A Civic-military oath against the enemies of the fatherland

Yesterday (September 5) President Maduro heard a public oath taken by the Venezuelan military commanders of the national armed forces and the so called “Political High Command of the Revolution” in Campo de Carabobo, the place the most important battle in 1821 of the independence war.

Maduro characterized the oath as an “unconditional” support for the defense of socialism against the “psychological, electrical, and political war against the people.”

The actual wording, as published by the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias, is a vague statement in the style of the patriotic rhetoric of Venezuela’s Bolivarian/Chavista political religion, but it does mention “socialism” and the need to be prepared for “any eventuality”:

We swear with all our patriotic soul, bolivarian soul, and chavista soul, to construct an independent fatherland and to construct the fatherland of socialist equality. We swear to unite all the strength of our people and to be prepared for any eventuality [coyuntura] and to guarantee the peace, the stability, and the continuity of the Bolivarian Revolution. We thus swear in this immortal field [of Carabobo].

Before the swearing of the oath, Maduro stated that October will be the month of “preparation for combat and the month of early victory in the face of the psychological, electrical, and political war against our people.”

He further explained that “a criminal war has been unleashed against the Venezuelan people; they want to drag us into chaos, they want the division of our people, they want to take us back to the times of confusion, the times of darkness. (…) The people need to know who the enemies of the fatherland are, (…) their complete names, where they are, what they think, what is their psychology. They are not my personal enemies, they are the enemies of the fatherland, of the independence of the fatherland, they are the enemies of our people, not recent enemies, but enemies that have been always there.”

(Here is the text of the oath in Spanish: "Juramos con el alma de patriotas, con el ama de bolivarianos, con el alma de chavistas, construir la patria independiente y construir la igualdad de la patria socialista. Juramos unir las fuerzas del pueblo y estar preparados ante cualquier coyuntura y garantizar la paz, la estabilidad y la continuidad de la Revolución Bolivariana. Así lo juramos en este campo inmortal")

Against the bad guys, no evidence needed

Les Blough’s article Sobering Reasons for Venezuelan President Maduro’s Cancellation of Beijing to New York Trip published by Venezuelanalysis reaches an interesting conclusion:

"For people living outside of Latin America these claims of sabotage and assassination plots may seem to be strange and difficult to believe. But the enlightened see these threats in the context of 200 years of Washington's history of interference in internal affairs, creation and funding of sedition,  their training and support of right-wing death squads, coups and assassinations in Latin America.

"More recently in Venezuela these plots to discredit, weaken and even assassinate President Maduro become illuminated with knowledge of Washington's non-stop attacks on Venezuela's economy causing hyperinflation; sabotage of food production and distribution and the electrical system; funding of the opposition with multi-millions of US tax payer dollars; infiltration and corruption of some government officials, police, military and organized labor; advising and funding a malicious private media by CIA and State Department out of the US Embassy in Caracas; the violation of Venezuelan airspace; cross border attacks and assassinations of labor leaders by Colombian death squads; the attack on Venezuela's biggest oil refinery at Amuay in August, 2012 that killed 42 people and injured 120 and of course, the failed US-backed coup in April, 2002 when they kidnapped President Chavez and the 2002-2003 manager's walkout that shut down the country's oil industry for 3 months. There are also valid reasons why many in Venezuela and throughout Latin America are convinced that President Chavez was assassinated by induced cancer.

"If this isn't enough for the skeptics, think about the history and evidence of US wars for "regime change" and theft of natural resources. Think about Venezuela in possession of the world's largest proven oil reserves, only 5 days journey from US refineries by tanker. Then ask yourself if the deviants in Washington are not sufficiently immoral and capable of planning the assassination of a defiant President Maduro who follows in the path of Bolivar and Chavez for Venezuelan sovereignty and independence."

It is a good point: Anti-Americanism has good reasons to exist in Latin American given past and recent history.

The Venezuelan government has been presenting that history as “evidence” of its conspiracy theories: “we know the US is evil, we know it is capable of some pretty awful things, we have seen them in the past, and therefore we don’t need to show any evidence of our accusations.”

I remain a skeptic: no matter how far I agree with a critical assessment of past US policies towards Latin America, I don’t see how this somehow exempts Maduro from showing real evidence of his almost daily accusations. I don’t see how we are “illuminated with knowledge” by presenting as proven facts precisely the things for which we need evidence.

Also keep in mind that it is not only a matter of US imperialist involvement in Latin America: What Maduro is claiming is a truly gigantic “ongoing conspiracy” that includes the United States, but also “the European powers,” the “Colombian oligarchy,” the Miami Cuban and Venezuelan exiles, the Venezuelan opposition, the Venezuelan Church, and Venezuelan and international NGO's, all in cahoots against the country. It’s far worse than what Abbé Barruel claimed France had to face before the Revolution.

Conspiracy theories are more than just a campaign strategy

Political analysts and opposition leaders keep telling us that the current conspiracy theories explosion in the Venezuelan governmental discourse has to do with the approaching December 8 municipal elections: This is an election year, so claiming that problems are caused by sabotage and “economic war” by puppets of the Empire, is a way of diverting attention from the real issues.

This is only partly true.

First, it is very hard to correlate the peaks in the government’s conspiratorial theorizing and electoral periods in Venezuela. For the past 14 years Venezuelans have gone to the ballots almost every year, sometimes two times in the same year.

Second, radical political views have an elective affinity with conspiracy theories. This has been consistently pointed out by authors from Hofstadter to Furet.

My opinion is that most of the people now in the government are real radical revolutionaries who sincerely believe in that what they are doing (not all of course, some are cynical corrupt opportunists). They have a radical Manichean conception of good and evil and a simple, clear, and easy to understand theodicy that helps them frame the struggle against evil. Their theodicy is based on the Leninist idea of imperialism as the last stage of capitalism, and it inevitably includes a lot of conspiracy theories to back it up. According to this view, Socialism is “scientifically” perfect; price controls and planned economy is the right way to go. If things go wrong, the only possible explanation is that the enemies are sabotaging the road to utopia. 

Conspiracy theories as the official rhetoric

Conspiracies have become the official explanation for everything, from inflation to power outages. Here is a selection of quotes from declarations made yesterday (October 2) by public functionaries and elected representatives to the National Assembly, starting with President Maduro:

In a meeting with military high command, President Maduro insisted that the United States is conspiring to destabilize Venezuela: “It is an empire that says that the socialist model does not work, that conspires against us, do not doubt this for one second. To the Venezuelan brother or sister that sometimes doubts that there is a conspiracy against the fatherland o Bolivar; it’s time to wake up. (…) There is a permanent conspiracy against the stability of the country, against its security, this is a psychological war.”

The Executive Vice-President Jorge Arreaza, told chavista governors to become more involved in the struggle against the electric sabotage and the economic war: “Governors in their respective States will assume with all their strength the struggle against the bourgeoisie,” declared Arreaza.

Foreign Minister Elias Jaua informed that the Venezuelan government will continue its investigation on how the three expelled US diplomats were involved in acts of sabotage and “destabilization of the fatherland.” Future investigation will focus on the relation of the diplomats with local opposition groups: “Many of the opposition political actors that met with the embassy functionaries are in the map of the groups directly involved with destabilization factors, be they called economic sabotage, paralyzation of the basic industries or the disrespect of the Venezuelan electoral authorities.”

Deputy Soto Rojas, pro-government National Assembly representative, declared that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is in crisis because of the United States plans against Venezuela: “If we look at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, its 39 articles have been violated by the United States and the European powers. (…) Since 2002 the political line of the North American Government has been to destabilize Venezuela and overthrow its government, now headed by Nicolás Maduro.” 

Deputy Julio Chávez, pro-government National Assembly representative, declared that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) should be expelled from Venezuela for the sake of stability and peace: “These [types] of organizations have been financing and stimulating plans, programs, and political parties and foundations, such as Primero Justicia and Súmate, so that they can develop their destabilization acts.” 

The Media Commission of the National Assemblywill convene the “revolutionary media” of the country to discuss, according to the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias, “how to stop the destabilization campaign generated by private media.” The President of the Media Commission, Julio Chávez, declared that “the private media generates anxiety and anguish [zozobra] among the population. They have become accomplices and key parts of the sabotage plans of the right.” 

  

Maduro: Yankees go home!

President Maduro ordered yesterday the immediate expulsion of three functionaries of the United States embassy in Caracas. Kelly Keiderling, highest ranking American diplomat in the embassy, Elizabeth Hoffman, and David Moo, have 48 hours to leave the country.

“Kelly Keiderling, Elizabeth Hoffman, and David Moo, have 48 hours to leave Venezuela and go back to the United States because they are conspirators (…) Yankees go home! Out of Venezuela! I don’t care about any actions the Obama government might take. (…) We have detected and followed during several months a group of functionaries of the United States embassy in Venezuela, they have been meeting with the extreme right and have financed them, and have encouraged their sabotage actions against the electric system and the Venezuelan economy. I have all the evidence right here in my hands,” declared Maduro.

Maduro did not show the evidence. However at least part of that evidence could refer to a public lecture Keiderling gave on September 7 at the Guayana campus of the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (UCAB). A picture of Kimberly speaking at the UCAB in Guayana features prominently in the Sibci news note. In that lecture she argued that a strong developed country can only be achieved “with a media that responsibly tries to get at the truth, with objectivity, that offers different points of view, that is willing to criticize the government, to improve the country.” It is likely that Keiderling met with local opposition politicians and union leaders at UCAB during her visit.

Maduro explained the expulsion measures by specifically referring to recent “sabotage” cases in Guayana, where Keiderling delivered her lecture: “This group is very active in Bolivar State, in Guayana (…) they meet with union leaders and politicians of the right and with others that wear a red beret [symbol of the PSUV] but that stab the fatherland in the back, they have been sabotaging SIDOR [State still industry], and the electric system,” said Maduro.

Workers unions at SIDOR have been protesting working conditions and in September 20 staged a week long strike. Maduro accused the union leaders of sabotaging the industry and of acting as puppets of the “fascist right.”