This picture hails from a recent article in the theatlantic.com. The fact the Venezuela has become another socialist dystopian nightmare is obvious to any who care to look. Even a far-left writer from The Washington Post interviewed for the article can see it. It’s no surprise that WaPo columnist Francisco Toro maintains that Venezuela now has a “right-wing” look to it:
It’s really difficult to get across how badly governed the country is. If you just describe what happens, [you sound] like a shrill, far-right-wing lunatic who’s describing some kind of Fox News dystopia. But, it’s like that. [The government has] taken over virtually all of the large companies. [It has] taken over most of the mid-size manufacturing companies—everything that makes something you might want to consume.
The few [it] hasn’t taken over, you’ve created this regulatory nightmare around them where you can’t do anything and nothing works.
Nothing works. Businesses can’t produce. That sort of worked when oil prices were very high, because [under those conditions] who needs to make anything? You sell oil, you get money, and you buy stuff abroad. You just import your way out of the crisis. Oil prices fall and suddenly the basic lunacy of trying to run the country this way comes home very clearly.
People are hungry. The thing that’s been shocking [to] us here is the democratization of hunger and political insecurity. Even people who aren’t hungry are one mishap away from being hungry. When there is no food, people want a change.
Venezuelan socialists outlawed civilian firearms ownership. The government crackdown was intense, including a massive gun destruction event a few months ago eliminating thousands of homemade pistols and single-shot shotguns. The result? Black market firearms became so expensive that criminals murdered police for their guns.
Another result: hunger, chaos, tyranny. Would Maduro still be in power if the 80 percent of the people who voted for a referendum to remove him were armed? Even with single shot shotguns and .22 rifles? Maduro’s hanging on to power now because a tiny fraction of the population is protecting him with their government-issued weapons. A fact that even the WaPo scribe can’t avoid.
Mahanta: One thing I’m curious about is, how does Maduro retain enough support going forward to hang on to power? Where is his genuine source of support at this point?
Toro: People with guns. That includes the military of course, which has been given enormous privileges during the last 18 years. [It has] been put in charge of mining businesses, been part of the oil industry, and smuggling, and cocaine, and a lot of other things.
The current Venezuelan government is propped-up by the police, the army, armed paramilitaries and thousands of Cuban “advisors.” Those who believed the Venezuelan government’s rationale for civilian disarmament — to reduce crime — may now have a better understanding of gun control’s role in the imposition of government tyranny. Forearmed is forewarned.
©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch