Venezuelan People Standing with Their Bolivarian Government and Armed Forces Repel Opposition Coup Attempt
May 1, 2019 rally in Caracas, Venezuela.
On May 1, it was reported that hundreds of thousands of
Venezuelan workers and supporters of the Bolivarian revolution
filled the streets of cities around the country in what is
reported to have been one of the country's biggest mobilizations
in years. May Day took on extra meaning this year coming just one
day after the people's forces played a decisive role in repelling
the latest attempt by foreign-backed opposition forces to
overthrow the country's constitutional government, coming out in
their tens of thousands to surround the presidential palace and
seat of the Bolivarian government as soon as news broke that a
coup attempt with the involvement of military forces was
underway.
In the early hours of April 30 the opposition leader and
self-proclaimed "president" Juan Guaidó sent out a message
calling his supporters into the streets, making it sound like a
significant section of Venezuela's military had switched sides
and taken over a military base in Caracas. But the truth was
something else. Except for a very small number of officers who
broke ranks, the Bolivarian Armed Forces stood firm in defence of
the constitution and remained loyal to their Commander-in-Chief,
President Nicolás Maduro. What's more, the handful of senior
officers involved in organizing the mutiny lied to their
subordinates to trick them into taking part in their treasonous
mission, claiming it was for a different, legitimate purpose.
When it became clear to those being manipulated what they would
be part of, the vast majority wanted nothing to do with it, and
took off. One National Guard member was filmed testifying about
what had taken place and who put them up to it.
The response of the working people to the treachery that
unfolded on April 30 was swift and decisive. They rose to
repudiate the coup forces and their foreign sponsors by
surrounding Miraflores Palace, determined to defend the right of
all Venezuelans to live in peace, as a sovereign and independent
people, free to elect governments of their choosing and to chart
their own course without bowing to imperialist threats and
interference.
In response to attempted coup April 30, 2019, working people surround
Miraflores Palace.
The only liberation that ended up taking place as part
of "Operation Freedom" as the coup attempt was called, was that of
Leopoldo López, Juan Guaidó's mentor and leader of the
Popular Will party that both belong to, who was sprung from house
arrest, allegedly with the help of turncoat officers of the National
Intelligence Service.
Within a few hours of being summoned to the streets, a
large
crowd of opposition supporters that gathered in an affluent area
of Caracas had dispersed, being blocked from marching on
Miraflores to confront government supporters and security forces
protecting it.
 By early afternoon a handful
of renegade armed forces
members,
a few opposition politicians and a couple of hundred vandals
commanded by López and Guaidó, having seized control of
nothing,
found themselves alone and cut off on the overpass of a freeway,
some firing weapons, others hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails
at the nearby military base before scurrying off to save their
skins. The escaped convict López first headed for the Chilean
Embassy then to the residence of the Spanish ambassador where he
and his family remain as "guests." Twenty-five members of the
military took refuge in the Brazilian Embassy.
Despite the debacle he presided over on April 30,
Guaidó
called on his supporters to rally in the streets again on May 1
and every day after that to continue with the "final phase" of
"Operation Freedom" saying they should stage rolling strikes
building to an eventual general strike. While an opposition
counter-demonstration to the massive Workers' Day march led by
President Maduro did take place on May 1, it was reported by
observers to have fallen far short of being the "largest march in
Venezuela's history" that Guaidó called for.
What the call for ongoing opposition street actions
likely
signals, despite the rhetoric of Guaidó and those he takes
direction from about a "peaceful transition," is that the foreign
and domestic oligarchs behind the cruel hybrid war being waged
against the Venezuelan people are planning to unleash a new round
of destabilizing street violence like the deadly "guarimbas" of
2014 and 2017. The aim will be to generate casualties so Nicolás
Maduro can be blamed for "brutally repressing peaceful democracy
activists"-- no matter what the facts are -- to provide a
justification for whatever new aggressive moves the U.S. and its
appeasers decide to make.
U.S. Responds to Failed Coup Attempt
Bolivarian armed forces ratify their allegiance to President Maduro,
May 2, 2019.
The Trump administration showed itself to be intimately
involved with the coup attempt in many ways. When its efforts
failed to produce the desired result, with Venezuela's Minister
of Defence and other high officials spurning U.S. attempts to buy
them off as if they were mercenaries with no honour, the White
House ramped up its psychological warfare. The serial liars John
Bolton and Elliot Abrams began spinning stories of a "deal" they
had allegedly gotten for Maduro to step down until Russia stepped
in and told him not to, and other tales about widespread mistrust
and looming betrayals in government and military circles.
For his part, President Trump chose to blame Cuba for
the
inability of the U.S. and forces it commands to make headway in
overthrowing the government of Nicolás Maduro. He threatened
Cuba
with a "full and complete embargo" and "the highest-level
sanctions" if it did not stop what he called its "military
interference" in Venezuela, ignoring what Cuba has declared many
times over: that it has no troops in Venezuela, and that there
are no Cubans taking part in military or security operations
there, which, it adds, U.S. intelligence agencies well know.
Lima Group Responds
The illegitimacy and gangsterism of the Lima Group and
its
members, including Canada, has also been on full display. After a
hastily organized teleconference on April 30, ten of its members
plus Guaidó's envoy claiming to represent Venezuela, issued a
statement expressing their "full support for the constitutional
and popular process undertaken by the Venezuelan people, under
the leadership of the interim president, Juan Guaidó, to restore
democracy in Venezuela," insisting that the attempt by Guaidó
and
Leopoldo López to put themselves at the head of an armed
insurrection to overthrow the country's
constitutional government, and possibly incite a civil war, could not
be
considered a coup d'etat!
A second statement, issued at an emergency meeting held
on May
3 in Lima, following the same twisted logic, claims that the
failed coup was undertaken to "peacefully restore the rule of
law" in Venezuela. It also attempts, without evidence, to
associate the "regime" of Nicolás Maduro as well as his family
members and supporters with all manner of criminal activity,
including being a "threat" for supposedly offering protection to
"terrorist groups operating inside Colombian territory." The
statement goes on, obviously trying to portray Venezuela as an
outlaw state and make a case for the UN Security Council to
authorize action against it, alluding, without any evidence, to
Venezuela supposedly attempting to "destabilize Colombian
institutions," "threaten the life and safety of President Ivan
Duque" and to "undermine regional security." Venezuela's Foreign
Minister Jorge Arreaza recently warned about Duque attempting to
mount a "false positive" against Venezuela in this way -- the
implication being that it would be used to justify a military
intervention against Venezuela.
A new element introduced in the Lima Group's May 3
statement
is its agreement "to undertake all necessary actions in order for
Cuba to participate in the search for a solution to the
Venezuelan crisis." The same day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
posted a news item on his web page indicating that he had on
behalf of the Lima Group discussed "the ongoing crisis in
Venezuela" with President Miguel Díaz-Canel of Cuba, and
"underscor[ed] the desire to see free and fair elections and the
constitution upheld." Referring to their discussion about
Venezuela, President Díaz-Canel said, "I emphasized the need for
dialogue with President Maduro based on respect for the
sovereignty of Venezuela and international law, without threats
or foreign intervention."
CARICOM Responds
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) also released a
statement on
May 3 in which it said "[T]he solution to the crisis in Venezuela
should be a peaceful internal process that avoids the threat or
use of force." It said CARICOM "will continue to monitor the
situation and remains convinced that the principles of
non-interference and non-intervention in the affairs of states,
respect for sovereignty, the constitutional framework, adherence
to the rule of law, and respect for human rights and democracy
must be upheld."
CARICOM said it would continue to support diplomatic
efforts
such as the Montevideo Mechanism and would also continue to be in
contact with other interested parties to encourage efforts to
bring a peaceful solution to the crisis.
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number 16 - May 4, 2019
Article Link:
Venezuelan People Standing with Their Bolivarian Government and Armed Forces Repel Opposition Coup Attempt
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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