In a televised address Saturday night, Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro revealed new information on the foiled coup attempt against his government, including accusations that the country’s opposition leaders were aware of the plans.…
In addition to attempting to bribe officials and politicians with cash and visas to enter the United States, the Venezuelan president expanded on the role played by the U.S. Embassy in the country, saying that the script read by coupplotters in a video they planned to air once the plan had been initiated was crafted by an advisor at the Embassy.…Telesur English
'Almost All' Opposition Leaders Knew About Venezuelan Coup Plot
Also Peter Koenig, The War on Venezuela's Democracy – A Thwarted Coup Attempt
Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a former World Bank staff and worked extensively around the world in the fields of environment and water resources.
12 comments:
The 'official' view, intended for domestic consumption:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/12/americas/venezuela-coup-attempt-foiled/
The Venezuelan "socialists" are digging their own grave. The only thing the opposition needs is an election.
From the CCN hit piece:
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Friday dismissed the claims.
"These latest accusations, like all previous such accusations, are ludicrous," Psaki said.
"As a matter of long-standing policy, the United States does not support political transitions by non-constitutional means. Political transitions must be democratic, constitutional, peaceful and legal.…"
Just who is being ludicrous here.
"The Venezuelan "socialists" are digging their own grave. The only thing the opposition needs is an election."
Funny that the socialists have won the past several elections if the opposition is so strong.
The reason the opposition is trying to overthrow the elected government is that it cannot win at the polls.
That was good for a laugh, wasn't it?
The reason the opposition is trying to overthrow the elected government is that it cannot win at the polls.
That was before the shortage of toilet paper. El Presidente has slumped in the polls since then, somewhat following the slump in oil prices. Corruption and mismanagement of the economy hasn't helped.
If there's no coup, the next elections will have to be called by 2019(?)
This thinking has Putting being overthrown by popular discontent as sanctions bite. The less privileged in Venezuela and the people of Russia are not in the dark about what's going on there, even through its easy to fool Americans reading about it and projecting.
Russia is not as dependent on oil revenue as Venezuela is. The polls don't look good for Madura, but polls can be wrong.
What advice can MMT offer for a country heavily dependent on oil revenue?
This is the problem of colonialism. Smaller and poorer countries are dependent on larger richer countries for support if they want to have a semblance of an economy that takes advantage of imports.
Being sovereign in their own currency helps domestically but not so much wrt to imports if they cannot obtain foreign exchange needed. So they have to cut deals. Venezuela has China on board. Thus the need in the eyes of the US for a coup.
For debt investors betting Venezuela will default this year as oil slumps, there is one big wildcard that threatens to sink the trade: China.
The Asian nation, whose $3.9 trillion in foreign reserves are the world’s largest, has a history of lending out money to Venezuela, having doled out $45 billion over the past decade. And it has a strong incentive to provide more -- Venezuela sits on the world’s biggest oil reserves while China is the top crude importer..
China Plays Wildcard in Bets on Venezuela Bond Default
This gives the Maduro government some space but like other resource export countries like Russia they need to create a broader and deeper domestic economy.
The problem here is that the upper educated classes that can do this don't want to do it in a socialistic environment but want to go back the status quo ante where they are own the place and call the shot and leave the sizable poor population on their own.
The MMT solution would be to use the available policy space to best advantage as well as extraordinary measures to stay viable while creating and extending relationships with countries like China in order to stay out of the grip of the American Empire, which wants to reimpose oligarchic "democracy," and make Venezuela a vassal state again.
To this end, the emerging countries of Latin America need to create a regional alliance that they allies with BRICS. Of course, the US is going to everything it can to oppose this.
The reality is that in the end the US can take over Venezuela anytime it wants but it doesn't want to seem too heavy handed in doing so. So some pretext will be created to give cover, as usual in the region.
Thanks, Tom.
It seems unlikely that the US was involved in any coup attempt. It is not impossible that there was a coup attempt, but the Chavez-Maduro crowd were thoroughly discredited by last year's brutality towards the student protestors, shortages in toilet paper and other basic goods, and troubles in the oil sector. Not to mention the well-founded evidence of high-level involvement in the drug trade (the speaker of the Venezuelan parliament being the head of a Narco State - http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/28/is-this-scandal-the-proof-that-venezuela-has-finally-become-a-narco-state/).
I don't think that the CIA is stupid -- it knows very well that it is enough for the US to stand pat and let Maduro lose the next election on his own. The real issue now is to what lengths the sclerotic Maduro régime is willing (and able) to go to stay in power -- eletoral fraud, intimidation and such are very likely. So the most likely option is that this is a complete fabrication by Maduro (unlike the earlier coup attempt against Chavez, which was abetted by foreign influences). Accusing "all opposition leaders" sets the ground for their imprisonment under trumped-up charges...
There seems to be a mistaken view among some of the posters here that Maduro is actually progressive. Let us be clear: Chavez and Maduro are almost as much caudillos as the right-wing military dictators who governed so many South-American nations in the later half of the last century. We are not talking about Nestor Kirchner, here, who lifted a quarter of his populace out of poverty with smart macroeconomic policies. We are not talking about the estimable Rafael Correa. Great democrats both. Despite their propaganda, Chavez and Maduro have long been in cahoots with the large oil companies, selling off assets to them that were nationalized by earlier régimes. By buying off the poor with guaranteed income payments, instead with jobs (via a Job Guarantee), their policies have also contributed to inflation. Maduro is facing Dutch disease, inflation, slef-evident charges of corruption, popular ire over the brutal repression of peaceful protestors. He can only stay in office through undemocratic means. As progressives, we have to be as critical of "left" authoritarian régimes as right-wing ones.
Foreign policy, published by the Council on Foreign Relations, is a neutral source? Really?
"He can only stay in office through undemocratic means."
He was democratically elected. He can only be removed by constitutional process.
What would happen in the US if a significant uprising of dissidents occurred. Well, history answers that quite clearly. They are brutalized by the security forces.
I as not for Saddam, for example, but I am against wars of aggression.
There is also a double standard on revolution. Revolutions that bring in "liberal" governments are OK like Pinochet are fine with the US ruling elite, even thought they overthrew a democratically elected government and installed a dictatorship, whereas revolutions led by communists like Castro are demonized, even though it was a popular revolt against repressive oligarchs.
Regardless of Chavez or Maduro, the issue is whether violent overthrow or removal of a democratically elected government through other than constitutional process is OK. I say no.
Same in Ukraine. Regardless of whether it was a coup, the sitting president was elected democratically and he was not removed by constitutional process and can claim to still be the legitimate head of state. If it were Mexico instead of the Ukraine, and a president favorable to US interests were overthrown illegitimately, does anyone think for a minute that the US would not intervene, militarily if necessary, as it tried to do in Cuba but botched the job.
History shows that the US policy is to advocate for democracy as long as the government is favorable to it, and when not to do its best to effect regime change. That makes a mockery of democracy and it is rank hypocrisy that undermines soft power and as a result forces use of hard power.
Tom,
A coup is not necessary given the current circumstances.
Marian,
Chavez's 21st century socialism model has long been criticized by the left. It was a 'revolution' that relied far too much on a brand of populism that could only be delivered by the man himself.
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