Venezuela economic plan necessary: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Marcelo Sanchez, a journalist and political commentator, about Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s warning about the negative impact of the neoliberal model on the economy of his country.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: The economic crisis had obviously been there even before the opposition-held Congress was sworn in. What has led Maduro to announce the latest measures over the economic situation?

Sanchez: Well, there is no other way to interpret Maduro’s position right now. This 60-day emergency plan for the economy is something urgent for Venezuela, but let’s say that it’s not surprising that every time a country has resources, in this case, oil, they become the target for this kind of democracy dramas.

And when we see the opposition in Venezuela, they were not expecting President Maduro to have speech in front of the National Assembly. He did the contrary, he showed up; he talked to the citizens; he talked to the legislators; he respected the constitution by talking in front of the National Assembly, which was something quite the opposite from the opposition’s point of view, because they do not want to engage in a constructive dialog about Venezuelan economy, safety, security, health and education. They are following a strategy that was promoted in 2013 actually, because of memorandum between the Venezuelan opposition based in Miami… those groups had this memorandum with specific plan that in 2016 they will try to oust and expel Maduro and the Chavistas from the government.

But going beyond that, they received the support of Washington and if you follow the history, this is the perfect formula from Washington in order to have slave states, if you will, because before Washington was able to introduce their guerillas from this… of Americas, implement dictatorships; today they can’t do that so they turned to economic measures and social pressure, creating the necessary conditions for social unrest, and this is what they were trying to do in Venezuela in many years.

And when Maduro came, the opposition just took incisive opportunity to create this political drama inside of the National Assembly, and this goes against the interest of the Venezuelan people.

Press TV: Do you think this decree and authorization by Maduro can help revive the economy?

Sanchez: Well, it’s quite possible to see that the investment of some of the resources that Maduro announced today are being sent to education, food, there’s some shortage of food, we’re seeing police patrolling some of the markets in Venezuela, but then again, this is a consequence of the economic pressure exercised against the Maduro administration. We were seeing that the price of oil… I wouldn’t be surprised… there was some kind of backdoor deal before between Saudis and Americans saying that ‘let’s try to put some pressure on Maduro and Venezuela. and let’s try to put some sort of victimization on the opposition,’ because, let me tell you something, that thieves from the yesterday, those high-class wealthy Venezuelan refugees in Miami, they’re living in their mansions with their swimming pools and they’re claiming to be freedom, democratic fighters, but there are the status quo that put the country into misery before; majority of Venezuelans do not identify with them.

When Venezuelans went to vote for legislators in December, they were asking for resolution in the main problems, which is economy, security and to have most social opportunities. This has been provided by Chavistas, but we’ve seen that the opposition is taking advantage of this kind of political dramas. This claims to democracy that really are not... they don’t have any basis.

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