Featured Articles - Opposition

Who are "the students," and what do they represent? In recent days, it has become clear that these student mobilizations have been, in fact, largely directed and supported by sectors of the opposition, all in an effort to provoke, in Chávez's own words, a "soft coup" against the revolutionary government.

First used in Serbia in 2000, Washington has now perfected a new imperial strategy to maintain its supremacy around the globe. Whereas military invasions and installing dictatorships have traditionally been the way to control foreign populations and keep them out of the way of business, the U.S. government has now developed a new strategy that is not so messy or brutal, and much sleeker; so sleek, in fact, that it’s almost invisible.

Almost every wealthy person from the opposition I have met in Venezuela has claimed two things that contrast with the analysis of Chavez’s foreign critics. First, they say Chavez has virtually no support, even the poor are against him. Second, Chavez planned and prepared the 2002 coup in advance and had his followers perform it.

For the opposition it is obvious that it’s absolutely impossible that the Chavez’s government can count on the support of the majority of the population. It is simply a matter of an epistemological impossibility.