The barrage of propaganda directed by media outlets and Establishment politicians against Venezuela reached new heights this summer.

Misinformation about the real nature of the country’s opposition is standard. The fact that it has repeatedly tried to overthrow the elected presidency by force and that a majority of the over 120 people who died in violent clashes earlier this year were killed by opposition supporters is never mentioned in news reports; even the most dramatic incidents of armed rebellion, such as the paramilitary attack on Fort Paramacay in August (preceded by a video in which the perpetrators stated they were participating in a revolt against the government) or the grenade and gunfire assault on the Supreme Court from a helicopter in June, were not deemed significant enough to feature in the “debate” about the situation in the country held by MPs on September 5, which ludicrously sought to portray the government as solely responsible for violence in the country.

We’ve seen this before — 2014’s lethal “guarimba” riots were also accompanied by a media offensive against Venezuela — but the race to denounce Caracas has been reinforced this year by Establishment interest in discrediting Labour’s leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose prior acknowledgement of the Bolivarian revolution’s achievements gave his critics an in.