"Coup" in Caracas?

Hunter DeRensis

Venezuela, Venezuela

Opinions are divided as to whether the current unrest in Venezuela is an organic, bottom-up revolution or a foreign-orchestrated coup d'état.

Street violence is occurring in Venezuela as part of the ongoing presidential crisis which started early this year. Supporters claim the kinetic action is a result of an organic, bottom-up revolution against a corrupt socialist government, while others claim it is a violent coup d'état orchestrated by foreign powers and not representative of the Venezuelan people.

The violence began after opposition leader Juan Guaidó, in a video message showing him flanked by soldiers, called for a general uprising and for the military to support his claim to the presidency. A graduate of George Washington University in Washington D.C., Guaidó was recently a backbencher in the National Assembly until being chosen as the body’s president, an office shared on a roving basis, in December. Guaidó claims that the opposition-boycotted-presidential-election last year which reelected Chavista heir Nicholas Maduro was illegitimate and that as the current leader of the National Assembly he should assume the presidency himself. While his claim was recognized by numerous overseas governments in a dramatic public relations campaign led by the United States, the Venezuelan military did not move to support him.

Alongside the soldiers, next to Guaidó, was Leopoldo López, an opposition leader on house arrest since 2014 where protests lead to several deaths. López, the founder of Guaidó’s political party “Popular Will,” claimed he had been freed by the presidential claimant’s soldiers. At this time, it’s unknown how much of the Venezuelan military supports Guaidó, but no major officer has publicly backed him. Protests appear to be limited to Caracas, where López is the former mayor.