The citizens of Venezuela, who oppose the rule of President Nicolás Maduro, returned to the streets on January 23 – symbolic because on this date in 1958, the military dictatorship of Marcos Jiménez was ousted to usher in an age of Venezuelan success.
Throughout those years Venezuela was viewed as the most stable and prosperous democracy in the region, up until two decades ago when former President Hugo Chávez entered office.
The people are in the streets due to the most severe economic crisis in the country's history. Venezuela has become one of the least equitable countries in the world, and the hyperinflation caused by its government's failed policies has obliterated the value of its currency. The only equity is that everyone is now poor.
Venezuela concluded 2018 with hyperinflation of over 1.5 million percent. In April, the minimum wage was raised to 1 million bolivars per month, or around one U.S. dollar – the lowest on the entire continent.
Enter Juan Guaidó, the 35-year-old whose political career began over a decade ago in the country's national student union, which opposed Chávez's efforts to change the constitution to consolidate his own power.
Guaidó is the hero of the hour. Although members of his generation have made political inroads over the years, he is the first to ascend to lead the National Assembly – the Venezuelan parliament. Now the goal is to seize control of the government.
Guaidó declared himself the country's interim president, a move supported by the constitution. He has been backed by the United States and 15 other countries.
Maduro's decision not to vacate the presidential palace, with the army's backing, has raised the political stakes dramatically.
Instability and uncertainty are currently the main staples of daily life and reality in Venezuela. The two main government branches are vying for power, while the economic crisis is getting worse. Only by restoring long-lost constitutional, governmental and democratic stability can Venezuela get back on its feet and return to the path of development.
'No more delays'
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday urged the U.N. Security Council to "pick a side."
"No more delays, no more games," he said. "Either you stand with the forces of freedom, or you're in league with Maduro and his mayhem."
Maduro refuses outright to relinquish power and has assailed the U.S. and the West for concocting an imperialist plot to overthrow him.
Pompeo urged the members of the Security Council to follow Washington's lead and recognize Guaidó as the legitimate president of Venezuela. The emergency session was convened despite objections from Russia and China, which had tried to prevent it from taking place.
Pompeo accused Moscow and Beijing of "propping up a failed regime in the hopes of recovering billions of dollars in ill-considered investments and assistance made over the years."
Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, accused Washington of trying "to engineer a coup d'état in Venezuela."
"If anything represents a threat to peace and security," Nebenzya said, "it is the shameless and aggressive actions of the United States and their allies to oust a legitimately elected president of Venezuela."
Meanwhile, Britain, Germany, France and Spain all said on Saturday they would recognize Guaidó unless fresh elections were announced by Maduro within eight days.
Moscow has already dispatched 400 private military contractors to the country to protect Maduro. And in the meantime, Great Britain has refused to repatriate about $550 million in gold from the Bank of England deposited by the Venezuelan government.
