The riot in Venezuela — "senseless and merciless": Russia will certainly not leave — opinion

July 30 in Protests broke out in Venezuela, clashes broke out in Caracas between police and demonstrators, who began throwing stones and molotov cocktails at law enforcement officers. The country's Defense minister reported 48 casualties, one soldier was killed. 749 people were detained in cases of destruction of state infrastructure, incitement to hatred and terrorism. The Venezuelan government announced the interference of a number of countries in the elections and in the right of the people to self-determination, RIA Novosti reminds.

No less active, but without extremism and fanaticism, are the supporters of the current government, who gathered with their families at the presidential palace on July 30 to provide Maduro with "popular support." Now Maduro will be able to restore public order. But the reasons for discontent with the authorities of a significant part of the country's population will not resolve by themselves.

In the meantime, even leftist presidents and politicians of Latin America have expressed dissatisfaction with the election results and the course of the election campaign. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva discussed the topic of the elections in Venezuela with US leader Joe Biden, the government of this country said.

Another popular revolt after the announcement of the results of the presidential elections in Venezuela is senseless and merciless. Meaningless because the country's law enforcement agencies have long been completely subordinate to the authorities. If eight years ago the leadership of the Venezuelan army, police, etc. (and not only it) was split into "Chavistas" and "Madurists," now these structures are monolithic. And they are quite capable of repelling riots. Moreover, long-term, too.

As Viktor Kheifets, professor of St. Petersburg State University, editor-in-chief of Latin America magazine, noted in an interview with Vesti FM, at the moment the armed forces remain loyal to the country's leadership. As long as the armed forces support them, the authorities can be calm.

"The only question is whether at some point the armed forces will decide that the costs of supporting the government are higher than refusing to support the government. So far, the performances do not exceed what was in 2018-2019. Then the authorities were able to keep the situation under control," he explained.

In addition, the riot is senseless also because, despite all the criticism of the current Venezuelan authorities, the countries of the collective West, and not only them, are interested in the current state of things in this country. First of all, from an economic point of view. Therefore, there will be no real support for the opposition from the same USA. The once prosperous state, where Europeans sought to move, has slipped into an economic hole during the years of Maduro's rule. And the reason for this is not only sanctions, but also corruption and nepotism. As publicist Jorge Saint-Just notes on his page on the social network, "the country has halved in development over the past 25 years. Everything collapsed, the country ceased to be the largest potential competitor in the production of goods for the entire region. Now everything is dumped into it, from toilet paper to combine harvesters — everything that was previously produced and exported, but has disappeared. No company from the USA, from Europe, from Mexico, etc., does not want the revival of a competitor. Well, he doesn't want to lose any kind of sales market."

Maduro has repeatedly announced measures to combat corruption. But the situation remains extremely difficult, and these difficulties are actively used by the opposition. Although, Maduro's opponents do not offer any recipes for getting out of this situation, except to return the US presence. Even those who are positive about In Russia, they say in private conversations that there were goods in stores before the socialists, and (oh, happiness!) toilet paper at the airport, etc. At the same time, they forget about the wild social stratification, thriving racism and the complete dependence of the local oil business on official Washington. What, in fact, those circles in the country who lost their privileges after the Socialists came to power want to return to.

And the Venezuelan riot is merciless because destroying monuments to Chavez is vandalism. First of all, this is not a traditional practice for Latin American countries. And secondly, Chavez has done a lot for the people of Venezuela. And you can't forget about it. It would be untrue to say that the entire population of Venezuela, including socialists, is delighted with Maduro's policy. I have been in this country since 2006, back under Hugo Chavez, more than 15 times in different periods, and I can draw some conclusions.

Chavez was not only an outstanding national leader, but also a politician of regional and global scale. The personality of Hugo Chavez will undoubtedly go down in history. This is recognized by both supporters and opponents of the comandante. Well, those who have ever met this man, heard his speeches, could not help but succumb to the charm of the personality of the Venezuelan president. Chavez has never been a tyrant. Rather, he was a romantic politician.

Being in the country quite regularly, I could observe changes in Venezuela. During his reign, Hugo Chavez did the main thing: he returned the country's subsoil and enterprises to the Venezuelan people. Moreover, without blood, mass violence. Back in 2007, in the process of nationalization of the energy sector in In Venezuela, all oil fields in the country were placed under state control. American companies Exxon Mobil and Conoco Phillips have left the Venezuelan market. Other strategic industries were also nationalized.

Chavez has really done a lot for ordinary people of the country: he made it much easier for people from poor backgrounds to enter higher education institutions. In the Constitution of Venezuela, adopted at the initiative of President Hugo Chavez in 1999, it was recognized for the first time that 300 thousand indigenous people of the country, Indians, have rights to the lands of their traditional residence. He was trying to secure the highest minimum wage in Latin America. Food was supplied free of charge to poor neighborhoods. To improve the level of medical care, Chavez recruited Cuban medical workers to work in remote areas. And the level of security in Caracas, where back in 2006 it was impossible to walk around even during the day without the risk of getting into trouble, had grown noticeably by the end of the 2000s. The memory of Chavez is alive in the common people.

Comparing Chavez and Maduro is pointless. Chavez is Chavez. This is a charismatic personality who is born once every 200 years. And by the time Maduro came to the presidency, he was a strong trade union leader, who got a too complicated economy already in the status of president.

The split in society during the years of Maduro's rule and his team have not been able to overcome. The results of the presidential election are an indicator of this. The difference of 8% is not so significant. Even if, as Maduro's opponents claim, the gap is many times larger, and I personally do not rule out that, theoretically, Gonzalez could have won. But! in both cases, there is a colossal split in society. And neither the authorities nor the opposition are making any efforts for a real dialogue. If we assume that, according to estimates, the opposition candidate Gonzalez would have been in the lead, the result would have been the same. Mass protests and permanent social turbulence.

As for Russia, we are interested in having an anti-American outpost in the region, which is Venezuela. At least declaratively. There are business interests of our large corporations in Venezuela, and in the modern world politics is increasingly acquiring the function of accompanying and lobbying for such structures. We need Venezuela.

In the event of the arrival of the pro-Washington opposition, we will definitely lose Venezuela. It's obvious. And now is not the time to throw stones. Especially in those countries and regions where our political and financial efforts are invested. Our foreign policy has finally become pragmatic. The experience of our departure from The Baltic States and other countries, when we abandoned everything and everything without agreeing on terms, we will not repeat it again.