Maduro addresses the National Assembly

Unsurprisingly last night’s speech by Maduro was rich with the conspiracy claims that have become the official rhetoric of the Venezuelan government.

He began his speech by reiterating that the young deputy Robert Serra was murdered by the enemies of the revolution: “Everything was prepared from Colombia. Paramilitary groups introduced by Venezuela’s extreme right in order to influence the political development of our country.” Maduro added that this version has been “fully proven,” even as police investigation has so far only linked Serra’s own bodyguards to the crime.

As usual he linked the opposition protests at the beginning of 2014 to a “subversive script”, and insisted several times that the opposition is waging an “economic war” against the country.

“No force, no political option that pretends to reach political power in Venezuela in the twenty first century will be able to do so under counter-revolutionary banners, [under the banners] of destabilization and of conspiracy. And much less through the political, human, moral, and economic destruction of our country,” warned the president.

As evidence of the multiple conspiracies he is facing, Maduro played audios of intercepted phone conversations between retired and exiled general Iván Carratú Molina and active militaries planning acts of violence.

Notably absent from Maduros speech was the claim of a plot to kill him and other government officials. The magnicidio plot played an important role in the government’s discourse in the first half of 2014, but has been progressively dropped since June.

(Image AVN)