Caracas Chronicles

Photo: Perú21, retrieved.

This Thursday marked the start of the first government not elected by the Venezuelan people since 1958. From now on, Nicolás usurps power with the support of soldiers unmoved by the humanitarian crisis, predation and death. To fill the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) surroundings, they required dozens of buses paid with public resources, there were no spontaneous marches or popular support, but lots of security to protect the usurper who didn’t even stop to greet the people.

Maikel’s hesitation

17 countries sent second-level delegates and only five presidents attended the event where Nicolás swore his oath of office before the TSJ, usurping the functions of the National Assembly, which the TSJ itself has held in contempt for the past three years. After all the efforts in 2013 to justify Chávez’s absence from the swearing in ceremony that wasn’t, yesterday Maikel Moreno invested too much time explaining the opposite, not to mention the sham ruling that justified the act before the TSJ. After his speech, while attempting to swear Nicolás into office, he lost the thread right when he spoke of the guarantee of rights and said: “Procuring always any threat or attack against the guarantee of the rights and liberties of all Venezuelans.” Strictly speaking, he asked Nicolás to massacre us. During his improvised self-proclamation, Nicolás was cheered only when he mentioned Chávez.

Nicolás’s speech

He started greeting the people and Diosdado Cabello, and then mentioned the representatives in attendance, whom he imagined were coming from 94 countries, calling this infamy an act of peace, claiming that he was complying with the Constitution to “democratically lead the country toward a higher fate.” He lied many times, but the most important aspect of his speech was his self-pity. Nicolás is a failure and he knows it. Without accomplishments, without projects and without future, he focused on parroting plaintive messages and said that “Venezuela is the heart of a world war.“ He referred to the humanitarian crisis, the diaspora, the collapse of public services, the decline of oil production, the dismantling of the productive apparatus, misery and hyperinflation as merely problems and dared the countries that didn’t experience them to raise their hands. Next Monday, he’ll announce economic measures at the ANC. He yelled that a corrupt official is worse than imperialism, he swore that he’s willing to correct mistakes and gave us a historic phrase: “Enough with minimalism!”. So chavismo’s shame is also an artistic trend.

The National Assembly

National Assembly Speaker Juan Guaidó called for an open assembly to declare the usurpation of the presidential office for this Friday, January 11 at 11:00 a.m., at United Nations headquarters in Caracas, located at Francisco de Miranda Ave. Guaidó said that this will be a day for the Venezuelan people to declare that Nicolás is an usurper and to grant power to the Legislative Branch to set out on a transition course to restore constitutional order: “The only higher power is the original power, that of the people of Venezuela (…) Today, we don’t have a head of state, there’s no Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Today, there’s a National Assembly that will fulfill its duty to the people of Venezuela and enforce the Constitution,” said Guaidó before calling on the Armed Forces to step forth and protect the Constitution, declaring the AN in emergency, and saying that the regime can’t dissolve Parliament “because they’re now an usurped authority and we’re the only power recognized by the international community.”

Reactions

Paraguayan President Marito Abdo stated his decision to break diplomatic relations with Venezuela. U.S. ambassador John Bolton said that his country won’t recognize the dictatorship and will keep increasing pressure on the regime. Later, State Secretary Mike Pompeo added that they’ll expand sanctions, including revoking visas. In an extraordinary meeting of the Permanent Council, the OAS approved a resolution declaring the government of Venezuela as illegitimate; a decision which Vice-Minister Samuel Moncada called “political folly, an abuse of power, a crime of aggression and a coup d’état.” The OAS called for new elections soon, with international observers. Argentina barred high-ranking regime officials from entering the country and will warn its financial sector about the risk of dealing with Venezuelan companies with public participation, suspending commercial negotiations. Peru called its chargé d’affaires in Venezuela for consultation and prohibited financial operations and banking relations with Venezuelan institutions. Chile will keep relations at the current low level. Beatriz Becerra, Vice-President of the European Union’s Human Rights Subcommittee, criticized the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, for her weak statement about the Venezuelan dictatorship. Canada condemned Nicolás’s new term and urged him to yield power to Parliament. Brazil restated its support for the National Assembly. Panama also disregards Nicolás’s new government and cautioned that they’re considering all diplomatic measures against Venezuela.

Unbelievable

After the event at the TSJ, Nicolás went during the afternoon to Fuerte Tiuna to take his oath as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and accompanied by the military high command, he demanded the strengthening of “the military revolution.” Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López gave him a replica of Rafael Urdaneta’s sword and shouted: “Always loyal, never traitors!”, an extravagant way of denying the request for Nicolás resignation. The only compensation Nicolás promised was increasing the Armed Forces’ arms power and keeping the ranks closed, thanking the soldiers for their loyalty, discipline, cohesion and readiness. It was an unprecedented event, as many of the usurper’s coming acts.

…

There were protests yesterday in rejection of Nicolás’s usurpation in dozens of Venezuelan cities and in several countries that harbor a part of our huge diaspora. The conditions with which Nicolás starts his dictatorships couldn’t be more precarious; in addition to the international disregard, the serious economic crisis threatens any plan, if indeed he has one. “Any usurped authority is ineffective and its acts are null and void,” is the mantra. Dictatorship escalated.