Vol. 79/No. 7      March 2, 2015

“Those involved were being paid in U.S. dollars, and one of the suspects had been granted a visa to enter the United States should the plot fail,” reported Telesur TV.

A retired air force general and 10 other soldiers were among those implicated, according to National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello. Top military leaders denounced the coup plot at a news conference Feb. 13.

The reported plot coincided with the one-year anniversary of the beginning of anti-government protests last year. The day before, Feb. 11, opposition leaders Antonio Ledezma, María Corina Machado and Leopoldo López released a joint “Call for a National Transition Agreement.”

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki termed “ludicrous” the accusation that Washington was plotting to oust Maduro. “Political transitions must be democratic, constitutional, peaceful, and legal,” she said.

The U.S. government backed a failed 2002 military coup against the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Washington has tried to undermine the government in Caracas ever since Chávez was elected in 1998. His government reorganized the oil industry and refused to bow to U.S. dictates, especially to end Venezuela’s close collaboration with Cuba.

Washington stepped up its grinding pressure on Caracas Feb. 2 by widening restrictions against government officials there. Congress passed a law in December authorizing the U.S. president to deny visas and freeze the assets of Venezuelans Washington accuses of “human rights abuses” or corruption.

Soon after the law was passed President Barack Obama applied the sanctions to 24 current or former Venezuelan officials. The latest move adds to the list and bans some immediate family members from traveling to the U.S.

Venezuela has been hard hit by the drop in world oil prices, since petroleum accounts for some 95 percent of the country’s exports. Oil prices declined from $112 a barrel in June 2014 to $53 last month. Venezuela’s daily output of 2 million barrels of crude is now worth $38.6 billion a year compared to $82 billion seven months earlier.

In 2014, Venezuela had a budget deficit of more than $57 billion, largely from importing goods and services. The official inflation rate in the country is 68 percent, one of the world’s highest. At the same time, payments on its roughly $75 billion foreign debt to banks in the U.S. and other imperialist countries siphon increased amounts of wealth produced by working people out of the country.

One effect is growing shortages and long lines for workers seeking to buy basic necessities, from toilet paper to food.

To face the economic crisis, Maduro said he would raise gasoline prices later this year. Gas is subsidized, costing just 5 cents a gallon. At the same time he said he would raise the minimum wage and government housing subsidies.

Two days after Washington’s latest travel restrictions were announced, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez “stressed the strong bilateral cooperation relations uniting her country and Cuba” at a meeting with Cuban Ambassador Rogelio Polanco, reported the Cuban News Agency. Last year 56 new accords in energy, oil, agriculture, health, education and sports were signed by the two governments. Venezuela sells Cuba 100,000 barrels of oil a day at preferential prices, a key component for the island’s energy needs.

At the Jan. 28-29 meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Cuban President Raúl Castro called the sanctions unacceptable. He said Washington’s goal is to create a “climate of destabilization.”  
 
 
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