"We have detected a group of officials of the United States Embassy in Caracas, in Venezuela, and we have been tracking them for several months. These officials spend their time meeting with the Venezuelan extreme right wing, financing them and encouraging them to take actions to sabotage the electrical system, to sabotage the Venezuelan economy."
Maduro concluded his lively televised speech by shouting:
"Yankees go home! Get out of here! I don't care what actions the government of Barack Obama takes."
Wild accusations and increased tension between Maduro and the United States has been a recurring theme since he took office. Just hours before Chavez's death, Maduro expelled two U.S. military detachments, later accusing them of attempting to start a coup against Chavez. The new president also implied that Chavez's illness could have been caused by his enemies in the United States, an allegation the Obama administration has denounced as "absurd." Just last week Maduro canceled his plans to attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York because of what he said were plots to physically harm him there.
Maduro argues that Venezuela's recent product shortages and backouts are a direct result of a U.S. - led "economic war." Critics of the president rebuttal that these problems stem from a currency control system that encourages corruption coupled with a lack of investment in the nation's weak power grid. Whether accusations against the United States are well founded or merely a smoke screen to divert attention from deeper internal problems is up for debate. Nonetheless, the United States and other nations have found it difficult to work with Venezuela without exposing themselves to accusations of encroachment.
Sources:
Reuters
New York Times
CNN
It seems quite apparent that Venezuela is stuck in the past with the Cold War, communist vs USA attitude. The country would do much better with sound economic policy and uncorrupted leadership rather than blaming other countries for their problems. The continual comments against the West could be viewed as a type of "rally around the flag" effect, as Maduro tries to distract the public attention away from domestic problems at home and onto a common enemy. If this is the case it doesn't seem like relations between Venezuela and the US are going to get better any time soon.
ReplyDeleteThis is clearly a desperation act on Maduro's part. Earlier this week I listened to a BBC podcast about the economic and domestic woes of Venezuela. They are having massive food shortages and their currency is crumbling. Even supporters of the regime are starting to question the government. Looks like "Chavismo" might be coming to an end soon. This all but proves how desperate Maduro is to distract the public from Venezuela's real problems.
ReplyDeleteAnother point of interest is that Venezuela withdrew from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in September as well, stating that the court is an instrument of US control in Latin America. Although the given reason could indeed be true, it is suspicious given Venezuela's lackluster record on human rights. It would be interesting to know the publics' general sentiments on Maduro, as his opponent in the election, Henrique Capriles, lost by less than 2% of the national vote (given that the reported outcomes are valid). Given such a close race, it is obvious that not everyone agrees with Chavez's policies of a state-run economy yet just as Andrew stated, it seems that Maduro is set on continuing Chavez's legacy and even deepening the ideological divide between Venezuela and the US.
ReplyDeleteMaduro is such a bad successor of Hugo Chavez. He lacks the strong personal disposition to lead a country such as Venezuela on his own. He cannot successful rule the country with his government and is therefore placing the blame on others for his own burdens and childishly shouts out thing’s like “Yankees go home! Get out of here!”, as you stated in your blog post. To my mind, there is no question that Maduro is taking out his frustrations on those who may not fully support him for his failed attempts to rule his country.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting situation going on. On the one hand, America has no interest in Venezuela. Contrary to what they might want to believe, if Venezuela stops the importation of their oil to the United States, their entire economy will fall into a tailspin. After some further reading, I found the argument that, “President Maduro’s decision to expel three U.S. diplomats from our Embassy in Caracas is a clear attempt to distract public attention from the political, social, and economic crises consuming Venezuela,” said United States Senator Robert Menendez, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It directly relates to the concept we discussed in the 9/20 lecture with the Theory of Diversionary War. This concept applies here in the statement, "countries are more likely to go to war when they have incentives to divert attention such as during hard economic times" (lecture). Presumably, if Menendez can rally enough hype around an anti-American sentiment, it can divert the public attention away from the real problems at hand.
ReplyDeleteThis is a perfect example of how the government and government officials will do whatever they can to distract the public from the "real" problems the country is facing in order to save ones' seat and reputation. I will say it does sound like Maduro is scrambling to save his regime even though many previous supporters are beginning to turn on it. To this day I feel as though Venezuela continues to see the US as a nation that is the same nation that was operating during the Cold War, this as well all know is very far from the truth. Rather than blaming other countries and nations for their own issues, they should look into their own government, something we as a country should begin to do as well.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to be somewhat similar to diversionary war theory, in that Maduro is creating an enemy to distract the people from his country's problems. It would not make any sense for Venezuela to attack the US, but it does distract the people if he blames that the US is trying to cause problems within his country. It does not seem beneficial to his country, since they are not having much economic improvement. If Maduro wants to keep power he should focus on fixing things at home, instead of spouting dated rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem pretty unlikely that this is really occurring... Especially since other nations that have worked with Venezuela have experienced this. Did the United States have a reason to overthrow Chavez...any reason at all? I think this is a classic example of blaming. Blaming other nations for their own economic problems and trying to unite the people against them. But why they are doing this, is what I am wondering..?
ReplyDeleteI believe the author is wholly accurate in his analysis that Venezuela's long-standing regime is merely making irrational moves and pronouncements in an attempt to divert the public's attention away from the nation's ills. As Rebecca noted in her comment, Venezuela seems to continue to view the US as operating within the context of the Cold War; when we did actively seek to promote our interests, security and otherwise, through clandestine interference in the domestic affairs of other nations. It seems to me that the basic legitimacy of the Venezuelan military regime rests on an assumption by the Venezuelan people that the military regime is providing for their vital security against a subversive and insidious US threat. Unfortunately, US policy in Latin America since the nation's inception could probably only have been worse for the inhabitants of the region if we colonized it by military force. Without going into details, its been bad. Still, the region remains relatively stable, is home to over half a billion people according to Wikipedia, and is littered with useful resources, like Venezeua's oil. According to the USGS, Venezuela could have the largest recoverable oil reserves in the world-- more than Saudi Arabia. Generating goodwill in Latin America should be among the nation's top foreign policy goals; so the next time our leaders feel the urge to shore up our energy security, we don't end up invading a country.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Stuart in Venenzuela attempting a diversionary war theory to attempt to distract the people in his country from their domestic problems by creating an enemy in the west. As we have witnessed before in Iran and Saudi Arabia it presents a heated discussion in a country with more oil reserve than any country in the world. And despite this false enemy is being tarted mainly at the US it lacks the key elements in fixing their own domestic economic problems. A step forward for Maduro would be to focus on his own population before facing the international arena.
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