[News] Trump Plans a Coup - The U.S. Has Venezuela in Its Crosshairs

[Anti-Imperialist News]

*Donald J. Trump*‏Verified account@*realDonaldTrump* 
<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump>

Donald J. Trump Retweeted Vice President Mike Pence

The citizens of Venezuela have suffered for too long at the hands of the 
illegitimate Maduro regime. Today, I have officially recognized the 
President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the 
Interim President of Venezuela.

January 23, 2019

_______________________________________

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14242


  The U.S. Has Venezuela in Its Crosshairs

By Vijay Prashad - January 23, 2019
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last Thursday—on January 10—Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for his second 
term as president of Venezuela. “I tell the people,” Maduro said, “this 
presidential sash is yours. The power of this sash is yours. It does not 
belong to the oligarchy or to imperialism. It belongs to the sovereign 
people of Venezuela.”

These two terms—oligarchy and imperialism—define the problems faced by 
Maduro’s new government.


      Oligarchy

Despite 20 years of governance by the socialist forces—first led by Hugo 
Chavez and now by Maduro—the Venezuelan oligarchy remains firmly intact. 
It dominates large sections of the economy, holds immense amounts of the 
country’s social wealth and controls the main media outlets. A walk 
through the Altamira neighborhood in eastern Caracas is sufficient to 
gauge the resilience of the wealthy, most of whom have homes in Spain 
and in Florida as well. /Pelucones/ is the name used to define 
them—bigwigs, a term with aristocratic connotations. They have resisted 
all attempts by the socialist Bolivarian movement to expand political 
and economic democracy in the country.

This oligarchy, through its media, controls the political and social 
narrative, defining the nature of Venezuela’s crisis to its advantage. 
For this small sliver of the population, all of Venezuela’s serious 
problems are blamed on the Maduro movement. None of the problems are 
laid on the doorstep of their long domination of Venezuela nor do they 
cast an eye at the United States, which has tried to suffocate the 
Bolivarian revolution since 1999.


      Imperialism

Imperialism is a word that is rarely used these days. It is relegated to 
histories of colonialism in the distant past. There is little 
understanding of the suffocating way that financial firms and 
multinational businesses drive their agenda against the development 
aspirations of the poorer nations. There is even less understanding 
about the muscular attitude of countries such as the United States, 
Canada and the Europeans against states that they deem to be a problem.

The gunsights were once firmly on West Asia and North Africa—on Iraq, 
Libya, Syria and Iran—but now they are focused on Latin America—on Cuba, 
Nicaragua and Venezuela. These countries face economic sanctions and 
embargoes, threats of annihilation, covert operations and war. The 
definition of imperialism is simple: if you don’t do what we tell you to 
do, we’ll destroy you.

Pressure on Venezuela has been intense. U.S. President Donald Trump has 
repeatedly called for the overthrow of the Bolivarian government, led by 
Maduro. Sanctions have been ratcheted up. Economic warfare has become 
normal. Threats of a military invasion are in the air.


      Lima Group

On January 4, the Lima Group of 13 Latin American governments and Canada 
said that it would not recognize Maduro as the president of Venezuela. 
Behind them sits the U.S. State Department, which has put pressure along 
the hemisphere for the isolation of Venezuela as well as Cuba and 
Nicaragua. The U.S. State Department characterized the inauguration of 
the new president as “Maduro’s illegitimate usurpation of power.” 
Diplomatic language has dissolved into this kind of crudity.

The Lima Group was set up for one reason: to overthrow the current 
government of Venezuela. It has no other purpose. Sanctions and 
diplomatic withdrawals are part of the Lima Group’s arsenal. Buoyed by 
the election of far right-wing politicians such as Brazil’s Jair 
Bolsonaro and enthused by the fulminations of Trump, the Lima Group has 
tightened the pressure.

Argentina’s Mauricio Macri went to Brasilia to meet Bolsonaro, where he 
condemned the “dictatorship” of Maduro, and accused him—personally—of 
being responsible for the difficulties in Venezuela. This is harsh 
language, rhetoric that sets in motion a dangerous push toward regime 
change in Venezuela.

The Lima Group’s violations of the UN Charter have been helped along by 
the Organization of American States, which held an extraordinary session 
to push its members to take economic and diplomatic steps for the 
“restoration of democratic order” in Venezuela. It perhaps needs to be 
emphasized that “restoration of democratic order” is a euphemism for 
regime change.

When U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley tried to draw the 
UN Security Council into such language—of dictatorships and regime 
change—she was rebuffed by the other members. In November 2017, for 
instance, Bolivia, China, Egypt and Russia boycotted an informal meeting 
called by Haley. No other such meeting has been possible. There is worry 
that the Trump administration will attempt in Venezuela what the Obama 
administration conducted in Honduras, or worse, what the Bush 
administration conducted in Iraq.


      It Begins

Maduro was not permitted to take his oath in the National Assembly. He 
was blocked by Juan Guaidó, leader of the opposition. That is why Maduro 
took his oath in the Supreme Court, a procedure that is validated by the 
Constitution.

Strikingly, the head of the Organization of American States—the 
Uruguayan politician Luis Almagro—sent out a tweet that welcomed Juan 
Guaidó as the president. Guaidó, to his credit, had not claimed the 
presidency. It was, instead, a foreign official from a regional body 
that has superseded the Venezuelan people and attempted to install a new 
president in Caracas.

More chilling has been the words from the U.S. Secretary of State Mike 
Pompeo and his department. Pompeo, in a tweet, wrote, “The time is NOW 
for a return to democracy in Venezuela.” The word “now”—in 
capitals—suggests that Pompeo is clear that there needs to be no 
procedures, only a coup. The day after this tweet, Pompeo’s department 
said, “It’s time to begin the orderly transition to a new government.” 
One does not need to read between the lines to know that this is a call 
for regime change, for a coup, and that it comes from Washington, D.C.

Trump’s national security adviser—John Bolton—coined the phrase “troika 
of tyranny” that includes Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. It is plain as 
day that the United States wants to overthrow the governments in each of 
these countries, and perhaps Bolivia as well. These are dangerous portents.

Those troops that Trump is withdrawing from Syria might not be going 
home anytime soon. They might find themselves deployed soon enough on 
the beaches of Punto Fijo, facing a Bay of Pigs style resistance from 
the Chavistas.

/The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not 
necessarily reflect those of the Venezuelanalysis editorial staff./

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20190123/128f22b4/attachment.htm>