This episode is the latest development in the prolonged Color Revolution-Hybrid War being waged against Venezuela, and it started when the Supreme Court recently ruled that it can take on some of the National Assembly’s responsibilities due to the elected body being in contempt of court. Three opposition legislators from the Amazonia state were previously accused of fraud and ordered to step down from their parliamentary posts, and their refusal to do so is what prompted the Supreme Court to find the National Assembly in contempt for over the past year.
The opposition-run legislative branch has paralyzed the country and contributed to the extended dysfunction that it’s experienced, though it needs to be objectively recognized that some of the country’s many economic and systemic problems are due both to the economic war that the US is waging on Venezuela, but also to part of the government’s corruption and ineffectiveness. These three variables have combined in such a way as to create the ‘perfect storm’ of domestic destabilization, and the Supreme Court finally decided that enough was enough and that something had to be done. The controversial order gave the judicial body the authority to push through an oil-related bill, but it was intentionally mischaracterized by the opposition and its international media supporters as a coup attempt. Interestingly, the government itself criticized the court’s actions and it was later rescinded, but this didn’t calm the domestic uproar that the original move sparked.
Protesters spilled into the streets and demanded that the justices resign, with the opposition-led National Assembly attempting to push through legislation in bringing this about. Neither of these moves will likely amount to anything because the state has usually been very effective at containing Color Revolution unrest and the parliament is still legally in contempt of the courts, but it nonetheless raises the question of which side is the one that’s really pushing for the coup? Was it the Supreme Court – which was criticized by the government itself – during its brief, limited, and ultimately rescinded action, or is it the opposition which has had regime change as its primary objective for years now?
Nino Pagliccia, Venezuelan author of "Cuba Solidarity in Canada — Five Decades of People-to-People Foreign Relations" and a retired researcher from the University of British Columbia" and Sebastian Tapia, International political analyst from Argentina commented on the issue.
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