I could be proven wrong by tomorrow morning’s headlines, of course, it’s a situation that could change very quickly, but from what I’ve heard so far, what’s going on in Venezuela could best be described as a ‘failed coup.’
Maduro is still in office, the military says they’re behind him, there is no part of the country where he doesn’t have control, and many thousands of people were marching in support of him in the streets of Caracas today.
Of course, many thousands were marching in favor of the coup plotters as well. That’s been the situation in Venezuela since the days of Chavez. Both sides can mobilize several thousand people to get out on the street at very short notice, and do.
It may be an oversimplification (everything I write, every political argument that exists, is an oversimplification; human society is insanely complex, and nobody can understand the impact everything has on everything else), but it seems to be divided on rich/poor lines. Poor people love Maduro as they loved Chavez, and rich people hate him, probably because he’s not letting them make money fast enough.
However it turns out, I think it’s shocking that the U.S. should be so blatant in trying to overthrow the elected government of a sovereign nation, although I shouldn’t be. It’s definitely a pattern. It’s also kind of amazing that Trump can pull this shit while the government is officially ‘shut down.’ Apparently not the part of the government that works to overthrow other governments. (Juan Guaido did not come up with this all on his own, I’m sure)
I am not surprised that Bolsonaro, and some other South American puppet governments, are standing with Trump. I am surprised at Trudeau backing him, though. We all loved him when he appointed an extremely diverse cabinet, but he’s proven since then that he is basically a friend of the oil companies.
I will be following this situation closely.
