2/6/19
By Oscar Valdes. Oscarvaldes.net
As head of the Venezuelan National Assembly, on 1/23/19, Juan Guaido made the bold move of stepping into the void and assuming the presidency of the country, a void created when Nicolas Maduro, the previous president, fearing defeat at the polls, chose to grab power instead by pressuring the Supreme Court justices into authorizing a sham election.
But Venezuela and the world would not be fooled.
Three million Venezuelans have left the country, an exodus that represents 10% of the population, an emigration forced by the lack of work, food and medicine.
Abhorred by these events, the great majority of Latin American nations, along with Canada, the United States and leading countries in the European community, have raised their cry of protest and the US has imposed economic sanctions.
What continues to prop up the regime is the guns of the military, a military that has been given a strong hand in running industry, to their enrichment, and which has contributed to wrecking the country’s vital oil production.
Juan Guaido has stepped up while Nicolas Maduro refuses to exit. Which way will the guns of the military point?
It is a day of reckoning for that institution, a moment to look at itself and decide how do they want to make history.
The Venezuelan military institution has a noble past, having played a critical role in supporting democracy before allowing itself to be corrupted.
Will they now not see what is clearly before them, a regime that has fallen because of its own actions?
Will they now not see that the Cuban system, which Nicolas Maduro and Hugo Chavez before him sought to emulate, stands as grand failure of statehood?
Will they now not be moved by the pain and misery that most of
their compatriots are now enduring?
Sometimes, for a myriad reasons, institutions lose their way, but there’s
always a time to find the way back.
Now is such a time.
Now is the time, for the Venezuelan military to recapture its noble past by taking a stand to help their country find its own way.
Now is the time, for the Venezuelan military to redeem itself, by declaring its independence from Cuba, from Russia, from China, and by supporting the actions of men and women who want nothing for themselves but the freedom and wellbeing of their countrymen.
So rise, noble warriors, rise!
This is your time.
Seize the moment and point the guns towards those who oppose Venezuela’s march to freedom.
Oscar Valdes 