For those who at the time accompanied and were part of the management of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, at least in its beginnings in Miraflores, the most “scandalous” thing, three months after the events of theJanuary 3is that Venezuela continues without democracy and deprived of its sovereignty under the tutelage of a foreign power.
The “rodrigato”, emphasize voices such as that of the former Minister of Education and Electric Energy, Hector Navarro and the member of the political bureau of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV), Pedro Eussetries to justify the protectorate “without success.”
They accompany the complaints about electoral fraud of the July 28, 2024about the severe repression unleashed since then and the human rights violations. They also demand the release of political prisoners, especially union members and workers who only demand salary demands, but continue to condemn the military intervention ordered by the president of the United States. donald trumpon Venezuelan soil to capture Maduro and deputy Cilia Flores.
They also reject what they define as a “total surrender” of the interim government of Delcy Rodríguez to Washington’s guidelines, which, they warn, had already been started by Maduro, only that he “took care of the forms.”
“Total loss of sovereignty”
“Today we find ourselves after these 90 days, with a man (Trump) who assumes himself emperor and is capable of appointing, as he himself reported, a president in charge. But the most notable thing is the sympathy that both profess to each other. Trump always goes out of his way to praise Delcy Rodriguez– which would not be normal if she is threatened – and she receives with smiles and words of welcome, handshakes and kisses, the envoys of that man, regardless of the fact that they come simply to fulfill their role, which is none other than the confiscation of national sovereignty with everything that this implies,” said Navarro.
In statements to Cocuyo EffectNavarro stressed that the US attitude towards Venezuela has always been that of an “empire over one of its colonies”, only that currently the dominance has been consummated.
This April 1, it was learned about the lifting of sanctions by the Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) against Delcy Rodríguez for her “cooperation” with the White House. The sanctions (since 2018) involved the freezing of Rodríguez’s assets in the US and the prohibition of US citizens from doing business with her.
In response, the official in charge said she was confident that the US decision regarding her would lead to lifting sanctions against the Venezuelan economy as a whole. He also said he “values” Trump’s decision as another step in the “normalization” and “strengthening” of relations between both countries.
“As 90 days have passed since the US military operation in Venezuela, which we characterize as a criminal act, absolutely violative of international law and which did not respond to the true needs of the Venezuelan people but rather to the US strategy of dominance in the region and in our country, we find that the most significant changes are the total loss of national sovereignty in the face of the impositions of the Trump government in favor of American corporations,” is Eusse’s assessment in response to Cocuyo Effect.
He stressed that the rapid approval of the reform of the Organic Law of Hydrocarbons and a new Mining Law in process exposes “a government supervised by the Yankees, which insists on making people believe that it is a revolutionary and patriotic act.
“In reality, it is simply an act of betrayal of the country, betrayal of the Venezuelan people and fulminant violation of the principles of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” warned the PCV union leader.
This March 30, the operational restart of the US Embassy in Caracas was announced, following the formal agreement between both countries on reestablishing relations on March 5.
“There is no revolution”
In recent weeks, the changes in the Cabinet that Maduro left by Delcy Rodríguez have also been in the news. The “shake” finally reached the Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, who was replaced by the former director of the intelligence police, Sebin, Gustavo González López, who according to military analysts has the endorsement of the US and the director of the North American intelligence center, John Ratcliffe. Ratcliffe met with Rodríguez and González López 13 days after the arrest of Maduro and Flores.
“This is, without a doubt, a new configuration of power. Until January 3, the forms were kept: Venezuela was a sovereign country with a Constitution approved by its people although it was not complied with. But today they are simply imposing on us, through facts, an unusual Hydrocarbons Law, what to do with oil and mining revenues and in which courts the conflicts that arise from contracts with transnational companies will be resolved; or in terms of something fundamental such as who defines the oil policy, essential elements of the subject of that law that openly violate the Constitution,” the former minister lashed out.
From the “rodrigato”, as the duo between Delcy Rodríguez and her brother and president of the National Assembly (AN), Jorge Rodríguez, assures that he “takes care of the presidency” in the absence of Maduro, although it has not gone unnoticed that the image of the ruler in charge has been imposed on official notices, billboards, banners and even on vehicles of State agencies.
For now, Maduro’s still Minister of the Interior and Justice, Diosdado Hairappears cohesive with the rodrigato. In her public speeches she asks for trust and support for the interim, because, she assures, she did not ask to be in the functions she currently performs but was “forced.”
Having belonged to the national leadership of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Psuv) allows Navarro to affirm that the current cooperation with the United States must be “shaking” the middle ranks and the rank and file, even if it is not publicly admitted.
«Do we talk about imperialism while we smile at its representatives including the heads of the CIA, the FBI and Trump himself and while we prepare the ground for them to take the oil and other mineral wealth for a price that they themselves will set? We are talking about a workers’ government and we have the lowest salary in Latin America and one of the lowest in the world? Definitely, the people who participated with passion and enthusiasm in this process that Chávez founded know very well that there is no continuity of the revolution“There is simply no revolution and a great betrayal has occurred,” Navarro warned.
Workers still detained
In Eusse’s opinion, although the repressive policy has eased somewhat since Maduro’s departure and there have been freedoms, since the approval of the Amnesty Law on February 19, there are still hundreds of workers unjustly detained and union members released from prison but not amnestied.
He also warned about the persistence of practices such as the participation of parapolice groups (collectives) in demonstrations for salaries, to intimidate workers, as occurred in the frustrated march from Parque Carabobo to the Ministry of Labor in Plaza Caracas, where Cabello called a rally to hinder the protest.
The NGO Foro Penal indicated on April 2 that a total of 490 people remain detained for political reasons in Venezuela, including 44 foreigners or citizens with dual nationality, while the amnesty process continues in the country. Of the number, the NGO detailed, 303 of the detainees are civilians and 187 are military.
“The continuity of what they called the Bolivarian revolution ended years ago with Maduro’s disastrous management. What the supervised government broke was the validity of the Constitution in an open and undisguised manner. However, in essence, it is the expanded and open continuity of Maduro’s management. Specifically in two central aspects: the delivery of oil sovereignty, which Maduro had already been doing with the Chevron model in application of the so-called Anti-Blockade Law, and the reactionary labor policy, aimed at finishing destroying salaries and social benefits,” is Eusse’s opinion.
He added that just as happened in Maduro’s time, the Rodrigato “suffers” from the same desire for power, which can lead the residual Chavismo in power to betray each other and sell out to US imperialism.
Where are we going?
Another of the great doubts that persist after the removal of Maduro and Flores is whether Venezuela will manage to recover democracy, as promised by the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and the opposition leader María Corina Machado.
Both Navarro and Eusse believe that the country can move towards an open economic regime, but based on the interests of the United States and not for the benefit of the population. They are also not optimistic about the recovery of civil liberties.
“The economic and political transition is controlled by the US government in favor of their economic and geostrategic interests; Therefore, even if there is a certain flexibility in terms of democratic freedoms, we will continue without a true democracy, because national and popular sovereignty will continue to be restricted. The US power elite is not really interested in democracy or human rights, they are interested in the best conditions for their investments and to increase their dominance in the Latin American and Caribbean subcontinent,” says Eusse.
However, it calls for the unity of all social and political forces in Venezuela to fight and pressure with “independence” from the US and “economic and political powers”, for the reconquest of democracy in Venezuela.
In the various protests over salaries, the union movement also demands the freedom of political prisoners and presidential or general elections in the short term, precisely to recover lost sovereignty. In this sense, Rubio has asked for “patience” because Venezuela is still in the “recovery phase”, while confirming that there must be a democratic transition in the country.
“I believe that, in effect, we are heading towards an open economic regime, for businessmen and owners of capital. But closed, politically, for the majority”Navarro agrees.
The former AN deputy also fears that civil liberties and human rights They are only used as a “facade” for the interim without profound changes. Despite this, he believes that the democratic transition can happen, but after a long time and a still painful process. Likewise, it considers that the mobilization of democratic society and the popular movement must pressure changes so that they can materialize as soon as possible in time.
