The crisis in Venezuela worsens with humanitarian aid sent from the United States remaining blocked by President Nicolas Maduro and his troops, and the threat by Opposition Leader Juan Guaido, who warns that the aid would be brought to Venezuela by February 23. Adding is the visit of Columbian President Ivan Duque to meet Donald Trump. The Maduro leadership remains challenged.
Mr. Guaido told a rally in the capital Caracas that new collection points and routes into the country would allow volunteers to bring the aid in, posing a major threat of clashes between such volunteers and the Venezuelan military; who are so far supportive of President Maduro, and blocking the entry points of this aid from neighbouring Colombia.
In an interview with BBC President Maduro rejected claims of major food and medicine shortages in the country, and accused the US of intent to create a humanitarian crisis to justify a military intervention in the country.
“The US has intended to create a humanitarian crisis in order to justify a military intervention – ‘humanitarian’. And this is part of that show”.
However, independent observers and media say the people of Venezuela are desperately in need of food, medicine and other essentials, support in these areas, which the Maduro government is unable to provide. Many thousands of Venezuelans have crossed to the neighbouring countries to obtain daily necessities, and a major humanitarian tragedy prevails in the country.
Maduro tells BBC Venezuela has problems, but it is not a country with hunger.
“In any case I tell you, the United States, Donald Trump's government, has sequestered $10 bn (£7.75 bn) of bank accounts that belong to us. They have sequestered billions of dollars in gold in London that are ours - that is money to buy supplies, raw materials, food, medicines. They have sequestered $1.4 bn for many months that we are going to use to buy food, medicines in Euro clear. “It's very simple: if you want to help Venezuela, release the billions of dollars in resources that belong to us. So don't come with a cheap show, a show of indignity, of humiliation, where they offer $20 m dollars in food that is toxic, and rotten”.
His rival Juan Guaido, President of the Legislative Assembly, who now claims to be the national leader, recognized by US and nearly 50 countries, mainly Western, says the Venezuelans are facing drastic food shortages amid an economic crisis. He is organising new collection points for the ‘humanitarian aid’ and encouraging volunteers to bring the aid in.
Mr. Guaidó said new collection points and routes into the country would allow volunteers to bring the aid in. He warns that 300,000 Venezuelans will die if the aid doesn’t enter. He has called on 250,000 people who signed up online to organise themselves over the weekend, “because we're going to have to go in caravans”.
Observers of the situation see the move to a major clash among these volunteers and the Venezuelan troops who are blocking the points from where the aid is lined up at Colombia and Brazil. Pope Francis has cautioned of the Venezuelan situation leading to bloodshed. There is much concern internationally about the possibility of violent clashes, and some European and South American groups are seeking a possible negotiation process.
However, the conflict is moving to dangerous round, with much criticism of the failure of the Maduro leadership to address the problems of the people, and its continuance of what are seen by opponents as the ‘authoritarian socialist’ policies of Hugo Chavez, who Maduro succeeded. Chavez, a great hero of left wing politics, was on political decline when he died five years ago. The new campaign against Maduro is a combination of the rightwing forces against Chavez and Maduro, and the call for necessary relief for the people of Venezuela.
Crisis worsens
A worsening of the crisis came with the visit this week of the Columbian President Ivan Duque to meet President Donald Trump at the White House. The discussion of the two leaders is ‘efforts to restore democracy in Venezuela’ and ‘strategic partnerships in regional security’. Both Presidents Trump and Duque are supportive of Juan Guaido, recognizing him as the next Venezuelan President, and seek the stepping down of President Nicolas Maduro. The US has enlisted the Duque government as a key partner in sending humanitarian – food and medicine aid – to Venezuela through the Colombian border.
The politicization of the aid has worried humanitarian groups, with offices in Colombia, telling relevant parties that aid should be geared towards saving lives rather than achieving political goals. “We remind interested parties that any potential political use of humanitarian aid can generate risks, in particular for those the aid is intended to support, if this use is not based on technical and objective criteria,” said War Child, Oxfam and others. The International Red Cross had already stated it will take no part in the delivery of aid for similar reasons. The crisis continues with a major threat of violent clashes between pro-Maduro troops and pro-Guaido volunteers.
Indian politics and Priyanka Gandhi
With the Indian General Election less than three months away there are major shifts and changes in the politics in the world’s largest democracy. The main opposition parties and leaders are showing signs of moving towards a strong alliance against the ruling Bharathiya Janatha Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Recent political protests in West Bengal and New Delhi have seen the coming together of political parties that had their differences within the states of India, to come to a political understanding to oppose the Narendra Modi government, which is facing a major difficulties in popularity, as seen in recent regional elections, compared to its huge victory in the last national election in 2014. West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Bannerjee has said she would fight alongside Congress Party and the other left parties, regardless of her rivalry with them in West Bengal, in her strong opposition to the BJP and Modi.
The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, an important voice in the opposition, has also moved away from three decades of rivalry and turned towards the Congress, in what has been stated as political compulsions. It is also reported that New Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party, and its leader Kejirwal, is also seeking alliances with the Congress Party. As the elections get closer there will be other parries too that will come to understandings and alliances to form what will be a common opposition front against the BJP and Narendra Modi. A major personality rise in Indian politics is that of Priyanka Gandhi, the sister of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been appointed as the Congress Party’s general-secretary for eastern Uttar Pradesh, overseeing an area containing one of the constituencies of the current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in a state of more than 200 million people with the most parliamentary seats on offer.
Priyanka Gandhi’s appointment just months before the next Indian national polls, shows the new rise of the Nehru-Gandhi family that gave leadership to India’s independence movement, and has ruled the country for most of the years after independence 71 years ago. A scion of India’s most powerful dynasty, who has rebuffed calls to enter politics for years, has been appointed as an official in the Congress party just months before India’s national polls. The Congress Party and the Gandhi family have been under very strong criticism by the Narendra Modi government, the BJP and its main Hindu allies, as a party built on family strength and alliances, and against the wider Hindu population.
Priyanka Gandhi, the daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Indian prime ministers, has campaigned informally in the family’s ancestral homelands in eastern Uttar Pradesh but has resisted entering politics herself for more than two decades.
She is considered a more charismatic campaigner than her brother, the current Congress Party chief, Rahul Gandhi, with presence and an appearance that are often compared to that of her grandmother Indira Gandhi, the prime minister, who was assassinated in 1984.
She also faces political problems over renewed probes into alleged corruption and money laundering charges against her husband, Robert Vadra. The allegations are about land deals in the UK, which inquiries have been renewed since the announcement of her appointment, and which the Congress says are baseless. The Narendra Modi government is also activating many new probes against other political opponents, too.
Prime Minister Modi comes to the next election in the weakest position seen since his leading the BJP to a huge victory in the Lok Sabha in 2014. The BJP and its allies have lost three state elections in December, with public discontent over economic growth, rising unemployment and crisis in the agricultural sector, despite its popularity in the past four years. However, the personal popularity of Narendra Modi remains high, although BJP support is in decline. There are signs of a rise in the Hindu extremist politics as the polls move closer.
Brexit Endgame
British Prime Minister Theresa May faced another defeat in the House of Commons this week. The government’s Brexit strategy was defeated by 303 to 258 votes, in the second major defeat suffered by May.
The continued failure of British Prime Minister Theresa May to make suitable ‘alternate proposals’ to the European Union on the agreement already reached with the EU on the UK’s exit from the EU, is pushing the UK to a possible No Deal exit, which is widely opposed in the UK.
May has said that what comes from talks with EU will be put to MPs for a vote on February 27. However, May is also due to meet EU leaders at a summit on March 21, and the possibility is now indicated of a March 21 Deal or No Deal - a strategy of Theresa May to get MPs to ultimately agree to her originally rejected proposals. This is the reality of the hugely confused politics the UK has been pushed into by Theresa May’s delay tactics on the Brexit, that she opposed before the Brexit referendum, but claimed to wholly support when she became Prime Minister.
The emerging situation of the United Kingdom will certainly be a one of major political uncertainty in the coming weeks, and possibly moving to a new prime minister and a general election. The new political trends in the UK are affecting both Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
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