"We’re Going To Do It, F**k It" – Venezuela’s Maduro Orders Military Exercises For Next Weekend
By Tyler Durden
Over the past several days, things in Venezuela have not only taken a palpable turn for the worse, but now seem to be moving at an accelerating pace toward the inevitable endgame for the Maduro regime and whatever happens next.
As we reported on Friday night, following dramatic scenes of violence in the streets, things escalated when some 5,000 starving locals looted a supermarket looking for food, leaving countless injured. The result was an immediate, if long overdue acknowledgement by US officials that “a crisis is coming” who added that Maduro “was not likely to be able to complete his term, which is due to end after elections in late 2018” implying that a coup is likely imminent.
They said one “plausible” scenario would be that Maduro’s own party or powerful political figures would force him out and would not rule out the possibility of a military coup.
An interview we presented with a member of the Venezuelan national guard confirmed as much when the anonymous guardsman said that “the situation in Venezuela has never been as bad as it is now. The breaking point is near, but still not at hand. My recommendation is for people to prepare, to look for food and then to store it. Obviously, when the implosion occurs , it won’t last long. I believe it will last something like 10 days, but they will be difficult days.”
Indeed, all that is missing is the catalyst for a broad, if violent, popular upheaval against Maduro’s failing regime.
That catalyst may have been revealed this weekend, when Venezuela’s opposition on Saturday slammed a state of emergency decreed by President Nicolas Maduro and vowed to press home efforts to remove the leftist leader this year amid a grim economic crisis.
As we reported yesterday, Maduro on Friday night declared a 60-day state of emergency due to what he called plots from Venezuela and the United States to subvert him. He did not provide specifics. A recording of his increasingly angry rhetoric is shown below:
As Reuters adds today, “the measure shows Maduro is panicking as a push for a recall referendum against him gains traction with tired, frustrated Venezuelans, opposition leaders said during a protest in Caracas.”
“We’re talking about a desperate president who is putting himself on the margin of legality and constitutionality,” said Democratic Unity coalition leader Jesus Torrealba, adding Maduro was losing support within his own bloc.
“If this state of emergency is issued without consulting the National Assembly, we would technically be talking about a self-coup,” he told hundreds of supporters who waved Venezuelan flags and chanted “he’s going to fall.”
The people’s will was already made clear late last year when the opposition won control of the National Assembly in a December election, propelled by voter anger over product shortages, raging inflation that has annihilated salaries, and rampant violent crime, but the legislature has been routinely undercut by the Supreme Court. The lit fuse is therefore entirely in the …read more
Source: "We’re Going To Do It, F**k It" – Venezuela’s Maduro Orders Military Exercises For Next Weekend
