Socialist president Nicolás Maduro declares “coup-mongering far right” plotted by Guaidó Márquez has been defeated
Wednesday, May 01, 2019
VietPress USA (April 30, 2019): Nicolás Maduro Moros born 23 November 1962 was a bus driver, and rose to become a trade union leader before being elected to the National Assembly in 2000. He was appointed to a number of positions under President Hugo Chávez and was described in 2012 by the Wall Street Journal as the "most capable administrator and politician of Chávez's inner circle"
He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2013 and as Vice President of Venezuela from 2012 to 2013 under Chávez. After Chávez's death was announced on 5 March 2013, Maduro assumed the presidential powers and responsibilities. A special presidential election was held in 2013, which Maduro won with 50.62% of the vote as the United Socialist Party of Venezuela candidate. He has ruled Venezuela by decree since 19 November 2013 through powers granted to him by the pre-2015 Venezuela legislature.
According to The New York Times, Maduro's administration was held "responsible for grossly mismanaging the economy and plunging the country into a deep humanitarian crisis" and attempting to "crush the opposition by jailing or exiling critics, and using lethal force against antigovernment protesters". An opposition-led National Assembly was elected in 2015 and a movement toward recalling Maduro began in 2016; Maduro maintained power through the Supreme Tribunal, the National Electoral Council and the military. The Supreme Tribunal removed power from the elected National Assembly, resulting in a constitutional crisis and protests in 2017. Maduro called for a rewrite of the constitution, and the Constituent Assembly of Venezuela was elected in 2017, under what many—including Venezuela's chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega and Smartmatic, the company that ran the voting machines —considered irregular voting conditions; the majority of its members were pro-Maduro. On 20 May 2018, presidential elections were called prematurely; opposition leaders had been jailed, exiled or forbidden to run, there was no international observation, and tactics to suggest voters could lose their jobs or social welfare if they did not vote for Maduro were used. The majority of nations in the Western world did not recognize the Constituent Assembly election or the validity of Maduro's 2018 reelection; the Canadian, Panamanian, and the United States governments sanctioned Maduro.
During his first term in office, the economy went into freefall and many Venezuelans blame him and his socialist government for the country's decline.
Many opposition candidates had been barred from running while others had been jailed or had fled the country for fear of being imprisoned and the opposition parties argued that the poll would be neither free nor fair.
Mr Maduro's re-election was not recognised by Venezuela's opposition-controlled National Assembly.
After being re-elected, Mr Maduro announced he would serve out his remaining first term and only then be sworn in for a second term on 10 January.
It was following his swearing-in ceremony that the opposition to his government was given a fresh boost. The National Assembly argues that because the election was not fair, Mr Maduro is a "usurper" and the presidency is vacant.
This is a line that is being pushed in particular by the new president of the National Assembly, 35-year-old Juan Guaidó.
Citing articles 233 and 333 of Venezuela's constitution, the legislature says that in such cases, the head of the National Assembly takes over as acting president.
That is why Mr Guaidó declared himself acting president on 23 January 2019. Since then, he has been organizing mass protests and calling on the military to switch allegiance.
Juan Gerardo Guaidó Márquez born 28 July 1983 is a Venezuelan politician who is the President of the National Assembly of Venezuela and is recognized as acting President of Venezuela by 54 governments. He is a member of the centrist social-democraticPopular Will party, and serves as a federal deputy to the National Assembly, representing the state of Vargas.
Guaidó took a public oath to serve as acting President on 23 January 2019, contesting the leadership of Nicolás Maduro. AP News reported that "familiar geopolitical sides" had formed in the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, with allies Russia, China, Iran, Syria, and Cuba supporting Maduro, and the US, Canada, and most of Western Europe supporting Guaidó. His position on holding the acting presidency is based on an interpretation of Article 233 of the Constitution of Venezuela. The Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) rejected the National Assembly decisions, while the Supreme Tribunal of Justice of Venezuela in exile welcomed him as acting president.
Shortly after Guaidó became President of the National Assembly, he was briefly detained by authorities. He has also been prohibited from leaving the country, has had his assets frozen, is the subject of a probe into accusations that he helped foreign countries interfere in internal matters,
Venezuela's political crisis appears to be reaching boiling point amid growing efforts by the opposition to unseat the socialist president Nicolás Maduro.
The South American country has been caught in a downward spiral for years with growing political discontent further fuelled by skyrocketing hyperinflation, power cuts and shortages of food and medicine.
More than three million Venezuelans have left the country in recent years.
But what exactly is behind the crisis rocking Venezuela? This would be an unusual question to ask in most countries, but in Venezuela many want to know exactly that as the government accused opposition leader Juan Guaidó of trying to topple President Maduro.
The accusation came after Mr Guaidó - surrounded by a group of men in uniforms - called on the military to switch sides on 30 April.
Tension had been mounting ever since 23 January, when Mr Guaidó declared himself acting president and said he would assume the powers of the executive branch from there onwards.
Not surprisingly, President Maduro did not take kindly to his rival's move, which he condemned as a ploy by the US to oust him.
He also said that he was the constitutional president and would remain so
Today on April 30, 2019, Mr Guaidó calls Venezuelan people to go to streets for anti-Maduro government.
Hundreds of thousands Venezuelans demonstrated and clashed with military forces on different streets. Guaidó’s earlier remarked that President Maduro no longer had military backing.
But Nicolás Maduro claimed his troops have thwarted a botched attempt to topple him masterminded by Venezuela’s “coup-mongering far right” and Donald Trump’s deranged imperialist “gang”.
In an hour-long address to the nation on Tuesday night – his first since the pre-dawn uprising began – Maduro accused opposition leader Juan Guaidó and his political mentor Leopoldo López of seeking to spark an armed confrontation that might be used as a pretext for a foreign military intervention.
Read this full report from AP on Yahoo News at:
VietPress USA News
www.vietpressusa.us
oOo
Street clashes erupt as Venezuela's Guaido urges uprising
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Anti-government demonstrators clashed with troops loyal to Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro at an air base in the capital hours after opposition leader Juan Guaidó took to the streets in a bold and risky attempt to lead a military uprising against the embattled socialist.
The early-morning rebellion seems to have only limited military support.
But it was by far the most-serious challenge yet to Maduro's rule since Guaidó, with the backing of the U.S. and dozens of other countries, declared himself the country's interim president in January in rejection of a government he accused of stealing last year's presidential election.
The dramatic events began early Tuesday when Guaidó, flanked by a few dozen national guardsmen and some armored crowd control vehicles, released a three-minute video filmed near a Caracas air base in which he called on civilians and others in the armed forces to join a final push to topple Maduro.
In a surprise, standing alongside him was Leopoldo Lopez, his political mentor and the nation's most-prominent opposition activist, who has largely been silent and unseen since he was detained in 2014 for leading a previous round of anti-government unrest. Lopez said he had been released from house arrest by security forces adhering to an order from Guaidó.
"I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers," Lopez declared.
As the two opposition leaders coordinated actions from vehicles parked on a highway overpass, troops loyal to Maduro sporadically fired tear gas from inside the adjacent Carlota air base.
A crowd that quickly swelled to a few thousand scurried for cover, reassembling later with Guaidó to a nearby plaza.
A smaller group of masked youths stayed behind on the highway, firing rocks and Molotov cocktails in an attempt to storm the air base. Amid the mayhem, an armored utility vehicle drove at full speed into the crowd. It was unclear if anyone was hurt.
"It's now or never," said one of the young rebellious soldiers, his face covered in the blue bandanna worn by the few dozen soldiers joining the "Operation Freedom" insurrection.
Amid the confusion Maduro tried to project an image of strength, saying he had spoken to several regional military commanders who reaffirmed their loyalty to his socialist revolution.
"Nerves of steel!," he said in a message posted on Twitter.
The events, playing out in the opposition's stronghold in a wealthier neighborhood of eastern Caracas, appeared not to have triggered a broader military revolt.
Flanked by top military commanders, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López appeared on national television and condemned Guaido's move as a "terrorist" act that was bound to fail.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said the "right-wing extremists" would not succeed in fracturing the armed forces, which have largely stood with the socialist leader throughout the months of turmoil.
"Since 2002, we've seen the same pattern," he told The Associated Press, adding that most of Caracas was calm. "They call for violence, a coup, and send people into the streets so that there are confrontations and deaths. And then from the blood they try to construct a narrative,"
Hundreds of government supporters, some of them brandishing firearms, gathered at the presidential palace, answering the call by socialist leaders to come to the embattled Maduro's rescue.
"It's time to defend the revolution with arms," Valentin Santana, head of a militant group, said in a video posted on social media as he brandished an automatic rifle.
Guaidó said the troops who had taken to the streets were protecting Venezuela's constitution and that in the coming hours he would release a list of top commanders supporting the uprising.
Anti-government demonstrators gathered in several other cities, although there were no reports that Guaidó's supporters had taken control of any military installations.
"The armed forces have taken the right decision," said Guaidó. "With the support of the Venezuelan people and the backing of our constitution they are on the right side of history."
As events unfolded, governments from around the world expressed a mix of support for Guaidó while reiterating calls to avoid violent confrontation.
Hạnh Dương
www.Vietpressusa.us
