By *Jomo Sanga Thomas
(“Plain Talk” July 26, 2024)
On Sunday, Venezuelans will go to the polls to elect a president to serve for another six years. President Nicolas Maduro, who assumed office following the death of revolutionary hero Hugo Chavez, is being challenged by 74-year-old retired diplomat Edmundo González, broadly perceived as a darling of the local and foreign elite.
President Maduro is supported by 13 leftist parties, prominent among them is his United Socialist Party. The United States is working overtime to dislodge Maduro and the socialist experiment which began in 1998 with the election of Hugo Chavez. Chavez’s election launched the Bolivarian revolution, which heralded a process of change and transformation where, for the first time in the country’s history, the nation’s wealth and resources were committed and used for the benefit of the poor and working people.
Having hand-picked Gonzalez, who has been out of public life since 2002, opponents of the Maduro government are spending big, bankrolling political parties, NGOs and media outlets, all with the same goal: ousting Maduro and returning Venezuela into the U.S. sphere of influence.
To press home its case against Venezuela, the U.S. government is also continuing its campaign of economic warfare against the country, with crushing sanctions designed to make the economy scream and foster domestic resentment towards the Maduro administration.
The primary vehicle through which the U.S. supports overseas groups is the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). NED was created as a cover for what previously was done by the discredited Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It is estimated that the U.S. government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on regime change in Venezuela.
NED openly brags that it funds a network of activists, youth, intellectuals, and citizens whom it hopes will act as leaders for a return to neoliberal rule in the country. It claims that its training is designed to enhance youth’s leadership, organisational, and networking capacity to engage in the recovery of “democracy” and to foster international solidarity by raising the profiles and voices of youth leaders. A generation of pro-U.S. cadres and leaders capable of challenging the government is being cultivated and trained.
One thing is clear: The wealthy and powerful in Venezuela and the developed countries will not settle for anything less than the removal of President Maduro and his left coalition from power. Foreign puppeteers are pulling the strings and calling the shots. It must not be forgotten that in the 2018 presidential and legislative elections, opposition parties won the majority of seats in the national assembly, but President Maduro won a second term.
The National Assembly refused to accept Maduro’s election as president and instead nominated the obscure assemblyman, Juan Guido. When Guido was hoisted on the Venezuelan people, less than 20% of the citizens had heard of him. Guido’s nomination brought on a constitutional crisis. The United States and other Western governments supported the unpopular Guido, granting him billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets to steal and squander. Guido, voted out by his reactionary coalition in 2022, lives in the United States, having been made wealthy by his sponsors whose sole intent was to subvert Venezuela’s independence and sovereignty.
Pay attention to who respects democratic expressions. In 2007, the people voted against a referendum that sought to enlarge Hugo Chavez’s presidential powers. In 2015, opposition legislators won most of the seats in the National Assembly. On both occasions, the Chavistas accepted the sovereign will of the people.
As the July 28 poll draws near, President Maduro has repeatedly stated that he will respect the electorate’s choice, no matter what. “I believe in the electoral system, I believe in Venezuelan democracy, I believe in the people, and I believe in deep and true democracy. I’m ready,” he said.
Not so the opposition. The leading opposition candidate, Edmundo González, has refused to make a similar commitment. The opposition has never accepted any election loss. With the backing of foreign governments and the Western media, all defeats have been questioned. Worse, the opposition has repeatedly used periods of elections to sow turmoil and violence and to launch coup attempts. In 2021, the US tried to bride top government officials, including the interior and defence ministers. When the plot unravelled, the interior minister bolted for Miami. Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez announced that he was offered US$20 million to betray his country. He refused and remained loyal to the people. What was the US response? File an indictment accusing both Maduro and his defence minister of drug trafficking and placing a US$15 million bounty on their heads.
Clearly, the stakes are high. Will Maduro win a third term and be allowed to continue the socialist experiment Hugo Chavez began? During the last 26 years, millions of homes have been built for the poor and underprivileged in Venezuela. Education and health care were free. However, the efforts have been made difficult because of the policies of sabotage and strangulation pursued by the US and European Union.
In some ways, U.S. policies have succeeded. Millions of people are estimated to have left their homeland to earn a living in other countries. These powerful governments plan to make life so difficult for the people whom the government is trying to help that the poor and working people will reject and revolt against the Maduro government. Similar policies of blackmail, embargoes, and sanctions have been deployed against Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran and Russia.
This election may prove a turning point in Venezuelan politics. All peace-loving and independent-minded people should raise their voices and call on the big and powerful countries to cease their interference and sabotage of Venezuela’s internal affairs. The people should be allowed to vote without pressure and to live in peace.
*Jomo Sanga Thomas is a lawyer, journalist, social commentator and a former senator and Speaker of the House of Assembly in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The opinions presented in this content belong to the author and may not necessarily reflect the perspectives or editorial stance of iWitness News. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected].
Millions of people have fled from their beloved Venezuelan homeland for one simple reason: the Chavez socialist revolution has turned what was once the richest country in Latin America into one of the poorest, something that always happens when the Marxists take over, destroy capitalist free enterprise and steal one election after another because they despise wealth creation and democracy.
Sorry, but you have 0 knowledge about the Cuban and Venezuela Dictatorship, the people needs to be free, you need to live as a regular Cuban o Venezuelan people to know what is really socialism and communism, poverty, economy collapse, misery, social and political unfair, Venezuela this 28 is going to be freeeeeeee from the Dictator
Sometimes, like now, I get the impression you are a communist at heart Jomo. I don’t think the Venezuelan people are happy with Maduro, not because the USA will interfere with the elections or are against him but because almost half of the population have fled the starving and lacking in basic resources country. The fact of the matter is I don’t live in Venezuelan and really have no right to speak about Venezuelan politics but I do believe Maduro is a Marxist Communist and will do everything to remain in power, just like Gonsalves.
Jomo, trying to address what’s happening to the people of Venezuela, instead of talking about America’s interface in the country. Look at how many people left their homeland and rush to the American border. This is one reason America is looking for a change. The rush by South Americans is causing problem to America and the American people. That’s why Trump is zeroing on this topic.
Jomo you are a marist sympathizer and that’s your right of choice. However, when one speaks about the right to life and having the basics to sustain it. It is another thing. Life in Venezuela challenging at best even though it has the world’s largest deposit of oil. Jomo my recommendation is yo.pack your bag and relocate to Venezuela and you.will.see the hell hole that Maduro has created. Life in Venezuela is akin to hell on earth.
Maduro escalated the fight with Guyana only for one purpose only and that is to gain political leverage. Guyna eith its racist policies is also heading in that direction. When dictators assume power as in.our own ULP regime they know not when yo exit. All dictatorships have an end and so be it with the Ralph regime and Maduro.