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Wilpert has not just produced a comprehensive look at the social, economic and political transformation that has shaken the foundations of Venezuela over the past decade; he has also delivered a sharp rebuke to one of the trendiest, if dubious, political theories to appear on the academic left in recent years.

Latin America has been indispensable in the evolution of U.S. diplomacy. The region is often referred to as America's "backyard," but a better metaphor might be Washington's "strategic reserve," the place where ascendant foreign-policy coalitions regroup and redraw the outlines of U.S. power, following moments of global crisis.

The Wayúu, Yukpa, and Barí indigenous communities who would have been displaced by the coal mining projects in their lands cautiously interpret the Chavez government's suspension of these projects as a temporary sign of relief. But their struggle against coal mining has lasted a quarter of a century and will not conclude until mining concessions are repealed for good.

The recent replacement of the labor minister and the nationalization of Sidor have once again brought to the fore the question of the role of workers in Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, whose participation as an organized class has been sporadic at best, in this process aimed at constructing ‘Socialism of the 21st Century.’

In recent weeks, external and internal pressure against Venezuela's Bolivarian revolution, has intensified dramatically.

When the recent accusations of government-sponsored anti-Semitism are thoroughly investigated, it is revealed that in the majority of cases, the strongly anti-imperialist political sentiments of Venezuelan social movements are erroneously conflated with anti-Semitism.

A collective discussion is occurring throughout the revolutionary movement led by President Hugo Chavez following the defeat of the proposed constitutional reform proposals — that were intended to deepen the revolution to help open the way towards socialism — in the December 2 referendum.

The failed reform was the first defeat for the Bolivarian movement, after 12 national electoral contests, since Hugo Chávez was elected in 1998, and the first time that he and his movement had been forced to examine which way the process must go if it is to advance.

While we reflect on errors made, we should not lose sight of the unique opportunities posed by this turn of events. Sunday's referendum defeat marks a critical juncture in the Bolivarian Revolution: with the most direct, state-led path to socialism effectively blocked, Chávez will have no other alternative than to rely on the mobilization of the popular revolutionary masses.

As the struggle to deepen Venezuela's revolution through the framework of the pending constitutional reforms intensifies, so too does the battle to create the new United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). The simultaneous campaign for constitutional reforms and the formation of the PSUV means the two are intricately connected.