Mural of Comandante Hugo Chávez in Caracas, Venezuela. Photo: Edilzon Gamez/Getty.
By Katu Arkonada – Jan 31, 2023
As part of this change in strategy, an organization called “Movimiento Ciudadano 21 de Noviembre” (MC-21N), whose subversive strategy aims to overthrow Nicolás Maduro’s government and cause a scenario of ungovernability, was formed.
On March 5, 2022, on the anniversary of Comandante Hugo Chávez’s death (nothing is a coincidence), a US government delegation arrived in Caracas. Joe Biden’s emissaries had a clear objective: given the impossibility of guaranteeing oil supply due to the conflict between the United States/NATO and Russia, with Ukraine as a proxy, they wanted to negotiate the reduction of sanctions on the Venezuelan oil industry and the entry of the American corporation Chevron to this market.
Recently, and also in a related manner, we have learned of two other events. First, the Spanish Ambassador to Venezuela delivered his credentials to Nicolás Maduro, implying that Pedro Sánchez’s government no longer recognizes the puppet Guaidó (the United States had previously done so, and the European Union will soon do so). This explicitly places the sole legitimate government that exists in Venezuela as the only interlocutor.
A couple of days earlier, the Venezuelan government announced that the Foreign Minister, not President Maduro, would travel to Buenos Aires to participate in the Summit of Heads of State of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), given the information obtained that warned of a plan by the [Argentinian] neofascist right to carry out a series of attacks against the Venezuelan delegation and its head of state.
Part of this plan was disclosed last week, with due caution and care for the sources, in a piece entitled, “From the FTAA to CELAC, US interference does not stop.”
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So what is happening in Venezuela? Can we think that there is a relaxation of the “pressure” measures promoted by the United States and the European Union against the Bolivarian Revolution? The answer is no. It happens that the strategy of violence, guarimbas, international pressure, the economic blockade focused on the oil industry and Guaidó’s self-proclamation has not given the desired results. With presidential elections approaching in a few months, elections to which the Venezuelan opposition arrives weak and Nicolás Maduro and the PSUV arrive with momentum and strong possibilities of repeating the victory of 2018, another strategy is needed.
As part of this recent change in strategy, an organization called “Movimiento Ciudadano 21 de Noviembre” (MC-21N), whose subversive strategy aims to overthrow the government of Nicolás Maduro and cause a scenario of ungovernability in the next 4 months, was formed. Using MC-21N, they will make an effort to unite discontented sectors of Venezuelan society, focusing specifically on the health and education sectors.
The “MC-21N” movement proposes in its non-public documents, to initiate a campaign of destabilization under the banner of democratic freedom, respect for human rights, release of the so-called political prisoners and intensified condemnations of corruption within the Venezuelan government.
One of their main battlefields will be the social media networks, where with foreign aid they will set up fake news media campaigns reporting the alleged unrest of the population with the aim of regenerating a climate of protests. And since the path of violence didn’t work out, they will formally use the modality of non-violent passive resistance. The objective: to demand the resignation of Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of being a dictator and a narcoterrorist.
Additionally, the “MC-21N” organization has been instructed by external forces to work on the cooptation of active and retired high-ranking officers of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB).
The “MC-21N” is directing its members to organize regional intelligence cards in order to provide updated information on the government, the army and the popular sectors, as well as sensitive and real-time information on PDVSA. The recommendation they make if they are arrested is to insist that they are acting on their own behalf in order to divert the attention of Venezuelan security forces.
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Officially created in October 2021, the “MC-21N” pretends to be an NGO. But it is clearly a far-right political organization whose objective, despite disseminating attempts to distance itself from the violent actions of the past, continues to follow a violent path for Venezuela which may even include, if possible, the assassination of Nicolás Maduro.
Among its members is Venezuelan opposition member José Patines, a self-defined anti-communist and anti-Chavista who has been publicly supporting Guaidó.
The strategy set by the “MC-21N” coincides with the unconventional warfare actions promoted by the United States against Venezuela and other progressive countries. Its President, William Jiménez, is a high-ranking member of an inter-American federation of lawyers based in Washington.
The Movimiento Ciudadano 21 de Noviembre receives financing from “Creative Associates” of Costa Rica, known for having coordinated the Zunzuneo Network against the Cuban Revolution with USAID financing, revealing a level of coordination within the centers of political-ideological subversion promoted by US intelligence services.
It is impossible to separate what is happening in Venezuela from the coup in Bolivia, the parliamentary coup against Pedro Castillo in Peru, or the assault on democracy in Brazil by Bolsonarismo. And all the tracks from the south, point to the north…
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/FV/SF
Katu Arkonada
Katu Arkonada (Barakaldo, 1978) has a degree in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Public Policies. He has been an advisor to the Vice Ministry of Strategic Planning, the Legal Unit Specialized in Constitutional Development and the Foreign Ministry of the Plurinational State of Bolivia.
