Donald Trump rally
Venezuela January 23, 2019
US Backs Coup in Oil-Rich Venezuela, Right-Wing Opposition Plans Mass
Privatization and Hyper-Capitalism
The US has effectively declared a coup in Venezuela. Trump recognized
unelected right-wing opposition leader Juan Guaidó as new president, who
plans mass privatization and neoliberal capitalist policies.
By Ben Norton
The United States has effectively declared a political coup détat in
Venezuela, from abroad. Trump announced on January 23 that the US recognizes
the unelected, illegitimate right-wing opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the
supposed new interim president of Venezuelas supposed new government.
Venezuelas US-backed opposition has pledged to carry out a mass
privatization of state assets and to implement harsh neoliberal capitalist
policies. The opposition-controlled legislatures declared in its
transition plans that the centralized model of controls of the economy
will be replaced by a model of freedom and market based on the right of each
Venezuelan to work under the guarantees of property rights and freedom of
enterprise.
The US has also hinted at violence in Venezuela. During a background
briefing after Trumps declaration, journalist Dan Cohen heard a US official
declare that if the government of actual President Nicolás Maduro responds
with any violence, They have no immediate future, they have no immediate
livelihood. One way or another they have their days counted.
Trump administration officials added, When we say all options are on the
table, all options are on the table
Lets hope Maduro and his cronies see
the magnitude of the message.
Regions Right-Wing Countries Join US in Recognizing Coup
Canadas Liberal government, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; Brazils
new far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro; and the overtly pro-US Organization of
American States (OAS) and its Secretary General Luis Almagro have joined
Trump in endorsing this diplomatic coup in Venezuela.
Likewise, the right-wing, US-allied countries in Latin America, including
Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Ecuador have joined Trump in
anointing Guaidó as leader.
The regions few remaining leftist governments, Bolivia, Cuba, and
Nicaragua, have continued recognizing Venezuelas legitimate government, as
has Mexicos newly elected left-wing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Bolivian President Evo Morales warned that the claws of imperialism again
seek to fatally wound the democracy and self-determination of the peoples of
South America, adding, No longer will we be the backyard of the US.
The US government, its right-wing allies, and an obeisant corporate media
have repeatedly referred to Venezuelas actual president, Nicolás Maduro, as
an authoritarian dictator. What they have failed to mention is that
Venezuela still has regular elections, but the US-backed right-wing
opposition, which is notoriously disunited and incompetent, has chosen to
boycott these elections, preferring to call for foreign-backed military
coups instead.
One of the only elected officials in the US who has spoken out against the
coup is left-wing California Congressman Ro Khanna. Other progressive and
anti-Trump US politicians, including self-declared democratic socialists,
have remained silent on Trumps effective declaration of a coup in Latin
America.
Opposition Plans for Privatized Free Market Economy
While supporters of regime change in Venezuela insist this blatantly
undemocratic move is necessary to defend democracy, make no mistake, the
upheaval is clearly not motivated by resistance to authoritarianism.
Venezuela, which has the worlds largest oil reserves and has challenged the
hegemony of the US dollar, has long been a target of US aggression. In 2002,
the United States supported a military coup that briefly ousted
democratically elected President Hugo Chávez and replaced him with the
right-wing oligarch Pedro Carmona. US intervention, including crippling
economic sanctions, has only continued since then.
Elements of Venezeulas opposition have portrayed themselves to credulous
foreign observers as social democratic, but their real intentions are very
clear: The opposition-controlled legislature has demanded mass privatization
of state assets and a return to a capitalist oligarch-controlled economic
system built on property rights and freedom of enterprise.
In 2017, the Venezuelan government declared the creation of the Constituent
Assembly, to rewrite the constitution. Venezuelas opposition refused to
recognize this body and boycotted the elections. The opposition instead
remained in control of the National Assembly and decided to run it as a
separate parallel legislature.
The opposition-controlled National Assembly drafted a transition law that
openly outlines what policies the opposition, led by Juan Guaidó, would
pursue in its illegitimate, US-recognized government in Venezuela. Analyst
Jorge Martín, explained what this means in an article published by
VenezuelaAnalysis:
The transition law drafted by the Assembly National (in contempt) is
explicit about the central objectives of the coup in the political and
economic field:
[C]entralized controls, arbitrary measures of expropriation and other
similar measures will be abolished
For these purposes, the centralized
model of controls of the economy will be replaced by a model of freedom and
market based on the right of each Venezuelan to work under the guarantees of
property rights and freedom of enterprise.
In other words, the nationalised companies will be returned to their former
private owners (including telecommunications, electrical, SIDOR, cement,
etc), as will expropriated landed estates. It is noteworthy that there is a
lot of talk of property and business rights, but no mention is made of
workers rights, which would certainly be abolished. It continues:
Public companies will be subject to a restructuring process that ensures
their efficient and transparent management, including through public-private
agreements.
What this means, in plain language, is massive dismissal of workers from
state companies and the entry of private capital into them: a policy of
looting which has already proved to be a disaster in all countries where it
has been applied.
The model of the oppositions new coup regime in Venezuela backed by the
US, Canada, and Brazil is the reimposition of neoliberal capitalism and
the recolonization of Latin America. Any bluster about restoring democracy
is a mere pretense at this point.
Ben Norton
Ben Norton is a journalist and writer. He is a reporter for The Grayzone,
and the producer of the Moderate Rebels podcast, which he co-hosts with Max
Blumenthal. His website is BenNorton.com, and he tweets at @BenjaminNorton.
https://bennorton.com