Hey, @sassinlikesasakai !
Thank you for your contribution. You raise some interesting points, so we’ll try our best to clear things up!
Regarding the Russian aid
We did skip the story about the Russian aid on our post. An early version of it did talk about the time Maduro announced they would be receiving supplies from both China and Russia, but there are elements that we wanted to explore in another post regarding Russia itself and its link to Maduro.
However, since it has come up, here are some things to consider:
1- The regime scrambled to get it
It might seem irrelevant, but here’s an interesting timeline of the events since 2019 started:
- January, 24th: after taking the mantle as Interim President, Guaidó announced that humanitarian aid was being gathered and would enter the country. The U.S confirmed they would send $20 million in aid. Other countries join in.
- February 12th: Guaidó announces the date when the Humanitarian Aid will enter the country. Jorge Arreaza says there’s no humanitarian crisis, but a blockade.
- February 19th: Maduro announces 300 tons of humanitarian aid from Russia will arrive in the country.
- February 20th: it’s announced that the Russian aid has arrived in the country. According to PAHO, it’s a 7,5 tons shipment (a similar shipment had been delivered in 2018).
- February 21st: Maduro begins closing borders. He continues to deny the crisis and calls the events of the 23rd a U.S-made show.
- February 23rd: an attempt to get trucks with humanitarian aid gathered by the Lima Group, fails and ends with violence.
- February 28th: during a press conference, Ana Rosario Contreras, President of the College of Nurses in Caracas, explained that the medical supplies that were supposed to benefit three main hospitals: Ruíz y Páez, Periférico de Catia and the Pérez de León, had never arrived.
- March, 1st: in local media, it’s reported that the three centers have not received the promised Russian humanitarian aid yet, while conditions worsen. Maduro, on the other hand, claims humanitarian aid keeps come in every week.*
* As a note: we also wanted to write about the Russian aid in another post, since its status as of now is unconfirmed. In March, x, people claimed to have seen a truck supplying aid to a hospital just hours before the OHCHR would visit it. That’s the last time we’ve heard about the aid actually reaching its destination.
- March, 10th: a committee of the OHCHR visits the country. It coincides with the final days of the 1st major blackout that took place this month.
- March, 20th: OHCHR’s High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet gives her report about the crisis in Venezuela.
- March, 27th: the OAS resolution is passed.
- March, 29th: after several blackouts, Guaidó announces future actions regarding humanitarian aid. The Red Cross announces they will be distributing aid -during the press conference they claim they will review any humanitarian aid available and, if it’s aligned with their standards, help distribute it impartially. Simultaneously, a shipment of humanitarian aid from China arrives at the country.
Why is all of this important?
1- As we’ve mentioned in the original post, the humanitarian crisis has been denied over and over again by the regime, despite the fact that the National Assembly, elected by the people, had declared it back in 2016.
2- Only after Guaidó announced the entrance of the humanitarian aid gathered by the Lima Group, did Maduro actually make a move to request aid for the people from his allies.
3- While, indeed, contributions have been made through independent sources and organizations which have managed to continue their work inside the country, it's simply not enough, nor is it reaching the large majority of people who need it most. The proof is in the multiple protests, complaints by medical staff and patients, and high death tolls that have affected the country for years (which is why it’s considered a humanitarian crisis after all).
And the regime’s unwillingness to release official data regarding the situation seems to support it.
2- The Russian aid is not apolitical, nor free
Despite the fact that Russia is selling itself as a neutral agent against the evil Lima Group, it isn’t.
Russia has economic interests to protect in good old Venezuela, including a debt of a little over $3 billion. A debt that comes mostly from the regime’s endless investment in weapons and military hardware, since that’s apparently the country’s priority.
Plus, if Maduro is to be believed, the humanitarian aid is actually paid by the regime - so, where’s the blockade that has kept those supplies from coming in before?-, meaning the debt could be growing exponentially.
Russia has also blocked resolutions and discussions of the Venezuelan situation over and over again; and has been more concerned about the active role of the U.S in the conflict, selling an idea of normalcy, than the people of Venezuela.
And as we should all know: it’s just part of the geopolitical game that China, Russia and the U.S are playing. More on that in a second.
Regarding the content of the humanitarian aid gathered by the U.S and the Lima Group
You are probably referring to the regime's claim that some types of weapons were in the trucks. It’s a claim that was also backed by Russia.
We also heard from the regime that the food was probably “poisonous” and “carcinogenic” - so, there was food?.
The fact is, these claims were made before any interaction between a member of the regime with the material. That is: they never checked it.
What they finally did check was the truck that burned at the bridge and, of course, claimed that they found whistles, steel cables, tear gas masks and nail clippers (?) - so... there were no weapons?
What the trucks contained was food and medical supplies, like first aid kits (no medicines, though).
The regime could have screened the aid coming in instead of attacking the volunteers that were there trying to help their country and their families get the things they needed.
It would have been simple: accept the aid, place a commission that opens the boxes and checks the trucks before getting them through the border, and televise it if you need to.
Invite the Red Cross to distribute it, and presto!
Their Russian buddies could have easily recommended this course of action, -which would be a show of actual non-tyrannical commitment to his people-, given the fact that Russia allowed exactly that to happen when they sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
But what did they do instead?
Demonize it, respond with repression, and then celebrate it as a victory when those supplies didn't go to the people that needed them.
Thus, Maduro has become the sole juror and executioner whom, without asking his people, decides whose aid enters and whose doesn't.
As if more aid could be bad for a country that desperately needs it.
Regarding the legitimacy of the elections
Unfortunately for us Venezuelans, the last elections didn’t take place on even ground. Just as a reminder, here are some -not all, because that would require a post on its own- of the key points to understand why:
- The system had been recently accused of being tampered with during the election of the National Constituent Assembly
- The ANC was meant to create a new Constitution, but instead stole the National Assembly's -elected by the people and with a majority on the side of the opposition- faculties, by Maduro's orders
- The regime rushed the date of the election -affecting regular processes that should take place before a poll-, after denying people the chance to vote Maduro out through a referendum, which they postponed indefinitely
- They banned opposition leaders and parties on flimsy excuses just weeks before the event
- Plenty of irregularities were denounced -and ignored-, including the regime promising benefits to those who voted (and no, that's not 'a lie' created by evil journalists), difficulties to get to the election centers, harassment by armed colectivos, etc.
- The diaspora couldn’t vote
- The majority boycotted the election, which had the lowest turnout in years.
It’s baffling, then, that international observers claimed the process was fair and transparent. That is, until one considers that notably pro-Maduro allies like Zapatero, as well as representatives of Bolivia, Nicaragua, Russia, etc. were part of the committee.
So no. It was never a clean process, although pro-Maduro media will happily deny that.
As a result, measures were taken by the National Assembly using our Constitution as a basis. Here is a post explaining it in detail.
Regarding the Catholic Church
Although many of us would like to see more secular agents involved in the restoration of the country, the truth is that whether we like it or not, the Venezuelan people are, a vast majority of them, believers. Therefore, the Catholic Church is an agent that inspires some level of trust on both sides.
We're not celebrating its participation in any part of our post. We're simply reporting it.
Regarding the role of Abrams and the U.S
Again, we're very aware that there are shadier interests behind Venezuela than just kindness of heart. We're not naive.
For those of us who are extremely critical of the U.S' current administration, its quite difficult to accept any help from them.
But please remember this: we've been in this mess for 20 years. 20 years!
And the humanitarian crisis worsened between 2013 and 2014. That is 5~6 years of things going terribly wrong, demanding help from the world, and being politely told to “talk” to a Government that simply refused to listen.
The fact that the world is paying attention now, after years of looking away while our basic human rights were being squashed -in most cases because of the economic links between most of Latin America and the Chavista regime-, is an achievement on its own.
But let's remember this: it's not only the “evil” U.S empire, the one trying to get its greedy hands on Venezuela. Russia, Cuba and China have their own interests as well, including our oil and our resources.
In other words, this geopolitical game is larger and more complicated than what any of us can fathom. But in the meantime, all we can do is to try and force change, or face complete stagnation.
Our purpose is not to misinform. We tried to summarize the events of the past few days, but to explain anything in Venezuela in-depth one would have to go back even decades before this whole thing started.
What we aim to do is a little simpler: provide a voice that reflects a Venezuelan reality that is being left behind and silenced in the discourse of US vs Russia, Maduro vs Trump, or capitalism vs socialism; particularly by those foreigners that get their information from Maduro-funded TeleSur and the like.
Considering the heavy censorship in Venezuela, we use the few free spaces we can still find to inform and get informed as much as possible.
And, indeed, we thank you all for your contributions to the discourse, and for caring enough to listen/read.
- Posting this before the signal dies, as we enter yet another blackout. -
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