The jump of the other fence

By Luis Manuel Aguana

The picture went around the world. It was by no means negligible for the press around the world to see a President trying to get his country's Parliament over the fence while the military tried to prevent it. What was not reflected in that photo, of course, was that those same military men had already given him the free pass that the President in charge did not accept because they would not let a Member of Parliament vetoed by the regime pass with him. The final result was that neither of the two passed to the Federal Legislative Palace last January 5, a date that will remain in the history of Venezuela.

La foto del Presidente Encargado intentando saltar la reja causó el impacto esperado: el titular principal fue que el régimen había impedido el paso de los Diputados opositores, cosa que fue una verdad a medias porque informaciones posteriores corroboraron que los Diputados de las fracciones mayoritarias ya se encontraban en el Parlamento a la hora del impasse de la reja, esperando al Presidente de la Asamblea para comenzar el acto, y el doblemente investido Presidente Encargado y Presidente de la Asamblea Nacional no entró al Palacio Federal Legislativo porque no le dio la gana.

They had already prepared the scene in the newspaper El Nacional from the day before, perhaps to mend the cloak of something much more serious, which was none other than having unconstitutionally accepted the deputies of the regime who had lost their status as such to vote for a new directive that day. If the President entered the Chamber, the session would have to be held, at the risk of the official opposition losing the Directive because of the pile of money offered - and accepted - to opposition Members. So this story has been misplaced from the outset.

The opposition, by meeting outside the Legislative Palace and ratifying Juan Guaidó as President of the Assembly and President-in-Charge, put itself in a weak position that it obviously should have evaluated previously. The regime put "its own Directive" in opposition and now we are waiting for the TSJ of Baralt Avenue to decide which of the two Directives will end up being the valid one. You can be sure that any decision it makes will not be for the convenience of Venezuelans. But for now, the official opposition has vetoed the use of the Federal Legislative Palace. Don't you think it's strange how late the ex-convict's Supreme Court has been able to pronounce itself definitively in favor of Parra? The green suitcase still seems to be loose in the legislative corridors…«Cosas veredes, Sancho, que farán fablar las piedras» (original Spanish), Don Quijote dixit.

But the picture of the President on the fence had just that, media impact. The official opposition is no better off now than it was before January 5th. The delay in achieving a definitive solution for Venezuelans since the mantra was offered on 23E last year is beginning to burn the hands of the official opposition. It is not enough to have "conserved" the National Assembly's directive using a stratagem that is still not clear. There must be concrete results from that for Venezuelans. It cannot be that the problem that competes with hyperinflation and the serious food and welfare crisis of the Venezuelan people is that Juan Guaidó and the G4 are in session or not in the Federal Palace and the thugs of the regime are not letting them in. That IS NOT THE PROBLEM. We are still waiting for an answer from that opposition about what they are going to do NOW to get rid of this nightmare.

However, the first days of the week, we Venezuelans woke up with another news item similar to the one about the fence on January 5th. The President in charge, this time successfully jumped the fence with an agenda completely unknown to everyone and that has been known since his meetings with Colombian President Ivan Duque. Again, another media fence, this time international. The big question is whether it will be the same as the first failed attempt to jump. We Venezuelans have been asking ad nauseam the President in charge to kill the snake in the head and meet face to face with the only leader in the hemisphere who has openly extended his hand to us to help us end this nightmare; and with enough power to solve the problem of the Venezuelans, agreeing with him how to solve it: Donald Trump, President of the United States of America.

Once again, a world of expectations is unleashed, as happened on January 5 with the attempt to jump the first fence, and which left the regime with the property papers of the Federal Legislative Palace and a new Directive adjusted to its measure. Juan Guaidó is left with only the letter from the International Community and his true status as the legitimate President in charge that he still holds constitutionally since January 23, 2019.

Will Guaidó try to "agree" or convince new dialogues, negotiated solutions or elections with the criminals who hold power in Venezuela, with the countries of the International Community after the most important have repeated to him countless times that elections cannot be held with Maduro in power? Or rather, will Guaidó discuss the alternatives of eviction using multinational force to stop the crimes against humanity that the regime is committing every day in our country? If this is so, he is doing it a year late, but we congratulate him for finally " falling for it" as was expressed in the old days. 

And if at last your agenda includes constitutional solutions to overcome the crisis that include the power of force that can only be applied by the International Community, we formally request that you put forward the constitutional call for the people to make a statement through a Popular Consultation that restores the validity of the Constitution, as opposed to the electoral solutions that the European socialists are shouting. The reasons have been explained extensively in my previous note (see To the International Community: A Popular Consultation is better than an Election, in https://ticsddhh.blogspot.com/p/to-international-community-popular.html).

And if, as my dear friend Enrique Colmenares Finol, National Coordinator of ANCO, says, Juan Guaidó manages to get Donald Trump to declare to the world something like this: "the United States is completely in agreement that Venezuelans should make a democratic statement to define their destiny through a citizen consultation that defines Maduro's presence in power, and we will be the guarantor that whatever the people of Venezuela decide will be fulfilled", his jump from the other fence will have been successful. That would be more than enough for the citizens to make a massive pronouncement all over the world, with the certain hope that we will have a sure recovery of our majority will.

If Guaidó doesn't bring something equal or greater forcefulness than that, the jump from the other fence will have been as useless as the first one, and it will be preferable that it stays on the other side because it will come to dance a new year of delay of the tragedy that we live, with the solution that they cook electorally with the regime. If he does not come up with a convincing answer for the Venezuelans, he will do us the great favour of moving away and letting us find it…

Caracas, January 22, 2020

Email: luismanuel.aguana@gmail.com
Twitter:@laguana

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