By Daniel Nardini
Juan Guaido was again sworn in as the interim president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, and is still considered the “legitimate” president of Venezuela. This is all nice and good, but the problem is that the one strong man Nicolas Maduro, who still controls the country (with the help of Russian mercenaries, Cuban spies and Chinese investors), has complete control over the Venezuelan armed forces and the gold reserves. Guaido essentially controls nothing. He does not have control over the Venezuelan armed forces, which is the key to keeping control over what control there is of the country today. I am sure that there are parts of Venezuela, like Somalia, that are in a state of anarchy with no one controlling them. What this means for the people in these places is that they have little to no food, little to no medicine, probably no schools operating, and they have the choice of either staying and maybe somehow surviving or leaving and finding a better way of life. And four million Venezuelans have fled the country.
As America is looking at the Middle East, Venezuela is still falling apart as two men vie for power of who will control a country that is dying. Guaido may have many followers and many ordinary Venezuelans who would prefer Guaido to Maduro. Fine, but again the power structure remains in the hands of Maduro, and he has made it clear he will not go. When the power structure turns against Maduro, as it did in Bolivia against the dictator Evo Morales, then Maduro would be gone. As long as the armed forces stay with Maduro (almost all of the Venezuelan generals have still sworn loyalty to Maduro), and most of those who run the government stay with Maduro, then Maduro is the de facto ruler of Venezuela.. To their credit, most of the police, armed forces and those in the Bolivian government knew that following Morales would have been suicidal, and simply ousted Morales. The ruling class in Bolivia saw that the country would have collapsed, would have seen millions of its own people flee across the rest of South America, and Bolivia would have gone to the point of no return. I have to wonder if this will happen to Venezuela. Can Venezuela be salvaged? Sadly, I see nothing changing with the slow death of Venezuela until and unless the power structure, or whatever is left of it, finally wakes up and does something to get rid of the dictatorship that is slowly killing the country. It will not matter if Juan Guaido is sworn in as interim president with no power and a dwindling number of followers because the power structure remains with the man who has real power to run the country however badly Maduro is running the country.
Still More Protests in Venezuela
By Daniel Nardini
As America is looking at the Middle East, Venezuela is still falling apart as two men vie for power of who will control a country that is dying. Guaido may have many followers and many ordinary Venezuelans who would prefer Guaido to Maduro. Fine, but again the power structure remains in the hands of Maduro, and he has made it clear he will not go. When the power structure turns against Maduro, as it did in Bolivia against the dictator Evo Morales, then Maduro would be gone. As long as the armed forces stay with Maduro (almost all of the Venezuelan generals have still sworn loyalty to Maduro), and most of those who run the government stay with Maduro, then Maduro is the de facto ruler of Venezuela.. To their credit, most of the police, armed forces and those in the Bolivian government knew that following Morales would have been suicidal, and simply ousted Morales. The ruling class in Bolivia saw that the country would have collapsed, would have seen millions of its own people flee across the rest of South America, and Bolivia would have gone to the point of no return. I have to wonder if this will happen to Venezuela. Can Venezuela be salvaged? Sadly, I see nothing changing with the slow death of Venezuela until and unless the power structure, or whatever is left of it, finally wakes up and does something to get rid of the dictatorship that is slowly killing the country. It will not matter if Juan Guaido is sworn in as interim president with no power and a dwindling number of followers because the power structure remains with the man who has real power to run the country however badly Maduro is running the country.