Your Independent Journal from the Heartland
In 1998, former Venezuelan military officer Hugo Chavez stunned the world when he was elected president of Venezuela without the endorsement of the United States. Chavez ran on an anti-poverty platform which overwhelmingly appealed to Venezuela’s poverty stricken majority. Election monitors from the Carter Center deemed the election “fair and legitimate.”
One of Chavez’s major initiatives was using Venezuela’s oil wealth to educate and improve the lives of the people who had elected him. This resulted in a vast improvement in Venezuela’s literacy rates, infant mortality rates, healthcare, housing and food distribution.
Each of his “chavista” reforms was voted on by the people including a new constitution passed by 70% of the voters. The constitution invoked many universal freedoms and for the first time recognized the human rights of indigenous, mixed race and Black peoples.
In 2002 a coup attempt orchestrated by the CIA briefly deposed Chavez. His followers in the barrios descended upon Caracas and with loyal military commanders reinstated Chavez as president.
The coup attempt was led by Elliot Abrams, a convicted felon who lied to Congress during the Iran Contra hearings. Abrams was later pardoned by President George H. W. Bush, a principle actor in the Iran Contra affair while vice president under Ronald Reagan.
In 2011 Chavez was diagnosed with cancer. After several operations and prolonged chemotherapy, he died on March 5, 2013. Jimmy Carter posted condolences on the Carter Center website saying he and his wife Rosalyn “came to know a man who expressed a vision to bring profound change to his country to benefit especially those people who had felt neglected and marginalized”.
Following Chavez’s death a constitutionally required presidential election was held. Nicolas Maduro was elected president on April 14, 2013. “There was absolutely no doubt about the election results, and almost every government in the world recognized them” Mark Weisbrot wrote in The New Republic.
On the anniversary of Chavez’s death, tens of thousands of supporters marched through cities all across Venezuela. This was the beginning of massive protests by both pro- and anti- government forces. The protests coincided with the 2014 drop in the price of oil. The loss of oil revenue crippled the government’s ability to continue its chavista reforms and financial support for Venezuela’s poor.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio pressed Congress to provide the CIA funding to destabilize Venezuela. Mainstream corporate media did their part by portraying the protests as anti-Maduro when there were protests supporting both sides.
With the initial election of Donald Trump the pressure on Venezuela rose dramatically. In August 2017 unilateral US economic sanctions prohibited Venezuela’s access to the US backed international banking system. This led to hyperinflation of the country’s currency causing a severe drop in imports of food and medicine.
Sanctions on US imports of Venezuelan oil directly impacted gulf coast refineries processing 1.5 million barrels of Venezuelan crude a day. China negotiated a trade agreement with Venezuela to buy the surplus oil. Similar sanctions forced China to use an undocumented fleet of ships, referred to as the “Ghost Fleet” to transfer the oil.
On May 20, 2018, Nicolas Maduro was re-elected president of Venezuela. Many in the opposition boycotted the election knowing they were in the minority. This resulted in a lower than average turnout with voters selecting from six candidates. Maduro won the election with 68% of the vote. Venezuela claimed that the election was monitored by foreign election observers from 30 countries.
The Trump administration announced that Juan Guaido was the “legitimate” president of Venezuela. Guaido was not one of the six candidates running for office. According to The Nation magazine, 80% of the Venezuelan people had never heard of the man.
The administration also announced that Elliott Abrams had been appointed as the new US envoy to Venezuela. With Abrams unique skill set honed promoting bloody coups in Central America, he immediately went to work promoting “Democracy” in Venezuela.
On Feb. 13, 2019, the McClatchy news organization published a report on North Carolina-based air freight company, 21 Air, which Venezuelan authorities claimed was smuggling arms into the country. According to McClatchy, 21 Air made 40 flights between Miami and cities in Venezuela and Colombia since Maduro was elected.
The 21 Air flights ended immediately after McClatchy’s report was released. While no direct link between 21 Air and the U.S. government had been established, McClatchy’s report linked the chairman of 21 Air, Adolfo Moreno, to Gemini Air Cargo, who transported CIA captives during the rendition program.
In early March 2019, saboteurs attacked Venezuela’s electrical power grid and communications system leaving the country with blackouts and communication disruptions. This follows the “Iraq Formula” of knocking out command and control, and power infrastructure prior to military action. US officials called Venezuelan accusations of US involvement “absurd”.
Efforts during his first administration to hold Trump accountable to Congress under the War Powers Resolution failed to gain traction. Hopes were raised Jan. 9 when a procedural vote in the Senate on the War Powers Resolution passed 52-47. But the resolution was blocked Jan. 15, when Vice President JD Vance cast a tie-breaking vote to kill the measure after Trump pressured Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Todd Young of Indiana to flip to the president’s side.
When the US last controlled a puppet regime in Venezuela, poverty was rampant, healthcare accessible only to the rich, illiteracy nearly 100% among the poor and hunger a fact of life. A return to these unbearable conditions for the majority of Venezuelans would be deplorable.
Lew Kingsbury was an investigative journalist for seven years covering the Maine statehouse. He is the author of “COVER-UP,” which can be found on Amazon Kindle.
Email kingsburyk@hotmail.com.
