CARACAS: Nicolas Maduro struts across the stage as a crowd of die-hard supporters of the Colombian government’s re-election campaign energizes a crowd of fans who boo his hands to a capture merengue beat.
In Venezuela, where music is not a thing, campaign jingles are not an afterthought, and this catchy one about a “fighting cock” that constantly succeeds perfectly captures the troubled leftist leader’s social moment.
Maduro has escaped an almost unavoidable plethora of threats since Hugo Chavez’s death 11 years ago handed over the flame of his Bolivarian rebellion to his devoted aide. They range from a drone strike and widespread protests against the oil-rich economy to a global criminal investigation into human rights violations and a US$ 15 million reward tied to allegations of drug smuggling.
However, his most difficult problem has come out of Sunday’s, and losing it could be his last party.
Football or politics? A new film, produced for the plan, reveals new information about Maduro’s lifestyle. It details how the upcoming leader lived in a working-class neighborhood of Caracas while juggling his passion for sports and pupil activism.
When a young cup in the movie arrives soon to the gemstone, a coach instructs him to “make a decision.” ” It’s either baseball or politics”.
In actual life, after embracing his father’s extreme politics, Maduro was sent to socialist Cuba in 1986 for a time of intellectual instruction- his sole studies after high school.
Upon returning home, he found work as a vehicle drivers and union administrator. After the then-army parachute staged a failed coup in 1992 against an unpopular austerity state, he embraced Chavez. Around the same time he met his lifelong partner, Cilia Flores, a prosecutor for the imprisoned leader.
After Chavez was freed and elected leader in 1998, Maduro, a fresh senator, helped push his plan of redistributing the OPEC government’s oil wealth and political power.
International recognition In acknowledgement of his efforts to ease up conflicts with the US following a brief revolution, Chavez appointed Maduro as the country’s foreign minister in 2006. In that position, he spread Venezuela’s petro-dollars throughout the world, building sustained partnerships and relationships.
Vladimir Villegas, who has known Maduro since high school and served as his deputy foreign secretary until breaking with Chavez, said,” He was always very organized.
When Maduro took power in 2013 following his master’s death from cancer, he struggled to bring get to the grief-stricken state. Without” El Comandante” in charge, the market entered a dying spiral- it would reduce 71 % from 2012 to 2020, with inflation topping 130, 000 %- and critics and foes inside the authorities smelled body.
He gained the name” Maburro” among the leaders because of his folkloric wits, such as claiming Chavez appeared to him as a “little animal.” Hardliner opponents staged huge demonstrations demanding his resignation less than a month into his unintentional administration.
Leaning strongly on the security forces, he crushed the demonstrations. However, because there were no longer any shelves in stores due to severe shortages, they returned three years later with greater depth, leaving more than 100 people dying. The International Criminal Court opened an exploration into potential crimes against humanity in 2018.
The opposition boycotted the 2018 presidential election, which the criticism also prohibited from running for several of its rulers. Lots of states led by the US condemned his re-election as illegal and recognized Juan Guaido, the head of the National Assembly, as Venezuela’s genuine head.
More turmoil ensued, this moment bolstered by the Trump administration’s “maximum force” plan of punishing fuel sanctions. A secret raid, a barracks rebellion, and suddenly the global coronavirus pandemie were all part of the plan.
Apparently, after each issue, Maduro emerged stronger even if the government’s problems deepened. By 2022, with his detractors vanquished, he took on a new name: Super Bigote, a smile to his thick black beard. Supporters paid tribute to his superhero-like status for overcoming possibilities and smiting potent enemies in the process.
” As a president, Maduro has been a disaster and does n’t understand a lot of what it takes to run a modern society”, said David Smilde, a Venezuela expert at Tulane University who has studied the country for 30 years. ” But he knows how to keep power and should n’t be underestimated”.
