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The toll of the present political unrest is already excessive. No less than 23 folks have been killed in protests in Venezuela for the reason that July elections, in line with Sufferer Monitora human rights group. Foro Penal has now documented 1,581 arrests.
Some critics speculate that if Maduro’s common assist continues to say no, the Venezuelan navy may flip in opposition to him.
Even the opposition presidential candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, urged the nation’s safety forces to “fulfill their constitutional duties” and “not oppress the folks.”
Historian Straka identified that the Venezuelan navy has a historical past of turning its again on leaders, most notably within the case of dictator Perez Jimenez.
That the navy performed a job in his downfall shocked “everybody,” Straka defined. “The armed forces — Perez Jimenez’s mainstay — had been divided.”
However that end result is much less probably in Maduro’s case, mentioned Gunson, the Venezuela professional on the Worldwide Disaster Group, who famous that some navy leaders may very well be prosecuted with out Maduro’s safety.
“If the navy had been to desert Maduro, his authorities would fall,” Gunson instructed Al Jazeera. “However it’s unlikely that the excessive command will try this within the close to future, as a result of it could threaten their very own private positions.”
In current weeks, the navy has even reaffirmed its assist for Maduro, regardless of the electoral disaster.
On August 25, the Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) pledged their “absolute loyalty and subordination to the Commander in Chief of the FANB, President Nicolas Maduro.”
Nonetheless, Gunson believes the navy might not be as united because it appears.
“There isn’t a purpose to imagine that members of the safety forces voted otherwise than the remainder of the inhabitants,” Gunson mentioned, pointing to the broad assist for the opposition coalition in Venezuela.
“There are various anecdotes to assist the concept that many members of the Nationwide Guard and police are sympathetic to protesters,” he added. “In recent times, 1000’s of members of the armed forces have abandoned and lots of have left the nation.”
The power of the opposition has given Tenreiro — the lady who witnessed the autumn of Perez Jimenez greater than 60 years in the past — some hope. She mentioned she want to see one other authoritarian chief fall in her lifetime.
“I do not wish to go away this world till I see the start of change once more (in Venezuela).”
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