Episode 38 - Venezuela After Maduro w/ Cira Pascual Marquina and Chris Gilbert
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In this episode, I’m joined by returning guests Cira Pascual Marquina and Chris Gilbert, both Venezuela-based scholars and Chavista activists, to provide an update from on the ground six months after the United States’ illegal invasion and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro in January. We discuss the current state of the Bolivarian Revolution, the challenges facing Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, and why it’s more important than ever for the Western left to stand in solidarity with Venezuela’s socialist project in the face of escalating U.S. imperialism.
About the show:
Return to Bandung is hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writer, researcher, and organizer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His work explores themes of diaspora, (inter)nationalism, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his website, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock.
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If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a review or rating, and subscribe to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! If you’re able, please also consider supporting my work—which encompasses both my writing and this podcast, as well as various other political education projects by signing up as a paid subscriber to my Substack or making a one-off contribution:
Sources and helpful links:
CODEPINK solidarity fundraiser for Venezuela earthquake relief
Return to Bandung episode with Chris Gilbert and Cira Pascual Marquina on defending Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution (October 2025)
Return to Bandung episode with David Ramírez Álvarez on defending the Cuban Revolution (May 2026)
Chris Gilbert — Mészáros and Chávez: The Philosopher and the Llanero (Monthly Review, June 2022)
Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs — Economic Sanctions as Collective Punishment: The Case of Venezuela(Center for Economic and Policy Research, April 2019)
Celina Della Croce — Communal Consults and Venezuela’s Fight for the Future (Counterpunch, May 2026)
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez Calls for Wide Participation in March 8 Communal Popular Consultation (Orinoco Tribune, February 2026)
Chris Gilbert and Cira Pascual Marquina — A Great Leap into Reality: Venezuela Today (Counterpunch, June 2026)
Domenico Losurdo — Western Marxism: How it was Born, How it Died, How it can be Reborn (Monthly Review Press, 2024)
Return to Bandung episode with Ashwin Shantha on Chinese socialism and green development (June 2026)
Return to Bandung episode with Guillaume Long on Trump’s revival of the Monroe Doctrine (January 2026)
Hyper-Imperialism: A Dangerous Decadent New Stage(Tricontinental: Institute for Global Research, January 2024)
Hugo Chávez — Speech to the UN (September 2011)
Social links:
Return to Bandung:
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Pranay Somayajula:
Twitter: twitter.com/p_somayajula
Instagram: instagram.com/pranay.somayajula/
Website: pranaysomayajula.com/
Substack: culture-shock.xyz/
Escuela de Cuadros:
Twitter: twitter.com/escuela_cuadros
YouTube: youtube.com/escuelacuadros