| Now that the attempts by Venezuela’s coup-mongering opposition to oust the Maduro government using brutal economic sanctions recommended by them and imposed primarily by the Trump administration have failed, the latest tactic is to request negotiations with the Maduro government with a view to organizing “free, fair and transparent elections” with the carrot of having the sanctions lifted. The point is that the opposition recognized by Washington, Brussels and Ottawa is just one part of a fragmented opposition to Maduro and has little hope of gaining power even if Maduro were to agree to such demands. In the December 2020 parliamentary elections, there were 277 seats contested and the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) won 253 seats and now controls the national legislature. Part of the reason for this electoral thrashing is that the fragmented opposition did not present any coherent policies except for “Maduro is to blame for everything” and cried fraud before the elections had even been organized. They did not recognize the interim Electoral Council that was appointed by the Supreme Court in line with constitutional mandates, and then, to cap it all, told their supporters not to vote. Ironically, after the election no-one cried fraud and the elections were endorsed by international observers present. Elections in November and a Repeat of 2017 There are mega-elections due on November 18 in Venezuela for state governors, mayors, state and municipal legislators. There is a new Electoral Council elected by the parliament after negotiations with the 21 opposition deputies. Now, whether all the opposition will participate is unclear at the time of writing. A spokesperson for the First Justice Party, America de Gracia, said in an interview that his party would participate if presidential elections were held at the same time. This will not happen as such elections are due in December 2024. This attitude is a repeat of the 2017 tactics of the opposition - demanding early presidential elections. And when this was granted, they refused to participate and, once again, told their supporters not to vote. In effect, victory by 67% of the votes cast was handed on a silver platter to “he-who-is-to-blame-for-everything”, Nicolás Maduro Moros. Obviously, the US, EU, and Canada declared the elections were fraudulent (no evidence presented, as usual), the Maduro government illegitimate and proceeded to ratchet up sanctions with the radical Guaidó opposition baying for a US invasion to oust the “dictator Maduro”. More and harsher sanctions were imposed in an attempt to spark a mass uprising against the government. As readers know, none of this occurred. Death sentence for innocents However, what did occur was that the sanctions had their intended effect by devastating the economy. According to UN Human Rights expert Dr. Alfred De Zayas, the illegal sanctions that had prevented the Venezuelan government from purchasing medicines, have caused more than 100,000 Venezuelan to die as a direct result of this sanctions policy. Compare this number to the 3,000 Covid-19 related deaths in 15 months since the pandemic arrived in Venezuela and you get some idea of the scope and impact of the sanctions. Put yourself in Venezuela’s shoes just for one moment. Would you want to obey or negotiate with people who had promoted and demanded sanctions against their own countrymen? Or follow the edicts of more powerful nations just because the will of the Venezuelan people did not suit their interests and who contributed to what can accurately be termed genocide? Using disease and hunger as weapons is certainly not contributing to the improvement of people’s lives in Venezuela and in what is a massive policy contradiction, has in fact worsened human conditions in the country when the nations concerned, especially the US, expressed their concern for human rights in Venezuela and then actively and aggressively violated them. In summary, there will be no negotiations with any opposition party while the US, EU and Canada try to impose conditions on and interfere in the internal affairs of a sovereign country that has just celebrated 200 years of the final defeat of the Spanish Empire on its territory. Venezuela stopped being a US colony or a gas station on the northern cost of South America, in 1999 when President Chavez came to power and started the Bolivarian Revolution. Since the Obama edict of March 2015 classifying Venezuela as an “unusual threat to US security”, Venezuela has strengthened ties with China, Russia, Iran, and Turkey and been forced to produce more food. In his recent interview with Bloomberg, Maduro stated that Venezuela used to import 80% of the food it consumed, but now was producing 80% internally. So, as can be seen, sanctions have simply not worked in terms of overthrowing the government but have succeeded in killing many innocents. Maduro’s negotiation conditions For any sort of negotiations to be considered, Maduro has stipulated that sanctions must be lifted, all funds in western banks unfrozen, control returned to his government of CITGO, the petrochemical company Monómeros in Colombia and all overseas assets sequestered under orders of the US Treasury Department, including the gold held in the vaults of the Bank of England. Until then, preparations for November’s mega-elections will continue with no chance of any direct dialogue taking place. The only channel of communication being the negotiators of the Kingdom of Norway desperately trying to find common ground to defuse the political tensions plaguing Venezuela which have been endemic for more than 20 years. © Copyright 2021 by AxisofLogic.com This material is available for republication as long as reprints include verbatim copy of the article in its entirety, respecting its integrity. Reprints must cite the author and Axis of Logic as the original source including a "live link" to the article. Thank you! |