On his T.V. show En Contacto with Maduro, Maduro called on his supporters to continue to back his government, saying:
The revolution that stops, that moves back, fails. The revolution has to have an immensely strong vanguard, and that is the people and its political [actions].
Maduro also made some comments regarding the opposition, classifying comments made last week by MUD second-in-command Ramon Jose Medina regarding Leopoldo Lopez. According to Maduro, Medina’s comments – for which he has apologized – are evidence that opposition figures are fighting each other “tooth and nail”. He elaborated, saying:
This is a political sector [the opposition] that only exists to reject everything, to oppose everything, to cultivate hatred against the fellow countryman who happens to think differently. When they are defeated, their accumulated hatred ends blowing up within themselves. You can see it now, candela pura [literally, “pure flame”, in this case, “heated infighting”].
Maduro praised is government’s foreign relations, calling it “advanced”:
Our country’s foreign relations are advanced, a vanguard, [always] moving forward. They’re two, three, four steps ahead of current events, [thanks to] our commander Chavez here with the Plan de Patria [the country’s overarching political philosophy], when he made alliances with BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa] as a strategic alliance to build a multicentric world, a pluralist world, one with equilibrium and peace.
The foreign exchange crisis was also a topic of discussion. The most visible sign to outsiders of this problem is probably the ongoing flight cancellations that have been taking place since the start of the year. International airlines, paid in bolivares for their operations inside the country, have been unable to access dollars to the tune of several billion dollars.
On the issue, Maduro said:
As part of the offensive on the economy, production, supplies and just prices, we are going to start making adjustments to figure out how much the country is earning to see what we can import and how much we can save.
Delta Takes Measures to Help Inconvenienced Travellers
In a news release, Delta Airlines said:
Over the past 15 months, the Venezuelan government has been unable to approve the requests for currency exchange made by Delta for more than $188 million in income earned through the sale of tickets made in Venezuelan bolivares to U.S. dollars.
As a result of the outstanding debt, Delta was forced to reduce the frequency of operations in Venezuela. In order to help passengers inconvenienced by the change in operations, Delta is offering full refunds to any Venezuelan with a Delta ticket dated prior to August 2 of this year. Since the changes Delta announced will take place after August 2nd, the airline reasons that passengers inconvenienced by the change will appreciate the opportunity to cancel their flights altogether.
Finally, a picture of a protest by CORPOELEC [the state-run electrical company] from somewhere in Venezuela today. The banner reads in English (roughly) “CORPOELEC salaries make us hungry” [literally, “CORPOELEC pays hunger salaries”]:
Opinion
Maduro’s comments regarding the opposition are almost comically vague. Characterizing every single person who does not support the PSUV as “hateful” and “opposed to everything” is simply ridiculous. It’s hard to imagine that these kinds of messages pander to anyone but his most die-hard supporters.
His exhortation to continue the revolution no matter what the cost, to always keep moving forward, to always be currently engaged in the process of continuing the revolution reminds me of a piece I wrote for this blog earlier regarding the permanent nature of the Bolivarian revolution.
As I argued earlier, a revolution is an event that has a beginning. If it has a beginning, it has an end. Yet, in Venezuela, the revolution does not have an end – at least not an end that has been stated overtly. As Maduro and PSUV officials have said time and time again, the revolution must always keep moving forward. It must never stop, even for a minute. Always – forever – forward.
That begs the question, when will the revolution end? Does the revolution have anend? Do we want the revolution to end? Does the PSUV want the revolution to end?
In Venezuela 