(AFP) – Venezuela’s anti-imperialist leftists are growing increasingly vocal about their distaste for the interim government’s cozy rapport with Washington. Seven months after US forces abducted president Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan left is splintering into multiple camps. Some ruling party members endorse interim leader Delcy Rodriguez’s Western-backed policies, while other Chavistas denounce her alliance with US President Donald Trump.
“The homeland is not for sale!” activists cried at a protest in Caracas, ahead of political transition talks between the government and parts of the opposition. Rodriguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president, used to accuse the United States of attacking Venezuelan sovereignty via sanctions or by “plundering” its assets. But her rhetoric has shifted since replacing her deposed predecessor. For instance, Rodriguez has actively cooperated with Washington to open up Venezuela’s oil, electricity, and mining sectors to private and foreign capital.
With Trump viewing the South American nation as a US dominion, Caracas reportedly never makes a major decision without consulting Washington first. According to The New York Times, Rodriguez regularly exchanges WhatsApp messages and even selfies with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Such a radical U-turn is unforgivable to Venezuela’s most committed leftists. “It’s a policy of surrender,” communist activist Jacqueline Lopez, 45, told AFP. Rodriguez “receives instructions, even via Twitter, from the US government and then goes and follows them to the letter,” she said at a protest in the capital. Shouts of “Yankees go home!” and “No to imperialist plunder!” filled the air around her. Some Chavistas had burned US flags at an earlier demonstration.
Maduro and his late mentor Hugo Chavez both railed against the US, choosing to align themselves with Cuba, Iran, and China instead. Both leaders enforced strong state intervention in the economy and implemented extensive social programs. “It smells of sulfur,” Chavez had remarked at the United Nations General Assembly in 2006 after then US leader George W. Bush spoke — whom Chavez considered “the devil.” That dynamic is in stark contrast to Trump’s relationship with Rodriguez, who governs under his thumb and regularly receives his praise.
The interim leader has in recent months suspended oil shipments to Washington’s communist foe Cuba and even got into a diplomatic spat with Venezuela’s longtime ally Iran. She has also overseen the restoration of ties with right-wing administrations in Peru and Chile. Civil servant and ruling party member Noel Urbina, 45, told AFP he does not believe Chavistas would endorse Rodriguez in a leadership contest — a move which marks a break with the past, experts say. “No one had ever dared do that,” said political scientist Luis Salamanca, who noted that up until recently, such statements would have invited harsh political repression. Individual criticism has always existed, but now, there is “a group within Chavismo that is challenging the ruling Chavismo,” he told AFP. “No one had ever seen anyone say to (Chavez or Maduro), ‘look, you’re doing it wrong,'” he added.
Dissent got louder after the twin quakes that struck northern Venezuela on June 24, killing over 6,000 people and decimating hundreds of buildings. Different political groups have meanwhile protested in Caracas ahead of US-backed political transition talks between the Rodriguez administration and opposition representatives approved by Washington. Notably absent from the discussions is opposition favorite and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, who lives in exile and was not invited.
Ruling party lawmaker Francisco Arias called for avoiding a process “approved only by those who run the US government” in a message on social media. But according to political scientist Jesus Castillo Molleda, most pro-government officials endorse Rodriguez. US influence on Venezuela’s economy is a “political reality,” he said, pointing to the fallout of a biting crisis that lasted for over a decade.
Student Suhey Ochoa, 30, would not vote for Rodriguez in a possible election due to the “deep resentment” she feels over the official handling of the recent earthquakes. Following the harrowing experience of digging for victims without state help, she said people were prepared to “hit back” at a “government that didn’t respond.”
– Leticia PINEDA
© 2024 AFP
