By Ángel Guerra Cabrera on May 9, 2019
Photo: Bill Hackwell
After the failed coup attempt by Leopoldo López and Juan Guaidó at the Altamira distributor in Caracas, without the Bolivarian military needing to fire a shot to deactivate it, some hegemonic media have been forced to explain the causes of the disaster. It should be noted that more than three months after his self-proclamation, not a single one of the so called interim president’s initiatives has been successful, despite the fact that Washington directs each of his steps and he enjoys the full and complete support of the corporate media. The term civic-military rebellion for the failed skirmish that was coined by CNN in Spanish, is very comical, but nevertheless was picked up and pedaled by media outlets of the U.S. war propaganda apparatus.
The greatest failure of the coup plan, personally supervised by John Bolton and Elliott Abrams in real time, consisted in the meager response of the military – most of whom were deceived -, the absence of opponents despite the call made very early by the self-proclaimed president and also the fact that the Bolivarian National Armed Force kept its cohesion intact by not over reacting, contrary to what the White House, López and Guaidó expected. Without it, the goal of achieving the number of deaths in the fiasco, necessary to provoke a U.S. military intervention could not be achieved. Much less achieve the desired overthrow of President Nicolás Maduro.
Let’s read some pearls from the hegemonic media, unequivocally committed to the Venezuelan opposition and to the U.S. plan to overthrow Maduro. This one from El País in Madrid: “what was seen on Saturday in the streets of Caracas is the umpteenth example of a strategy that seems to have lost momentum despite the upheavals of the last few days. The action called by Guaidó for his followers to concentrate in the barracks and in the military bases with the purpose of convincing the uniforms to change sides had a merely symbolic result,” as El País was able to prove in the surroundings of the La Carlota air base and in the General Command of the Bolivarian National Guard, it only gathered hundreds of people who handed a document to some members of the armed forces.
Another one from Clarín of Buenos Aires: “About 10 hours after Juan Guaidó’s announcement about the ‘liberation’ of opposition leader Leopoldo López, little has changed in Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela; neither battalions full of jaded soldiers joining the popular rebellion, nor were the streets filled with opponents willing to reach the Miraflores Palace to put an end to what the head of Parliament and ‘president in charge’ calls ‘usurpation’, and much less, the falling of the Chavista regime. But here is another article written by Pablo Bifi as if this is a new discovery, “Military support for Maduro is key, but not the only leg that allows him to remain in power. It is undeniable that still, and in spite of the disarray of the economy that hits Chavistas and anti-Chavistas alike, the regime enjoys respectable support in sectors of society that live off the dream of the Bolivarian Revolution.”
The reason is that the revolution has deep roots in Venezuelan history and culture: Bolivarian, African, indigenous, peasant and worker struggles. It was cultivated with care by Hugo Chávez and his followers. The magisterium that the commander carried out from his weekly program Hello President, in his speeches and with the example of his life remained firmly rooted in the hearts and minds of Venezuelans. We cannot forget the practice of empowering the masses not only with the vote, but also with their influence in deciding the direction of the transformations. That is why Venezuela resists and why Trump and his puppets fail. Betrayals, like that of the head of Bolivarian intelligence, are not new in times of revolution nor do they change the destiny of any liberating enterprise.
What does a lot of damage to the heroic people that resists in Venezuela, like the people of Cuba, is the economic war, the so-called sanctions. That is their objective; to punish the people mercilessly in order to force them to rebel against the government. This is confirmed by the recent statement on the cases of Venezuela, Cuba and Iran by Idriss Jazairy, special rapporteur of the United Nations, on the impact of unilateral sanctions on human rights. Political differences between governments should never be resolved by inducing economic or humanitarian disasters on the population… resorting to such economic measures, for political purposes, violates human rights and international law, since they can precipitate humanitarian catastrophes of great proportions. It is time for the broadest and most generous solidarity with the peoples being subjected to Washington’s economic punishment. In particular, solidarity with Venezuela, where the empire urgently needs to put an end to utopia.
https://www.jornada.com.mx/2019/05/09/mundo/023a1mun
Source: La Jornada, translation, Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau