On 20 January, Venezuela’s reactionary would-be president, Juan Guaido, embarked on a whistle-stop tour of Europe which included meetings with the British and French prime ministers, European Union ministers and hosting a workshop at the Davos World Economic Forum to drum up support for more sanctions against Venezuela and funding for his own sinking ship. It was his first trip to Europe since he unilaterally declared himself president a year ago and was aimed at shoring up desperately-needed international support, even as his stock at home dwindles. On 5 January he lost his position as speaker of the National Assembly – a position he had used to falsely lay claim to the presidency. This princeling may have been crowned in the imperialist halls of Washington, London and Paris but in Caracas he is viewed as a busted flush even by his erstwhile allies. Sam McGill reports.
On 5 January, fistfights broke out within the National Assembly as different factions of Venezuela’s right-wing opposition wrestled over control of the National Assembly. Images of Guaido scaling a fence and scuffling with guards outside were splashed across the press, alongside a narrative of democracy denied. But behind the photo-opportunity, Guaido, who is mired down by corruption scandals and had seen an opposition rival elected to the post of Speaker of the National Assembly, was clutching at straws. While the Bolivarian Revolution remains steadfast despite imperialist-backed coup attempts and an unrelenting economic siege, an increasingly divided opposition is eating itself.
A year ago, as a little-known deputy, Guaido swore himself in as ‘interim president’ having just been elected head of the National Assembly for 2019-2020. This was a declaration of war, predicated on denying the legitimacy of internationally-observed presidential elections in May 2018 which PSUV’s Maduro won with 67% of the votes. This constitutional coup attempt was highly coordinated with the US, continuing the imperialist siege of the Bolivarian Revolution which has been in place since the election of socialist leader Hugo Chavez in 1998. Guaido was subsequently recognised as ‘interim president’ by about 50 countries, led by the United States, Britain and the European Union. However, his stunts repeatedly failed as the Venezuelan working class and poor flooded the streets to oppose him and the military remained loyal to the legitimate government of President Nicolas Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution. The imperialists pulled out all the stops, pumping millions of dollars into regime change, supporting embassy take-overs and the appointment of illegitimate envoys, a military putsch and proxy intervention via Colombia whilst Richard Branson’s ‘Venezuela Live Aid’ concert in February 2019 propelled the propaganda blitz.
But Guaido was attracting fewer and fewer people out onto the streets when he called rallies in opposition strongholds, and support even within the ranks of opposition parties began to ebb away. In December 2019, 70 opposition legislators signed a letter demanding he account for the whereabouts of $1.4bn aid from the Branson concert, after it emerged defected soldiers were left destitute in Colombia whilst Guaido himself rubbed shoulders with narco-trafficker paramilitaries, and his envoys splurged on hotels, prostitutes and flash cars in Bogota. Hitting back, Guaido has accused a raft of rebellious opposition deputies including Luis Parra, of opposition party Primero Justicia, of lobbying the US not to sanction Colombian businessmen supplying food to the Venezuelan state in return for kickbacks. Another Primero Justicia politician, Jose Brito, responded that Guaido ‘does not have moral, ethical or judicial capabilities, because he’s corrupt’.
It was Luis Parra who won the post of Assembly president on 5 December, with support from Chavista politicians also keen to see the back of Guaido. Realising he would fail to get the votes he needed Guaido, far from being blocked from entering the National Assembly, boycotted the session. There are videos showing him passing freely through the National Guard and being granted access to the chamber. But in order to manufacture a confrontation, Guaido then refused to enter unless accompanied by former legislator Gilberto Sojo, recently released from prison. Sojo lost his credentials when arrested in a coup plot last year and was refused entry. Guaido made his move, jostling with security guards and scaling a fence as the cameras rolled. After waiting two hours, the televised electoral session began with at least 127 legislators present (quorum is 84) including several of Guaido’s deputies. Since Guaido was absent and no other candidates were nominated, Parra won the vote and was sworn in whilst a punch-up broke out between opposition factions. Brito told Guaido: ‘You could have been the future – now you are and will be the past’.
Fuming, Guaido staged a parallel vote in the headquarters of the pro-opposition newspaper El Nacional, proclaiming himself National Assembly president and installing his own board of deputies. Days later he forced his way into the legislative chamber, installing his own parallel assembly with a measly 38 legislators.
The United States is standing by its man (for the moment), even if hardly anyone in Venezuela is. The State Department has sanctioned Parra and other disobedient opposition deputies, reiterating its continued recognition of Guaido as ‘the legitimate president of the National Assembly and Interim President of Venezuela’. So much for democracy. In Britain, the iconic fence photo was dutifully trotted out by The Guardian and the BBC, who claimed, without any evidence, that the vote had been manipulated by the Maduro government. The Guardian‘s Tom Phillips quoted Guaido’s London envoy Vanessa Neumann’s ludicrous claim that Guaido ‘has more legitimacy even than he did in 2019.’ On BBC Radio 4, Nick Robinson snatched an interview with Guaido himself, giving him a platform to spout phoney concerns about hungry Venezuelan refugees whilst demanding further sanctions and professing his support for non-violence. This is the man whose supporters have squandered billions of dollars of humanitarian aid, set fire to food trucks and led a string of violent coup attempts.
Sanctions are strangling the economy, costing Venezuela over $130bn since 2015. Whilst measures hamper imports of food and medicine, $5.5bn is frozen in international accounts across 50 financial institutions including $1.3bn of gold withheld by the Bank of England. This is a crime against humanity. Fresh elections for the National Assembly are scheduled this year. With the date still to be set, these will be decisive for the power struggle within the opposition, and a litmus test for continued support for the Bolivarian revolution.
