Venezuela's National Assembly ruled by two speakers

Venezuela’s socialist leader Luis Parra seized congress but the opposition re-elected Juan Guaido as head of the National Assembly

Left: socialist leader Luis Parra. Photograph: Twitter/@LuisParraVe
Right: opposition leader Juan Guaido. Photograph: Twitter/@jguaido
Editor: Ramón Warini

The South-America country crisis to escalate even worse as of last weekend when the socialist leader Luis Parra sized the National Assembly building as he alleged consolidating enough votes to take control of the House.

However, the opposition led by Juan Guaido took matters into their own hands to forcedly bypass security forces that were blocking the entrance of the parliament. Dozens of lawmakers and constituents started backing up Guaido’s movement to restore democracy, they piled up in support for the cause.

“We are firm! You saw how the coward socialist ran away without facing us,” Guaidó told news reporters. “We do this for the people of Venezuela, for you guys.”

The chamber host 165-seats of which each member can serve a 5-year-term with possibilities for re-election up to ten times by popular vote. In a 100-to-0 tally, Guaido gained enough votes to represent himself as head of the legislature. Despite the fact that Nicolás Maduro attempts to replace Guaido, the international community recognizes Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela.

However, Mexico is one of many countries that has not joint the idea of admitting Guaido as president of such country. In fact, when the new president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador sworn into power, Maduro was part of the many invited leaders to celebrate López Obrador’s victory. Despite the fact that a group of Mexican lawmakers rattled Maduro’s presence in the Mexican parliament using “dictator” signs and telling him to vacate the country.

But why one of the richest countries in natural resources end up with such a humanitarian crisis? Well, the hyperinflation that the Bolivarian Republic has suffered for the last several years has caused thousands of its citizens to exile from the South-American country. The crisis began right after the late Hugo Chavez died and escalated to where no food and medicine are provided to the people.

In addition to the corrupted government of Nicolás Maduro and his continuous authoritarian regime among its citizens, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Michelle Bachelet, reinterred that U.S. sanctions make the current economic break-down of Venezuela even worse. Sanction deprives people of accessing medicines and other public services, the UN said.

The White House denies those allegations but insists to hold every possible resolution on the table to help restore Venezuela’s democracy. One of those options is base on possible military intervention in the South-American country. In fact, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently confirmed Elliot Abraham as Venezuela’s Convoy to help restore human rights in the South-America country. But Elliot is known as one of the main heads who committed human massacres during the “Guerrillas de El Salvador back in 1992. Nonetheless, Juan Guaido stated his position against U.S. arm forces because Venezuela’s sovereignty may be at risk.

Kim Iversen, an American journalist who studied at the University of California, Davis, also believes that the United States is behind Venezuela’s crisis as she claimed that the U.S. is known as a leader of changing regimes using military force as imperialism throughout the world especially those holding rich natural resources.

But most Venezuela citizens living outside the country believe that the only way to terminate with Maduro’s regime is to advocate for a military action led by the U.S. army.

“Maduro is a dictator and runs a drug dealer state,” said Zoraida Caldera from Venezuela Cultural Foundation in Las Vegas. “I want the U.S. to use troops if that is the last resource.”

Zoraida Caldera from Venezuela Cultural Foundation
in Las Vegas. Photograph: Ramón Warini

Last updated on January 7, 2020 by Ramón Warini