{"id":197246,"date":"2019-01-10T21:06:53","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T02:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=197246"},"modified":"2019-01-10T21:06:53","modified_gmt":"2019-01-11T02:06:53","slug":"isolation-greets-maduros-new-term-as-venezuelas-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/01\/10\/isolation-greets-maduros-new-term-as-venezuelas-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Isolation greets Maduro’s new term as Venezuela’s president"},"content":{"rendered":"
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President Nicolas Maduro celebrated the start to a second term as Venezuela’s leader Thursday, but his world got smaller as countries seized upon the inauguration to cut back diplomatic ties, reject his legitimacy and label him a dictator. (File Photo By Tasnim News Agency\/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CARACAS, Venezuela \u2014 President Nicolas Maduro celebrated the start to a second term as Venezuela’s leader Thursday, but his world got smaller as countries seized upon the inauguration to cut back diplomatic ties, reject his legitimacy and label him a dictator.<\/p>\n

Once among Latin America’s wealthiest countries, Venezuela is enduring a historic crisis following two decades of socialist rule, with residents struggling to afford basic goods as inflation soars, driving mass migration.<\/p>\n

Maduro’s second six-year term extends the country’s socialist revolution amid widespread complaints that he has stripped the country of its last vestiges of democracy.<\/p>\n

Seventeen Latin American countries, the United States and Canada denounced Maduro’s government as illegitimate in a measure adopted Thursday.<\/p>\n

Maduro rejected the accusation, vowing to continue the legacy of the late President Hugo Chavez and accused the United States of trying to ignite unrest through its increasing economic sanctions.<\/p>\n

\u201cVenezuela is the centre of a world war led by the North American imperialists and its allies,\u201d he declared in a speech after his swearing-in. \u201cThey have tried to convert a normal inauguration into a world war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maduro, a 56-year-old former bus driver and Chavez’s hand-picked successor, took the helm of government after narrowly winning election following Chavez’s 2013 death. He denies being a dictator and often accuses President Donald Trump of leading an economic war against Venezuela that is destroying the country.<\/p>\n

In May, Maduro declared victory following an election that his political opponents and many foreign nations consider illegitimate because popular opponents were banned from running and the largest anti-government parties boycotted the race.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Organization of American States voted not to recognize the legitimacy of Maduro’s second term, adopting a resolution presented by Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the United States, Paraguay and Peru. Venezuela’s ambassador to the OAS, Samuel Moncada, denounced the move as \u201ca hostile act … against the will of our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Argentina and Paraguay went a step further, cutting back diplomatic ties. Peru also called home its top diplomat from Caracas in protest and banned 100 members of Maduro’s administration from entering the country.<\/p>\n

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the United States would keep up pressure in support of the Venezuelan people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is time for Venezuelan leaders to make a choice,\u201d Pompeo said. \u201cNow is the time to convince the Maduro dictatorship that the moment has arrived for democracy to return to Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n

Argentine President Mauricio Macri also denounced Maduro, saying he lacks the authenticity won through honest elections despite the elaborate inauguration ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cNicolas Maduro today is making a mockery of democracy,\u201d Macri said on Twitter. \u201cVenezuelans know it, the world knows it. Venezuela lives under a dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most countries from Europe and Latin American didn’t send representatives to the swearing-in.<\/p>\n

Presidents Miguel Diaz-Canel of Cuba, Evo Morales of Bolivia and Anatoli Bibilov of a breakaway province of Georgia were among the few foreign leaders who attended the ceremony at the country’s Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Venezuela, which sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves, produced 3.5 million barrels of crude daily when Chavez took power. Output has plummeted to less than a third of that. Critics blame years of rampant corruption and mismanagement of the state-run oil company PDVSA.<\/p>\n

The economic collapse has thrown the nation of 30 million people into turmoil.<\/p>\n

The economy in 2019 will continue to contract and inflation will skyrocket at a staggering 23 million per cent, forecasts Francisco Rodriguez, a former Venezuelan official who is now chief economist at New York-based Torino Capital.<\/p>\n

An estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled, according to the United Nations. Those remaining live on a monthly minimum wage equal to less than $5 and falling daily.<\/p>\n

Venezuela’s splintered opposition movement has failed to counter the socialist party’s dominance as Maduro’s government has jailed or driven into exile its most popular leaders.<\/p>\n

The opposition-led Congress opened its session for the year, led by 35-year-old Juan Guaido, who accused Maduro of \u201cusurping the presidency.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday there is no head of state. Today there is no commander-in-chief,\u201d Guaido said.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has increased pressure on Maduro through financial sanctions, targeting dozens in Maduro’s government. U.S. banks are also banned from doing business with Venezuela, putting a financial strangle-hold on the cash-strapped country.<\/p>\n

David Smilde, a Tulane University professor and expert on Venezuela, said that sanctions aren’t likely to create change. Ultimately, Maduro’s government isn’t worried about its\u00a0international\u00a0reputation, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe still has control of the institutions,\u201d Smilde said. \u201cHe has the guns. He has the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Maduro’s popularity has plunged amid scarcities, hyperinflation and rising authoritarianism that have sparked a mass emigration, supporters who receive government subsidies in shantytowns continue to back him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not the president’s fault,\u201d said Frances Velazquez, a 43-year-old mother of two who survives with the help of government-subsidized boxes of rice, flour and cooking oil. Velazquez blamed opportunists who drive up the prices of scarce items for making life difficult for families like hers.<\/p>\n

Others, like 52-year-old construction worker Ramon Bermudez, have lost hope of escaping Maduro’s rule.<\/p>\n

He pointed out the irony of living in a nation with the world’s most abundant oil reserves yet having to wait in line overnight to fill three small canisters of natural gas to cook at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll that’s left to do is raise your hand to heaven and ask God to help us,\u201d said Bermudez, camped out on a Caracas sidewalk with hundreds of others waiting for gas. \u201cThere’s nothing more.\u201d<\/p>\n

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CARACAS, Venezuela \u2014 President Nicolas Maduro celebrated the start to a second term as Venezuela’s leader Thursday, but his world …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":197247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-scott-smith","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}