
Venezuelan former deputy Juan GuaidĂł attended the State of the Union address in February 2020, receiving a standing ovation. Photo: Jonathan NewtonThe Washington Post.
Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond
From Venezuela and made by Venezuelan Chavistas
Venezuelan former deputy Juan GuaidĂł attended the State of the Union address in February 2020, receiving a standing ovation. Photo: Jonathan NewtonThe Washington Post.
By Roger D. Harris – Jan 7, 2022
The Los Angeles Times reports that âthe audacious gamble by the U.S. government toâŚrestore democracyâ suffered a âspectacular failureâ in Venezuela. What this State Department stenographer masquerading as a newspaper considers a âdemocraticâ setback consisted of failing to impose unknown US security asset Juan GuaidĂł as Venezuelaâs president.Â
This man just got the boot from his own fractious opposition group, which voted 72-29 to disband his âinterim government.â The Hill reports that the pretend president still claims the post and retains a âpowerful network of support,â although not in his home country.Â
GuaidĂłâs support comes from outside of Venezuela consisting of the likes of Democratic US Senators Dick Durbin and Bob Menendez along with the Biden State Department plus fellow neo-cons on the other side of the aisle. Now that the former swing state of Florida has gone solidly Republican, Biden can no longer excuse US regime-change policy by claiming that the rightwing Sunshine State voters are forcing his hand. They wouldnât vote for him either way.
Mr. GuaidĂł threatened: âWe will stay on the street until Venezuela is liberated!â This venue is especially appropriate because GuaidĂł self-appointed himself president in January 2019 on a Caracas street corner. His âinterim governmentâ has never held any power nor served even basic state functions such as issuing visas.Â
GuaidĂłâs clique did enrich itself with stolen Venezuelan assets handed over to them by the US. As Richardo Vaz of Venezuelanalysis observes: âThe âinterim governmentâ offered the opposition a remarkable scenario: the opportunity for unfettered corruption without needing to take power.â
At the same time, the opposition cheered sanctions against their own people. These illegal unilateral coercive measures, mainly by the US, were intentionally designed to cripple the Venezuelan economy. The government lost 99% of its 2021-22 income. Predictably and deliberately, these measures caused harm such as over 100,000 deaths.Â
When is an election fraudulent?
According to the LA Times, Venezuelan President NicolĂĄs Maduroâs 2018 election was âwidely considered fraudulent,â which means in Washington-speak that the US didnât accept the result while the rest of the world did. This judgment contrasts with former US President Jimmy Carterâs assessment: âThe electoral system in Venezuela is the best in the world.âÂ
However, the US adds the imperial caveat that to be considered âfree and fairâ an election must be won by the side favored by Washington. Accordingly, the US now recognizes the National Assembly as the only legitimate Venezuelan governmental body. But it is not the currently elected National Assembly. Rather it is the one that dates way back to 2015, the last time the opposition won a majority of the seats. Â
US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said with a straight face, âMr. GuaidĂł remains a member of that 2015 National Assembly.â Apparently legal tenure limits donât apply to pretenders such as GuaidĂł whose term has ended.Â
Now that GuaidĂł is voted out, the opposition paper parliament made Dinorah Figuera its head. According to the Wall Street Journal, Ms. Figuera resides in Spain where she has a job caring for the elderly. The AP characterized the body she supposedly presides over as a âsymbolic shadow.âÂ
President Maduro commented on the parallel government â really a Zoom meet-up cosplaying as a sovereign state â noting that the US remains âtrapped in a senseless policy towards Venezuela by supporting non-existent institutions.â He offered renewing normalization of relations with Washington on January 1. And by the US government, he was referring to the current administration and not to the 18th century Continental Congress.
But Washingtonâs continued failure to recognize the democratically elected government of NicolĂĄs Maduro, now that its pretend president GuaidĂł is no longer accepted even by his own opposition bloc, is a setback to normalization of bilateral relations.Â
This is in spite of signs of a thaw such as a high-level US official delegation meeting with Maduro last March, a prisoner exchange, and some small recent easing of oil sanctions which allows Chevron to make its first oil shipment from Venezuela in years.Â
Counter-balancing these openings and portending a chilly near-term was the unanimous passage by the US Senate of the BOLIVAR Act on December 16, precluding any relaxation of sanctions.Â
Advances in Venezuela, despite US efforts to the contrary
Regardless of US efforts to overthrow the government and cause the populace to turn against their elected officials in the face of punishing sanctions, President Maduro has endured and resisted.Â
Even the follow-the-flag Washington Post must acknowledge that âa recent poll from AndrĂŠs Bello Catholic University and pollster Delphos indicated that more respondents would vote for Maduro than GuaidĂł.â Of course, no one ever voted for GuaidĂł in the first place because the US-anointed âinterim presidentâ had never run for national office.Â
The opposition will hold primaries to try to find a unity candidate to oppose Maduro in 2024. Nevertheless, their prospects are not bullish according to JesĂşs Torrealba, who formerly headed the MUD opposition coalition. âWhat kind of confidence can you build,â he asked about his fellow opposition politicos, âwhen you have some actors accusing others of being thieves and others accused of being traitors.â
The Wall Street Journal observes that the opposition is in disarray and lacks popular support, while Maduro is enjoying his greatest popularity ever. Further, the current surge of so-called âpink tideâ left-leaning governments in Latin America has buoyed Caracasâs boat with regional integration and independence from the northern hegemon on the agenda.Â
According to Ăltimas Noticias, Venezuela will continue to strengthen alliances with Iran, China, and countries in Africa, while prioritizing regional unity, particularly with Colombia and Brazil.Â
Final Blow for GuaidĂł: Venezuelan Far-Right Opposition Eliminates ‘Interim Government’
Economic turnaround under the US blockade
Meanwhile the abysmal state of the economy precipitated by the US blockade is showing signs of improvement, although conditions remain critical and still a considerable way to pre-sanctions recovery. Hyperinflation has been overcome and the contraction of the GDP has been reversed. According to the Venezuelan Central Bank, economic growth was 18% in the first nine months of 2022.Â
Significantly for an historically oil rentier economy, âFor the first time in more than 100 years, [this] is a growth of the non-oil economy that produces food, goods, services, and wealth, and that pays taxes,â according to President Maduro. From dependency on imported food, the Venezuelan president continued, âtoday we produce 94% of the food that goes to Venezuelan homes.âÂ
Over 70% of the 2022 budget was allocated to social programs. The government built over three million houses between 2015 and 2022, which coincides with the period of maximum sanctions. This is double the amount built in the preceding 1999-2015 period in half the number of years.Â
If so much could be accomplished under such adverse conditions, one can only imagine what could be achieved if the knee of US imperialism were lifted from the neck of the Venezuelan people.Â
RDH/OT
Roger D. Harris lives in California and is with the anti-imperialist human rights organization Task Force on the Americas, the Venezuela Solidarity Network, the US Peace Council, and the Marxist Forum. He writes regularly on Latin American and the Caribbean with a special emphasis on Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua.