Political, Economic Challenges Loom Large for Venezuela in 2017

Bleipriester

Freedom!
Nov 14, 2012
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Both economic and political crises can be overcome but the opposition needs to calm down.


"Venezuela, one of the key countries in the global economy and of geopolitical importance in Latin America, saw an eventful 2016. The nation lived an economic boycott by major food and commodity corporations, a sharp drop in oil prices that directly affected the oil-producing economy and, at the same time, it also dealt with coup-mongering and calls for violence from the right-wing opposition.

President Nicolas Maduro continues to lead the Bolivarian Revolution, launched by former President Hugo Chavez, that transformed the country and finally gave Venezuelans free education, health care and more dignified living conditions for the poor.

On the heels of a turbulent 2016, a few issues top the agenda of what to watch for in the South American country throughout 2017.

Miguel Tinker Salas, a Venezuelan historian and professor of Latin American Studies, spoke to teleSUR about the future of his home country. Tinker Salas is the author of “The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela” and “Venezuela: What Everyone Needs to Know."

Recall Referendum

In the immediate future, Maduro and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela, or PSUV, face a determined campaign inside the opposition-controlled National Assembly that has sought in recent months to promote a recall referendum against the president.

The right-wing opposition coalition known as the MUD, the Spanish acronym for the Democratic Unity Roundtable, began collecting signatures to push out Maduro last year. According to electoral authorities, the signature drive presented 600,000 inadmissible entries, including 11,000 corresponding to dead people, 3,000 from minors, 1,000 belonging to ineligible prisoners and 1,000 with non-existent ID numbers.

In October, the Supreme Court froze the recall referendum process over allegations of fraud, and the opposition will need to repeat the process.

This year, even if the legislators and political parties were to achieve the signatures needed and obtain the majority in a popular vote, the cut-off date when a presidential recall would trigger new elections — Jan. 10, 2017 — has already passed.

If a recall referendum were to occur later, the vice president of Venezuela Tareck El Aissami would take office in the event that the president was removed from office, and then El Aissami would face elections again in 2018.

Amid frustrations over the stalled recall referendum process, the opposition has called for violent protests in the capital Caracas, and even tried to indirectly call for a military coup. Recently, leaders declared — without legal backing — that Maduro had abandoned his position as president. The Supreme Court recently struck down another attempt by the National Assembly to oust Maduro, saying that the vote to "remove" Maduro and pave the way for new elections was unconstitutional.

According to Tinker Salas, although the recall referendum was at the center of political debate in the country for months, the exact goals of the opposition were not always entirely clear.

"The referendum is the democratic electoral option that exists in the Venezuelan constitution," he said. "But it's still not clear to me if the intention of the opposition throughout last year was really to begin a recall referendum."

"I think there were divisions inside the opposition — the sector that wants a referendum, the sector that wants an immediate exit, those who want to ‘heat the streets,’ and the sectors who want to wait until 2018 to begin a new government," Tinker Salas continued.

While the government has demonstrated good will in negotiating with the opposition in a national dialogue process, what seems clear is that over the next year the Maduro administration will have to continue to deal with destabilizing efforts to bring down the socialist government.

Peace Dialogues and Economic Crisis

In response to rising political clashes sparked by the opposition's bid for a recall referendum, the government and opposition groups launched peace dialogues in 2016 aimed at easing high-running tensions. The talks are expected to continue in 2017.

In the middle of the political unrest, Maduro's government called for a national dialogue among all sectors to achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

"The stance can’t be ungovernability," said Tinker Salas. "We have seen in the National Assembly they’ve tried to create situations of ungovernability, but I believe we need to seek governing conditions."

Some parts of the opposition have boycotted, walked out and failed to show up for the agreed upon appointments, while others have continued to attend the dialogues, revealing clear divisions within the right-wing leadership in the country.

"That has always been the dynamics of the opposition in Venezuela," said Tinker Salas.

The Vatican, head of the Catholic church, and the regional trade bloc UNASUR, made up by South American nations, have both agreed to mediate the process and offer assistance during the talks.

As demanded by the opposition, Maduro has agreed to comply with several requests, in order to advance the dialogue.

"I think it’s fundamental to have a dialogue," Tinker Salas argued. "The opposition, the Chavistas, the left-wing sectors and the social movements are not going to disappear in Venezuela. We have to find a way to live together."

In the process, both sides of the political divide reached an agreement on ways that the opposition and the government can collaborate in tackling what Maduro calls the “economic war” plaguing the country and worsening economic crisis.

"The dialogue has to continue, it’s the only solution for Venezuela," Tinker Salas continued. "We can’t continue acting as if the project of the nation belongs to one side or the other. It belongs to the Venezuelan collectiveness."

Equally important for Venezuela's economic future is the fact that the OPEC oil bloc reached an agreement last year to reduce crude production in order to spur a surge in oil prices, which is set to ease the burden on both oil-producing and non-oil-producing countries. But according to Tinker Salas, Venezuela's oil dependency will remain a key economic challenge in the future.

"Venezuela needs to stop depending on oil," he said. "We can’t just depend on the OPEC agreement to lower production of oil."

Salas argued that Venezuela needs to promote regional and artisanal development in communes with the support of the private sector in hopes of giving a fundamental boost the country's economy.

"We can talk about the economic boycott, and the presence of the U.S., the economic war," he continued. "But at the end, the government in power receives the blame for what’s happening."

Future Elections

Venezuela will also transition to a new political scenario in 2017 as it is set to hold regional elections at the beginning of the year. Venezuelans will choose new governors and mayors that will serve mandates until 2021.

The elections were postponed for several months due to the political situation in the country. In the meantime, the opposition reiterated calls for violent protests and also refused to begin dialogues with the government.

According to Tinker Salas, the regional elections could serve as a barometer for the political climate moving forward.

"I think the regional elections would be a challenge that will really set the stage for the upcoming presidential elections in 2018," he said.

The 23 current governors were elected at the end of 2012 for a four-year term, which ended in January 2016. Twenty of those 23 lawmakers are all members of Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela or PSUV, the remaining three are part of the opposition MUD coalition.

"Venezuela needs opposition, we need an opposition that criticizes and helps move the process forward," said Tinker Salas. "That is really critical of what happens in the country.""

Source: teleSUR English

Political, Economic Challenges Loom Large for Venezuela in 2017
 
NEWS:

Venezuela Reaffirms Support for Syria Against Foreign Intervention

"Caracas, February 1st 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) - Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry released an official statement Tuesday congratulating the Syrian government on its recent military triumphs over armed groups attempting to destabilize the Arab Republic.

The formal communiqué was made public following a telephone conversation between Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Syrian Head of State Bashar Al Assad on Monday.

“President Nicolas Maduro wishes success for the Syrian Arab Republic this new year, when both peoples have made advances in spite of the imperial aggression against our countries,” reads the statement.

“The heroic achievements of the Syrian people in the struggle against terrorism and against the most vile and cruel forms of warfare are admirable before the eyes of the world,” it continues.

The Syrian regime has been at war with foreign-backed rebel groups seeking to depose Assad by force since 2011. Earlier in December last year the Syrian military won a key battle to retake control over the country's largest city of Aleppo from jihadist organisations. Venezuela has consistently called for a peaceful solution to the conflict and vehemently criticized Western governments for pushing for a NATO-backed no-fly zone.

In Tuesday’s statement, Maduro compared Syria’s ongoing civil war to Venezuela’s resistance to US imperialism and confirmed that the Arab Republic “has had and will have Venezuela’s firm support in the international arena, in defense of the independence, union and unity of Syrian territory”.

“Syria and Venezuela’s struggle is for sovereignty, independence, respect for the principles of non-intervention in foreign affairs, and the free self-determination of peoples. In short, for the right to the very existence of our nations,” continues the declaration.

According to the communiqué Assad personally thanked Maduro for Venezuela’s ongoing solidarity with the Syrian people. "

Venezuela Reaffirms Support for Syria Against Foreign Intervention
 
Russia is in firm support of Venezuela

"Caracas, February 6, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov highlighted his government’s commitment to Venezuelan sovereignty Monday during a bilateral meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart in Moscow.

In an official statement, Lavrov rejected foreign intervention in the South American country and praised the Venezuelan government’s ongoing efforts to promote national dialogue as the only solution to the country’s political conflicts.

“We express…our support for the elected government’s path towards normalizing the national dialogue in order to overcome… the [country’s] problems in a constitutional manner, without destructive external interference,” the communiqué reads.

In October, the government of Nicolas Maduro and the right-wing opposition entered into Vatican-mediated talks, which succeeded in reaching several points of agreement before breaking down in December. On Sunday, President Maduro indicated that the dialogue may soon resume, although the opposition has yet to issue any public statement.

Lavrov also underscored Russian support for Venezuela’s role on the world stage, stressing the two nation’s shared commitment to a multipolar world.

“We back Venezuela’s independent line in foreign policy. We are united by the consistent defense of the principles of multilateralism, the primacy of international law, non-intervention in internal affairs of sovereign countries, the rejection of the extra-territorial application of legislation, and the non-use of coups to change governments.”

During his meeting with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, Lavrov added that Russian-Venezuelan relations were “at their peak”. He explained that a top-level inter-governmental commission is currently working to deepen “economic, commercial cooperation, and investments” between the two countries.

For her part, Rodriguez likewise applauded Russia’s “important role” in “ensuring peace and stability all over the world” and criticized “steps aimed at taking advantage of sports in order to achieve political goals, particularly aimed at targeting Russia,” referring to Western calls to strip Moscow of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

According to Rodriguez, the meeting was fruitful in strengthening bilateral ties in a variety of strategic areas.

"Our countries plan to boost cooperation in nuclear medicine and agriculture, there are also plans to cooperate in producing vaccines and medicine in Venezuela," the top diplomat announced.

Later on Monday, Rodriguez will meet with Russian Energy Minister Alexandr Novak to discuss the oil production cap agreement reached this past December between OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) and non-OPEC members, in which Venezuela played an “important role” according to Lavrov."

Russia Reaffirms Support for Venezuelan Sovereignty
 
New Chinese deal with Venezuela

US sanctions will form a new league headed by the country with the worlds largest national economy, now China. With the technology of all western companies in hands, this league will be completely independent from the western world. On the other hand, the more and more unindustrialized West will do well to practice the art of courtly flattery.

Venezuela found a new market for oil. Not only does China buy more Venezuelan oil, two current deals, worth of almost 5 billion USD are made to boost Venezuelas oil output and build a refinery in China that will receive 227 thousand barrels per day from Venezuela.

Venezuela and China Sign New $2.7 Billion Development Deal

"Caracas, February 14, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela and China ratified 22 new agreements totaling US $2.7 billion Monday in a bid to strengthen cooperation between the two nations.

Concluded during the 15th meeting of the China-Venezuelan High-Level Mixed Commission in Caracas, the deals will guarantee funding for dozens of new joint projects aimed at promoting economic development in both countries.

Among the more high profile initiatives is the construction of the Jienyang refinery in China, which will have the capacity to process 400,000 barrels of oil per day, of which 70 percent will come from Venezuela. Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA will retain a 40 percent stake in the project, while its Chinese counterpart CNPC will have 60 percent participation.

The accords also reportedly include provisions for direct investment in Venezuela in the areas of heavy machinery production, infrastructure projects, cargo transport, as well as imports of vehicles, computers, among other vital consumer goods.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro applauded the agreements as a further consolidation of the two countries’ geopolitical alliance.

“China and Venezuela see each other as sister nations with a common destiny of peace, of cooperation, and mutual development,” he declared.

Over the last decade, China has become a critical partner of the Bolivarian government, investing billions in joint projects throughout the South American country.

In November, the two nations signed a US $2.2 billion deal to increase oil output by 227,000 barrels per day."

Venezuela and China Sign New $2.7 Billion Development Deal
 

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