The Latin American Report # 700
The interview granted by the head of the Venezuelan legislative power, Jorge Rodríguez, to the Trump-loving, conservative channel Newsmax serves as a perfect example to defend the thesis that the Rodríguez siblings seem to be administering the burial of Chavismo. That is, from what is happening, a reformed Chavismo can't emerge, because the ideology of Hugo Chávez is completely antithetical to both the current relationship with the United States and the economic principles Rodríguez outlined in his calm conversation with Rob Schmitt. I am not evaluating the economic issue itself here, in the sense of arguing for or against a market or planned economy, but rather claiming that where the Rodríguez siblings are pointing is not toward a deepening of Chavismo, perhaps adapted to new times, but toward its progressive dismantling.
Rodríguez's statements reflect, first and foremost, the exact synchronization and harmony between the Miraflores Palace and the White House, additionally reducing the events of January 3rd to a sort of bad experience, and speaking very casually about his interaction with Marco Rubio. In about 40 days, an extraordinary reset in bilateral relations between the United States and Venezuela has been executed, to such a level that the bloody seizure of Maduro, and the very fact that he is imprisoned in New York, seem like distant circumstances, so much so that the President of the National Assembly smiles a little when responding to Schmitt that he speaks more with the head of Foggy Bottom than with the US Treasury Secretary.
Then, talking about a "promising" future in bilateral relations, in line with Venezuela's enormous crude reserves, is one thing, but including Trump, Marco Rubio, and the current Republican administration in general in a sentence that speaks of respect in the sense of law or international relations is another. In the narrative Rodríguez now advances, a free-market economy will be the engine of any progress ahead. Chávez, instead, spoke of a strong "social state" with very broad responsibilities in the economy. "The market cannot be the one that orders the things of the world because the market is threatening to end it, the free market threatens to end the world," said the late leader in April 2003. "We are going to bury Venezuelan capitalism, we are going to bury it," he also promised later in 2010.
Thus, for example, for Rodríguez, the reform of the hydrocarbon law was a long-overdue milestone, necessary to attract foreign capital; he suggested that its validity for over 17 years jeopardized the oil sector's growth. Finally, the phases Venezuela foresees for its future correspond exactly with those publicly established from Pennsylvania Avenue: reconciliation, institutional strengthening, and only then elections. Maduro is a figure that fades in this picture. In truth, as is hinted in this Guardian article, the interview amounts to a joint information operation through Newsmax to please Trump, if not an imposition.
Ecuador: business as usual
In another event that illustrates how the problem of violence continues to be entrenched in Ecuador's coastal zone, a new massacre occurred yesterday, Monday, in the municipality of San Vicente, Manabí province. Four people were killed, and one was injured, following an indiscriminate attack perpetrated by hitmen in front of a small fishing dock connected to a beach. Manabí remains under a state of exception along with eight other Ecuadorian provinces, but not much time passes each week without organized crime rearing its head and making its presence felt through massacres, decapitations, or the burning of human flesh.
