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Maduro survives attempted coup; popularity of US-backed interim president wanes, says Venezuela’s Ambassador to Belize

HighlightsMaduro survives attempted coup; popularity of US-backed interim president wanes, says Venezuela’s Ambassador to Belize

Life for ordinary Venezuelans is made more difficult due to the effects of various US-led sanctions

BELIZE CITY, Tues. May 21, 2019– In January, the name Juan Guaidó burst onto world headline news as the 35-year-old Venezuelan parliamentarian declared himself to be the oil-rich nation’s interim president, a post that is not recognized in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s constitution.

The United States administration of President Donald Trump, along with a number of other countries, quickly recognized Guaidó as Venezuela’s leader however, there was only one difficulty: how to get rid of Nicholas Maduro, the country’s elected president, so that Guaidó could be installed in his place.

So, roughly four months after he declared himself “interim president,” Juan Guaidó and his supporters were ready. They attempted to stage a coup and elicited the support of the Venezuelan army, but the coup attempt failed after the majority of the army remained loyal to President Maduro, with only about 40 soldiers supporting Guaidó’s call for the army to rise up against Maduro.

By the time Guaidó returned to the streets of Caracas a few days after his failed coup attempt, his support base had obviously dwindled to a few hundred persons and he soon disappeared from the headlines of major international news coverage, especially from the mainstream US news networks.

His Excellency, Ambassador Gerardo Argote, the Venezuelan ambassador to Belize, told Amandala today, that Guaidó has lost popularity because prior to his failed coup attempt,  Guaidó had stated that a power outage in Venezuela would continue until Maduro is removed from office.

Argote said that Guaidó is pretty much isolated at the present time. Argote also said that US President Trump was furious after the failed coup, because apparently, he had been fed faulty intelligence information about Maduro’s strength. Argote made reference to a report in the Washington Post.

In the meantime, Argote pointed to the crippling sanctions imposed on Venezuela by the United States and some of its allies.

Argote explained that in March 2015, Venezuela was classified as a threat to the national security of the United Sates, and an executive order was signed by President Barack Obama “without presenting any evidence that Venezuela, a country of 30 million, could threaten a country like the United States.”

Argote added, “Of course, the United States is behind, it’s in front of all of what is happening now. They created the economic blockade, and you have to know that this blockade impacts all of the population of Venezuela.”

“The US is attempting to install a puppet government in my country,” Argote continued to explain. “There is a shortage of medicine in my country, insulin and anti-retroviral medicine that is costing the lives of many people,” Argote went on to state. “Right now 40,000 people died; they [the US] created the conditions of chaos in my country,” he said.

Argote pointed out that 6 million Venezuelans voted to elect President Maduro. Clutching a copy of the Venezuelan Constitution in his hand, Argote said, “What is happening with the so-called interim president Guaidó is against the constitution of my country.”

Argote said that they have had four months of this interference from the United States and that they can prove, that they (the US) used high technology to knock out the electricity, which also affected the water system and the whole population of Venezuela.

We asked the ambassador why Guaidó has not been charged or prosecuted under Venezuelan law for attempting to overthrow a legitimate government.

“Right now he is under investigation by our laws,” Argote said, adding that they would not want to do anything that would appear as provocation to them, meaning Mr. Trump, and Mr. Bolton (the US National Security Advisor).

“We have to know that we are under siege,” he said.

“What kind of measure has the Maduro government implemented to offset these kinds of pressure that is coming from the United States?” we asked Argote.

“I have to tell you that the sanctions were not imposed one month ago or two months ago; the Trump administration wants to create a fiction that our economy is the fault of Maduro and the socialist system. I have to tell you that between December 2014 and April 2019, the US government has issued seven Executive Orders which punished and penalized the Venezuelan economy; there was the blocking and confiscation of financial assets.

“There have been sanctions against trade; 5.4 billion dollars that belong to Venezuela are blocked in international banks. This week we have received three airplanes loaded with medicine from China,” he replied.

We asked Argote what is the strength of the Venezuelan army.

He replied that on a whole, Venezuela has about two million people who are defenders of the country. “We have the military and civic union in order to defend our land”, he said.

“Just prior to the attempted coup, there was a rumor that Maduro had accepted exile in Cuba and was prepared to leave Venezuela; where did that come from?” we asked Argote.

“That was fake news,” he replied. “Mr. Trump was given wrong information about the situation in Venezuela. Also he was given wrong information about the loyalty of the army to President Maduro,” he said.

Argote said that they tried to take the matter to the UN Security Council, but they were unsuccessful. Non-permanent members of the Security Council, such as Indonesia, opposed any military action against Venezuela. “Then they tried to mobilize their people at the Organization of American States, but they did not know that Venezuela had resigned from the OAS”, he said.

“We got out of the OAS because we consider that mechanism a tool for imperialism,” Argote added, “That mechanism does not work for the logical interest of most of the Latin American and Caribbean countries,” he stated.

“How will the Venezuelan government survive and help its people against the backdrop of the sanctions?” we asked Argote.

“Venezuela has many friends who support us and buy our oil, such as the Republic of China, India, and Russia. The US want to push them to stop buying (from us), but they can’t,” he said.

“How is the payment for these oil shipments handled, because there are restrictions in the banking industry; how do you get paid for your oil?” we asked

“In some cases, we get paid with food or with medicine,” Argote said, “In five years, they [the US] have not gotten the successful results that they want.”

We asked Argote what happened to the Petrocaribe program that was instituted under the late President Hugo Chavez.

“Petrocaribe is still working in most of the countries of the Caribbean. If we could give social assistance to the Caribbean, we could help develop the whole area. That program started in 2005. We have also helped countries outside of the region,” Argote said.

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