Go back to January 2019. Remember the big geopolitical news?
With Nicholas Maduro poised to be sworn in as President of Venezuela on 10 January, the U.S. implemented a coup attempt with its coronation of Juan Guaidó as the country’s interim leader… in effect dismissing Maduro from office.
President Trump’s administration launched the propaganda campaign branding Maduro’s victory as “heavily rigged,” “fraudulent,” “a sham,” “a joke” and “a disgrace.”
But, in fact, the elections in Venezuela were regarded as among those closely monitored and legitimate. Several international monitoring organizations observed the elections and affirmed their fairness. For example, the African Nations’ delegation stated:
“The Venezuelan people who chose to participate in the electoral process of May 20 were not subject to any external pressures… As such, we implore the international community to abide by international law and the principles of self-determination and recognize what we consider to be a free, fair, fully transparent, and sovereign election.”
Despite this proclamation, President Trump declared, “Maduro is no longer president of Venezuela. I will continue to use the full weight of United States economic and diplomatic power to press for the restoration of Venezuelan democracy.”
Vice President Mike Pence weighed in with a video stating, “On behalf of the American people, we say: estamos conustedes. We are with you. We stand with you, and we will stay with you until Democracy is restored.”
To bring democracy to Venezuela, the Trump administration hired Elliott Abrams, Iraqi warmonger/cheerleader/criminal and champion of Latin American death squads that slaughtered tens of thousands.
Fast Forward
As we had forecast since the attempted American-led coup d’état that much of Washington’s allies supported, Guido did not have the backing of the Venezuelan people nor the military, thus the U.S. would fail in their effort to overthrow the Maduro government.
The European Union sent a clear message to opposition leader Juan Guaidó last week after it referred to him as one of the “political actors striving to bring democracy to Venezuela” instead of the country’s interim president, according to a report.
The Financial Times reported the snub was seen as a message to Guaidó that European leaders are growing impatient with President Nicolas Maduro’s grip on power in Caracas. A senior diplomat told the paper Guaidó is now considered to be “primus inter pares,” which translates to first among equals among the country’s population.
Guaidó, who has seen his opinion polls in the country sink within the past year, has been recognized by 60 countries, including the U.S., as Caracas’s legitimate leader. But he has been faced with a lack of support at home and increasingly abroad. Axios reported in July that President Trump indicated he did not care either way about Guaido, despite the support he received from Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The FT reported that Guaidó was not formally viewed by the EU as the country’s interim president due to objections by Italy and Cyprus, but he benefited from the same treatment by other members that an interim president would receive.
Allies of Maduro officially took control of the country’s National Assembly last week, and they seem to be consolidating power. Guaidó couldn’t successfully unify the opposition and has been left with no real power.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement, “President Guaidó and the National Assembly are the only democratic representatives of the Venezuelan people as recognized by the international community.”
TREND FORECAST: The sanctions President Trump’s administration imposed on Venezuela in its effort to overthrow the Maduro government have caused deep economic pain among the nation’s population and economy. We have written extensively on this subject in the Trends Journal since the U.S. launched the coup attempt, which was supported in the most part by both the U.S. Congress and the media.
With Guaidó all but gone and Joe Biden in as President, while it would appear that tensions between the two nations will ease, considering Biden’s record of being pro-war and supporting foreign entanglements, we hesitate to forecast warming relations between the two nations.
