The Last Thing the US Wants Is To Become a Pretext for Repression

The Caracas government is up to its old tricks again: blaming the empire for every [negative occurrence] in Venezuela, particularly the massive social protests that have been jeopardizing [the country’s stability] for more than a month.

Washington’s response is that [the claim] is “a premeditated lie”. But while it is true that its rhetoric regarding Nicolás Maduro has become sharper, Washington has avoided action for now. According to official sources, the last thing Barack Obama’s government wants is to become “an excuse for repression.”*

U.S. Department of State spokesperson Marie Harf has described the persistent claims of both President Maduro and his chancellor, Elías Jaua, that the U.S. “is the empire promoting fascist” demonstrations [in Venezuela] as “openly disregarding the truth.” Just yesterday, Maduro claimed “the directive” ordering [his] assassination “is on Obama’s desk.”

The harsh rhetoric escalated last week, which would not have been surprising to the U.S., accustomed by now to its role, according to Council of the Americas Vice President Eric Farnsworth, of “scapegoat”* for Venezuelan misfortunes.

More recently, Washington put two potential solutions on the table regarding the situation in Venezuela: on the one hand, a trajectory toward eventual economic sanctions, [and] on the other hand an appeal to the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

Both were proffered by Secretary of State John Kerry as possible diplomatic solutions. But to the local media this seemed to be more of escalating rhetoric than a real approach to be explored in any effective sense. The reason for this [reaction] is the isolation American diplomacy suffers in the region, where it appears to be nothing more than a solitary voice urging Maduro’s government to “stop repressing”* its citizens.

“We are working closely with Colombia and other countries to try to see how some kind of mediation might be able to take place,” stated Kerry in the Capitol this week.

In recent developments, President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia has offered to mediate “if the [Venezuelan] government and the opposition” accept his proposal.

“If Venezuela’s government thinks we can be useful, we’ll be here as long as the opposition also considers [the proposal]” stated Santos.

Among local media, the general consensus is that mediation by Colombia could engender confidence in several observers, Washington included.

As of yesterday however, nobody could be sure what the future of this initiative could be. Nor does anyone know whether the initiative could help find a way out of the attritional situation in Venezuela.

*Editor’s note: The original quote, accurately translated, could not be verified.