LAST UPDATE | 14 hrs ago

THERE’S NO DOUBT that so many people are sharing differing views on recent events in Venezuela. The sudden military operation by the US took everyone around the world by surprise, except for most Venezuelans, who were keenly waiting for this moment for months, if not years.

I was nine years old when I attended my first protest against the late Hugo Chávez (Maduro’s predecessor and mentor), even though most of my family were Chavistas back then, part of the many who supported Nicolás Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez. I hated the arrogance of Chavistas back in the days when oil prices were very high, and they created their unique political apartheid for those opposing Chávez; people were required to be a party member or loyal to him to be able to access public jobs, government contracts or even public services, such as subsidised food and social housing.

Some believe that the end of Maduro’s regime is a dangerous and worrying turn for Venezuela, and that Donald Trump’s military extraction of Maduro marks a dark departure from the international rule of law. Others will tell you that Venezuela is far better off under US ‘rule’ than one more day under Maduro.

Unfortunately, most Venezuelans are so desperate for regime change that they do not even question Trump’s reported greed over our country’s natural resources and genuinely think that he is there to help us. All of the above is true, and we should question it all.

For me, and many others, whatever way you weigh it up, Maduro’s regime repressed and tortured thousands of people and financially strangled our economy, leading people to complete humiliation and starvation. Millions of Venezuelans have celebrated the overthrow of Maduro as a dictator and have largely not questioned the interests of the United States in our territory. This is partly because our country has endured such devastating economic, humanitarian and political crises for many years, as a result of an authoritarian regime that began under Chávez and continued under Maduro after Chávez’s death in 2013.

Ultimately, the oil revenues that many people worry about have never reached regular Venezuelans’ pockets under Maduro, especially since oil prices plunged in 2014, way before US oil sanctions. Venezuelans have tried everything humanly possible to be ruled by a legitimate Venezuelan government that truly cares about the country’s development and the improvement of its people’s living conditions.........

© TheJournal