A hawk, former director of the infamous Sebin, in the Presidential Guard. Minister Cabello: the revolution continues
FROM OUR REPORTER
BOGOTA’ – Lessons postponed until further notice at the Central University of Venezuela, «so as not to put physical integrity at risk» of students and professors. Engraved: hundreds of young people from the university were victims of repression during the anti-Maduro protests.
Elsewhere, life resumes its routine, with the usual circumspection of a people under surveillance, who today is 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 devalue. The official rate is 311 bolivars per dollar (it was 247 on December 1), but on the street the greenback changes to 800-900 bolivars. And if before the American attack a liter of milk was purchased for 12 dollars, yesterday it exceeded 16.
Within the regime, the tug of war continues. The new president ad interim Delcy Rodriguezforced to govern on a razor’s edge, attempts to consolidate power by making the first appointments and, under the radar, a new era of purges. Calixto Ortega Sánchez, former president of the Central Bank, will be the new Minister of Economy.
“By the end of the year, we hope to consolidate the 2025 data,” Rodríguez declared on public television, citing a growth estimate of 6.5% but without making any mention of US projects (yesterday the state oil company PDVSA confirmed that negotiations are continuing). The first head to fall, however, is that of the commander of the Presidential Honor GuardJavier Marcano Tábata. In his place, a “hawk” takes over, General Gustavo González López, former director of the infamous Sebinthe Bolivarian Intelligence Service that human rights organizations consider among those most responsible for repression and political persecution. A nomination that seems to contradict Donald Trump’s announcement on the imminent closure of the “torture chamber in the center of Caracas”, the infamous and abnormal Helicoide where Sebin tortures prisoners.
Inconsistencies of a “three-stage plan: stability, recovery and then transition”, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio promises, still to be built. Washington relies on Delcy’s “pragmatics”.. Joshua Gooodman of the AP agency writes: «The interim president of Venezuela has risen to prominence thanks to strategic moves and political cunning. In 2017, as Venezuelan Foreign Minister, he instructed Citgo to donate $500,000 to Donald Trump’s inauguration, with the aim of attracting American investment.” Her efforts “made her a key figure in U.S. business and political circles.” But the “made in USA” transition has many enemies.
«Those who laugh because they took Nicolás away didn’t understand that the Bolivarian Revolution is still here,” warned Interior Minister Diosdado Cabellowhose henchmen – the paramilitaries of the Colectivos – have returned to patrol the streets of Caracas en masse. Washington’s response was immediate. According to the agency Reuters, the Trump administration contacted Cabello through intermediaries with a clear message: either you take our side or you will end up like Maduro. If he collaborates with the Rodríguez brothers, the White House would find a way to send him into exile. The most feared leader of the regime is not easy prey and imitates the tactics of the guerrillas. «He sleeps during the day, moves constantly at night, and never stays in the same place for long» writes the Miami Herald. «Maduro ruled like a king. Cabello lives like an insurgent.” And he was never an ally of Delcy Rodríguezthe technocrat to whom Washington has already presented a long list of demands, including the severing of all economic relations with China, Russia, Iran and Cuba, and the expulsion of their agents.
