Without electricity, the water pumps have stopped

The obstinacy of the US government through its principal spokespeople–Trump, Rubio, Pompeo, Bolton, Abraham and others–in attacking the government of Venezuela is just one more expression of the supremacist vocation that nation has shown throughout its history. The most dangerous aspect of the phenomenon is that this time the attack is accompanied by a series of dangerous governments that follow direct orders from Trump. It is truly painful that countries that call themselves free and democratic are united under the dictates of a president who is leading his nation into a moral chasm of gigantic proportions, violating all the laws of international diplomacy and assailing a country like Venezuela, that has the right to elect a determined model of government, whose legitimacy should be decided exclusively by its inhabitants.

Apparently, following the dissolution of the group of countries that came together a few years ago in ALBA[1] to create a new model of socio-economic management distanced from neoliberal capitalism, the USA has now entered a more virulent phase of attacks against Venezuela employing all possible means. These include sabotage, guarimbas, interference, attempts at magnicide, financial speculation, induced inflation and now electrical sabotage that has left the country with terrible anxiety, since it has deprived us of water, gas, electricity, telephones, internet, medicines and food for long hours.

The most ridiculous of these operations has been to implement a parallel government with the figure of Juan Guaidó, a manipulated puppet who has toured around the country proclaiming himself president of the Republic, surrounded by a group of phonies and vassals that have designated ministers and other authorities, with the object of naming in the future a “government of transition”, whose final goal would be to transfer the resources of our nation to the government of the United States.

As the last straw, this group of persons has erected a network of financial traffickers charged with transferring large sums of money through bank accounts to pay mercenaries who are doing the dirty work in Venezuela.  This money comes from the financial fraud perpetrated against foreign currency accounts that the country held in foreign banks. This incredible operation of fraud, where the nation lost millions of dollars, should merit the condemnation of the international community.

We note, nevertheless, that the “European community” has not moved a finger in favour of Venezuela; on the contrary, we see a supposedly “socialist” government such as that of Pedro Sánchez assume the presidency of his country offering an option of change, who has done nothing but further reinforce the neoliberal line of government. It is a pity that when the infamous government of Rajoy has finally been defeated, the new Spanish leader supports the belligerant initiatives of Donald Trump, followed by Piñera, Duque, Bolsonaro, Macri and Moreno in South America.

In Cataluña, the “indignados” march through the streets demanding cultural and political independence to free themselves from the centralist monarchy of Madrid and from institutional hypocrisy. In Paris and other cities of France, citizens march wearing yellow vests as a protest against the Macron government, who has sacked his chief of police in Paris because he did not want to attack his own compatriots. In Brazil, they have just arrested the vampire Michel Temer, who carried out the infamous confabulation against the legitimate government of Dilma Rousseff. Luckily, Mexico has saved its vote on this occasion, through the direct and sincere word of president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and has marked a distance from the aggression against Venezuela.

Because of the continued electrical sabotage for over a month, the country has been plunged in these days into a painful upheaval that is aimed at dynamiting the social fabric of its communities. By paralyzing electrical power, all transactions are detained, telephone calls, payments, deposits, food is lost, water pumps are stopped, there is a reduced supply of gasoline and gas, citizen insecurity has increased, people are bordering on nervousness and distress that will lead, sooner or later, to aggression and violence. The aim is to bring about psychic instability among the inhabitants, so that we Venezuelans go against ourselves, thus producing a social implosion and provoking pillaging, vandalism and crime.  They will thus justify a supposed humanitarian aid, following the first attempt which took place a few weeks ago on the Columbian border, aided by trendy singers and media operations around false positives, that ended up as a complete failure.

Fortunately, the majority of the Venezuelan population has a social conscience and is resisting with courage. They know that the problem was not caused by us, that all this evil is due to the direct interference of the government of the United States and of a complicit political opposition, who have found a way to intervene in the electronic systems of the Guri dam in the State of Bolivar to create explosions that have destroyed the physical infrastructure of our principal energy company. They will not succeed, because the people have organized to resist this and more, to struggle for a dignified and noble country whose libertarian thinking is guided by Miranda, Bolivar, Sucre, Guaicaipuro, Zamora, Chávez and a notable group of civil leaders in which the pacifist figure of Cecilio Acosta stands out.

Our country will move forward because it has the hope of a future built with labour, faith in God and confidence in a valiant people, as has been demonstrated over its long and glorious history.

03/04/2019

(Translated for ALAI by Jordan Bishop)