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As for accusation of drug trade, we need data to actually prove if what the "FBI whistleblower" is true or false. As far as I can tell, it is false even by their own data. You can check this two articles from Misionverdad explaining the current scenario.
I'm pretty sure there are some tensions over Venezuela not letting the US poison their people, but there are some serious claims about Türkiye trafficking drugs to Venezuela.
Idk if Maduro has to do with anything—I don't think so—but since Venezuela is more of a demsoc experiment I'm pretty sure there are some bad actors that does the drug trade in the Venezuelan government or parliament.
These two are the only articles from Türkiye in English that I could find. I can send more in Turkish though.
There is a lot of slander and malicious lies thrown at Venezuela with the sole aim to disrupt solidarity. The USA and its vassals use the same unfalsifiable doctrine that was exposed by Michael Parenti. Lots of that malicious slander was shared even in leftist news media. Knowing that, it is important to avoid believing in anonymous "whistleblowers" without any way or data to backup their claims.
Anyway, check the articles that I shared. As for my sources, they use the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR 2025) from the DEA and the UNODC(United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime). In both sources, they show maps and known drug routes.
One example of claims that have evidence backing it up is Ecuadorian president Noboa and his family company -> https://www.occrp.org/en/project/the-crime-messenger/cocaine-and-bananas-how-balkan-traffickers-used-fruit-shipments-from-the-ecuadorian-presidents-family-firm-to-smuggle-drugs
Here in this investigation, they show company links, logistics and the medium(bananas) of the drug trade. In this case, this even fits well with the UNODC and DEA reports.
I read all of the articles. The Venezuela and Ecuador ones are good to keep for defending Venezuela. As for the Parenti ono, "Blackshirts and Reds" is one of the books that enlightened me about propaganda.
Now, the claims about Türkiye-Venezuela drug traffic is coming from Sedat Peker, an ex-crime boss who was very close to the Turkish government before Erdoğan pulled his plug. He is no saint, but is exposure about the govt can be taken as a confession. Considering the history of Türkiye and the Erdoğan govt, the drug trade made by the last prime minister Binali Yıldırım's son sounds plausible.
I've heard the claim about Maduro's kidnapping is actually from a YouTube stream in Turkish. Idk if the subtitle auto translation works in this video. If not, I will try to help.
ooof. this is a line from a c/thingsutrassay post. Venezuela is a Revolutionary Socialist nation.
Democratic socialism is when a capitalist dictatorship uses electoral politics to divert a percentage of the profits from imperialism to social spending in order to stave off proletarian revolution. It is a canard to tell people real socialism is on the way you just have to keep your head down and keep voting.
Isn't that more of a socdem thing though? Also, I don't think Bolivarian Revolution will be effective as long as they let ghouls like Guaido and Machado loose.
Fuck I got them mixed up again didn't I?
It is very easy to confuse the two when the separation line is too blurred. But my take is socdems are center-right and what you write before, while demsocs are center-left and believe they can topple the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie by partaking in bourgeois democracy—Chile under the Allende government was a good example.
I know the lines can be a bit blurry on these definitions, but I've always understood democratic socialism as bringing about and constructing socialism through bourgeois elections and democratic reforms to the system. This is what's happening in Venezuela. It's not an ultra position to criticize the limitations of this, but it would be to dismiss it entirely as not real socialism.
The Bolivarian Revolution was violent. There were multiple coup attempts and lots of fighting before Chavez was elected President. They made a new constitution. It was not "reform." Yes he won a election in the bourgeois system but his mandate was to break he system not fix it.
Its not full throated civil war like other socialist revolutions were but calling it "demsoc" is not correct.
I agree that calling it "demsoc" by your definition is incorrect, but my argument is that your definition of democratic socialism is not correct.
Whether violence occurred is not relevant to the question. Many countries write new constitutions each time a new ruling party comes to power. These do not signify that a socialist revolution has occurred.
The primary question we should be asking is "has the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie been overthrown and replaced by a dictatorship of the proletariat?" In the case of Venezuela, the answer is "no". Because of this, the capitalist class still weilds significant political power in Venezuela.
Both Marx and Lenin argued that it is not enough for the vanguard to simply take hold of the bourgeois state, but that they must "break up and smash the ready-made state machinery" and replace it with "the proletariat organized as the ruling class".
"Democratic socialism" is a marketing term just like "Nationalist Socialism." Its a concept that has no basis in material reality. You cannot vote your way to socialism so "Democratic socialism" is just a name for something that is not indicative of what it really is. Like "Pineapple" they are nothing like an apple and don't grow on a Pine tree.
The ruling class of Venezuela is the working class. If the bourgeoisie had a dictatorship in Venezuela they would be in government but they are not so they have been overthrown. The bourgeoisie still have significant power inside China too but in both cases the Vanguard of the working class keep them subservient. In Venezuela the Vanguard Party has decided to not implement dictatorship. That does not mean they are democratic socialists they are doing Socialism with Bolivarian Characteristics. It is something different to democratic socialism.
Lenin said "smash the machinery" but he was talking about a totally different state apparatus.
Marx said the working class "cannot just take hold of the existing machinery." The state apparatus of the constitution of 1999 is drastically different from the system under the republic. they did not just "take hold" they built a new system with a few concepts that are similar to the old system. While it isn't as big a change as Russia or China they were changing from (semi) feudal government systems to socialist systems where Venezuela was transition from a republic to a socialist system.