Russia vs. United States: a fight for Venezuela

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Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said that the United States remains in its warlike expansionism to undermine states that differ from them

The situation in Venezuela is defined by the word crisis. From any perspective, its political, economic and social scenario is complicated and belligerent. The executive and legislative sectors clash over the pressure of power and resistance to hold on to it or ultimately; to obtain it.

The United States is pressing for the Venezuelan opposition to take the reins of the country, and Russia demonstrates its support for the regime with military, economic and diplomatic incentives. The tensions increase and the dispute for power, too.

Leer en español: Rusia vs. Estados Unidos: una pelea por Venezuela

A bid of interests

The two sides of the coin in the power struggle to retain or obtain power in Venezuela is given by the interests of the same in the use of the resources of the Latin American country.

The United States sees in Venezuela an opportunity to increase its oil and gas expansionism, or at least so says César Bunster, leader of the Communist Party of Chile in column for El Siglo portal; noting that there is a "rapacious ambition of the northern country over the largest oil reserve in the world, extensive reserves of gas and gold," among other natural resources.

On the other hand, and as the newspaper Israel Noticias points out, Russia is also behind these Venezuelan resources, so its bet, contrary to the United States, is to support the Nicolás Maduro regime, either from its military expansion, his financial help and his acting plenipotentiary on the country.

With the possession of Nicolás Maduro as president reelected for another six years, the different political sectors in Venezuela sharpened their nails and have unleashed a sway of events that have power in sight.

Guaidó, with support from the United States, the Lima Group and the National Assembly of Venezuela has proclaimed himself interim president of the republic; while Maduro, considered illegitimate by most of the international community and also by the country's parliament, has received the support of Russia and the concrete rejection of Trump's presumed interventionism.

As predicted by CNN, citing three unidentified sources, Donald Trump was thinking about the recognition of Guaidó as legitimate president of transition in Venezuela, since the request of the senator from Florida, Marco Rubio. However, it was Vice President Mike Pence, who confirmed that through a video announcement, prior to the inauguration of Guaidó as President in Charge of Venezuela; recognized by the United States, Brazil, Canada, and Colombia.

In this way, Russia has stepped forward to issue statements against what they presumably call a coup plan.

"The fact that the US and several other countries, first of all, those in the region, immediately recognized the temporarily self-proclaimed president, illustrates that they had direct participation in the artificial creation of dual power, which is fraught with chaos. Moreover, it is causing very serious disruption in the internal political situation", Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during his usual press conferences. "All this is very alarming and shows that in the United States the policy of knocking down unwanted governments remains one of their priorities for action," he added.

For his part, Mike Pompeo, secretary of state, accused the Venezuelan National Assembly of bravely for having declared Maduro as the usurper of power. "We congratulate, recognize and support courage," he tweeted.

Is a war coming?

Although Guaidó requested the support of the Venezuelan military cupola and the entire international community to overthrow the dictatorial government of Maduro, Pence ruled out military intervention.

"We have to maximize the political and economic position so that as soon as possible, democracy returns to Venezuela. That's the way, the way is not the use of force, but deepen the political demand and take into account the economic reality, to see how we can contribute, "said Pence to the media after meeting with Macri in 2017.

However, the Russian diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, finds alarming the double face of the United States before the possibility of a military incursion and qualifies as sectarian the attitude of the opposition. "It is alarming, an intransigent part of the opposition is influenced from the outside, first and foremost by the US," Lavrov told a news conference.

The challenge for Venezuela between Russia and the United States becomes a general struggle over which power has greater influence over Latin America, a territory of great importance for financial investment, business, economy, and resources in general. This is a panorama that is at odds with different forces, including Russia and China, which are gaining more space within the region and whose alliance would mean a "nightmare" for the United States, as the analysis of The National Interest declares.

"China is more interested in working with Russia and other partners to accelerate the emergence of a multipolar and post-American world, than to get embroiled in a permanent bipolar struggle on the side of Russia against the United States", said the article.

For now, Venezuela is another issue that is in the middle of the historical dispute between Russia and the United States; submerged in a crisis that seems to have no end. While the opposition seeks by all means and in all ways to overthrow Maduro, it focuses on paying the foreign debt of more than 1,000 million dollars that Venezuela has with Russia, in what, according to the Venezuelan ambassador Carlos Rafael Faría to the TASS agency, it is a strategy to revitalize the country's economy.

LatinAmerican Post | Jorge Becerra

Translated from "Rusia vs. Estados Unidos: una pelea por Venezuela"