FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The clash of forces within the regime continues. The new interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, forced to govern the country, is trying to consolidate power, launching the first appointments and, quietly, a new era of purges.
Classes have been suspended until further notice at the Central University of Venezuela, in order not to endanger the physical integrity of students and professors. Hundreds of young people at this university have been victims of repression during the protests against Maduro.
Elsewhere, life resumes its usual course, with the constant vigilance of a people under surveillance, who today remain waiting to understand what will happen tomorrow. The only certainty is the struggle with the wallet, the exchange rate between the bolivar and the dollar, the currency that dictates the pace of the local economy, continues to depreciate. The official rate is 311 bolivars to the dollar (it was 247 on December 1), but on the street the greenback is exchanged for 800–900 bolivars. And if before the American attack a liter of milk was bought for 12 dollars, yesterday it exceeded 16 dollars.
The clash of forces within the regime continues. The new interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, forced to govern the country, is trying to consolidate power, launching the first appointments and, quietly, a new era of purges.
Calixto Ortega Sánchez, former president of the Central Bank, will be the new economy minister. By the end of the year we hope to consolidate the data for 2025, Rodríguez declared on public television, citing a growth forecast of 6.5%, but without making any mention of the US projects (yesterday the state oil company Pdvsa confirmed that negotiations are continuing). The first head to fall, meanwhile, is that of the commander of the Presidential Guard of Honor, Javier Marcano Tábata.
In his place comes General Gustavo González López, former director of the notorious Sebin, the Bolivarian Intelligence Service that human rights organizations consider among the main responsible for repression and political persecution. An appointment that seems to contradict Donald Trump's announcement of the imminent closure of the torture chamber in the center of Caracas, the infamous and enormous Helicoide, where Sebin tortures prisoners. Inconsistency of a "three-stage plan: stability, recovery and then transition," as promised by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, still to be built.
AP's Joshua Goodman writes: Venezuela's interim president has risen to prominence thanks to strategic moves and political acumen. In 2017, as Venezuela's foreign minister, she ordered Citgo to donate $500,000 to Donald Trump's inauguration, with the aim of attracting American investment. Her efforts have "made her a key figure in U.S. business and political circles." But the "made in the USA" transition has many enemies. "Anyone who laughs because they took Nicolas has not understood that the Bolivarian Revolution is still here," warned Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, whose Colectivo paramilitaries have returned to patrol the streets of Caracas en masse. Washington's reaction was immediate. According to Reuters, the Trump administration contacted Cabello through intermediaries with a blunt message: either you side with us or you will end up like Maduro.
If he cooperates with the Rodríguez brothers, the White House would find a way to send him into exile. The regime's most feared leader is not easy prey and imitates guerrilla tactics. He sleeps during the day, moves constantly at night and never stays in one place for long, writes the Miami Herald. Maduro ruled like a king. Cabello lives like a rebel. And he has never been an ally of Delcy Rodríguez, the technocrat to whom Washington has already presented a long list of demands, among them the cessation of all economic relations with China, Russia, Iran and Cuba, as well as the expulsion of their agents . / Taken from Corriere della Sera
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