PCV demands answers from the government over the presence of the CIA chief in Venezuela The Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) demanded that the government leadership provide clear and transparent explanations regarding the presence in the country of the Director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, whom it described as “a nefarious figure for the peoples of the world,” and whose visit — the Party denounced — has not been officially communicated to the Venezuelan people. This was stated by Oscar Figuera, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the PCV, when presenting the conclusions of the 19th Plenum of the Central Committee, which met last Saturday, 17 January, to assess the country’s economic, political, and social situation — a situation marked, he said, by the recent U.S. military aggression and the establishment of direct tutelage over the Venezuelan state. “The presence of the highest representative of the CIA in Venezuela is evidence of the changes taking place to guarantee the interests of big capital and U.S. imperialism,” Figuera stated. He added that Ratcliffe is an official who, according to information reported in the media, “is closely linked to the military operation of 3 January, to the aggression against our country, and to the killing of a significant number of Venezuelan and Cuban military personnel.”
https://www.idcommunism.com/2026/01/pcv-demands-answers-from-government-over-the-presence-of-cia-chief-in-venezuela.htmlThis Billionaire Landlord Bullied Journalists Into Deleting Negative Coverage of HimA billionaire landlord bullied an outlet into deleting unflattering coverage of him and unsuccessfully pressured several others, including Novara Media. Sunday Times rich-listed John Christodoulou, who is British-Cypriot but resides in the tax haven of Monaco, and is worth a reported £2.6bn, falsely told LandlordZone he had repaid the £263,555.69 he owed tenants of two Hackney properties. Christodoulou wrote to the industry publication, which had 605,000 unique visitors in the year to April 2024, asserting that the 16 court-mandated repayment orders had been settled since LandlordZone published its article about them in April. “Given that the article currently reflects a situation implying ongoing misconduct or non-compliance, I kindly request you to removing [sic] it entirely to prevent further reputational harm, especially as the matter has been concluded in accordance with the law and all tenant claims have been satisfied,” he wrote. In fact, Christodoulou has not to date paid any of the 47 current and former tenants of Simpson House and Olympic House whom he owes money (in a separate case, Christodoulou settled with six tenants living in a dilapidated building, St John’s Court, paying them £44,587.46 to avoid further legal action). Fearing legal action, LandlordZone removed its accurate reportage soon after Christodoulou’s email. Asked repeatedly by Novara Media whether he had intentionally misled LandlordZone into removing its article, Christodoulou did not respond. While refusing to pay his tenants – even transferring ownership of his properties between his various companies in an apparent attempt to avoid payment – Christodoulou is expending significant energy censoring coverage of his unlawful behaviour.
https://novaramedia.com/2026/01/16/this-billionaire-landlord-bullied-journalists-into-deleting-negative-coverage-of-him/Leon Trotsky: Democracy and Fascism pt.2“As regards ‘the class content’ there are no distinctions between democracy and Fascism,” lectures Werner Hirsch echoing Stalin (Die Internationale, Jan. 1932). The transition from democracy to Fascism may take the character of “an organic process”, that is, it may occur “gradually” and “bloodlessly”. Such reasoning might dumbfound anyone, but the epigones have inured us from becoming dumbfounded. There are no “class distinctions” between democracy and Fascism. Obviously this must mean that democracy as well as Fascism is bourgeois in character. We guessed as much even prior to January 1932. The ruling class, however, does not inhabit a vacuum. It stands in definite relations to other classes. In a developed capitalist society, during a “democratic” regime, the bourgeoisie leans for support primarily upon the working classes which are held in check by the reformists. In its most finished form, this system finds its expression in England during the administration of the Labor government as well as during that of the Conservatives. In a Fascist regime, at least during its first phase, capital leans on the petty bourgeoisie which destroys the organizations of the proletariat. Italy, for instance! Is there a difference in the “class content” of these two regimes? If the question is posed only as regards the ruling class, then there is no difference. If one takes into account the position and the inter-relations of all classes, from the angle of the proletariat, then the difference appears to be quite enormous. In the course of many decades, the workers have built up within the bourgeois democracy, by utilizing it, by fighting against it, their own strongholds and bases of proletarian democracy: the trade unions, the political parties, the educational and sport clubs, the co-operatives, etc. The proletariat cannot attain power within the formal limits of bourgeois democracy. but can do so only by taking the road of revolution: this has been proved both by theory and experience. And these bulwarks of workers’ democracy within the bourgeois state are absolutely essential for the taking of the revolutionary road. The work of the Second International consisted in creating just such bulwarks during the epoch when it was still fulfilling its progressive historic labor.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1932/01/whatnext3.htm