US regime-change war against Venezuela continues

By Adrian Moores

THE Trump administration remains determined to topple the legitimate government of Venezuela by all means. The objective is worth every sacrifice. If Washington wins the battle it will get a subservient client state where the world’s largest oil reserves would be freely exploited by US corporations.

Due to the failure of a gamble with the so called humanitarian intervention in Venezuela the White House developed a new strategy aimed at promoting followers of self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaidó in the international and regional organizations substituting them with legitimate envoys of Nicolas Maduro.

The first move in this direction was an appointment of Ricardo Hausmann in March of this year as Venezuela’s representative to the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). Be sure that this assignment has not been without Washington’s support because Hausmann is one of the West’s leading neoliberal economists, who played an unsavoury role during the 1980s and ’90s in devising policies that enabled the looting of Venezuela’s economy by international capital and provoked devastating social turmoil.

After that, in April, Guaidó named Juan–Gustavo Tarre as its representative in the Organization of American States. This man is known as one of the most enthusiasts in politics of social reduction and profit maximization for the private sector, at the same time as a consultant and adviser to companies and think tanks in Washington since 1999.

Next steps of the self-declared president may include nomination of his representatives to the World Bank or International Monetary Fund.  The support of these two multilateral institutions would be crucial to drown completely the Venezuela’s economy, which is already plagued by hyperinflation and shortages of basic goods due to the US economic sanctions. But what is known for sure is Guaidó’s blueprint to dislodge Venezuela’s ambassador to the UN Samuel Moncada.

Efforts to that effect are already under way. Addressing the UN Security Council meeting on April 10, the US Vice President Mike Pence urged to revoke credentials of Venezuela’s ambassador to the world body, portraying him as a loyalist to the president Nicolás Maduro.

Moreover, Ambassador Moncada informed the public recently that in order to achieve its goal of expelling him, the Trump administration froze the bank accounts of the Venezuelan mission to the UN. This move prevents Venezuela from paying its employees at the UN mission and represents a clear violation of US obligations towards the UN that it agreed to when New York City was designated as its headquarters.

Washington is determined to get the job done. In order to unseat Moncada the US launched awareness-raising programmes at the UN forums and in Western media lobbying for Guaidó loyalists in the international organizations including the United Nations.

But if Maduro’s ambassadors lose their accreditation in the international organizations, it will obviously undermine the world community’s efforts to facilitate political dialogue in Venezuela. Such an outcome is beneficial primarily to the US with all negative consequences for the legitimate government of Venezuela.

Thus, American hawks are preparing grounds to topple Maduro like they did it in Iraq, Libya and many other countries. Bearing this in mind all sober-minded countries should prevent that from happening. Washington illegitimate demands for resignation of the Venezuela’s Permanent Representative in the UN should be firmly rejected.