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WORLD NEWS Losing grip on power, Venezuela's Maduro leans on Cuban security forces: US officials https://linewsradio.com/losing-grip-on-power-venezuelas-maduro-leans-on-cuban-security-forces-us-officials/ http://abcnewsradioonline.com/world-news/

YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro is increasingly leaning on the protection and support of his Cuban backers, amid mounting global pressure to leave office, according to several senior U.S. officials.

Adm. Craig Faller, head of U.S. Southern Command, told U.S. senators on Thursday that Havana “owns the security around Maduro and is deeply entrenched in the intelligence service.”

The U.S. and dozens of other nations have recognized Juan Guaido, president of the country’s National Assembly, as Venezuela’s interim president, saying Maduro is no longer fit to govern. But despite international calls to step down and protests against his regime over the weekend, Maduro has clung to power, retaining allegiance from Venezuela’s military.

But while the military remains on his side, the Pentagon said it’s not the embattled president’s own forces ensuring his safety — it’s members of Cuba’s security service.

“I think it’s a good sense for where the loyalty of the Venezuelan people are that his immediate security force is made up of Cubans,” Faller told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Cuba is “inextricably intertwined in all areas of Venezuela,” he said.

Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the United Nations Security Council, “No regime has done more to sustain the nightmarish condition of the Venezuelan people than the regime in Havana.”

Elliott Abrams, the State Department’s newly appointed envoy for the country, was more blunt, telling ABC News last week, “The only people willing to die for Maduro may be Cubans, who are his security guards.”

Maduro’s faith in his own military may continue to wane. The top Venezuelan air force general and the military attache in Washington already have defected from Maduro’s government, and Guaido has been quick to call for others to abandon the man who has governed Venezuela since 2013, promising amnesty in exchange.

But — at least for now — Maduro has the support of his armed forces, which has really kept him in power.

“I think Maduro relies on more than just the Cuban people around him to stay in power,” Ted Piccone, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told ABC News. “The Venezuela military is fragmenting a little bit, but still unified at least at the senior level behind Maduro.”

If that changes, Maduro could be forced to leave the country entirely, and Abrams suggested he could find safe haven with “friends” like Cuba or Russia.

Cuba has long involved itself in Venezuela, but the relationship became particularly close after Venezuela’s former president, Hugo Chavez, came to power two decades ago.

“The Cuba-Venezuela relationship is very close and has been this way since Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro embraced each other,” Piccone said, describing it as a son-father relationship.

Havana benefited from subsidized oil from Venezuela that floated Cuba’s economy for a long time, he added. In return, Cuba provided social welfare services, including hundreds of doctors, to Venezuela.

But the nation also sent its security and intelligence advisers, who have trained and influenced Venezuela’s military.

“Russia and Cuba are both complicit in Venezuela’s descent into dictatorship, but Cuba is particularly influential in supporting Maduro,” Faller wrote in written testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Following the Cuban government’s advice and assisted by its intelligence machinery, Maduro is adhering to the autocratic blueprint Cuban leaders have ruthlessly executed for over six decades.”

Piccone warned that even if Maduro transitions out of power, the Venezuelan military won’t “suddenly become pro-American overnight.”

“It’s going to take some time for that to happen,” he said.

The next anti-Maduro protest in Venezuela is scheduled for Tuesday.</s>Venezuelan Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez unveiled material which suggests a coup involving military personnel and politicians yesterday. Mr Rodriguez revealed recently-arrested Colonel Oswaldo Garcia admitted US officials were planning a military operation against Maduro this year. The Communications Minister also revealed Mr Garcia had visited Washington on multiple occasions and held further meetings in Brazil and Colombia to formulate plans to overthrow Maduro.

Donald Trump has condemned the Maduro regime and thrown his support behind opposition leader Juan Guaido while also indicating military action is a possibility. He said: “Military action is something that’s on the table and is an option.” Mr Garcia was also a part of an unsuccessful attempt to unseat Maduro last year. Upon his arrest, he was apparently found in possession of contraband incriminating in a new coup attempt while he admitted to plotting a military intervention with the help of Colombia and the US. READ MORE: Venezuela black market: How Venezuela's black market has REPLACED bank

Also implicated in Mr Garcia’s alleged coup attempt was Miami resident, Osman Delgado who has been accused of being “one of the financiers of the terrorist teams” tasked with eliminating Maduro. Maduro has portrayed the US as the main villain for the unrest in the country and has blamed them for anti-government movements in 2018, 2014 and 2002. The current Venezuelan President has stood firm against ongoing pressure from the US to step down from his position and has rallied the military behind him as they remain key to his support. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently said: “I’m convinced that many of the individuals that are inside the Venezuelan military don’t want to do harm to their brothers and sisters, to their children and their grandparents. READ MORE: Venezuela gold: Why does Venezuela have a store of GOLD in London?

“I think they care about the Venezuelan people, too. I think over time they will come to see that Maduro’s time is up and change should be at hand.” The US has imposed heavy sanctions on the South American country recently as it looks to oust Maduro. US national security adviser John Bolton recently announced the US was syphoning off funds from its Citgo Petroleum Corporation oil refiner - which is majority owned by a Venezuelan state-owned company - in order to cut off Maduro’s main source of funds. The US has, however, sent aid to Venezuela which has arrived in Colombia. Unfortunately for the Venezuelan public, Maduro has blocked the entry of any US humanitarian aid into the country.</s>Yuri Cortez, AFP | The president of Venezuela's National Assembly and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido speaks during an exclusive interview with AFP in Caracas on February 8, 2019.

Venezuela’s self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido refused to rule out on Friday the possibility of authorizing United States intervention to help force President Nicolas Maduro from power and alleviate a humanitarian crisis.

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National Assembly leader Guaido told AFP he would do “everything that is necessary... to save human lives,” acknowledging that US intervention is “a very controversial subject.”

The opposition leader launched a bid to oust Maduro last month, declaring himself interim president, a move recognized by the US and around 40 other countries, including 20 from the European Union.

Under Maduro’s stewardship, oil-rich Venezuela’s economy has collapsed leaving the country wracked by hyperinflation, recession and shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine.

“We’re going to do everything that has a lower social cost, that generates governability and stability to deal with the emergency,” said Guaido, 35.

He is trying to bring in food and medicines from the US but the supplies are stuck in warehouses in Colombia because the Venezuelan military has blocked their entry.

Earlier, Maduro vowed not to let in “fake humanitarian aid” and claimed Venezuela’s crisis has been “fabricated by Washington” to justify intervention.

Guaido says 300,000 people could die if desperately-needed aid isn’t brought in.

‘Sanitation emergency’

And he said a first attempt to bring in the aid should be made next week.

“The first stage is containing the sanitation emergency. Two days ago eight children under three lost their lives ... dehydrated, malnourished,” said Guaido.

Failing public services including water, electricity and transport are among Venezuela’s worst problems, while there is also a shortage of doctors and medical supplies in hospitals.

Helping the needy is not Guaido’s only aim, though.

He has dismissed Maduro as illegitimate over his reelection last May in polls branded a fraud by the US, EU and many Latin American countries.

Guaido says the constitution allows him to assume power, set up a transitional government and hold new elections one of his key demands that has received widespread international support.

“We’ll do everything we have to in a sovereign and autonomous manner to achieve an end to the usurpation, a transitional government and free elections,” he said.

‘Crime against humanity’

And he still has faith that the military can be won over, appealing to their sense of humanity.

“The armed forces have a huge dilemma, whether or not to accept the aid. It would be almost miserable at this point of huge necessity not to accept it,” he said.

“Inhibiting the entry of this aid could be seen as a crime against humanity.”

Guaido said the military has to decide whether to “take the side of the constitution” or to “continue on the side of an increasingly isolated dictator.”

But he said “fear” was preventing more top ranking members of the armed forces from switching sides and joining air force general Francisco Yanez who last weekend disavowed Maduro.

“We’ve seen some National Guard sergeants who’ve shown unhappiness and they’re being tortured. One of the sergeants’ relatives is missing.”

Consultants Eurasia Group said on Thursday that Maduro’s traditonal allies Russia and China are “unlikely to lend (him) meaningful support,” reinforcing its view that the socialist leader “will be unable to sustain his regime.”

Guaido agrees that no-one will come to Maduro’s rescue.

“I’m not very worried... Maduro hasn’t had a new line of credit since 2016,” said Guaido.

“I’m sure that Moscow as much as Beijing is very aware of the situation in Venezuela, that Maduro doesn’t have popular support, the he can’t stabilize the economy... all the while holding the biggest oil reserves in the world.”

(AFP)</s>From the very beginning of the political crisis in Venezuela, the United States made it clear it was supporting the head of the opposition-led National Assembly, Juan Guaido, who declared himself the Latin American country's interim president. Since then, Washington has been pressuring Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's incumbent president, to resign.

US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams has suggested that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro should leave the country, and such "friends" as Cuba or Russia would gladly accept him.

"I think it is better for the transition to democracy in Venezuela that he be outside the country. And there are a number of countries that I think would be willing to accept him. He's got friends in places like Cuba and Russia. And there are some other countries, actually, that have come to us privately and said they'd be willing to take members of the current illegitimate regime if it would help the transition", he said, refusing to name those countries.

Abrams reiterated the Trump administration's viewpoint, insisting that Maduro should step aside in favour of self-proclaimed interim president and opposition leader Juan Guaido:

"The end game for him should be to leave power, and the sooner the better. Because his own situation is only going to decline the longer he clings to power and the more misery there is in Venezuela".

Slightly over a week ago, White House National Security Adviser John Bolton took to Twitter to express hope that Maduro and his senior aides would retire and live on a "nice beach somewhere far from Venezuela":

On 7 February, Nicolas Maduro appeared at Plaza Bolivar in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas during a campaign to collect signatures against a US intervention.

The move came just days after Trump stated that a military intervention in Venezuela was "an option", adding that he had turned down Maduro's request for a meeting several months ago.

Maduro has accused the Trump administration of attempting to sabotage his government and orchestrating a coup d'etat, subsequently severing diplomatic relations with the United States.

Washington, on the other hand, has only ramped up its pressure on the Maduro government, having imposed sanctions against the country's state-run oil and gas giant PDVSA, and passing control over some frozen assets held by US-insured banks to Guaido.

While Maduro slammed the restrictions as illegal, the Venezuelan Supreme Court hit back by blocking Guaido's bank accounts and financial transactions within the country's jurisdiction, and imposed a travel ban on him until a probe into his activities is completed.

The United States, Canada, Israel, a handful of European countries and a number of South American nations have recognised Guaido as Venezuela's interim president, while Russia, Cuba, China, Iran, Turkey and several other nations have backed Maduro as the legitimately elected head of state.</s>YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro is increasingly leaning on the protection and support of his Cuban backers, amid mounting global pressure to leave office, according to several senior U.S. officials.

Adm. Craig Faller, head of U.S. Southern Command, told U.S. senators on Thursday that Havana “owns the security around Maduro and is deeply entrenched in the intelligence service.”

The U.S. and dozens of other nations have recognized Juan Guaido, president of the country’s National Assembly, as Venezuela’s interim president, saying Maduro is no longer fit to govern. But despite international calls to step down and protests against his regime over the weekend, Maduro has clung to power, retaining allegiance from Venezuela’s military.

But while the military remains on his side, the Pentagon said it’s not the embattled president’s own forces ensuring his safety — it’s members of Cuba’s security service.

“I think it’s a good sense for where the loyalty of the Venezuelan people are that his immediate security force is made up of Cubans,” Faller told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Cuba is “inextricably intertwined in all areas of Venezuela,” he said.

Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the United Nations Security Council, “No regime has done more to sustain the nightmarish condition of the Venezuelan people than the regime in Havana.”

Elliott Abrams, the State Department’s newly appointed envoy for the country, was more blunt, telling ABC News last week, “The only people willing to die for Maduro may be Cubans, who are his security guards.”

Maduro’s faith in his own military may continue to wane. The top Venezuelan air force general and the military attache in Washington already have defected from Maduro’s government, and Guaido has been quick to call for others to abandon the man who has governed Venezuela since 2013, promising amnesty in exchange.

But — at least for now — Maduro has the support of his armed forces, which has really kept him in power.

“I think Maduro relies on more than just the Cuban people around him to stay in power,” Ted Piccone, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told ABC News. “The Venezuela military is fragmenting a little bit, but still unified at least at the senior level behind Maduro.”

If that changes, Maduro could be forced to leave the country entirely, and Abrams suggested he could find safe haven with “friends” like Cuba or Russia.

Cuba has long involved itself in Venezuela, but the relationship became particularly close after Venezuela’s former president, Hugo Chavez, came to power two decades ago.

“The Cuba-Venezuela relationship is very close and has been this way since Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro embraced each other,” Piccone said, describing it as a son-father relationship.

Havana benefited from subsidized oil from Venezuela that floated Cuba’s economy for a long time, he added. In return, Cuba provided social welfare services, including hundreds of doctors, to Venezuela.

But the nation also sent its security and intelligence advisers, who have trained and influenced Venezuela’s military.

“Russia and Cuba are both complicit in Venezuela’s descent into dictatorship, but Cuba is particularly influential in supporting Maduro,” Faller wrote in written testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Following the Cuban government’s advice and assisted by its intelligence machinery, Maduro is adhering to the autocratic blueprint Cuban leaders have ruthlessly executed for over six decades.”

Piccone warned that even if Maduro transitions out of power, the Venezuelan military won’t “suddenly become pro-American overnight.”

“It’s going to take some time for that to happen,” he said.

The next anti-Maduro protest in Venezuela is scheduled for Tuesday.</s>US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams has suggested that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro should leave the country, and such "friends" as Cuba or Russia would gladly accept him.

"I think it is better for the transition to democracy in Venezuela that he be outside the country. And there are a number of countries that I think would be willing to accept him. He's got friends in places like Cuba and Russia. And there are some other countries, actually, that have come to us privately and said they'd be willing to take members of the current illegitimate regime if it would help the transition", he said, refusing to name those countries.

READ MORE: 'Stop Trump Coup': Roger Waters Slams US Actions in Venezuela as 'Insanity'

Abrams reiterated the Trump administration's viewpoint, insisting that Maduro should step aside in favour of self-proclaimed interim president and opposition leader Juan Guaido:

"The end game for him should be to leave power, and the sooner the better. Because his own situation is only going to decline the longer he clings to power and the more misery there is in Venezuela".

Slightly over a week ago, White House National Security Adviser John Bolton took to Twitter to express hope that Maduro and his senior aides would retire and live on a "nice beach somewhere far from Venezuela":

On 7 February, Nicolas Maduro appeared at Plaza Bolivar in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas during a campaign to collect signatures against a US intervention.

TWEET: "I thank people that came to Bolivar Square in Venezuela to sign a petition and speak against the interference of the US empire into the affairs of our Motherland. This is a wonderful manifestation of love and consciousness. We are going to collect 10 million signatures for peace!"

The move came just days after Trump stated that a military intervention in Venezuela was "an option", adding that he had turned down Maduro's request for a meeting several months ago.

Washington, on the other hand, has only ramped up its pressure on the Maduro government, having imposed sanctions against the country's state-run oil and gas giant PDVSA, and passing control over some frozen assets held by US-insured banks to Guaido.

While Maduro slammed the restrictions as illegal, the Venezuelan Supreme Court hit back by blocking Guaido's bank accounts and financial transactions within the country's jurisdiction, and imposed a travel ban on him until a probe into his activities is completed.

READ MORE: Maduro Accuses US of Using Humanitarian Crisis as Cover for Military Plans

The United States, Canada, Israel, a handful of European countries and a number of South American nations have recognised Guaido as Venezuela's interim president, while Russia, Cuba, China, Iran, Turkey and several other nations have backed Maduro as the legitimately elected head of state.</s>Venezuelan Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez unveiled material which suggests a coup involving military personnel and politicians yesterday. Mr Rodriguez revealed recently-arrested Colonel Oswaldo Garcia admitted US officials were planning a military operation against Maduro this year. The Communications Minister also revealed Mr Garcia had visited Washington on multiple occasions and held further meetings in Brazil and Colombia to formulate plans to overthrow Maduro.

Donald Trump has condemned the Maduro regime and thrown his support behind opposition leader Juan Guaido while also indicating military action is a possibility. He said: “Military action is something that’s on the table and is an option.” Mr Garcia was also a part of an unsuccessful attempt to unseat Maduro last year. Upon his arrest, he was apparently found in possession of contraband incriminating in a new coup attempt while he admitted to plotting a military intervention with the help of Colombia and the US. READ MORE: Venezuela black market: How Venezuela's black market has REPLACED bank

Also implicated in Mr Garcia’s alleged coup attempt was Miami resident, Osman Delgado who has been accused of being “one of the financiers of the terrorist teams” tasked with eliminating Maduro. Maduro has portrayed the US as the main villain for the unrest in the country and has blamed them for anti-government movements in 2018, 2014 and 2002. The current Venezuelan President has stood firm against ongoing pressure from the US to step down from his position and has rallied the military behind him as they remain key to his support. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently said: “I’m convinced that many of the individuals that are inside the Venezuelan military don’t want to do harm to their brothers and sisters, to their children and their grandparents. READ MORE: Venezuela gold: Why does Venezuela have a store of GOLD in London?

“I think they care about the Venezuelan people, too. I think over time they will come to see that Maduro’s time is up and change should be at hand.” The US has imposed heavy sanctions on the South American country recently as it looks to oust Maduro. US national security adviser John Bolton recently announced the US was syphoning off funds from its Citgo Petroleum Corporation oil refiner - which is majority owned by a Venezuelan state-owned company - in order to cut off Maduro’s main source of funds. The US has, however, sent aid to Venezuela which has arrived in Colombia. Unfortunately for the Venezuelan public, Maduro has blocked the entry of any US humanitarian aid into the country.</s>Maduro mocked his US counterpart, saying that the American government “steals money and then offers toilet paper." (President Donald Trump's actually threw paper towels into a crowd during his visit to post-hurricane Puerto Rico in Oct. 2017 .) He described the aid package as "a cheap show” that would make Venezuelans look like street beggars.

According to USAID, the shipment to the city of Cúcuta, on the Colombian border, includes more than $20 million in food, including high-protein, high energy nutritional supplements, and medical kits. Maduro responded by sending trucks to block the highways connecting the two countries.

His comments come as the crisis in Venezuela continues to spiral, with at least 40 people killed during recent protests, according to human rights groups, and growing unrest in working-class neighborhoods that had until recently provided loyal support to the government.

During an hour-how long press conference in the presidential palace in the Venezuelan capital, Maduro angrily denounced the US and warned the European Union not to “obey” Venezuela’s “extreme right.”

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro is refusing to allow aid into the country, calling humanitarian supplies a "rotten gift" that will fill it with the “poison of humiliation.”

The arrival of humanitarian aid at the Colombian border has become the latest flashpoint in Venezuela, which is suffering from crippling food shortages, and where inflation is expected to reach 10 million percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.

On Wednesday, the United Nations warned against politicizing aid to Venezuela.

Tensions between Maduro and Trump’s administration have been growing. Last month, the US levied sanctions on Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA in an attempt to cut the flow of foreign currency to Maduro’s government. Shortly after, White House National Security Advisor John Bolton appeared at a news conference clutching a yellow notebook where he had scribbled “5,000 troops to Colombia.”

Asked how his government would react to the possible arrival of troops on the Colombian border, Maduro said it was not his problem and suggested that women should remain alert because of possible “violations.”

The US “can bring two million soldiers” added Maduro. “Let them stay in Colombia.”

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News that Hezbollah — the Iranian-backed militant group — has a presence in Venezuela. During Friday’s press conference, Maduro denied having any links with the Lebanese group.

Pompeo has “spearheaded the aggression against Venezuela since he was the director of the CIA,” said Maduro. “He lives to plot ways to hurt us.”

After a year of mostly quiet resignation in Venezuela, the opposition got a second wind with the unexpected rise of Juan Guaidó, a lawmaker who declared himself president last month, citing a “vacuum of power.” The US, most Latin American countries and many European ones have since recognized Guaido as interim president.

A fresh spate of protests broke out on January 23rd. For the first time since former president Hugo Chávez rose to power in 1999, revolutionary strongholds — mostly working-class neighborhoods — joined the protests, marking what many analysts have called a point of no return for Maduro’s government.



Maduro summed up his position by paraphrasing “a John Lennon song,” as he put it — “We just ask for an opportunity for peace.”



This is a “strange sequence of events,” said Maduro after a power outage at the conference room in Miraflores Palace, the president's official workplace, in the middle of his presentation. For nearly a minute, the room was left in darkness, Maduro’s microphone became inaudible and the TV screens went black.

Security agents, including one carrying a collapsible bulletproof shield, became agitated and a Maduro staffer asked photographers to put their cameras down during the outage.

"Someone fears our truth," Maduro said, while he waited for the power to be restored.</s>February 08, 2019 “Information Clearing House” – Donald Trump imagines Juan Guaidó is the rightful president of Venezuela. Mr. Guaidó, a man of impeccable illegitimacy, was by Cohen and Blumenthal as “a product of a decade-long project overseen by Washington’s elite regime change trainers.” Argentinian sociologist Marco Teruggi described Guaidó in the same article as “a character that has been for this circumstance” of regime change. Here, his constitutional credentials to be interim president of Venezuela are deconstructed.

Educated at George Washington University in DC, Guaidó was virtually unknown in his native Venezuela before being thrust on to the world stage in a rapidly unfolding series of events. In a conducted a little more than a week before Guaidó appointed himself president of the country, 81% of Venezuelans had never even heard of the 35-year-old.

To make a short story shorter, US Vice President Pence phoned Guaidó on the evening of January 22rd and presumably asked him how’d he like to be made president of Venezuela. The next day, Guaidó announced that he considered himself president of Venezuela, followed within minutes by US President Trump confirming the self-appointment.

A few weeks before on January 5, Guaidó had been installed as president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, their unicameral legislature. He had been elected to the assembly from a coastal district with 26% of the vote. It was his party’s turn for the presidency of the body, and he was hand-picked for the position. Guaidó, even within his own party, was not in the top leadership.

 Although anointed by Trump and company, Guaidó’s Popular Will Party is not representative of the “Venezuelan opposition,” which is a fractious bunch whose hatred of Maduro is only matched by their abhorrence of each other. Leading opposition candidate Henri Falcón, who ran against Maduro in 2018 on a neoliberal austerity platform, had been vehemently opposed by Popular Will who demanded that he join their US-backed boycott of the election.Guaidó’s party, Popular Will, is a far-right marginal group whose most enthusiastic boosters are John Bolton, Elliott Abrams, and Mike Pompeo. Popular Will had adopted a strategy of regime change by extra-parliamentary means rather than engage in the democratic electoral process and had not participated in recent Venezuelan elections.

The Venezuelan news outlet, Ultimas Noticias, reported that prominent opposition politician Henrique Capriles, who had run against Maduro in 2013, “affirmed during an interview that the majority of opposition parties did not agree with the self-swearing in of Juan Guaidó as interim president of the country.” Claudio Fermin, president of the party Solutions for Venezuela, wrote “we believe in the vote, in dialogue, we believe in coming to an understanding, we believe Venezuelans need to part ways with the extremist sectors that only offer hatred, revenge, lynching.” Key opposition governor of the State of Táchira, Laidy Gómez, has rejected Guaidó’s support of intervention by the US, warning that it “would generate death of Venezuelans.”

The Guaidó/Trump cabal does not reflect the democratic consensus in Venezuela, where polls consistently show super majorities . Popular opinion in Venezuela supports negotiations between the government and the opposition as proposed by Mexico, Uruguay, and the Vatican. The Maduro administration has embraced the negotiations as a peaceful solution to the crisis facing Venezuela.

The US government , in the words of Vice President Pence: “This is no time for dialogue; this is time for action.” This intransigent position is faithfully echoed by Guaidó. So while most Venezuelans want peace, the self-appointed president, backed by the full force of US military power, wrote in a op-ed that it was possible to “end the Maduro regime with a minimum of bloodshed.”

The Guaidó/Trump cabal’s fig leaf for legitimacy is based on the that Article 233 of the gives the National Assembly the power to declare a national president’s “abandonment” of the office. In which case, the president of the National Assembly can serve as an interim national president, until presidential elections are held. The inconvenient truth is that Maduro has shown no inclination to abandon his post, and the constitution says no such thing.

In fact, the grounds for replacing a president are very clearly laid out in the first paragraph of of the Venezuelan constitution and do not include fraudulent or illegitimate election, which is what the cabal has been claiming. In the convoluted logic of the US government and its epigones, if the people elect someone the cabal doesn’t like, the election is by definition fraudulent and the democratically elected winner is ipso facto a dictator.

The function of adjudicating the validity of an election, as in any country, is to be dealt with through court challenges, not by turning to Donald Trump for his approval. And certainly not by anointing an individual from a party that could have run in the 2018 election but decided to boycott.

The Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ), which is the separate supreme court branch of the Venezuelan government has certified Maduro’s reelection, as have independent international observers. Further, no appeal was filed by any of the boycotting parties, while all participating parties – including opposition ones – signed off on the validity of the election after the polls closed.

The far-right opposition has boycotted the high court as well as the electoral process. They contest the legitimacy of the TSJ because some members of the TSJ were appointed by a lame duck National Assembly favorable to Maduro, after a new National Assembly with a majority in opposition had been elected in December 2015 but not yet seated.

Even if President Maduro were somehow deemed to have experienced what is termed a falta absoluta (i.e., some sort of void in the presidency due to death, insanity, absence, etc.), the National Assembly president is only authorized to take over if the falta absoluta occurs before the lawful president “takes possession.” However, Maduro was already “in possession” before the January 10, 2019 presidential inauguration and even before the May 10, 2018 presidential election. Maduro had won the presidency in the 2013 election and ran and won reelection last May.

If the falta absoluta is deemed to have occurred during the first four years of the presidential term, the vice president takes over. Then the constitution decrees that a snap election for the presidency must be held within 30 days. This is what happened when President Hugo Chávez died while in office in 2013. Then Vice President Nicolás Maduro succeeded to the presidency, called for new elections, and was elected by the people of Venezuela.

If it is deemed that the falta absoluta occurred during the last two years of the six-year presidential term, the vice president serves until the end of the term, according to the Venezuelan constitution. And if the time of the alleged falta absoluta is unclear – when Maduro presided over “illegitimate” elections in 2018, as is claimed by the far-right opposition – it is up to the TSJ to decide, not the head of the National Assembly or even such an august authority as US Senator Marco Rubio. Or the craven US press (too numerous to cite), which without bothering to read the plain language of the Bolivarian Constitution, repeatedly refers to Guaidó as the “constitutionally authorized” or “legitimate” president.

As Alfred de Zayas, United Nations independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, tweeted: “Article 233 of the Venezuelan constitution is inapplicable and cannot be twisted into legitimizing Guaidó’s self-proclamation as interim President. A coup is a coup.”

Roger Harris with the and the Campaign to End US/Canada Sanctions Against Venezuela .

This article was originally published by “The Council on Hemispheric Affairs” –</s>Donald Trump’s top Latin America adviser has claimed “there is not a single scenario” in which Nicolás Maduro and his “cronies” are able to retain power in Venezuela.

The revolt against Maduro’s regime is entering its forth week, with the Venezuelan strongman showing no sign of relinquishing power despite a startling and largely unforeseen challenge from a previously obscure opposition leader called Juan Guaidó.

An anticipated large-scale military abandonment of Hugo Chávez’s heir has not materialized despite Guaidó – who is now recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate interim president by most western governments – repeatedly touting an amnesty for the armed forces.

However, in an interview with Latin American journalists in Washington, the National Security Council’s senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs insisted Maduro’s demise was a foregone conclusion.

“The path we are going down is irreversible … The question is no longer if Maduro accepts this or not, it’s how long it will take him to accept it,” Mauricio Claver-Carone said.

Claver-Carone, a conservative Cuban-American lawyer, renewed US calls for Venezuela’s military top brass to ditch Maduro, claiming the White House would not “persecute” those who backed “a peaceful and democratic transition”. “We are not in the business of revenge, nor are we seeking to settle scores.”

Maduro’s domestic and international foes are adamant he is doomed. Colombia’s foreign minister, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, last week branded Maduro’s regime “an unburied corpse”.

But many observers believe Guaidó’s opposition movement will be frustrated not to have seen more military defections.

With a new round of opposition protests planned for Tuesday, Venezuela expert Moisés Naím admitted it was impossible to predict Maduro’s fate.

“We are living in maximum uncertainty. He could be gone tomorrow or he could be around for the next few months,” said Naím, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former Venezuelan minister.

And whatever happens to Chávez’s heir, it is not guaranteed his regime would fall with him, with some believing a rival Chavista could emerge as an internal challenger.

“One scenario is that Maduro leaves, but the regime stays,” Naím said, pointing to what he believed was a fierce and long-running behind-the-scenes struggle for control of Chavismo.

“It is a battle of the socialist billionaires for survival.”

Nicmer Evans, a longtime Chavista who split with the movement in 2013, agreed that while Maduro was down, the political movement he inherited after Chávez’s 2013 death was not yet out.

“Maduro might kill [Chavismo] but it’s still not dead. It’s in critical condition. It’s a wounded animal. It’s in power, it can respond, it is capable of harming – but it is agonizing,” Evans said.

Maduro has been hit hard by sweeping US oil sanctions intended to asphyxiate his regime although Venezuela’s state-run oil giant, Pdvsa, is reportedly now asking customers to make payments into a newly-opened account in Russia in order to sidestep those prohibitions.

Another challenge is expected in the coming days with opposition leaders currently stockpiling US humanitarian aid on the Colombian border which they vow to bring into Venezuela.

On Friday Maduro insisted the aid convoy would not be allowed in, calling it a “a rotten gift” and an imperialist military provocation designed to destabilize his government.

Speaking in Caracas on Sunday, Guaidó urged the military to ignore Maduro’s “ridiculous” order to block the aid. “Today we can save lives in Venezuela,” he told reporters.

Guaidó echoed Claver-Carone’s claim that time was running out for Maduro. “Every day that passes … is a victory for democracy that brings us closer to the freedom of Venezuela.”
Venezuela's interim President Juan Guaidó says he will not rule out seeking the help of the United States military to remove Nicolás Maduro from power.