By Carlos Aznárez in Caracas on February 23, 2019
What many defined as “D-day” arrived, and others back in Cúcuta or Miami were thinking, that the “great moment” had arrived when “humanitarian aid” will enter and the “dictator” and the Bolivarian Revolution would collapse like a house of cards. It seems like a bad script for a very low budget film but the worst thing is that many people in the world, especially in sections of the population that religiously believes what the hegemonic media tells them, had entered into the euphoria and imagined that in Venezuela, in a matter of hours, that now infamous puppet Juan Guaidó would arrive at the Miraflores Palace with all the honors.
But finally, what happened was not that. Instead it was what the empire and its allies have been suffering against Chavismo in all the latest battles, whether diplomatic or based on verbal warmongering, they failed again. They could not deal with the people or with the legitimate government headed by Nicolás Maduro. Neither in the border zone with Colombia nor in the one that borders with Brazil and even less in the maritime route. Nor did they manage to mobilize those 600,000 that the delusional Guaidó had announced would be there on Saturday but instead what appeared was a small aggressive group of hired thugs that mounted a few but violent guarimbas and several false positives.
So it happened with the early incident of the theft of a couple of armored jeeps on the bridge that leads to Cúcuta, and that ended with the desertion of a tiny group of guards that not only crossed over to the enemy side but showed their criminality in the process. The cowards attacked dozens of fences that closed the place, injuring a Chilean cameraman and a loyal Bolivarian policeman. On the other side, the complicity of Colombian President Iván Duque’s policemen could be observed helping them in a collaborative way. Meanwhile, two of the leaders of this Saturday’s guarimbas, right-wing congressman José Antonio Olivares and one of his sidekicks called Vilca Fernández, were celebrating the “feat”.
Later, the farce was going to be repeated when a few trucks tried to enter with the famous “help”. Suddenly, as they rolled across the bridge on the Colombian side, they were set on fire by a group of guarimberos who sprayed the vehicles with gasoline while they were being filmed and photographed by many reporters. But since the hegemonic media are the violent advance units of mass mind poisoning, they invented another matrix of lies by accusing Chavismo supporters of starting the fire. What’s more, they told us that it was the members of the Bolivarian National Guard, who were stationed far far from the scene, who were to blame for this clumsy action. And this morning every major corporate news agency from the slimy National Public Radio (NPR), New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, the Guardian on down were reporting this as the gospel.
What they didn’t say is that the thugs “hired” by the opposition addicted to Guaidó and protected by the Colombian police (there are videos on the internet as evidence) became irate because things didn’t go well and they didn’t get paid their agreed upon fees. That’s why a hooded mob gave the “contractors” a good beating. This is also happened to deputy Olivares, who was hit in the face and head by a group shouting “thieves, pay what you promised”.
Nor do the media tell the truth about what happened on the opposite side of the Simón Bolívar Bridge, where thousands of Bolivarian patriots had gathered to defend their country’s sovereignty with their bodies against any attempt of foreign invasion. Molotov cocktails, large stones and firearms fell on them. Some of those attacked are part of the list of 42 wounded, two of them shot and three burned in large part of their bodies by the Molotov cocktails. There are also Venezuelan policemen on the list, who, as in those hard months in which the Constituent Assembly was voted on, played a major role in preventing Ivan Duque’s pack and the fascistic opposition presided over by Guaidó from setting foot in Venezuelan territory.
Another incident occurred when opponents who crossed the border from Brazil attacked and burned a Bolivarian military truck at the Pacaraima border and on Friday a group of paramilitaries attacked Pemón Indians. All these violent acts that for Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Elliot Adams, John Bolton and Luis Almagro were going to be the “final solution” for what they call a socialist “dictatorship were confronted and defeated.
They couldn’t, they can’t. That is what was clearly seen today. They were defeated again by a people who have ideas and conviction of struggle for their present, who also have memory of what was their and are preparing day by day to forge a socialist future.
Meanhwile it was Nicolás Maduro who was seen, at the same time that the “humanitarian” invasion was not taking place, marching through the streets of Caracas. Once again, the red tide covered Urdaneta Avenue from end to end and showed the world that in Venezuela, in addition to living in total peace and normality, millions are building the shield that protects this enormous liberating process.
They marched with fervor and much joy, there was no rage in their gestures, quite the opposite. They danced, sang, and chanted the anti-imperialist slogans they have known their entire lives, from “Yankees go home” to “ they will not pass”, slogans of the antifascist struggles of the peoples. They were workers, students, people from the poor neighborhoods, empowered women and thousands of young people who grew up with access to popular universities and health plans of the Missions. They took to the streets, with the decision to show those who still doubt this liberating process that they are willing to defend it. There was also a bustling delegation of social movements from around the world, which this Sunday will inaugurate the meeting of the International People’s Assembly, an organizational instance that will begin to be built step by step in the name of the international Revolution. Between them, one could see South Africans from the metalworkers union Numsa, who danced their typical dances living in Venezuela, together with Brazilians who shouted “Lula Libre”, Argentines who remembered (badly of course) Macri, and even young Basques and Catalans embraced with their national flags. For all their voices, “the sword of Bolivar” continues to walk, as will socialism, through Latin America, and in their militant bustle they received “solidarity and revolutionary greetings” as a return from the Chavista masses. It was a people’s celebration, which was absorbing the victory obtained in the face of a new attempt by the most terrorist empire that humanity has ever had to endure.
Then President Maduro spoke, voted in May by millions, not like that wimp who proclaimed himself and now will have to stay and live in Cúcuta or Bogota or end up in a prison along with other terrorists of his ilk. Listening to Maduro on this occasion, addressing those daily doers of the Revolution, he recalled other similar deeds carried out by his teacher Hugo Chávez, to whom Maduro not only pays homage but in practice fulfills his legacy.
In conclusion: On February 23 the Bolivarian Revolution scored another goal, that of peace with social justice in the face of imperialist war. But we cannot gloat for a moment with the enemy we face today. They will counter, they are ferocious and ruthless. They have already demonstrated it, and they use what they had at hand to harass the people. That is why we must not let our guard down. Guaidó has already practically asked his accomplices to implement the resources for the armed intervention. Trump, who surely realizes how useless this little puppet is, are now imagining new onslaughts. We should be alert, but also value what has been done so far. They have not been able because of the courage of this people. They will not be able to either.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano, translation North America bureau