I had not wanted to give my opinion regarding the upcoming US Presidency and its impact on Venezuela and the Presidency in Charge until I read this note today in PanamPost, signed by Oriana Rivas: In Spanish “Propuesta de negociar con Maduro toma auge en la bancada demócrata” (see PanamPost article of the same name in https://panampost.com/oriana-rivas/2021/01/17/propuesta-de-negociar-con-maduro-toma-auge-en-la-bancada-democrata/). The outcome of the US elections is still a mystery to me until January 20th; and it seems that events in this increasingly dynamic world tell us that a week can be a year and a day can be a month. If the Democrats are desperate to remove Donald Trump within hours of an obviously contested inauguration, the problem has to have a bottom line that can be measured in miles. Something is going on in the United States if the world watches in awe as a president is inaugurated in the world's first democracy with a militarized capital. That's why saying that Joe Biden will be President with 75 million Trump supporters on the warpath is, to say the least, something to be seen.
In any case, that is not the reason for this note. My concern is and will always be Venezuela; but if the northern giant sneezes the rest of the world has the flu. The PanamPost note points -again- to a possible new negotiation of the official opposition with Maduro, sponsored by the Biden administration in view of the weakening of the Presidency in charge after two years of lurches and bad decisions. According to the press release, the United States contemplated in its budget for this year “...$30 million, with the objective of defending democracy in Venezuela, plus an additional $5 million for health programs. Such amount is contemplated in the general budget of the US government expenses for fiscal year 2021, a document signed by President Donald Trump. However, the journalist Joshua Goodman indicated that since the US Presidency, the amount would have been requested to be $205 million for a possible transition that they believed would occur during this year”. (highlighted our)
In other words, the Trump administration would have contemplated, in concrete terms and with figures, the possibility of getting out of the Maduro regime during the course of this year. Those who have worked on public administration budgets know that when a government decides to put something in some way in its budget it is because it has foreseen the real possibility of executing it. And this is something very significant in view of the situation in Venezuela and Maduro's possible exit from power.
Now, reality indicates that the positioning of a new face at the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Congress' House of Representatives, the Democrat Gregory Meeks, may turn around US policy towards Venezuela. “During his years in Congress, Meeks has maintained close relationships with South American leaders, especially former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. His relationship with the late president contributed to his inclusion on the list of Washington's Most Corrupt Politicians, created by the transparency organization Citizens for Accountability and Ethics (CREW)”... Additionally, “The Democrat has traveled to Venezuela several times and has met with both Chávez and the current president in dispute, Nicolás Maduro. He was part of the so-called Boston Group, which held meetings between Venezuelan and US officials to improve relations between the two countries. In 2013 he was the only member of Congress who was part of the U.S. delegation that attended the funeral of the Bolivarian leader”. And to top it all off, “Meeks has positioned himself against a military intervention in Venezuela and in favor of the negotiations led by the Lima Group as a possible way out of the crisis. His last trip to the region was in 2019, along with a group of congressmen who visited the border with Colombia” (see in Spanish Quién es Gregory Meeks...in https://www.voanoticias.com/estadosunidos/eeuu-perfil-gregory-meeks-lider-comite-asuntos-exteriores-camara). This is the brief profile of who, according to PanamPost, could be the link between the narco-criminals in power in Venezuela and the Biden administration.
It is in this scenario where one finds a Presidency in charge in its worst state of weakness before the Venezuelans after two years of mistakes; and a regime that even having the power does not give way with ball in any of its policies, and particularly the economic one, constituting itself in the worst plague that Venezuela has had since its foundation. And this is the best breeding ground for a negotiation that 6.4 million Venezuelans rejected in a Popular Consultation last December 2020, putting in first place the Cessation of the Usurpation of the narco-criminals that hold power.
No U.S. administration will want a regime that sends drugs into its country or that negotiates with its government's worst enemies, regardless of party. The priority of any American government will be to defuse any danger to its national security, not to get these criminals off our backs. And that should be clear to the politicians who run Venezuela's official opposition. With Trump in the U.S. government, Venezuelans at least had the best ally to get rid of the regime, to the point that they even established the possibility of a budget to help us in case of a transition. With Biden what we will have is cohabitation like the Americans have had with Cuba for more than 60 years.
But since what they have wanted and openly demonstrated in the official opposition - from Leopoldo López on down - has always been to negotiate elections, it seems that the table will be served with Biden, even with Maduro in Miraflores. The PanamPost note indicates: "In Venezuela they are cautious, not only Maduro, but also Guaidó, whose recognition hangs by a thread because little by little he is losing support within his own party and in other countries”. And that could be true. The renewal of that recognition would be in the hands of Biden after his assumption of office, bringing Guaidó and the rest of the official opposition to their knees, forcing them to sit down with Maduro, led by Gregory Meeks. And where would the Venezuelan people be? Painted on the wall...
That is why we, the citizens, have to enforce what we decided in a Popular Consultation, making us participants and belligerents in this macabre game to which they are making us go, some because they are incompetent and others because they are narco-criminals. We must demand the belligerence of the Venezuelan people before any international body in the absence of a real representation of our legitimate interests expressed in a Popular Consultation that the Government in charge of Juan Guaidó has decided to ignore.
The Government in charge of Juan Guaidó has refused to enforce internationally what we Venezuelans decided on December 7-12, 2020. None of the international figures, recognized ambassadors of the Government in Charge in any international instance, with Julio Borges at the head, have deliberately and olympically ignored that 6.4 million Venezuelans demanded that Maduro cease the usurpation of power before any election in Venezuela. And this must be respected, not only by the new government of the United States, but by ANY GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD, especially if it was precisely the government of the United States, with Donald Trump at its head, the ONLY one that has recognized the result of the Popular Consultation. The Government in Charge has not even officially notified the rest of the governments of the American continent gathered at the OAS of the result of this civic event, which is clearly unprecedented in the political history of the Americas. If they do not do so, then we Venezuelans must demand belligerence in matters that concern us before friendly governments, and do so ourselves.
Above those representatives of the official opposition is the Popular Sovereignty that resides in us, the People of Venezuela according to our Constitution. There is a Principle of Self-Determination of the Peoples that must be made to be respected here before the International Community. Not even the Government in charge of Juan Guaidó, much less the Maduro regime, can negotiate this over the will of the people. All Venezuelans, whether or not they are invested with authority, have an order emanating from questions No. 1 and No. 3 of the Popular Consultation, beginning with Juan Guaidó Márquez. Let's make the world respect that! We must raise our voice and prevent a new election that would be illegitimate in the face of a clear mandate from the Venezuelan people expressed in the December 2020 Popular Consultation. The final decision will be ours...
Caracas, January 18, 2021
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