by
Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
Part
2 - US Regime Change Tactics Have Failed In Venezuela
The US
and oligarchs continue their efforts to reverse the Bolivarian
Revolution. The US has a long history of regime change around the
world and has tried all of its regime change tools in Venezuela. So
far they have failed.
Economic
War
Destroying
the Venezuelan economy has been an ongoing campaign by the US and
oligarchs. It is reminiscent of the US coup in Chile which ended the
presidency of Salvador Allende. To create the environment for the
Chilean coup, President Nixon ordered the CIA to “make the
economy scream.”
Henry
Kissinger devised the coup noting a billion dollars of investment
were at stake. He also feared the “the insidious model effect” of
the example of Chile leading to other countries breaking from the
United States and capitalism. Kissinger’s top deputy at the
National Security Council, Viron Vaky, opposed the coup saying, “What
we propose is patently a violation of our own principles and policy
tenets .… If these principles have any meaning, we normally depart
from them only to meet the gravest threat . . . our survival.”
These
objections hold true regarding recent US coups, including in
Venezuela and Honduras, Ukraine and Brazil, among others. Allende
died in the coup and wrote his last words to the people of Chile,
especially the workers, “Long live the people! Long live the
workers!” He was replaced by Augusto Pinochet, a brutal and
violent dictator.
For
decades the US has been fighting an economic war, “making the
economy scream,” in Venezuela. Wealthy Venezuelans have been
conducting economic sabotage aided by the US with sanctions and other
tactics. This includes hoarding food, supplies and other necessities
in warehouses or in Colombia while Venezuelan markets are bare. The
scarcity is used to fuel protests, e.g. “The March of the Empty
Pots,” a carbon copy of marches in Chile before the September 11,
1973 coup. Economic warfare has escalated through Obama and under
Trump, with Tillerson now urging economic sanctions on oil.
President
Maduro recognized the economic hardship but also said sanctions open
up the opportunity for a new era of independence and “begins the
stage of post-domination by the United States, with Venezuela again
at the center of this struggle for dignity and liberation.” The
second-in-command of the Socialist Party, Diosdado Cabello, said,
“[if they] apply sanctions, we will apply elections.”
Opposition
Protests
Another
common US regime change tool is supporting opposition protests. The
Trump administration renewed regime change operations in Venezuela
and the anti-Maduro protests, which began under Obama, grew more
violent. The opposition protests included barricades, snipers and
murders as well as widespread injuries. When police arrested those
using violence, the US claimed Venezuela opposed free speech and
protests.
The
opposition tried to use the crack down against violence to achieve
the US tactic of dividing the military. The US and western media
ignored opposition violence and blamed the Venezuelan government
instead. Violence became so extreme it looked like the opposition was
pushing Venezuela into a Syrian-type civil war. Instead, opposition
violence backfired on them.
Violent
protests are part of US regime change repertoire. This was
demonstrated in the US coup in Ukraine, where the US spent $5 billion
to organize government opposition including US and EU funding violent
protesters. This tactic was used in early US coups like the 1953 Iran
coup of Prime Minister Mossadegh. The US has admitted organizing this
coup that ended Iran’s brief experience with democracy. Like
Venezuela, a key reason for the Iran coup was control of the nation’s
oil.
Funding
Opposition
There
has been massive US investment in creating opposition to the
Venezuelan government. Tens of millions of dollars have been openly
spent through USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy and other
related US regime change agencies. It is unknown how much the CIA has
spent from its secret budget, but the CIA has also been involved in
Venezuela. Current CIA director, Mike Pompeo, said he is “hopeful
there can be a transition in Venezuela.”
The
United States has also educated leaders of opposition movements, e.g.
Leopoldo López was educated at private schools in the US, including
the CIA-associated Kenyon College. He was groomed at the Harvard
Kennedy School of Government and made repeated visits to the regime
change agency, the National Republican Institute.
Elections
While
the US calls Venezuela a dictatorship, it is in fact a strong
democracy with an excellent voting system. Election observers monitor
every election.
In 2016,
the economic crisis led to the opposition winning a majority in the
National Assembly. One of their first acts was to pass an amnesty
law. The law described 17 years of crimes including violent felonies
and terrorism committed by the opposition. It was an admission of
crimes back to the 2002 coup and through 2016. The law demonstrated
violent treason against Venezuela. One month later, the Supreme Court
of Venezuela ruled the amnesty law was unconstitutional. US media,
regime change advocates and anti-Venezuela human rights groups
attacked the Supreme Court decision, showing their alliance with the
admitted criminals.
Years of
violent protests and regime change attempts, and then admitting their
crimes in an amnesty bill, have caused those opposed to the
Bolivarian Revolution to lose power and become unpopular. In three
recent elections Maduro’s party won regional, local and the
Constituent Assembly elections.
The
electoral commission announced the presidential election will be held
on April 22. Maduro will run for re-election with the United
Socialist Party. Opposition leaders such as Henry Ramos and Henri
Falcon have expressed interest in running, but the opposition has not
decided whether to participate. Henrique Capriles, who narrowly lost
to Maduro in the last election, was banned from running for office
because of irregularities in his campaign, including taking foreign
donations. Capriles has been a leader of the violent protests. When
his ban was announced he called for protests to remove Maduro from
office. Also banned was Leopoldo Lopez, another leader of the violent
protests who is under house arrest serving a thirteen year sentence
for inciting violence.
Now, the
United States says it will not recognize the presidential election
and urges a military coup. For two years, the opposition demanded
presidential elections, but now it is unclear whether they will
participate. They know they are unpopular and Maduro is likely to be
re-elected.
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