After Venezuela Strongman’s Victory, Isolated Nation Faces Growing Chaos

[Dashinka 24,765]

Socialism at its best.

 

By 

Kejal Vyas, 

 

Ryan Dube and 

 

Juan Forero

Updated May 21, 2018 5:18 p.m. ET

 

CARACAS, Venezuela—For Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the easy part was winning a presidential race where the main opposition candidates were barred, their supporters boycotted the vote, and his government controlled every aspect of the contest, including counting votes.

Now comes the hard part: Trying to pull his country out of the worst economic crisis in its history as it faces growing isolation from the international community.

Mr. Maduro won a new six-year term in Sunday’s vote by a landslide, with 68% support versus 21% for Henri Falcón, a breakaway former member of the opposition, and 11% for a former evangelical pastor, according to figures from the government-controlled state election agency. Mr. Falcón said the election was unfair and called for a new vote later this year.

Democracies around the world condemned the election. On Monday, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called the vote a “sham—neither free nor fair.” He called on Venezuela to allow humanitarian aid into the country and said the U.S. “will not sit idly by as Venezuela crumbles.”

 

The White House also issued a new executive order that broadened a ban on Americans from buying Venezuelan debt. The latest order impedes Venezuela’s ability to sell its foreign assets and prohibits Americans from buying any debt owed to Venezuela.

“This executive order closes down a different set of loopholes that we saw the regime attempting to exploit,” said a senior Trump administration official, adding that other countries in the hemisphere had taken similar actions Monday and that the U.S. believed that Mr. Maduro’s government would see its ability to make such sales “severely circumscribed” as a result.

 

A coalition of 14 nations from throughout the Americas announced early Monday they wouldn’t recognize the result of the vote. The countries urged international entities not to extend Venezuela any credit, and said they would recall their ambassadors from Caracas to protest the unfair and opaque vote.

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/after-venezuela-strongmans-victory-isolated-nation-faces-growing-chaos-1526935047?mod=cx_picks&cx_navSource=cx_picks&cx_tag=contextual&cx_artPos=6#cxrecs_s

[TBoneTX 46,058]

Maduro is even worse than Chavez, from what Mrs. T-B. is hearing from asylum-seekers.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

20 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Maduro is even worse than Chavez, from what Mrs. T-B. is hearing from asylum-seekers.

Maduro is running the country into the ground even more than it has been already. He has no common sense whatsoever and laughs when confronted with the actual ramifications of the "Maduro Diet". A large amount of the oil being pumped from the ground is already ear marked for China to help pay off loans that the country have extended to Venezuela in the past. It's sad when even countries like Bolivia are telling Venezuela that they need to do something to right the ship. 

 

Honestly I am just waiting for everything to implode and we have to step in.  

[jg121783 3,921]

Why don't all the extremists on the left who want socialism move to Venezuela? Wouldn't it be easier to simply move to a socialist paradise than putting in all the work to create a new one?

[Dashinka 24,765]

6 hours ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

Maduro is running the country into the ground even more than it has been already. He has no common sense whatsoever and laughs when confronted with the actual ramifications of the "Maduro Diet". A large amount of the oil being pumped from the ground is already ear marked for China to help pay off loans that the country have extended to Venezuela in the past. It's sad when even countries like Bolivia are telling Venezuela that they need to do something to right the ship. 

 

Honestly I am just waiting for everything to implode and we have to step in.  

There is some rumblings beginning in the military, so the end may be near soon.

 

CARACAS, Venezuela—The coup plot by disgruntled Venezuelan military officers in March was audacious: Seize control of the capital’s military bases, arrest President Nicolás Maduro and install a provisional government to replace his authoritarian regime.

To avoid detection for a year, conspiring officers eschewed phone calls, texts and emails, and instead sent messages via couriers, said an Army captain who helped plan the thwarted coup. They plotted during seemingly impromptu soccer matches.

Before they could act, though, Mr. Maduro’s intelligence services discovered the plot—described by military analysts as the most serious to date against his government. Authorities quickly arrested nine of the rebel officers, including the head of the largest armored battalion in the capital, and Mr. Maduro’s former interior minister.

As Mr. Maduro runs for re-election on Sunday, discontent in the barracks is at an all-time high, current and former military officers say. Shortages of food, evaporating salaries and desertions have turned the armed forces into a cauldron of conspiracies against Mr. Maduro, these people say.

 

“The Venezuelan military is a time bomb, a pressure-cooker,” said the Army captain, who was interviewed in a foreign country where he fled. “It could explode at any time because everyone is unhappy.”

The Information and Defense ministries didn’t answer calls or emails seeking comment. 

The Maduro government has arrested dozens of officers this year and cashiered others in a military purge. Official data isn’t available. But military analyst Rocío San Miguel said that in just January and February at least 124 servicemen were imprisoned on rebellion, mutiny, espionage and other charges, far more than in other periods.

“Maduro is conscious that the armed forces are his Achilles’ heel,” said Ms. San Miguel, president of Citizen Control for Security, Defense and the Armed Forces, a policy analysis group that has contact with military personnel.

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pressure-cooker-discontent-rises-in-venezuela-military-as-economy-dives-1526635801