In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and in the midst of escalating geopolitical pressures from Washington against Venezuela, the political panel within the coalition of anti-Chavista parties has been moving in a remarkable way.
By Mision Verdad – May 21, 2020
The failure of Operation Gideon politically led by the militant of the organization Voluntad Popular Juan Guaidó was the drop that overflowed the glass. The credibility of the self-proclaimed has been strongly contested, giving weight to the opposition spokespersons who are trying to displace him as the sole leader of anti-Chavismo under Washington’s tutelage.
The war for the presidency of the National Assembly at the beginning of this year was the trigger for a new internal crisis, marked as before by the unequal distribution of financial resources delivered by the allied countries to the leadership of the coup.
Guaidó has centralized in his figure and in his close environment all the political prominence of anti-Chavismo in the last year and a half. He was anointed by the Trump administration in January 2019, monopolizing the conduct of a regime change and marginalizing other influencing factors that make up the coalition of opposition parties.
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From the periphery of the political formations that have lost political and media presence, the result is that Guaidó has failed in his task of putting together agreements for a common strategy.
The recent escalation of sanctions against Venezuela, aimed at preventing Iranian gasoline-laden tankers from reaching the country, has represented another breaking point that has become massive on social networks.
For the first time since the 2019 regime change cicles began with the self-proclamation of the state deputy of La Guaira, anti-Chavista figures publicly oppose the application of sanctions and directly question Guaidó.
The peripheral figures of the coalition feel that these erratic maneuvers by Guaidó are dragging the entire opposition into a wave of discredit. They have been left out of strategy and planning. But it is a rearrangement: as they observe that the sanctions are deteriorating the image of anti-Chavismo, they see the opportunity to take a dissident stance to save face and present themselves as an alternative to Guaidó.
It should not be forgotten that the factors most at the center of politics also supported Washington’s sanctions policy during its early years.
The war of intrigues to displace Guaidó as the face of anti-Chavismo are being led by Henrique Capriles Radonski, twice opposition presidential candidate (he lost both times) and leader of the Primero Justicia (PJ) political formation.
This was confirmed by recent information from Bloomberg that Venezuelan journalist Francisco Poleo supplemented with his own sources .
This exclusive states:
“Three PJ deputies, Ángel Alvarado, Eudoro González Dellán and Rafael Guzmán, Capriles supporters, contacted the State Department to request a change in Washington’s position before the Maduro regime. They want negotiation with the regime and parliamentary elections. “
Poleo highlights:
“In the most difficult moment for the interim president, the current rivalry between Primero Justicia and Voluntad Popular, and the tenacious presidential aspiration of Henrique Capriles threaten Guaido’s position as “leader” of the opposition to the Nicolás Maduro regime.”
In turn, the journalist indicates that the proposal presented was rejected because they do not agree with “the idea of changing the horse in the middle of a race, as well as falling into the ditch of lawsuits between foreign parties.”
In recent days, Henrique Capriles’ attacks against Guaidó have increased. He has branded the interim-ship a “fantasy” and has called for a change in strategy after the failed Operation Gideon, strongly questioned on social networks.
According to a source quoted by Poleo, Capriles is in talks with the Venezuelan government while seeking to displace Borges as the interlocutor of “the foreign policy” of the fake Guaidó government. That is, from the coordination with Washington.
Capriles’ objective is for the majority and minority opposition factors to join the negotiations ahead of the presidential elections that should be held by law later this year.
However, this approach is little shared by the four main parties of the anti-Chavista coalition (Voluntad Popular, Primero Justicia, Acción Democrática and Un Nuevo Tiempo).
Many of the more centrist sectors fear that removing Guaidó’s support would imply sanctions and direct pressure from Washington, as happened with PJ deputy Luis Parra, when he assumed the presidency of the National Assembly earlier this year in a rebellion of deputies against Guaidó’s leadership position.
Other actors, the most radical, think that the coup will triumph in the short term and want to be well placed on the board to assume government positions once Maduro is overthrown. In both cases, cynicism is the principle that articulates their political calculations.
However, Capriles’ movements faithfully portray the weakness of the anti-Chavista coalition and the committed position in which Guaidó finds himself. Officially there is a maneuver to dethrone the Popular Will militant.
Capriles has been marginalized after his last electoral failure in 2013, but also because of Washington’s bet that Voluntad Popular assume leadership of the opposition and the coup in general.
Unlike Guaidó, Capriles is an organic representative of the mediocre Venezuelan elite. He represents a Mantuano surname with a long-standing political, business, and intellectual history in Venezuela’s 20th century.
This elite has witnessed a loss of its economic and political leadership in recent years, after the economic siege of Washington and the commitment to a replacement political generation that does not include surnames with lineage. They are not against the coup, but against the contempt of not offering them a place with a presence.
Through Henrique Capriles, a family of linage speaks, a family who has lost ground and political and business influence, and seeks to retake it.
They prioritize negotiation for parliamentarians because they know that a forceful blow would leave them out of the power equation. The last chapter of the saga of intrigues within anti-Chavismo will be marked by this rebellion of the rich fools against the self-proclaimed.
Featured image: Henrique capriles radonski. Photo: El Español
Source URL: Mision Verdad / Medium
Translated by JRE/EF
Misión Verdad
Misión Verdad is a Venezuelan investigative journalism website with a socialist perspective in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution
