VENEZUELA-U.S. TENSIONS RISE

Friday, March 13, 2015   12:00 AM - 11:30 PM

Ridiculing the Obama Administration's qualification of Venezuela as a "security threat" to the U.S., Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro got on the offensive Thursday with a vocal response of his own.  Washington earlier this week declared a "national emergency" over "the unusual and extraordinary threat" from Venezuela and sanctioned seven officials over allegations of human rights abuses and corruption. Maduro on the other hand, is accusing Washington of helping coup plotters and preparing a military intervention. Venezuela is also demanding that the United States slash its embassy staff from 100 to 17. Mario Murillo spoke with writer and political theorist George Ciccariello-Maher, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He has taught at Drexel, U.C. Berkeley, San Quentin State Prison, and the Venezuelan School of Planning in Caracas. His first book is a history of revolutionary movements in Venezuela entitled We Created Chávez: A People’s History of the Venezuelan Revolution.