The US experiment with the transfer of power to the impostor president in Venezuela is failing.
At a climate change conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, French President Emmanuel Macron found Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro in the hallway to invite him to "do useful bilateral work" for Latin America.
Macron called Maduro 'president,' despite the fact that Paris did not officially recognize him as such. In the past, Macron called the Venezuelan leader "illegitimate." This hypocritical volte face is understandable: those in the West who recognize Maduro will be able to count on Venezuelan oil.
It is an open secret that the West unleashed an unprecedented campaign to discredit Maduro as a successor to the sovereign course of President Hugo Chavez. The West did not recognize his victory in the 2018 presidential election. Juan Guaido showed up instead. He proclaimed himself the president of the country and headed a parallel government. The United States and about 50 satellite countries supported Guaido and imposed sanctions on Venezuela (oil sales were embargoed, its assets were frozen and a plethora of personal restrictions were implemented).
Venezuela was turning into another Haiti - an impoverished country that lives in chaos and anarchy.
Yet, against the backdrop of the policy of isolation and strong psychological pressure, the President of Venezuela showed his best side. He strengthened the army and intelligence agencies, structurally organized the loyal society, kicked the American Soros funds out and strengthened ties with Russia and China.
The countries cooperated to elaborate options to continue exporting Venezuelan oil and evade financial sanctions.
This is what Russia has to relive now:
When the demand for oil increased again (after the pandemic), and the West found a more serious adversary than Venezuela - Russia, the topic of Venezuelan oil on Western markets surfaced again. The United States is only trying to lift the embargo, whereas France, as we can see, is working faster.
On June 27, during the G7 summit in Germany, Macron called for the diversification of oil supply sources, focusing on production in Iran and Venezuela.
"Venezuelan oil should also be able to return to the market," he said.
The days of Juan Guaido's alternative government in Venezuela are numbered. Colombia recognised the presidency of Maduro. Brazil - after the election of Lula da Silva - will recognise him too. France is also not far from recognising Maduro either. Guaido will be forced to leave.
Main opposition parties in Venezuela already announced that they no longer wanted to continue participating in the parallel government. Most likely, they have lost their sources of finance.
Guaido himself has disappeared from the world political agenda. He still travels inside the country campaigning for a single candidate in the 2024 elections.
Maduro should make it a condition that the United States returns the seized assets and provides compensations. He should ignore calls to "start a dialogue with the opposition."
It is worth supporting French companies. "President Macron! Venezuela is ready to accept all French companies that would like to come and extract oil and gas," Maduro tweeted. This is an important and smart message: "whoever recognises me first will get Venezuelan oil."
For Russia, keeping Maduro in power is very important, as he is Moscow's consistent and faithful ally. Washington's failed experiment with the impostor president puts an end to similar projects in other countries - Sviatlana Tikhanovskaya in Belarus, for example. The USA has such scenarios for Kazakhstan and Russia too.
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