Above Photo: From Resumen-english.org
Note: The US continues its unwavering effort to remove President Maduro and put in his place their puppet, Juan Guaido. The latest move is the State Department opening the Venezuela Affairs Unit (VAU), under Charge d’Affaires James Story. The unit will be located at the US Embassy in Bogota, Colombia to continue the US goal of removing Maduro. The VAU will work with Juan Guaido the Government of Colombia, which is the closest US ally in the region, described as “the Israel of Latin America.” KZ
Last week left some clues as to what we should expect in Venezuela regarding its political scenario for the coming months. Let’s make a review and try to connect some dots.
Fact 1: The uncomfortable truth
Venezuela’s United Socialist Party vice-president Diosdado Cabello said in a press conference that local opposition has become a real headache for the United States. According to Cabello, Washington has started to disregard Venezuela’s opposition for being incompetent and for stealing the money they sent to fund political destabilization activity against the Nicolas Maduro Administration. “And the Yankees do not like to be robbed nor deceived, not even barefacedly,” Cabello remarked.
Fact 2: Organizing for street barricades or new legislative elections?
Last weekend, the opposition woke up from its lethargy and started to reorganize itself again. They proposed social coordination under what they have called Operation Freedom and important right leaders made brief visits to several communities around the country.
Is it possible that the hibernating opposition political forces are now analyzing an option different to military intervention? Some opinion-formers within their ranks seem to be paving the way to promote that inevitable conclusion.
Fact 3: Life-or-death war within the opposition?
The PanAm Post website leaked a series of details about opposition leaders involved in corruption scandals within Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA and thus the national Government. This website—which also leaked the scandal of money stolen by people linked to Juan Guaido in Colombia—was also accused by a local media in Venezuela of being a tool used by the opposition to destroy members of its own ranks. According to the accusation, the story behind the PanAm Post is as follows:
Its owner is Enrique Ball Zuloaga, cousin of Maria Corina Machado, a radical opposition leader. It also ties journalists of that media outlet, Orlando Avendaño and Alek Boyd, of being allegedly funded by entrepreneur Oscar Garcia Mendoza through his NovoPayment bank, whose CEO is Anabel Perez, wife of Esteban Gerbasi an opposition political analyst.
This internal confrontation within the Venezuelan opposition took place almost simultaneously to Juan Guaido’s announcement about continuing to being the self-proclaimed president of Venezuela even though his term as president of the National Assembly finishes in December.
It seems like what is falling to pieces is not the Nicolas Maduro Administration but the United States political operators here on the ground.
Fact 4: Two postcards of the same unconventional war
Venezuelan opposition political parties, through some media operators, asked their voters to go out to the streets last weekend. They ensured that “something would happen” that would lead to the ousting of Nicolas Maduro. “The population on the street would be important to achieve the goal,” they argued.
Well as it turned out they did not achieve any mass support of course but a particular event occurred indeed: A cooking gas filling plant exploded in Ocumare del Tuy, a crowded town in Miranda state, bordering with Caracas. Thousands of people were left without what is considered a staple service. The Governor of that province blamed the rightist party Justice First for the incident.
In another action, connected to a psychological harassment campaign against Venezuelans, the Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball issued an alert for Venezuelan and foreign players to not participate in the traditional league played in Venezuelan in November.
The argument of the commissioner is to honor “the executive order by President Donald Trump,” who is seeking to extend the scope and intensity of economic sanctions against the South American country. This is to say, not only to deprive Venezuelans from medicines and foods but anything that provides them entertainment and happiness.
A Brief Evaluation
Venezuela’s opponents continue proving their political disorientation. Their prejudices, arrogance, and ambition continue making them bad advisers when estimating the strength and size of their rival. They would then have to explain that they are not confronting Nicolas Maduro, who is just the tip of the iceberg, but a whole house made up by millions of people who have responded to Hugo Chavez’s political and ideological calling. And the truth is that their inability to recognize and respect that Chavism is their main political weakness.
Furthermore, Diosdado Cabello has pointed out an open secret. Venezuela’s opposition does not exist. It is just a concept used as a didactic method. There is not real unity but several strands of oppositions, each of them with their own agenda and idea of how to seize power in Venezuela.
Among all of those fragments, the closest to the United States is the far right People’s Will Party which has been a bottomless pit of funds flowing in from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Other sectors or NGOs receiving State Department funding resent the favoritism and preponderance they’ve received.
Maria Corina Machado’s case is the one that probably deserves the most attention. The fierce attack by the PanAm Post in which she seems to be involved is clear. She feels this is her moment, that the rest of the parties have failed, and that it is her time to take over. But she is not backed by the rest of the political parties, neither does she have any sound social leadership. She should be reminded that Twitter can be used for many things except for the seat of the president. Nevertheless, this adverse scenario lived by the opposition should be a call to attention for the Chavism, not an excuse to be relaxed.
As the Washington political operators on the ground becomes weakened or broken up, the unconventional warfare will be stronger. The blockade is an aspect of it but also the sabotage on public services and even stronger subversive actions through criminal or paramilitary groups can occur.
The latter is very important because an undeclared but fully live war is not in vain. Crises produce monsters which get stuck and end up becoming part of the ordinary scene.
The dollarization of the Venezuelan economy is not something that can be swept under the carpet, the same as the precarious quality of life resulted from rampant inflation and the collapse of Venezuelans’ wages. Measuring their strength or their capacity to put up resistance through lines in liquor stores or their attendance to expensive restaurants in Caracas is the same short-sightedness shown by the opposition when they think their problem is Nicolas Maduro.
Chavism cannot be seen as a simple group of people riding out the storm. Chavism should propose a social individual model or shape; a cultural, economic, and political identity resisting, yes, but with a clear horizon. If we are resisting, what for? If we will resist, for whom? We should ask ourselves that.
If there is resistance it has to link back to Chavez and, paraphrasing former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it must be not just a political movement but a culture, a path, with a plan to save humanity.