Maduro’s press conference: Three interlinked coup plots

Except for magnicidio plot claims, president Maduro’s press conference yesterday was a compendium of most of the conspiracy theories proposed by the Venezuelan government in the past years. The Empire was the main object of Maduro’s claims about destabilization attempts against his government, which he called a state of “permanent conspiracy.” But also local opposition leaders and other regional governments were included in the plots.

The economic war theory featured prominently. The United States was accused of promoting a “financial and economic blockade” of the country. “Nobody has the right to try to impose his policies with threats, pressures, sanctions, and economic, financial, political, diplomatic, and much less military aggressions. Venezuela claims its right to peace, independence, and self-determination,” said Maduro. He added that even though 86% of Venezuelans rejected a US intervention in the country, this possibility is supported by the opposition leadership: “Only they back this threat, which they have sanctified, and they have gone out of the country to ask for an economic and financial blockade against Venezuela.”

International media was also accused by Maduro of being part of this “permanent conspiracy.” The BBC was particularly singled out by the president as the media outlet behind what he called “an imperialist aggression of world-wide nature,” of which the BBC has become “the biggest propaganda apparatus.” He added that “since the war in Iraq, the BBC had not played such a disgusting [asqueroso] role.”

Most interesting of yesterday’s conference was that Maduro provided a theory of three interlinked coup plots backed by the United States against his government, financed and coordinated via Miami and Bogotá, and enacted by local opposition leaders:

“There is a permanent conspiracy from Miami against Venezuela. All those captured after the attack against the Paramacay fort have confessed, and we know of their links and finances. Another group [of plotters] is related to the old coupist military of 2002, which have fled the country. And another group belongs to the incorrectly called Blue Coup, even if most of them are in jail, they are still trying to make noise. These three groups have been activated by them [United States] with a lot of many, but the Venezuelan armed forces have developed very effective anti-coup strategies.”

Despite the “evidence” presented by Maduro of these coup plots, he also said he would be writing a letter to US President Trump asking for conversations. “Trump and I have to talk, because we don’t want our people to suffer, we have to co-exist in peace. We are anti-imperialists and anti-colonialists, but we are not against the United States, we love the people of the United States,” said Maduro.

(Read previous posts on the Paramacay Fort incident here and here, and on the Blue Coup here, here, and here. Even though Maduro spoke against the term Blue Coup, it was widely used by government officials and state media at the time. The Agencia Venezolana de Noticias yesterday ran a note explaining the links between the three coup plots under the title “Groups managed from abroad have attacked the rule of law in Venezuela.”)

Here by Venezolana de Televisión on the press conference: