Unpublished Letter to the New York Times
To the Editor,
The goal of the Hunger Games editorial are correct, a negotiated solution
that leads to free and fair UN supervised elections in Venezuela.
However, elections can not be premised on a change of regime. Well
intentioned Americans can not wish away the reality that Juan Guaido owes his
political existence to a strategy designed by hard liners in Washington to
overturn the governments of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, part of explicit
restoration of the Monroe Doctrine. He will never be accepted as an interim
ruler without US military intervention, an unacceptable option as the editorial
argues.
Only with the help of the Contact Group, Mexico and Cuba, can the Maduro
government and Venezuela's military be persuaded how new elections will avoid a
national catastrophe while respecting sovereignty. They need to accept
voluntarily that the head of a relegitimized National Assembly must be an equal
partner with the President of the functioning government in their structure and
conduct.
In such a context depoliticized humanitarian aid can enter the country
through established international agencies. More significant for improving
conditions of life, US economic sanctions must end and control of national
resources be restored to the operating administration.
Such elections will enable parties of Chavistas and the opposition to
compete openly and likely lead to new coalitions and leadership chosen by
Venezuelans without foreign interference.
If the Times respects self determination, it must expect that the "sizable
portion" of the people that "still harbor an attachment to the Bolivarian
Socialist claptrap of ...Hugo Chavez" will play an important role.
John McAuliff
March 5, 2019
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Facts please:
1) What was the comparative size of the pro Maduro and
pro Guaido rallies today [Saturday] ?
2) Can you provide a list of the purported 50 countries
that have recognized Guaido as Interim President?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/how-nicolas-maduro-has-been-able-to-cling-to-power/2019/03/08/896cf3aa-41bc-11e9-85ad-779ef05fd9d8_story.html?utm_term=.1529289e6c36
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My Comment to FAIR
Bernie Sanders
handled well the questions from Wolf Blitzer.
There are serious
problems with the history and conduct of the Maduro government, but a
replacement forced into power by foreign countries mobilized by the US is not
the solution.
Serious
negotiations need to be undertaken by the International Contact Group,
supplemented by Mexico and Cuba so both the government and the opposition have
trust in the process.
The one-sided
news coverage by the NY Times has been complemented by two pro-intervention
editorials (excluding military force).
This paragraph from the more recent is most revealing of ideological
assumptions and goals:
"And a
dictator who has already destroyed his country — and has the support of Russia
and China — is not one who gives a fig for the suffering of his people, a
sizable portion of whom still harbor an attachment to the 'Bolivarian
socialist' claptrap of his predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chávez."
New elections are
required to determine how large that "sizable portion" is, but they
cannot be conducted by a foreign imposed regime.
The Times denies
reality when it advises: "It must
be clear that Mr. Guaidó should be installed as interim leader only to allow
for new, fair elections. Any suggestion that Mr. Guaidó was acting on behalf of
Washington would undermine that message."
Guaido's deep
ties to the Trump Administration are already well established. They do not disqualify the National Assembly
from playing an equal role in the conduct of elections but do foreclose its
pre-eminence.
https://fair.org/home/venezuela-baiting-how-media-keep-anti-imperialist-dissent-in-check/comment-page-1/#comment-3163636
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Pro and Con on Position of WOLA
The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) is one of the most highly regarded progressive voices among the think tanks and advocacy groups that specialize in the region. They have been strong allies on the effort to bring rationality to US relations with Cuba. WOLA has been critical of the Maduro government and somewhat sympathetic to the opposition that wants to oust it. WOLA is strongly against direct US intervention and supports negotiation by the International Contact Group.
A criticism of WOLA's position by a group of 124 scholars has been published by Consortium News. "An Open Letter to the Washington Office on Latin America about Its Stance on US Effort to Overthrow Venezuelan Government" https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/03/05/open-letter-washington-office-latin-america-about-its-stance-us-effort-overthrow
WOLA has responded " A Peaceful, Democratic Solution to Venezuela’s Crisis Requires Fact-based Analysis and Advocacy" https://www.wola.org/2019/03/peaceful-democratic-solution-venezuelas-crisis-requires-fact-based-analysis-advocacy/
My personal comment to a WOLA colleague about their response:
This language troubles me most:
- But what is undeniable is that Venezuela’s legislative branch now holds more
democratic legitimacy than does Maduro. We think that the head of the National
Assembly assuming the interim presidency, with the clear goal of achieving fresh
elections for a new president, seems like the most logical interpretation. But
to actually determine what the Constitution says would require a legal opinion
that we are not in position to provide.
That is waffling. Forcing by
diplomatic and economic pressure the transfer of power from an existing
government to its political opposition is regime change. The evaluation of
"democratic legitimacy" is not up to other countries to decide. (I might wish
such a judgement were directed to the US when many in the world have concluded
that a minority president gained power with the help of foreign
intervention.)
It is one thing to insist on restoration of normal power to the National Assembly and to argue that its president should be part of the conduct of elections. It is quite another to say that the Assembly's current rotating president should replace the national executive.
It is significantly better than
military intervention but the goal is the same.
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AS/COA
The Americas Society/Council of the Americas in New York has also been an important contributor to the process of US normalization with Cuba.
Accordingly I was surprised by the full embrace of US intervention and its ambitious goals by Eric Farnsworth, Vice President in Washington of the Council of the Americas in testimony to a Congressional subcommittee chaired by Marco Rubio https://www.as-coa.org/articles/congressional-testimony-us-venezuela-relations-and-path-democratic-transition?utm_source=El+Chasqui&utm_campaign=04ea837006-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_03_08_04_49&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cd943d262e-04ea837006-24529509
Eric strongly favored a substantial and long term US political and economic role in Venezuela and gave no consideration to the likelihood that there could be a Chile style bloodbath or prolonged resistance to a US imposed leadership. At the end he seems to anticipate a military coup (which I suspect would be as much against the US and Guaido as against Maduro).
It would be helpful to know what he bases this on:
- "Its intelligence and security services and other state functions are strongly influenced if not directed by thousands of Cuban personnel embedded in state organs. Outside intervention has already occurred and continues to occur in support of the Maduro regime."
This is a State Department and opposition talking point but is part of an ideological self delusion about Chavista support. That mistake has led to three failed strategies to bring about a military rebellion: diplomatic pressure, aid penetration of the border and threats of direct military intervention.
Scoring political points against Havana might appeal to Sen. Rubio, John Bolton, et. al. but the only way to avoid a tragic civil war and prolonged resistance to a US client regime is a political solution that involves the International Contact Group, Mexico and Cuba creating an inclusive path to UN supervised elections for President, governors and the National Assembly.
One has to begin with the assumption that for all of its problems, there is still a significant popular base for Chavismo with authentic nationalist resistance to a solution made in Washington. Their sense of legitimacy, as well as the opposition's, has to be incorporated if there is to be peace rather than war and/or violent repression.
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Who burned the trucks?
The New York Times exposes as false the constantly repeated accusation that during the confrontation on the border aid trucks were set on fire by pro-Maduro forces. Video shows the fault lies with Guaido's militants who were throwing Molotov cocktails. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/world/americas/venezuela-aid-fire-video.html
My comment on line:
This story is refreshingly balanced.
Most Times coverage of Venezuela has been extremely one sided, reminiscent of its reports that helped to create the atmosphere for the invasion of Iraq.
The Maduro Administration has been a disaster both because of its own actions and because of US economic pressures. Venezuela's last election was flawed, as were elections in Honduras, Brazil, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and China. John Bolton told Jake Tapper that the Monroe Doctrine is the justification for inconsistency, despite its official burial by the Obama Administration.
The Wall Street Journal has done a far better job than the Times at reporting the Trump Administration's strategy for regime change in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.
Disproving a propaganda theme is helpful, but you need to go deeper in policy terms and to give your readers sympathetic insight about Venezuelans who support Chavismo as well as those who oppose it.
Recognizing reality is essential for a political solution negotiated by the International Contact Group, Mexico and Cuba that is acceptable to both both sides of the conflict.
Presumably that will involve UN supervised elections for President, governors and the National Assembly. At the same time, depoliticized humanitarian aid should be allowed and international economic resources should be restored to the functioning administration.
Otherwise the ideological blinders of Administration neo-cons will produce armed conflict and national tragedy.
John McAuliff
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A German Professor with a Surprising Perspective
Sputnik is a Russian news service very close to the government. It ran this interview with Heinz Dieterich, a German professor teaching in Mexico. Dieterich was a close adviser to Chavez but broke with him. His perspective obviously comes from the left but he is very critical of both Maduro and Guaido. The question is why Sputnik gave his ideas so much attention.
When the people rebelled then he [Maduro] became more repressive and in the end it became a normal bourgeois dictatorship with a democratic facade, nothing more. So he is a usurper of a historical project which was democratic and progressive and he really underdeveloped it to the point where now there is no way to save him. And the people who try to maintain him in power really are trying to move a dead horse. There's no way to save him.
Sputnik: It's very interesting what you're saying in terms of this extreme loyalty that his lieutenants are showing him. Just referring back to Hugo Chavez he himself was a very popular leader and he enjoyed somewhat massive support from the military. What can be said about the army's support for Maduro? I've just eluded to it and you have as well, it's absolutely essential for his continuance, how long is it going to remain, how crucial is the army's support in this situation?
Heinz Dieterich: Very good question. I've discussed many times with Hugo Chavez very early in his presidency that it was absolutely necessary to form a Latin American integrated military command to defend against the Monroe Doctrine and US imperialism and he understood that, and he after a couple of years managed to convince Lula (Brazil) and Kirchner in Argentina that this should be done. And internally he modernised the armed forces with the help of a very capable general. So the Army and the Air Force, in fact, became a very strong modern force which had to be reckoned with.
In part that was due to advanced Russian military technology like the Sukhoi Su-30 fighter planes, Kalashnikovs and anti-aircraft missiles and so on. So again, Maduro inherited a very capable, a very powerful in the hardware and the software camp, powerful army. Now he really destroyed it, the same way he destroyed the economy and that's very easy to see.
He had, for example, about 1,500 generals in the army which was 4 to 5 times more than the functional need you have for generals, and the army has a very low plateau now of troops, it maybe less than 80,000, and combat morale is low because when they were with Chavez they had a mission and they were willing to die for Chavez and fight for the country, but how are they going to die for Maduro? That will not work.
So what's the situation today? The situation is that according to my analysis the verticality, the hierarchy which is decisive in an army body is crumbling and it's just a matter of time until the generals which support the government of Maduro until they will be alone. So I think there is increasing isolation of Maduro politically, internationally and nationally and the army, of course, is not isolated from that process. I think it's a matter of weeks until they will have to kick out Maduro because the only way to save the process in the country from US domination is without Maduro.
Sputnik: You've said that the opposition leader Mr Guaido was an employee of the empire, how likely is it that Venezuela's military will allow him to call the shots? From what you've said in your last answer it's only a matter of time then?
Heinz Dieterich: Latin America, since it formed its political independence in 1825 has always been seen by the US as a backyard, a neocolonial backyard that was expressed in the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, which interestingly enough John Bolton has now revived. When asked on TV why they were attacking Venezuela so ferociously and not Saudi Arabia which has no democracy at all he said, "Well this is our backyard, this is our hemisphere and the Monroe Doctrine and Kennedy and Reagan used and we will use it to put order in our the backyard".
So there is now only one option for Guaido, everybody knows that he is what the Romans called proconsuls or what we call neocolonial administrators of imperialist backyards, and he lost the battle of February 23 this year when he said he would open the border by force for US aid which was a plan by the USA, of course, because it was a repetition of what they did with the Berlin wall in Germany. So the plan by Guaido was to open the borders by force and that would be the end of Maduro and he was defeated, it didn't work.
https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201903051072961217-venezuela-maduro-crisis
Please read prior and subsequent posts.
