A Brief History of Two Years of Conspiracy Theories

President Maduro yesterday made a detailed chronology of what he called the “six battles imposed by the oligarchy and heroically faced by the Venezuelan people I the last two years.”

Maduro’s narration is a complete revision of the events country’s recent history read as the result of a permanent plot by its enemies. No evidence has ever been provided by the Venezuelan government for any of these plots, but they are now part of the official discourse and accepted as facts by State media.

The first of the battles mentioned by Maduro was fought in the period between Chávez’s last public appearance on 8 December 2012, and his death on 5 March 2013.  This first offensive by the oligarchy was based, according to Maduro, on a “campaign of hatred and immorality” aimed at sowing divisions in the “revolutionary forces.”

The second test to the Venezuelan people includes the period between 5 March, and 14 April, when Maduro narrowly defeated opposition candidate Capriles Radonsky in the presidential elections.

The third battle came after the opposition refused to acknowledge defeat on that election: “The third test began in April 14 and went on until the middle of May, [the opposition] failed to recognize the results, [they started] a violent insurrection in the country, and we defeated them, it was an insurrectional attempt with guarimbas [street barricades], which unfortunately provoked 11 deaths and more than 80 people injured.” Then, continues Maduro, “came the war against the electric system, the economic war, and even a magnicidio [assassination of the head of state] attempt through hired para-militaries who were arrested by the intelligence agencies of the country.”

The fourth battle was the election of city majors and municipal councils held in December 8, 2013.

The fifth battle started with the opposition protests of February 2014 and continued until June. It was one of the most violent and harmful test to the country, said Maduro: “[it was] a violent insurrection, included in a continuous coup d’état plot, and a deepening of the economic war.” Maduro again blamed the opposition for the 44 deaths resulting from the protests. The Agencia Venezolana de Noticias adds in its report that the protests were part of a “terrorist plan” by the opposition. “We were all for dialogue, for work, for the union of Venezuela, but they had another card up their sleeve: ‘Made in USA’, because all this plot was brewed in the United States, against our fatherland, and they [the USA] put a lot of money into it,” further explained Maduro. The plot also had “spinoffs” in the assassinations of chavista leaders Eliécer Otaiza and Robert Serra.

The sixth and final battle is the current increased offensive of the “economic war,” which is based on an “induced” inflation manufactured by the national and international bourgeoisie. Also part of this plot is an attack by the opposition on the foods and services distribution systems. Fortunately, says AVN, “the state has reactivated many of these structures in its thriving struggle against the powerful business sectors that dominate the market, in order to supply the population (…), without regard to social class of political affiliation.”