“Zero Day” for Violent Regime Change in Venezuela
The U.S. supports the right-wing opposition in Venezuela against the socialist government of President Maduro.
Since April the opposition tries to dislodge the government by instigating a regime change by force. Its protests and street fights with the police are led by violent, militarized gangs:
Venezuela’s ongoing street protests are increasingly looking like outright warfare. As security forces shoot rubber bullets, tear-gas canisters and sometimes live rounds at the churning crowds, increasingly restive mobs are responding with lethal slingshots, homemade mortars and Molotov cocktails.
This week, seven National Guard members were injured in Caracas when a roadside bomb exploded as they drove by on motorcycles.
Leading the opposition shock-troops are loose-knit groups of young men and women that have names like The Templars, The Warriors and The Arcadias. Collectively, they’re known as the Chamos de la Resistencia or, roughly, the Youth Resistance.
This is not just by chance a similar development as was seen during the U.S. instigated color revolutions by force in Libya, Ukraine and Syria. Para-military forces hiding behind “peaceful protesters” attack police, military and civil government institutions to provoke an escalation towards a civil war.
Last week the opposition in Venezuela announced that today is the “zero day” for another violent coup attempt against President Maduro:
The fugitive police pilot who allegedly stole a helicopter and used it to attack Venezuela’s Supreme Court has appeared at an opposition rally in the capital, Caracas, attendees tell CNN.
Oscar Perez, an officer in the country’s investigative police force, addressed the gathering, urging the opposition to continue protesting.
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“A general walkout for July 18, walkout with no return. The zero-hour will start on Tuesday. The referendum we’ll do it, with dignity, we’ll be in the street defending the people.”
The date was confirmed yesterday:
Venezuelan opposition leaders have called for their supporters to escalate street protests and support a 24-hour national strike later this week after more than 7.1 million people rejected a government plan to rewrite the constitution.
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A coalition of some 20 opposition parties assembled in its headquarters Monday to call for a “zero hour” campaign of civil disobedience in the two weeks leading to the government vote.
On Sunday the opposition held a private poll in which less people attended than the opposition had hoped for. No results but the number of attendees was announced:
The opposition released only turnout numbers Sunday night, not tallies of responses to those questions, although virtually all who voted were believed to have answered “yes” to the central rejection of the constitutional rewrite.
There are some 19 million registered voters in Venezuela. A seven million turnout for a private poll, if real, is significant but neither decisive nor relevant. The hiding of the results lets one assume that the answers to the poll questions were not in favor of the opposition’s plan.
It is difficult to ascertain what the real opinion of people in Venezuela is. Polls in the country are traditionally skewed. Maduro’s economic polices, restricted by falling oil prices, sabotage by rich im- and exporters and U.S. sanction, was not successful.
But the 2015 National Assembly vote won by the opposition was more a protest vote against the economic problems than a vote for the opposition’s vague program.
It is obvious that the opposition in Venezuela is heavily supported by the various regime change institutions of the United States. Some of its operatives have deep ties with DEA and the CIA. U.S. media is -as usual- completely on the side of the U.S. regime change program. It has long agitated against the socialist government of Venezuela.
An official Trump statement on Venezuela released yesterday is noticeable for its lack of facts:
Yesterday, the Venezuelan people again made clear that they stand for democracy, freedom, and rule of law. Yet their strong and courageous actions continue to be ignored by a bad leader who dreams of becoming a dictator.
The United States will not stand by as Venezuela crumbles. If the Maduro regime imposes its Constituent Assembly on July 30, the United States will take strong and swift economic actions.
Would Trump write a similar statement about the will of the “American people” if Democrats held a private poll against him with an assured multi-million strong turnout?
The Maduro government has called for a July 30 vote to elect members of an upcoming constitutional assembly. There is nothing “imposed” with that. The opposition will try to sew chaos in the streets up to that date and likely has planned for some culmination point of action.
The government has so far reacted passively to the violent protests. The police protects some government buildings and removes some road blocking barricades. But no arrest wave or more assertiveness for government control has been ordered. One wonders at what point such measures will become inevitable.
By Moon Of Alabama
The 4th Media