The frustrated assassination attempt against President Nicolás Maduro Moros on August 4 in Caracas will decisively strengthen the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela and make it invincible.

It would seem that such a crime was all that was left for the Venezuelan counter-revolution to completely lose the credibility it has enjoyed among the few sectors of the population that have been supporting it: some, because they are interested in recovering the privileges they enjoyed before the Chávez revolution; others, because they had been won over by the siren songs of capitalist propaganda fed by Washington, about the possibility of maintaining the social benefits recently achieved by the revolution in a more just, but still unequal, society in which they could become part of a less poor class.

It is evident that the once-opulent Venezuelan oligarchy – pulling strings from the current violent opposition – in alliance with the mafia, both subordinated to the U.S. strategy and imperialist command, carried out this action. Their objective was to turn history around, regaining control of Venezuela’s oil wealth, and once again returning the homeland of Bolivar and Chavez to the status of a U.S. puppet.

The only problem was that Venezuelan revolutionaries and patriots think very differently. The previously-dispossessed classes, along with advances in their material well-being, have seen their political culture and social consciousness grow. They are ever less contaminated and seduced by imaginings of material progress. The humble are also the most conscious as members and allies of the working classes in the revolution.

The measures recently announced by Nicolás Maduro, in relation to fuel control, and his new approaches to the country’s economy, have taken a heavy toll on the enemies of the Bolivarian process. It was this which, according to all indications, led them to take action on August 4th. Their foolish calculation was that the elimination of Maduro would put an end to a process whose roots are, in fact, much deeper. At the time of the failed criminal attack, the President was at a meeting in Caracas, commemorating the 81st anniversary of the Bolivarian National Guard. In the middle of his speech, two strong explosions were heard. “I make this call to the honest and hard-working Venezuela: let’s bet on the good of our country. The time has come for economic recovery.” Maduro was saying this at the moment when, according to later unofficial information, a drone with a C4 plastic explosive charge blew up near the presidential box.

The President, his wife Cilia Flores and members of the Cabinet were not injured. They were quickly moved to safety, according to official information. This act of terrorism sought to overthrow a government that is the result of the democratic will of the Venezuelan people. This people’s support for the Chavista revolution has been reaffirmed on many occasions at the ballot box. It constituted a desperate attempt to achieve, by means of assassination, what they have not been able to obtain in several elections.

Nor have they achieved it through coups d’état like the one of 2002 against then President Hugo Chávez. The same occurred with the oil coup of 2003 and the extensive and intense imperialist policy of harassment to overthrow the Bolivarian Revolution. This includes the arbitrary and aggressive US Executive Order describing Venezuela as “an unusual and extraordinary threat to national security and foreign policy” of the superpower. They have unilaterally imposed economic sanctions violating international law. The US Secretary of State declared the full validity of the Monroe Doctrine. He called for a military coup against the constitutional government of Venezuela. Trump warned against “a possible military option” against Venezuela.

The aggression and the coup against Venezuela hurt all of Latin America. It benefitted only the interests of those who are determined to divide the countries and peoples of the region so they can exercise their domination over our nations.

These are the people who support the empire of the North in their maneuvers using unconstitutional means to overthrow the Bolivarian and Chavista revolution. They don’t care if this generates conflicts of incalculable consequences for this region. Sooner or later they will have to assume a serious responsibility before history and answer for this before their peoples.

Nobody doubts that the failed assassination attempt in Caracas will be a powerful further reason for Latin American and Caribbean unity against imperialist domination!

August 6 of 2018.

- Manuel E. Yepe http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/

(Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.)