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•Rogue police officer bombs Supreme Court
By Emma Emeozor
These are not good times for oil-rich Venezuela. The political and economic crises rocking the South American country took a new turn on Tuesday when a rogue police officer, Oscar Perez, used a stolen police helicopter to attack the Supreme Court and the ministry of interior in the capital city, Caracas. During the attack, which took the country and the international community by surprise, four grenades were dropped on the court and 15 shots fired at the interior ministry.
Though no life was lost, the attack is a clear indication of the catastrophic dimension the turbulence in the country is assuming. A video posted on Instagram showing the attacker in military fatigues, surrounded by masked men in uniform immediately sent a chilling message that Venezuela is on the precipice and may become a theatre of guerrilla warfare.
Perez did not mince word when he urged the people to oppose the “tyranny” of government. “We are a coalition of military employees, policemen and civilians who are looking for balance and are against this criminal government,” he said. “We don’t belong to any political tendency or party. We are nationalists, patriots and institutionalists.”
In his reaction, President Nicolas Maduro condemned the attack, describing it as a “terrorist” incident.
He said: “I have activated the entire armed forces to defend the peace. And you can be assured that, sooner or later, we are going to capture that helicopter and those that carried out this terror attack against the institutions of the country.”
Since 2014, Venezuela has been contending with national problems but, since April this year, the crises took violent turn with street protests and looting taking place daily.
Genesis of the crises
The origin of the current conflict dates back to the government of Maduro’s predecessor, President Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013. Chavez came to power under the United Socialist Party (PSUV) in 1999, a period of oil boom and sufficient funds to provide infrastructures for the people. Oil accounts for 95 per cent of the country’s export revenue.
But between Chavez’s battle with an unusual illness and when he died, oil prices had plunged to such a low level that the government was hamstrung, to the extent that it could no longer respond adequately to the development needs of the people. This was even in the face of massive corruption in the public and private sectors. Chavez gained the support of the electorate because of the conviction that he would reduce corruption to its minimum. But he “failed,” disappointing the people.
Observers of Venezuelan affairs believe he failed because, as one report said, “much of Venezuela’s corruption involves military personnel, particularly high-ranking generals. Venezuelans believe Chavez turned a blind eye to corruption among officers who were loyal to him during the 2002 coup and after.” The protests started during Chavez’s tenure but on a cautious note.
Maduro was elected in April 2013 and he inherited the problem. Though his election was adjudged free and fair, the opposition rejected the result and refused to recognise his presidency. The struggle to upturn his election was immediately launched and has continued till date.
Reports say “ensuing violence that targeted state-run health clinics left at least seven civilians dead; another wave of violence beginning in February 2014 left 43 dead, approximately half of them due to opposition actions and recent and repeated calls for military and foreign intervention have also had a very damaging economic effect.”
The opposition insists PSUV must quit, a demand Maduro has rejected.
Beside the poor state of the economy due to fall in oil prices, corruption continues to decimate the country under Maduro. He has also failed to effectively fight corruption. But why did he fail? Analysts blame “his political and institutional weakness, and his need to keep the military on his side amid the daily convulsions shaking the country.” Ironically, Chavistas (followers of Chavez) are not at home with his policies.
Now, the situation has deteriorated to the extent that the country is experiencing hyper-inflation and the citizens groaning in anguish. The opposition and external powers opposed to the presence of socialist and communist governments in the American sub-region have consistently argued that socialism was retrogressive and dictatorial and, therefore, should not be allowed in Venezuela.
The anti-government forces have indoctrinated the people into believing that, unless the socialist party in power is sacked, there would be no solution to their economic woes. A hungry man is an angry man. Since April, the protests have turned violent and looting of shopping malls has become a daily occurrence. The police are frequently engaged in clashes with protesters and looters. According to reports, no fewer than 80 people have been killed in the recent protests.
Reaction to the helicopter attack
Andrew Rosati, a Caracas-based journalist for news website Bloomberg, said some people doubted the government’s version of events.
“I spoke to people today on the streets and some are absolutely mystified by the whole affair,” he told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
“This idea that a helicopter almost vanished into the air, flew off into the sunset. Many think this whole thing is staged by the government.” Opposition politician and parliamentary Speaker Julio Borges also raised the possibility that the incident was a hoax but said more information was needed.
“Whatever it is, it is very serious,” he said. “It all points to one conclusion: that the situation in Venezuela is unsustainable.”
There have been almost daily anti-government protests in Venezuela for more than two months as the country’s economic and political crises worsen.
Why the Supreme Court was targeted
It sounds odd for Perez to have attacked the Supreme Court. But the activities of the judiciary in siding with the government may have made the court a target. The court is dominated by government loyalists who would not see anything wrong with it even as the people groan.
A recent case in point was that of the banning of the country’s attorney-general from leaving the country and her assets frozen. A former staunch supporter of the government, Ms Luisa Ortega Diaz fell out with the authorities after she said “an attempt by the Supreme Court to strip the opposition-controlled Congress of its power” was unlawful.
Perhaps, in a ploy to check her, she was accused of committing serious errors. “The Supreme Court recently transferred Ms Ortega’s powers of investigation to the national ombudsman,” reports said.
Not bothered, after the helicopter attack, she lashed at government, saying, Venezuela was suffering from “state terrorism” due to the harsh response by authorities to anti-government protests.
Other reports said “while the helicopter hovered over Caracas, about a mile away, at the National Assembly, lawmakers were clashing with Venezuelan National Guardsmen. The scuffles started after the National Guard came into the building carrying electoral boxes ahead of an upcoming vote to elect a body to re-write the constitution in July.
“For more than four hours, the National Guard would not allow the lawmakers to leave. There was confusion and chaos. Hours later, in a late-night decision, the Supreme Court, the same body that had just been attacked quietly issued a decision that granted a Maduro ally, Venezuelan ombudsman Tarek Williams Saab, powers to investigate, defend and oversee human rights complaints in the country.” The opposition is against the election as it believes it is a strategy to prolong the tenure of the present administration.
Maduro accuses US of economic war
Maduro has repeatedly accused the United States of instigating the crises in his country with the aim of toppling the government. The face-off between Caracas and Washington started way back to the Chavez era. Throughout his reign, there was no love lost between Chavez and the US president. On its part, the US had never pretended over its disaffection with the socialist government. Maduro inherited the ‘hate’ relationship.
Maduro (an ardent believer in Chavez) has since stood by the policies of his predecessor, though he adopted a “wait and see” stance following the election of President Donald Trump. Following recent actions of the Trump administration, Maduro pointedly accused Washington of launching economic war against his government.
The actions include: (a) imposing sanctions on Maduro’s vice president. Reports quoted said Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations at the US Drug Enforcement Administration as saying that “those sanctions were going to be imposed when Obama was in power, but State Department told them to hold back because they wanted to see if they could establish a dialogue” between Maduro’s government and the political opposition. Vigil’s statement echoed a point a former Barack Obama administration official made to Fox News.
Deploying these sanctions now “can be seen as the opening salvo of the Trump administration in dealing with Latin America’s deepest crisis,” Michael Shifter, president of the Washington DC-based policy group Inter-American Dialogue, told The New York Times. “It is hard to imagine that, with this decision, Washington will now be included to offer many carrots to the increasingly authoritarian regime.”
(b) During a call, Trump and Argentine’s President Mauricio Macri (an enemy of the Venezuelan government) at the White House, both leaders reportedly “shared mutual concern over the situation in Venezuela.”
Venezuela was suspended from Latin America’s trading bloc, Mercosor, following a clash with Argentina. Venezuela’s suspension “took place just hours after Trump spoke with Macri” in the Oval office. Reports said Lilian Tintori was also in the meeting. She is wife of Leopoldo Lopez, a hardline Venezuelan opposition leader jailed on trumped-up charges related to weeks of deadly anti-government protests in Venezuela in 2014.
According to the reports, at the conclusion of the meeting, which Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio also attended, Trump tweeted, “Venezuela should allow Leopoldo Lopez, a political prisoner & husband of @liliantintori (just met w/ @marcorubio) out of prison immediately,” including a photo of the group.
Caracas immediately reacted with a salvo. “The Bolivarian Republic [of] Venezuela rejects the intrusion and aggression of [US President] @realDonaldTrump (who intends) to give orders to our homeland,” Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez tweeted in response to Trump. “It is lamentable that lobbies and Miami mafias in complicity with the violent Venezuelan opposition impose on @realDonaldTrump policies against Venezuela.”
(c) Reports have shown that Washington is funding anti-democratic activities in Venezuela. According to one of the reports, Washington has declared Venezuela as an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security and pressuring investors and bankers to steer clear of the Maduro administration.” The report further said “the White House has prevented Venezuela from obtaining much-needed foreign financing and investment.”
