One could say that Venezuela has been in a state of a civil conflict for quite some time. Nicolás Maduro assumed the Presidency upon the death of former Venezuela strongman and President Hugo Chávez. The following election was won by Maduro by a slim margin and he has ruled ever since despite growing opposition. To say that Venezuela is facing economic difficulties is a gross understatement. The news from Venezuela tells a grim story where food is scarce, medicines are usually only available on the black market and one news story even told of a severe shortage of toilet paper, a commodity which has few suitable substitutes. The wealthy fear leaving their homes worried over being beaten and robbed of credit cards and any cash. Gangs rule the streets in many parts of the nations and things are basically in a dreadful state. The wrecked economy is a result of years of central planning and socialist rule taking wealth from the top and distributing it amongst the poor after a percentage is kept by the kleptocrats in the government. Such always leads to economic collapse as it has now in Venezuela and has in North Korea and what brought down the Soviet Union. China has made an attempt at incorporating a measure of capitalism to prop up their socialist centralized governance. Yet President Maduro is doing what every true believer in the great and bright future socialism must produce, insisting that he has the solution and if only the remaining companies are federalized, then the glorious dream will come to fruition.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on right on Stage at Demonstration
Chávez began this socialist nightmare by federalizing the oil and mineral industries claiming that they were making the very few excessively wealthy as they kept the vast quantity of the profits while leaving little for the workers whose toil made the profits possible. Chávez spread the wealth to the workers and they promptly spent it and were soon the working poor once again and the two main industries in Venezuela eventually were driven into the ground as their equipment fell into disrepair and mismanagement gave ever-dwindling returns. This is what Maduro now claims will bring that bright future which was experienced briefly at the start of the rule of Hugo Chávez, something which every socialist nation experiences before things take a turn for the worse and after that, it never improves. The Venezuelan Parliamentary elections of 2015 were not exactly a vote of confidence for Maduro as his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela) taking fifty-five of the one-hundred-sixty-seven seats. The remaining one-hundred-nine seats were taken by the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD Mesa de la Unidad Democrática) which favors a return to capitalist republican rule with less governmental control of industry and all aspects of personal life (see map below). There were marginal votes for other candidates, none of which were elected to the Parliament. Since then Maduro and the Venezuela High Court have ruled relegating the Parliament into benign inconsequence politically, they are running the nations with an iron fist policy.
Venezuela Election Map
Blue for Democratic Unity Roundtable and
Red for United Socialist Party of Venezuela
The violence in Venezuela is only going to escalate and this past week’s activity is just the beginning of another civil war. This one will be different in that the media will do all possible in their power to ignore everything, as Venezuela had been their shining example of the wonders that socialism as a form of governance brings and these bad times must now be as ignored as the brief period of good times was lauded loudly. Just in case the news missed the recent little event in Caracas, a government helicopter from the Venezuelan Scientific, Penal, and Criminal Investigations Unit (CICPC) buzzed the Venezuelan High Court building and there were even reports that there were shots fired and even a grenade thrown from the helicopter towards the High Court building. Hanging from the side door of the helicopter was a sign showing the “350 Freedom” banner which refers to Article 350 of the Venezuelan Constitution which states, “The people of Venezuela, faithful to their republican tradition, in their struggle for independence, peace and freedom, will ignore any regime, legislation or authority that violates democratic values, principles and guarantees or impairs human rights.” The pilot, who could be easily seen in the pictures, was identified as Oscar Pérez, a police officer with the unit to which the helicopter belongs and former personal pilot of the former Venezuelan Justice Minister Rodríguez Torres who has left the government and joined those in opposition. As this was made public, likely be President Maduro and supporters, there were additional reports, also from government leaks, that Rodríguez Torres is tied to the CIA and is associated with conspiracies linking him with Western pro-democracy interests. Note, pro-democracy interests, which puts to rest whether President Maduro had decided that he is now President for Life. Further charges from President Maduro and supporters have placed blame beyond just CIA intervention and placed additional blame on former Vice President Joe Biden, yes, Joseph Biden is attempting to orchestrate a coup in Venezuela according to the Venezuelan President.
Scientific, Penal, and Criminal Investigations Unit (CICPC)
flying over the Supreme Court,
waving a flag reading “350 Freedom.”
In an official statement Tuesday night, Maduro made clear that he believed the helicopter incident was a “terrorist” attack conducted by an unnamed coalition of anti-socialist forces seeking to take down his government. “Behind all of this is the plan, the activation of a generalized violence to make life impossible for Venezuelans.” Maduro also used the incident to press the importance that the public support a vote for his plan to draft a new constitution granting him further executive power, “to gather up these terrorist groups.” Talking of terrorist groups, the helicopter “assault,” where it is not certain whether any shots were fired or a grenade thrown, it was far from the only action taken this past week. There was another assault, this one on the National Assembly Building. Demonstrators reached to the outskirts of the Federal Legislative Palace where they engaged in intimidating opposition Ministers of Parliament who are in the National Assembly. A number of explosive devices were hurled at the building with reports agreeing that there were at least five such devices. These were gangs, which are followers of President Nicolas Maduro, have been perpetrating violence against regions and people who are thought to be opposed to Maduro as well as his proposed new Constitution which would basically declare him President for life with unmitigated powers. Violence has even broken out during sessions of the National Assembly (see video below and note man in the red, yellow and blue jacket as those are the Maduro PSUV Party and often worn by gang leaders who orchestrate violence). The fight divides the population as the violent leftist socialists who benefit from the government support leading efforts to draft a new Constitution placing Maduro in power indefinitely and aligned with the High Court while the newly elected Parliament, as noted above, supports the present Constitution and demand a return to elected governance and for Maduro to face fair and monitored elections or simply stand down allowing for new elections.
Of course, there is one exception to this being ignored by the media, the Donald Trump effect. You see, there is a reason, a legal one at that, by which the United States can get involved in Venezuela, The Monroe Doctrine. The document was initially intended as a signal to Europeans and Russia, as well as the remainder of the world, or universe if we here on Earth are not alone, that the Americas have a protector who will no longer stand off should there be any difficulty with the freedom of all nations in our hemisphere. The nice thing, or not so nice, depending on where you stand on American interventionism, is that the Monroe Doctrine has also been used by the United States in order to interfere with the internal activities of nations in the hemisphere. If things do get beyond the current horrific and open warfare were to break out in the streets of Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, then there will start to be soft calls for President Trump to do something because innocent people are being killed. Further, there may be reason for President Trump to act as what has he got to lose as if the violence increases, you just know there will be those blaming President Trump. They will point to Maduro who also accuses President Donald Trump of being personally responsible for the violence in Venezuela against his rule stating, “You have the responsibility; stop the madness of the violent Venezuelan right wing.” Yep, Venezuela is blaming their alt-Right and President Trump for the violence. Now, it is true that President Trump has repeatedly condemned the Maduro regime and called for a restoration of the democratic order in the South American country supporting the National Assembly, though he has never stated such directly. There will be media coverage to come eventually, especially should the violence escalate. The media will initially call for President Trump to do something to relieve the dangers to the innocent people of Venezuela, especially if there should be an attack on the Parliament resulting in large loss of life including numerous Ministers of Parliament. Then, should President Trump act and send troops or intervene in some manner the media will waffle between two headlines, “President Trump Over the Top Action Unnecessary” and “President Trump to Fail from Fear of Acting.”
What is actually interesting is that much of the violence occurring in Venezuela has been committed by presumed independent gangs supporting Maduro to gain all the power he desires. These are the protesters who are attacking the Parliament to the point the building is now closed to the public and guarded. These gangs have also been loosed upon anti-Maduro protesters with great regularity making any coincidence as an explanation ridiculous. Military police have been used to quell demonstrations as well, often with water cannons. What is frightening is that Maduro has stated his intention to go to war to end the violent demonstrations. When one understands that, the majority of the violence is organized by his supporters and people in the administration. If one had to make a historical reference, these are the Brownshirts, Hitler’s SA, should Maduro need to use violence in order to assure his new Constitution becomes enacted. Once he receives the additional powers from a new Constitution, he will no longer need to subdue the National Assembly to continue in a dictatorial manner, then he will have little to no use for troublemakers. This will lead to his recalling the leadership of the gangs which have been acting to enforce his desired goals, as they will be useful in the new security department, and then use that very same department to remove the Gangs as they would only be problematic and their instigating would no longer be required. It would resemble the efforts when Hitler and the Nazis established their complete control and simply had the SA members, the Brownshirts, murdered. After this Maduro will have his President for life and new dictatorial governance will have been born. The people in general are opposed to this idea so we can expect a long and drawn out battle resulting hopefully in the eventual, preferably in the near future, removal of Maduro preferably through fair and monitored election, but by his taking any ill gotten wealth and retiring to somewhere in Europe or wherever he feels comfortable, just as long as it is not in our neighborhood. But, in the meantime, Venezuela is teetering on the brink of revolution or violent oppression and they will need to fall beyond the cusp to find the answer. We can simply hope the military will side with the people when the time to choose comes.
Beyond the Cusp
Beyond the Cusp 