María Corina Machado says that Maduro has the support only of Venezuela’s high military command, “very reduced”
14ymedio, Madrid, August 8, 2024 — The Cuban ruling press remains committed to supporting the position of Nicolás Maduro’s regime regarding the result of the elections in Venezuela, criticized by a large part of the international community, including the moderate left. A note published on Tuesday by the State newspaper Granma calls, indirectly, for the Venezuelan president to stay in power, remembering Fidel Castro’s reaction after the coup d’état against Hugo Chávez in 2002. “Don’t resign! Don’t give up!” Castro told Chávez in the early morning of April 12 of that year, when he was able to contact him “after hours of unsuccessful attempts.”
Granma alludes to this alleged conversation, citing Chávez’s own story: “’Don’t go immolate yourself,’ he told me. ’Save your people and save yourself as much as you can; this doesn’t end here.’ And in the end he told me: ‘Here your people are waiting for you, here I am waiting for you. Save yourself, save yourself. I’ll wait for you here.'”
At that time, not mentioned by Granma, it was two years since the signing of the first bilateral agreement between the two countries, which guaranteed Cuba a constant supply of oil, vital for leaving the Special Period behind. This opened the door to the incursion of Cubans into the Government of Venezuela. In fact, after the failed 2002 coup d’état, according to the authors of “The Consented Invasion” (Debate, 2019), Chávez “decided to entrust the Cubans with intelligence tasks to shield him against future military conspiracies.”
Granma puts “the sanctimonious Latin American progressives and the media of the right” in the same bag
Granma argues that the then Venezuelan president “represented that ’bad example’ that the far right and the empire attack in the region,” and that “Fidel’s constant support and infallible advice in those dark times allowed Chávez to reset and prevent the formula they had tested against Allende from being fruitful in Venezuela.”
Nicolás Maduro placed the current Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, with those who overthrew Salvador Allende* and referred to him as a “pinochetista and coup leader.” Shortly before, Boric had declared at a press conference that he had no doubt that the Maduro regime “has attempted to commit fraud.”
Far from approaching Boric’s leftist position and following the line of Caracas, another note from Granma puts “the sanctimonious Latin American progressives and the media of the right” in the same bag. Because their focus is on the presidential elections of Venezuela, they are ignoring “the genocide in Gaza, the catastrophic collapse of Ukraine, the danger of a Third World War and the climate catastrophe.”
Another leftist, the special adviser to the Brazilian Presidency for international relations, Celso Amorim, made statements on Wednesday that also question Maduro’s position of not disclosing the voting records. “I think he understands that there will be a moment when people are fed up, which is not good for him. And if there is fatigue, there is a risk that Venezuela will end up with two presidents, or none,” said the former Brazilian Foreign Minister in an interview with the Globonews television channel as quoted by the EFE agency. The special advisor to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that he considers it “very regrettable that the electoral records” have not appeared and that he communicated that position to Maduro in the long conversation, of almost an hour, they had the day after the July 28 presidential elections in Venezuela.
He also said that he does not understand why Maduro decided to hand over the records to the Supreme Court of Justice instead of disclosing them: “I have to confess my ignorance because I don’t quite understand what Justice has to do with the records.”
Amorim expressed his fear about a worsening of the situation in Venezuela due to the deep division that the country is experiencing. Nevertheless, he clarified that he prefers not to use the expression “civil war” because it frightens him. “The worst case scenario is that we stay in this situation of condemning one or condemning the other. I’m very afraid that there may be a serious conflict. I don’t want to use the expression ’civil war,’ but I’m very afraid,” were his words.
“I’m very afraid that there may be a serious conflict. I don’t want to use the expression ’civil war,’ but I’m very afraid”
According to Amorim, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico came together to help Venezuela find a solution to the crisis; “because of the deep division that exists in the Caribbean country,” mediation will be necessary for the Government and the opposition to dialogue.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado was asked about this initiative on Wednesday, in a joint interview with several Venezuelan and Colombian independent media. “Unquestionably they have a channel of communication that others do not have with the regime, and I think they have remained in a prudent enough position to be able to maintain this dialogue,” says Machado, who does not rule out that facilitators from other countries may join.
However, regarding the leaks by sources published in some media, such as the Spanish newspaper El País, that allude to a possible pact between the authorities of the regime and the opposition but excluding her from it, Machado says that it is “pure speculation.” She added, “I have not heard that nor was it even insinuated by any of the people with whom I have spoken inside and outside the country. In the end, the leaders of the Venezuelans are chosen by Venezuelans; they are not chosen by the international community.”
The opposition leader also stated, in response to the questions of local journalists, that Maduro must understand that “his best option” is to “enter into a negotiation” with the anti-chavista majority, which insists on the victory of its standard-bearer, Edmundo González Urrutia.
Machado asked Amorim to “help them think” about new diplomatic initiatives to increase the pressure on the Government
In the opinion of Machado, González Urrutia’s main supporter, that dialogue process has to be based on “respect for the popular sovereignty exercised on July 28,” and although there is “still” no negotiation, there is “absolute willingness” on the part of the majority opposition, grouped under the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD).
She also said that, in those conversations, “guarantees and incentives would be offered so that, effectively, the transition flows in an orderly and stable way.” Although the call for a negotiation is not new, Machado reiterated it when the PUD denounced a “fraud” by the National Electoral Council (CNE). The CNE proclaimed Maduro as president-elect with 51.95% of the votes, and reported that González Urrutia obtained 43.18%, which the anti-chavista sector rejects, claiming to have 83.5% of the votes that demonstrate the victory of its standard-bearer.
Shortly before the interview, in a conversation with the president of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, Machado affirmed that Maduro has the support only of the military high command, and that “they are not many.” “The only thing he has left is a very small number of military personnel from the high command. Even in our armed forces, our police forces, the PSUV [the ruling party], they are not with him, because they don’t want violence and they don’t want a lie,” said the former deputy.
Machado asked Amorim to “help them think” of new diplomatic initiatives to increase pressure on the Government, which, in view of the protests against the announced electoral result, ordered maximum police and military control to face what they consider “a cyber coup d’état.”
*Translator’s note: Salvador Allende, the democratically-elected leftist president of Chile, was overthrown in 1973 by a military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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