Maduro is going to shut down Venezuela

On television, on street murals, on posters for construction projects in progress and even on toys distributed in poor neighborhoods. The face of Nicolás Maduro dominated Venezuela for years. But now, months after its fall, the new Government is gradually erasing its image.

“The beginning of a new stage” was the suggestive slogan chosen by the interim President’s propaganda machine, Delcy Rodriguezto mark, in April, the first 100 days of office.

Calls for Maduro’s release were left behind launched shortly after his capture, on January 3, by North American forces, together with his wife, Cilia Flores. Both were transferred to a prison in New York, accused of drug trafficking.

During those days, huge posters on avenues with the image of the couple and the phrase “We want the volta ones“There were also large demonstrations calling for his release.

Now, these marches have stopped and even the country’s interim president is making her speeches without mentioning it. Pragmatic and strong pressure from WashingtonRodríguez focused on pushing US-friendly reforms in hydrocarbon exploration and mining, and also promoted an amnesty to release political prisoners.

The worship of the president, largely induced by state media, was such that factories produced plastic dolls praising Maduro like a caped, indestructible and firm-fisted superhero called “Super Mustache” — with the right to up to one , says .

Now, on the streets of Caracas and throughout Venezuela, murals and posters advertisements with the figure of Maduro are being erasedand the former allies seem anxious to forget the man they once glorified.

But Mature didn’t just disappear from the walls, the television official and speeches: it will also disappearing from the distribution of power in Venezuela. Rodríguez removed most of the ministers appointed by his predecessor.

“We saw how the figure of former president Nicolás Maduro has been being removal from public spaces”, says Eduardo Valero Castro, professor at the School of Political Sciences at the Central University of Venezuela.

“This has to do with a new intentionality in Venezuelan politicsin accordance with the alliance schemes that exist on a continental level between Venezuela and the United States”, he adds.

Loyalty

Rodríguez guarantees, however, that was loyal to Maduro “until the last second”by publicly responding to those who accuse her of having betrayed him and having submitted to the interests of the United States.

“Those who, out of pettiness, out of irrationality, say what they say about me, I will tell them one thing: ‘It is irrelevant to what it is worth defending in Venezuela’”, he stated in April.

Rodríguez left behind decades of anti-imperialist rhetoric. Former Chavismo figures expressed their discomfort with the reforms, while Trump celebrates the good bilateral relationship and claims to control energy business of the country with the largest oil reserves in the world.

“I stated internally that This turned us into a vulgar protectorate of the United States,” said former congressman Mario Silva, member of the most radical wing of Chavismo, in a public “reflection”.

“No pressure can justify collaboration with an aggressor”, wrote Silva in an “open letter” addressed to the powerful Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Hair.

Cabello was recently asked by a guest on his television program “Con el Mazo Dando” about the “weak campaign” around Maduro. “Our main objective is for Cilia and Nicolás to return“, he responded.

“Let them talk more about him”

Silva’s criticism provoked strong reactions of many of his co-religionists, who considered them inadequate, showing non-chavismo fractureswhich for decades sought to present itself as united.

“We want people to talk more about him, because that’s not happeninghe is not being taken into account”, he told AFP Ana Maria Pinoa 64-year-old activist, during a march to demand the end of US sanctions.

Alquímedes Ríosmember of a communal council linked to Chavismo, believes that there was, in fact, a “fight” to ask for the return of the deposed President.

“Our interim President, Delcy Rodríguez, continues to negotiatewe continue talking so that our president Nicolás Maduro returns,” he told AFP. “If not enough has been done? It could be, but we have been fighting to make this possible”, he pondered.

To Juan Garciaa 21-year-old fisherman from the coastal state of Sucre, in the east of the country, Rodríguez faces a “very complex situation”. “You are acting with diplomacy, because by force we will not bring him back”he considered.

According to the political scientist Jesus Castillo-MolledaMaduro does not represent stability within Chavismo.

With the Washington’s recognition of Rodríguez as interim President, the Government party “sees forced to accept this reality“guarded by the US to survive, says Castillo-Molleda. And “if the economy improves with Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro will be forgotten more quickly”, he assessed.

However, while Maduro’s image is erased, Chavismo relies on a slogan: “Delcy, move forward, you have my trust”.