Nicolas Maduro could not hide his perplexity after Donald Trump confirmed that the CIA has been authorized to carry out “covert actions” in Venezuela, even of a “lethal nature”, with the purpose of accelerating the political changes. “No to the coups d’état carried out by the CIA, which remind us so much of the 30,000 disappeared by the CIA in the coups against Argentinato the coup d’état Pinochet and the 5,000 young people murdered and disappeared.” The “worker president,” as he likes to call himself, understood the message sent from Washington. The drift of the bilateral crisis is increasingly dangerous as the days go by. “How long will there be coups d’état in the CIA? Latin America does not want them, it does not need them,” he said, and allowed himself an appeal in English: “Listen to me. Not war. Just peace“.
The analysts seemed to agree at this time with Maduro’s stupor. Trump’s confirmation of the movements revealed by The New York Times It had an immediate impact in Caracas. “Why did I authorize the CIA to enter Venezuela? I did it for two main reasons, said the Republican magnate, alluding to the supposed mass release of Venezuelan prisoners, including “criminals and people from mental institutions,” who, the president insisted, without further details, seek to enter the United States through the southern border. The verb “enter” introduces a new political element into this crisis. It is no longer just about sinking precarious vessels in the Caribbean under the until now unverifiable suspicion that they were transporting drugs to the North American coasts. A total of 27 people lost their lives in those airstrikes. From now on, “covert actions” can be carried out on Venezuelan soil. Trump’s confession expands the possible theater of operations. Meanwhile, eight warships, a submarine and planes that are in Puerto Rico have remained in Caribbean waters since August, in addition to 10,000 uniformed personnel available.
Maduro has declared a “state of external commotion” and called on millions of people to dress as militiamen in the face of a possible armed conflict. The president compared a scenario of this nature to the “failed eternal wars of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.”
“We are watching them everywhere”
The appearance of the acronym “CIA” at this stage of tensions has only enabled the Government to tighten the internal turnstile even more. The repression of dissent has found a new legitimizing foundation on the part of Trump himself. “There is no people in this America that has not suffered a coup d’état promoted by the CIA. There is no people in this America or assassinations of leaders of those peoples that have not been promoted by the CIA. Ask them even in the United States themselves,” Diosdado Cabello, the number two of the maturity. And he added: “Today we would have to thank the US, because it formally announced that the CIA is going to begin operating in Venezuela and in America. Imagine, well, they have formally said it.” Cabello, who manages the ministries of the Interior and Justice, and controls part of the espionage and monitoring throughout the country, allowed himself to boast when he said: “we are watching them everywhere.” Surveillance includes military and security structures. The hypothesis of a coup d’état has always revolved around a military sector that breaks with the Miraflores Palace.
In this context, Maduro’s order to activate the Comprehensive Defense Zones (Zodi) in Caracas and the state of Miranda. The measure has been presented as a “shield to defend” mountains, coasts, schools, hospitals, factories, markets and communities. But, above all, it reinforces a concept that has strong implications for internal political life, the so-called “popular-military-police unit” that monitors all the nooks and crannies of Venezuela. According to Cabello himself, the system is proposed to operate 24 hours a day to ensure “immediate responses” against any threat from the “lords of violence”.
The economic factor
But the scenario in which the crisis grows due to government impotence is another: the economic one.. The bolivar, the local currency, has depreciated 64% against the dollar since a year began but almost 20% since the sinking of the alleged drug boats began in the Southern Caribbean. This Thursday, 201.46 bolivars were paid for each dollar and it is estimated that the price could exceed the barrier of 2,050 bolivars very soon. The Venezuelan economy had in fact been “dollarized” in recent years.
The authorities allowed transactions of different kinds to be carried out in the North American currency as if it were their own. This acceptance was based on the flow of banknotes that not only come from remittances but about Chevron’s activity in that country. But Trump has cut off the activities of the North American oil company on Venezuelan soil and the balance mounted on the dollar began to crack.
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