The
myth of economic collapse and the Right-wing riot geography
Conflicts
between the police/government supporters and parts of the Right-wing
opposition in Venezuela, resulted to 16 dead so far. The capital,
Caracas, as well as the business center and wealthy eastern parts of
the city become almost every day a battlefield as protesters build
trenches with building materials and tires.
The
government however, arrested at least seven executives of the secret
services accused for the death of protesters during protests on
February 12, in an effort to minimize crisis.
These
arrests produced a new round of rumours in the global media
concerning the coherence of the state mechanism, especially whether
secret services have moved outside government's orders in the past.
Many other
incidents which indicate provocative operations remain unclear, like
the assault of armed men on motorbikes against protesters.
Despite the
fact that economic crisis is now effect more people, the "geography"
of those who participate in violent anti-governmental protests proves
that, the people in the streets are not the ones who affected most by
the crisis. Riots are concentrated in areas of middle and top class
layers of the population who want to oust the democratically elected
government of Venezuela.
The general
condition of the economy, anyway, does not justify an authentic
popular riot, as the Western media present it. Country's unemployment
remains at quite low level of 6% while poverty is reduced with a rate
that neither country of the area has achieved in recent years. The
income per capita is increasing constantly last decade at 2.7% per annum
and there were cuts in wages due to the economic crisis only
recently. All these when an average household in many European
countries lost its purchasing power at 6-7% to 33% in the case of
Greece.
At the same
time, the income inequality which was the source of the authentic
popular uprise in Brazil, has reduced in such a degree in Venezuela,
that represents one of the lowest percentages in Latin America. Even
the really big problem of inflation which exceeded 40% annually, is
not comparable to the much higher rates before Hugo Chavez take the
power. More accurately, Chavez administrations retained inflation at
nearly half of that in most of the 80s and mainly 90s, except last
year.
The return
of inflationary trends is a structural problem for the country since
the oil deposits detection and it is due to the distortions in economy
and wages from the continuous flow of petrol dollars. More simply,
it's a problem mostly related to the capitalist structure of the economy
rather than the Leftist reforms promoted last decade. It should be
also mentioned that the wages for a high percentage of workers (and
mostly the basic wage) are adjusted automatically to inflation,
something which reduces implication to the people.
Therefore,
while the economy conditions do not justify the explosion of an
authentic popular anger, information about the US interference
appears to be verified day by day. It is now known that, the
protagonists of these incidents and people of the Opposition like
Leopoldo López and María Corina Machado coming from the Súmate
organization, are funded for years by the US National Endowment for
Democracy (NED) which was involved in nearly every colour revolution
that marked Eastern Europe's regimes during the last decades.
It seems
that, for the moment, Nicolás Maduro is not challenged by the army
that could decisively reverse the situation and support a Coup d'état
promoted by Washington. However, inside government there are some
threats to its coherence, like for example the most characteristic
case of José Vielma, governor of the Táchira province, who accused
government for authoritarian behavior against demonstrators.
The most
vehement battles took place in this province and the government was
forced to send army forces, as worried about a potential interference
of Right para-military forces from Colombia. Hugo Chávez accused
many times the Colombian government in the past, for operations held
by the Right Battalions of Death inside Venezuela, who were providing
the control of the FARC organization guerrillas as an excuse.
At the same
time, the Right-wing Opposition as well as Washington rejected,
without further discussion, Maduro's proposals for the creation of a
reconciliation committee to reduce tension. As they seek to retain
conflicts, the State Department executives and their people in
Caracas have stated that, negotiations for armistice in the streets
cannot be started, in case that the riots will not end!
Article
by Aris Chatzistefanou on infowar
Related:
The fact that you quote unemployment at 6% is testament of your cynical bias towards the Maduro-Chavista government…It’s just pointless to even read the rest of the article or take your perspective seriously. So Venezuela has lower unemployment than Germany? what a joke! Just walk around Caracas and the reality will be evident!
ReplyDeleteGood on you for trying to infiltrate TE but very poor evidence from your side, makes further consideration a waste of time.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/venezuela/unemployment-rate
DeleteUnfortunately I don't think those numbers correspond to the reality of emploment conditions in the country. Remember these figures are based on the national government figures, and sadly the central bank is subservient to the government and will publish biased results that are favourable to the PSUV party. They in no way resembles the correct measure of real unemployment/employment and the deteriorating economic conditions in the country.
ReplyDeleteHave a look and judge for yourself...
Excellent article, that it's quite adjusted to current reality in my country. We are fighting against the fascism of 5% of Venezuelan population, that claims for military intervention of USA, like in Libya. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Delete