The chronology is wrong, as usual. Maduro applied a state of exception and mass deportations of Colombians in 2015, before losing the parliament elections. His intention was to rally support through reactionary nationalism and xenophobia. Not only that, he also started a campaign for the annexation of 70% of Guyana, including military threats.
The economic crisis which by 2015 was acute, was not the result of US sanctions, those would start by late 2017 (a ban on the reselling of foreign debt bonds) and then the more serious sanctions referred to the ban on the import of Venezuelan oil, that was much later in 2019. In the years 2014-2015, that is before losing the elections, Maduro applied an absurd austerity plan which consisted in cutting drastically imports to pay foreign debt. As a result of this the debt decreased but the economy shrank much more, therefore the proportion between GNP and debt actually became worse. All of this happened also before hyperinflation, which started in 2016. So by the time the sanctions started there was little left of Chávez era social assistance programs. It was Maduro who decided to liquidate them, along with the wages. The de facto annullment of the National Assembly had nothing to do with defending the social programs Maduro had destroyed, but to hold on to power at any cost. When people finally came out en masse to protest against Maduro's brutal austerity in 2017, more than a hundred people were killed by paramilitary gangs and the National Guard, thousands were injured and detained. After this, the first sanctions were applied. Venezuelan socialists know our history, therefore we oppose Trump's threats without embelleshing Maduro's bloody record. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39328): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39328 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116291555/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
