Before I get to our first article I want to talk about the year 2017. Things were still pretty good for Nicola Maduro and the Chavistas. They might be collapsing but they were still pretty good. But for Maduro, pretty good isn’t enough. Here are two examples.

First we have the political situation in Venezuela in 2017. In 2015 the opposition scored an unexpected political victory in the elections for the National Assembly. It was a landslide, a total rebuke of Chavismo and 21st Century Bolivarian Socialism. With their legislative super majority the opposition would be able to pass laws, recall judges, even maybe recall Maduro himself. That could not be allowed to happen.

 On their last day in office the outgoing Chavistas packed the Venezuela Supreme Court, the TSJ, with Chavista loyalists…and they were already presided over by Maikel Moreno, a convicted murderer and ally of Maduro. The TSJ immediately set about giving control back to the Chavistas.

 First they disqualified four representatives for “electoral irregularities”, which took away the opposition’s super majority. Oh, and by the way, they didn’t take the chance that fresh elections might yield the same results and give control back to the opposition, returning their super majority. No elections we set and the four representatives were never replaced. They just kinda’…went away.

 Next the TSJ ruled the Opposition- controlled (but not by super majority) National Assembly as invalid. Since they insisted that the four disqualified representatives should take their duly elected positions they swore them in anyway, in the eyes of the court that made anything the National Assembly did invalid. It was totally unconstitutional but it was the TSJ that determined constitutionality so…there you go. They also determined that Maduro could continue to govern by executive decree using emergency powers granted him by the old Chavista- controlled National Assembly. So, even though the opposition was officially in control of the National Assembly, Maduro and the Chavistas were still in total control. But that wasn’t enough for Maduro.

 In 2017 Maduro created his own “Constituent National Assembly”, supposedly to rewrite the Constitution (already rewritten by Hugo Chavez), which it never did. This new assembly did, however, pass a bunch of laws even though they had no constitutional right to do so, and everything they did, just as everything Maduro did, was ratified as constitutional by the TSJ. It gave new meaning to the phrase “the law is what we say it is.” Even though Maduro and the Chavistas were in total control before the ANC (Constituent Assembly) it wasn’t enough…it’s never enough.

 The we had the creation of FAES, one of the heads of what I refer to as Maduro’s Three-Headed Monster of security services. Even though we already did a detailed piece about these guys in Venezuela : Down The Rabbit Hole, I’ll get into FAES in more detail next week. For now, lets just say that these guys are stone cold killers.

 Maduro already had at his disposal in 2017, the GNB (Army), the PNB (National Police), DGCIM (Military Intelligence), SEBIN (Civilian Intelligence), CICPC (Scientific Intelligence, whatever that means), not to mention the “colectivos” (armed motorcycle gangs) and the “civilian militia”. It was pretty much total control. But that wasn’t enough for Maduro…it’s never enough. He created the FAES.

 It’s widely known, especially in the barrios, that while other security services may come to arrest you, the FAES comes to kill you. Little is known about the structure or chain of command of these black-clad assassins but they are ruthless. They are so bad that the UN (United Nations) High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michele Bachelet, in her comprehensive report after a UN FFM (fact finding mission), called for the disbanding of FAES. Maduro’s response…”Long live FAES!!”

 So, that’s where we are today. The UN report, and others, led to the ICC (International Criminal Court) opening an official investigation into the Maduro regime’s Human Rights Violations and possible crimes against humanity. Maduro’s ANC (Constituent Assembly) was dissolved after a sham election gave the Chavistas control of the National Assembly again although we still have the opposition’s 2015 National Assembly in exile. Maduro has total control. There is no independent judiciary (no rule of law) and basic Human Rights don’t exist (the FAES and others commit, on average, over 1,400 extrajudicial killings a year on Maduro’s behalf). You might think that would be enough for him but you’d be wrong…it’s never enough.

 This brings us to the piece by World Crunch referring to the Iran- Venezuela partnership as the “Axis of Chaos”. Although it’s not a new alliance, dating back to Hugo Chavez’s agreements with the Iranians in 2005, the dangers have changed considerably in recent years (the Maduro regime’s years).

 As I’ve told people for a long time, Maduro has proven, unfortunately, that he’s far more dangerous than Chavez ever was (and Chavez was pretty bad). Even with more leftists in power than we’ve seen for a long time, it’s not all roses in left-land in Latin America. The Maduro regime – Iranian alliance threatens the stability of the entire region (and most Latin American socialists know it…they won’t say it but they know it).

 And speaking of said alliance, Mecro Press reports that the Israeli Embassy in Uruguay claims the Iranian crew members of the Venezuelan – Iranian flight detained in Argentina for over two weeks (you thought we forgot about them, didn’t you?) were directly involved in arms trafficking to Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. While this is no great surprise and I pretty much believe it, I would like some documented proof.

 Then we have IRNA reporting that the Venezuela Minister of Communication and Information says Iran and Venezuela will create an axis that serves as a priority for global economics. (What does that mean?) “We should be independent like Iran.” He slammed “The West” for silencing journalists or news networks (are you kidding?). He says “The West” portrays certain countries as enemies to prepare the ground for military aggression against them naming Iran, Venezuela, Russia, China, Cuba, and Nicaragua as victims of a fabricated image. (I’ll let you be the judge… Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was fabricated?) He accused “The West” of psychological and digital warfare and of promoting “individualism”, something that makes it impossible to promote religious, political, and revolutionary values. (Sounds kinda’ like BLM telling us that skepticism  and objectivity are “white supremacist values”) There was a whole lot more but I reached my limit on BS tolerance.

 And we have Reuters reporting that the French Presidential Office says the international community should explore all options to alleviate the Russian oil supply squeeze including talks with Iran and Venezuela. It’s worth noting that Macron, like Biden, doesn’t acknowledge that the solution to the problem is simple, allow the US to produce more oil and gas. It would be more environmentally sound (US oil and gas production is the cleanest in the world) and solve the problem both in the US and globally…but committed socialists don’t really like the idea.

 And Reuters also reports that thousands of Venezuelans in Southern Mexico have formed a caravan to head North to the US. The status of migrants in Mexico is complicated by the fact that the Maduro regime won’t allow deportation flights. (FYI, they will accept returnees but only through their own government program)

 That’ll do it for the week. I’ll be taking Monday off to celebrate the founding of The United States of America with the Declaration of Independence in 1776. (No, the US wasn’t founded in 1619, despite what the NY Times would have you believe) We have the privilege to live in a country that is the greatest, most successful political experiment in history. Relax, enjoy a three day weekend, and we’ll see you Tuesday.

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!!!!