US Secretary of State Colin Powell paid a visit to Haiti yesterday, Monday April 5, in an attempt to legitimize the new regime and stop the spread of instability in the region caused by the coup that overthrew Jean-Bertrand Aristide at the end of February. His visit, if anything, has further inflamed the situation and will only lead to further instability.

There is widespread opposition to the Mesa government, however the general strike that was supposed to take place in Februaray this did not take place. Jorge Martin looks at the factors that explain this. The situation remains an explosive one.

While there are many differences between the war in Iraq and the Vietnam War, there are many parallels and lessons to be learned - above all that public opinion at home is more decisive in the long run than the actual military successes or failures in the war zone.

The opposition in Venezuala has mobilised armed gangs of provocateurs on the streets, with the aim of destabilisng the country. This article is based on material published in Venezuela, which we are making available to our readers in Spanish (See below). We ask all our readers and supporters to step up the campaign we launched last week in defence of the Venezuelan revolution. Keep collecting the solidarity signatures, organise meetings, raise money, spread the word about what is happening in Venezuela.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide stepped down as President and left Haiti early in the morning on Sunday February 29. Shortly thereafter the US announced that it was sending in marines to help 'stabilize' the country and make way for a UN 'peacekeeping' force. The UN Security Council also decided that it will send a multi-national 'peacekeeping force' for at least three months as well as a 'stabilizing force' that it will send later in the year. These developments clearly demonstrate the reactionary role played by US imperialism in the region and far from solving the crisis in Haiti it is setting the stage for further unrest and instability in the whole area.

More than two years have passed since George W Bush declared his "war on terrorism." What has the result been? In Iraq the USA has shown its impotence to control the situation. It has been unable to build up a stable base. It is bogged down in a bloody impasse. But what about the other field of operations – Afghanistan?

This is a statement of the editorial board of In Defence of Marxism signed also by other Marxist currents and magazines all over the world. We express our opposition to the campaign of US imperialism and the Venezuelan oligarchy against the revolutionary process in Venezuela and put forward the perspective of socialism as the only way to defend it. Also in Spanish, Danish, Italian, and German.

veHaving been defeated twice by the revolutionary mobilisation of the masses after their coup in April 2002 and the during their sabotage of the oil industry in December 2002, the reactionary forces in Venezuela are now trying to reorganise their forces in a renewed attempt to overthrow democratically elected president Chavez.

In the three articles that Luis Oviedo has written in answer to my article published on January 7 (Marxism versus Sectarianism - Reply to Luis Oviedo) a number of very important issues are raised. These questions deserve the most careful consideration by Marxists in Britain, Argentina and internationally. However, in order to clarify the issues raised and to educate the cadres (which ought to be the aim of every polemic) it is necessary to avoid heated language, distortions and personal attacks that only serve to divert attention away from the political questions. Such an approach will only confuse matters

There has been yet another general strike in a Latin American country. There is now an endless list of countries experiencing serious social and economic crises welcoming the Dominican Republic into their ranks. Haiti’s neighbour has joined the French-speaking country that is suffering social convulsions and putting the entire island into deep unrest.

The national enlarged meeting of the Bolivian Workers’ Union (COB) gathered in Cochabamba on January 22, and decided to call for an indefinite general strike with road blockades in twenty days time if Mesa’s government does not concede the demands of the October insurrection and continues with its announced austerity measures. The COB meeting “ended with the decision to take power, by closing down Parliament." This decision marks the end of the truce given by the worker and peasant leaders to Carlos Mesa’s government.