Tired of Waiting for Toilet Paper, Venezuelans Vote Against Socialism
Political terror and the assorted tricks of the corrupt Socialist Narcostate in Venezuela could not stop voters from coming out against the corrupt regime.
Venezuelans have been forced to wait on line for toilet paper, have seen milk shortages and government troops deployed in stores. The economy is on fire and its currency is a trainwreck as the oil state eventually ran out of other people's money.
This is likely to mean the end for Maduro, Chavez's demented successor who claimed to see the dead tyrant in the form of a bird or on a subway wall. And that will set off a Socialist shoving match to replace him.
Ecstatic opposition leaders vowed on Monday to use their new majority in Venezuela's legislature to free jailed opponents of the Socialist government but also said they would not move to dismantle popular welfare policies.
The opposition Democratic Unity coalition won more than twice the number of National Assembly seats as the Socialists in elections on Sunday that punished President Nicolas Maduro's government for the country's deep economic and social crisis.
It was the first time in 16 years the "Chavismo" movement, named for former socialist President Hugo Chavez, lost its majority in the 167-member assembly, and gives the opposition a platform to further erode Maduro's power in the OPEC nation.
Reiterating that an Amnesty Law will be the opposition's priority when the new assembly begins work on Jan. 5, Torrealba promised to return the rights of "those who have been unjustly persecuted, jailed, blocked from politics or exiled".
Venezuela's best-known jailed politician is Leopoldo Lopez, sentenced to nearly 14 years on charges of promoting political violence in 2014 that killed 43 people. But the opposition has a list of what it says are more than 70 other political prisoners.
The Socialist elite is under investigation in the US for running a narcostate and now the legislature will be running its own investigation. But if Maduro gets desperate, he can still try to use the military, police and whatever Cuban support he has to simply become a straightforward dictator. He threatened violence before every election. He's currently singing a different tune, but that may not last.
The government's defeat was another disappointment for Latin America's bloc of left-wing governments following last month's swing to the center-right in Argentina's presidential election.
The rest of the hemisphere is slowly backing away from the left. We'll see if America is wise enough to follow suit. Or if we'll have to live like Venezuelans before we wake up.
“Twenty years ago, there were no lines. Now we have to wait to get anything at drugstores and markets. Even so I can’t find tires, batteries and motor oil that I need for my work. And the money I make isn’t enough,” said Teodoro Mendez, a 62-year-old taxi driver and former Chavez supporter who said Sunday that he voted for a MUD candidate.
Others said they were voting for opposition candidates to protest Venezuela’s rising crime rate. Accountant Maria Gabriela Montilla, 37, who recently had been robbed twice said, “A change is necessary.”
Worsening conditions have driven many Venezuelans to migrate. Attorney Maria Trina Burgos, who now lives in Doral near Miami, said she came back to vote to defeat the “dictatorship.”
Schoolteacher Esperanza Figueira, 52, said she rarely votes but was moved to cast a ballot Sunday for an opposition assembly candidate to protest the failing economy.
“I am outraged that my salary isn’t enough to even buy a pair of shoes,” Figueira said. She described Maduro as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing who talks to us as if we’re ignorant and don’t know what’s going on.”
Maduro is predictably blaming a vast right wing conspiracy...
Addressing reporters after voting in west Caracas, Maduro said Venezuela has been victim of an “economic war” and defended the socialist revolution begun by Chavez, saying it was an “anchor of stability in the region.”
It may be a war, but not the one he's claiming...
Monaldi said Venezuela is so cash-strapped that it is at risk of defaulting on its $113 billion in foreign debt next year unless there is a rise in the price of oil, revenue from which the government derives 90% of its budget. As the government seeks to cope, consumers are faced with triple-digit inflation.
Maduro's regime is in part a casualty of Saudi Arabia's campaign against Iran and Russia. Though considering that Chavez and Maduro allied with Iran and Russia, I doubt the Saudis have a problem with the outcome. Maybe the Latin American left should think twice before getting into bed with Iran next time around.