Either a sovereign Venezuela or a banana republic

Just like in Chile in 1973, a vicious smear campaign has been launched by the corporate media and a minority of countries against the sovereign socialist state in Venezuela in order to set the stage for “regime change” in the country.  US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said lately that the US government was evaluating all policy options in order to create a change of conditions “where either Maduro decides he doesn’t have a future and wants to leave of his own accord or we can return the government processes back to their constitution”.

Furthermore, US sanctions most recently declared against President Maduro and 13 other officials in his administration represent an escalation in the same direction of de-legitimising the Bolivarian state, despite the fact that these sanctions have no actual bite, since President Maduro does not have any assets in the US.

The purpose of this campaign is to present the Venezuelan state as an international “pariah” or a “rogue state”.  Fortunately, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is not alone.  It has the support of millions of people, not only in Venezuela, but in Latin America, and across the globe.

It is preposterous for the Venezuelan opposition and its allies to present their “cause”, in opposing the election of the National Constituent Assembly, as a defence of the Venezuelan constitution that was approved by popular referendum in 1999.  

It is obvious that these opponents of the National Constituent Assembly fathom neither the letter nor the spirit of the constitution of 1999. For one thing, Article 347 of the constitution of 1999 specifically states:  “The original constituent power rests with the people of Venezuela. This power may be exercised by calling a National Constituent Assembly for the purpose of transforming the state, creating a new juridical order and drawing up a new constitution.”  

Article 348 of the constitution of 1999, furthermore, delegates the president sitting with the council of ministers (or two-thirds of the National Assembly or the Municipal Councils or 15 per cent of registered voters) to call for a National Constituent Assembly.  

As such, President Maduro is perfectly within the bounds of the constitution in calling for the election of an assembly to promulgate a new constitution for Venezuela. It is those who are attempting to obstruct the establishment of a National Constituent Assembly, in fact, who are opposing the constitution of 1999.  

They are also the ones ignoring Article 349 of the constitution stating that neither the president of the republic nor the current national assembly can object to or oppose the new constitution adopted by the new National Constituent Assembly.  In short, the “legal argument” of the Venezuelan opposition is totally ludicrous.  Those who are pretending to defend the constitution are actually violating it. 

More than 100 people have died amid political unrest in Venezuela over the past three months. These riots are mainly taking place in the wealthiest areas of Venezuelan cities, where fanatic minority groups have not only destroyed public property, but have also beaten and burned alive people believed to be government supporters, showing that their hatred have no limits. Only a fraction of the deceased rioters have been killed by the security forces, and those found guilty of these crimes are now in custody.   

More than 8 million people voted to create the constituent assembly on July 31, 2017. This turnout largely surpasses the amount of votes Nicolas Maduro got in the last presidential election, in spite of the fact that 200 poll stations were destroyed by representatives of the opposition, and that a number of private transport companies paralysed their activities in order to prevent people from voting.

Contrary to what the corporate media says, there is no humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. Calm prevails in our country. Venezuela will remain a sovereign country and will never, never be a banana republic.

The writer is Venezuela's ambassador to Jordan. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.