Presidential Civic-Military Command for the Permanent Watch to Preserve the Peace of the People

Maduro accused yesterday the local opposition of preparing violent actions: “as small groups have been preparing an ambush for last months,” he said.

But the President also gallantly invited the opposition to a high level and open debate: “I call upon a high level debate, and open and free debate, to all those sectors that are basing their calculations on conspiracies, evilness, perversions, I ask them to abandon such paths, otherwise they will face our peace offensive. They have persisted in an economic coup, a paramilitary and criminal war, an electric war. They will eventually have to face a total offensive to guarantee peace,” predicted Maduro.

He also predicted that the pro-government candidates will win the December 6 parliamentary elections: “A victory that will surprise the whole world is coming, the Admirable Victory of D6, against the economic war. The people will punish [the opposition] with a justice vote, a popular vote, a Bolivarian Chavista vote.”  

The declarations were made by the President during a televised cabinet meeting to announce the establishment of the “Presidential Civic-Military Command for the Permanent Watch to Preserve the Peace of the People” (Comando Presidencial Cívico-Militar Permanente para Preservar la Paz del Pueblo).

The specific functions of this new Presidential Command were not explained, but Maduro argued that the instance was necessary in order for the government to keep a “24 hour watch” because, said the President, “every day the government is defusing ambushes that the right prepares against the people, by using sicarios and paramilitaries.”

“These destabilization actions,” further explained Maduro, “are combined with a media campaign to distort the national reality, [a campaign] promoted by corporations, such as the international TV channel CNN, which on Thursday showed falsely informed of looting in several cities of the country.”

As an example of how the Command will function in its 24 hours watch, Maduro said that the Governor of Aragua State Tarek El Aissami, would be spending the night in a “situation room” at Miraflores palace, “coordinating all the pertinent actions until Friday morning, when the watch will be turned to the next persons.”

   

The public Agencia Venezolana de Noticias stressed the need for the new Command:

In the face of the pretentions of sector of the right, who are trying to create conditions of instability and violence to intimidate the people for the coming parliamentary elections, Venezuelans have been called [by Maduro] to defend peace, as the only way to achieve victories and social development in the country.

The Venezolana de Televisión video of Maduro’s declarations can be watched here.