using funding from US-dominated international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Venezuelan coup leader seeks to adopt an aggressive “structural adjustment” program, enacting the kinds of economic policies that have led to the preventable deaths of millions of people and an explosion of poverty and inequality in the years following capitalist restoration in the former Soviet Union.

In a speech, Juan Guaidó even echoed rhetoric that is popular among US conservatives: “Here, no one wants to be given anything.”

It is clear that the coup leader’s priorities reflect those of Venezuela’s capitalist oligarchs and right-wing politicians in the United States. Economic liberalization is the Venezuelan opposition’s first and most important goal; democracy is just a pretense.

This article previously appeared on The Grayzone Projectsite.

Regime Change Venezuela
Venezuela

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Roger D. Harris
Ballots and Bias: How the Press Framed Venezuela’s Regional and Legislative Elections
11 June 2025
Roger D.
Internationalist 360
Marco Rubio Travels to Guyana to Entrench U.S. Colonial Rule
02 April 2025
U.S.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The Ghost of Jimmy Carter
08 January 2025
Hagiography is inevitable when presidents and other prominent people die.
Organization for the Victory of the People
No Deployment of US Troops or Bases in the Caribbean
18 December 2024
The United States seeks to buttress its power in the Caribbean by deploying troops to Trinidad and Tobago, using this geostrategic position to
Redacción Cultural
Our full support for the Anti-Fascist International
25 September 2024
A constant in two centuries of U.S.
Jesús Chucho García , Clau O'Brien Moscoso
AfroDescendientes En Acción 7 Aug '24
11 September 2024
While the far-right attacks in Venezuela backed by imperialist forces may have died down, the threat the opposition poses still is very present
Brasil de Fato
Venezuela suffers national blackout, government denounces “sabotage” to electrical grid
04 September 2024
The outage began at 4 am on August 30 and affected several states in the country, including the capital Caracas.
Ed Newman
ALBA Movements: Neither Cohabitation nor Transition! Venezuela has Decided!
21 August 2024
Colombia and Brazil, once supportive of Venezuela's sovereignty and democratic process, have recently called for new elections and a cohabitati
National Lawyers Guild
The National Lawyers Guild Disputes Carter Center Statements on 2024 Venezuelan Presidential Elections
14 August 2024
The U.S. has crafted a narrative of a stolen election in Venezuela, supported by the Carter Center as a source.
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
U.S. Rejection of Venezuela’s Democracy Vindicates Trump Contesting the 2020 Election Result
07 August 2024
It cannot be said that the U.S. has free and fair elections.

More Stories


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Tell Congress, No War on Iran!
    18 Jun 2025
    If Trump asks congress for approval to wage a war on Iran, he will probably get it.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Iran And Beyond: Total War Is Still On The Horizon, Glen Ford, 2007
    18 Jun 2025
    “So they go forward with the old plan, the only one they've got. Attack Iran.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Somaliland, US Ally in the New Cold War
    18 Jun 2025
    Somaliland aspires to be an “independent” US military enclave in the Horn of Africa.
  • Jon Jeter
    As the State’s Complexion Darkens, Minnesota’s Liberalism Wanes
    18 Jun 2025
    Minnesota’s progressive myth shatters as its racial gaps in income, education, and housing eclipse even Deep South states, and right wing whites turn to violence against their own people.
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    The Only Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East are zionism, U.S./Western Imperialism and Israel’s Nukes
    18 Jun 2025
    The Middle East’s only real weapons of mass destruction are Zionism, U.S. imperialism, and Israel’s nuclear arsenal—a toxic trifecta fueling endless war.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us