Economic, psychological, and political wars explained yesterday by Maduro

No real new economic measures were announced yesterday by President Maduro, and it is unlikely any real measures will be taken by the government before the December 8 municipal elections.

Instead Maduro devoted his national cadena yesterday to lecture on his conspiracy interpretation the economic crisis: Venezuela is in the process of transition to socialism and if this transition is not working perfectly it is because it is being attacked by wreakers and saboteurs. The economic problems Venezuela is facing are not imputable to the government, but according to Maduro to “external factors that disturb the economy.”

In order to protect the Venezuelan People from “speculation by the parasitic bourgeoisie and the mechanisms they have created to loot the People,” Maduro will initiate an economic offensive which he characterized as “a great military civic operation that will extend all over the Fatherland, because we are going to reach the deepest levels of the productive, distributive, and commercial chains of the country.” He added that the government needed to more closely monitor the “system of price fixing that is being fed by disturbing and conspiratorial speculative mechanisms.” The fixed exchange rate for the Bolivar will also continue, but Maduro announced yet another bureaucratic agency, the National Center of Foreign Commerce, to better control the other agencies in charge of currency exchange controls (CADIVI, SICAD, BANCOEX).

Maduro also gave specific as to who are the agents that are sabotaging the transition to socialism. Roughly, the conspirators can be grouped according to the role they play in the total war that is being waged against the Fatherland:

The Economic War: Those responsible for this aspect of the war have been mentioned before by the government, they are the business owner's unions FEDECAMARAS and VENANCHAM: “they act under cover, (the strategy) is not to show their faces, (…) so that the people, and this is how they have planned it, will blame the government and the State, so they can produce breakdowns, chaos, and insurrections,” explained the President. As important economic saboteurs Maduro also mentioned web pages that report the price of the parallel dollar, which he claims are controlled from Miami and “make up” a fictitious exchange rate, and web pages devoted to product sales in Venezuela, which he claims are fueling speculation.

The Political War: Maduro referred to what he calls “the trilogy of evil”, opposition leaders Maria Corina Machado, Leopoldo López, and Herique Capriles Radonski, as the main agents the war aimed at “generating crisis situation in the streets.” They are under the direct orders of the United States government, but receive their instructions via Colombia from ex-president Uribe Velez.

The Psychologic War: Basically the private media (both local and international) is behind this aspect of the war. Maduro specifically mentioned three local newspapers: 2001, El Nuevo País, and El Universal, and accused them of reporting false scarcity levels and shortages of goods.

As evidence of this wide ranging grand conspiracy against the Venezuelan transition to socialism, Maduro quoted from a document reportedly uncovered by pro-government analyst Eva Golinger (author of “The Chávez Code”) called the “The Venezuelan Strategic Plan”. The plan is said to have been signed by representatives of several groups linked to Álvaro Uribe Velez and to US agencies, such as USAID. Maduro read from the plan the following supposed tasks the conspirators had to accomplish in a period of 185 days:

To Stir up Venezuelans with a “fresh” confrontationist discourse.

To maintain and increase the sabotage actions that affect basic services, especially those related to electricity.

ToGenerate a crisis situation on the streets so as to facilitate North American intervention.

To extend and image of a crisis among international media.

To Increase the financial funds of the Venezuelan opposition so it can win at least 55% of the municipalities in the (December 8) elections.

To contact active and retired generals of the Armed Forces so as to affect the prestige of the government.

After reading the document Maduro ended his address with a rally call to the Venezuelan People: “Alert! compañeros, everyone on the maximum state of alert! Maximum moral and spiritual force! Maximum discipline, subordination and union of the People in the fundamental tasks of peace! Maximum Union!”

The extreme right is conducting an economic war under the orders of the US

Yesterday in his weekly TV program, José Vicente Rangel interviewed PDVSA President and Minister of Oil Rafael Ramírez. These are some of his declarations according to SIBCI:

The extreme right is conducting an offensive against the Venezuelan People. This offensive is based on an economic war ordered by the United States, which consists on a strategic line that pretends to generate the total collapse of the country with the ultimate objective of overthrowing the Revolutionary Government lead by President Nicolás Maduro.

With CADIVI we handed out in September 33,000 million dollars, much more than what was handed out in 2012. This means that they [the extreme right] have diverted funds to generate an economic war.

The fact that we have a parallel dollar, which is not justifiable at its current levels, and that they have created this distressing and chaotic situation for those that really need dollars for their economic activities, are a consequence of this economic war.

Ramírez also assured that there will be no devaluation of the Bolivar in the near future and that the controls established by the government are the right economic policy in order to “keep our sovereignty over our national reserves.”

Total Collapse of Venezuelan economy was due yesterday

Responding to Carpiles’ declaration yesterday that in Venezuela there is no such thing as an “economic war” but an “economy of war,” President Maduro instead accused him directly of being responsible for sabotaging the economy.

Maduro also gave new information on the plan “total collapse” which he denounced some weeks ago. According to him the date in which the economy was plotted to collapse was October 15, but fortunately the government has successfully uncovered the plot and “done the outmost so that you [the People] can have housing and food.”

“They had calculated everything so that today [October 15], I can now reveal the full truth: today was to be the day of the total collapse according to the plan of this phony bourgeoisie. They had everything calculated,” Maduro explained.

More details of the Total Collapse plan

In a news conference yesterday (September 9), President Maduro gave further details of the plan “Total Collapse” against the Bolivarian Revolution he claims was designed by Washington.

Maduro said he has evidence of a special meeting in July in the White House attended by representatives of the CIA, the Department of State, and the Pentagon, to “evaluate the situation in Venezuela.”

According to Maduro this is what was said at that meeting:

“the regime is consolidating, we were not able to delegitimize the revolutionary government that emerged from the victory of April 14, [the regime] has begun to occupy spaces and to develop its project with a good level of participation from the people, the Government on the Streets [Gobierno de la Calle] is dangerous because it could help to consolidate the revolutionary government.”

Therefore Maduro urged his followers to be “on maximum alert over this Total Colapse plan. (…) We have to permanently denounce these plans that are made in Washington and Miami and that are later executed by a reemergent fascism incarnated in the leaders of the right that have taken over the Venezuelan opposition.”

As evidence of the plan Maduro claimed that the Amuy refinery explosion last year was an act of sabotage aimed at affecting the results of the October 2012 presidential elections: “The big coup was Amuay, because the political aggregate of the Embassy of the United States in Venezuela told several people that Chávez was going to win the elections, and that only an extraordinary event could change public opinion.”

(Since the White House meeting was in July this year, this must mean that the “Total Collapse” plan is retroactive.)

Maduro: White House plans “total collapse” of Venezuela

Yesterday (August 7) during a meeting to launch a Communal Councils Census, President Maduro announced that he has firsthand information of meetings in the White House, between the US government and the Venezuelan opposition, to plan the “total collapse” of Venezuela by October.

He declared: “I have all the data, the dates of the meetings in the White House, the names of those who were present in the meetings, the plans they made. They think that by October Venezuela will collapse, they have planned it that way, they will sabotage food distribution to the people, the electricity, fuel, refineries…”

However, Maduro is confident that this conspiracy against the country will fail because: “Venezuela today is conscious of its historical moment, and has political, military, and social strength. So I can assure that the North American Empire will be the first to collapse, before Venezuela collapses. (…) Venezuela will not collapse because of sabotage. We are going forward.”