Counter-revolutionary traitors and reformists tendencies

This past week president Maduro has been constantly warning his followers to be on the lookout for “internal critics” with “reformist tendencies” within the revolution, backed by the CIA, who will soon attack his government.

On Tuesday 14, Maduro said that “there is a group of traitors, who were once part of the Bolivarian Revolution, some reside today in the United States, but others are right here, sowing division inside the revolutionary movement. Soon I will show the evidence of this group of traitor and how they have been working for the CIA.”

He explicitly named Rafael Isea, ex-governor of Aragua who defected in 2013 and is said to be cooperating with the DEA in the United States, as one of the “open traitors”. “Everyone knows that he (Isea) works in Washington for the CIA, which is something I’m very sorry for, because I once was his friend,” lamented Maduro.

On Saturday 18 he insisted in his warning to be on the lookout for these reformist traitors who plan to stab him in the back:  “Rightists-reformist tendencies have emerged around here, some of these tendencies are being spearheaded by open traitors backed by market advisors, and a lot of money is behind this. Be on the alert! Be on the alert chavistas! Be on the alert bolivariano, new-style traitors want to stab Maduro in the back in order to push for a reformist project and to hand over the Bolivarian Revolution to international capitalism. Don’t let them do it… I won’t let them do it. We will unmask them, we will go forward in our revolutionary path, the path Comandante Chávez left for us. Be on the alert! Alert with the traitors.”

Understanding Latin American Politics Podcast

Many thanks to Prof. Greg Weeks for inviting me to his podcast to talk about conspiracy theories in Venezuela. Follow the link to his blog, Two Weeks Notice: A Latin American Politics Blog.  

Women’s March conspiracy against Trump

The “elective affinities” between the Venezuelan government’s official conspiracy rhetoric and President Trump’s claims of a media and financial conspiracy against him are hard to miss. President Maduro has said he opposes “the hate campaign against Donald Trump we are seeing around the world. (…) I ask myself, why [this campaign], because that’s something we know a lot about, dirty wars.” Maduro also says that he hopes that Venezuela-US relation will improve under Trump.

Venezuela’s official media is still very critical about Trump, but some articles are being published hinting at how he may also be the victim of the same types of conspiracies by the media and the “financial elites” the Venezuelan government constantly claims as common enemies. Opinion articles in the critical chavista portal Aporrea have however been overwhelmingly critical of a possible rapprochement between Maduro and Trump under the naïve assumption that they may both be the victims of the same conspiracy. (Read examples here and here.)

But the pro-chavista web page Misión Verdad has published an article titled “Who funded the women’s march against Trump.” The piece accuses Philanthropist George Soros of being behind this attempt to “undermine Trump’s presidency.” Wider conspiracy links are also mentioned as part of a plot against Trump.

    

“George Soros is known around the world for his economic power and for his links with the United States [gringa] politics. He is also known for funding –through his NGOs- the 2014 violent revolts in Ukraine, which led to a coup d’état. Precisely because of this, and because of the links between George Soros and the Democratic Party, President Vladimir Putin has warned Trump that [Soros] is preparing an Ukrainian style coup d’état [in the United States].”

Hillary Clinton is of course part of this conspiracy. The evidence is that she twitted in favor of the event:

“Hillary Clinton politically capitalized from the event via Twitter, thus showing that George Soros, and the political and financial elite that act against Trump, are betting on all those initiatives, in all fronts, that could undermine his presidency.”

(Thanks to Francisco Toro for the link to this article.)  

Court rules on the “Blue Coup” case

Eight suspects of having participated in the so called “Blue Coup” plot have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 5 to 8 years by a military court. The condemned are three civilians and five Air Forces officers.

In February 13, 2015, President Maduro announced he had “dismantled” a coup attempt against his government. He first referred to the plan as “Jericho Operation,” but the name later changed to “Blue Coup” in government media.

The conspiracy, according to Maduro, included opposition leaders and active Air Force officers. The plan was to bomb the presidential Miraflores palace, the Ministry of the Defense, and the offices of the news channel Telesur using Air Force Tucano type planes. 

PSUV leader Disodado Cabello accused opposition leaders Antonio Ledezma and Julio Borges of being behind the plot. The government also accused most leaders of opposition parties, including Capriles Radonski, of having at least knowledge of the plot. Ledezma was arrested on February 19 and is still under house arrest.

Anti-coup Command defuses its first coup attempt

On January 8 President Maduro announced the creation of a new Anti-coup Special Command for Peace and Sovereignty –the name later changed to Anti-coup National Command. According to Maduro this new body will “take preventive, legal, and corrective measures against the coupist sectors.”

The Command is coordinated by the new Vice-president Tareck El Aissami and includes the Vice-president for Peace and Security, Carmen Meléndez, Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino López, PSUV deputy Diosdado Cabello, Interior Minister Néstor Reverol, and political police SEBIN director Gustavo González López.

On January 11, El Aissami announced the arrest of an opposition deputy, Gilbert Caro, on charges of planning “terrorist actions in the country.” According to the Vice-president, Caro carried inside his car an AK47 rifle and plastic explosives. Aissami explained that Caro had plans to assassinate opposition leaders and then blame the government.

Caro is a deputy of the National Assembly for the Voluntad Popular party. He served a 10 year prison sentence for drug trafficking crimes he claims he didn’t commit. Diosdado Cabello declared that “Caro seems to miss prison, he was obviously not re-educated [while in prison].”