The silent controversy that has been unleashed after January 10, 2025, the certain date of the materialization of the coup d'état committed by the regime of Nicolás Maduro Moros when he illegitimately declared himself the winner of the elections of July 28, 2024, regarding the swearing in of Edmundo González Urrutia (EGU) as the legitimate President of the Republic, seems to place this demand among the taboo topics that cannot be openly debated since the discussion about the confidential strategies of the opposition of María Corina Machado (MCM) is closed, seems to place this demand among the taboo topics that cannot be openly debated since the discussion on the confidential opposition strategies of María Corina Machado (MCM) is closed, in view of the next step to be taken by such opposition after the inauguration of Donald Trump in the USA.
I am sure that all Venezuelans who voted in majority for EGU would like to see a full-fledged swearing-in of the President Elect as soon as possible, with all the symbolism that this special act deserves. That is, in the hemicycle of the Venezuelan Parliament, conducted by the legitimate authorities of the Legislative Power, or failing that, by those of the Judicial Power, as established in Article 231 of the Constitution, after the freedom of Venezuelans has been recovered.
But without getting into the secret strategies of the opposition, the reality is different. We are in a state of Force Majeure that has prevented this constitutional swearing in as we would have wished. Since January 10, the regime has been moving, taking the first steps for a mega election in July from the illegitimate National Assembly, accompanied by the false opposition that does not represent anyone in Venezuela, and most seriously, taking the fundamental decisions for a Constitutional Reform, to carry out what Hugo Chávez did not achieve in 2007.
In the meantime, we continue waiting for “something to happen”. We celebrate the swearing in of President Trump on January 20 as if something were going to happen tomorrow in Venezuela, but until the new US government decides what will be the concrete measures to be applied to the illegitimate regime of Nicolás Maduro Moros, the agenda of the Venezuelan opposition cannot be “waiting”, but to act proactively and jointly with that and the rest of the governments that recognized EGU to establish a concrete course of action, where clearly there will be things that cannot be expressed publicly, but others that definitely can, to slow down or minimize the impact of the decisions that the criminals who are still in power in Venezuela will be taking, until their expulsion occurs.
And one of those decisions that should and must be taken as soon as possible is the swearing in of EGU as acting president of Venezuela. How and where they will do it is not the subject of this note, nor is the legal basis they will use to do so. If the political will exists, I am sure that technical explanations for that decision will abound; that is precisely what we need from jurists when making political decisions that change the history of a country! But no, unfortunately, what abounds is the “it can't be done”, sabotaging ourselves and raising legal objections to ourselves, as Dr. Blanca Rosa Mármol de León always rightly says. Please, let someone else raise the objections! Much of what has happened to us in 25 years has been due to that!
What is fundamental and important is that THERE IS a recognized President who can coordinate, in the full exercise of the functions of his office, with friendly governments, and take the required actions to dislodge -preferably in a peaceful manner- the regime that has usurped power in Venezuela. That would be a proactive action that Venezuelans expect from our current political leadership, regardless of how long the usurpation of Nicolás Maduro Moros still has to last.
But if for anyone this action, which many have demanded in various analyses through social networks, could be a truism, why has it not happened yet? That is where I want to stop in this article. Not in the what of that decision that we all see as obvious, but in why it has not been taken and EGU is still President Elect, going around more than necessary after having been recognized by the main countries of the world.
I will state a hypothesis that I submit for your consideration, leaving you, as always, the last word to draw your own conclusions. My hypothesis suggests that the opposition of the 4 parties that control the 2015 National Assembly and that administers the funds seized from the regime in the various countries, are politically preventing the transfer of power to EGU and MCM; and that with their swearing in, those funds would pass into the hands of EGU and its government, wherever it is, as decided by the countries that agreed at the time to whom to give the administration of the funds withheld from the regime, UNTIL A NEW LEGITIMATE ELECTORALLY ELECTORAL GOVERNMENT IS ELECTED IN VENEZUELA. And that is what actually happened on July 28, 2024. The MUD-PUD translated into the National Assembly of 2015, represents so far the only support on which resides the institutionality recognized as legitimate abroad, especially governmental agencies such as the OFAC of the USA.
In the swearing in of EGU lies the political power locking stone that the parties are disputing with MCM. It represents the economic survival of the empty shells of the opposition that lost to MCM on October 22, 2023, and that plays its failure by “not swearing in” EGU on January 10, and that will refuse to die together with the regime, “turning the page” and trying to “normalize” Venezuela with an illegitimate election that they negotiated with Maduro next July, using the money they inherited with the disappearance of the interim. Does it seem too much? Naivety does not fit in the Venezuelan political jungle and especially if it is for survival.
They prefer to leave EGU wandering around the world in an economically compromised situation, which makes it very difficult to coordinate concrete actions with friendly countries to oust Maduro and his gang, since this requires having the institutional floor that EGU lacks, but above all the organizational funds that governments will hardly provide, at least in the short term. While it is true that the Trump government may be willing to collaborate right now, at some point they will express that the problem belongs to the Venezuelans, as indeed it has always been. Here there will be no “express” solutions as most expect, and that is why we must have institutional tools to build them, such as a real presidency in office.
Do you
think this hypothesis is far-fetched? Let's see:
On December 24, 2022, the late Dr. Román Duque Corredor stated the following on his Twitter account (X), when it was already public knowledge that Juan Guaido had been removed as Interim President by the National Assembly of 2015: “The US Treasury Department pursuant to Section 25 of the Federal Reserve Act declared that the legitimate authority to control funds of the Venezuelan Government or the BCV held at the Federal Reserve Bank of NY is Acting President and not the NA” (see X, @romanjoseduque in https://twitter.com/romanjoseduque/status/1606484829805182977). Two days before that date, PJ, UNT and AD had executed Guaidó with 72 votes in favor, against 23 and 9 abstentions.
And indeed it was so. The NA-2015 could not get its hands on those funds because they were, according to the OFAC disposition, in the hands of Guaidó, so a new authorization had to be processed before that US office. Tal Cual reported on March 31, 2023 the following: “The international game was blocked for the National Assembly (NA) elected in 2015, since by taking the decision to eliminate the interim, they lost legal representation before the United States and, therefore, they cannot manage Venezuela's funds held in custody in the international community” (see in Spanish Tal Cual, Bloomberg: Without interim, opposition NA cannot access funds to pay litigation, at https://talcualdigital.com/bloomberg-sin-interinato-an-opositora-no-puede-acceder-a-fondos-para-pagar-litigios/).
Leopoldo Lopez clearly confirms this to Bloomberg: “The opposition, which relied on Venezuelan government accounts frozen by U.S. sanctions to finance its operations, has not received a license from the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control to access the funds, Lopez said in an interview in Washington. Previously, the accounts with US$347 million were under the control of Guaidó, whom the U.S. recognized as the legitimate president of Venezuela” (see in Spanish Bloomberg, Venezuelan opposition unpaid lawyers awaiting US$347M, in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-31/oposicion-venezolana-sin-pagar-a-abogados-a-espera-de-us-347m#xj4y7vzkg) (emphasis added).
However, in May 2023, the AN-2015 manages to regain control of the frozen accounts: “The U.S. State Department will allow the National Assembly of Venezuela, elected in 2015, chaired by the leader of Primero Justicia, Dinorah Figuera, to regain access to Venezuelan funds, frozen in U.S. banks. According to sources consulted by Bloomberg, the estimated amount is 437 million dollars, a decision which puts an end to the blockade caused by a vacuum in the leadership of the opposition, following the removal of the interim government in January 2023. Figuera met last March 15 with officials of the U.S. State Department, who maintain the recognition of this Parliament as the only legitimate institution in Venezuela” (see in Spanish Bloomberg: National Assembly 2015 recovers access to funds frozen in U.S. banks, in https://www.ntn24.com/noticias-politica/bloomberg-asamblea-nacional-2015-recupera-acceso-a-fondos-congelados-en-bancos-estadounidenses-416884).
Now, what would happen if EGU is sworn in? The legitimate President would be the new person in charge of those funds, as Guaido previously was (even being a puppet of the NA-2015), resolving also the situation of the Gold Reserves retained in the Bank of England because there would definitely already exist a legitimate representative of a Venezuelan government as President of the Republic, product of the popular will, as demanded by that institution (see BBC News World, Venezuela's Gold: Why the Bank of England is withholding 31 tons of bullion from the South American country (and what political and judicial fight it generates), at https://www. bbc.com/world/news-america-latina-53078808).
The 2015 National Assembly would lose control of the money and would have to step aside from administering the funds of Venezuelans held in the US. Once sworn in, EGU would assume the administration which it would use in favor of the cause of recovering Venezuela's freedom. At that time, AN-2015 will have to present clear accounts to Venezuelans of the money made available to it, both from the administration of Juan Guaidó as Interim President, as well as from the administration he has exercised as of May 2023.
The current situation is that the 4 parties that control the AN-2015 have control of those funds and must hand over that administration to President Gonzalez Urrutia as of his swearing in as President of the Republic. Now I ask you: Do you believe that the top leadership of that same MUD-PUD that administers the funds and the only institutional power still considered legitimate abroad, and that put its card so that MCM could endorse its political wealth to EGU as a candidate negotiated between the parties, will allow the latter to be sworn in, letting them be audited, losing at the same time the financial control of their parties to MCM? There you have your answer as to why we are still waiting for the swearing in of EGU.
EGU must be sworn in as President of the Republic in office if we want to get out of this situation soon. Since January 20 there is a new Administration in the USA and we do not have a formal counterpart to negotiate the legitimate affairs of the Venezuelan State for the recovery of the Republic. The expected freedom of Venezuelans cannot be subordinated to the interests of some parties that do not represent anyone and that dispose at their own discretion, and without popular support, of the money that belongs to Venezuelans. It is time to make decisions that will immediately deepen the struggle after January 10, reaching the end as soon as possible as promised....
Caracas, January 22, 2025
Blog:
TIC’s & Derechos Humanos, https://ticsddhh.blogspot.com/
Email: luismanuel.aguana@gmail.com
Twitter:@laguana
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