Apparently Capriles has announced that there has been "contacts" with the regime and that there will be a meeting.
Bullshit.
Capriles announced that there are preparations for a "debate" with Maduro. Oh sooooo many problems......
First, is this a stunt to get back the opposition leadership that he may not have lost but that is now severely contested? The leaders of the opposition today are the students protesting and the politicians that accompany them. that is is good or bad is ANOTHER debate, but that is where the leadership seems to reside now, not at the MUD, not in Capriles hands, who at first even went out of his way to condemn the protests. He may have been right all along but he has accumulated enough political mistakes that his credibility is seriously eroded.
Second, announcing that he is trying to go to a debate with Maduro without this one giving anything in exchange is perilous. One thing is that there are contacts between that two sides to avoid falling over the cliff, another thing is to run into a debate without any guarantee. Will it be fair? Will it be in cadena? Will the regime prove its democratic credentials by, saying releasing political prisoners and putting them on home arrest?
Third, what for? What can we possibly gain at this point? The regime has infinitely more to gain from this than the opposition. Maduro needs a debate, a democratic façade, not Capriles or the opposition, Or are the Nazional Guards sent by Aveledo?
I am going to stop here because this is new and I do not have all the info to really comment on this. I will at least say one thing positive on Capriles: he bitterly complained about how Colombia (and Santos who received him after the electoral fraud) abandoned the opposition. I agree. Abandoning Venezuela for a possible deal with the FARC and his own reelection plans is something that Colombia will pay dearly very soon when millions f refugees will flood through the border. Though I also must add that Santos abandonment maybe a façade, to giver time for Brazil to come o its senses. Going against Dilma at this point is not productive.
Capriles still has time to back out of the meeting. Maduro does not know how to negotiate, he is a freaken dictator. Hopefully Capriles will be able to make a strong statement about demands, not from the oppostion, but from all Venezuelans.
ReplyDeleteIn the article you linked I don't see anything that says there are "contacts with the regime" regarding a possible debate. Perhaps you manage info that cannot be linked to, or know something we don't.
ReplyDeleteAll I could see is Capriles defending his decision to go to one if there was one, and how he prefers that it be live and over all channels.
I think that if it did happen, under "equal" conditions, he would probably score points with the part of the population that does not frantically support Maduro and that also is not moved enough to support anyone else.
A debate, if Capriles handled it wisely and shrewdly, could energize the protests even more.
Whether or not he can achieve this is the rub.
If there is any doubt that he can, then he should wait until Maduro is obliged to sit down with the opposition as a group and not with one individual.
Roberto N
I think that's an excellent point. But quickly jumping to the approaching economic disaster,... It appears more and more likely that widespread food rationing is about to take place. Is it possible that food rationing cards will be distributed to primarily 'supporters' of the regime, therefore driving the remainder out of the country? I can't shake this thought....
DeleteA very perilous decision.
ReplyDeleteThese people don't debate - they repeat over & over their propaganda.
They never answer a direct question & they will not give in one inch on any oppo demands.
Forget it. A complete waste of time & a dangerous path to take.
I believe it was Maduro who challenge Capriles to debate about his job and achievements in Miranda, therefore he challenged him as a governor and not as the opposition leader, which is absurd. If this was the tone, he should have included every single governor in the country. Why Miranda only?
ReplyDeleteSo Capriles is just accepting this challenge, not too sure if he's doing it as a governor or as the opposition leader though, they are two different approaches here.
I have the feeling that Maduro will back up. He knows this could help him greatly as he doesn't have the knowledge or rhetoric abilities for a public debate. Perhaps this is why Capriles accepted, to show how much "paja" all this is.
I meant to write "this could hurt him greatly.."
DeleteWhen are people finally going to accept who they are dealing with and how the odds will be stacked against them.
ReplyDeleteThose people who keep pretending they are dealing with Democrats are only hurting the country by postponing and making worse the inevitable realization
firepigette
The reason he has not been jailed is because he "talks" to the Pro- Cuban traitors in the government. We don't need a wimp to do chats with these thugs, we need a true opposition leader who does not compromise with those who have compromised the flag, the constitution and the ideals Simon Bolivar died for.
ReplyDeleteYeah! Like Leopoldo! Right? Like that worked for something other than creating a new martyr.
DeleteWhat I think is that a lot of people are failing to understand that we don't need a "leader" to keep pushing the social movement and the protests. We don't need more leaders to immolate themselves either. People need to go out more, protest out more, keep pushing more, expand the protest and bring in those that are indifferent.