Venezuela's Klepto-Dictatorship
"Maduro has made sure to give many rewards to senior military officers in exchange for loyalty."
"While he is completely dependent on them to stay in power, they have much to lose if he is gone."
John Polga-Hecimovich, political scientist, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland
"Their families, their friends, their acquaintances, everyone is suffering and they begin to ask themselves of it's getting better or worse."
"Everyone has the same voice that talks to them each day, and that is their conscience."
Raul Salazar, retired general, Venezuela
"They would have needed someone inside the unit with the key. There are so many personnel problems within the armed forces, so many problems with morale."
"They speak of resistance, now they think that the model is to use arms."
"We have to reject this, all Venezuelans who believe that the solution must come from the Constitution."
Cliver Alcala, retired Venezuelan general, government critic
A man argues with a Bolivarian National Guards officers outside the Paramacay military base in Valencia.
Juan Carlos Hernandez AP
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Unfortunately, Venezuela's president, through manipulating the affairs of the Venezuelan parliament, now effectively controls the constitution and has plans that appear unstoppable to change it to reflect his own imperial dictatorship. And it is that, along with the collapse of the once-prosperous nation's economy, its food and energy and medicine shortages, its massive unemployment rate and dissatisfied citizens for whom protests have brought the military to defend the government, that has some members of the military now actively seeking out a solution.
Where a fugitive army captain, Juan Carlos Caguaripano is calling for Venezuelans to "disavow this murderous regime". He and his supporters, all members of the military and armed, were, he declared in a video, in a state of "legitimate rebellion", demanding a "transitional government and free general elections." A small group of armed men soon afterward launched an assault in the state of Carabobo, on a military base close to Caracas.
The government accuses the rebel captain of having organized the attack where soldiers fought for three hours and still half of the attackers were able to evade capture, rushing away with weapons from the base. It was a base that retired General Alcala had himself headed for years, so he is himself aware of the unease and dissatisfaction from among the personnel serving there. Still, he finds the attacks offensive to his sense of military order, that he continues to defend.
The fugitive soldiers in their rebellion against "the murderous tyranny" of President Maduro have flung grenades at the Supreme Court, as well as attacking the army base. The country's economic crisis where its population is desperate for food and starvation stares right in the face of many of its desperate people, continues to cope with street protests that have turned deadly. It is that role of the military against the legitimate fears and concerns of the population that has led some among them to abjure their president.
The country's tradition of military coups led, in fact, to Hugo Chavez becoming its president in the early 1990s when he was an army lieutenant. His own experience led him to cleanse the military of anyone he thought might challenge him once he was installed as president. He based military promotions on leftist sympathies, not in military performance. And his chosen successor has promoted a former National Guard head known as a drug trafficker, as a trusted supporter, heading the interior ministry.
President Maduro promoted 195 officers to the rank of general in one fell swoop, joining the two thousand in the Venezuelan military with that rank. Their privileges include control of the food supply, to exchange dollars at favourable rates. Of the 23 state governors, eleven are current or retired military officers, and 11 heads of the 30 top ministries are the same. To ensure the continuation of their positions, their stake in preserving the current government is obvious.
The country's ports and portions of the oil and mining industries are also in the control of army generals, all lucrative special conditions to ensure the loyalty of the military. Patronage in the food supply enriches those in the military tasked with overseeing it. The military has been placed in control of factories and of distribution of food, permitting top echelon officers to control the profits obtainable in the black market in food.
It is the midlevel officers who recognize the deepening state of poverty imposed upon the population by the increasing food and medicine shortages. In the tradition of dictators, President Maduro speaks of any who become his opponents as "terrorists".
Anti-government activists stand near a roadblock burning in flames in Valencia.
RONALDO SCHEMIDT AFP/Getty Images
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Labels: Crisis Management, Military, Political Realities, Revolt, Venezuela
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, August 27, 2017
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