Venezuelan far-right presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez on the driver seat of a yellow Volkswagen Beetle, a campaign photo aimed at showing some connection to ordinary Venezuelans. In the background Maria Corina Machado and the creators of the "Land of Grace" neoliberal plan during its presentation in October 2023. Photo: X/@EdmundoGU and Vente Venezuela with image edition by Orinoco Tribune.
Until now it was not clear what government plan to expect from Venezuelan far-right opposition presidential candidate, Edmundo González. The truth came to light, via a neoliberal strategy document signed by María Corina Machado.
The writer Luis Britto García had access to Edmundo González’s plan, who revealed that the document was hidden from Venezuelans and written entirely in English.
Orinoco Tribune did online research in an attempt to find the original document. It was not easy to find, until a search result pointed at Maria Corina Machado’s organization’s, Vente Venezuela, website. A page on the Vente Venezuela’s website made a brief reference to the plan presented by Machado in October 2023, showing a video of Machado’s presentation of the plan, which had links, at the very bottom, of the documents allegedly in English and Spanish but in actuality the only document linked is in English language.
Orinoco Tribune could only access the Vente Venezuela page about the plan using a virtual private network (VPN), as it has geofences making it unavailable for Venezuela’s local IPs. We were also able to find the Spanish language version of the document on a slideshow sharing platform that can be read here.
After an extensive search, Brito found the document labeled as “Land of Grace,” which is nothing more than the 85-page opposition government plan in English signed by María Corina Machado in October 2023.
On page 26 of “Land of Grace,” they explain that one of the first actions of a possible Edmundo González government is to privatize the oil and gas industry, to attract specialized international and national companies.
The plan further reads: “Privatization and reactivation of oil and gas production by attracting specialized international and national companies.”
Brito wrote that with this plan the Venezuelan oil industry will pass into private, foreign and local hands. However, it does not clarify which of these national private companies would be included, as many in more than a century of oil exploitation have not extracted a single barrel.
Further, the US plan of Edmundo González threatens to create a “broad program of privatization of companies and public assets.”
Brito further wrote: “The result: massive layoffs, brutal collapse of privatized services and companies, widespread impoverishment, total collapse of the country and of the political movements that implemented or supported these policies.”
Later, on page 28, the plan further threatens that the money from the auctions (privatizations) will be used to pay the public debt, which was largely bequeathed to us by the extinct privatizing governments of Democratic Action (AD) and Copei political parties.
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“The country has significant foreign debt for which considerable interest is being paid, while at the same time it holds valuable enterprises and assets that are not being used appropriately. A privatization program such as the one being proposed can contribute to substantially strengthen the country’s financial balance,” can be read in another part of the plan.
In the case of education, it will no longer be free and the state will assign each family a voucher or bonus, so that they can pay it to the institution in which they enroll their children. This is a neoliberal education plan that has not been successful even in Western countries.
In addition, Gonzalez will also amend the Organic Law on Labor to eliminate all burdens and restrictions on the labor market to facilitate capitalist exploitation.
Finally, he will attack Venezuelan pensions by establishing a “system of fund management companies to make it easier for workers to manage their pension savings, invest their income and ensure the portability of funds.” A neoliberal strategy also proven unsuccessful in many countries.
This means that the worker will pay his own pension, and it will be managed by private banks. The opposition also threatens to dismantle the Bolivarian Militia, the geopolitics of the hemisphere, and to eliminate the bolívar as Venezuela’s national currency.
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón, with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/MCM
