VENEZUELA - NEED FOR GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL UNITY!

Trying to get a clear perspective but being blinded by partisan politics and ideology?

The country and people of Venezuela are in an extreme state of stress and volatility, so much so that the country could, at literally any moment, implode.

Venezuelans, if we are to believe the reports emanating from and about it, are desperately short of much of the basic necessities of a normal life. There is acute and chronic shortage of food, of power, fuel, personal security and political and economic stability. The country seems to be literally on the precipice and about to fall into the 'black hole' whose gravitational pull is seems to be finding irresistible.

Confronted with massive social, economic and political crisis, Venezuelans need a skilful and inspirational leader to get them safely out of this apparently unsolvable catastrophic situation. A situation which which is probably greater than that which  Greece is confronted by, and one which the country does not have any capable allies to help her. The country has lost its former charismatic and popular leader, Hugo Chavez, who has handed the baton of leadership to Nicolas Maduro.  Maduro, however, is showing very little indication that he has the prudence, the popularity or the diplomatic and leadership skills to manage a situation which would have tested Chavez's leadership competence.

Maduro, it seems, is out of his league and is loosing the plot in his attempts to manage the country's myriad problems. The fear is that he is floundering and making a very bad situation a lot worse, in his attempt to make them better. Part of the cost of this 'mismanagement' is that the President is loosing the support of the Chavistas who have been the backbone of Bolivarian Regime. At the same time, the opposition forces, emboldened by the increasing unpopularity of the Regime amongst its own supporters, are positioning themselves to commit the coup de grace, should the regime fail to commit kamikazi or see sense and move to try to form an inclusive national government to pull the country back from the abyss.

The fact is that, no regime - be it leftist or rightist - will remain popular and keep the support of the people, even its own organic followers, if it fails to provide them with the essentials - food, clothes, housing, personal safety, jobs and wages, utilities - of life.  When a government or regime loses the trust and support of the people, it has 3 options.  The first is to do what is necessary to regain the trust and support of the people. The second is to become increasingly authoritarian, to the point of maintaining political power through force of arms and state security forces. This option, naturally, risks loosing the 'legitimacy' which is based on having majority electoral support. The third and final option, is to acknowledge failure and relinquish power, which is not an option which appeals to regimes that place little or no value on the legitimacy of having majority electoral support.

And so we have a leftist President in Venezuela, attempting to govern the country with a rightist Assembly, which is trying to negate his exercise of power, and whose power he is trying to negate.  The result being that both of them, combined with external economic and political factors over which they have little or no control, are squeezing Venezuelans in a crocodile-like vice. This is not a death struggle that either the Assembly or the President can win per se, although the opposition can more legitimately 'blame' the President for its consequences. Neither is it one which Maduro can effectively 'blame' on foreign 'spies', as what really counts is that the people are in great misery and there is no indication that the government will ever be able to provide them with their basic needs tomorrow or anytime soon.

It seems to me that, what is really necessary to bring this crisis to a desirable end, is for President Maduro to seek to form a government of national unity which is inclusive of all the significant political parties in Venezuela. This would enable all the main players to take responsibility for the crisis, and cooperate in bring it to a successful end.  What is happening to the country is not unlike a war, except that it is Venezuelans fight amongst themselves. It would be helpful for them to perceive this crisis as an 'attack' on them and their country, and for them to unite in their fight against the damage it is doing to them and the country.

Government of National Unity. If not, the Bolivarian Revolution will  not live to fight another day, and what it originally stood for will be forgotten. All it will be remembered for is the misery the people suffered under its watch. Turning the country around will take time, but the process needs to have been started already and further delay just makes it worse. 'Politics' should not be used as a barrier to this process.

Is that to be Hugo Chavez's legacy?

Let us cooperate to keep this pond going; we are all in it together?!